The Struggles of Muslims in America

The Struggles of Muslims in America

Introduction and Welcome

Assalamu alaikum. I'd like to introduce everyone to our event tonight. It's, as Imam mentioned, the struggles of Muslims in America, and it's a very relevant topic.

As everyone knows, with the local, national, and political climate, it's a very relevant topic for all of us. So, to give you a little intro on our speaker tonight, our speaker is Sheikh Suhaib Webb. He has his degree of education from the Central University of Oklahoma. He also has his Islamic law degree from Al-Azhar. He was selected as CNN's 25 most influential Muslim leaders, and also as 500 of the most influential world Muslim leaders. Currently, he's a resident scholar at IC NYU, and teaches a course at NYU on Islamic law and ethics.

So, besides all those accolades, the great thing about Sheikh Suhaib is that now in the YouTube generation, we have the opportunity to stay at home and listen to all kinds of speakers. So, it's really hard for people to come out and come to these kind of events. But with his unique delivery and his great message and his great energy, we're really excited to have him come out and for everyone to experience that.

So, with that, I don't want to take much time because everyone is here to hear Sheikh Suhaib. So, with that, I'd like to turn over the time to him.

Opening Remarks

As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

We praise Allah. We send peace and blessings upon our beloved messenger Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), upon his blessed family, his companions, and those who follow them until the end of time. Dear brothers and sisters, as-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

MashaAllah, it's great to be here in Utah. Alhamdulillah, a direct flight actually from New York City, so it's not too bad. And more importantly, to visit Coach Kamal, who I've known for 20 years. Alhamdulillah, he's really the reason I came. Not that I don't like you guys or something, but he was really one of the key factors of coming here. I've known him, his mother, his father, his brother, his sisters, alhamdulillah, from Oklahoma years ago.

So, it's been incredible to see him and spend time with him. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. Secondly, it's encouraging and invigorating to see a beautiful institution being built. It's wonderful to see Muslim community growing in Utah. And it's great to see so many young people, alhamdulillah, here on a Friday evening. You know, there's a lot of things you could do on Friday. And it's great to see people like here.

The Prophetic Approach: Local Focus

The topic that I was asked to discuss was the struggles of American Muslims. I'm going to keep it within context of what we're dealing with in America. It is the sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, to begin with the immediate area that he would be engaged with. So, in Mecca, he deals with issues related to Mecca and Medina. Immediately when he comes to Medina, he addresses issues that are facing the society in Medina.

And that's the nature of Prophets.

(Qala ya qawmi), that they would speak to their people. Oftentimes, we create this broad messaging of concern about the ummah and concern about the world, where we ourselves may be acutely divided as a Muslim community in our own city. So, it would be hypocritical to talk about international Muslim unity if I don't get along, say, with a masjid that's five miles away.

And Allah says in the Qur'an, Allah says in Surat As-Saf:

(Lima taqūlūna mā lā tafʿalūn) - Quran 61:2. You know, why do you say what you don't do? So, oftentimes, we may tend to worry about big issues, but if we're not handling the local issues and the minor issues, we may fall into a state of hypocrisy. Ask Allah to protect us.

The Problem of Utilitarianism in Da'wah

The second thing is that in the community in America, we've seen a projection of Islam that's rooted, at times, simply for acquiring social utility. Islamic da'wah, in some ways, has become very utilitarian. And that runs counter to the prophets. Utilitarian meaning, what's in it for me? What do I get out of it? Like, is it going to bring me closer to power? Is it going to give me a good job? Is it going to somehow advance me? Whether in dunya or even in the community, sometimes people will learn.

I remember, I did my high school, I did ten years in a madrasa from a sheikh from Senegal, alhamdulillah. And then I did seven years in Egypt, and I worked as a mufti in Egypt for two years, alhamdulillah. And I remember as I was working there, an American brother stopped me one day on campus, and he was like, you know, I can't wait to be a sheikh so I can make a lot of money.

And I said, I believe that sheikhs should make good money, right? But you don't do it to make money. That's utilitarianism. What's in it for me? For the younger generation, how many likes can I get? How many followers can I have? But we see that the prophets in the Qur'an,

(Laas'alukum 'alayhi ajrā) - Quran 26:109. The prophets aren't about profit. All prophets were non-profit, interestingly enough.

And the outcome of utilitarian da'wah, is that you will have a community that can no longer struggle. Can no longer face opposition. Can no longer stand to deal with adversity. Another outcome of utilitarianism in da'wah, is a large number of divisions within the community. Because if it's for Allah, we're going to be together. But if it's for dunya, we're not going to be together.

And that's what Allah says about the sahaba in the Qur'an. Very beautifully.

(Wa kuntum aʻdā') - Quran 3:103. You were enemies.

(Fa-allafa bayna qulūbikum). And Allah brought you together.

فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا )Fa-asbahtum bi-niʻmatihi ikhwānā). And you became by His blessings like a family.

The Disease of Division in Our Communities

If we look at the state of the American Muslim community in America, we can say that one of the things that we are extremely successful at, highly accomplished, and very professional, is hating each other. We do it good. We do it well.

I speak a little Urdu. So, the first week of my conversion in 1992, I went to a mosque in Oklahoma City. And I went to pray Asr. One of the most intimidating things you can ever experience as a convert is to pray for the first time in a mosque. It's really scary. You know. And I'm like nervous. Fresh out of high school. And I went to the mosque. And I found two jamaat in the mosque. Two groups praying. Asr.

So I'm confused. I'm like, man, that wasn't in the pamphlet. The pamphlet said Muslims love each other. Like, we're all together. Alhamdulillah. Malcolm X. You know, post-racial Islam.

So, as I go to pray Asr, this chacha sahib comes to me and he's like, Beta, where are you going? And I was like, I'm the new guy, first of all. So I don't really know where I'm going. I've made an ablution. In wudu. And I'm going to go pray. You can't believe what he said to me.

He said to me, have you ever heard of MQM? I know MCM, that's in clothes. But MQM I had never heard of. MQM is a political party of people who migrated from India to Pakistan. I learned more about South Asian geopolitics in that 20 minutes than I had in my whole life. So I said, I don't know who MQM is. And he was like, well, we came from India and we got into Punjab. And basically the Punjabis treat us like garbage.

So I said, I don't know who the Punjabis are. I'm from Oklahoma. Is this part of the Intro to Islam class? So he said, you can't pray with those people because they're from another group and they're not Muslim. I was like, you guys got the same problems we have. No one told me about this part.

So I prayed with MQM. The colonizer. The one who started all the problems in India. Prayed with MQM. Then afterwards I go to my car. I'm like feeling good. The convert high is still there. You know, the convert high is real. And I'm getting in my car and this other uncle walks up to the car.

