Surrounded by Signals - The Reality of Social Media

Surrounded by Signals - The Reality of Social Media

Lecture by Sheikh Omar Suleiman at #YC2015

Opening

"Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings."

"I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."

"All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And there is no aggression except against the oppressors. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous."

"O Allah, send Your peace and blessings upon Your servant and messenger, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), and upon his family and companions, and grant them abundant peace."

Introduction

So, I was listening to Imam Suhaib talking and I was like, man, I'm gonna come down hard with my talk because I'm gonna tell you all about why social media is haram - even though I'm on social media. I use Facebook and Twitter. All that other nonsense is haram until I investigate it - Snapchat and Instagram and all that other stuff. I have no idea what to do with that stuff yet. I'll let you guys know when I'm on, inshallah. I'll tweet about it.

But you know, honestly, this is a topic that's interesting. Over the last three, four years, I've seen some unique topics - I've seen the fiqh of Facebook, the tafsir of Twitter, and all that stuff like that, right? Talking about the different ways of use of social media.

I want to try to address it from a different aspect altogether tonight, inshallah, to leave you guys with some meaningful advice. I don't have too much time, so hopefully there are things that you'll be able to remember and you'll be able to apply. So I'm gonna try to actually make it structured.

Part One: The Disease of Consumption

The Need to Constantly Consume

Number one: when you're talking about the conception of social media, when you're talking about the inputs - because there are two separate topics here. A person that constantly feels the need to check their Twitter, check their Facebook, go online, see what's going on, look up other people's news feeds. And it's really creepy how obsessed we are with other people's lives.

A Personal Observation

Somehow I remember one time I took a group of students on a retreat and we went to a beach. We had this penthouse on the beach and there was no one else in the building - somehow it was off-season. And it was one of the most beautiful things you could ever see. I mean, you wake up and you're just surrounded by this panoramic view of the Gulf of Mexico. And it's really one of those like (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhanAllah) places, right? You guys here in the Northeast don't see much of that. I'm not gonna diss you guys the way that Imam Suhaib did, but just that beautiful scenery, right?

And so I was just observing what everyone would do. So we were like 20 guys laid out across this penthouse, just windows everywhere and the ocean everywhere. And I was just trying to see what everyone would do when they woke up.

And what do you think everyone did as soon as they opened their eyes? Like, before they could even fully open their eyes, they were looking at their phones. Like, that's how they wake up - for salah, right away just clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking.

I'm like, "God, you guys don't realize the scenery that's around you. You don't realize the beauty that you're in right now because you're so busy looking up what other people are doing right now."

The Spiritual Disease

And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhanAllah) that to me represents the disease of consumption. So I'm just gonna talk about consuming that material, consuming that constant newsfeed, consuming all of that stuff that's online, constantly bombarding yourself, bombarding your soul, bombarding your heart, your mind, polluting yourself with that stuff.

And then there's the output part - there's the giving part, right? And (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhanAllah) when you know, they're both related to the same disease.

Unable to Be Alone with Yourself

First and foremost, I want to look at it from a spiritual perspective. When you constantly feel the need to consume something - be it your social media, be it your TV - you know, there are a lot of people that can't sleep unless their TVs are on, or unless they're playing something on YouTube. Like, you're not able to sleep unless you've got your phone out in front of you, or you're on your laptop and you just pass out in front of your laptop, or whatever it is that you're doing.

Whatever it may be, that in and of itself means that you're unable to be alone with yourself. And (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhanAllah) you know, I've had people say that to me before, and I get it. And it's a way that some people try to deal with trauma, you know. And I'm guilty of it. When I went through one of the most traumatic periods of my life, I constantly had to have something playing in the background. I was looking for the sounds of sleep and whatever it may be. I had to have something to distract me from myself.

And that was very interesting, and it was because I saw myself guilty of it. And that's something that, you know, in this day and age, we can't do without social media to the extent that we would rather have it than have electricity.

