Yasir Qadhi at Texas Dawah Convention (TDC)

Yasir Qadhi at Texas Dawah Convention (TDC)

Speaker: Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

Opening Greetings

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. And upon you peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

All praise is due to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family, companions, and those who follow him.

Reflection on Four Days of Learning

Four days of lectures, four days of speeches, four days of scholars, gems and pearls have been compiled, wisdoms have been gathered, imans have soared high. And me personally, I have benefited immensely from many, many factors. But one phrase I will always remember for the rest of my life.

Brother Ahmed's statement: "Shaykhs speak too much. Shaykhs speak too much and all they do is speak." Putting me right on the spot, at the end of these four days of speeches and lectures, I have the dubious and unfortunate honor of being the last speaker out of all of these speakers.

And all they want me to do is speak. (الله أكبر - Allahu Akbar) How do I get out of this one? So, (إن شاء الله - in sha'a Allah), I'll try to make this as short as possible because we don't want Shaykh to speak too long.

The Prophecy of Islam's Global Reach

And I do want to say, I have no prepared speech at all, but I do want to say that (سبحان الله - subhan Allah), when I listen to their presentation on the Muslims in Trinidad, (والله - wallah), one hadīth came to mind. A hadīth that really and truly it comes to light when you see this type of presentation and hear these facts. And that is a ḥadīth that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said to a small group of Muslims in Madinah who had yet to conquer, forget Arabia, even the surrounding areas.

They were oppressed by the pagans of Makkah. They have no idea what the future will hold for them. And yet the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says in a ḥadīth reported by Sahih Muslim and others:

(Sahih Muslim 2889)

"Allah subḥānaHu wa ta'ālá rolled the earth up for me. He rolled it up for me. And so I saw the easternmost point and the westernmost point. From east to west I was able to see it. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, 'And my ummah shall reach the easternmost point as it shall reach the westernmost point.'"

And this is exactly what we see. Who even knows where Trinidad and Tobago is? Who even? With all due respect to our brother.

One person would be able to identify it automatically. Imagine this small island. Even a few hundred years ago, who would have thought that there would be so many masajid, full-time schools being built, curriculums of Islamic education being enacted in a small island in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the Caribbean.

This is what you call the ummah of Islam. Who could have possibly known except for Allah subḥānaHu wa ta'ālá. And then through the knowledge of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) given to him by Allah, we were informed of this as well.

The ummah is alive and well, as our brother said. The ummah is alive and well. Allah subhānaHu wa ta'ālá will indeed protect it.

Acknowledging Current Challenges

And yes, we also know of all of the sad occurrences that are occurring in the Muslim world. In fact, the times that we live in, for the most part, are depressing times. We all know this as well.

Yes, we hear these rays of hope, these lights of sun that come in and lift our spirits. But the reality then strikes after that. We'll open the news tomorrow, surf the internet, read the newspapers, and we'll hear of something else happening in a faraway Muslim land, or maybe even something close to home.

And depression hits home. You feel that there's no hope, it's hopeless. But realize, O Muslim, that this feeling of despair, this feeling of hopelessness, if it's there for a temporary while, it might be overlooked. But it cannot be there forever.

The Lesson from the Prophet's Experience at Ta'if

An incident comes to mind, similar or actually much worse, but it gives us hope. And that is the incident of our beloved Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) when he went to Al-Ta'if.

All of you know the incident that after 10 or 13 years of da'wah in Makkah, being unsuccessful amongst the people of Makkah, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) for the first time journey to the neighboring city of Al-Ta'if. For the first time, opens up his da'wah to other borders, going to other cities. And he is rejected - a humiliating rejection.

And the people pelt him with stones. And he is bleeding and running away. The hadith or the narration says: "I lost consciousness of where I was."

Meaning: "I wasn't aware of what's going on until I reached a place." And he mentioned the name of the place, which is 5 miles outside of Makkah. For 5 miles, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was wandering away from Ta'if.

And he had no clue what was happening. He said: "I didn't understand what was going on." In other words, he was in shock, we call it in our times.