He's like, Assalamu Alaikum. Wa Alaikum Assalam. Rahmatullah. How are you? I don't know what that means. You know, is that Arabic? No, brother. It's a great experience because when you convert, you're really exposed to a plethora of very beautiful cultures.

Our diversity is not a threat if we know how to manage it right. But because we don't know how to manage and appreciate our diversity, it scares us. The Arabs say,

(Al-jahl bil-shay᾽ yukhīf). One of my sheikhs used to say, not knowing something makes you scared. Makes you insecure. So, Subhanallah, I said, OK.

He said, have you ever heard of People's Party? I said, look, man, I'm a Democrat. OK. First election ever I voted for William Jefferson Clinton. And I don't know about these things. He said, well, they're also not Muslim because this other group killed Ali Bhutto. I mean, it was deep, right?

Point is, as a convert, you know, four or five days into my new faith community, having to deal with this ability to successfully divide. The reason I tell you that is that that masjid set on about 10 acres of land. It was across the street from a school that was about to go for sale. It had a basketball gym inside it, had a large masjid. And to this day, from 1993 till now, that masjid is empty.

So if we're going to talk about some of the challenges that we need to face, we need to start with ourselves. We love to project it on other people. And that is anyone that has a startup involved in any type of business, you know, that's a recipe for failure.

Anchoring Our Lives in Prophetic Principles

So what I'd like to talk about, inshallah, are some of the anchors that should really root our personalities and be kind of, if you will, lenses by which we should live by, that will help and assist us, inshallah, to reach our potential as Muslims. We ask Allah to help us all reach our potential.

(Wa-ma tawfiqī illā billāh 'alayhi tawakkaltu wa-ilayhi unīb) - Quran 11:88.

And I would like to do that, to talk about the challenges that we face in light of three chapters of the Quran. The first chapter is Surat Al-Alaq. The second chapter is Surat Al-Mudathir. And the third chapter is Surat Al-Muzammil. And as you know, these are the early chapters sent to Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).

Because we need to appreciate the fact that our young American Muslim community are very much emergent in their religious identity. And they are actually synthesizing their American cultural identity and understanding with their cultural and ethnic identity, as well as their religious realities. And I think they have a great potential, alhamdulillah, because I think they will be really well-rounded, inshallah, and able to benefit people more.

So I'd like to talk about those principles, inshallah. And then tomorrow, we'll go through Surat Al-Hujurat, what some of our mashayikh used to call Surat Al-Adab, the chapter on etiquette. How do we interact, how do we treat each other as Muslims?

Understanding Tests and Trials

So, Surat Al-Alaq is a very profound chapter. We know that this is the first few verses sent to Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Surat Al-Fatiha is the first chapter sent to Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And then comes Mudathir, and then comes Muzammil. And within the body of these chapters, outside of Fatiha, because Surat Al-Fatiha is kind of the foundation of everything, we find some principles that will help us as we struggle.

Because a community that's rooted in utilitarianism will not be able to struggle. As I said earlier, will not be able to be together, because it's not for Allah, it's for something else. And third, if it is invested in itself, and invested in its own agency, it will not be able to appreciate the paradox of trials and tests.

Sometimes young Muslims, they come to me like, you know, everyone's telling me, like, in converts, like, I'll become Muslim, everything will fix itself. No, it won't. Anyone who claims to be a follower of the Prophets will be tested. That's the reality, internally and externally. We see over and over in the Quran, the idea of tests being a means for someone to understand their own spiritual state, and there to gauge their relationship with God. And then secondly, for their commitment to be exposed.

(Wa-mā Muhammadun illā rasūlun qad khalat min qablihi al-rusul) - Quran 3:144. Allah said, the Prophet is only a messenger, if he dies, or if he's injured, are you going to flee? Is that a test that's going to break you?

When Qibla is changed, the direction of the Qibla is changed

(Qad narā taqalluba wajhika fi al-samā') - Quran 2:144. In Surah Baqarah, Allah mentions that

(Li-naʻlama man yattabi u al-rasūla mimman yanqalibu 'alā 'aqibayhi) - Quran 2:143, to make it apparent, those who are going to truly follow the messenger, and those who are going to turn on their heels.

Al-Isra wa Mi'raj is a tremendous test for the companions, and the followers of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). So tests are important.

(Alladh khalaqa al-mawta wal-hayāta li-yabluwakum ayyukum ahsanu amalā) - Quran 67:2. Allah says, we created life and death, to test you.

But a community that's simply rooting its da'wah, and its work, and its religious effort, in feeding itself, will not be able to appreciate tests. Allah says

(La-tarkabunna tabaqanan tabaq) - Quran 84:19. Like you're moving from

حَالٍ إِلَى حَالٍ ḥāl ilā hāl), from stations to stations. So you're constantly going to experience adversity, and happiness, and success.

But if we're all about, Islam is awesome, Islam is cool, like being Muslim, everything is going to work for you. No, everything will work for us hopefully in the hereafter, but in this life, the dunya is a place of challenge. That's reality.

So it's important that we anchor ourselves in some real intrinsic religious fundamentals, so that we can shelter success and failure. That's how life works.

(Wa-lā tahinū wa-lā tahzanū wa-antumu al-aʻlawna in kuntum muʼminīn) - Quran 3:139.

So, let's look at these chapters and some of the lessons that we take, as a community, understanding that just because I say I'm a Muslim, doesn't suddenly mean everything is going to work.

- Quran 29:2. Allah says, do people think that they will claim belief and not be tested? It has to happen. And we know that the Prophet had to deal with this.

Now Muslims are upset, Trump's in office, all these bad things are happening in the world.

مَتَى نَصْرُ اللَّهِ (Mata nasru Allāh) - Quran 2:214? When will the help of Allah come? أَلَا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللَّهِ قَرِيبٌ (Alā inna nasra Allāhi qarīb) - Quran 2:214. The help of Allah is close. Don't let the world become what moves your heart.

The scholars say لَا تَعْبُدُوا الْأَحْوَالَ بَلْ أُعْبُدُوا رَبَّ الْأَحْوَالِ (La tabudū al-ahwāla bal u budū rabba al-ahwāl), don't worship situations. Worship the Lord of all situations.

So the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam when he was asked, who's tested the most الْأَنْبِيَاءُ ثُمَّ الصَّالِحُونَ (Al-anbiyā'u thumma al-ṣāliḥūn) - Sahih Bukhari 5645. The Prophets and then the righteous, it just comes with it. It's part of the process. Trust the process. I know you lost Jawal al-Ambid, he didn't come to Utah. Trust the process.

