Scholarship As a Beacon of Hope - Shaykh

Historical Examples: The Crusades Era

The Reality of Islamic History

And that aspect, scholarship. Scholarship needs to remain because it is the ultimate backbone. It is how we will situate ourselves.

Scholarship is our moral compass. Scholarship is what we need to tap into, so that we can think forward. So without scholarship, we are nothing.

And you wanna speak about Aqsa? You wanna speak about Bilad al-Sham? You wanna speak about the crusades and what not? I just gave a khatira, maybe some of you listened to it. I'm gonna develop a little bit more from that. Even during this time frame, because again most of us, we have a very superficial understanding of Islamic history.

Wallahi that is true. We have a very idealized understanding of Islamic history. And our history, wallahi, it has its ups and downs, right? We love to look at the ups and we ignore the negatives.

And I have said many times, our religion is divine, our history is very human. Our religion is divine, our history is very human. And once you study history, you have to re-situate yourself.

Why Al-Aqsa Was Lost

Fact of the matter, is that we lost al-Aqsa, despite the fact that we had a powerful civilization. Why did we lose al-Aqsa in the first crusades? Why did we lose it? Multiple reasons, but there was so much internal warfare, so much bickering. And also, a really awkward thing to say, there was really, overall, a lack of piety and taqwa.

It's really awkward to say this, but that's just a fact of the matter. You know, alcohol was rampant in that time frame, in those lands. Again, we have a very naive, romanticized version of the past.

And I don't like mentioning these awkward facts, but I mention them because, frankly, if we have naive understandings of how to proceed, if we have utopic, idealistic, you know, idyllic, really, just grandiose understandings of what's gonna happen, then we're just gonna remain immobile, doing nothing.

Because we're expecting the Mahdi to come with Jibreel on his side. It doesn't work that way.

When you study history, you realize, there's the good, there's the bad, there's the beautiful, there's the ugly. And you have to negotiate, even some of our heroes in medieval times, they have darker sides as well. I've tried to reference that in the past.

The Zengid Dynasty

The founder of the Zengid dynasty, not mentioning his name, but the founder of the Zengid dynasty, whom we aggrandize. You know how he died? Drunk and stupor. I mean, just a fact.

I'm sorry to be blunt to you. But there was good from him, but he died because his slave stole from his liquor, literally. And in the middle of the night, he woke up and he goes, oh, you're stealing from my liquor? I'm gonna punish you in the next morning.

And the slave's like, I'm not waiting for you to punish me. He kills him in the middle of the night. This is the founder of the Zengid dynasty, right? Well, that's the founder.

Nur al-Din al-Zengi: A Different Character

But then, Nur al-Din comes along. Nur al-Din, he's not the founder. Nur al-Din comes along.

And Nur al-Din is a different character. Nur al-Din, without a doubt, as one of the chroniclers, Ibn al-Athir, he mentions, Ibn al-Athir is the great historian, one of the greatest historians. Ibn al-Athir mentions that, when I read the seerah, with the biography of Nur al-Din al-Zengi, the only person I can think of, in the past that resembles him, is Umar ibn Abdulaziz, and before him, the Khulafa al-Rashidun.

Like, from the time of the Khulafa, you have Umar, and then you have Nur al-Din al-Zengi. Like, even Ibn al-Athir is saying, this guy is legendary. Nur al-Din is one of those few people, genuinely pious, living the life of a zahid, even though he's the ruler.

And remember, Nur al-Din did not conquer Jerusalem. Nur al-Din paves the way. And by the way, even Nur al-Din, he's a politician, there are things about him that, you know, politicians have to do, it is what it is.

Nur al-Din's Two-Pronged Strategy

But overall, his heart is in the right place. And you know one of the things that he does? Nur al-Din brings an entire revival of knowledge and religiosity. While Aqsa is burning under the crusaders, because Nur al-Din did not free Aqsa.

While Aqsa is doing what it is doing, Nur al-Din has two visions, number one is the jihad, number one is the military, and number two, it is the intellectual.

