I Just Want A Normal Life!

I Just Want A Normal Life!

Opening Praise and Gratitude

We begin by praising Allah, asking Him to send His peace and blessings upon Habibina Rasulillah, upon his family members, his companions, and those who follow them until the end of time. Assalamu alaykum everybody. First and foremost, I would like to thank all of the organizers of this incredible conference, our brothers and sisters from Mass and Ikna, if we could just give them a round of applause.

One of the things that, you know, you begin to realize is every year is getting better. Every year the topics are improving. The knowledge retreat was incredibly beneficial. So we should make dua for these people. We ask Allah to bless them for all of the work that they've done and to accept the things that they've done as a means to remove any difficulties or hardships in their life. Ameen.

The Intersection of Identity and Passion

It's very interesting being a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man with a Dawla al-Faristeen shirt on to be talking—if it wasn't cold, I'd take the jacket off. Maybe your iman will, you know, warm up the room. But the Ghazawis will make hummus that will warm up the room, inshallah.

It's interesting, you know, as a white convert to have tremendous passion about Palestine, to be somewhat dismayed at some of the recent efforts in the community, the absence of our dedication to the BDS movement, which we should all be members of, and then being a white man from Oklahoma sitting with a friend of mine one day who was looking at my Instagram account. He said, you know, you have Palestine on your Instagram more than Oklahoma. And that's very interesting, and it really touches on and creates the intersection of what I would like to talk about briefly, and it's very similar to what I was really blessed to sit earlier today with around 1,000 young people, incredible energy, and that is the idea of being a minority.

Living Responsibly with Privilege and Multiple Identities

I mean, as a white man in America given tremendous privilege, born into privilege, I don't think we should ask whites to deny their whiteness, but we should ask whites to live responsibly with their whiteness. And as white converts, tawhid, of course, and white Muslims, tawhid empowers us to be responsible in this dunya with the power that we hold, especially as men. But then to be passionate about Palestine, to be passionate about Egypt, you know, according to the fuqaha, ana masri, you know, if you live in a country longer than four years, the scholars allowed you to tanasab bi hadhal balad, so you could say suhebweb, amriki oklahoma masri hilwani, right? I'm saying, according to fuqaha, and that really represents a dilemma because it's hard to keep up with all those aqarib, all those family members, but the idea of being minorities in this country perhaps is a very healthy thing.

The Meccan Model: Urgency and Strategy

Allah, when He talks to the companions in Mecca, you feel that the verses in Mecca do not allow a budget for mismanagement or incompetency. But the verses that are sent in Mecca are verses that really hit home in ways very different than the verses in Medina, because Mecca is a very interesting period. For example,

- Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah?

Allah says to the Muslims in Mecca, has the time not come? It's about time for you guys to get it, to jump on it. There's very little budget in that verse for incompetency. And what's remarkable about Mecca is that you all have less than 60 Muslims who migrate to Medina.

The Power of Being a Minority

And as we talked about today, the idea of a minority forces strategy, forces survival. You'll recall those of you who were at the Friday prayer, I mentioned the poem of Ahmed Shawqi. Some people ask me if it's allowed to quote poetry in the Friday prayers. If you consult any of the books of the Sunnis or the Jafaris, you'll find that it is perfectly acceptable to quote anyone from Ahmed Shawqi to Jay-Z. And it will not invalidate your prayer. But the point is that if we're going to acknowledge that we are a minority, then we have to adopt a streamlined vision, a collective vision for America that will exploit a number of potential capitals that will protect us as a minority. Because when you say that you are a minority, that implies that you do not have power. And the power that you have has been given to you. And that's an honest assessment.

Social Capital: The Key Resource in Mecca

So we find in Mecca something extremely remarkable. The knowledge level of the companions in Mecca was not intense as it becomes in Medina. You do not have scholars of Hadith like Abu Huraira. You don't have legal geniuses like Mu'adh ibn Jabal. You do not have tremendous, tremendous military strategists like Khalid bin Walid. What you have in Mecca, and it's what we have now, is social capital.

