Dealing With Racism And Bigotry

Khutbah: Dealing with Racism and Bigotry

Speaker: Yusha Evans

Opening Greetings

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ

Introduction

Tonight's a bit of a sensitive topic. Have you ever dealt with racism? You've ever been dealt with in a racist manner? Alhamdulillah.

You can raise my hand too. You might think, why? We'll get to it at some point, insha'Allah. If I decide to cut that deep, we'll get there, insha'Allah. If you haven't dealt with racism or bigotry, then there is probably a good chance you don't do much socializing in the world.

Or you haven't traveled or you haven't been anywhere. Because racism is an abundant problem throughout the globe. And it is a problem that is outside of the Muslim community, meaning that it is in the public arena. We see it in the world at large. We see it in the United States of America. We see it in the South.

And it is something that we suffer inside the Muslim community. We suffer with racism and we suffer with bigotry.

I want to try tonight to insha'Allah deal with it from the Islamic perspective. What does the Deen of Al-Islam say about racism? And then what are some of the problems and solutions that insha'Allah we can find when it comes to dealing with racism ourselves?

Understanding Racism

What is Racism?

Anybody have any idea why people are racist? Why would someone be racist? And what is racism? Let's go all the way back to the beginning. What is racism?

They think they're superior to others, based upon what? The color of their skin. Based on the color of their skin. Or religion, or ethnicity. They could be the same exact color and be racist towards one another. Trust me, the Qabila wars have been going on for a very long time.

So yes, it's someone thinking they have superiority over one another due to some characteristics that they feel are better about themselves than the other individual. Whether it be race, whether it be religion, whether it be tribal, whatever have you.

Why Are People Racist?

Why are people racist? Why? Why do people do this to each other?

Ignorance? Ignorance is a very, very, very good reason. That's one of the basis of it. Absolutely ignorance.

Arrogance. There you go. Arrogance. Absolutely. This ignorance and arrogance go hand in hand when it comes to racism and bigotry. Someone thinking that they are better than someone else.

The Origin of Racism: Shaytan

Anybody know where this began? Shaytan. Ah, somebody is on it. Right away.

Shaytan, the first we know of to display this racism. Due to his arrogance. Due to his arrogance and ignorance. When he told Allah that I am better than Adam alayhi salam. Because you created him from dirt, and you created me from fire. Due to the very nature of our creations, I think that I have superiority over him, and he should not be honored the way that he is honored.

So it was due to that fact that Shaytan, actually Iblis became Shaytan. He became Ar-Rajim. And it was due to this arrogance, and this racism that he showed towards Adam, our father alayhi salam.

The Quranic Perspective on Human Diversity

Allah says in the Quran, a very beautiful verse, speaking about the nature of the human beings in creation. And He spoke to all of mankind when He said:

"O mankind, I created you from male and female. And I made you into nations and tribes."

I made you into different kinds of people. For what reason? Allah is telling us through His hikmah and His wisdom, why He created people different. Why He created different skin colors. Why He created different tribes and nations.

لِتَعَارَفُوا

So that you can know one another. So that you could know one another. So you could understand each other.

Could you imagine if we all looked exactly the same? Every single person looked exactly the same. Then how would we know who is who from what from what? We would have no distinction amongst each other. It is this

distinction that gives us our beauty, that we're not any single one of us are exactly alike.

Even identical twins have differences. Their fingerprints are in some cases, but there is nothing that is 100% the same. And then Allah gives us the standard, the standard upon which one person is better than another.

And what does He say?

إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ

Indeed, the most honored of you in front of Allah is he who has taqwa. He who has the most taqwa. The most honored in the sight of Allah is he who has most taqwa.

إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ

So Allah is telling us the purpose of our creation in being different. And this is something that was established as a principle in Al-Qur'an, that you were made into nations and tribes and differences so that you could know one another. And the most honored of you in the eyes of Allah is he who has the most taqwa.

The Prophet's Farewell Sermon (Khutbatul Wida)

I spoke about this last night, but our Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam, when he gave his Khutbatul Wida, his farewell sermon, one of the most important speeches that he would ever make in his entire life. That speech was so important, that Allah after he finished it, sealed the religion of Al-Islam for eternity.

Sealed it, finished it. The religion of Al-Islam, which means to worship Allah with sincerity and obedience to Him, to have peace in this life and in the next. When did this religion begin? When did Allah begin Al-Islam? He began it with the first of us.

The very purpose of our creation Allah said, I created mankind and jinn to worship me. So Al-Islam was with our creation. It began when Allah created things that He wanted to worship Him.

That He would give a free will to choose or refuse. So throughout all of mankind, Allah waited, until our Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam had given his Khutbatul Wida. And then said to...

He waited until he gave his Khutbatul Wida, to say:

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا

Reference: Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:3)

"This day I have perfected your deen, and completed my favor upon you, and chosen for you Islam as your way."

And Khutbatul Wida, that khutbah of the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam is one of the most authentic narrations that have ever come to us from him. Because it is related by so many different companions, through so many different authentic chains of narration.

You find it in almost all of the major books of hadith. You find it in Sahih al-Bukhari. You find it in Sahih Muslim. You find it in Jami' at-Tirmidhi. You find it in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad.

Reference: The most lengthy version is narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) in Musnad Ahmad

The most lengthy version of it you will find narrated by Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. Why? Because Umar was standing right next to the Prophet when he delivered this.

And there is so much beauty. I think maybe the next time I come back we'll do an entire lecture on the farewell sermon of the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam. Because it is a golden advice that if one person took it and encompassed it, according to the ulema, if a person can encompass what is in the farewell sermon of the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam, it would be a ticket to Jannah for them.

The Prophet's Declaration on Equality

In this, he became the first ever person in recorded history to stand up in front of a group of people and say that a white man is not better than a black. And a black is not better than a white. An Arab is not better than a non-Arab. And a non-Arab is not better than an Arab. The best of you are those who have the most piety in front of Allah, reiterating what Allah had already revealed.

Reference: Narrated in the Farewell Sermon - Musnad Ahmad

But making a firm statement, going even farther than this, to explain that your color does not matter. Where you're from makes no difference. If you have taqwa, then nothing else about you matters. Nothing else about you matters.

Racism at the Time of the Prophet

Racism is something that was very prevalent at the time of the Prophet. Asabiyyah. People despising one another because of the race, ethnicity, or tribe. Tribalism was very big at the time of the Prophet. And it's something that we have revived into the ummah of Muhammad in 2017.

