Dawah Opportunity - Sheikh

Dawah Opportunity - Sheikh Navaid Aziz - Green Lane Masjid

Opening

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

Main Body

The Story of Ali (Baba Ali)

I want to start off by telling you a story of a friend of mine, we're going to call him Ali. And the story of Ali is, he came to the United States at the age of five years old. His parents were so rich, subhanallah, that they came to the United States just to celebrate Christmas.

They flew from their hometown to the United States just to celebrate Christmas. And then when they came to celebrate Christmas, a civil war broke out in their town, and they stayed in the United States. This person, Ali, he grew up not knowing any religion.

In fact, his parents were some of the most secular people you will ever meet. And as he grew up, he got into the wrong crowd. We're talking about drug dealing, we're talking about, you know, fornicating with women, we're talking about getting into alcohol, and just being totally lost.

And his parents were completely fine with it. You know, as long as he didn't have any form of religion, he was okay. As time went on, Ali now turns 19 years old, he's living in the city of Los Angeles.

One of his friends has been shot dead in front of his own eyes. And in fact, Ali himself was shot at two times. He had a girlfriend that had purple hair.

And then one day, he thinks to himself, you know, in the next couple of years, one of two things is happening. Either I'm going to be shot dead myself, or I'll be in prison for the rest of my life. So he starts looking around and trying to find a truth in his life.

Something that will bring stability. And he finds the religion of witchcraft. And he starts carrying these small statues around his neck.

And he comes home one day and he says, Mom and Dad, I've decided to convert to witchcraft. And they say, Ali, you know, as long as you become a doctor in life, we don't care what you do. So he starts practicing witchcraft.

And then one day again, the gunfire goes off, he falls down. The statues he was carrying, they break. And he realizes that this can't be the truth.

And now a search begins again. And as this search began again, someone gave him a pamphlet. It was a summer youth camp.

And Ali decides, you know what, I'm not going to go to the summer youth camp by myself. I'm going to bring my whole crew with me. So his girlfriend with purple hair, he had a friend who was an alcoholic and a drunk.

They all went to this youth camp in the middle of the winter. And when they got there, you know, everyone's just looking at Ali, you know. You can always tell who the bad kids are at the summer youth camp.

But I doubt you've ever seen someone who walks in with a girlfriend, you know, with purple hair. Or, you know, someone who brings in a drunk to the youth camp. The youth organizer, they told him, look, if it was in the middle of the winter, and, you know, there wasn't like a snowstorm, we were looking for a way to send you back to Los Angeles.

We didn't want you here at the youth camp. Because we had never seen a child as terrible as you, or a youth as terrible as you. So Ali, he's spending time at this youth camp.

And he starts having lunch and dinner with the brothers. And he starts conversing with them. You know, he starts asking them, how long have you guys known each other? It seems like you guys have known each other forever.

Because you have an African, you have a Pakistani, you have an Arab. They're all sitting together and they're sharing food. And they're caring towards one another.

So they all said to him, you know, we just met yesterday at the first day of the camp. And this was something that really shook Ali up. He's like, wow, that's amazing.

You know, what type of relationship is this? I don't even have meals with my parents, or my own brother himself. So time goes on, he starts listening to the lectures. He starts hearing about the purpose of life.

He starts hearing about worshipping Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone. And at that time Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala settles it in his heart, that this is the way to go. This is the way he's going to move on in his life.

He comes back home. He comes back to those exact same parents that he told about witchcraft and were happy with him. As long as he became a doctor.

He tells them, mom and dad, I've converted to Islam. His parents told him, either you leave Islam, or we will disown you. Ali at that time, fresh convert, he has that enthusiasm.

He says, you know what, I'm going to put up this fight. Now I want to tell you something about Ali's family. In Ali's country, the country where he was from, his grandfather was the one who brought in the car and the refrigerator.

So meaning they had the copyrights to this in their country. And by the time his granddad turned 40, he was a billionaire. So his family had a lot of money.