The Test of Our Times

I want you to imagine this: If you had a choice right now for the power to go out or for your phones to go out and your social media to go down, would you rather the power go out and you could still tell the world about how much your life sucks because the power went out? Or would you rather have power and not have the internet and not have social media and not have any connection to the world?

Right? Like, we need that. Like, you see people sitting in waiting rooms, you know, at doctor's offices or at clinics, and they're waiting to be called in. And when you don't have signal on your phone, how crazy does it drive you? Right? "Why isn't it coming up? Why isn't this working?" And if your phone dies, it's like you have to be supervised at that point to make sure you don't do anything to hurt yourself, right? You start looking at the fishes inside the doctor's clinic - you're like, "Hmm, I didn't know those were there," right?

But we just constantly need to be consuming something. And that's dangerous in and of itself for two reasons:

1. Number one: The fact that you need to consume
2. Number two: What you're consuming

So you might not be guilty of the second one, but being guilty of the first one - the need to be busy with something other than Allah and yourself.

The Teaching of Imam al-Hasan al-Basri

Imam al-Hasan al-Basri رَحِمَةُ اللَّهُ says: "One of the signs of spiritual abandonment is when you are just busy with everything that doesn't concern you - busy with everything but yourself, busy with everything but Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) - unable to be alone with your thoughts."

And then secondly, obviously, what you're consuming. And you know, you might just be passing over certain things, but it's all harming you. It's all getting to you in some way, shape, or form. It's all penetrating the soul, penetrating the mind, penetrating the heart some way.

Part Two: The Output and Seeking Attention

The Disease of Seeking People's Attention

And then comes the output piece of this. And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhanAllah) you know you constantly have these studies - which I think are flawed because they don't distinguish between people - about people that use social media more frequently being more likely to be depressed, for example. And there's some truth to that sometimes, because if you constantly feel the need to just put things out there, trying to turn people's faces towards you, trying to gain the attention of everyone but Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala)....

Like, you're just sitting there constantly tweeting, posting, tweeting, posting, tweeting, posting, right? Doing all the other stuff. In essence, it represents a greater disease - that you're trying to get the attention of others.

And Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) tells us in the Quran:

"Seek Allah's sight."

Don't seek the sight of people. Seek Allah's sight instead of trying to just put everything out there until someone catches on and it becomes popular and you become an instant sensation. Instead of doing that, try to spend some time seeking Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala)'s pleasure.

The Blessing of Solitude

And Imam Suhaib mentioned the daily dhikr part of this. And you know, I just tell people this - and I'm saying it to myself first - you know how amazing it feels to take 30 minutes out? Like, not 30 minutes by yourself when you've got your phone on, and it's not necessarily if you're reading Quran - just 30 minutes away from it all. Half an hour sitting with yourself, you know, doing something that you have to do. Do you know how amazing that feels?

The Modern Fitna

And you know, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) has tested us in many ways in this day and age. And obviously, the fitna that the sahaba had of persecution and things of that sort - we don't have that level of fitna. We don't have that level of trial and tribulation.

But when the Prophet (صَلّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) talks about a time coming that holding on to our faith would be like holding on to burning hot coals, the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is referring to the fitna of temptation, desire.

Why? Because when you used to have to do something haram, you used to have to go to the club or other places, right? All those stores that you guys see on the highways and stuff like that - you've got to go to get that material. You used to have to go somewhere to get haram. You used to have to go somewhere to consume it.

Now it's just here. Now you can pull up all kinds of stuff. Now you've got it on HBO and you've got it on your phone. You don't have to go anywhere. You can find it in your room.

The Test of Muraqabah

And the danger of that is that it tests your (مُراقبة - muraqabah) - it tests your sense of observance of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to an extreme in a way that those that came before you didn't have to be tested. You are constantly under bombardment.