Qabeel, qabeel, qabeel. If you're not from the qabeelah, forget about it. We have to eradicate this from our ummah because it is a filth.

It is a filth. It is disgusting. When I see people argue with one another about tribes, I don't care if that person holds 4, 5, 6 PhDs. I look at them as the most ignorant individual I have ever met in my life. You must be stupid. And I live in a city that is full of this asabiyyah based on qabeel.

We need to eradicate this from our ummah.

The Story of Bilal ibn Rabah رضي الله عنه

I'm gonna tell you a couple of stories before I get to the depths of racism and what causes it and the amount of stupidity that it takes to reach that level.

You know, there was a man at the time of the Prophet. His name was Bilal ibn Rabah رضي الله عنه

A man whom the Prophet said about him that, "I heard in a dream your footsteps in front of me in Jannah."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3756

I heard you. I heard your footsteps in Jannah. MashaAllah, TabarakAllah.

Bilal was from where? أَحَبَشِيٌّ - Abyssinian. But where is that? He's from Africa. He was African. And he was a slave.

He was a slave at the time when the Prophet received his revelation. He was a slave. He was not even free of himself.

Bilal's Acceptance of Islam and Torture

Who was his master's name? Who owned him? Umayyah. A stark enemy of Islam. Someone who spent time, effort, dedication punishing the Muslims and the Prophet ﷺ. When Bilal heard the call of Tawheed, he accepted it without hesitation or reservation.

And his owner, Umayyah, became very upset about this. This is a story you all know. And he punished him.

And punished him and punished him, but could not turn him away. So he inflicted upon him the most harsh punishment that he could think of. Which was what? What did he do to him? He placed him on the hot burning sand of Meсса.

How many of you have ever been to Mecca in the summer time? You ever been in Mecca in dead summer? It's hot. For real hot.

So he placed him on the hot burning sand and placed a rock so heavy on him that he couldn't move it. That he couldn't move. And he told him, "I will not let you up until you renounce the religion of Muhammad and come back to the religion of your forefathers."

And what was Bilal's response?

أَحَدٌ، أَحَدٌ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

"Ahad. Allahu Ahad." Allah is one. Allah is uniquely one. Allah is distinctly one.

And the Prophet and the companions came along. There was only a handful at this time. Very few. They had no power. They had nothing. They came along and they saw Bilal in this condition. And what did the Prophet ask his companions? What did he ask them? "Is there anyone of you who can help Bilal? Is there anyone who can buy him? Offer, go to Umayyah."

The Prophet was a poor man. "Anyone that can go and offer to buy Bilal?"

Abu Bakr Purchases and Frees Bilal

Who stepped up to the plate? Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه. It's hard for me to tell stories about the companions.

Because it's just these people were something else. Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him). The same Abu Bakr who will be the first to enter into Jannah.

After all of the Anbiya have entered. You know that story, right? How many of you know the story of Abu Bakr's entry into Jannah? We are missing so much. We're missing so much.

After all of the Anbiya have entered into Jannah. How many gates does Jannah have? Eight. Eight gates to Jannah. Every single person who will ever make it to Jannah and may Allah make us of those. Ameen.

Say Ameen. We all will have a specific gate that will open only for us and we get to go through it. Whatever that gate might be.

If you are someone who is known to fast, there is a gate of fasting, you will go through it. Things like that. But after all of the Anbiya have entered into Jannah, all eight gates of Jannah will open at once.

And there is an angel who watches over every one of those gates. And all of those angels will begin simultaneously saying, the name of Abu Bakr as-Sadiq. "Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr, please give me the honor of you entering into Jannah through my gate. Give me that honor."

And Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) will be the first of us to enter into the gates of Jannah and hold one of the highest positions in Jannah after the Anbiya.

May Allah be pleased with him. May Allah raise us up one more person in this Ummah like Abu Bakr. Ameen.

So Abu Bakr came forward and he said, "Ummayya, sell Bilal to me and give me a price. Tell me whatever you want." And he said, "Give me ten gold coins."

Which was a crazy high price. It was a crazy high price. He was just offering him some stupid ludicrous price. And Abu Bakr didn't even hesitate. Said, "Someone give me my money." Gave him the ten gold coins and said, "Sold."

And Ummayya laughed at him. And you know what he said? He said, "Had you bargained with me, had you bargained with me, I would have given him to you for less than that. I would have given him to you for one."

You know what Abu Bakr said in return? "If you would have bargained with me and asked me for a hundred, I would have given it to you." And he bought Bilal and he freed him. And he freed him.

And you know what he used to refer to Bilal as? Does anyone know what Abu Bakr As-Sadiq, the greatest of this Ummah, the greatest of mankind after the Anbiya, what he used to refer to Bilal as? He used to refer to him as "my master". He used to call Bilal his master. "I freed him and he became my master, I became his servant."

Reference: Various narrations in the books of Seerah

Bilal as the First Mu'adhdhin

When the Prophet ﷺ entered into Medina and he built his masjid, and after the masjid was complete, they were debating on how we should let people know how to pray. How are we gonna let people know it's time to pray? Some people said we should have bells. Some people said we should have this, have that.

And then the advice was given. "Why don't... I've seen in a dream you calling people, using the voice to call to pray."

So whom did the Prophet ﷺ say, "Go call people to the salah?" Bilal.

Bilal became the first in this ummah to stand up and call people to salah.

When Fathul Mecca took place, when the Prophet was able to go back home to the city he loved so much, and enter into it and eradicate the idols from inside the Ka'bah, whom did he ask to stand on the Ka'bah for the very first time and call the adhan? Bilal.

The roof of the Ka'bah, the most holy spot on this entire planet. Everybody was Muslim that you know of at that time. Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abdul Rahman Ibn Awf, Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh.

Many people were Muslims at this time. Sa'd Ibn Mu'adh had already passed away. He said Bilal.

So Bilal stood on top of the Ka'bah and proclaimed لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ to the world.

Bilal's Departure from Medina

Later on, after the Prophet's death, after the Prophet died, does anybody know what Bilal did? He left. He left Medina.

He said, "I cannot stand to be reminded of my Prophet in this city. I can't bear it." He couldn't. He became depressed. Because everyday he would walk in places where he knew he talked to the Prophet. "I saw him here. I ate with him here. He smiled at me here." He couldn't. He could not absolutely take it.

So he left. Anybody know where he went? He went towards Sham. Because he knew the Prophet said what? "When there is fitna after me, you will find the believers in Sham."

Reference: Hadith narrated in various collections

So he went and waited for them there. But during the khilafa of Hasan and Hussain, may Allah be pleased with them and their father, they asked Bilal to come back. They wanted to see Bilal.