He was in shock. This was the immediate effect of the direct and harsh persecution. Bleeding, stones pelted, humiliating rejection.

Of course, it is human nature to react in this manner. But what happens right after the shock? Right after the shock, he sits down under the shade of a tree. And Addas comes to him, a slave who was a Christian.

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) starts giving him da'wah. And in a few minutes, Addas embraces his hand. The shock of what happened in Ta'if did not prevent the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) from seeing in front of him another potential, another possible Muslim, another opportunity for da'wah, another chance for change.

He did react to Ta'if. It is not that Ta'if was ignored. And when Aisha asked him: "What was the worst time of your life that you ever faced?" He said: "It was my rejection of Ta'if."

So he reacted. And he reacted in shock. But he went over and he overcame that reaction.

He overcame that shock. And he then started doing the da'wah and being the proactive Prophet that he was.

The Lesson for Us Today

We have a great and profound lesson to learn from this incident in the seerah.

And that is that no doubt, many incidents that occur. In our communities, a person that we might have known is framed and sent to jail. Another person is deported.

In our national arena, civil laws are being stripped. We are being harassed in the airports and this and that. In the international arena, what is happening in Iraq and all of these countries.

No doubt, if we have iman, we are going to be sad. Well, if we are not sad, this is a lack of iman. We are going to feel a tinge of depression.

But the real mu'min understands and realizes and utilizes that depression, that sadness to do something. Whereas the person weak in faith allows that depression to remain and linger. And then grow and increase until finally the person reaches a state of despair and does absolutely nothing.

This is what we must avoid, O Muslims. This is what we must avoid. We all know the pitiful state of the ummah.

And yes, it is a pitiful state, even though there have been states that are more worse than we are in right now. As for example, when the brothers said the Mongols attacked. When the Mongols attacked, it was actually more of a fitna and more of a chaos for the ummah than the present situation.

But we overcame it. And we will overcome this time as well. (إن شاء الله - in sha'a Allah), this will happen because this is a promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Key Question: What Will We Do?

But the point being, what will we do to cause that change? What will we do to cause that change? The brother quoted, the shaykh quoted the verse in the Quran which all of us know:

"That Allah does not change the status of a people until they change what is in themselves."

Change begins with me and change begins with you. If I don't change and you don't change, no one and nothing will change.

So the change must be something that is tangible, realistic and practical.

Shifting Our Perspective on Change

One of the problems that we have as a ummah is that we look at Iraq, we look at Palestine, we hear of the bombings in Lebanon and this and that. And we think: "What can I possibly do to help the Muslims in Palestine? I can't stop them against this big Zionist aggression."

"I can't do anything." But you see, here is where your problem was. Who said that you single-handedly are responsible to save the entire ummah? When you have made it your goal to affect an entire nation, to change the course of international history, of course you're going to fail.

And of course you're going to get despondent and feel: "What can I do?" This was the problem. Instead of thinking: "How can I solve the Palestine crisis?" In all honesty, perhaps there is nothing I can do or you can do to solve that crisis or any other major crisis.

Rather, we should think in a different light.

What can I do to benefit the ummah?

Even if I don't solve all of its problems, what can I as an individual do to benefit the ummah?

Your Unique Role and Influence

Every single one of us has a unique talent, a unique opportunity, a unique something or other that they can do. Every one of us, think about it, has a different circle of friends, a different sphere of influence. No human being on the face of this earth knows the exact same people to the same level you do.

Your level of influence in that one is unique to you. Therefore, who will take your place in this arena of dawah except you? No human being has the faults and weaknesses and strengths and powers and skills and sins that you do. Realize what you can do and be practical and proactive.

Don't think about changing the ummah. Think about: "What can I do to better the ummah?" And when we think in this way, then (والله - wallah) the whole paradigm, the whole matter changes. Look around you in your own community.

See what weaknesses there are and see what you can do to fill in that gap. And don't think that no change will occur. Change will occur even if you only change.

The Ripple Effect of Personal Change

How is this so? When you change for the better, it is not possible that you will not cause an effect upon others. Think back to a person who had an influence in your life. Brother Ahmed mentioned the sheikh of his masjid.