الْأَنْبِيَاءُ ثُمَّ الصَّالِحُونَ (Al-anbiyā'u thumma al-ṣāliḥūn). And the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam said مَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُصِبْ مِنْهُ (Man yuridi Allāhu bihi khayran yuşib minhu) - Sahih Muslim 2572. Whoever Allah intends good for, He tests them.

Three Signs We've Lost the Plot

So there are three and a number of other signs, but important signs that we have perhaps lost the plot, man. And made religion about everything but God.

Number one is, we love to create disunity in the name of the truth. This is a big fitna. Number two is, we can't struggle. Ibadah is a burden. And number three, and this is what impacts a lot of people, and I'm not saying, I'm by no means telling you I'm doing this perfectly either. We cannot see beyond the paradox of tragedy and trauma and hardship.

So you'll find people say like, you know, my wife is sick, does God hate me? What's the correlation between your wife being sick and God hating you? Or my husband's sick? Didn't the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam lose his wife? Didn't the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam lose his uncle? Didn't the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam lose his city? But could you say that God hated the Prophet? So where are you, where are you getting that from?

That's why Sayyidina Ali raḍiya Allāhu 'anhu used to say لَا تَفْرَحْ بِالْغِنَى وَلَا تَقْنَوْ بِالْفَقْرِ (La tafraḥ bil-ghinā wa-lā taqnū bil-faqr). Sayyidina Ali raḍiya Allāhu 'anhu used to say, don't get happy if you're rich and don't get sad if you're poor. Be with Allah.

Imam Ibn Ata'illah Al-Iskandari in Al-Hikam he said سَوَابِقُ الْهِمَمِ لَا تَخْرِقُ أَسْوَارَ الْأَقْدَارِ (Sawabiqual-himam lā takhriqu aswāra al-aqdār). He said, your passion and your emotions can never like, you're really really anxious about something, is not going to change قَضَاءَ الْقَدَرِ (qada al-qadar).

The Example of Quraysh

كُنْ فَيَكُونُ (Kun fa-yakūn) - Quran 2:117. And that's why the Quraysh, if you think about the three things that I just said, they're really good at that. Number one, disunity. They were able to create problems amongst themselves.

(Law anfaqta mā fi al-ardi jamīʻan mā allafta bayna qulūbihim wa-lākinna Allāha allafa baynahum) - Quran 8:63. Allah said, they were so divided, O Muhammad, if you spent all the wealth of the earth to bring them together, you wouldn't have brought them together. Allah brought them together. That's how disunified they were. How many tribes did they have?

Number two, they weren't able to struggle. Allah says يَحْسَبُ أَنَّ مَالَهُ أَخْلَدَهُ (Yahsabu anna mālahu akhladahu) - Quran 104:3. In Surah Al-Humaza, Allah describes the people of Quraysh as people who عَدَّدَ وَعَدَّدَ (addada wa-'addada). They count their money, man. They're about opulence.

(A-raʼayta alladhī istaghná) - Quran 96:7. You see these people, their wealth and their acquirement of wealth and opulence has caused them to lose the plot of life. They're not able to struggle.

(Yura una al-nāsa wa-lā yadhkurūna Allāha illā qalīlā) - Quran 4:142. The hypocrites, they pray, but when they pray, it's for exhibition. It's to be seen of people. And they remember Allah a little so وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا يَذْكُرُونَ النَّاسَ كَثِيرًا (Wa-la yadhkurūna Allāha illā qalīlan yadhkurūna al-nāsa kathīrā). The ayah means, they remember people a lot. It's always what people think, people, people, people, people. But they lose Allah in this situation.

Where the salih is the one أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ (An tabuda Allāha ka-annaka tarāh) - Sahih Muslim 8. Who worships as though they see Allah. I don't see the people.

And then the third we mentioned is there is a fundamental problem with God's plan. Like the song. There is a fundamental problem with what God has given me. And this doesn't only impact sinful people. To be honest with you, I see it more amongst religious people. Because often times a religious person, especially if they haven't been taught by the ulama, they confuse religion with power. So religion is a step towards power. I control the mosque. I can dictate who's who. I want to push my weight around.

What does that have to do with religion? مَنْ تَوَاضَعَ لِلَّهِ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ (Man tawada a lillāhi rafa ahu Allāh) - Sahih Muslim 2588. The Prophet said, whoever humbles themselves for God, God raises them. نَرْفَعُ دَرَجَاتٍ مَّن نَّشَاءُ (Narfau darajātin man nashāʼu) - Quran 12:76. We raise who we want.

Quraish, they have a problem with Qada. أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ (Ahum yaqsimūna rahmata rabbika) - Quran 43:32. Allah said in Surat Al-Zukhruf وَلَوْلَا أَن يَكُونَ النَّاسُ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً لَّجَعَلْنَا لِمَن يَكْفُرُ بِالرَّحْمَنِ لِبُيُوتِهِمْ سُقُفًا مِّن فِضَّةٍ وَمَعَارِجَ عَلَيْهَا يَظْهَرُونَ وَقَالُوا لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَذَا الْقُرْآنُ عَلَى رَجُلٍ مِّنَ الْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ (Wa-qalū lawlā nuzzila hādhā al-Qurʼānu alā rajulin mina al-qaryatayni azīm) - Quran 43:31. In Surat Al-Zukhruf they said, Why did Allah make you a prophet? They have a problem with God's plan. Why did He make you a prophet? He should have made someone from the two great cities a prophet.

The Example of Quraysh

يَثْرِبَ مَدِينَةٍ وَالطَّائِفِ (Yathrib Madīnatin wal-Ta'if). So their investment, their personal investment, and their lack of selflessness causes them to question God's plan for them. Whereas a believer, we just went through this in Eid, إِذْ قَالَ لَهُ رَبُّهُ أَسْلِمْ قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (Idh qāla lahu rabbuhu aslim qāla aslamtu li-rabbi al-'ālamīn) - Quran 2:131. When Allah said to Ibrahim, Submit, I'm good, okay.

So I'm sorry, I'm super tired, so I'm trying to wake up and get coffee. But the point I'm trying to make is the danger of an American Muslim community that's only about the likes and only about being accepted at all costs. Don't get me wrong, there is a strategy in working with people, coalition building, I'm about it. But not to the point where I sacrifice my foundational, intrinsic ethics and religious beliefs.

And we tell young people, and we push on them all the time about Islam is going to make everything fine, it's going to work for you in your personal life. Maybe Islam is always going to work. Whether you're going through hardship or success, Islam is working. But hardship and success for the believer are an opportunity to understand the Asrar of Allah, the secrets that God has for them.

