The Irony of Democracy- Can it be resolved - Part 1

The Irony of Democracy - Part 2

By Imam Zaid Shakir

Introduction and Welcome

Peace, greetings, welcome to Zaytuna College. I begin with the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful, and we say that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and prayers upon His Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) and upon his family and his companions. Tonight insha'Allah, God willing, we'll be hearing the lecture from Imam Zaid Shakir on, well, part two of his talk on the irony of democracy.

For those of you who don't know much about Imam Zaid, Imam Zaid is a professor here at Zaytuna College, where he teaches courses on Islamic history and political science. The title of this lecture tonight, the irony of democracy, comes from one of the texts that the students here at Zaytuna were studying for the political science class. Alhamdulillah, we're blessed to have scholars like Imam Zaid Shakir in this community here at Zaytuna. And I'd like to thank Imam Zaid for the contribution he's made to this community here at Zaytuna and in the broader Muslim community at large.

I'd also like to take a moment before we hear what's about to be said to think about the contribution that the scholars in our community make and think about the contribution that we all have the potential to make. When we engage in conversations like this, thinking actively and intelligently about how we view the world we live in, how we view the government, the systems that we interact with, what can we contribute to the conversation? And so, for all of you students here, keep open minds, challenge yourselves, believe in your potential. And for all of those not with us tonight, watching online, please join us in these conversations as well.

Although the application deadline has passed, we're still accepting late applications and we need you here to contribute to the vision of Zaytuna as we develop this institution. For those of you who aren't interested in being Zaytuna students in the future, please consider how you can contribute to this college and make it a great place of learning that challenges, not only the community here in the Bay Area, not only the Muslim community here in America, but the Muslim ummah, our community throughout the world and ultimately the world at large and America at large, challenging us about how to think consciously and actively and contribute in a way that is pleasing to our Lord. So, without further ado, the Irony of Democracy with Imam Zaid Shakir.

Opening Remarks and the Sunnah of Smiling

Alhamdulillah, it's good to see everybody. We're going to start out by just smiling. Everyone smile. Because when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you. And when you frown, you bring out the rain. So, smile, be happy again. When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you. So, everyone smile. It's the sunnah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallá Allāhu 'alayhi wa sallam). Just because we're going to talk about politics, there's no reason for doom and gloom.

Continuing from Previous Sessions

So, to continue from our previous sessions, I hope that some things are fresh in your minds. Insha'Allah, we'll reiterate the most important and salient points from the earlier talk, insha'Allah ta'ala. So, we mentioned that we talk about a meaningful American Muslim political strategy during this lecture, so more practical. And so, we'll launch right into the subject and refer back at the proper time, insha'Allah, to the previous talk.

Developing a Political Agenda: Who Are We and What Are Our Core Values?

So, when we began to think about a strategy for Muslims in this country, the first thing we need to think about is an agenda. And in thinking about an agenda, there are two things that really haven't been systematically thought out by those encouraging Muslims to get involved. Sometimes, in a meaningless sense in politics, like, oh everyone, go vote, it's your civic duty. But if half of the Muslims vote for candidate A in a given election and half of them vote for candidate B, everyone could have stayed home. Because this half neutralized that half and so, it's meaningless. Everyone could have stayed home and would have affected the same outcome.

So, to really begin thinking about an agenda, there are two things we have to think about. One is, who are we as a community? And secondly, what are our core values? So, these are two very important issues.

Pre-9/11 Political Engagement

So, formally, at least before 9/11, the issue of who we are as a community in terms of a broader community, politically was never discussed, generally speaking. Maybe there were a few discussions here and there. But most Muslims in this country who were politically active were active around issues that were of immediate concern to their ethnic community. And usually those issues were focused on overseas.

So, folks from Kashmir were politically active around the issue of Kashmir, trying to get a plebiscite, trying to get the UN resolution from 1949 implemented, trying to end the Indian occupation. Muslims from Palestine and perhaps a few other Arab areas were focused on Palestine. Muslims during the Bosnian War from Bosnia were focused on the issue of Bosnia, lifting the arms embargo, getting NATO to intervene to stop the Serbian bombardment of Sarajevo and the ethnic cleansing that was going on.

