Righting the Wrongs Faith and Social Justice

Righting the Wrongs: Faith and Social Justice

Imam Siraj Wahhaj

Opening and Introduction

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim). Alhamdulillah. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Brother David Cole, Ibrahim Musa, brothers and sisters, I'm very thankful to Allah to have the great honor and privilege of sharing with you a few words. If it were up to me, I would have been the first speaker. But let me tell you why. Because what I will attempt to do is give the very philosophical underpinnings of this topic, the very foundation which for me is part one of what I want to talk about tomorrow, Inshallah. Brother Ibrahim, you said that you don't want to start in the sky but on the ground, something like that. Well, I want to speak this afternoon lower than the ground.

The Reality of Injustice Against Muslims in America

A few days ago an imam from the northeast came to visit me at my masjid and told me about the tragic case of an imam, prominent, moderate, peaceful, intelligent, and how the government, while he was pending for his citizenship, the Department of Immigration brought some charges against him. And for the last year or so, he wasn't even allowed to work. And then in the last few days, he was charged with a criminal offense for lying to immigration. I don't believe it. Another imam in the same area was harassed so much he couldn't work to support his family that he decided to grab his family and go back to Pakistan. Another imam in the same area, so intimidated, like so many want to pack their bags and go back thousands of miles away after having laid a foundation in this country.

One imam in Brooklyn told me, imam, over the last few years, some 40% of this congregation have left America and gone to Canada or went back to Pakistan. Holy Land Foundation, as I speak to you right now, fighting a bitter court case in Dallas, Texas, funds frozen for years, money that was intended to give to people who were in need of medical support and a charitable organization, millions of dollars frozen. And now they have to fight a case in court. I asked the brother, one of the brothers who are responsible for getting the legal team together, I said, how much will it cost to defend them? He said, over a million dollars. And that means that even if you win, you lose. Months and months, all the Muslims coming to the courts have to spend all of that money, all of the resources, all of that time.

The Presumption of Innocence and the Burden of Proof

And I believe them to be innocent. And our prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said that people were given according to their claims, and some people will claim the lives and properties of others. Therefore, the

burden of proof is on the one who makes the accusation. But we live in a society, all the government has to do is accuse you of something, and you lose. This morning, at the Gwadi Airport, I took my luggage on the outside, the sky cap. He knows me. He went on the computer and said, I'm sorry, I have to take you inside because your name is on the computer. And when I go inside, the ticket agent looked at me and apologized. Wallahi, he apologized over and over again. He said, this is not right. This is hogwash. This is phony. This is not real. He said, I'm sorry I have to do this to you, Mr. Wahaj. And I have to be honest with you, I had some luggage that was overweight. He said, go ahead. I'm not going to charge you. Go ahead. Because this is so unjust.

The Importance of Understanding Current Events Through Faith

I want, brothers and sisters, for the next few moments to lay the foundation of what I want to talk about tomorrow. I love to read current events every day. Six, seven newspapers. I want to be kept abreast of what's going on. Because Aisha, she said about her husband, our prophet Muhammad, can Rasulullah, the messenger of Allah, remember Allah in every circumstance. And I promise you that if you pick up the newspapers and follow the current events, that you will learn a lot about not only this life, but about the hereafter, and I'm going to show you in a few moments.

Can Man Be Trusted to Govern Himself?

We have to look at ourselves. March 4, 1801, the third president of the United States of America, Thomas Jefferson, in his first inaugural address, said the following. Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted to govern himself. Can he then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer the question.

The Honored Position of Humanity

I want to begin this evening with you and me. And I want to talk about us as human beings, and I want to remind you of something that's founded in the Quran, and something that's founded in the Bible. I remember, I'm not a scholar of the Bible by any means, but I remember when I was in the church, there was a verse in the Bible that went something like this. God was creating man, and he said, And let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the face of the planet Earth. This is the honor that Allah had given to man.

And in the Quran it said something a little bit differently, but the point is still the same. (أَلَمْ تَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ - Do you not see that Allah has subjected for you everything in the heavens and the Earth?)

"[Do you not see that Allah has subjected for you everything in the heavens and the earth?]"