Now his family has disowned him. Ali is living by himself. He's moved to the slums of LA. His neighbors are drug dealers. His old friends have abandoned him. His girlfriend is there no more.

And he's living by himself. And one night, he just looks up, and he thinks to himself, Ya Allah, what did I get myself into? If this is really the truth, then guide me towards some sort of goodness. Keep me protected from this fitzan.

And he starts working at a local store, just as someone who, you know, puts things inside of bags. And then one day, he gets so frustrated, he decides to make a video about it. And he concludes his video by saying, This is Ali, here to remind you, just in case you forgot.

May sound familiar to some of you. This is the story of Baba Ali, the famous comedian. Baba Ali is a very good friend of mine.

Alhamdulillah, we've been traveling around quite a bit. And when I heard this story, I thought, Subhanallah, there's so many lessons we can learn from this story. One of the first lessons that hit me directly, imagine the guy that gave him that pamphlet to go to the youth camp.

That did he ever think that Baba Ali would have a YouTube channel that is now viewed by about 10 million people? Did he ever think that people would become practicing? Did he ever think that people would convert to Islam through these videos? A second thing that hit me, is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala truly guides whom He wills. I mean, I doubt we've ever seen someone who came off the streets, had, you know, a girlfriend with purple hair. And you know, a drunk as a friend, someone that's been shot at.

And then look at the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guides them. And it's truly a miracle from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I wanted to start off with this story to share this very point.

That in life, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives you many many opportunities to give da'wah. It may be the cashier at the store. It may be our neighbor.

It may be someone that we're just standing next to at a bus stop. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us these opportunities, and we let them go. We don't think, subhanallah, what could come out of this situation.

The Best of Deeds

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about the best of deeds. He tells us in surah al-fussilat:

Ayah

Quran 41:33 - "And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, 'Indeed, I am of the Muslims.'"

Allah calls to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Meaning that there is nothing better that you can do with your tongue, other than call people to Islam. Guide them towards what is best. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes this

as the best of speech.

Hadith on Guiding Others

The messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he has told us that if you are able to guide just one person, it is better than everything in this world.

Every single thing in this world. And in fact the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he gave us another parable. He said if you are able to guide just one person, it is better than the red camel.

Now you may think, what is the significance of this red camel? I remember when I was young, I heard Imam Siraj Wahaj back in the day. You know this is like old school dawah. Early 90s, late 80s.

He gave this example. And he said that this red camel that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, or Allah's messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is speaking about, is like the red Ferrari. Now what is the significance of this red Ferrari? The significance of this red Ferrari, it is something that people cherish.

That's something that people long for. It is something that goes extremely fast. That it will get you from point A to point B very very quickly.

And Allah's messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he gives this exact same parable. That it is like the red camel. And this red camel does the exact same thing.

It gets you from point A to point B very quickly. It is something that is very cherished. But where is this red camel taking you? This red camel is not a red camel of this world.

But it is a red camel of the Akhirah. Meaning that the quickest way for you to get to Jannah, the easiest way for you to get to Jannah, is by giving da'wah to people. And this is what the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is alluding to in this hadith.

Worldly Virtues of Da'wah

Now I want to share some of the worldly virtues of giving da'wah in this world. How does this actually benefit our world? When you give da'wah to people, from the virtues that it has, and the impact that it has in this world, is that it is a rectification of society. If you were to look at the ills in our community, you will see that all of the ills in our community, actually go against Islam.

They are not conducive for Islam. They are actually against Islam. And when you guide people to Islam, tell them what Islam is truly about, you are indirectly curing the ills of society.

So rather than having these large police forces, rather than having these large prisons, rather than having all of these corporal and capital punishments, just imagine if you could solve all of the ills of society, by giving da'wah to people. Reminding them that there is a Lord that is watching them. Reminding them that they have a higher purpose in life.