Bilal came back to the city for a reason. Came back to Medina and Hasan and Hussain saw him. And they asked him to just please bless us one more time to hear your voice call the adhan from the Prophet. So Bilal went up and called the adhan from Masjid Nabawi.

And it is said that the people started pouring into the streets crying. Because that adhan reminded them of a time when their Prophet walked amongst them. And they were in tears, left, right and center. And Bilal couldn't take it. He left again. And he never returned to the city of Medina.

Why Bilal Returned

He just couldn't. But anyone know why he came back? Does anyone know why he came back in the first place?

You see, if you don't know who you are, your history, these companions, that's who you are. If you don't know them, how are you gonna be like them? How are you gonna teach your children to be like them if you don't even know who they are? You don't know anything about their lives.

Subhanallah. Anybody know why Bilal came back to Medina in the first place? He had a dream. Who did he see in that dream? His Prophet.

The Messenger of Allah said, "If you ever see me in a dream, know that you have truly seen me. Because the Shaytan cannot imitate me."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6993

So the Prophet ﷺ came to Bilal in his dream. And do you know what he asked him? He said, "Bilal, I miss you. Why don't you visit me anymore? Why haven't you visited me lately?"

So Bilal left from Sham and came all the way back to Medina just to say salam to his beloved Messenger.

This was that loving relationship between our Prophet and an Abyssinian slave.

The Story of Abu Dharr and Bilal

There was a battle that took place and the Muslims were victorious. And when the spoils of war were being decided about how they should be distributed, what they would do, things of this nature, different strategies, there was a difference among the companions.

One said, "We should do it this way, we should do it that way." Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) gave an opinion. And Bilal differed with him.

Bilal said, "No, no, no, we shouldn't do it that way, we should do it this way." Abu Dharr was infuriated. He became angry, his arrogance and his pride and his ignorance dwelled up inside of him.

And he said to Bilal, "O son of a black woman, you, O son of a black woman, are you going to contradict and try and challenge me?"

This hurt Bilal's feelings because he loved Abu Dharr. He loved all of the companions. He loved like nobody else. It hurt his feelings. And he talked to the Prophet and told him what happened.

Abu Dharr came to see the Prophet and the Prophet wouldn't even look at him, turned his face away from him.

And this hurt Abu Dharr because he knew that the Prophet was upset with him. That broke his heart. And he said, "Ya Rasulullah, what upsets you about me?" And he said, "Bilal told me what you said to him. Is it true?"

There's wisdom behind that too. Was Bilal not a very truthful person? Yes or no? Was Bilal a truthful and upright Muslim? Yes or no? Promised Jannah? Yes or no? Was his story true? Yes or no? But you see the wisdom of the Prophet. He did not start off by saying, "Why did you say such and such to Bilal?" He said, "I heard from Bilal that you said such and such to him. Is it true?" Verifying a source is an absolute important fact when it comes to stories.

Every story has two sides. Every story. So Abu Dharr said, "Yes, it is true."

He said, "Oh Abu Dharr, there is still Jahiliyyah in you. And anyone who has an atom's weight of Jahiliyyah in their hearts will not see Jannah but enter the fires of Jahannam. And do not have but a little bit of good deeds left in you. The only thing that is going to save you is your good deeds and I don't see that you have very much."

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 30

That broke Abu Dharr's heart. Broke him.

The Reconciliation

So what did he do? And what had Bilal done? Bilal snitched on him. Right? Rather than sorting it out, he snitched on him to the Prophet. Right? You think Abu Dharr cared about that? No. He knew what he had done.

And he ran and found Bilal in the market. In the street. And he laid down on his face on the ground. And tried to grab Bilal's foot and put it on his face. And he said, "Because Bilal said, 'What are you doing? Because that's over. What are you doing?'''"

He said, "I will not get up off of this ground until you place your foot upon my face so that it can be seen who is better than the other one. That you, Bilal, are better than me."

What did Bilal do? Bilal got down on the ground and kissed his cheek. And said, "Your face is rather to be kissed than to be stepped on." And he picked him up and hugged him and that was the end of it.

That was the end of it. It was squashed. It was done. This is how they dealt with matters. It was over.

So you see, it's not to say that shaitan, that racism is going to be eradicated completely. Because shaitan runs through our veins like blood runs through our veins. And if he can make us despise one another based on these stupid minuscule things, then he can get to us. So we're always gonna have those emotions and feelings that we fight and try to suppress.

But you see the way they dealt with it? They had an issue. They sorted it out. It was over.

After that, they were brothers.

إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ

Reference: Surah Al-Hujurat (49:10)

"The believers are indeed but brothers." Beautiful, beautiful stories.

You will find the seerah full of stories just like this. Just like this.

Racism in the Muslim Community

Racism is something also that the Muslim community suffers from. And this is where I'm gonna get a little bit touchy. But I don't care. That's what I like about being a traveling speaker.

One of the things I like about being able to come to communities and speak is that I'm an outsider. You can only get mad at me and not invite me back. You can't fire me. I don't work for you. You can't ban me. You just don't have to invite me back and that's okay.

There's a lot more cities. But at least I said what I had to say. At least I'm trying to do what Allah told me to do.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا

Reference: Surah Al-Ahzab (33:70)

"O you who believe, fear Allah and say what needs to be said."

So I like to be able to say what needs to be said. Ummah, we are dealing with racism.

The Most Ignorant Form of Racism

Yes, racism on its most... And the funny thing is that it's on its most ignorant level based on how dark or light someone is. That is actually the core of our racism. We're gonna go deeper where it's tribe and country but at the core, the lighter you are, the better you are. The darker you are, the worse you are.

That stupid, deepest, most ignorant form of racism we as Muslims suffer from it. Absolutely 100%. And it's a very unfortunate fact. Because you are taking things which Allah has blessed you with and using them to become absolutely ignorant and devoid of any iman.

Racism based on this ignorant level of the color of your skin. You are using something to determine that fact. That I am lighter in color than this person, so that means I am better than them.

What faculty are you using to make that determination? What faculty? You only have five senses. What faculty of your senses are you using to determine the color of someone's skin? Your eyes.

You're using your eyes. The very eyes which Allah created and gave you and blessed you with sight, blessed you with cameras that process better than any human being will ever be able to recreate or replicate. You're using the very gift of sight that Allah gave you to judge someone else.

What if Allah decided that you're using this in such a detrimental and horrendous way that I'm gonna take it from you and take your sight. If none of us could see, if we were all colorblind, what would we be using then?

