Make America Think Again by

Make America Think Again

Sheikh Yassir Fazaga (ICNA-MAS Convention)

Opening

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

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon the most noble of messengers, our master Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

May Allah reward you with good.

You all know what they say about the last speaker, right? He's the last speaker. It is good to be with you, so inshallah, knowing that you all have had a long day, try to keep this as light-hearted and informative and straightforward as possible.

Opening Reminder on Mental Health

Please do take what Sister Dunya spoke about earlier seriously. Suicide happens to be the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 18 and 35. There is a person taking their life away every 16 minutes, some people say every 14 minutes, and that is about 90 people a day. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death around the world.

Eighty percent of the people who commit suicide do so because of an undiagnosed or untreated mental condition. So please do take the advice that she gave at the end to heart. Most important part is 80 percent of the people who actually complete their suicide, 80 percent of them prior to doing it, they actually reached out to somebody before doing in the hopes that somebody is going to talk them out of it.

So please learn more about this, and if people do call upon you, make sure that inshallah you are equipped to help them.

Main Topic: Make America Think Again

Make America think again. Think about what and think about whom and why.

My brothers and sisters, we cannot make anybody think unless that person knows us. Let me tell you something that we refer to as the ABCs of human sociology, how it is that we human beings communicate. If people don't know you, people will not trust you. If people don't trust you, people won't accept you. If people don't know you, don't trust you, don't accept you, people will not love you. It all begins with people knowing you.

Once people know you, then they trust you, because the most important element in any healthy human relationship is trust. If there is no trust, then nothing else is possible. But the only way that we can build trust is when we know and when we are known.

The Quranic Foundation

And that is why in the Qur'an the commandment is:

O mankind, We have created you from a single pair of male and female and made you into different nations and tribes so that you may know one another.

I may know you, trust you, and choose not to accept you, and that's perfectly fine. I may know you, trust you, accept you, and choose not to love you, and that is also fine. But the important part here is to remember this, that the most important element in any healthy human relationship is trust. Whether we accept, whether we love one another, that is really not the point. Of course we would love if we are able to take our relationships beyond trusting and accepting into loving one another.

But the most important part is we want to trust one another. Keep in mind also, ignorance breeds fear. When people don't know, they become afraid.

The Reality of Public Perception

In the studies that we have seen, the people who have had favorable views of Islam and Muslims, it turned out that these are people who actually knew other Muslims. People who have held views that were not favorable towards Islam and Muslims, it turned out that these people did not really know any Muslim. So please keep in mind that ignorance breeds fear.

So if we are hoping for people to rethink, and in this case we're talking about rethinking us or rethinking Islam or rethinking the Muslims, that is not possible unless people get to know us, trust us, and then we go into acceptance, and then we go into love. But also keep in mind that as we do so, the point is not to just constantly be consumed about us and constantly be talking about us. That is not how you get people to rethink us by constantly talking about us.

Learning from the Messengers

And for this, let us refer back to the messengers of Allah, peace be upon them all. You know, the Quran is full of these stories of the messengers of Allah. And when you consider the stories of the messengers of Allah, you find out that these messengers came, yes, to rejuvenate people spiritually, but that was not the end of it.

These people also came to address the concerns of the masses that these messengers were sent to, so that the messengers of Allah were relevant to the challenges of their time. So if we look into Shu'aib, peace be upon him, yes, he did and he came and he reminded people of "la ilaha illallah" - none is worthy of worship but Allah. But Shu'aib, peace be upon him, also spoke about the financial exploitation that was taking place.

Messengers of Allah were from within the masses to address issues that were related and relevant to the masses. The messenger Shu'aib, peace be upon him, would speak about the exploitation, the financial exploitation of the poor.

During the time of Musa, peace be upon him, there is political oppression that is taking place. Musa, peace be upon him, comes and he reminds people of "la ilaha illallah," but he was not heedless, he did not dismiss, he did not ignore the political oppression that was taking place. He also spoke about that political oppression.

And you can go on and find out that the messengers of Allah spoke about spiritual rejuvenation, but they also spoke about social reformation as well.

Two Essential Conditions

Speaking theology, my brothers and sisters, will not make anybody think or rethink again. And when we speak about thinking, we want to make sure that the way that we convey our deen has got to fulfill two conditions.

First Condition: Speak Intelligently

We have got to speak about our deen intelligently. Our deen makes a lot of intellectual sense. Please keep in mind that stupidity is not part of Islam. Wallahi, stupidity has absolutely no part in our deen. Regardless of how religious it may be presented to us, if it is stupid, it is stupid and it cannot be part of our deen. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not teach it, did not encourage it, did not promote it, and did not tolerate it.