And don't think that Allah doesn't notice when you ignore that. Think about that reward. I don't want to depress you guys. Don't think Allah is not pleased with you, and Allah doesn't notice when you're able to resist that temptation even when you're all alone.

And if you're not someone that's able to resist it, then aspire for that. Like, how amazing is that? How much do I love Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) that even in the privacy of my own home, even in the privacy of my room, even with these devices with everything constantly being thrown at me, I'm still able to say, "O Allah..."

The Greater Test

It's not just one woman, you know, or one man. Because the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned one of the people under the shade of Allah's throne as being someone that was called by a woman - and it applies to a man as well - of great beauty and status. (فَقَالَ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللّه - faqala inni akhafu Allah) - they said, "I fear Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala)."

You're not being called by one woman or one man. You're constantly being called, and you're able to put that down and say, "No, I'm afraid of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). I love Allah more than I love this. I love Allah more than I love this."

And that's something to aspire to, right? I'm not here to just break you people down. Just think about it: that's a testimony to your faith. "O Allah, I'm going to do this because You mean more to me. No one else is looking at me, but I want You to look at me favorably." And that's something there.

And when you constantly have to post things out there and when you constantly have to consume things out there, both of them represent that spiritual void.

Part Three: The Consequences of Too Much Speech

The Wisdom of Umar ibn al-Khattab

That's number one. Number two: a very beautiful statement of Umar ibn al-Khattab رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ that's narrated by Malik ibn Dinar - and it's authentic and it's a beautiful narration.

Umar ibn al-Khattab رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ said:

"Whoever talks too much makes too many mistakes."

And the idea here is that you used to have one way of expressing yourself, right? Through your tongue. And maybe you could write letters back then, or you could write your poetry, or whatever it was. Like, you used to have very few ways to express yourself.

Now all of a sudden, this power has been placed in all of our laps where we're able to express ourselves in so many different ways. I mean, you could express yourself through your tongue, you could express it through your text message, you could express it through your email, you could express it through your Facebook, your Twitter, whatever it may be. You have all of these tongues where you can express yourself and you can put stuff out there.

And hence, the possibility of committing a sin or making a mistake becomes much greater. And the reward for practicing silence also becomes much greater.

The Danger for Public Speakers

It's very easy to get ourselves in a lot of trouble now. And look, no - you know, at least I can speak for myself - no one is in greater danger of that than me and the people that are constantly at conferences like this speaking, and people whose words are looked to. Because, you know, it's not like I can go back and take some of the things I said back, because everything gets recorded and put up on YouTube. Everything gets preserved, right?

And (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhanAllah) the danger of making those mistakes becomes even greater because they're enshrined. You're stuck with them. And so the burden of responsibility with your words and the things that you write and the things that you type and the things that you put out there becomes greater.

And all of those hadith where the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) talks about practicing silence all of a sudden become more relevant.

The Three Types of People to Avoid

And you know, I'm not just talking about going off on somebody or responding to a comment or backbiting and things of that sort. I'm just talking about talking about everything.

When the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) mentioned the three types of people - "the most hated of you to me and the furthest of you from me on the Day of Judgment" - the first category the Prophet (صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) mentioned was:

(التَّرْتَارُونَ الْمُتَشَدِّقُونَ، الْمُتَفَيْهِقُونَ)

الترارون - those are people that have to have an opinion on absolutely everything. Whether you're qualified or not, you say something. You have to say something. You have to give your input - as if anyone cares, right? #NobodyCares - as if anyone cares about your opinion on what's going on in this

part of the world or that part of the world, or so on and so forth, or on this issue. You have to say something and you don't consider much of it, right?

And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says:

"Haste is from the shaitan."

You know, doing things really quickly, not saying things in a calculated way, not doing things in a calculated way - just constantly putting it out there.