Reminding them that they will one day stand between the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they will be answerable and questionable for each and every single thing that they did. A person who remembers that day, will not be able to commit evil. Because he will be fearful for himself.

Personal Benefits of Da'wah

From other virtues and benefits of giving da'wah to people, is that it improves you as an individual. You know a lot of the times, as students of knowledge, we tend to forget the things that we learn. We tend to become lackadaisical in pursuing more knowledge.

And we tend to become content in the state that we are in. But when a person becomes active in da'wah, this is one of the best ways to improve your own situation. Because when you give da'wah to people, regardless of Muslim or non-Muslim, you come across situations that you haven't heard of, or thought of before, or have even seen before.

So it requires that you go and research these matters. Likewise, when you give da'wah to people, it is a way of realizing the great blessing of Islam that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you. That you see how misguided people truly are.

And the fact that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has chosen you, and blessed you with Islam, is one of the greatest realizations you will ever have. That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala could have chosen for you to be a disbeliever. He could have chosen for you to be someone who is wicked and terrible.

But He guided you to Islam. And insha'Allah your ultimate abode in the akhirah is paradise, and not the hellfire. And when you have this realization through giving da'wah, you consider it one of the biggest blessings from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So giving da'wah is one of the best ways of self-reflection and self-improvement. I want to talk about some of the things that facilitate giving da'wah to people. A lot of the times people think da'wah is very very difficult.

And in reality it's not. It just requires a few simple techniques that if you understand them, you can literally become a walking da'wah machine.

Facilitating Da'wah

The first thing I would recommend is look after your appearance. And what this means is, as human psychology necessitates, we are very judgmental people. Meaning we will decide and make the decision, do I want to listen to this guy or do I want to ignore this person, within the first four seconds. So within the first four seconds you see someone, you are ready to make the decision, do I want to listen to him or do I want to ignore him.

So if you dress in a nice manner, you look after yourself, you're wearing nice clothes, you smell nice, this will become conducive towards people listening to you. The second thing is working on your character. The most important part of our character, when initiating conversations with people, is smiling.

And you'll see that this is something I try to do, whenever I start to get up on stage. As soon as I finish the khutbah tul haja, you'll see me smile and I'll say, Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. And this is something I do intentionally.

I do this so that when you start listening to me, you start to feel comfortable with me. When you see someone up on stage who's frowning, and you know he's not smiling, people are already apprehensive. And people are going to view this in you as well.

So one of the first things you want people to see when they see you, is the fact that you're smiling, you're a cheerful person. And this will help making conversation with people. You know, a lot of the times when you're just randomly smiling, people wonder, you know, what's making this guy smile? You know, is he actually crazy? Or does he have something to smile about? And that's the beauty of a smile, that it's something so powerful, it is such a powerful tool, that you can make other people smile with your smile as well.

You just look at a brother, you just smile at him, and he smiles back at you. That's the beauty of a smile. So that's one of the first aspects of character you want to change.

That just become a more happy person. And you'll see that this psychologically affects an individual as well. How many people have you seen that are angry, that are smiling? It's impossible to do it.

So one of the best ways to change your anger, change your frustration, is force yourself to smile. And this sends signals to your mind, that look, it's time to become happy, it's time to become cheerful. Other aspects that you want to change of your character, is not to be condescending or judgmental.

And the type of judgment we're making over here, is that we're saying, don't look down towards people. We all have skeletons in our closets. We all have past sins that we commit, that no one else knows about.

Hadith on Hidden Sins

Umar ibn Khattab radiallahu anhu, he told us that one of the greatest blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that our sins don't have a fragrance. Because if sins had a fragrance, no one would ever want to sit next to us.

And just like you had a past, the person in front of you has a present, that they're struggling with.

No one wants to live a life of evil, no one wants to live a life of vice. But they've become distracted, they've forgotten their way. Or perhaps there's some sort of social peer pressure, that's upon them to be like this.

So when you interact with people, do not come with a condescending tone, or that I am a better than you tone, or that I am an authority over you tone. But rather what people need is a friend. Someone who is equal to them, someone who is genuine, someone who has a natural concern.

