MAS Youth Talks III Threads, Fashion and Social Media

MAS Youth Talks III: Threads, Fashion and Social Media

Speaker: Saad Tasleem - MASCON2017

Opening Greetings

Okay pretty good (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - al-ḥamdu lillāh)

Introduction

Okay, so what I was asked to speak about was - this is literally the question that was sent to me: What has informed or inspired your own fashion choices? And how you took those ideas and added your own spice to them? So, I'm going to share quickly like my story with you (إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ - ʾin shāʾa-llāh). But my story is going to begin after I graduated from the University of Medina.

Background: My Journey

So, I spent almost seven years in Medina. I studied, I got a diploma in Arabic and then a degree in Sharia. And then I moved back to the States. And I was hired by Al-Maghreb Institute. How many people have heard of Al-Maghreb, raise your hand, raise your hand? Okay, (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - al-ḥamdu lillāh)

So, I was hired by Al-Maghreb Institute to teach classes - you know, on Islamic topics, topics related to the Sharia, obviously. And also, I came back to my community and I was getting more active. They were asking me to come give khutbas and so on and so forth.

The Struggle: Two Directions

And I very soon realized that there are two types of people kind of pulling at me. There's two directions that people wanted me to take when it comes to the way I dress and the way I look and the way I present myself.

First Direction: The Religious Folk

First off are kind of like the religious folk who wanted me to come back and kind of look the part of a quote-unquote sheikh. They're like, "You're a graduate of Medina, you've studied Sharia. You're going to be giving khutbas and lectures and so on and so forth. So, you know, you gotta look the part."

And there's a certain picture we get in our mind when we think of a sheikh or we think of a scholar or we think of a da'i. They look and dress a certain way, they sound a certain way. And so, that was kind of what people wanted to see.

Second Direction: Al-Maghreb's Marketing

On the other hand, there was Al-Maghreb. And Al-Maghreb, at that time, I was one of the younger instructors with Al-Maghreb. Actually, I wasn't the youngest - that's a big misconception. I'm not the youngest Al-Maghreb instructor. Maybe the youngest looking (الله أَعْلَمُ - Allāhu aʿlam), I don't know. But definitely not the youngest.

But, you know, that is kind of what they wanted to play off. That he's young, he studied Islam, he was born and raised in America, and he can relate to the youth. And the way to do that is, well, they wanted to market me as being young and cool and hip. Their words, not mine.

And one of the things that they knew about me was that I have a motorcycle, you know, I like riding. And so, they took that and they kind of ran with it. And they said, "Okay, he's young and he's cool. And, you know, he's into extreme sports. And, you know, he likes doing all this kind of stuff or whatever."

And then they put my bio together. And I looked at it, and I read it. And by the way, my bio right now on the Al-Maghreb website is very similar to the one that was first there, which I'm still not happy with. But I looked at that bio and looked at their marketing strategy. And I was like, "Look, this is not me, right? I don't think of myself in this way."

And I kind of, I very distinctly remember the feeling of being pulled in these two directions. So there were those people who wanted me to fit like the traditional mold of what a sheikh or a scholar looks like. And then there was people pulling me in the other direction.

And in that moment, when that was happening in my life and I just started teaching with Al-Maghreb, it was kind of stressful to kind of try and live up to people's expectations of what I'm supposed to be like.

The Advice That Changed Everything

And then I remembered a piece of advice that one of my sheikhs, one of my teachers gave me before I left Medina. One of the things I did before I left Medina is I went to my teachers, my sheikhs, my scholars, and I said, "Give me some final advice before I leave."

And one of my sheikhs, he said to me: "Be an open book."

And I was like, "Okay, cool. What does that mean?" I didn't say that to him. I was just like, "Okay, thank you." I was supposed to, I guess, understand what that meant.

In that moment, I didn't really truly understand what he meant until I got home, and until I found myself in that situation. And then I realized what my teacher was telling me.

The Meaning: Being True to Yourself

And what he was telling me was that it's important that we are true to who we are. It's important that we're true to ourselves. That we can pretend to be other people, but in terms of, you know, spiritual happiness and in terms

of spiritual well-being, and in terms of, you know, being at peace with ourselves, the only way that we can last and the only way that we can achieve that is if we're true to who we are.

My Decision: Refusing to Be Defined by Others

And so, one of the things that I did is I refused to let people pull me in different directions. I refused to let people define me and define the way I'm supposed to dress and how I'm supposed to look and what I'm supposed to sound like. And I refused to do that because I knew that this is not something...

Reason One: Personal Authenticity

Number one, like, I don't think I could live with that. I think you can only pretend to be someone else for so long. You can pretend to, you know, you can act like someone else or whatever for so long, until you yourself, you're unhappy with who you are. And that leads to other emotional and spiritual problems. Number one.

Reason Two: People Can See Through You

Number two is because of all of you. I believe that most people out there, people who listen to me and people who are going to listen to me - that's what I thought back then - that the people who are going to listen to me, that sooner or later they're going to be able to see through you. That if you're being real with people, if you're being genuine with people, if you're being honest and open with people, people recognize that. And that is something that people can connect with.