Man as the Khalifa on Earth

Who are you man? Who are you? Who have control over this universe by Allah's permission? No wonder some years ago, maybe billions of years ago, trillions of years ago, Allah put it in the Quran وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ

"And when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a khalifa.”"

The angels, the creatures of Allah, the creatures of light, they said, you're going to create that? That's going to cause mischief and the shedding of blood? How long did it take before man starts shedding blood? Not long. The first son of Adam murdered his own brother. So we have murder all over the Earth. 20,000 Americans are murdered every year. Mischief makers. God's great creatures on the Earth, mischief makers and murderers.

The Universal Cry for Justice

Everybody talking about justice. People running around the country saying, no peace, no justice. It's true, it's right. There will never be peace until there's justice. Everybody claims it. The preamble of the Constitution of the United States of America, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Everybody talking about justice. Muslims talking about justice. Christians talking about justice. Jews talking about justice. Everybody talking about justice. But tonight, for a few moments, I want to take us to take a look at ourselves. Don't worry, I'm only going to be here a few minutes. I'll be surprised if I'm speaking 10 minutes from now. Well, about 20 minutes from now. Definitely within a half an hour I'll be finished. Almost.

The Case of Michael Vick: Lessons on Compassion

Michael Vick, football player. Atlanta Falcons. Engage in dogs fighting one another. Pleaded guilty. Facing 12 to 18 months in jail, maybe up to 5 years in jail. Why? Dogs. Dogs! You man that God gave the control of the dogs. How do you respond to Allah's creatures? You're a human being. You got the power. You can do what you want. You can electrocute the dogs. You can beat them. You can drown them. You can hang them. These are dogs. I'm not talking about human beings. I'm talking about dogs. And I would argue that if you become insensitive, even to dogs today, tomorrow they'll be human beings.

The Purpose and Value of Animals in Islam

So Allah makes us a khalifa of the earth. What is a dog for? For me as a man, to use, for me. Do you know some dogs? Their scent is 100 million times stronger than the scent of a human being. So they use dogs and law enforcement to follow the scent. Me and my wife, we were in Australia at the airport. And a security man came with a dog and started sniffing my wife's bag. Now usually dogs sniff for three things. Number one, drugs. So I started looking at my wife. Number two, bombs. I started moving away from my wife. And number three, food. And the dog smelled food in the bag of my wife. Do you know right now, dogs are being trained so they can smell the breath of human beings and smell the urine of human beings to detect cancer. And if we would be servants of Allah and use Allah's creatures, they will help us.

The Story of the Prostitute and the Dog

There's a tradition, David, in our religion, where there was a prostitute who was thirsty and she went into the well to get water. And when she came out, she saw a dog that was thirsty and she went back in the well and she took off her shoe, put water in the shoe, put the shoe in her mouth and climbed out of the well and gave water to a dog. And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said that Allah forgave her her sins. He was pleased with what she did, not to a human being, but to a dog. And then one tradition said Allah entered her into paradise for what she did, but she did not to a Muslim, not to a believer, not to an American, not to a white man, not to a black man, not to a woman, not to a child, but what she did for a dog. And if Allah did that for a person who gave kindness to a dog, what would Allah do for a Muslim who do kindness to another human being.

The Woman Punished for Cruelty to a Cat

Then, and then, and then, we read in our tradition, a cat, a woman was punished because of a cat. She refused to feed a cat. And the cat died and she entered the hellfire as a result of a bad treatment of a cat. Now we got a cat named Pretty Girl. Honestly, before I left this morning, I was laughing at my wife. She had about five containers of food and all this water. I said, what's that for? It's for the cat. I don't want to get in trouble.

We Have Lost Our Humanity

Now brothers and sisters, let me come to my conclusion and tell you why I said what I said. You see, brothers and sisters, we have lost our humanity. We have lost it. We are so insensitive.