The Progression of Spiritual Decline

And so you put out these words and these statements. And when you keep on putting it out, if the volume of your speech - and I don't mean like as far as the noise level - if the amount of writing you have out there and the amount of words you have out there is greater, then you're naturally going to make more mistakes. So you have to be more responsible with the means of expression that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has given to you.

مَنْ كَثُرَ كَلَامُهُ كَثُرَ سَقَطُهُ So

: رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُ And then he said

"And when you make too many mistakes, your modesty will wither away."

This is the next level, the next phase that Umar ibn al-Khattab (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ) mentions:

1. Number one: If you talk too much, you make too many mistakes

2. And when you make too many mistakes, your modesty will wither away - قَلَّ حَيَاؤُهُ

I want you to think about this: What usually happens when a person starts to put too much out there? Do people gain respect for them or lose respect for them? Usually they lose respect for them. Usually some of those sins that Allah blessed His servants to hide start to come out, right? Some things that you wouldn't have expected of a person, or the way that they start to speak if they speak too much.

You know, it's only a matter of time before they're caught on their bad day. And even if it's not their character when they type that day - and you don't see it, you just see the tweet, you just see the Facebook status as someone who's consuming it - you don't see what happened to that person that day. Maybe they had a fight with their spouse. Maybe they got into it with their kids. Maybe they had a flat tire at work today. And you don't see that when they comment on something, but you know what? It's there. It's there for all of us.

And so what ends up happening though, our modesty starts to be lost - either in the way that we speak or the things we put out there. We start to expose things of ourselves that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) has kept hidden.

The Final Stage: Death of the Heart

Umar ibn al-Khattab (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ) continues: He says when your modesty starts to shrink, then your caution starts to shrink. Your filter goes away, right? The modesty was the guard.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says that modesty is a form of iman. When modesty is lifted, when modesty is gone, the filter is gone too. And so when the filter is gone, it's just all over the place. There is no caution in what you write and what you put out there.

"And whoever starts to lose that caution and that filter... his heart dies."

So (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ) Umar ibn al-Khattab (رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ) is taking you from a place where you just talk too much to a place of the death of the heart, to show you there is a direct relationship between the two. There's a direct relationship with how much you talk to the life of your heart - so whether it's going to be sick or whether it's going to die - because we stopped considering the things that we put out there.

Part Four: The Unintended Messages We Send

Every Post Sends a Message

And it's really important for us to understand: sometimes you put out a message even when you don't intend to put out a message. I'll give you guys an example: You write something, and in your writing you give off the indication that you engage in something haram, you engage in something that's prohibited. Somebody else looks at that and naturally that sin has become more normalized to them. It's become humanized: "Well, you know what? Other people do it too. Other people do that too." You naturally normalized it for someone else.

And you know (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ) that's where the picture that you put out, the wording that you put out - as human beings, we're very complex creatures, right? Nothing is black and white. The same picture that you put out might give off a thousand different messages based on the person that's reading it.

The Limits of Our Responsibility

And you can't control all of that. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى):

"Allah is not going to burden you beyond your scope."

You can't control how everyone is going to interpret everything that you say. You can't. If you could, then the mashayikh would be in the greatest trouble, and people of da'wah would be in the greatest trouble, because sometimes a shaykh or a da'i will put out a well-intentioned good message, positive message, and it'll be interpreted in the nastiest ways. You can't help that.

But at least what you can control is that when you're writing something, when you're putting up a picture, when you're making a reference, when you're saying something, you are not the cause of someone else's waswasa. You're not the cause of someone else's whispers.

Personal Responsibility

It's one thing - and be honest with yourself - when you go online and you see on your social media certain people that you look up to - your brother, your sister, the guy at the masjid, the sister at the masjid - saying something or doing something or putting up a picture that you know you were a little bit uncomfortable with at first. Did it not affect you? Did it not cause whispers to start going off in your own head? And all of a sudden things to be okay?

In the same way, don't be the cause of waswasa for someone else. Don't be the cause of the whispers for someone else, right?

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

"No one of you believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."