So please keep in mind that if we want people to think, and we live in a time where people take a great deal of pride on being critical thinkers and what have you, please keep in mind that Islam makes intellectual sense.

Second Condition: Cultural Relevance

In addition to the intellectual sense, we also need to speak in a way that makes cultural sense as well. And that is, how do I convey my beliefs in ways that makes sense to the people that I am with? And that's a Quranic injunction, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us at the very beginning of Surah Ibrahim.

And then Allah tells us, that this is a book that we have sent down to thee, O Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, through which you are able to guide people out of the depth of darknesses into the light. And then Allah tells us how this is going to be taking place, that every messenger that was sent by Allah, that messenger spoke the language of the people. And by the language of the people here, we mean he spoke the cultural language of the people.

He spoke in a way that made not only intellectual sense, but it also made what we call a cultural sense as well. And the only way that we can do this is to speak universally, where we transcend language barriers, cultural barriers, geographical barriers, religious barriers, and you speak in a way that you speak human to human, that people can actually relate to you on this basis.

Example: The Universal Appeal of Rumi

Give you an example in point. The most read poet in the West is? Who's the most read poet in the West? Somebody yelled Shakespeare, mashallah. Who said Shakespeare? Wrong. So the most read poet in the West is Rumi, Jalaluddin Rumi.

I remember one time I was at a church, a Unitarian church, you know, it was something about Islam. And prior to my part of speaking, they had their service going on, and their choir was singing a very beautiful song that I started paying attention to the lyrics. And it was actually a really beautiful song.

"Come, come, whoever you are, come and join our caravan. Our caravan will never reject you. Come, come, whoever you are."

And it was such a beautiful song and the way that they were singing it. And I was so impressed by it. I remember I looked over to the pastor and I said, "where can I find this hymn? This is such a beautiful hymn."

And I remember she handed me the hymn book of it, and I read the poem. And at the very bottom, that poem was actually written by Jalaluddin Rumi. This is a Muslim.

His poetry spoke so universally that it was actually sung in a church. And I remember I went and I did some research to find out that this is actually the most favorite hymn for the Unitarian church, something that was written by Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi. And the question is, well, what is it? What is it about that? He did not speak English. He did not write in English. He certainly did not live in America. But what happened is that he spoke humanity.

And when you speak humanity, you transcend all these barriers. You connect with me at a human level, where it doesn't matter what language you speak, a smile is always a universal gesture. I don't know what culture you grow up in, but compassion is always appreciated, and so on.

The Balance of Heart and Intellect

So speaking in a way that is both intelligent and at the same time, simultaneously, it makes also cultural sense. One of the beauties about belonging to this beautiful deen of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that in Islam, the idea of reason is so highly appreciated, that it must be something that is appealing to our heart and also simultaneously acceptable by the intellect. If you speak intellect only, you become too dry. If you speak heart only, you run the risk of being irrational.

So the Quran prides itself by being a book of maw'idah. And they say that the word maw'idah in Arabic is something that simultaneously appeals to the intellect and is also appealing to the heart at the same time.

Ibn al-Qayyim's Four Principles

So using this language of the Quran, conveying the language of the Quran in a way that makes cultural sense and intellectual sense. To give you an example, the way that Ibn al-Qayyim presented the deen. He made four principles upon which the deen is based.

He said:

"This deen of ours is based on justice, compassion, reason, and welfare for humanity."

And then he goes on and said that anything that is removed from compassion into cruelty cannot be part of our deen. Anything that does not make sense that actually goes against sound reason cannot be part of our deen. And anything that does not promote the welfare of the people cannot be part of our deen.

Speaking in a language that makes not only intellectual sense, but cultural sense, where the language is so universal, what happens is that this is when we get people to want to rethink.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

And then also really important, my brothers and sisters, like we said, talking theology will not do it. I'm sorry, but my neighbors don't really care if I pray five times a day or ten times a day. My neighbors don't care if I'm fasting the month of Ramadan or I am not fasting the month of Ramadan. My neighbors want to know that I am actually a good neighbor.

What I do, my own expression of religiosity, that is only good for me. What impacts them is what am I like around my neighbors. And at that point, my actions would be speaking a lot louder than my words.

As they say, what you're doing speaks so loud, I can't really hear what you are saying. Simply on the basis of, don't talk, I want to see what it is that you have to offer. In the hadith, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) would speak about this notion.