And being a minority should force us to look at any possible resource that we can utilize to improve our lot as a minority in this country, to preserve our communities, the sanctity of our communities, what Muslim scholars talked about, the maqasid. Because Abu Bakr, on the day he became Muslim, six people followed him into Islam. Abu Bakr did not know a lot about Islam at that time. He only had a few hours. But what Abu Bakr had was he happened to be one of the most influential people in Mecca. Hence, his dawah reaches influential people.

It is not theology that Abu Bakr uses to bring Uthman ibn Affan and Abdulrahman ibn Auf into Islam. It's his social capital and his historical presence amongst them, as well as his political standing in society. And that's why I would venture to say that up until now, except for a few communities like the community of Imam

Dababidi Muhammad, and others, we have perhaps failed to understand our positions as minorities and failed to react strategically.

Facing Frustration with Strategic Thinking

And that's why many of us find ourselves frustrated. So what I would like to talk about is in the acknowledgment of being a minority community. First of all, how many times has a small community succeeded?

- Who created death and life to test you as to which of you is best in deed. Not the most. It's never been about our numbers. It has always been about our quality. Allah said,

- And already had Allah given you victory at Badr while you were few in number. We helped you in the battle of Badr. And you were a minuscule. You were extremely weak.

So I think as a strategy, one of the things that we should have an honest discussion about is maybe we should try to reach American society through other means besides the language of theology. And I want you to bear with me, because when you start to talk like this, people get scared. So don't get scared. Just bear with me and be patient with your brother.

Building Bridges Beyond Theology

And that is because America in general has very serious reservations about what our theology is. The Quran now is part of public domain. Islam is part of public domain. And people have concerns. But where is our Abu Bakr? Where is that person who can reach back into American society and say, you know me, I'm your boy. I'm successful. I'm from you. I understand your language. I understand your culture. I have cultural as well as financial and economic capital, which forces you to recognize my importance amongst you. And by the way, I believe in Allah. We did it the opposite.

We wanted to be Nabi before we were Amin. But the Prophet invests 40 years into people to build social, economic, historic, and political capital. So if we're going to talk about the Meccan period as a strategy, we perhaps should ask ourselves, what is the most important strategy we can adopt to gain social capital in this society where people will respect us? And that's why you see, as Sheikha Muslimah talked about, when people began to threaten our sisters about hijab, and when some Muslimahs wrote about taking off hijab, you found non-Muslims reacting and saying, no, you have to stand up for your rights.

Because here is historic capital with the human rights movement. You have an intersection now that creates empathy between Muslims and non-Muslims. So if we look at the very first converts, we see something remarkable.

The Early Converts: Representing Every Demographic

That each and every one of them represents one of the fundamental social demographics that existed in Mecca.

Number one is Sayyiduna Abu Bakr, who represents the, I don't want to say Donald Trump, maybe the Warren Buffet, a younger version of a successful entrepreneur who has a tremendous amount of respect. Then you have Sayyida Khadija, a woman who also carries that same respect. But then you have Sayyiduna Ali, who's a youth. And then you have Sayyiduna Bilal, who's a slave. Every social demographic of Mecca accepts Islam within two days.

And that tells us that these people are going to speak to their tabaqat. As the jinn say

- And we are of different ways, just as the jinn said, we are different. Human beings, we are different.

First Strategy: The Importance of Converts

So as a strategy, and I don't have a lot to say, because I believe this is very important. I think we have to do three things, and I hope we can remember this. Number one is the importance of converts in the community. The converts are Abu Bakr's, are Khadija's, are Sayyiduna Ali's, and are Sayyiduna Bilal. But you don't see a lot of converts here today. We don't see a lot of converts in institutions. We find dawah groups that are ran by people who just came to America a few years ago. I say this with respect, but they are not going to carry the same historical and political language and cultural language of people who have embraced Islam in this country. And are able to perform and speak in a way that will touch their fellow brethren who are from this country.

And I understand it sounds like I'm not dividing the ummah, I'm talking about roles and responsibilities. And the role and the responsibility of the convert is to be a mufassir of this community to the other community. But if we silence that voice and do not employ them, then we will have failed to react strategically to the reality of being a minority. Because a minority will find amongst itself anyone closest to the majority and employ them to do that job.