And so this was the general state of affairs before 9/11. Muslims in America thinking of an overarching political issue, generally that was something that did not take place. Secondly, thinking about issues, thinking about an agenda, from a starting point that included our core values as Muslims, again, was something generally absent. Certainly the quest for justice motivated a lot of the particular efforts that were going on, but it wasn't a conscious decision. It was sort of a residual effect of our political activism or those who were activists, active in various areas. Again, this is generally speaking.

The Need for an Overarching Agenda Based on Core Values

So when we talk about an agenda now, I'm talking about an overarching agenda based on our broader community that includes all of the various racial and ethnic communities that are represented or that represent or constitute the Muslim community in this country. And I'm emphasizing that whatever those overarching issues are, they have to be linked with the consideration of our core values as Muslims. Otherwise, our political activity can devolve into unmitigated, unbridled opportunism, unprincipled opportunism. And that's something

that we as Muslims should deem unacceptable, that we're not opportunist. Certainly we look for opportunities, but we don't abandon our principles to take advantage of available opportunities.

Core Political Values

So to address, to begin to develop those sort of introductory thoughts, the first issue I want to look at are our values. What are our core political values? We mentioned one, and that is justice. Last semester in political science class, we read a section from one of the books in the category of Advice to Kings. And that section that the book opened with the discussion of justice, al-'adl. Allah commands with justice and goodness, excellence. So this is a big value for us as a community. But it's important to note that when we look at justice, we have to look at it impartially.

Justice: The First Core Value

So Allah reminds us in the Qur'an:

O you believers, be upright for justice, witnesses for Allah, even if against yourselves, or your parents, or your closest relatives.

إِن يَكُنْ غَنِيًّا أَوْ فَقِيرًا (Quran 4:135)

Whether they're wealthy or poor. So don't let the wealthy tempt you with their money to be unjust. Don't let the poor people seduce you with your sympathy and your compassion to be unjust. Be just.

This is another verse, not this one. Be just. That's closer to piety. So this is a big value for us as Muslims. I emphasize impartiality. Impartiality, which means a standard of justice that transcends our self-interest, that might transcend our communal interest as Muslims, as members of various ethnic groups, that transcends all of that. This is very important. We're going to mention why shortly, insha'Allah.

Fairness: The Second Core Value

Another closely related value is fairness. So, fairness, again, something that is defined as impartiality, as freedom from self-interest. The difference between the two: justice is usually defined by law or commonly acceptable principles. And fairness is usually defined by intangibles. Intangibles that aren't necessarily codified in law.

To give an example, or principle, or agreement. So to give an example of that, we hire a person to water our lawn. We get one of the day workers, who are numerous in this part of the world, to water all our plants, and our garden, and our lawn. So we hire that person for three hours. Then we leave. So we say, here's the hose, there are the plants, go for it. Three hours, I'm going to pay you for three hours. So then we drive off to take care of some business. We come back much later. We find that the worker's still there. Five hours later. The worker's worked two extra hours.

The reason the worker worked two extra hours, after we left, turned on the hose, it didn't work. The valve was broken, the water valve. So the worker drove over to Home Depot, got a new water valve, got his tools out, replaced the old valve, and then proceeded to water the plants. So, justice is that we pay the worker for three hours, which we agreed on. We weren't consulted about the valve, should I replace it, which is going to take time. So, if we pay the worker for three hours, we're being just. Because our agreement, that which was set out in advance, entailed being paid for three hours. But fairness requires that we pay the worker for five hours. So if we pay the worker for five hours, we're being fair. If we pay the worker for three hours, we're being just. So, that's sort of an example to flesh out the difference between the two.

But again, the Qur'an calls us to fairness. So this distinction, we can tease out a verse we mentioned in the first lecture:

So 'adl is associated with judgment. Whereas delivering the trust, this is based on unstated conventions, unmentioned, or things that aren't codified in any law. So fairness requires that we deliver the trust to its rightful possessor. Justice requires that we rule or judge between contending parties with justice.

So this again shows the difference and emphasizes fairness. Allah Ta'ala mentions:

And in their wealth is a well-defined right for those forced to ask and those who are deprived. So fairness requires that we try to meet the rights of the beggar, the sa'il, so there's no obligation that we give to a beggar. But fairness requires that we do because it's not fair that I'm searching for a diet plan while this person is starving. That's not fair. So again, this is a big principle in our religion.