Managing Tragedy: The Prophet's Example

And that's why the beginning of the Prophet's life, if you were really to try to encapsulate it, this is very important for converts, man, is that the early part of the Prophet's life is about how to manage tragedy. He loses his father, he loses his mother. In America there are studies that show a single parent child can succeed. But a parent that's lost both parents, and that puts you in a very, very difficult situation statistically. The Prophet loses both. Loses his grandfather. Loses his wife. Loses his uncle. Loses his city. Loses everything, but gains everything.

Now we tend to tie our loss into religious failure. And that's not necessarily true. And that's why the Prophet said, عَجَبًا لِأَمْرِ الْمُؤْمِنِ (Ajaban li-amri al-muʼmin) - Sahih Muslim 2999. I'm surprised, I'm amazed, I'm excited about the believer. Because the believer, everything for the believer is good. If the believer is blessed, he or she is thankful, and that's good for him or her. If he or she is tested, they have resilience, and that's good for him or her.

So we cannot allow the time and the age and the things that are happening to impact us in the way that our relationship with Allah should impact us. And our family, and our children, and our wives, and our spouses. Those are things that are intrinsic to us.

But the situations that we move through, if we're just looking for utility, just looking for a comma, just looking to get some cool pictures, or be on the interfaith council. Why do you want to be on the interfaith council? To call to God, or just to be like, I'm cool. If it's, I'm cool, this is what I'm talking about.

Why do you want to be the masjid president? Just so you can flex your power, or to really serve, for example, the most vulnerable in the Muslim community. To look after the rights of immigrants, to put a Black Lives

Matter sign in front of your masjid, then I feel you. But if it's not about struggle, and embracing struggle, why do you want to learn Islam? To be a sheikh, subhanAllah, to have authority and have power.

I remember when I finished, Warsh al-Nafi. You know, we studied different qiraat in Egypt, alhamdulillah. And my teacher, I said, you know, now, mashaAllah, I finished this riwayah of hafiz, now inshaAllah, I'm going to be like, you know, he said, you're going to be what? He said, did you learn this to be, or did you learn this to serve? I said, oh man, I made a big mistake.

He said, you learn to serve, not to be. سَيِّدُ الْقَوْمِ خَادِمُهُمْ (Sayyidu al-qawmi khādimuhum) - Sunan Ibn Majah 2360. The Prophet said, the master of the people, is their servant.

So, when there's the gain of dunya, and the gain of utility, in my religious work, that is antithetical, to the Prophet, and his dawah. Ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam. And that takes us into these three powerful chapters, that will help us think about some challenges, that we may have, inshaAllah.

First Principle: Introspection and Self-Awareness

Surah al-Alaq, surah al-Mudathir, surah al-Muzammil. We know that the Prophet, ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, the first thing we should think about, is appreciating opportunities for introspection إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ (Innamā al-a mālu bil-niyyāt) - Sahih Bukhari 1. First hadith we should all learn, actions are based on intention. Actions are rewarded by intention, actually is the meaning of the hadith. Al-jaza min jins al-amr, we say in fiqh, the reward is based on quality of the deed, the internal quality.

So we know that the Prophet, ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, in a long hadith found in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sayyidah Aisha raḍiya Allāhu 'anha, she said حُبِّبَ إِلَيْهِ الْخَلَاءُ (Hubbiba ilayhi al-khalā') - Sahih Bukhari 3. The early on, the Prophet loved to be alone. When was the last time you were alone with yourself? Without a phone. When was the last time I was alone with myself? People take their phone in the restroom now. Spend hours in the restaurant, playing Angry Birds and Fortnite, checking Nasdaq. But when have we truly been alone? And really ask ourselves about who we are, what's intrinsic to us, what are the main ingredients of our personality? The Prophet, ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam, is given the love of al-khalaa, to be alone.

And that's why Imam Ibn Ata'illah, he said in Al-Hikam, there's nothing more beneficial for the revival of the heart, than al-'azla, taking time for self-care, and to look into yourself, and audit yourselves. We know that Sayyidina Umar ibn Khattab, raḍiya Allāhu 'anhu, he said very famously حَاسِبُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ قَبْلَ أَنْ تُحَاسَبُوا (Hāsibū anfusakum qabla an tuhāsabū). Evaluate yourself before you're evaluated. Audit yourself before God audits you.

So one of the questions that we ask in community organizing, is who are you? So who are you? What roles, what hats do you wear in life? And once I'm able to answer that question, then I can find out what's really not that important, what's really important. You should think about this in two ways. Your sphere of influence, and your sphere of concern.

Sphere of influence, like my kids, man. Sphere of influence is my diet. Sphere of influence is my education. Sphere of influence are those things that I can directly impact. What are those in your life? Sphere of concern is, you know, the unity of the Muslim ummah, what's happening in the world. That's sphere of concern.

And I really influence those things implicitly. Explicitly, it's hard unless I have family there, or I have friends there. If I'm working with an organization, like a relief organization. We tend to find people confuse these. So, I met a brother once. He was telling me, I'm so worried about those children overseas. I knew that he and his wife were having some problems. I'm so worried about those kids overseas. Oh my gosh.

I said, hey man, when's the last time you spent time with your son? Oh my son, he's a shaytan. I was like, ah, my son is lost. See that? But where is your influence? Where is your impact? And that's why Ibn Qayyim said, rahimahullah, one of the tricks of shaytan is to confuse the very important with the not important.

Imam Sidi Zaruk, in Al-Qawa'id Al-Tasawwuf, one of the great scholars, Shaykh al-Islam. He said, shaytan al-saliheen. He said تَقْدِيمُ الْأَهَمَّ عَلَى الْمُهِمِّ شَأْنُ الصَّالِحِينَ دَائِمًا (Taqdimu al-ahammi ‘alā al-muhimmi shaʼnu al-ṣālihīna dāʼiman). He says, rahimahullah, that the state of the true friends of God is that what's very important is always given priority first.

The Prophet's Wisdom in Addressing Questions

And that's why you can understand Sayyidina Muhammad ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam and Jibreel. When anyone asks the Prophet or engages the Prophet on issues that don't lead to action, he doesn't answer the question usually or he directs it to action.

So for example, in Medina, in Sahih al-Bukhari, the man comes to Sayyidina Nabi ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam. مَتَى السَّاعَةُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ (Matā al-saatu ya Rasūla Allāh)? It's a very stupid question. When is the Day of Judgment? Like in Medina? We're not in Mecca anymore. Like we've all been Muslim for over like 19 years and this guy is asking, when is the hour? That's eschatology gone crazy.

مَتَى السَّاعَةُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ (Mata al-saatu ya Rasūla Allāh)? You know, you can imagine now if someone walked in a mosque, when is the hour? We'd lose our minds, man. My brother would never come back to the masjid because we wouldn't be prophetic in how we dealt with him. We would judge him and then we would treat him based on that judgment.