"And when it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has sent down,” they say, “Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing.” Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they [rightly] guided?"

What would we be deciding then? You see, we're using this gift that Allah gave us to judge one another. And it is following in the footsteps of shaitan.

This is the most clear-cut way that you... One of the most clear-cut ways that you can be following in the footsteps of shaitan is to be racist and to judge someone else based on the color of their skin. And you are a fool for doing so. An absolute fool.

The Problem Among Sisters

The lighter someone's skin doesn't make them any better than anyone else. And it bothers me when I see, especially for our sisters, it affects you guys a lot. How do I know? Because unfortunately I'm stuck on social media and I see so many sisters.

And brothers, you might try to do it as well. I don't know if brothers are that caring about their looks today. Yes, brothers do care about their looks very much.

But what do sisters do with their pictures? You lighten them. Filters. You think I don't know? You think I'm that slow? Sisters will use filters to lighten their pictures.

Brothers might be doing it too. I don't know. It might be. But you lighten them. Use the black and white filter that lightens you up a whole lot. Or you use those toning filters where you can change the exposure to make yourself a little lighter.

To see this absolutely breaks my heart. It breaks my heart so much to see that. Because it doesn't make you any better than before. And I have mixed children. (الحمد لله - Alhamdulillah), my children are mixed.

So I'm speaking from some experience and know what my children might go through.

Tribalism and Marriage

When it comes to dealing with the issue of racism as well in the Muslim community, we need to forget this idea that because of where you're from and your tribe and your country and your village or whatever it might be, makes you better than anyone else. Because if that were the case, then the tribe of the Prophet, the tribe of the Prophet, what was the Prophet's tribe? The Quraysh, more specifically, Bani Hashim, they all would be the most highest rank people in Al-Jannah because he came from the most noble of lineage.

But we know that many, many, many, many of his family members are the dwellers of Jahannam. Allah wrote an entire surah speaking about one of the Prophet's family members, who? Abu Lahab. So tribe doesn't mean anything about you.

And normally tribe doesn't really come into play except in two places. Tribes come into play in our lives and we see them have the most ill effect in two places. What are those two places? Marriage, number one. There's another one. Politics. Marriage and politics.

Marriage and politics are where the qabeel comes into play the most. Politics is based on tribe and marriage is based on tribe.

You might think, and I've seen it so many times before, there might be a brother or a sister who want to get married. (ما شاء الله - MashaAllah), (تبارك الله - TabarakAllah), may Allah grant all of our brothers and sisters who want to get married a righteous spouse. Ameen. They want to get married and they bring a young man home or bring a young woman to the house in order to meet with the family or whatever have you.

You know how that goes. And that person might be known to the family, might be praised by the family.

"(ما شاء الله - MashaAllah), that brother is an amazing brother. (الحمد لله - Alhamdulillah), we know nothing but good about him." The sister might bring him up in passing. "Do you know this brother? Oh yeah, (ما شاء الله - MashaAllah), he's really good. He's an awesome brother."

So what does she do? She goes and tells the brother, "Oh, we're all good. My family loves you. My family loves you, (ما شاء الله - MashaAllah), (تبارك الله - TabarakAllah)," or on the reverse side of things. But in the moment, the issue of marriage is brought up. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. He might be good but he's not that good. He might be good but not that good. He might be good enough for every other person in this ummah. But he's not good enough for you because he is not one of us. He's not one of us. He's not from our tribe."

The Prophet's Teaching on Marriage

That's not how we do things. And this causes fitna. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) told fathers especially because fathers have the right of being the wali, or the brother or the uncle, whoever the wali is.

He spoke to the wali in general. And he said, "If a young man comes to you asking for your daughter and he is upright in his akhlaq, he has a good character, and he has a good deen, then let him marry your daughter. Because if not, you will create fitnah and fasad on this earth."

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1084)

And that's what we see now. Marriage that is made so complicated for our young brothers and sisters that it is easier to sin and have a haram relationship than it is to get married. We are destroying the next generation based upon this.

This ummah of parents, this generation of parents right now that are living, are gonna have a whole lot of questioning on our plates on the day of judgment when it comes to our children and starting families for the next generation. We're gonna have a big problem. And I understand it.

Brothers, yes, I understand it. Wallahi, I understand. I have a daughter. I understand it. May Allah help the young man that comes to my house asking for my daughter's hand. May Allah help him and strengthen him.

Because I'm gonna put him through it. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day, I'm gonna do what is best for my daughter. Not what I want. What is best. That is our job as parents. Not to do what we want for our children, but what is best for them.

And sometimes what is best for them is a tough pill to swallow. But guess what? We have to swallow it. Because that's what we are supposed to do as parents. What is best for our children.

How to Deal with Racism

How are we going to deal with racism? How do we deal with it? We know Islam says it is absolutely impermissible. It is absolutely impermissible to be a racist.

And to be a racist in Islam, to be a racist as a Muslim, is one of the most major of sins after shirk. Because it is a direct imitation of shaitan. It is one of the worst of things that we can do.

So we know it is impermissible. How do we deal with it? How as we as an ummah are going to deal with racism? How? It's not a rhetorical question. I don't have all the answers. I don't. I wish I did. If I did, I wouldn't need to be here traveling and telling you things.

I would just be writing prescriptions for every community and sending and say, "If you do this, you'll be alright." How are we going to deal with racism?

You see? Silence. Can you hear a pin drop in this room? We have no ideas. Nothing. It's just there. You see, racism is the elephant in the room in the Muslim community.

It's the elephant in the room in the Muslim community. And I know all of the differences. I know the things that go on. I know. Trust me. I know.

Personal Experiences with Privilege

I have no shadow of a doubt. And people can disagree with me if you want to. Travel as much as me and then come back and disagree with me.

I know me as a white. I'm about as white as white gets. Even though my grandfather was Native American, I'm still a southern white boy.

I know that I have certain privileges that other Muslims are not afforded. Especially in the Muslim world. I know. I've seen it with my own two eyes. I've seen it with my own two eyes. I can get away with things that you can't get away with.

I can go to the Middle East and overstay my visa and be treated much differently than if my brothers from Somalia or Bangladesh or Pakistan try to do the same thing. I know that. I can get away with a lot more. I'm treated a lot differently.

I've seen it with my own two eyes before I had some connections in Saudi and was able to come and go now a little bit more differently. I've stood in line going for umrah or for hajj in a hajj group that was mostly from places like Pakistan and other things of that nature.