And so what does Nur al-Din do? Nur al-Din, and this is part of the research that I did not only for my PhD, but I'm continuing doing this research. May Allah make it easy to write and give more lectures.

I travel so much because of these guys, I don't have time to give more lectures. But inshaAllah, let's hope to. I always say I'm gonna retire this year, but it doesn't work, subhanAllah.

So much, you know, to do. Wallahi, I wish I could stay in my library and just write and type and give durs, but I have to travel and that kind of diminishes some of the lectures I'm giving. But I'm doing research on this.

Nur al-Din's Madrasas

I actually have, you know, research done on the Zengid and the Salah al-Din Ayyubis, the Ayyubid dynasty, and the intellectual revival that they've done. So the Zengid dynasty, Nur al-Din al-Zengi, one of the things that he did, I'm chronicling right now, I have written down over 15 madrasas. Over 15 madrasas that Nur al-Din either revived and sponsored or founded from scratch.

Founded, he literally founded madrasa from his own personal wealth and from donors that he knew and some of them from the public treasury which he's allowed to do. And of course, the most famous madrasa, of course, I mean, this is understood, they name it after themselves, this is the reality, al-Nuriyah. Nur al-Din al-Nuriyah.

Just like Salah al-Din had the Salihiyah. This is, it is no problem. We don't care.

I mean, you want to found it for yourself, just found some madrasas. You guys take the credit, no problem. We need madrasas, right? While the crusades are happening, he's making sure that 15 madrasas are sponsored.

Supporting Multiple Madhabs

By the way, Mufti Saab, take note of this. He sponsors, what is Nur al-Din's madhab, do you know? Hanafi, mashallah. But guess what? He sponsors multiple madrasas of other madhabs.

He's so broad-minded, even though he himself is Hanafi, and in a time when there was some sectarianism between the madhabs, right? And yes, it is true, most of his madrasas were Hanafi. It is true. That's fine, we give him that.

But subhanallah, he founded multiple Shafi'i madrasas. He founded one or two Hanbali, when he founded means he supported, I should say. He supported multiple Hanbali madrasas.

He understood that it's not just my school that I need to support. This is what you call visionary, right? That's why I'm fundraising for your school, even though I have a school as well, the Islamic Seminary of America, let me plug that in for free. But we need scholarship.

We need scholarship to flourish, right? We all have our madrasas here, and we want all madrasas to flourish. It's a win-win for all of us, right? Just like Nur ad-Din. So he founds the Nuriyah.

The Legacy Continues

Now listen to this. Again, this is something that I've uncovered, really interesting tidbit of history. I haven't said this in a khatira, so when I do say it, you can say, oh, I listened to it first in the Muftah fundraiser.

Eventually, I'll mention this in the khatira as well, maybe next week we'll give it. So, this is an interesting tidbit. Of course, Nur ad-Din never lived to see the conquest of Jerusalem, right? Salah ad-Din Ayubi is the one who conquers Jerusalem.

And when Jerusalem is conquered, obviously, you need to repopulate it with ilm and ulama, with madrasas, with shuyukh, right? And subhanAllah, guess who he chooses to become basically the first mufti, and the first qadi, and the first faqih of Aqsa that's conquered now. The first Islamic lecture in 100 years is going to be the rector of Nuriyah school that Nur ad-Din al-Zangi founded, subhanAllah. Even though Nur ad-Din did not live to see the conquest, the intellectual seeds that he planted, the madrasa that he himself built, the rector of that madrasa was the one who eventually, Salah ad-Din says, okay, you're the most qualified guy, come.

And so the first time Allah's name is mentioned, the salah is led, the Quran is recited, the first time ilm is taught after 100 years, actually Nur ad-Din planted it, even though he didn't live to see that. This is what you call visionary.

The Scholars Who Kept the Spirit Alive

I gave a khatir last week, I don't want to repeat it, about the foundations of the Salah ad-Din Ayubis, what happened in the interim.