But the Prophet says مَا أَعْدَدْتَ لَهَا (Maaʻdadta lahā) - Sahih Bukhari 6171? What did you prepare for? Look how he reverses a weird question and turns it into something that the guy can influence. This happens over and over and over and over again. The Prophet is always ṣallā Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam getting people to think about what you can really impact.

And that's why the great sahaba are people that can be vulnerable and honest. Honesty and Prophethood can't go together. So we see in the hadith of Jibreel, when Jibreel asked the Prophet, what's Islam? Prophet gives a long

answer. What's Iman? Prophet gives an answer. What's Ihsan? Prophet gives an answer. When will be the hour? What does the Prophet say? I don't know and you don't know.

Look at that. Because that's just going to be like just going to like go into some cool like hipster turmeric latte deconstructionism man. Just deconstruct the ummah. Ain't nobody got time for that. So the Prophet said, I don't know and you don't know. But when he asked the Prophet, (مَا أَمَارَاتُهَا - Mā amārātuhā) - Sahih Muslim 8, what are the signs? Then the Prophet said, the signs are this, this, this, this, this, this, this. Because when people see the signs of the hour, it does what? It wakes them up. It leads to action.

So the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam in his introspection and it's incredible that we usually experience our greatest moments of growth that prepare us for public life away from the public. And we usually experience our most personal failures trying to be successful in public. So the first thing that we should think about is being honest with ourselves. Al-Muhasaba. That's the first core component of a Muslim personality. Interrogation. Looking into myself. Thinking about the good and bad that I have. Being thankful for the good and correcting the evil.

That's why Ibn Arabi, Shaykh al-Akbar, he said in Futuhat al-Makiyya, how many of the great ulema he knew that they would keep with them a small ledger and they would write the good that they've done and the bad that they've done at the end of the day. And then they would take themselves into account. It's like once a week, sit back and ask yourself who you are. What are your core ingredients? What are the good qualities that you have? What are the bad qualities that you have? And you know why that's important? Because we live in an age now where we primarily construct our identity based on how other people react to us. And that's a problem.

Second Principle: Seeking Knowledge

The second thing is that after he loved isolation, Sayyidina Jibreel finally descends to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and he says, Read. Read. Read. (اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ * خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ - Iqra bismi rabbika alladhī khalaqa * Khalaqa al-insāna min ʻalaq) - Quran 96:1-2. And these first few verses of surah ta'ala come to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And what do we learn? The second major quality that we should think about as a challenge for the Muslim community is learning.

And there are really three or four challenges that I can talk about around learning. But I'm going to try to make it as simple as possible. Number one is the lack of an organized curriculum in the English language for young American Muslims to learn orthodoxy. And old American Muslims, old folks need to learn too. But you don't have something that takes you from A to Z. Arafatiyah. What we have are one-off lectures. Snapchat imam. We have moments of disorganized education. But we don't have something that will take us through the 11 uloom that most people should know. The fard ayn. The obligations that someone should learn. This is really frustrating for converts.

So the first is, knowledge needs to be organized. It needs to be systematic. Number two, oftentimes we learn knowledge from religious people, but those religious people will use that knowledge to divide us or to control

us. To create fitna. That's a problem. What should be the outcome of learning? Disunity or unity? Amongst the believers.

We see the sahaba, Ridwanallah alayhim, they were disunited. They experienced acute disunity. But they learned with Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and they studied with Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and they came out of those study circles together.

Now we attend courses in different places or sit with different people. We don't come out with a greater, if we don't come out with a greater commitment to our unity and being together, then we haven't learned properly.

The Example of Al-Mazari: Unity Through Knowledge

Look at Imam al-Mazari al-Maliki. My training is in the Maliki school. Al-Mazari is considered one of the great, great scholars of our madhhab. He's like Ibn Abidin to the Sayyidat al-Hanafiya. The Maliki school, because we read, it's commendable to read with the qira'ah of Ahlul Madina. Most people you read with the qira'ah of Ahlul Kufa. Hafs an Asim. Asim can Kufian. Asim is Kufi. But Nafi' Sayyidina Imam Nafi' is Madani.

In the school of Madina, we don't read with Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim in salah. That's how it was related to us. So, Allahu Akbar, Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. In the school of the Kufi'in, Allahu Akbar, Bismillah, Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. In the Maliki madhhab, it's considered makruh to read Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim in salah. Makruh means permissible, but disliked.

Except in one situation. If you as a Maliki, pray with a Shafi' or Hanbali. When Usadaatul Ahnaf, they're in the middle, they say it silently. Barely, can barely hear it. But if we were to pray with the Hanafi, Hanbali or Shafi'i, Mura'atal Khilaf, as our scholars mentioned, to preserve the unity of the community, we should say, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Look, the purpose of the knowledge.

So, Al-Mazari Al-Maliki, the great jurist, he was actually from Sicily. His origins are Italian. You know the Muslims were in Italy for almost 5-600 years. One of his students comes to visit him in a madrasa run by the Shafi'i. And, he prays behind Al-Mazari. So, he's thinking, wow, I'm going to pray like the Maliki Madhab is going to be on fleek. You know, like, really pray the Maliki Madhab now. Al-Mazari starts, Allahu Akbar, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. The guy was like, wow, whoa.

So, he goes to the Imam afterwards and he said, man, you, you said, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Why? He said, because we're praying with people who see reciting the Basmala as an obligation in Salah. So, to bring the hearts together, Alhamdulillah. I read Salah like they read the Salah. MashaAllah. Our books of Fiqh are filled with this kind of mercy, this kind of maturity, and this kind of acceptance.

I remember the first day I started training as a Mufti, I asked Sheikh Mohammed Wissam, how many Madhabs do you use? Just Shafi? Because he's Shafi. He said, look, all of them. I said, all of them? What he meant to say is, like, I want to bring the community together.

Imam Al-Ghazali said, whenever you see somebody spreading lies about the scholars, or I heard this about this Imam, I heard about this Sheikh, you know, I heard this about this guy, sending emails, for example. Then, he said, you should abandon those people, because they're trying to destroy the community. Imam Al-Subki, Rahimahullah, he said, every Muslim student I ever taught succeeded except those who tried to learn and engage in all the differences. Like, not in a way to appreciate the differences, but in a way to use those for power.

Embracing Diversity in Knowledge

The American Muslim community, we have a number of challenges when it comes to knowledge. Number one is our religious knowledge, because we all come from different countries, different communities, different places, who were taught by different teachers who had different understandings. At times, those are used as a catalyst to create insecurity and fear. Whereas, the opposite, we should understand and respect that those differences make us a community to be prepared for the complexities of life.