Another example, Allah Ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an:

So if they incline to peace, then you so incline and put your trust in Allah.

إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ (Quran 8:61)

Allah hears and knows all. So if the enemy in a combat situation offer peace, then we're told accept that offer. Even if it might, we think it might involve a strategy for the enemy to gain some advantage. And this is why Allah says, trust in Allah that it's not a trick. So this again, this is fairness. Fairness if someone drops their weapons and says, we want to make peace. It's not fair to go and massacre them. So this is fairness. Fairness dictates that. So justice and fairness are two big political principles in our religion. And again, this is preliminary to a larger point insha'Allah.

Cooperation: The Third Core Value

A third value we mention is cooperation. So again, Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

Cooperate in righteousness and piety, and do not cooperate in sin and transgression. And be mindful of Allah. Verily Allah is intense in punishment. So we're told to cooperate. And again this is a general statement, has a general meaning. There are specific meanings but there's a general meaning. وَتَعَاوَنُوا Anyone who wants to cooperate for good, then we should cooperate with that party.

Linking Values to Political Agenda

So we'll limit ourselves to these three very critical or crucial values. So cooperation, fairness, and justice. And emphasize any political agenda divorced from these values, we should question as Muslims. Machiavelli might not question it. He might encourage it. You have to divorce those values. The only value that matters is power. That's the only thing that matters. But as a Muslim, there's far more than power. And even power is conditional.

So prepare against them whatever you can of your force, which implies limitations. مَا اسْتَطَعْتُم So technically Muslims shouldn't be making weapons of mass indiscriminate destruction.

So this is in terms of being codified into doctrines of war. This is generally a 20th century innovation when we reach the point where we can have aerial bombardment when we develop industrial societies. And then war doctrine states in an industrial society, a country's capacity to make war is tied to their industrial potential. So to destroy, to undermine, and then the industrial potential is tied to the population who mans the factories. So to fight a war, part of our strategy has to be to kill the people who will man the factories that will create the industrial output that includes the tanks and the planes and the bombs. And so this becomes indiscriminate killing, becomes codified into war doctrine.

And we invent weapons such as the nuclear bomb or daisy cutters or white phosphorus or other anti-personnel weapons to make that doctrine, to implement that doctrine. A Muslim should say no. That's not fair. That's not just. So principles are very important for us.

Understanding the Community: Post-9/11 Shift

Now on the basis of these, these two issues, the values and understanding the community, who is the community? We are the community. And this has become emphasized to us after 9/11. So you see the beginning of efforts to preserve our collective existence here. And you can see that reflected in the presidential politics.

In 2000, probably 90% of the Muslims who voted, voted for the Republicans and justified that in a variety, a number of ways. But none of those had anything to do with the existence of the community. It had to do with particular interests. The Republicans, they have the same family values that we have. The Republicans are promising to release certain Muslim political prisoners. This is actually the thinking at the time. I won't mention any names in that regard. The Republicans are good for Pakistan and the Democrats historically lean towards India. That's part of the thinking in the Muslim community at the time.

After 9/11, Muslims made a massive shift to the Democrats. And what does that indicate? Number one, it indicates the wisdom of the likes of Imam al-Ghazali and Imam al-Shatibi and others who discussed the maqasid of Sharia. So it's the five great overarching objectives of Sharia. What are those? Preservation of

The Impact of 9/11 on Muslim Political Priorities

So they're prioritized. Before 9/11, there was no perception of threat to the life and the religion of Muslims. Muslims could pray. There was some prejudice out there as documented by Jack Shaheen and Reel Bad Arabs. That was pre-9/11. So the bigotry was there. But you felt comfortable praying. It's time to pray. Sun's going down. Pull into a truck stop. You're not worried about someone jumping out of their truck with their shotgun. What you doing over there boy? This ain't Iraq. You pray anywhere. Airport, put your rug down. Truck stop and pray.

After 9/11, when there's tension and there's thoughts that now there's a threat to Islam, all of this anti-Muslim sentiment, all of these attacks on the Prophet, all these attacks on the religion, those issues, preserving family, family values, that's why we vote Republican pre-9/11, those issues became secondary. Now we're thinking about our lives and our religion. And even though the Democrats, they don't have our family values, they're urging a more sane public square where it's safe to be a Muslim, where people's civil rights are upheld. And so we get to Obama and 90% of the Muslims vote for Obama.

