Fight for Those Giants On Whose Shoulders We Stand Today

Defend Those Giants On Whose Shoulders We Stand Today

Imam Zaid Shakir

Opening

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ، وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى سَيِّدِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا - alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alameen, wassalatu wassalamu 'ala sayyidil mursaleen sayyidina Muhammad wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam tasleeman katheeran)

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Human beings cannot suspend themselves in air. Like here I am, we're all standing on someone's shoulders. And as Sheikh Yasir said a lot of significant things, one thing that amazes me is because people see you up here giving speeches, and some people think like you want to be up here. So they call, "Oh, you're one of those celebrity imams." Like if you had a choice between being somewhere in a cabin in the woods surrounded by a bunch of books with no phone, you wouldn't choose that, but you're a celebrity imam.

The Lowly Aspiration of Being a Speaker

And so they see a celebrity imam and they come up and they say, "You know, I want to be a speaker one day." What a lowly aspiration! Aspire to be a doctor, aspire to be a lawyer, aspire to be a teacher, aspire to be an engineer, aspire to be a garbage man to help people to be able to live in a sanitary environment. And if Allah blesses you with the ability, or as they say the gift of gab, then try to use that with feasibility and a level of sincerity. Don't aspire to be a speaker because you don't know the tribulation that might bring in your life and you might not be able to handle it.

Be the Shoulders, Not the One Standing

Don't aspire to stand on someone's shoulders. "I want to be the one up there." Aspire to be the shoulders that someone else can stand on. And there's a hadith that says just that:

(Sahih Muslim 2664)

"The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, and in each there is good."

The strong believer is the one someone can stand on their shoulders. And if someone doesn't have that strength, they're still good (وَفِي كُلٍّ خَيْرٌ - wa fee kulli khair) but try to strengthen yourself.

The Modern Weakness and State Dependency

As people move away from religion, they move towards accepting weakness. And in accepting weakness, accepting that the state is going to compensate for my weakness, that this or that agency is going to compensate for my weakness, that other people are going to compensate for my weakness. That's delusion. Now I'm not

saying the state shouldn't have a safety net. There should be a safety net. I'm not saying we shouldn't have institutions to help people who are struggling with this, that and the other in their lives. You should have those institutions. But people should also aspire to be strong and independent and to be able to stand on their own two feet and to be able to provide strong shoulders that others can stand on.

The Sacrifices of Those Who Came Before

When we talk about, we know the sacrifices the Sahaba made (رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ - radiya Allahu 'anhum) the sacrifices the Tabi'een made (رَحِمَهُمُ اللَّهُ - rahimahum Allah) the sacrifices those who preceded us in Islam made, and we're standing on their shoulders. But I want to tell you about the giants, our teachers and notables, the people like Jamal Badawi or Ahmed Sakr, or the people like Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, or the people like many, many others whose names we don't know. But all of us are also standing on the shoulders of people whose names aren't known.

Standing on Non-Muslim Shoulders

And as I was a convert to Islam, some of those people whose shoulders I'm standing on, they're not even Muslim. There's a guy I remember. How many of you remember a song you learned when you were five years old? Raise your hand. We got a few, mashallah.

When I was about five years old in Atlanta, Georgia, in a place called Carver Homes, southwest Atlanta, Georgia, there was a guy older than us. And I think he died. We were in the neighborhood when he died or was severely injured and he subsequently died. He was in a go-kart and the go-kart went out of control and he went under a car on the go-kart. His name was Henderly Turpentine. Henderly Turpentine. I remember his name and he taught us this song.

Henderly's Lesson: Life Is Hard

I have to censor it because we're in the masjid. He taught us this song: "I went to the barn to milk my cow, way in the middle of the night. To tell you the truth, I didn't know how, way in the middle of the night. I pulled his tail and pulled it... way in the middle of the night. And all I got was... way in the middle of the night. Why don't you come along little children, come along while the moon is shining bright, shining bright."