And someone come and get me out of the line. "Ya habibi, inti Amerki?" "Yeah, I'm American." "(ما شاء الله - MashaAllah). Habibi, tafadal." That's it. I'm guest of the king now, (ما شاء الله - mashaAllah).

Blue passport, white face. Good to go. I know that.

Do I take advantage of it sometimes? Yeah, it's a good thing to have. I use it. But it's not the way things should be. It's not the way things should be.

Experience in Egypt

I've seen it with my own two eyes when I lived in Egypt. As being a white American and having a wife that was not white and not American.

When we went to go get our visa at the majamma, how many of you have been to Egypt? You've been to Egypt. You've stayed in Egypt for a while. You know the majamma, right? Majamma Tahrir? Yeah.

You gotta go there and get your visa. It's a nightmare. Not for me. For me, it was so easy. It was so easy. The ladies behind the counter, they don't care about nothing. They just sit. They don't even look up from the page.

But I spoke to one of the brothers who's security and stuff like that. Showed him my passport and said, "Look, I have things to do." "Ah, inta mutazawwij?" "You're welcome."

I got... But then, okay, now I need my wife's as well. "Oh, your wife? From where? Oh, you have to go way down there to this office, get this security check. And then after you do that security check, bring her back. We're gonna send you to another office. Then you have to go downstairs in the broom closet, take like 15 photos, things of this nature."

I was like, "What? We're the same family." "No, you're not treated that way. You're treated upon where you are from. Where you're from doesn't matter. Like, she's born in America." "No, don't matter. Don't matter whatsoever."

This racism is very deep in our communities.

Reverse Racism

And it's come to the point to where we have become reverse racist. We've become reverse racist. We've dealt with it for so long that we start having it against each other.

We start having it against each other. The Arabs don't like anybody darker than them, so the people that are darker than them, the Somalis, the Bangladeshis, the Pakistanis, they start hating one another based on the color. That, "Oh, I might be Pakistani, but I'm not as dark as that Pakistani right there, or I'm not as dark as a Bangladeshi."

I've seen these arguments. I've seen it with my own very two eyes. And I'm just sitting back like, what in the world is going on here?

"The believers are but brothers, so make peace between your brothers and fear Allah that you may receive mercy."

"We are brothers. The believers are indeed but brothers."

And when you say that, and I've said this before to government officials in Muslim countries, when they are playing this race card, Allah says this.

They look at me like, "Okay, now you're going to tell me what Allah said. You have been Muslim how long? I've been Muslim my whole life. Islam is in my blood."

I said, "No, shaitan is in your blood."

Dealing with it in Egypt was the worst. They're like original Muslims according to them. The original people from planet Earth, they're direct descendants from Adam. But we have to learn to deal with these things. And talk about them. And open up about them.

And be forward with them. Because if not, if we don't acknowledge the elephant in the room, then it can't be confronted. It can't be challenged. It can't be done.

We have to deal with these things. I've even seen brothers who I know to be a decent brother, a decent brother from the Gulf, refer to a worker from West Africa as "abdi." Abdi. Not the way you guys name yourselves abdi. No, no. Abdi in the sense as calling him slave. My slave.

I wanted to slap the brother. "Ya ikhwan, if it was impermissible to hit your face, I would knock that beard off your chin. He's better than you. You just made him better than you. You just raised his rank in the eyes of Allah above you and just lowered yourself."

The Solution: Changing Hearts

So how do we deal with this? How we deal with this? Culturism, the same thing is racism. We're putting it all in the same bowl today. Culturism, against one another because of culture, the same thing. Who cares about culture? Who cares? It's good to have different cultures.

I like the fact that we as Muslims come from everywhere on the planet. This is one of the things that brought Malcolm X, who changed his name to Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz. May Allah forgive him.

When he went to Mecca, and he was astonished that Muslims are from everywhere. "There are Muslims sitting there eating with me with blonde hair and blue eyes. And Muslims who are as dark as the night from West Africa. And they're all brothers."

When it comes time to worship Allah, racism is thrown out the window. It's thrown out the window.

So how do we challenge it? How are we going to challenge racism in 2018? The same thing that we talked about yesterday, the hearts have to change.

We have to begin to look at one another. When I see another Muslim, when I see someone who says (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ - La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah) I have to be able to look straight past where they're from, what color their skin is, what language

they speak, and see this person as a Muslim.

First and foremost above everything else. A Muslim alhamdulillah. We've become so used to seeing Muslims that we've become so prevalent that we treat each other like that.

Could you imagine if you were in a land where there were no other Muslims, and you were living devoid of any remembrance of Allah, and just so happened you found one Muslim. You wouldn't care where that Muslim was from. You wouldn't care if they're darker than you, lighter than you, what language they spoke. It's another Muslim alhamdulillah.

This is the attitude that we have. We should learn to love one another. Love, love.

A Personal Challenge

If you are someone, if you are someone who deals with racism, you have it in your heart. And I don't want you to let anyone else know, but I'm almost 100% guaranteeing you that there are people in this room that have some racist tendencies in their hearts.

I just know it. The statistics are right here in front of us. Men lie, women lie, but guess what doesn't lie?

Numbers. Numbers don't lie.

So according to statistics, there are a few people in this room that have some racism, or bigotry, or culturism in their heart. If you know that that's something that you deal with, I challenge you to force yourself to create a bond with someone completely opposite than you.

Get to know them. Force yourself. As a Muslim, force yourself to know someone that is completely different to you that you normally would have some ill feelings or distance between you.

Get to know them. Find a good brother or sister and get to know them. And watch Allah create some love in your heart.

And ask Allah to create a love and affection between me and this person. And watch after that, you'll have trouble being racist. Because when you see someone else with that same skin tone or whatever have you, you're gonna think of that person who's become so beloved to you. And you won't be able to do that.

We need to learn to have this type of love and affection for one another. And it's something that we should challenge in society as well.

Being an Example

It's something that we should challenge in society. Is breaking the bonds of racism. And we as an ummah have a unique blessed opportunity to if we can deal with the racism in our own communities, the bigotry in our own communities, to be able to go forward and show the world that, look, we treat one another as if we are family.

Not only do we treat one another as if we are family, we are family. We are family. We are related by our relationship to Allah.

And look at us, look where we're from. White American, African American, Somali, Indonesian, Pakistani, Malaysian, Bengali, every continent on this planet. So maybe I don't know if there's any indigenous Antarctic Muslims. I don't think so. Except for the penguins, alhamdulillah, who submit to the will of Allah with no free will. But we come from everywhere.

