Challenging The Norms Today

Challenging The Norms Today in Light of the Seerah

Introduction: The Revolutionary Message of Islam

The session is titled, Challenging the Norms Today in Light of the Seerah. And we talked about how the Prophet ﷺ's message was revolutionary in nature. How it challenged norms in society, in tribal culture, in racism, in transgression.

Imam Siraj will address the idea and the concept of our faith, the seerah of our Prophet ﷺ in light of us living today and challenging the norms of society so we can live the proper life of the Prophet ﷺ. Without further ado, Imam Siraj Wahaj. Assalamualaikum.

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - Bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)
(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ - Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen)
(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ. أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ. وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ - Alhamdulillah. Ashadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah. Washadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.)

Alhamdulillah. Ashadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah. Washadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh.

I always like to watch that when I'm talking so I can pick up new words. I only intend to speak with you for a couple of minutes. You've had an extraordinary day. I think you learned a lot, some extraordinary teachers. I've learned, I've been taking notes and I pray Allah جل جلاله that you will be blessed. I have the most positive doctor in the world. Whenever I go for my checkup, he says, Mr. Wahaj, your blood pressure is good. Your heart rate is good. Your weight is excellent. And I go away like, wow, feeling good.

I don't know if you're like me. My doctor, I want him to give it to me straight. How about you? You want him to make you feel good or give it to you straight? What you want? Somewhere in between. So I'm asking you, you want me to give it to you straight or make you feel good? Thank you.

The Three Enemies: Understanding the Root Problems

I was in Atlanta, Georgia and I ran into Dr. Niazi, cardiologist. He said to me, he was agitated. He said, Imam Siraj, Muslims have three enemies. And I decided today that I'm going to tell you two of the enemies. I'm not going to tell you the third unless you ask me personally, I will tell you.

The first enemy, he said, sugar. Now, we have anybody here from Sudan? The Sudanese, they never put sugar in their coffee. They put coffee in their sugar. So be careful of sugar. Number two, he said, salt. Salt can be an enemy if you put too much. And the third one, I'm not going to tell you unless you ask me.

Symptoms vs. Disease: Going to the Root of the Problem

Symptoms is a gift from Allah to alert you that something is wrong. People confuse the symptom with the disease. Most people, they treat symptoms without treating the real, the root of the problem. There's a brother in my community. He said to me, Imam, I take 27 medications and pills a day. And these pills don't solve the problem. They camouflage the problem.

When you have a headache, how many here have had a headache? Yes. And when you get a headache, what do you do? You take aspirins. Aspirins is really like a trick. They don't solve your problem. What the aspirin does, it goes to the area of the pain and it deadens the nerve. So you don't feel the pain, but the problem isn't the headache. The headache is an indication that there's a problem. Often it's poison in the body. You want to solve the problem? You want to get rid of it? You get rid of it by getting rid of the poison.

Someone asked a question. How long will the building stand? Answer, how strong is the foundation? And when you build, you don't build by going up first. Yes. You build by going down first and getting a foundation. You want a tall building? You got to go down in the earth to make the building strong enough. So it is with Islam.

You got to go to the root of the problem. Headache, stomachache, fever, chills. Uncomfortable. Don't like it. But wallahi, that's not the problem. You got to go to the root of the problem.

The Golden Era of Islamic Civilization

Our solution is simple. I'd like to read something for you. Listen to this:

"Added to this internal confidence was the fact that Muslims enjoyed outstanding success during their first six or so centuries. To be a Muslim meant to belong to a winning civilization. This pattern of success started right at the beginning in A.D. 622. Muhammad ﷺ fled Mecca as a refugee, then returned there in 630 as its ruler. By the year 715, Muslim conquerors had assembled an empire that reached Spain in the west and India in the east. Muslims boasted some of the most powerful armies, the highest standards of living, the best health, the most impressive rates of literacy, and the most impressive scientific and technical advances. In the words of Martin Kramer, an historian who said, Had there been Nobel Prizes in 1000, they would have gone almost exclusively to the Muslims."

I bet you don't know who said that. Who said that? Hmm? A non Muslim. Good. What's his name? Actually, it was said by Daniel Pipes. Daniel Pipes. Daniel Pipes, the one who criticizes Islam. He said it.

Be a Hammer, Not an Anvil: Shaping Society

You have a decision to make. Martin Luther King put it this way. Every one of you are either a hammer or an anvil. Every one of you are either a hammer or an anvil. That means this. Either you will shape the society or be shaped by the society. Either you will shape the society or you will be shaped by the society.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, peace and blessing be upon him, and a handful of people years ago shaped and changed the society. How did they do it? How did they do it? You see, you want to check your blood pressure. You want to see how much you weigh. You want to check your temperature. You want to do all those things, but the key is to check your iman. How often have you checked your iman, your faith? It's basic.