And things that we take for granted, you know, being nice to your neighbors and what have you. But please keep in mind all these four steps. People don't know you, won't trust you, won't accept you, won't love you.

So the teachings of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is at the very bottom, it's at the base. Get people to know you. Once people know you, then people can actually trust you and the rest we can build on.

The Importance of Being Known

So before we make them rethink, I think it is crucial that we be known. And the question is, known for what? Because unfortunately at this point, what people know about us is not impressive at all. It is not nice at all.

And we know that public opinion is very important. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us that public opinion is very important. If people do not have a favorable public opinion of you, then you have got a marketing problem.

And as you know nowadays, everything is all about marketing. How do you present what you have? It's no longer about how good your product is. It is having people buy into the fact that your product is actually good.

If you have a good product, but the advertisement for that or the marketing for that product is not good, guess what happens? Your product will suffer. Not because it's not a good product, but because the marketing that has been done for it has been such a terrible marketing. And unfortunately at this point, the people who are doing the marketing on our behalf are not necessarily the best representation of us.

The bombings, the killings and the violence, they don't represent us. However, unfortunately, they speak the loudest. And what we need to do is that we need to counter this.

Building on American Decency

These are the images that people see. And what we need to do is, this associate said, look, these images do not really represent us, but we cannot just keep saying this because it eventually gets old. And what needs to happen is that we need to engage with the people so that they know us and we know them, and again, to build the trust and the acceptance and the love.

And also, please remember this. We live amongst some of the most decent people on planet Earth. Wallahi, I genuinely, from the very bottom of my heart, I believe that the majority of Americans are very, very decent people.

They're very decent people. They don't know. They're not as informed. But the amount of decency that you see is just unbelievable. And people will tell you in our own masjid, what happened, you know, when something like this, when the Muslim ban took place, there were more non-Muslims that were out there protesting on behalf of the Muslims. And you look into this and you say, man, that is very decent because these are people who are moved by their sense of the importance of equality and the sense of the importance of justice that they feel.

And we need to capitalize on this. I remember the graffiti that was placed on the masjid. You know, people put big graffiti saying that, "go home." Neighbors came in holding signs that said, "you are already home. This is home for us as well." And that is beautiful.

That is beautiful when these are the type of people that are living around us. And for this, again, we need to speak in a language, please remember, that is intelligent and simultaneously also makes cultural sense. And for this, please remember also, do not give up hope.

The Mickey Mouse Example

One of my favorite stories is they asked people, which animal do they hate most? You know, insect, bug, anything that you hate most. 85% of the people responded by saying that they hated rats and mice. You know, they're, ooh, rats and mice. 85% of the people said they hated rats and mice. We have a very important question to ask.

How come Mickey Mouse is the most famous personality on earth? What happened? Somebody took that image that people hate most, repackaged that image, presented it back to people. And what happens when you see Mickey nowadays? You smile. Despite the fact that 85% of the people don't like rats or mice, but everybody loves Mickey Mouse.

What happened? Somebody took something that was perceived to be so ugly by the people, repackaged it, represented it to people, and people fell in love with it. The most famous personality on planet earth. Well, the point is, with all the negativity that is out there, don't give up.

Remember this, 85% of the people did not like it, and today it is the most famous personality on planet earth.

Individual Responsibility

Final point, inshallah, now will be done. The whole notion of getting people to rethink, rethink us, again, rethink the entire community.

This is not just the work of the imams. This is not just the work of the masjid. Please make sure that you as an individual, you play a big, huge role in this.

They say that if you change one person's mind, you are actually helping in shaping the views of 250 people. That is what happens when every time you speak to one person, change their mind, it's not just that one person, it is actually 250 people. That person is going to go home, speak to their families. Their families are going to speak to their friends. Friends are going to speak to the friends, and now the circle of influence just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Act Locally

The last point is please, please make sure that you act locally, people. You've got to act locally. Our circle of concern is the globe. You know, think globally, act locally.

You've got to get involved locally. Make sure that your neighbors, make sure that your city, the council, the school board, these people get to know who we are so that the influence is actually local. And as they say, all politics are actually local politics. And you find that the most successful communities are communities that are locally involved. And if each and every community gets locally involved, then the hopes and the prayers is that, eventually, we will make a big impact.

Because big things happen when little things are done right. We want the big things to happen, but unfortunately, sometimes we're not so committed to the doing of the little things. So keep this in mind.

Closing

Big things happen when little things are done right. May Allah bless us all, and thank you all for your patience.

End of Speech