You know who taught me Arabic? The most important Arabic teacher I ever had? Shaykh Abdur-Rahman Al- Tahir, a Somali. Thank you so much. So, I didn't ask for coffee, but I appreciate it, man. So, may Allah give you coffee in Jannah, Inshallah. Light roast. But like, he's Somali, he taught me Arabic. Who did I memorize the Quran with? From Senegal. Who did I read with Bukhari? From Egypt. The Muwatta, I read the Muwatta with someone from Lucknow, from India.

The point is, like, we at times may not realize that these different articulations are acceptable, in fact, commendable, and we allow those to, the knowledge to become a way in which we don't trust each other. Something different scares us. Like, we actually fight over taraweeh. Think about that. We argue over how to worship. One of my teachers, his opinion was 8. I don't agree with him, but his opinion was 8. And I said, man, but the people pray 20. He said, Alhamdulillah, let them pray 50. Like, let them draw near to Allah. It doesn't bother me.

So our knowledge, and that's why I tell Muslims, if you see a Muslim doing something that you don't know, it's because you don't know. It's not because it's wrong. And that creates a community where the knowledge, and that's the third thing, knowledge is not to make you like a personal sheriff. Like, you go around giving people citations because they don't pray like you pray, or they don't worship the way you worship. That's the job of the imam. The imam in this community is trained, he's respected, he's knowledgeable. He's the person that can teach people about those things.

The Story of Al-Qadi Abu Bakr

Al-Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi, the great Maliki jurist from Spain and Morocco, he was the greatest student of Imam al-Ghazali. He wrote a tafsir of Quran and Waru Fajr, which is 55 volumes. It's lost. Imam al-Qurtubi's tafsir, if you know Qurtubi, his tafsir is an abridgment of Al-Qadi Abu Bakr's tafsir. So, al-Qurtubi's tafsir is considered like, amazing. So, how amazing was the guy who was 55 volumes, right? That's al-Qadi Abu Bakr.

And he is also very funny, has a great sense of humor. He said, you know, one time I prayed in Masjid al-Aqsa, and it was Asr prayer, and after I prayed, the guy on my right said, Sheikh, are you the famous al-Qadi? Qadi Abu Bakr? He said, yeah. He said, did you see the guy praying next to you? That guy's here, that guy's here. In the middle is the Sheikh. The Sheikh, he said, what? He said, yeah, the guy to your left, he prayed wrong.

Al-Qadi said to him, how did you see him? I didn't see him. I'm in between you. He's like, no, man. He prayed wrong. Then the guy on his left said, Sheikh, la wallahi, he moved his finger wrong. Al-Qadi Abu Bakr said, I didn't notice either of you. (كُنْتُ مَشْغُولًا بِاللَّهِ - Kuntu mashghūlan billāh). I was busy with Allah. I didn't see you. I didn't see you. Like how many times have you gone to the mosque, and you were just like (كُنْتُ مَشْعُولًا بِاللَّهِ - Kuntu mashghūlan billāh). I'm busy with God.

So the knowledge, we need to be careful of certain forms of Sunnism, which have been perpetuated by governments in the Sunni world, whose main purpose is to divide us. I'm not just talking about the Saudis. I don't like that. I don't like that kind of stuff. But we need to be aware of certain forms of Salafism, and certain forms of Sufism, who have been pushed by intelligence agencies in Sunni communities in America to divide us, to create hatred amongst us in the name of knowledge. I can differ with you, and I can disagree with you. And if you're doing something really, really bad, I can be mad at you. But the door of redemption is always open.

Knowledge Must Improve Character

The third challenge of knowledge, and that will take us into the second component, is that it should improve our character. It should make us better people, man. And you find the marriage of character and knowledge has always been part of who we are as a community. The great scholars that you know and love, the great scholars that you hear about, it wasn't because of their scholarship that we love them only. It's because of who they were as people.

Like Imam Abu Hanifa takes care of his Jewish neighbor. Like that's the real story. Abdullah Ibn Mubarak. You know, Abdullah Ibn Mubarak is one of the great students of Abu Hanifa, and one of the great scholars of the Ummah, and his stories of who he was as a human being are so profound. For example, he also had a non- Muslim neighbor. And one day his non-Muslim neighbor decided to sell his home. And he sold it for double the price. So people ask him, Man, why are you selling your house for double the cost? He said, He said, Half of it is for me, and the other half is because I have an awesome neighbor. Abdullah Ibn Mubarak is an awesome neighbor.

Abdullah Ibn Mubarak is such a good neighbor that he impacts the cost of housing with his presence. I saw this in Boston. The former mayor of Boston said, Bring the Somali community into the hood, and the hood will change. What he meant was like, the Muslims, man, they don't do ratchetness. So wherever the Muslims come as a collective community, crime goes down, drug usage goes down, housing prices rise.

There's actually a study now in New York City, believe it or not, that immigrant Muslim communities and indigenous Muslim communities contributed to the gentrification of New York City because when we move into a neighborhood, most of us, alhamdulillah, aren't doing craziness. So we make the way for hot yoga studios and latte bars because we don't understand our presence and we don't use our presence to fight for fair housing and cheap housing for people. But the point is, we have an impact.

What Should We Learn?

That takes us to the second component after knowledge. What should you learn? People ask that all the time. Number one, you should learn how to pray properly. Not the arguments of where your hand is. All that's debatable. Should you put your hands here? That's all debatable. Stay away from people that tell you, if you're not doing like this, your salah is not accepted. That's insanity. That's from hayatus salah, not from the arkan of salah. Imam Ibn Quddamah said, how many people are so caught up in this and they forget about this?

The second thing is that we have to increase our emotional IQ. We don't love each other, man. You really get a sense that Muslims, we don't like each other. That's unfortunate because we are a great community, man. Our capacity to love, our capacity to be transformative in our mercy towards each other goes back to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. We are a community of rahmah.

"(Wa-mā arsalnāka illā rahmatan lil-'ālamīn) - And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds."

Shawqi said about the Prophet, (إِذَا رَحِمْتَ فَأَنْتَ أُمُّ أَوْ أَبٌ هَذَانِ فِي الدُّنْيَا هُمَا رُحَمَاءُ - Idha rahimta fa-anta ummun aw abun hādhāni fi al-dunyā humā ruḥamā'u). Shawqi said about the Prophet, Ahmed Shawqi is a great Egyptian poet, when you're merciful, you're like a mother or father. Like, you're so merciful.

Third Principle: Building a Loving Community

The second thing that we have to think about, especially in the face of Islamophobia, the face of the challenges that we see, the trauma facing Muslim communities, and we need to be able to appreciate that the up and coming environmental challenges that are going to impact this world are going to impact poor Muslim communities overseas first, and others. The poor are going to get hit hard by changes in the economy and changes in the environment.