And I mentioned Ibn al-Khashab, the first person who literally raised the flag of, how do we say this politely? Struggling for the cause of Allah. We have to be careful here, right? So raised the flag of, I'm not as brave as Dr. Javad because I have different backgrounds and whatnot. Dr. Javad will get away with things I might not get away with.

Allah al-musta'an. I say all the time if Noam Chomsky had brown skin and a beard, he'd be sitting in Guantanamo. That's just a fact of the matter.

Chomsky will get away because of his white privilege. And so we have to look at who we are. Because of my background, I will say scholars wrote treatises about struggling in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And they kept this reality alive. Who sponsored those scholars? Nur ad-Din Zangi. Nur ad-Din Zangi, Ibn Asakir.

Ibn Asakir, that great scholar, every student of knowledge thinks of Ibn Asakir as a historian. No. Of course he's a historian.

Ibn Asakir was writing history and reviving the legacy of Aqsa, the legacy of Jerusalem. Because this is how you're gonna keep the spirit alive. How will the spirit of Aqsa be kept alive? Through knowledge.

And so Ibn Asakir is supported by the Zangids as well. Even though he wrote all about history, he didn't get involved in the struggle actually, but this is the intellectual struggle. He kept the memory alive.

Other Scholars of the Era

Other scholars as well. Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi, the first one to go to the sultan, to the khalifa, and literally chastise the khalifa. Another scholar from Afghanistan, from Herat.

Afghanistan, he was the chief qadi of Damascus. And when Aqsa was first rampaged, was first taken over, it was Zayn al-Islam al-Harawi. He closed his book.

He goes, this is no more time for teaching. I need to have bigger priorities. And he traveled from Damascus all the way to Baghdad.

And he made his way to the khalifa's palace through hook and by crook. Listen to the stories in the Khatira. He made his way, and he challenged the khalifa.

How can you be sitting here doing nothing when Aqsa is burning? The first person to raise the conscience of the ummah was an alim. And then Ibn al-Khashab, the first person to say, guys, you can't just sit back. You need to struggle for the liberation.

And he riled up the people to do that. And the first major victory that took place on the battlefield, Ibn al-Khashab was the one in that battle. And interestingly enough, I gave the story.

Ibn al-Khashab: The Professor Warrior

It's really interesting. You know, in those days, professors had a garb, and warriors had their helmets and whatnot. Ibn al-Khashab came out to the battlefield wearing his professorial garb with the turban of the professor.

The turban and the garb of the professor. So much so that when the crusaders saw him, Baldwin was on the other side. The ruler of Jerusalem fought with Ibn al-Khashab.

Not in Jerusalem, it was outside. But still, you're actually getting, you know, you're getting there, right? Ibn al-Khashab rode out on his horse, and the crusaders laughed. What is a professor doing? What is an alim doing here? He turned his back to the crusaders.

Because his goal, he's not the warrior, he's the shaykh al-alim. His goal, he turns to the warriors. And he gives the khutbah.

The entire crusaders could see that the army is riled up. The army is ready to fight. People are crying, shouting.

And the crusaders realized, this is no ordinary professor here. This professor, this shaykh, he is the one that's really riling up the spirit, keeping that spirit alive. And that victory was the first major victory against the crusaders.

And it was Ibn al-Khashab who single-handedly instigated it, riled up the people, and then was on the battlefield. Again, sisters and brothers, we have to think so many steps ahead.

A Special Note for Hanafi Students

One of the things, by the way, interesting anecdote here, also I found out from the Zangids, right? This, you can use it in your classes.

Because you guys are Hanafi. I'm Hanbali, I studied in the Hanbali. But we're all good, alhamdulillah.

But this is a Hanafi nukta for you guys. One of the scholars that Nur ad-Din Zangi sponsored. What does sponsoring mean, by the way? Sponsoring was something very common in the past, right? And this was that great politicians, when they saw somebody who was really beneficial to the ummah, they literally said, okay, this is a waqf for you, you do you, you do your teaching.