So it just shows that this prioritizing that our ulama did, it was based on their observation of human societies and human behavior. It also shows that as a community we began to think about our collective existence because now there are big threats that threaten all of us. And so this creates the space for us to begin to think about a larger overarching agenda.

Proposed Political Agenda for American Muslims

Now, what would that agenda involve based on our community being here and our values? I would suggest by way of example, these are all my personal thoughts, food for thought. Hopefully no one will get indigestion.

First Policy Proposal: Equitable Enforcement of Anti-Defamation Statutes

A political agenda, first I would suggest working for the equitable enforcement of anti-defamation statutes. So this would be something not only acceptable for Muslims but others who feel that there's rising defamation of their communities. There's rising bigotry, racism. There's sort of a re-entrenchment of white supremacy. So other communities are threatened by that. And it makes it feasible not only for us as Muslims to advance our interest but also to advance the interest of other communities.

And the climate that's being generated, if you're not following the news, a lot of you know about a presidential hopeful referring to President Obama as the food stamp President. That's a racialized message. Even more overtly in the last couple days on public media, someone saying that President Obama's lineage is a union

between his mother and a dog. And then the person says, I know that's racist but I didn't say it with racist intent. I said it because I'm anti-Obama. This is what's going on in the country.

So a lot of people are concerned about this climate and would be willing to join with Muslims to address it. So this is what we mean. Cooperation.

Second Policy Proposal: Ending the War on Drugs

Another policy, Muslims advocating for the end of the drug war. And this is one motivated by justice and fairness. Why? Because it disproportionately affects African-American youth through arrest and incarceration, even though African-American youth do not constitute a disproportionate share of drug users. This is a well-known fact.

And so Muslims out of a desire for fairness in our society, this is what I mean going beyond our self-interest. So we might say Muslim youth aren't being picked up and thrown into jail behind some of these draconian drug laws that came in with the war on drugs. So why should we worry about it? Because we are a community that advocates for justice and fairness.

Even if it's against yourselves. So even if this money that we're spending on this campaign doesn't immediately benefit us, it's wrong.

Third Policy Proposal: Challenging Deportation Laws

Another suggestion I would make for American Muslim political agenda, challenging the way deportation laws are implemented. There are a lot of families that are being broken up. A lot of children being traumatized. Their parents are arrested sometimes in front of their faces. The children were born here. They're citizens. The parents are taken from their homes, their places of employment, from the street, thrown in a detention center and subsequently deported. And those children in some instances are left at home by themselves until a relative or neighbor or someone comes and gets those children and takes care of them.

Again, that's unfair. It's unjust. And in many instances their parents are doing jobs that most Americans don't want to do, like cleaning the kitchens in the restaurants and trimming people's hedges and bushes and yards, etc. So again, this is something that doesn't severely affect Muslims. Muslims are affected. A lot of Muslims are illegally deported. But it affects other people. And Muslims should be thinking about an agenda that transcends our community.

The Strategic Importance of Building Alliances

Why? Because it provides us a basis for building political alliances. And when you're weak, you need to enter into alliances to augment your strength and to neutralize your weakness. That's the essence of politics. Sound politics.

So in making these proposals, there are others but in the interest of time we'll leave it at these three. We're working in threes so far. Three values, three policies, three different communities are particularly affected.

Defamation, Muslims are particularly affected. The drug war, African American youth are particularly affected. Deportation, Latinos are particularly affected. So this provides the basis for cooperation.

Potential Allies in Anti-Defamation Efforts

In terms of defamation, there are Jewish groups that fear all of this anti-Muslim sentiment. There's certainly, there's some right wing hardcore Zionist groups that are fueling it amongst other groups. But there are some other Jewish groups very much concerned because they understand once you let the anti-Semitic genie out of the bottle, you don't know what it's going to do. You might let it out in the name of going after the Muslims. Once it's out, it might go in unforeseen directions. And there are some people who are concerned about that and some who are concerned in the interest of fairness.

Japanese Americans who were defamed and demonized throughout the 1930s, culminating in the internment of almost 150,000 Japanese, most of them from right here in California on the west coast, are very much concerned about this issue and have been very supportive of Muslims. So that's another community that would in all likelihood enter into an alliance with Muslims to really push this issue.