But we are joined together by that bond of tawheed. By that bond of tawheed. So we're able to show that to the rest of the world that, look, we can become that exemplar for humanity.

But we need to challenge it in and amongst ourselves. We need to challenge it. We need to challenge it.

The Role of Colonialism

Do you think that racism is a serious problem in the Muslim community? Raise your hand. You think it's a serious problem? Wow. Serious meaning that it needs to be dealt with now.

Why? Why are we as Muslims racist towards one another and bigoted towards one another when we know that we have the same exact belief system? What causes this?

Self-hatred? A lot of it has to do with an inferiority complex. Absolutely self-hatred. Guess who taught us to hate ourselves? Shaitan way back when. But let's get more realistic. Let's get real.

Guess who taught Muslims to hate one another? Colonialism destroyed this ummah. And it was a very, very targeted system. It was a very targeted system.

When the non-Muslims began to conquer Muslim lands, let's say within the past 200 years, their number one goal as a stated fact was to cause division. "We must disunite them. We must disunite them. We must create borders. We must create lands. We must create flags. We must create different languages. Separate them from their identity. Erase the Arabic language from their schools, from their communities, from their politics, from their governments."

"Put a different borderline between their countries and teach them to hate one another. Cause division. Cause factions and fractions between them. Give more money to one than we're going to give to the other. Make one more wealthy than we make the other."

All of these politics were played on this ummah and we fell victim to it. We fell victim to it. We were taught this way. We were taught this way over generations.

And unfortunately after a while and that ball began rolling, they just had to sit back and watch. All they had to do was sit back and watch. Watch them eat themselves alive.

And that's what we have done. That's what we have done. If you don't believe me, go and look at the colonial takeover of the Muslim world. And look at what was stated by leaders of those movements and what they wanted to accomplish.

They said, first and foremost, "We must create disunity amongst them and never, ever, ever allow them to be unified ever again. Because their strength is in their unity. Their weakness is in their division." 100%.

The Power of Unity

If us as an ummah were united, and when I say united, I'm not talking about 100% because it will never be. But if we as an ummah, as a majority, were united upon the same principle, forget about even the small differences, but we had the same vision, which was the protection of our own, the welfare of our own, the safety of our own, the security of our own, and that was first and foremost above anything else, personal or private, then there would be nothing on this world that would ever stop us.

We would still be living in those glory days where Muslims could do as they wish in safety and security. And we would still be the leaders of innovation as we once were. We would still be the leaders in medicine as we once were. We would still be the leaders in technology as we once were. We would still be the movers and shakers on the planet earth.

We were the trendsetters. We were the innovators. We were the people who made the world what it was.

When the rest of the world was still living in caveman status, Muslims were building kingdoms and exploring the stars and the universe and the depths of the human body and how it worked and how it functioned and advanced calculus and algebra and all of these other things that make the world as we know it a better place.

But our division caused us to focus on so many other things that now we have fallen so far behind that we're not a leader in anything. We're not a leader in any way whatsoever except we're a leader in making the front page of the news.

That's what we have become leaders in. Why? It's our own fault. We have done it to ourselves. We have done it to ourselves.

The Hadith of the Stick

And it sounds like a pie-in-the-sky solution, but it's not. It's us understanding our own power. It's us understanding who we are. It's us understanding that we as an ummah united are stronger than any opposition or leadership that could ever come against us.

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said this and he made this example to his ummah.

And let me tell you, if you don't think that the people who dislike Islam, the people who have harbored enmity towards the deen of Allah, if you don't think that their leaders and their think tanks... And when I say their leaders, it's not the person they put up on the podium. That's not the leader, trust me. If any of you ever think that that's the guy in charge, you've already been fooled.

You're already fooled. That's not the guy. If you don't think they know more Quran than the average Muslim, you've already been tricked. If you don't think they know more hadith than the average Muslim, you're fooled.

If you don't think that there's some of them that could sit down with you, that have no belief in Allah, never believed in Him, actually do not care whether or not He exists, but could sit down and explain to you the intricacies of the fiqh of Hanbaliyah versus Hanafi, then you have been fooled. They're very wise in what they do.

They believe in knowing your enemy. They believe it. If you don't think they know these ahadith, and they know the seerah, and they know the history, and they know how the Muslims were so successful and so eminent, then you are fooled.

They know that the Muslim ummah is successful in two ways. Two ways. There are two ways that this ummah could overnight change its position in the world.

Number one, its attachment to Allah and His deen. The more attached to Allah they are, the more Allah aids them. It's clear cut. Seen throughout history, number one.

And number two, how attached they are to themselves. If they are united, they cannot be defeated. If they're united, don't even think about it. It's not gonna work. But the moment we can start dividing them, then they weaken.

And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he showed his companions this. He showed his companions this by taking a stick. He took a stick. And he broke it. And he said, "This is the solitary believer that goes by themselves. One Muslim, one believer, snap them like a twig."

But then he put a whole bunch of sticks together and he tried to break it. He said, "This is the jama'ah. This is the community. This is the united Muslim ummah. When they are together, you can't break them."

Reference: Authentic hadith narration

And as long as we still hold racism, culturalism, bigotry in our hearts towards one another, we can never be united. We can never be united.

I don't care how many agreements we sign with each other, how many different peace accords we come to, all of this nonsense philandry that we do in public to say that, "Oh yeah, we're together." It will never work if this isn't together.

If our hearts aren't together, if our hearts aren't attached to one another, then we will never be successful. We will never be successful. Absolutely not.

We will always be separated and divided. And as long as we are separated and divided, we will always be defeated and in this position of lowliness. Lowliness.

The Need for Self-Worth

And I'm not speaking about a Muslim takeover. No, I'm just talking about respect, honor, dignity. That's what I'm talking about.

Because we want to be treated with respect. We want to be treated with honor. We want to be treated with dignity.

No human being does not want to be treated with honor, respect and dignity. How many of you in here would love to be honored and respected? You want to be honored. You want to be respected. You want to be treated with dignity as a human being, as a Muslim. You want honor and respect and dignity.

Then you need to honor yourself and honor Allah. You need to honor yourself and honor Allah.

Sisters, you need to be able to look in the mirror yourself and say that you're absolutely pleased with how beautiful Allah created you. You need to be able to look in the mirror and say that this is the form that Allah created me with in the womb of my mother and it is absolutely amazingly beautiful.

I don't need to do a single thing to change that. Yeah, maybe you can stay in shape, you can work out. I'm just talking about not being happy with what you see.