It is very likely possible that that sheikh was not practicing for his whole life also. But he became practicing. And one conversation, one conversation changed the life of another Muslim.

What did the imam or the sheikh know of this conversation and what would happen? He didn't know what's gonna happen, but it had an effect. Similarly when you change, your spouse will see that change. Your children will see that change.

Your neighbors, your relatives, your community, your co-workers will see that change. Surely, some of them, if not all, are going to change for the better. So you will start a nominal effect.

And also realize, as I said and I alluded to, perhaps you will not be able to see the effects of that change immediately. You won't be able to see a cataclysmic change in the world situation because you changed for the better.

The Parable of Light in Darkness

But the parable that I give is that of a room engulfed in darkness.

Imagine if this room right here were engulfed in darkness right now. Utter and pitch darkness. We have two options.

Either we can say: "We'll wait for somebody to find a light switch and turn it on. I don't know where it is, I'll just sit here." Or we say: "What can I do? What can I do? I might not find a light for the entire room, but can I do something?" So he has a lighter, he pulls it out.

And he lights that lighter. Another person sees this lighter and he lights a match. And the third person lights a small torch.

And when finally you have hundreds of people with small lights, what will happen to the room around you? It will shine bright in light. One individual light you would think makes no difference. But the reality is, all of the light of the room is based upon these individual lights.

This is the parable of the ummah. This is how we need to think of ourselves. Don't think that you will light the entire ummah.

Perhaps you won't. And by the way, maybe you will.

The Example of Salahuddin

When Salahuddin Ayyubi was born and he was playing in the streets of Tikrit, he grew up in Tikrit, Iraq.

When he was playing basketball, whatever he used to play back then, in the streets of Tikrit. Definitely not basketball, but they must have had their own games. Do you really think that he realized who he was going to become? Do you really think that he thought: "I will single-handedly with the help of Allah, change the course of history?" Of course not.

He was an average person with an average childhood. Everything was average. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose him.

And he stood up to the challenge. And he went higher and higher until his name is upon the tongues of every single Muslim on the face of this earth. And how do you know you might not be the next Salahuddin Ayyubi? How do you know you might not be the next Ibn Hajar or Ibn Taymiyyah? How do you know this? So you don't.

Don't trivialize your role in the ummah of Muslims. Don't trivialize it. Every one of you has a role to play.

All you have to do is think: "What can I do for the ummah?" And you know, in the end of the day, if you really and truly are not going to cause a change as you hope for, you're not going to cause this revolution, you just change for the better for yourself, at least you would have saved yourself from the punishment of Allah. At least you would have entered Jannah because of your own change. And is that not a sufficient reason for the change?

Lectures Are Means, Not Goals

Talks and lectures are only the means and not the goal.

Talks and lectures are only means. We've come to this convention. We've spent a few days here.

We all love the environment. We all love the brotherhood. We are all going to miss this Islamic environment.

All of us without exception have benefited some more than others knowledge-wise and Islamic-wise. The question comes now: What will we do after the convention is over? Will we return to the same state we were before? Or will we be a little bit more conscious? A little bit more iman? A little bit more taqwa comes into our lives? This is all that is required of us.

Conclusion: Allah's Light Cannot Be Extinguished

O Muslims, I conclude by quoting a verse of the Quran where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"They wish to destroy the light of Allah with their tongues. Islam is the light of Allah. And this ummah is a manifestation of that light. So they wish to destroy this light with their tongues. And our surety, Allah will perfect His light. Even if the disbelievers don't like this."

O brothers and sisters in Islam, don't be worried for the ummah.

Allah will protect this ummah. This is a guarantee from Allah. Worry about yourselves.

Worry about me. Worry about you. The ummah will be protected.

But will you? Will you save yourself from the punishment of Allah? And will you manage to enter Jannah through your own deeds and the mercy of Allah? That is the ultimate question. That is the only question that is of concern to us.

Closing

And our final supplication is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.

See you all next year.

And maybe in between (إن شاء الله تعالى - in sha'a Allah ta'ala)

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.