You don't like that when it happens to you - you're trying to maintain your spirituality - don't corrupt someone else.

The False Notion of "Not Being a Hypocrite"

You know, I remember there's a brother that I went to and I advised him. I was like, "Look, you know, I know you're struggling with certain things. I know you're trying to get over certain things. But you know, you don't have to put out all these pictures. You don't have to expose yourself that way."

And the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) mentioned that the person that wouldn't be forgiven on the Day of Judgment is someone that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) concealed during the day and they would expose themselves during the night. Like, why would you do that? Allah provided a cover for you. Why go out there and blast your sins?

And you know what he answered me? I'm not even making this up. He said, "But sheikh, I'm not a hypocrite." Like, wait, what? "I'm not a hypocrite. I do these things. Why should I hide them?"

I'm like, "I understand, but not being a hypocrite and not boasting about your sins are two different things, right?" It's one thing to say that I'm not going to get online and lecture people about things that I myself do:

- Quran 21:2

2:44 Quran -

"Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves?"

Telling others to do what you yourself don't do - that's hypocrisy.

But Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is not going to appreciate when you get online and you say, "Because I'm not a hypocrite, I'm not gonna hide. I'm gonna do me. I'm gonna put it all out there. Why should I hide it?"

That's another type of hypocrisy. That's hypocrisy with Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) - when you say you love Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) and you're still willing to insult the rulings of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) publicly without filter. You're just willing to put it all out there. That's also a form of hypocrisy.

The Historical Perspective

You know, Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (رَحِمَةُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى) he said: "The hypocrites in the time of the Prophet (صلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) at least they had the decency to hide their hypocrisy. Now people don't even hide their hypocrisy. They just put it on blast."

Part Five: The Story of Cain and Abel

Normalizing Sin

And sometimes it's not even you telling someone else to do something haram. How many of you have heard the story of Cain and Abel - Qabeel and Habeel - the two sons of Adam (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام)

Let me ask you guys a question first of all: Who killed who? Did Cain kill Abel or did Abel kill Cain? There's a problem here. You guys don't know. Okay, the older brother killed the younger brother - Cain killed Abel.

The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) he tells us in an authentic hadith, he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

"No person is killed unjustly except that the older son of Adam takes a share of that blood."

Why? He's the first person to kill. Now he didn't go out and put out a Facebook status or tell everyone else like, "Hey guys, I just killed my brother. You should try it too." It's not what he did.

What did he do though? He normalized it. He was the first one to make this okay.

So when you've corrupted your own fitrah, when you've messed up yourself and you don't seek that forgiveness from Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) in private, but instead you put it on blast and you make references that would cause others to have those whispers, you're normalizing it for that person. You might have a share of that sin as well, especially again if that person is vulnerable at the moment that they're reading your status or your tweet or they're seeing your social media output.

Part Six: The Positive Side - Spreading Good

Responsibility in What We Share

And so yes, be responsible with what you put out there. Be responsible with the things that you write. Be responsible with the things that you say. Be responsible with the impressions that you give. Cover yourself. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) covered you. You don't have to expose yourself.

And there's no bravery or courage in doing so. At least give yourself a chance that even though you're weak, but Allah sees you on the Day of Judgment and says, "Look, I know you were weak, but at least you felt bad about being weak. At least you felt bad about it. At least you weren't boasting about it," right?

And a lot of times, (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhanallah) I tell people this all the time: Look, you can't delete your past, but you can delete your past on social media. Even leaving things up there from the days of jahiliyya, right? Don't be that cause of fitnah for other people.

The Example of the Three Winners

Now on the bright side of things - because I already got the five-minute warning - you know (سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ - subhanallah) just last night actually - this morning - I just came from North Carolina. And I know tomorrow, inshallah ta'ala, I have a session on our three winners, speaking about Deah, Yusor, and Razan. May Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) have mercy on them and may Allah give steadfastness to their families.