Education and Values: Reinforcing or Undermining Faith

Do you know in this country, in many countries, education is compulsory? You have to go to school. And depending upon the state, some states you have to go to school at the age of 5, some 6, some 7, up until 16, 17, or 18. Compulsory education. And you know what? Them parents make sure every morning, you getting out of here, you going to school, you wake them up, and you make them go to school. But you don't make them make salat.

Now, some 87% of the children in America go to a public school. In other countries, it's called a government school. 87% go to public school, 10% go to private school, 3% homeschooling. You don't have to send them to a government school, a public school. You can send them to a private school. You can send them to a Muslim school. You can send them to a Catholic school. And you don't even have to do that. You can choose homeschooling.

Education is crucial. But smart people reinforce the values of the society with the education. The problem is, sometimes you will send a Muslim to a government school or a public school, and the education might undermine your very values. I'll give you an idea. Our children go to school. 95% of the Muslims go to public school. Only 5% go to a full-time Muslim school. What are they getting in the public school? I'm not against it. That's not my point. But my point is, and I'm not saying people do it intentionally, but they reinforce the values.

This Christmas is coming. And those Muslim kids, they come home, and they talk about, I want a Christmas tree, I want presents, I want to see what Santa Claus is getting me, because they're being educated and bombarded in the schools that doesn't serve our interests. I don't want to come off like crazy. But you get my point?

The Collapse of Civilizations: Lessons from History

So, how are we going to change the society? Arnold Toynbee. Ever hear of him? Arnold Toynbee. Arnold Toynbee is the greatest historian of our modern time. Arnold Toynbee. He wrote a 12-volume book called The History of the World. Thousands of pages. None of you have to read it. You know one conclusion he said? And he's not a Muslim. He said, of the 22 civilizations that appeared, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state that the United States is in now.

But, sister, I don't know if you have eyes to see. I'll cut you some trouble. I say that as a person who loves this country. This is my country. I'm an American. But there's some very disturbing trends that we see in the country right now.

The Decline of Religious Institutions in the West

This is what I'm going to do. I've got a couple minutes. I'm going to close down. I was in Scotland last year. Saturday, one o'clock in the afternoon, my driver, Naeem, drove down Main Street. And he stopped at a light. And to my right was a huge church. And a lot of people were going in the church, Saturday at one o'clock. So I said, Naeem, what denomination is that? So many people going in the church on a Saturday at one o'clock. What denomination is that? He said, Imam Siraj, that's not a church. It's a pub.

You know what a pub is? It's a bar. He said, in the United Kingdom, if something is built as a church, they can never change the structure. You can put whatever you want there, but you can't change the structure. So we drove down the street. He said, Imam, you see that building there? That's not a church. And that's not a church. And that's not a church. From 1960, 10,000 churches in the United Kingdom have been closed. And another 4,000 will be closed by next year.

Do you see what's going on in the world? Do you see what's going on in America? The number of public schools, Catholic schools, cut down in half. Churches closed, they said, in America, between 3,500 and 4,000 churches closed every year. So what's going on? People crazy. What are we going to do?

The Choice: Change Society or Be Changed

Either we're going to be a hammer, or we're going to be an anvil. Either we will help to change the society, or the society will change us. And there's only one thing that can do it. It's Iman. Same thing that was done 1,400 years ago. You know what the problem is? Everybody's doing it. It's okay. The majority of the people are doing it. It's okay. Let's follow the majority. No matter what they do, it's okay. This is America. You do whatever you want to do.

I'm not going out like that. I want to do what Allah and his messenger say to do. And the irony? If we do what Allah and his messenger say to do, not only will we save us, but we will save the society.

The Parable of the Boat: Collective Responsibility

You don't believe me? The Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, gave us a vision of a boat, and good and bad people in the boat. And the bad people, they tried to drill a hole in the boat. He said, if you stop them, you save them, and you save yourself. If you let them go, you destroy them, and you destroy yourself. [Sahih al-Bukhari 2493]

This is our country. I love America. I'm not ashamed. It's my country. You know, the Washington Nationals, you're okay. I like the New York Mets. We're still brothers. We're good. But I'm going to root against you. Don't

you have like Washington Redskins, something like that? What, what? I said something wrong? What, what? See, see, see? You want the Nationals, but you don't want the Redskins. I don't like that.

Back to Basics: Trusting Allah and His Messenger

So, to me, brothers and sisters, the message is really simple. You got to go back to basics. You got to go back to the Islam. Do you trust Allah? You trust the messenger? You trust the message? Then you got to go back to that. I don't care what they're saying. No, this is the new norm. This is what we do. This is what everybody do. Everybody's doing it. I don't care about that.

You remember Dr. Ahmed Saka? He told me when he left Lebanon and came to Chicago, he said, Imam Siraj, I remember my first Eid in Chicago. Three people attended. Three people in an Eid prayer in Chicago. Dr. Ahmed Saka coming from Lebanon, going to Chicago. I was in Birmingham, England last year, and during the Eid in Birmingham, United Kingdom, you know how many people, Muslims they had praying in the Eid prayer? 140,000.