In the face of those kind of challenges, and in America now with deregulation, the attack on the unions, the destruction of the ability for collective bargaining, you're going to see the middle class falls to the bottom of the roof. People can talk about that they've created more jobs in America, but what kind of jobs are being created?

They're not able to sustain.

Now, they say 40 million Americans cannot live a middle class lifestyle. They're projecting in the next few years that will reach 56 million people.

What does that mean for us as a community when we're dealing with political challenges overseas, environmental challenges, we see the floods that have happened, the heat wave in Pakistan and India that happened, the political crisis like the Rohingya, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Central Africa. We need to be a loving community.

Our young American Muslims, sisters yesterday, scared to wear hijab, scared to go on job interviews, converts who have been cast aside by their parents or their family members, their care providers, to convert in America, in some cases, to commit social suicide. New immigrants that come to America who are trying to make their way, this anti-immigrant attitude, this nativism that's being pushed. Don't you think that we should create a loving community for people right now? A place where people feel that we care about them. The mosque is a place that loves you. The community is a place that honors and respects you. The community is a place that you can come for help instead of simply just a place to be judged or to be pushed aside or to be militarized because of your gender or your race, your ethnicity, color of your skin.

The Prophet Seeks Emotional Support

Look at the beginning of prophethood. We said knowledge, we talked about introspection. After the prophet is terrified, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), he runs. And who does he go to? Who's the first person he goes to after prophethood is revealed to him? His blessed wife, Sayyida Khadija. And what is the prophet looking for when he bursts into their home? What does he say? (دَبَّرُونِي دَبَّرُونِي زَمِّلُونِي زَمِّلُونِي - Dathirūnī dathirūnī zammilūnī zammilūnī) - Sahih Bukhari 3. Some people say it happened twice. He's looking for emotional support.

We need to think about how we can be loving people. All of us want to be loved, but we don't want to love back. Why does this community welcome me? Why don't you welcome the community? Nobody said salaam to me. You didn't say salaam to anybody? Don't get me wrong. I've been in communities where I had to leave. Been in communities where people ask me, like, are you working for the FBI? I've been in communities where people ask me, did you really say that gay marriage is permissible? Been in communities where because I'm a white Muslim, I'm seen as, you know, an agent, the devil.

You ask our black Muslim brothers and sisters, man, how it feels to be treated by the dominant white supremacist ethos in this country in a house of worship. Those are concerns. Ask women how it feels to be militarized because of their gender. Ask young men how it feels to be invisible in a community and not recognized. Ask divorcees how it feels to be a Muslim in a community when you're divorced. Ask new brothers and sisters that are coming to America and just trying to, like, make it work, man. Just trying to make it work. And they're pushed away because they don't fit the dominant ethos that runs the community which is about success.

If you look at our boards, man, our boards are primarily people who are financially well off. That's wrong. It's not just about being financially well off and being able to donate to that non-profit. It's about being a person of integrity and service.

So the prophet finds support through his wife. The Prophet said (إِدْخَالُ السُّرُورِ عَلَى أَخِيكَ الْمُسْلِمِ - Idkhalu al-surūri alā akhīka al-muslim) - authentic hadith. To make a fellow Muslim happy obligates for you paradise. This is an authentic hadith. Communities have to be invested not only in the education of congregants and the donor potential of congregants. We also have to love each other, man.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said (لَا تَدْخُلُوا الْجَنَّةَ حَتَّى تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَا تُؤْمِنُوا حَتَّى تَحَابُّوا - Lā tadkhulu al-jannata hattā tu minū wa-lā tu minū hattā tahābbū) - Sahih Muslim 54. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, You will never enter paradise until you believe. You will never believe until you love each other.

Practical Steps: Supporting Marriages and Mental Health

So that means now is the strategy. How do we help each other go through hard times? So when I was in Boston, I was imam in Boston for three years. One of the things I noticed is that we had people who were coming from communities that had been impacted by incredible trauma. And we noticed that marriages were struggling, man. Marriages were on the ropes. And then people were like, Oh my gosh, like Muslims are getting divorced. Oh my gosh. That's what we do. We turn it into this slogan. But I don't care about slogans. I was like, Why are they getting divorced?

Often times it's detestable in-laws, man. Jealous mothers. You love her more than you love me. Well, Mama, I hope you raised your son to love his wife. That's a good thing. You know, or how dare you, you know, take my daughter to another city. Well, why did we get married? We're not supposed to be Airbnb-ing it with you. So Malcolm X said, In-laws are outlaws, man.

The other reason is that we found people were coming into marriages that had serious emotional and psychological trauma. You know, you have to not only love, but we have to learn how to receive love. And receiving love is about being vulnerable and comfortable. So we partnered with our clinicians in the Muslim community. They came to me. They said, Imam, can you provide marriage counseling? Absolutely not. Why? I'm an imam. I'm not a counselor. I can help you destroy your marriage.

The other imams were like, Astaghfirullah, brother. We're supposed to do. I said, Where did you go to school? I went to Deoband. Okay, in Deoband, man. Did they teach you in Deoband about the principles of family counseling? Absolutely not. And why would you do it? In Azhar, they didn't teach me how to do that. (لَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ - La taqfu mā laysa laka bihi ilm) - Quran 17:36. I said, Don't get involved in what you don't know, man. And plus, most of us need counseling anyways because imams, we're under a lot of pressure. Getting hit hard.

So we partnered with our local clinicians. Professionals. We opened up a mental health counseling service in the mosque that dealt with substance abuse issues, pornographic addiction, trauma, you name it. We saved 33 marriages. Alhamdulillah. So how do you invest in looking after the needs of the community? Just think about reaching out to your professionals who can really serve. The imam's job, at least I'm speaking, my personal capacity, is to give you the hukum, the fatwa, the Islamic guidance on issues. If the counselor needs religious advice, I'm there to provide that religious advice.

Third thing that we did is we started making community members sit together and talk. They didn't like it. You know? And we started events that brought in the social cohesion of the community. When was the last time you all just kicked it? Just kicked it as a community. Had a picnic. And the rule of the picnic is you can't sit with your ethnic group. You can't sit with your age group. People initially hated it, but then they loved it.

And we gave people this idea that when you sit with someone, listen to their personal narrative. Tell me about your life. Man, people began to really love each other. Began to care for each other. And I remember I talked with this brother. This brother used to bother me all the time. He's always out of line in the mosque. What's wrong with this dude, man? So I said, I'm going to do a one-on-one with this guy. So we sat down and we talked and he told me that I had to escape my country by swimming up a river and I saw my brother drown.