This Henderly Turpentine, what I want to say, you know what he used to do to us? He used to bring us, he was significantly bigger, and he would like fire us up. Shoulder, chest, BAM! "Don't you cry!" BAM! "Don't you cry!" BAM! "Don't you cry!" And what he was doing some brothers laughed, they had a Henderly in their neighborhood, huh? You were the Henderlys—but what they were doing, they let us know, you know what, it's a hard world out there. They weren't deceiving us like it's peaches and cream and hunky and dory.

A Boy Named Sue

That same time, a song came out. Johnny Cash, he wrote a song and sung a song called "A Boy Named Sue." Some of you remember that, Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue." It was about a guy, he was getting ready to leave his wife, they had one child, so he knew he wasn't going to be there to protect that child. And so he named him Sue because he knew as soon as he went to school people were going to start teasing him about his name

and he'd get into a lot of fights and he would learn how to fight and protect himself because he wouldn't have a father there to look after him. So he named him Sue.

So go and Google that when you go home. Don't do it now. Why do you like to Google while people are giving speech? "A Boy Named Sue" Johnny Cash. You can't Google Henderly Turpentine. Go talk to Brother Rasheed.

Betraying Those Who Came Before Us

Why'd I say that? Because we betray those whose shoulders we're standing on when we don't fight for this religion. There are too many people who say they're Muslims who aren't willing to fight for Islam. And I'm not talking about a physical fight, so you don't have to stop the live stream. Let me make that clear. I'm not talking about a physical fight. But I'm talking about when some atheistic fool comes up to you and talks about "oh blah blah blah" and you're ready to give up your deen and not even fight for it. Just tell him, "Get out of my face! You don't believe in God? That's your problem. You'll probably commit suicide in five years because you don't have any purpose in your life." Instead of fighting for it, you're ready to just give up.

Examples of Betrayal

And we can make hundreds of examples that are happening every day. We betray those who fought for us to be able to say (لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ - la ilaha illallah). We betray those who fought so that that Quran can be translated and get it into our hands. We betray those who built this masjid. What's gonna happen to this masjid 10, 20, 30 years down the line with this bunch of youth who should be here now? And they're the elders who are holding it down. They gave up on Islam because people were looking at them funny. This group, they gave up because people were teasing them for wearing a rag on their head. This group, they gave up because they weren't sure who or what they were, what their identity was. I'm not even talking about just sexual identity. They didn't even know if they're a human being. So they just gave up. And these gave up for that reason and those gave up for this reason. And none of them were willing to fight for their religion and to fight for the sacrifices that their parents and their grandparents made.

Standing on the Shoulders of Muslims and Non-Muslims

We're standing on someone's shoulders. We're the end of a long line of people who sacrificed for us to be able to say... I said some of them weren't Muslim. If you're Muslim and you're free and you enjoy all this freedom and you can live and your skin is brown or black and you can live in a white neighborhood, you're standing on the shoulders of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer and all those people who struggled and sacrificed for a dignified living for people in this country. We're standing on the shoulders of giants. We're standing on the shoulders of giants. And some of those giants, their names aren't known.

The Unknown Giants

As Sheikh Yasir said, I can tell you people, when I was nobody, when I was someone who'd be in the back of this room in the corner, people coming in, they just walk over me because they want to get up front to listen to the speaker. There were people who said, "You know, we're going to do something. We're going to start a little masjid because we need to be making dawah in this city." And I just came back from Egypt, but not from Al-

Azhar. I just spent 11 months in Egypt beginning to learn Arabic. And these people, they didn't know Alif from Ba or Ta. And because I knew Alif, Ba, Ta, they said, "You're going to be the Imam." That's how it was at one time.

Huffadh of Qira'at: The First Ten Letters

Our Huffadh of Qira'at were the ones who—Qira'at Al-'Ashr—they were the ones who memorized the first 10 letters of the Arabic alphabet: Alif, Ba, Ta, Tha, Jim, Ha, Kha, Dal, Dhal, Ra. You're the Hafidh of Qira'at Al-'Ashr! You're the Imam! And now, subhanallah.

But I tell you something, they'll die for you. They'll die for you. They'll sacrifice. They'll spend the little bit of money they had. And they'll appreciate a little bit of love because a little bit of love goes a long way.