And this is the third point I want to talk about. Having a natural concern for people. Allah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), had this beautiful, beautiful, beautiful characteristic, that no matter who he met, that person always thought, they were the most beloved person to the Messenger of Allah.

Hadith on the Most Beloved

And you read this hadith of Amr ibn al-As radiallahu anhu, that he comes to the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and he says, Ya Rasulullah, who is the most beloved of people to you? The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), he responds, Aisha radiallahu anhu. So Amr ibn al-As, he goes, Ya Rasulullah, I'm not talking about amongst your wives, I'm talking about amongst the men. Then the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), he says, her father.

And you can feel the pain that Amr ibn al-As is going through, his heart is starting to sink. He says, khalas, Abu Bakr, it's his best friend, it's his father-in-law, he has to mention him next. So he's like, then who, Ya Rasulullah? He says, then Amr.

He's like, khalas, another close friend of his, he mentioned him second. Then he's like, then who, Ya Rasulullah? He mentions Uthman. And now Amr ibn al-As's heart is totally sunk.

He's like, I need to stop the humiliation now. And he stopped asking. But look at not what the result was, but look at why he asked the question. Because whenever the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) dealt with him, he always dealt with him in a manner that made him feel the most loved and the most cared about.

And this is something we need to re-instill in ourselves. That Islam is not an individualistic religion.

It is a communal religion. That just like I want to go to paradise, I don't want to go alone, I want to bring everyone with me. And this will only happen when we start having genuine concern for one another.

Knowledge and Da'wah

A fourth thing that facilitates giving dawah to people is actually knowing what you're talking about. You know, a lot of the times, we'll see at the ISOCs, we'll see at the universities, at the colleges, that we have these Islamic Awareness Weeks. And we put these young students up, you know, on the table to give dawah to people.

But we've given them no training. You know, they have no idea of what they're calling to. So the first time someone comes up, and he says, you know, how do you just, can your God create something so heavy that he can't lift it up himself? And this rocks his world.

He's like, what just happened? Can Allah create something so heavy that he can't lift up? So knowledge, if a person knows how to deal with people and deal with these philosophical questions and deal with doubts that people bring, it is one of the best tools that you can have as a da'i. And this is something that's going to improve you yourself as an individual as well. That the more knowledge you learn, the more Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala blesses you in so many things.

Ayah on Knowledge

This is a promise from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when He says:

"Allah will raise those who have believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees."

That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raises and exalts those who have iman, and those amongst you who have knowledge. So seek knowledge about your religion. Seek knowledge about aqeedah.

Seek knowledge about fiqh. Seek knowledge about purification of the heart and the soul. You'll notice that in this materialistic world that we live in right now, people don't need philosophical aqeedah.

They don't need complex fiqh. But what they're looking for is to fill that void inside of their hearts, to fill that void inside of themselves. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is missing in that equation.

Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah, he says something so beautiful subhanallah. And you only realize this, how true it is, when you yourself become distant from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says, for everything in life, there is a replacement.

You could lose money, Allah will give you more money. You lose a child, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you another child. But when you lose Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there is no replacement for it.

No amount of money can replace Allah. No amount of friends can replace Allah. No amount of anything in this world can replace Allah.

And this is what people are truly looking for. They're looking for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're looking for that tranquility.

They're looking for that serenity. And this is what the Muslims need to be there for, to guide the people to. Bring the people back to Allah.

Bring their hearts back to the calm and serene state that they are looking for. So these three aspects of knowledge, aqeedah, fiqh and tazkiyah, are some of the most important aspects of da'wah that you need to know. And if you don't know it, you will not be able to call to it.

Winning Hearts Before Minds

And the last point I want to mention that will facilitate da'wah b.a.w, is winning the hearts of the people before we win their minds. Winning the hearts of the people before we win their minds. There was an individual by the name of Safwan bin Umayyah.