And I said, man, I'm really sorry, man. I didn't understand that you had this kind of trauma. But we became like really close. So creating opportunities, for example, if there's other imams, I tell imams all the time, if you don't get along, have you ever actually talked to an imam? Have you ever had dinner? Have you ever talked, broke bread, shared some aloo paratha, you know, had a real conversation? Or is it what other community members are telling you that person is saying? That's fitna.

So the third is investing in each other, getting to know each other. Same thing with board members. Oh, these board members are so bad. Okay, what's the name of the board member's kids? I don't know, but he's so bad. Then you don't know that person. You don't know her. But why don't you sit down and like just have a friendly conversation and get to know people. So the second, third component, and we're running out of time, is increasing our emotional capacity for each other. Learning how to care about each other.

I don't have to like you as a Muslim, by the way, but I have to treat you well. Right? And we learn that from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). When Abu Lu'lu comes to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and wants to hang out with the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), the Wahshi comes to the Prophet who killed Hamza. He's like, Hey! And the Prophet's like, No. Assalamu alaikum. You're welcome here, but I don't want to deal with you. You killed Hamza, man. You killed my uncle. I'm going to treat you as a Muslim. MashaAllah. Alhamdulillah. But we're not like that. It's okay.

Fourth Principle: Strategic Engagement and Social Justice

The last two components, and we'll finish, is that we need to think about strategic engagement. Every single Prophet is invested in social justice issues. For example, Sayyidina Yusuf. And this always freaks Muslims out.

You do know all the Prophets were black, right? They were people of color. Poor people of color. You know, Prophet Muhammad is tawny, kind of olivey.

I've had people, and this will tell you the disease in our heart, man. The white supremacy is no joke, man. That post-colonial white supremacy, that turned us out. So I will say, it's okay, Faisal, man. I know you let your baby run, Faisal. I believe that kids should be able to run in the masjid and be here because once they become money earners, we want them back. Faisal, man, check your kid, man.

So whenever I tell people, you know, Sayyidina Yusuf was a person of color. There will always be a person outside that's like, no, he was white. How was Yusuf white? You know, we've been, and I'm saying this as a white man, because white converts, we have one heck of a job. We are now officially Moses in the house of Pharaoh. Or we're going to be Judas with Christ.

But subhanallah, Prophet Yusuf was like, homeless. He was an abused child. He was sexually trafficked. He was part of the prison industrial complex. We're not speaking to the needs of America because we truly don't care about America. And that's a problem. I understand overseas things are very important. But we don't live overseas. We live here.

And we have to begin to think about how do we really project our teachings and our faith into contemporary issues that are plaguing this country right now. Wealth distribution. وَيْلٌ لِلْمُطَفِّفِينَ

Waylun lil-mutaffifin - Quran 83:1. Classism لِتَعَارَفُوا

Li-ta arafu - Quran 49:13. Immorality.

We have a place, we have a voice that can be projected into these challenges, but we have to build with others to do it. So whenever you talk about community organizing, someone always raises their hand, well what if we don't agree with certain things that that community does? I don't agree with everything I do. But I talk through it.

The Prison Industrial Complex and Systemic Injustice

Prison industrial complex, man. Three out of four black Americans in Washington D.C. men will be in prison. That's crazy, man. That's insane. No religious person, nobody who claims to love the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salallahu alaihi wa sallam) can sit back and watch the discrepancy between color and incarceration in this country and remain silent.

We have a woman today in Texas who was released from prison, voted, registered to vote, and today was sentenced to five years in prison for violating her probation because she voted as a felon who came out of prison. Seriously? And that's how Allah works. I don't care how pious you are. I don't care how awesome your sheikh is. I don't care how many hadith you can narrate. I don't care how much Quran you know, man. If you don't care about the marginalized and the vulnerable, you will be pushed out of the way by the plan of God.

وَيَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ

Wa-yastabdil qawman ghayrakum - Quran 47:38. Allah says, We will replace you and bring other people in.

Coalition Building: The Prophetic Model

So, coalition building, having strategic alliances. Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salallahu alaihi wa sallam) teaches that. Who was the guide of the Prophet to Medina? He wasn't even Muslim on hijrah. In Sahih Bukhari, when the Prophet comes back for Surah Hudaibiyah and his camel stops, and he points at Medina, he says, Those people in Medina, if they ask me to work on Sha'air Allah or Al-Ma'ruf, or Silat al-Rahm, if the people of Medina, at the height of their hatred for the Prophet, if they ask me to organize with them and work with them on good issues, I will do it.

If that's with the Quraish, who are the worst people on the face of the earth, then no one in America can justify that they can't work with other people because they don't agree with them on certain issues.

Number one is, if you're really about it, when you go into organizing with people, you say, These are non- negotiables for our community. These are things which we cannot forego. And here are the negotiables. Let's find some intersectionality on the things that we both are concerned about.

Immigration, man. That's impacting the Muslim community. Hello, it's called the Muslim ban. The Muslim ban. Number two, the issues with hyper-incarceration in this country. After Bill Clinton, do you realize that the number of people in prison in the United States after eight years of a Clinton presidency rose 60%. There are more people now in prison in America for drugs than were in prison in America in totality in 1980. And we might not think that that has anything to do with us, but 50% of our community are black folks.

And black folks are those who are unfairly targeted by ridiculous sentencing guidelines and hyper-incarceration. Do you realize that in California in the wildfires, people that were incarcerated were out there fighting those fires, making a dollar an hour or a dollar a day. That's indentured servitude.

If we don't feel like we have a responsibility to somehow speak on that issue and inject our theology on these issues, why are we Muslims? Why would you follow the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) if you're not able to inject prophetic values into the problems around you? What's the purpose? And to celebrate prophetic success with communities around us.

Religious Ritual and Social Justice Are Inseparable

So we see in Surat al-Mudathir, Allah جل جلاله says, as Surat al-Muzammil, Surat al-Mudathir, two situations مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِي سَقَرَ

Mā salakakum fi saqar - Quran 74:42. It'll be asked, why are you in hell? قَالُوا لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ الْمُصَلِّينَ

Qālu lam naku mina al-mușallīn - Quran 74:43. We didn't pray. وَلَمْ نَكُ نُطْعِمُ الْمِسْكِينَ

Wa-lam naku nut imu al-miskīn - Quran 74:44. And we didn't feed the poor.

This is always in Qur'an. Religious ritual accompanied with issues of social justice and equality. Always. You can't find it. Except they're always together. أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يُكَذِّبُ بِالدِّينِ * فَذَلِكَ الَّذِي يَدُعُ الْيَتِيمَ

A-ra ayta alladhī yukadhdhibu bil-dīni * Fa-dhālika alladhī yadu u al-yatīm - Quran 107:1-2. Same thing.