Losing Perspective from Up High

One thing, we get away from the basics. We're up here sometimes and we project that sentiment down on anyone down there. "They understand the issues, we understand. They look at the world the way we look at the world. They're bogged down in the pettiness." The higher you go, the pettier things can get because you lose a sense of perspective from way up there. And they project all that down. "These are the people down there." They know it's real. They know it's life and death in many situations. And because of that, they're willing to give their life and they're willing to sacrifice and they're willing to let people stand on their shoulders if it's going to serve the greater good.

Providing the Shoulders for Others

They don't care if they're not the ones standing on someone else's shoulder. Therefore, they're not raised and elevated. You can't see them. They don't care as long as they're providing the shoulders for someone else to stand on can help to advance the cause. And that's what we have to focus on, brothers and sisters: the cause.

We Have a Mission

We have a mission. We're not here in vain. We're not feathers just waiting to be blown whichever way the wind blows. We're here to take that message that gave many of us life. When I converted to Islam, I couldn't talk about it for about 18 months, two years. We have this gift. Testimonial, it was powerful because I knew without Islam I'd probably be where a lot of my friends were there or are now. Many of them are dead for various reasons. I could just as well have been them if it weren't for Islam. That could have been me if it wasn't for Islam. But Allah blessed me with this religion and He blessed me to know Imam Siraj Wahhaj.

My Relationship with Imam Siraj Wahhaj

So I'm gonna segue into that. So we said, we started this little masjid. They said, "You're gonna be the imam." And right around that time is when all that, he cleaning up the streets in Brooklyn and all that. We said, "We're going now to help Imam Siraj Wahhaj."

Before that, one of the first masjids I sat in after I converted in 1977 was Imam Siraj's masjid. My wife, I was in the military. I'm from Connecticut, my wife's from Long Island. We go visit her family and for Jumu'ah we ride into New York City to Masjid At-Taqwa in Brooklyn. And they had this theater and I sit in the balcony, way in the back, and listen to Imam Siraj Wahhaj and get inspired.

Helping Clean Up Brooklyn

And when they had the drug thing, we got a group of brothers. We're in New Haven, Connecticut, hour and a half from Masjid At-Taqwa. We jump in our cars and we drive down to Brooklyn and we go and join the ranks with Imam Siraj's, with his people, helping to patrol those neighborhoods and clean up those neighborhoods. And Allah blessed me to establish a relationship with Imam Siraj.

Opening the Storefront Masjid in New Haven

So we open our little storefront masjid in New Haven, Connecticut. That was probably, the whole masjid was probably from this wall to where Brother Yusuf is right there. Maybe, no, with this brother with the sky blue shirt, squared. That was the masjid.

The second Jumu'ah we had, it was a snowstorm. There were three people for Jumu'ah. I was the khatib, my wife was there, and a sister named Iman. Sister Iman. Sister "Allah Alone" Iman. Because you meet her, "Salam alaikum, Allah Alone, Sister Iman." "Tawheed Iman, Allah Alone, how you doing sister?" "Allah Alone, sister, can you say anything besides Allah Alone?" "Allah Alone!" It was me, my wife, and Sister Iman. That was it.

The Grand Opening

Then we had the grand opening. Imam Siraj brought a group of Muslims, brothers and sisters. And I think they came in a bus because they had their own bus up to New Haven. And he was there at the inauguration. We knew him from Rutgers University when I was a student. We bring him to the MSA and he come. And then we started the masjid in New Haven, he came.

F Troop: Our Drug Patrol Team

Then we had, you know, we said, "Imam Siraj can clean up the neighborhood, we can clean up the neighborhood." So we started our own drug patrols in the projects. But they used to call our crew "F Troop." Some of you, you can't relate to that.

So F Troop got busted by the cops trying to clean up the neighborhood. Like the dope dealers called the cops on us. We had seven brothers and sisters arrested, weapons confiscated. But Imam Siraj, then it was a big trial.

The Community Stands Up

And we had, alhamdulillah, the police knew we were cleaning up the neighborhood so they were actually on our side. So how this all happened: the police won't strike, the police can't strike, so they have what you call the "blue flu." They all call in sick at the same time. And so they called up the auxiliary police. They didn't know