He was one of the people that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) had actually ordered to be killed when the Fatah of Makkah happened. And this was because of all the persecution that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) had received either through his hands or through his colleagues. The killing of Umayyah, the killing of other companions, the persecution of Bilal, the boycott, the embargo.

All of that was happening through these six main people, one of which was Safwan bin Umayyah. He comes to the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he says, Ya Rasulullah, in the Fatah of Makkah, I want to accept Islam. And the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), he just stays silent.

He doesn't respond to it. He repeats it again, he repeats it again, he repeats it again, till eventually the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) accepts his Islam. Now what happened at the Fatah of Makkah is that when people started to accept Islam, it wasn't just like, okay, you're Muslim now, learn to figure things out for yourself and take care of yourself.

That wasn't the case. When they entered into Islam, the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gave all of them gifts. He won their hearts over.

And I want you to listen to what he did with Safwan bin Umayyah. So Safwan bin Umayyah, this enemy of Islam, this ex-enemy of Islam, he comes to the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and he says, Ya Rasulullah, can I have a gift please? What do you think the Messenger of Allah would give him? If we were in that situation, we're like, take my shoe and you throw it at him. That's what we do to get revenge.

The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) he gave him a hundred camels. Safwan bin Umayyah, he wasn't content with that. He says, Ya Rasulullah, can I have some more? The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gives him a hundred camels again.

And yet again, Safwan bin Umayyah is not content. He says, Ya Rasulullah, can I have some more? And the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) gives him another hundred camels. And Safwan bin Umayyah is not doing this now for the sake of his greed.

He wants to see how generous and charitable the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is. So I want you to, just again, to give another comparison. Because I know all the guys, mashallah, they love their cars here.

This is the equivalent of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) giving Safwan bin Umayyah three hundred cars. I want you to find just one of your friends that will give you one car. Not a hundred, just find one friend that will give you one car.

And here the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) has given him three hundred. After the death of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) Safwan bin Umayyah, he narrates this story to one of the imams of the tabi'een by the name of Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib. And he tells Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) was the most detested person in my eyes.

Meaning that I truly used to hate him. But he continued to give me, and he continued to give me, and he continued to give me until he became the most beloved of individuals to me. And this is the effect that it has.

That if you win the hearts of the people, it's very easy to win their minds. But a lot of the times we come into giving dawah, whether to Muslims or to non-Muslims, and we want to win their minds before we win their hearts. But this was not the way of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). That you soften the hearts of the people towards you, by giving them gifts, by being nice to them, by helping them in any way that you can.

And then you initiate the dawah. And then you win over their hearts. And this is what the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) did.

That one of the greatest enemies of Islam now becomes a noble companion. Subhanallah.

Pitfalls and Challenges in Da'wah

So now what are some of the pitfalls and challenges in dawah? What are some of the mistakes that we as a community and us as individuals will make when giving dawah?

Lack of Motivation

From the first of these mistakes is the lack of motivation. That we will not have the motivation nor the courage nor the attitude to give dawah. That we think, you know, as long as I'm looking after myself, I'm content with it. As long as I make it to paradise, we're content with it.

But we'll see that this is a recipe for disaster. If you only think about yourself, you become very individualistic and you become content with your state. This is a recipe for disaster that will only lead to being mediocre, not only in this world but in the hereafter as well.

Hadith on Seeking Refuge

Anas ibn Malik radiallahu anhu, he was a young boy, about 8 years old, and he was serving the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). He says I learned the following du'a from the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) due to how frequently he used to say it. And I want to share this du'a with you. This du'a was:

Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 2893 - "O Allah, I seek refuge in you from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and being overpowered by men."

That O Allah, I seek refuge in you from the following 8 things. الْهَمْ وَالْحَزَنِ - الهَمُّ to be worried about the future. الحَزَنُ to be concerned about the past. وَالْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ - العَجْزُ to have the inability to do something, I seek refuge in you from that.