The Spiritual Dimension: The Hadith of Souls

And I believe that there is a spiritual aspect to that. And you know the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 3336, Sahih Muslim 2638)

"Souls are like conscripted soldiers; those which recognize one another will have affinity with one another, and those which do not recognize one another will differ with one another."

Meaning just like soldiers - if you've ever seen like line up, right, like attention or whatever - they get into this perfect line. They're in sync, they're in harmony. Likewise, souls are like that. So souls that feel comfortable with one another, they automatically become harmonious with one another.

And that's why I believe that beyond just speaking to individuals, when I speak to people, it's not just the words coming out of my mouth. I believe there's a spiritual aspect there as well. And the only way that, like I said, I can be comfortable with myself, and I believe the only way that people - you know, if there's going to be a trust - that trust is only going to last if people honestly believe that I'm being who I am.

The Results: Six Years Later

And so I made that decision way back then. We're coming on to I think about six years now that I've been teaching and giving da'wah and so on and so forth. And that's probably one of the best decisions I made at that point in my life - to be true to who I am, to not pretend to be someone else.

And what that means is a few things. And this is like hashtag real talk. This is what the outcome has been for me:

Result One: Personal Peace

Number one, I'm happy with myself, right? I'm content with myself. I don't, I'm not stressed out about, you know, presenting a certain image or being someone or whatever.

Result Two: Genuine Connection

Number two, like I said, there has been - for me, it's been - there's been a lot of positivity. There's a lot of people come up to me, a lot of young people who I believe can see that. And that's what they've told me. And you know (الله أَعْلَمُ - Allāhu aʿlam) Allah knows what's in our hearts. But people come to me and they have been able to connect and relate to what I have to say.

And honestly, the da'wah that I give, the things that I speak about, I'm like, I'm not bringing some new revolutionary concepts.

The Message: Timeless Truth, Personal Connection

We talk about Quran and sunnah and hadith, and so on, tafsir and all these things, seerah, whatever. This is not new stuff. Our scholars have been talking about this stuff for the last 1400 years.

But it's about: Does the message connect with the person that you're speaking to? And I think that's where (الْحَمْدُ - al-ḥamdu) - you know it's been very good. You know, I've had a lot of people who do feel like they can relate to my message.

The Ongoing Challenge

On the negative side, which I don't even really consider to be much of a negative side, there's still, till today, are those two parties that are pulling me in each direction. Right, till this day I get messages. People come up to me. They're like, "Why do you dress this way? Why do you talk this way? Why do you, whatever? Why did you do this to your hair? And why this and that?" Whatever it may be.

Why I'm at Peace

And I'm content because of a few things. Here's why I'm at peace with myself:

Number One: Being Honest to Myself

Like I said, I believe I'm being honest to myself.

Number Two: Knowledge is Power

And this is, I believe, even more important: Knowledge is power. Knowledge is everything. If you know what you're doing is good with your Lord and your Creator, then nothing else matters, right?

So I, for me, if I have learned the type of things that I'm talking about, if I know what I'm doing (إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ تَعَالَى - ʾin shāʾa-llāhu taʿālā) is not displeasing to Allah, I know that I'm staying within the boundaries of الله سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - Allāhu subḥānahu wa taʿālā then you know, because in all honesty, in all openness, I couldn't care less about your opinion about the way I look or the way I dress.

And I often tell people like: Be good with - I know this sounds cliche - be good with God, right? And then nothing else matters, right?

And that's why it's important to learn. It's important to learn when, you know, we're talking about clothing and dress. It's important to learn where the boundaries are, where the sharia puts those boundaries.

Islam and Diversity

You know (الله سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - Allāhu subḥānahu wa taʿālā) has given us - has given us guidelines. Allah has given us principles. Allah has given us, you know, a framework. That doesn't mean, by the way, a lot of people have this misconception that we all have to dress and look exactly the same. And the more I have learned about Islam and the more I've studied, the more I've come to that realization that Islam was never meant to make everyone look exactly the same and make everyone behave exactly the same and everyone wears the same things. And that's, that's Islam never ever, ever, ever intended that.

Example: The Companions and Hairstyles

And that's why you go back to the time of the companions (رَضِيَ اللهُ تَعَالَى عَنْهُمْ - raḍiya-llāhu taʿālā ʿanhum). For those of you who don't know, by the way, I teach a class that deals with these issues. It's called "Trends." We talk about culture and identity and even like fashion and clothing from an Islamic perspective.

And so in that class, one of the things I talk about is some of the styles that the sahaba had. You know, we talk about hair, for example. And, and, you know, most people, or a lot of people attend that seminar, they're actually surprised with some of the hairstyles that the sahaba had.

And one of the things that I mention in, after we talk about like hairstyles and all that, and I'm like, "Look, here's all these hairstyles that the companions had, like different types of hair." One thing that we don't find amongst the companions is them criticizing one another for their hairstyle, right? As long as what they're not doing, as long as they're staying in what is permissible and what is halal, then we don't find them criticizing one another.