- And a believing man from the family of Pharaoh who concealed his faith said, "Do you kill a man merely because he says, 'My Lord is Allah'?" The one who speaks on behalf of Musa is a man from the court of Firaun, a convert.

Second Strategy: Empowering Our Youth

The second is our young people. These young people, Wallahi at this convention, these people are incredible. Man, these young brothers and sisters, they're just simply a ball of awesome. And I'm being honest. But in fact, strategically, we have reacted very differently. What we have tried to control our youth groups to surround them with bureaucracy. It's very rare to find a youth group member, a male and a female on the board of institutions. Whereas, for example, in my institution, we have board members and not just, you know, cute pictures. Who actually have a say in how they feel, because their voice is important. You look at history, it was always young people, whether it was good or bad, who had massive influences on society.

2008, what won Obama the election, they say, is the election of the youth. What won Mohamed Morsi the election in Egypt was the youth. Who was responsible for the Iranian revolution was the youth. But in America,

we control our youth. Instead of allowing them to reach out into society and build that social capital. Because our young people know that 50 cents is not change. They know that 50 cents is a musician. And I'll give an example. This young Syrian sister, man, from California. Mashallah, man, she has so much swagger. Who, she was nominated for yearbook picture of the year. She wore her hijab her senior year. Everybody's worried about hijab. First of all, women, that's your decision. Religiously, we know what we should do. But nobody can walk in your shoes but you. I encourage you to stay on the truth, inshallah. But that sister writes on her senior yearbook picture, the only reason I wore this is to give you other girls a chance.

That is nominated as yearbook picture of the year on BuzzFeed. She has social capital. There is an intersection between her incredible swagger and bravado and that flavor that's more than you can find at Ben and Jerry's. Synthesized with her religious identity that touches the broader culture of America. And they say, man, that Muslim woman got skills. There's an intersection. If she were to say that maybe at certain institutions, she may lose her membership for a few years.

Third Strategy: Embracing the Arts

The second thing that we should appreciate is the arts and the reality that artists in the community have a pulpit which I cannot reach. When I'm with Mos Def, may God bless Mos Def, man. Right here in Chicago at Iman, and we had a discussion. I said to him, keep doing what you're doing because your pulpit is reaching the people that we could never reach. But a community that will censor the arts and hold back artistic expression while acknowledging that it is a minority is foolish. But what they should do is exploit all of the artistic endeavors they have to touch the lives of people.

I remember in the late 90s in Oklahoma, we had a DAWA booth at MSA and no one would take one pamphlet. People were terrified of us. It's Oklahoma, man. But then we started saying, come get your name written in Arabic. We had this calligrapher. So he would be writing people's names in Arabic. After one day, there was a line. People would run out of class. Yo, man, can you write my name in Arabic? My name is Richard. I'll be back. And the brother, he was Arab. He didn't speak English. He was like, Richard. But we had a line of people. Because the arts is a language. It is a form of dhikr that touches a certain type of person. But we will intimidate our artists and constantly try to bully them.

When I was in Azhar, the first day of class, my teacher said, the most important thing for any human being is the freedom to express themselves. And please Allah.

Fourth Strategy: Embedding in Social Justice

The third is we should think about really embedding ourself in the social justice issues of this country. As long as our passion is rooted in overseas, more than it is rooted in this country, people will still continue to look at us as suspects. But I would challenge us to think the opposite. Right now, we can have immediate impacts in the societies around us in this country in a very powerful way. And if we are able to do that and build strong institutions, then we can also have the capital to affect situations that we're worried about overseas.

Let me give you one example. Here in Chicago, I talked about this today. If you don't agree with it, it's fine. You don't have to do it. But here's an idea. We have 15,000 Muslims or 20,000 Muslims at this conference. Why don't 2,000 of us, I'm the first one who'll do it, donate $10 so that on Christmas, we can feed 2,000 homeless people in Chicago as a community? Let me ask you a question. If you guys can just do like knee a clap, it's going to be good because I'm running out of time. I love it. I appreciate it. Barakallah fikum. If you can just be like, mashallah, it'd be awesome.