The same with brothers. Brothers, we have no problem. We look at the mirror and we love ourselves. We don't... A lot of us don't have that problem. Brothers, they love themselves. Mashallah. I see it. See you guys, you walk past the mirror, you can't stop yourself.

But I know it's a problem that women deal with more than men is their self-image. Their self-image. Your self-image is that Allah fashioned you in the womb of your mother is the way he saw befitting and he guided you to the deen of Islam. You're beautiful as you can be.

You can't do any better than that. You can't top that. There's nothing you can improve upon. There is no improvement upon that. That is utmost beauty in and of itself.

Brothers, we are beautiful because Allah has guided us to the deen of Islam even if we might not be the best human being that Allah created to look at. You're still beautiful because Allah created you as a Muslim.

Taking Action in Our Communities

We need to create harmony amongst the Muslims. We need to start challenging racism directly upfront.

It needs to be spoken about from the minbars. It needs to stop being an issue in our communities. Our committees of our masajid need to be more diverse. They need to be more diverse.

I've been to some communities and spoke about the issue of racism and everyone look at me as if this is not a problem and we don't have that problem in our community. "Oh, we love Bilal." They might even name the masjid Bilal. Masjid Bilal ibn Rabah, mashallah.

But let me tell you if Bilal walked into your masjid and tried to become a board member or a committee member, you'll look at him and laugh at him. "No, no, no, you're not one of us. We like you but not that much."

Or if he came to ask for your daughter's hand, "No, we love you Bilal but not that much. We love you from a distance."

That is fake love. And that's something I'm tired of seeing from the Muslims. I'm tired of fake love. I'm tired of this false love that we have for one another. "Oh, I love you for the sake of Allah, Habibi."

No, if you don't like me, tell me you don't like me. Let's work it out. Let's work it out. There's a way to work it out. I respect Abu Dharr for telling Bilal that he didn't like him. "O son of a black woman," at least he was frank about how he felt and they were able to deal with it.

The Reality of Brotherhood

Especially amongst brothers. I don't know what happened to us. I don't know what happened to the men of this ummah where we can't even have differences with one another anymore and talk about it to each other.

We've become people who will go and talk about each other behind each other's backs. I've heard so many things about brothers who don't like you, Yusha. "What do you mean? I just saw that brother three weeks ago, smiled in my face, hugged me, Habibi. I love you for the sake of Allah."

Just tell me you don't like me so we can deal with it. This is how I was raised. It was before I became a Muslim. Before being a Muslim, I was taught to be a man. I was taught to have respect. I was taught to speak things what was on my mind.

If I didn't like someone, I'll let you know. "Dude, I don't like you. Why are you smiling in my face? I don't like you. I'm not going to front with you and smile with you. No, let's deal with this issue."

If you don't like me, let me know why you don't like me. Let's deal with it. If we can't deal with it, then we can say, "At least I love you for the sake of Allah, Habibi." We might just not like each other on a personal level. That's okay, that's fine.

We need to deal with these things in the Muslim community. Because if we don't, we're going to continue to divide ourselves. And it's just the way it is.

Masajid Belong to Allah

We need to stop all this madness of "this is the Arab masjid, this is the Pakistani masjid, this is the Somali masjid." It's just absolute nonsense. None of these masajid belong to us anyway. Anyway, none of them.

Absolutely zero.

You don't know how many, when I've said this very statement, and I've said it here before, I know I have. When I've said this in some masajid, the committee members look at me like, if looks could kill, I'd have been a dead man long ago.

When I say that none of these masajid belong to any of you. Any of you. If you have called this a masjid, like yes, there's a community center, but the masjid, if you've named something a masjid, that means you have given that space to whom? Allah.

You've made it a waqf for Allah. It's a trust that belongs to Allah. You are only a caretaker. You are only someone who is supposed to make sure it stays clean, and manages, and the lights stay on, and the bills run.

But you don't have any say so whatsoever in the deen of Allah in that masjid. You cannot decide who comes, and who goes, and who can come, and who can't go, based upon anything other than this person is a safety security issue.

But you can't challenge that whatsoever. These belong to Allah. And if you as a board member, or a committee member, do not understand that, then you do not need to be here.

End of story. You just need to find something else to do because you are racking up wrath in front of Allah for yourself on the day of qiyamah. You're not doing yourself any favor.

And if you gave money to the masjid for that reason, so that you could have some influence, and so you could have some political gain and reason, then if I had anything to do with that masjid, I'd give you your money back, and say, "We don't want it. Don't need that kind of money. Don't need money with strings attached. Keep it. Allah, this is his house, he'll take care of it, with or without you, or me."

We need to have this attitude when it comes to our centers, inshallah ta'ala. Our religious institutions, our schools.

Racism in Islamic Schools

You know that's the number two place in the Muslim community that you find racism in America, is in the Islamic schools. Number two place, after the masjid itself, the second most prevalent place you will find racism in the Muslim community is in the Islamic schools.

In the Islamic schools. Or in the madrasah, whatever you call it. Whatever you call it. Madrasah, Islamic school, whatever you want to call it. Racism is so prevalent there, depending on who's running that school or that institution.

I've had sisters come to me, crying, telling me that because their children are black, they were treated as second class citizens in an Islamic school. Their children were put into special education classes without even having been tested or taking tests or things of that nature.

I've seen it with my own two eyes. And I went to the directors of that school and gave them what I thought. Never allowed back in the building. I don't care. I absolutely don't care.

Because this is an absolute travesty and tragedy. And let me tell you, if my children are ever treated like that in an Islamic school, Allahummas ta'an for that whole school and whoever runs it. Because I'm going to make sure it all gets shut down, all of you go.

Because I don't want another child to be treated like this whatsoever.

Conclusion: The Ultimate Reality

We need to understand that racism is an imitation of shaitan. It is an absolute imitation of one whom Allah has cursed until the end of time, who will inherit the lowest places of Nari Jahannam.

And if you want to imitate him, then go ahead and prepare yourself for your inevitable doom and punishment. Because when you die, all of our skins are going to turn the same color, to dirt. We were created from turab, we will go back to being turab.

That's it. You're from dirt, you're going to go back to being dirt. But it is up to you, if you want to continue behaving like dirt for the rest of your life in this life.

Because judging someone based on the color of their skin or the nationality of their origin or the culture that they follow, or the food that they eat, or the language that they speak, makes you no better than shaitan and the dirt of this earth. We need to fix it.

Questions and Answers

Question on Unity Among Sects

Question: We have so many sects in Islamic world. There are so many problems. How can we unite it?