You know the concept of endowment chairs, right? This comes from our awqaf, the concept of endowment chairs in professorial colleges and universities. Because what an endowment chair does is that it allows independence, it allows free thought, it allows people that are qualified to just preach and teach.

So Nur ad-Din Zangi, he had these types of endowment chairs.

The Story of Al-Qasani

And one of the people that he endowed, all of you studying in the Hanafi madhab, you know this very well. And that is the author of Bada'i Us-Sana'i. Who is the author of Bada'i Us-Sana'i? Who is the author of Bada'i Us-Sana'i? Come on, you should know this much.

Mufti sahab, who is the author? Now I want to quiz you. Qasani. Qasani was actually sponsored by Nur ad-Din Zangi.

And of course, by the way, Qasani's story, you know Mr. Romance here, he thinks he's Mr. Romance actually. Let me not say too much, but anyway. Qasani's Bada'i Us-Sana'i is actually one of the most romantic fiqh stories.

So Qasani's teacher was Al-Samarqandi. And Al-Samarqandi had a book called Tuhfat At-Talib, which nobody actually studies and reads. It's hardly ever printed.

And he had, mashallah, a number of daughters. One of them, her name was Fatima. And Fatima was known to be, mashallah, faqihah, alimah, and mashallah, jameela as well.

All of the hasna was in her. And she got sutras from all over the world. It is even said that princes gave for her hand, but she refused all of them.

And so our guy Qasani, he knew the key to her heart was through fiqh, mashallah, mashallah, right? And so he took her father's book, Al-Samarqandi's book, Tuhfat, and he wrote a magnificent commentary, which is called Bada'i Us-Sana'i. All of you Hanafi guys, you know this. One of the classical books in Hanafi school.

And he gifted it to the father. And he said, this is for the mahr of your daughter. This is the mahr of your daughter.

So Bada'i Us-Sana'i is actually the mahr, right? Literally. And the father and daughter willingly accepted that this is the mahr for... So indeed, Qasani married Fatima bint Al-Samarqandi. And the book Bada'i Us- Sana'i became the mahr for the marriage, right? So what was your mahr, by the way? Anyway, so let's not tell.

Which book did you write, Sheikh Samir? Okay. So we have a teasing thing going on. Don't worry.

Nur al-Din's Comprehensive Reform

Alhamdulillah. Where was I? Went into complete different tangents. Zangi.

Nur ad-Din al-Zangi. Imagine. Part-time warrior by day.

Sponsoring ilm by night. This is who Zangi was. Why? Because in his khilafah, not his sultanate, he's not a khalifa.

In his sultanate, society began to change. He literally, like, go read Ibn al-Athir. Go read the books of history.

The khammarat began to shut down. What are the khammarat? I'm sorry to break your bubble, the pubs. There were places to drink alcohol.

Again, we have this really idealistic notion of the past. I'm sorry. Learn and read your history.

This is the reality of us. We're all weak. They're all gonna... In his reign, gambling and vices and these dens of iniquity, they began to shut down.

Why? Because he's sponsoring ilm and ulama. This is what happens when you organically, not like some of the harsh regimes. We're gonna start with the force.

No, you cannot force people without a backlash. Organically, you help through ulama. You bring preachers and teachers.

You open madaris. This is what Nur ad-Din Zangi did. And when you do that, what happens? The love.

You know, in the end of the day, wallahi, the average Muslim loves Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala, loves the messenger. And if you just approach with the right tools, the right equipment, they're gonna wanna come to you. But if you come with the dandi, if you come with the lakri, if you come with the stick, right, I'm sorry with the Arabs here.

If you come with the khashab, and you say, I wanna just... You're gonna turn people away. This is not the way to preach. So Nur ad-Din Zangi understood this.

He laid the foundation. And in one generation, subhanAllah, there was an overall revival of the deen. This is well known and documented.

That revival paved the way for the next generation. And that next generation included who? Salah ad-Din Ayubi and the entire entourage. You needed Zangi.