Potential Allies in Ending the Drug War

The drug war, primarily African Americans are affected but other communities are affected. Latinos are affected. Increasingly suburban youth are affected. Indians on reservations in the west are affected. The crystal meth and other drug problems that lead to a disproportionate amount, percentage of their population being incarcerated in the areas where they are found out here in the west. So these all provide the basis for political alliances. And that's very, very important for us as Muslims.

Potential Allies in Deportation Reform

So all of these issues point towards, deportation, forget that Muslims are affected. We mentioned certainly affected Latinos are affected. So these issues point towards cooperation. Cooperation with other communities. That's why I chose these. Because they provide ready opportunities for cooperation with others. And if we don't cooperate, we're not going to have a meaningful agenda because our political capital in this society is too scant. It's too scant. But if we are sincere and if we take initiative and if we prove that we're serious, there are serious partners who will work with us.

Integrating Values into Political Action

So the next section is, once we understand what our values are, once we understand the importance of wedding our values into how we shape or create a political agenda, understanding that those values dictate that what we advocate for has to transcend our immediate interest in the interest of justice, in the interest of fairness. They have to, in the interest of cooperation, al-birr, they have to transcend our immediate self-interest as a community. They have to transcend our immediate interest. They point towards cooperation.

Framework for Grassroots Action

Now, how do we integrate our agenda into a framework of grassroots action? So this kind of takes us back to last week. So we mentioned, we gave the example of the Keystone XL pipeline and how that was defeated. We

Conclusion: Politics That Reflect Our Values

So in conclusion, I emphasize that if our politics are going to be meaningful, they have to reflect our values. And if they reflect our values, then the beneficiaries of them have to transcend our community. So we shouldn't want to be like a community who only advocates for our particular interests. Not only is that self-defeating because it's very easy for people to say those people only think about themselves, but it's also antithetical to our values.

We are not people who only think about ourselves. We're not people who only think about our ethnic group. We're not people who only think about our religion, our religious group, our religious community. You're the best community raised up for service of the people. How can we serve the people who only think about ourselves? Raised up for the people. You're the best community raised up for the Muslims? For yourselves? Raised up for the people. So there's some food for thought.

Opening the Floor for Questions

I'm going to stop here and open the floor for questions, discussion insha'Allah. May Allah give everyone success. So that is how we solve the irony of democracy. That's how we move beyond the sense of powerlessness in the face of the elites. That's how we begin a process that changes the elite consensus. That's how we begin a process that makes the elites more responsive to our interests. That's how we begin a process so that Muslims become part of the elites.

Muslims as Part of a Service-Oriented Elite

Not again, not for our service. When Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

Is this the creation of an elite? Yes or no وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا This is leaders, imams. Make us leaders for the masses of righteous people. This is talking about the elite.

We selected, we made from them imams, leaders who guided, guided whom? Guided the masses of the people.

But that elite is not a self-serving elite. It's an other-serving elite.

And that's not an idea that's unique or specific to Islam. That's an idea that was prevalent in this country throughout much of the 20th century. Now, it's under attack. Now, the elites want to serve themselves. Elites want to serve themselves. It's not a good idea for Muslims or others. Because the last time an elite wanted to serve themselves, they wanted to serve the people bread because there was no cake. And when they served the people bread, they lost their heads. It's not a good idea.

Question and Answer Session

So, any questions, comments? People out there in Cyberland? Text in or however they set up for you to give some feedback. Yeah, I do.

Question About Funding and Courage

Fund them. And, you know, change in this country was affected by courageous people. I suggest everyone, if you haven't, just read the story of Ida B. Wells. Read the story of Ida B. Wells, a lady who took on the Ku Klux Klan and the white legions and the red shirts and the whole bunch of them, single-handedly. Chased out of Memphis, Tennessee. Life constantly under threat. And single-handedly ended the practice of lynching. Over 10,000. That's what she was able to ascertain through her research. African-Americans summarily murdered, executed in this country. And one courageous woman, instrumental in ending that practice.

So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم I mean that's American history. They were courageous people. The whole world was against them. You know, those same people, you know, your life is in danger, you get on a list. We're already on a list. Insha'Allah, we'll be on the right list. That's the issue. We'll be on the right list. The list of people who received their record in their right hand. So, we need courageous people.