الكَسَلُ to be lazy and lackadaisical, I seek refuge in you from that. وَالْبُخْلِ وَالْجُبْنِ and from being stingy and miserly, and as well as being a coward being afraid وَضَلَعِ الدَّيْنِ وَغَلَبَةِ الرِّجَالِ and to be overpowered by debt, and to be overpowered by people.

8 things that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) used to regularly seek refuge in Allah from. Now I want you to think for a second, what is it that ties these 8 things together that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is seeking refuge in Allah with from these things? It is the fact that these are 8 characteristics or 8 things that prevent a person from taking action. A lot of the times we get worried about the future, or we're worried about the past, or we're scared of people, or we become overpowered by people, or in fact we're so drowned in debt that that's all we're worried about.

8 things that the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) regularly sought refuge in, so that he would not be prevented from action, that he would not be prevented from giving da'wah to people, he would not be prevented

from worshipping Allah (جل جلاله - jalla jalaluhu). So the very first pitfall is avoid this lack of motivation, this lack of initiation of giving da'wah, by learning this beautiful du'a of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam)

Failure to Practice Islam

Number 2 is that we as a community, we fail to practice Islam ourselves. It is a great atrocity, that no matter where we go in the world, the Muslim communities are plagued with many many ills. I'll give you an example, just before coming to Birmingham, I was in Australia, and in Australia we don't have Italian mafias, we don't have any other type of mafia, but we have the Lebanese Muslim mafia, the drug dealers, the killers, they're the Lebanese Muslims.

Then let's move over here to England. I remember last time I came to England, I was in the city of Bradford, and at that time there was a court case going on, of approximately 35 Muslim men, aging from the age of 19 all the way up to 40, who used to run a pedophilia ring, meaning that they would take small children, and use them for terrible terrible things. This was done by Muslims.

You go to other parts of the world, and you'll see that social ills are plaguing the Muslim community. And this is one of the biggest pitfalls of our dawah, is that we tell people, come to this beautiful and noble religion, but when you look at what is being spread in the news, you look at what is actually happening in the Muslim communities, and makes an individual wonder, why would they want to join this religion, when this is how the people turn out. So it is imperative, that in order to make our dawah stronger, we start changing our own states first.

We start improving our own communities. And it's not just about coming to the masjid, and praying five times a day, and having conferences. But rather it's dealing with the practical problems that people have.

People that are getting divorced, why do they not have an Islamic recourse? Children that are growing up without parents, why is it that we don't have Muslim orphanages? Women that are abused, why is it that we don't have a shelter for women? And I'm going to be coming to a third point, and how we can actually improve this. But these are all things to think about. That as Muslims, we're not providing solutions to the problems that the people actually have.

And in fact, this is going to continue to get worse and worse, until it eventually gets out of hand. And this is something to be very scared of. Because throughout history, Muslims have not been the troublemakers.

They have been the ones who provided solutions for people. And that is what made our previous dynasties so successful. The very fact that we took care of the social ills that people had.

And this is again going back to our friend Baba Ali over here. I asked him, you know, did you know any Muslims before you accepted Islam? And he's like, yes, I had one Muslim friend, but he never told me he was Muslim. He was the guy that anytime I needed to do credit card fraud, he was the guy I would call up.

I'm like, look, I need some free stuff, can you hook me up? And he's like, yeah, here, take this credit card number, you can go and buy what you want. And then one day, you know, he's like, I'm taking the day off from

school today. He's like, why? He's like, yeah, we have this celebration of Eid, and you know, I just want a day off from school.

And I thought to myself, subhanallah. And actually Ali went on to tell me something so profound. He's like, I was so thankful to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) that I found Islam before I found the Muslims.

I was so thankful to Allah that I found Islam before I found the Muslims. Because people who interact with Muslims, we repel them away from Islam. But people who genuinely find Islam, they learn to deal with the atrocities that we have in our community.