You needed that intellectual revival to pave the way for the future. So again, I can go on and on, sisters and brothers. But you know, I understand it's frustrating for us when politically things are so dire.

But I'm somebody who my reading of history shows me time and time again that the backbone of revival always is gonna come from the intellectual side, from the visionary side, from the side of ilm. And this is why we need to come together and support every single institute of knowledge. And I'm saying this as somebody who again, I don't teach for miftah.

But wallahi, as Allah is my witness, it makes my heart so happy to see institutes like miftah and so many others flourishing.

Personal Reflection and Contemporary Context

The State of Islamic Education in 1991

Again, sisters and brothers, I wanna conclude on a personal note here. I started my journey to religion to study, you know, my first shaykh in America, 1991, right? 1991, when there was hardly anybody that spoke English fluently and had knowledge.

And that era, 1991, there were no institutes of learning in all of North America. There were no, nothing like this. There was no seminary.

There was no shaykh that spoke English as a mother tongue. I don't wanna mention names, but all of the names you know, they weren't preaching in 91, 92. They weren't.

The people that I had to study with were either minor students or shuyukh that spoke Urdu or Arabic as a mother language. In fact, that's one of my incentives for going to study Islam. I was born in the 70s in Houston, Texas.

There was no khutbah I attended in English because the people that were there were either Arabs or Desis. And I spoke neither fluent Urdu nor fluent Arabic at the time. My entire childhood, and I had no connection with the masjid.

Why? Because I didn't understand a single khutbah. Nothing. That was one of the incentives that caused me as an adult in chemical engineering, University of Houston.

I don't know my faith. I've memorized the Qur'an at home as a Desi not knowing a single thing of Arabic. Memorized the entire Qur'an.

I don't even know what it means. It really hurt me that I've memorized this book. I can't even understand it.

And it really made me feel empty inside. I had to give up everything and go overseas. But times have changed in the last 35 years.

The Transformation

Alhamdulillah, thumma alhamdulillah. There's institutes galore. Every state has massive institutes.

Every single large community has multiple students of knowledge and even ulama that speak English as a mother tongue. The world has changed, and it's changing even more so. So the way I look at it, wallahi, there's things that make me cry, but there's other things that make me aspire, that make me look forward and happy.

The future is bright, brothers and sisters. The future is bright. And indeed the tide is changing.

Not just for Palestine, but for Islam and the ummah. There is a global revival going on around the entire world. Look around you, in every country, in every land, and especially in places you would never think.

Here in America, look around you. Who would believe we have a madrasa like this one? Who would believe hundreds of students are studying here, memorizing the Quran? And it is but one of so many other dozens, and if not more, madrasas across this country. Alhamdulillah, thumma alhamdulillah.

Conclusion

The Bright Future Ahead

The future is bright. We are seeing a tidal wave of change, and we are riding that wave. But the goal is, are we gonna push it even more forward? Are we gonna incentivize it even more? That's what we're here for.

May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala allow every one of us to be a part of that change. May Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to be visionaries, movers and thinkers, shakers who understand that the real revival is

gonna take maybe 2, 3, 4 decades. But this is what we need to do right now.

We are doing what Nur ad-Din Zangi did. We don't have a Zangi anymore. But collectively all of us together, we can come together.

We can help institutes. We can found madaris. We can build professorial chairs.

And slowly but surely, that knowledge will trickle down to the masses. There is going to be a revival. We are seeing that revival.

We're witnessing that revival. We are a part of that revival. So let us help whatever we can.

Let us be a part of this change. And we ask Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala in our own lifetimes to see the fruits of this result. We ask Allah that Masjid al-Aqsa is freed in our own lifetimes.

We ask Allah for peace and stability in that land and region. We ask Allahsubhanahu wa ta'ala to show us the Izzah and glory of Islam through His righteous servants and to make us amongst them. Wa jazakumullahu khayran.

Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

Final Recitation

Surat al-Fatiha.