How many of you know about the three winners in North Carolina? How many of you have read that story? How many of you were impacted by it? Why? Not just because three people were killed unjustly, but because it's clear that they were good young people. They were people that were doing great things. They were people that were using whatever platform Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) gave to them to do amazing things - whether it was putting on a charity campaign online or calling people to volunteer or showing their care.

They were people that put out goodness.

The Ripple Effect of Good

Now, do you think that when Deah was putting up his $20,000 GoFundMe campaign for his project - and I'm going to talk about this tomorrow - that it would have a global impact and Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) would make that platform so great that it would earn up to almost a million dollars? You think he knew that?

Do you think that those three knew that the tweets that they put out about the unity of the community, about people's hearts being united, about pride in the hijab in the case of Yusor and how she puts herself on the line every day for the sake of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) - do you think they knew that those tweets were going to go all over the world? Had no idea.

Now the point of this is that just as all of this power that we all have now - these modes of expression that we have now - are means of us ruining ourselves, at the same time they're also pretty incredible ways of spreading good.

Spreading Peace and Good

Spread peace. Spread peace not just by saying (سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ - salam alaykum) to one another, by the way. Spread good. You have so many means now.

And you don't know when that one ayah that you put up, that one hadith that you put up, that one scholar's quote that you quoted, that one good project - because I want you guys to think higher than just retweeting and posting - that one good thing that you put up, that one reminder that you put up, that one project you worked on - you don't know what Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ - subhanahu wa ta'ala) is going to make out of that.

You have no idea whatsoever. You have no idea how many people you're going to touch. You have no idea how many people you're going to impact.

Personal Stories of Impact

You know how I just got back from Malaysia on Wednesday night? I met a sister in Malaysia - and there are many of these stories. If you talk to anyone involved in da'wah, you're going to hear a million stories about people that turned out to be touched by something they did and you had no idea whatsoever. You met them years later.

There is a lady from China that walked up to me in the convention in Malaysia and she was a Christian missionary. And she was arguing with atheists, so she went online looking for arguments against atheists and she landed on "The Beginning and the End" series - the arguments against atheism. She watched it. By video 15, she took shahada.

That wasn't me. That was Allah. That wasn't me. That was Allah. Allah guides the hearts to whatever direction He wants to guide them based upon something He sees in those hearts and in the desires of those people.

You never know when Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَیٰ - subhanahu wa ta'ala) might direct the right heart to your platform because of the goodness that was in your heart when you did what you did. You never know. You never know how many people you would touch, or you never know who you will touch that will touch many people. And all of that will be from your scale of good deeds.

Conclusion

Social Media Doesn't Replace Real Work

Now in conclusion here, I don't want you to think for a moment - you know, one thing that as you know, the few things that I've already heard in this convention when you listen to those people that really laid the foundations for da'wah in North America, the things that they used to do - and to be honest with you, I'm not that old - the things I remember, you know, going out every Sunday with the "Why Islam?" pamphlets and putting them on people's doors and things of that sort every Sunday morning, and the da'wah that you have to do in the streets and so on and so forth.

Social media never becomes a replacement for that. Don't think that social media ever absolves you of grassroots work, of actually doing good. It's one thing to tweet, to retweet, to post, to say something good - and a good word is appreciated by Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) - but you still have to go out there and make your story, not just tweet your story, seeking the pleasure of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) and hoping that Allah accepts.

And if Allah accepts, you never know what will become of that which you've done.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to grant us all sincerity and to make us responsible with that which He's given to us, and to allow us to protect and guard our own fitrah, our own goodness that He's placed inside of us, and to protect us from the whispers of shaitan when we're constantly bombarded by them, and to protect us from being those that cause shaitan to whisper to others.

And we ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to forgive us when we allow those shortcomings to overcome us and to harm the da'wah to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). And we ask Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) to allow us to reform ourselves and to reform those around us.

"O Allah, accept."

جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