So it's time to step our game up and, you know, revitalize our community, and pump back the true da'wah of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). That not only do we take care of the people's akhira as well, but we take care of their dunya as well.

Character Issues

A third pitfall in da'wah is the issue of character. And I alluded to this previously when we were talking about things that will make us successful.

One of the biggest pitfalls of our da'wah is our lack of character. That we always have people who are very condescending, very judgmental, people who are not very helpful. And this is something I experience as a Muslim when I walk around the streets.

One of the things that I love about Birmingham is that, masha'Allah, you can walk on Coventry Road and it will feel as if you're in the Muslim country, you're in the Muslim town. You see sisters in hijab and niqab, brothers wearing thobz, you know, young Muslims reciting Quran on the street. And it's just a special feeling.

But do you know what crushes my heart? Is that you can walk by 100 Muslims on that street and not even one of them gives you salams. What an atrocity that is. That the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) has told us, shall I not guide you to an act that will increase love amongst yourselves and will take you to paradise? Spread the salams amongst yourselves.

Yet it is so difficult for us to give salams to one another. So this concept of character, it's very important to fix up if we want our dawah to be successful.

Lack of Leadership

The fourth point is a lack of, I guess, leadership in this perspective. That in this state that we are in, each and every individual is content with being a follower. That, you know, as long as someone is up here on stage, telling us what to do, we'll be okay. As long as, you know, we are guided towards something, we're okay.

But no one ever wants to take initiative themselves. You know, when you're hungry, does someone come and put food in your mouth? That might have happened for the first 2 years of your life. But by the time you became 5 or 6, you had to learn to clean yourself, you had to learn to eat for yourself.

Hadith on Shepherds

So why do you think that your world will change without you doing anything about it? And it's a time where we need to reflect on this hadith of the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) where he said:

Sahih al-Bukhari Hadith 893

"All of you are shepherds and each of you is responsible for his flock."

That each and every one of you is shepherds, and each and every one of you shall be asked about their flocks. That it is your responsibility to see what you are good at, to see what services you can provide to the community, and start doing those things. Don't wait for anyone else to do them.

Because if you don't do them, no one else will. So step up and become a leader. And I'll remind you of something.

When Umar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه - radiallahu anhu), he became khalifah, he took Khalid ibn Walid out as the general of the Muslim army. And he put this young boy by the name of al-Muthanna ibn al-Harith. For the first couple of battles, al-Muthanna ibn al-Harith, he was massacred and destroyed.

The Muslims lost their first battles in about, you know, a good 5 years or so. So one day, Muthanna ibn al-Harith, he goes, it's time to change this. You know, I can't be the general of a Muslim army, and start ruining our reputation and start losing these battles.

We are supposed to be people of Izzah, not people of defeat. So al-Muthanna ibn al-Harith, he looks on to the battlefield, and he sees where are the lackadaisical Muslims. Where are the Muslims that are on the battlefield, but they're, you know, just chilling, under the shade, not doing anything.

He gets a scribe and writes down one line to them. He sends this one line to those individuals, and all of a sudden their attitude changes. And I want to share that line with you today.

Do not be the cause of defeat of the ummah today. That this ummah has enough losers. You know, alhamdulillah, we have many people who are on, you know, receiving their doles, or I don't know what you guys call it here.

People who don't want to work, people who are dependent upon governments, people who are dependent upon charity of other people, people who just don't want to help themselves. I remind you of this very fact. Do not be the cause of defeat for the ummah today.

Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) has given you the ability, He has given you the potential, it's time to fulfill it. So see what you're good at and step up to the plate.

Lack of Follow-up

And the last pitfall of dawah, that when we give it to people, is a lack of follow-up. You see what the Messenger

of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) did was when he gave dawah to people, he built a new relationship in his life that he followed up with.

If this person became sick, he would go to visit them. This person has something wrong in his family, he tries to go and help them. A new Muslim comes into Islam, the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) makes sure that there's someone to educate them and take care of their needs. But I like to give an example that our dawah is just like marriage. And I'll explain how.