And that is, how on earth is Fox News going to have any capital to denounce Chicago and Muslims if every Christmas you're feeding 2,000 underserved people? Do you think that the mayor may have to come to an event where you're feeding 2,000 underserved people? Do you think an investment like that will create social capital if you're able to partner with other religious institutions and non-profits in the Chicago area? This is the birthplace of Saul Alinsky and community organization. You don't think that you would be able to create in one dinner enough capital to bring you protection from any attack as a minority community for the next year and a half? I can tell you, you will. Inshallah.

The Power of Social Capital: Real Examples

In Boston. When I was in Boston and the Boston bombing happened. You know why there was very, very little drama? Because we had served the city of Boston admirably and committedly for two and a half years. We had 200 people in our mosque, not Muslim. We partnered with Catholic charities who learned English in our mosque. We had mental health services for our neighborhood in the mosque. It created social capital. So when the Boston bombing happened, everyone around the city said, and in fact, a man came to me. I can't quote it in front of you because I will never be invited again. But basically, he said, nobody blanks with my mosque. And I said, who are you? He said, I'm Irish Catholic. I said, wow. He said, they do good things in that building. So social capital.

Two and a half weeks ago, I went to the murder site of Tamir Rice with Imam Bashir from Cleveland. Black brothers and sisters came outside. They said, who is this large white man? He looks like he's from Oklahoma. Indeed, he is from Oklahoma via Egypt. And they said to me, who is he? And Bashir, he said, this is an imam. They said, what's an imam? He said, like TD Jakes, a little skinnier. And they came to me and they said, God bless Muslims. God bless the Muslims.

The Natural Alliance with Black America

And Palestinians, if you go home today, go online and search Blacks for Palestine in America. Lauryn Hill, great artists, great musicians have come out and said, we see an intersection between the shared struggle, between black America and the Palestinian community. When you create that kind of social capital in this country, people will stand up and get your back without having being asked to do so.

The last point I'll make and I'll finish is that if we look at all the demographics in America, and we see, as Dr. Sherman Jackson writes very eloquently, which one is most inclined to be an ally in our community, there is none greater than black America. In Washington, D.C., I was walking home one day, and a woman who lived across the street in the projects in front of my house, she came to me. She's an addict of drugs. She's very thin. And she said to me, salaikum salam. I said, wa salaikum salam. And then she said to me, can I ask you a question? I said, yeah. She said, yo, where you get that red kufi? I said, how do you know about a red kufi? She's like, you're Muslim, aren't you? She knew I was Muslim. She knew what a kufi is.

If we turn our back on the plight of black America and fail to follow the leadership of black America as it continues to take on very real structural economic injustices, we will continue to lose someone that has been naturally a tremendous ally of the Muslim community.

Summary: A Strategic Vision for Minorities

So I'm going to finish by reminding you what I talked about. It's kind of like a policy speech. Number one I said is, if we're going to acknowledge that we're truly minorities, then we need to start thinking strategically. And that would force us to look at those in our midst who are most closest to the majority, who can be the tafsir of our community to them, and this is the converts. We look at national organizations, I can only think of one that has a convert as a potential leader. And that is a disaster. And no convert women. And that's a greater disaster.

Secondly, we talked about the need for social capacity through the arts and artistic expression and other areas, charitable donations, creating social enterprises or big corporations like Iman in Chicago, which are transforming people's lives. There has to be a value prop to theology. It can't just be theology. There has to be some tangible benefit.

And the last thing that I talked about is how it is extremely, extremely important that we look at the situation and understand as a community, we have to think in a way that broadens our investment in our young people and their activism and being involved in the community. And the last is doing social programming. And that's why I believe every fatwa that now is presented to us in this country that deals with social issues should be a fatwa that forces us to engage the society instead of pulling back from the society.

Closing Du'a

May Allah bless you. May Allah bring you home safely. For those of you who have family overseas, we pray for them. We ask Allah to bless our brothers and sisters in Palestine, in Egypt, in Somalia, and all over the world. And as you go home tonight, one of the things you can do is join the BDS movement. As-salamu alaykum.