A Personal Story: Restoring Human Dignity

A week and a half ago, I was in Los Angeles on my way to a program in Orlando, Florida. In the morning, I stopped to get my shoes shined. A Latino brother, not a Muslim. And I was sitting waiting because he was shining the shoes of someone else and the man was finished. And he said, how much? How much does it cost to shine my shoe? And he said, just give me a tip. The man gave him $3. He looked at it and said, you want change? I mean, he was sarcastic and he kept on and he kept on and the man, he didn't care, he walked away. So he's shining my shoes. Now my sensitivity comes as a Muslim. I said, you know, there was a very famous African American who used to shine shoes. Do you know who it is? He said, I don't know. He was thinking and thinking. I said, very famous. Two famous African Americans. One of them used to shine shoes. Which one is it? Who is it? He didn't know. I said, Malcolm X. Did you know Malcolm X and Haj Malik Shabazz used to shine shoes? I tried to make him feel like, you know, good about himself. Great man, Malcolm, shine shoes. I'm shining shoes. So then I asked him, I said, well, why don't you charge a certain amount? He said, no, I'd rather just, you know, hopefully I'll make it up. And so when he's finished, you know, I gave him some money, right? You want to know how much I gave him, right? Want me to tell you? Don't tell you. I gave him $20. And he, his eyes lit up. Because, brothers and sisters, Islam teaches us a sensitivity. You know what? You just love human beings despite their weaknesses. And that's what has happened to me.

The Prohibition of Injustice in Islam

And I close with this. Allah mentioned in the Quran إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَظْلِمُ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ - Indeed, Allah does not do injustice, even as much as an atom's weight. (Quran 4:40)

And in one of our traditions, our prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said that Allah said, يَا عِبَادِي إِنِّي حَرَّمْتُ الظُّلْمَ عَلَى نَفْسِي وَجَعَلْتُهُ بَيْنَكُمْ مُحَرَّمًا فَلَا تَظَالَمُوا - O My servants, I have prohibited injustice for Myself, and I've made it not permissible for you, so do not be unjust to one another. (Sahih Muslim 2577)

Do not be unjust to one another. I am afraid to be unjust because the foundation of our faith teaches it. We fight against injustice in the right way.

Fighting Injustice Within the Boundaries of Allah

As brother Ibrahim said, the right way. وَتِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَعْتَدُوهَا - And these are the boundaries of Allah. Don't go past them. (Quran 2:229)

"And fight in the way of Allah those who fight against you. Even then, don't go beyond the boundaries. For Allah loves not those who transgress the boundaries."

So whenever we fight, we fight the right way. Fight justice in a way that's pleasing to Allah. And how do we do that? Part 2 tomorrow.

The Prophet's Acknowledgment of His Humanity

But before I do, before I do, I want to say this about our prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He covered all bases. He covered all bases. And what does that mean? He said, I am a human being and I lose my temper as other human beings lose their temper. I get angry. I'm a human being. And some things please me as other human beings are pleased. And then he said, I made a pact with Allah, a contract with Allah. And that contract is this. Oh Allah, if I curse one of the believers, if I revile them, if I hate them. And there's many narrations. One said, let it be kaffarah for them. Let it be expiation. One said, let it be a reward for them on yawm al qiyamah, on the day of judgment. Let it be a reward for them. Let it be purification for them. He covered all bases. Because you know why? He knows that he's a human being. And if that's the message of Allah, who are we? Because the higher you go up in power, the more careful you have to be so that you're not unjust to Allah's creatures.

The Call to Justice in Every Sphere of Life

Man, husband, father. Be just. Be just to your wife. Be just to your children. Be just to the neighbors. Be just to the non-believers. Be just to the Americans. Be just to the people in the west. Be just to the people in the east. Be just to the imams. Be just.

If you are a police officer, and you carry guns, citizens don't have guns. Well, except in New York City. But, you have guns. And every once in a while you get an Ahmed Diallo. Ahmed Diallo. And the police shoot at 41 times. Every once in a while you find some police brutality. And that means that when you have power, you have to be careful. When you become the mayor of the city, you become the governor, you become the president of the United States of America, you gotta be careful because you got all of that power. And if you make a mistake, you send soldiers to fight and to kill. And you made a mistake, you better humble yourself. Humble yourself because, because if you don't humble yourself, then Allah, the Lord of justice, will bring justice.

Conclusion: The Promise of Tomorrow

And I say, brothers and sisters, there is a way that we can stop injustice. And one in which Allah is pleased with. But in order to do that, we have to do something. And tomorrow for sure, inshallah, I'll tell you what it is.

Assalamu alaikum.