The Need for Principle Over Bitterness

And we need people who aren't bitter. You have a lot of courageous people, but they're bitter. They're ready to go fight. But their bitterness leads them to fight the wrong battle. And as a result, no good comes from their action. Our fight is here. It's a fight of truth, principle, service, commitment, love. You have to love people. Love takes courage. It takes courage. Mercy takes courage.

When my wife, she saw a little hummingbird in our backyard. He made a nest in the tree. And you come near the tree, it buzzes your head. Whoa. Oh, too close to the nest. That hummingbird is willing to sacrifice. I mean, imagine what we look like to a hummingbird. Plus, they have bird's eye view and everything. They can see little insects. So, these are big human beings. It's like their whole field of vision. They're ready to come and risk getting smacked to protect their nest.

What are we willing to risk to protect our religion, to protect our honor, to protect our decency, to protect Muslims who are being bombed and brutalized? Because we don't challenge the policies. We don't try to educate people. Generally speaking, there are a lot of people involved in education. There are a lot of people on the front line who are challenging the oppression and the injustice, who are challenging the skewed nature of our policies, who are challenging the warmongering.

Speaking Out Against Injustice

You know, there are all these chicken hawks who, oh, we shouldn't apologize to the Afghanis. They should apologize to us for killing our soldiers. All right, then, if that's the basis, because these soldiers, they didn't do

anything. You know, they're 15,000 miles away from home doing nothing. But if that's the basis for apologies, you know, where are the apologies from these guys for those kids who were ripped apart by Apache helicopters? Eight kids and a few months ago another 10 just picking flowers on the hill. Where's the apologies for the bombed wedding parties? You know, if that's the basis for apologies, so we have to speak up.

(Sahih Muslim 49)

You see something wrong, change it with your hand. If you can't, with your tongue, speak out against it. If you can't, hate it in your heart. That's the weakest level of faith.

But we have to be principled, and principled doesn't mean foolhardy. It doesn't mean stupid. It doesn't mean emotional. I gotta do something. It means conviction, principle, intellect, planning, vision, courage, all combined. Compassion, love, service, all combined. That's what it means. We have to forge on.

Three Levels of Action

This is my belief, this is my personal belief. If we're going to really begin to get some traction, in terms of pushing back against a lot of this stuff, we have to up the ante as a community at all three levels mentioned. At the grassroots level, I think that is the most critical one because that's the one that generates the critical mass that gives credibility to the political level, in terms of mainstream conventional politics.

And at the grassroots level, grassroots organizing, building alliances with other communities, I have to make that caveat. I said at the grassroots level once, I was accused of encouraging guerrilla warfare. So, note well the definition of grassroots effort. At the conventional mainstream political level, and at the legal level.

The Need for a Legal Endowment

It's inexcusable as a community, and perhaps some of you can initiate this. We don't have a nationwide legal endowment. Where every masjid, every Muslim organization is paying into an office in Washington D.C. that's doing research into the legality of what's happening to Muslims, and are ready, whenever a case comes up, to take it on. At the drop of a hat. An entire establishment.

This is critical in the African American struggle. You had grassroots, you had the sit-ins at the lunch counters, you had the marches, you had all of that grassroots political action, but you also had Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP legal team challenging the legal edifice of segregation, of Jim Crow. And advocating, pushing, suing, to get civil rights legislation passed.

So, you have many different levels of action, each one mutually reinforcing. As Muslims we have to begin to think in those terms. Otherwise, we're just frustrated. Sitting back wondering, you know, why doesn't anyone do something? If it's not in their interest, they're not going to do anything. So, we have to make sure it's in our interest that we do something, that we're motivated to do something.

Closing Remarks

So, any more questions, comments, before we close up? That's it? Okay, Alhamdulillah. So, that concludes this particular presentation, The Irony of Democracy. Next talk, we'll do something religious, insha'Allah. Just the

balance, insha'Allah. So, ask Allah to give us tawfiq. Allahumma give us fahm.

The one Allah wants good for, He gives him or her a sound understanding of religion.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Zaytuna College is investing in a new home in Berkeley, California. Join us on April 28th for a benefit dinner featuring Zaid Shakir, Hamza Yusuf, and Hatem Bazyan and find out how you can dedicate a brick to be permanently displayed at the new campus. Register today.