Things have changed. Muslims are growing. More masjids. Buying churches and synagogues. Turning them into masjid. All over America. All over the West. Something is going on. And there in Manhattan last year, one masjid closed down. One small masjid. And I felt, how do you close a masjid?

A Warning: Don't Forget Allah

I closed with this. It's one thing to be mubashir, a giver of good news. But the prophet, peace be upon him, was mubashir, a warner. And I warn you, from what Allah says in the Quran, what the prophets say, and then I finish.

"Do not be like those who forgot Allah. Therefore Allah caused them to forget themselves." [Quran 59:19]

I'm happy to be a Muslim. I love being a Muslim. Greatest thing ever happened to me. And you know what I noticed? When I was a Christian, read the Bible. And I read about all of these great prophets. But when I became a Muslim, since the Quran was in Arabic, the prophets that I knew about in the Bible, the Quran didn't mention them. Because the language is Arabic.

The Prophets We Love and Name Our Children After

So you help me. When I tell you the prophet that I read in the Bible in English, you tell me in Arabic. Fair? For instance, Jesus. Isa. So you're telling me that Isa in the Quran is what we read about Jesus. Okay, good. How about Moses? Musa. Do you know Muslims with the name Musa? A lot of them. Do you know Muslims with the name Isa? Don't we love Isa? Don't we love Musa?

How about David? Daoud? Solomon? Suleiman? How about, uh, uh, um, uh, huh? How about, how about, how about, how about John? Yahya. How about Eunice? Jonah. How about Job? Ayub. Do you know Muslims with the name Ayub? Aaron. Harun.

These are all names that we have. Muslims have all of these names. Everywhere you go, you have Muslims with these names. The same prophets that you find in the Bible, you find in the Quran. And Muslims love them. They name their children after them. But there's a problem is, you look all around you, the society have forgotten Allah. Schools closing down, private schools closing down, churches closing down, synagogues closing down.

Following the Footsteps of Previous Nations

The prophet warned you. "You will follow those who came before you, step by step and inch by inch, so that if they crawled in the hole of a lizard, you will follow right behind them." [Sahih al-Bukhari 3456, Sahih Muslim 2669]

So you know what I do? I watch that prophetic generation. I watch those who came before us, and then I watch our community.

Two Signs of a Healthy Community

Can I tell you two signs of a healthy community in my opinion? Three minutes, I'm finished. Two signs to me, healthy community. You're talking about symptoms?

First Sign: The Presence of Youth

Number one, when you find a Muslim community and the youth stop coming, it's a sign of an unhealthy community. I was in Detroit, Sheikh Shakir, and I gave a program for the oldest masjid in Detroit. The oldest masjid in Detroit. The oldest masjid has two meanings. Number one, it's the first masjid in Detroit. And this masjid was the first masjid built in Detroit. The second meaning is literal. That masjid, they call it the geriatric masjid. The average age, and I'm not making this up, the average age of the worshiper in that masjid, 80 years old.

You don't find youth there, but you know what? You go around the country. I go. When I go to different cities, I go to different masjids, and I'm looking. Where are the youth? Where are the youth? Because in a few days, if you don't replenish with the youth, then the masjid is finished. It's a warning for us. It is something going on. Where are the youth?

In my masjid, I can tell you at Fajr, basically who's going to be where. On my right, Brother Mohamed Boy from Guinea. To my left, Fatih from Egypt. Next to him, Mohamed from Mauritania. Over there, Kamal from Bangladesh. I can tell you, Abu Rahman, African American, I can tell you who's there. The other day, I noticed Kamal. I said, Kamal, he usually brings his son, 14 years old, for Fajr. I said, recently, Kamal, where's your son?

He said, man, I'm not good. You don't listen. You don't want to come out. These are the signs that we have to look to make sure that we keep our community.

Second Sign: Converts and Reverts

The second thing, you may disagree with this. The health, the sign of a healthy community is converts, reverts. I'm telling you. Go back to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, peace be upon him. Nothing but converts, reverts. May Allah bless you.

Conclusion: Faith and Confidence

My message today is very simple. Go back to the basics. It's real simple. No matter what they say here, what newfangled thing that they put before us, have faith and confidence. Let me tell you one thing. One of the most important things in a sport, you know what it is? It's confidence. Sometimes you have athletes with the same ability. What makes one a superstar, what makes the other one regular, is confidence.

One more thing. I'm finished. No, no. I'm gone. Look. I'm gone to my seat. Where's my seat? I'm gone. I'm gone. I'm finished. I don't want you to think I'm still talking. I'm going. Right? I'm going. I'm going to my seat.

Let me tell you this one thing. Let me tell you this one thing. You think I remember what I was going to say, right? I have no idea. So when I saw that seat, I said, you know what? I'm going to that seat.

Final Supplication

So all I say, brothers and sisters, may Allah bless this masjid with this conference. I pray that for all the speakers, I've gotten something. I pray that you have gotten something that's going to be beneficial for you and your family. May Allah bless you.

As-salamu alaykum.