Answer: We spoke about that last night, about uniting amongst our differences within the sects. When it comes to sects, there's only one that is correct. Right? There's only one.

The Prophet said, "My ummah will divide into 73 groups. All of them will be in the fire of hell except for one."

Reference: Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2641

And who did he say was that one? He said, "The jama'ah that is on what I and my companions are upon right now." What me and those who are with me are upon, that's the one that will make it to jannah.

So the easiest way to deal with these sects is to go back to what the companions رضي الله عنهم were upon. If you find yourself being upon what they were upon, then we can unite upon that regardless of the differences of our opinions.

Do you know how many times the companions differed with one another? They differed so much with one another, so much. Even after the death of the Prophet, some of them had fought one another. But you know what we say about all of them? رضي الله عنهم may Allah be pleased with them and we say that they are the best of us even though they had differences because their differences did not take them outside of the fold of al- Islam.

This comes to knowledge, having knowledge. Because there are certain things in Islam that are permissible. There is permissibility about having differences of opinion.

That's absolutely 100% fine. If you pray with your hands right here on your chest, if you pray with your hands below your navel, if you pray with your hands by your side, it does not matter as long as those things you can trace them back to something that the Prophet was seen as doing or said it was okay to do, it's absolutely fine. That does not take you out of the fold of Islam.

The differences that we cannot have, I mean the cooperation that we cannot have is with people whom their actions take them outside of the fold of Islam. People whose beliefs or their statements take them outside of the fold of Islam. We cannot have cooperation based on faith with that.

We can have humanitarian cooperation with that, absolutely 100% fine. If there are a group of people who call themselves Muslims, who say they are going to feed the homeless people in Nashville, Tennessee, can I as a Muslim get involved and help them 100%? But we have no agreement or cooperation in this deen. It's a different story.

So we need to let those things go that don't need to be dealt with right now. We don't have time for that. We don't have time for that.

The Muslims differed, the companions differed with one another, but they were united upon tawhid and the fact that they wanted to move forward the message of Islam. They were united about that, even though they may have had differences amongst one another. Our scholars had differences of the salaf, had differences with one another.

You think Imam Malik and Imam Ahmed and Imam ash-Shafi'i and Imam Abu Hanifa agreed on every point? No, that's why there are four different schools, but they all fall within the realm of permissibility. 100% fine, no problem.

If I'm with a brother who follows the strict Hanafi opinion, and it's time for me to pray Asr, I pray Asr when the shadow has reached twice its length. For me that's time for Asr. And this brother follows the Hanafi opinion that, "No, I pray Asr a bit later after that."

No problem, akhi, guess what? Since I love you for the sake of Allah, I'll wait until you're ready to pray, because it's still within the time I can pray. So we'll pray together, mashallah habibi, no problem.

We don't think like that though. We're just crazy, I don't know what's wrong with us. We love to have disagreements. We have fallen into this society that loves gossip, loves backbiting, loves drama. We've become drama queens.

Muslims are drama queens. Absolutely, we love it. We suck it up, we eat it up. I know because I'm back on social media unfortunately. Man, we love a good drama. We need to let it go. Let it go, work with one another. Absolutely, work with one another.

And if you don't know about this brother or sister, meaning that you don't know if their aqid or whatever takes them out of the deen of Islam, then you just accept them as they are until you find anything different.

This is a believer, mashallah, tabarakallah. And we leave it at that.

Question on Social Justice

Question: My question is about like the recent political and social climate. There's like been a lot of resistance and a lot of like young Muslims are like social justice warriors and stuff and they post about it on social media and stuff. So what do you think about like the new movements and it's caused a division even within the community whether we should support the movements like for social justice and a lot of them are along racial lines.

Answer: That is part of tomorrow's talk in detail. But to just say 100%, yes.

If Muslims are not involved in social justice, we don't belong here. We're no good. Not absolutely.

Part of Islam is social justice. The Prophet entered into a covenant with the people of Mecca before becoming a prophet. Anybody know what it was called? The treaty of Hilf al-Fudul, which was a cooperation to protect the weak and the meek and justice and things in that nature.

After becoming a prophet who was giving revelation by Allah, you know what he said about that treaty? "That if my people entered into a treaty similar to it again, I would enter into it with them."

Reference: Musnad Ahmad

So a prophet was a person who stood up for social justice. He was a social justice warrior first class, humanitarian first class, philanthropist first class. So yes, we as Muslims should be involved in those things. But we should have balance.

We should have balance as well. We should have some balance and understanding cooperation, yes. But being involved in social, we'll talk about that in detail tomorrow, inshaAllah.

Final Message

So until tomorrow at 6:30 pm, I'm gonna leave you with the understanding that racism is alive and well in this Muslim community.

And our Prophet said that one of the things that I fear most for you after me is 'asabiyyah, is tribalism and racism that you will fight one another. He even told us that we will end up fighting one another.

The Three Duas of the Prophet

We are our own destruction. We are our own destruction. The Prophet, we finish with this.

He said, "I made dua for three things for this ummah. And Allah granted me two and refused me one."

He said, "Number one, I asked Allah to never allow my ummah to be destroyed by famine." Meaning that they would not all starve to death, all of them. It's gonna be people who starve to death, but it wouldn't erase the

ummah. And he said, Allah granted me that dua.

He said, "I asked Allah to never allow my ummah to be destroyed completely because of its enemies."

Meaning that the enemies of the deen would never wipe it out entirely. He said, Allah granted me that.

He said, "The third thing I asked Allah was, 'O Allah never allow my ummah to destroy themselves, to be destroyed because of fighting each other.' He said, Allah didn't grant me that one."

Reference: Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2890

So we are our only enemy. The only real enemy besides shaitan that we have is us. We, us, we are our greatest enemy.

We need to block out everything else that's going on, the news, the media, the bias, the bigotry, the hatred, the racism, and focus on fixing us as a community, fixing us, us, us.

We need to be having social gatherings that don't have anything to do with having talks or halaqat, just the fact that we get together because we are Muslim and we love one another, and we are happy to see one another, etc, so on and so forth.

That bonding and relationship building that companies do for their employees to try to make their organization better, we need to do it as an ummah, inshallah ta'ala.

Closing

And as always, the sisters will leave first, and there will be some refreshments outside in the lobby, inshallah ta'ala.

And I will see you all tomorrow. Oh yeah, my DVDs are here for anyone that didn't get the chance to get them yesterday, inshallah ta'ala. If you want to get some and support the dawah, please feel free to do so.

And I will see you tomorrow at 6:30pm, inshallah.

End of Khutbah