By profession, I'm a, you know, a marriage counselor and a therapist. And I see that one of the greatest atrocities that we do as parents is that we will get our children married. We'll say, you know, come and sign the paper.

You come and sign the paper, we say, Bismillah, and you're like, khalas, you're married now. Go and figure each other out. They know nothing about one another.

They know nothing about how to interact with the opposite gender. They know nothing about retaining a marriage. And we tell them to go and figure it out.

Same thing with our dawah. You know, if someone were to come up on stage today and says, you know, brother, I want to take shahadah today. You know, we'll give them the shahadah.

Everyone's gonna shout, Allahu Akbar. We'll give them hugs. And then this person goes and sits in the corner and goes home by themselves.

And that emptiness that they had, it actually becomes worse. Because now they're part of an ummah, but they're still isolated, which is an even worse feeling. At least then they were alone.

There was no ummah concept. But now they're part of an ummah and they're still isolated. So when you give dawah to people, always follow up with them.

Whether you're guiding them to something new or whether you're guiding them to Islam itself. Always follow up with them. See if there's anything you can do to help their circumstances.

Anything you can do to help their situation. Alhamdulillah, Islam is on the rise. We hear this all the time.

But seldom do we hear about people who are actually leaving Islam as well. For this exact same reason. That they entered into Islam.

No one took the time to educate them. No one told them the pitfalls and challenges they would face. No one supported them through their trials.

And then that new shahada that we had, rather than being a proof for us, it now becomes a proof against us. Because this person had Islam and because our failures, they lost it as well. And is that something you really want to meet Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) with?

Conclusion

I wanna conclude my lecture, bismillah ta'ala, with two main points.

That in this world, Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) has given us a limited amount of time. And as an individual, you can only do so much. You can only pray so many prayers.

You can only fast so many days. You can only read so much Quran. But when you guide an individual to these things, you are getting the reward of those actions as well.

And this is one of the best investments you can make for your akhira. I wanna share the story of a man named Mughira. Mughira, he was from Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, from that area.

He was a farmer by profession. He met a Yemeni man by the name of Yaman al-Ju'fi. Yaman al-Ju'fi has beautiful character.

He tells him about Islam. And al-Mughira, he now accepts Islam. He has a son by the name of Ismail.

Al-Mughira has a son by the name of Ismail. And Ismail, he grows up in a Muslim community. He grows up going to the masjid.

He grows up praying. But his Islam only goes that far. He was just like your typical average Muslim.

And then Ismail, he has a son. He names his son Muhammad. His son Muhammad was the compiler of Sahih al-Bukhari.

Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari. Now just think about that. Yaman al-Ju'fi, he gave dawah to his grandfather.

And from the progeny of al-Mughira came Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari. Imagine the amount of reward that Yaman al-Ju'fi is getting. And I'll share just one glimpse from the life of Imam al-Bukhari for you.

Is that I want you to think about all the nawafil prayers that you prayed in your whole entire life. Not the sunnah prayers, not the fardh prayers. But nawafil that you prayed just for the sake of getting closer to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala).

Perhaps in the middle of the night. Or perhaps after the sun has risen. That you prayed just for the sake of getting closer to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala).

How many do you think you can enumerate? Maybe a couple of hundred. Maybe a couple of thousand. I think maybe 10,000 for a lot of us.

It might be pushing it. But I want to share one aspect of the life of Imam al-Bukhari, rahimahullah. Before he would introduce or include a hadith inside Sahih al-Bukhari, he would make wudu.

And after making wudu, he would pray two rakahs of istikhara to Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). Should I include this hadith inside Sahih al-Bukhari or not? So two rakahs for every hadith. Now help me out with the math over here.

If he has 7,300 ahadith inside Sahih al-Bukhari, how many rakahs has he prayed? Someone shout out the answer. 7,300 times 2. What's the answer folks? 14,600. And who's getting the reward for this? Imam al-Bukhari.