Body Image: Reality and Standards - Omar Suleiman - MSA National

I wrote a bill on Sumerian mythology mr. moon Alejandro Haman Hamed arena hero banana mean whatever it wanted a lot I mean what activity didn't winter keen lama tsong he was at him about a collab dakotas Whitaker Mohammed in salalah Hardy was said Lamar Adi he was lucky or Sodom to semen kathira so the interesting thing about this session is that when I when I got my list of topics and my sessions this was the this was the one that I kind of crossed and I was like okay this is the one that I really can't wait to speak on panel I've been at it since 3 o'clock and so I really don't feel like speaking right now so that but I'm very passionate about this subject very very very passionate about this subject because I think that anyone that has worked with Muslim youth and actually you know believe it or not it's not just Muslim youth it's with everybody you find that people are really really insecure people are really insecure probably tell parents this all the time when parents come up to me and they and they're all upset about their kids because they spend money on expensive shoes and on expensive clothes and stuff like that you know they're they're they're falling to the peer pressure around them I'm like well you guys do the same thing except instead of shoes and clothes you put on $100,000 weddings because your cousin put on $100,000 wedding and you have to buy a certain house and drive a certain car you're just as insecure as your kids are right so let's face it people have a lot of insecurities and people constantly feel a need to impress those around them and I feel really bad because I haven't heard what would sister Dahlia had to say or what what most of what dr. altough had to say and so I'm sure that I might be repetitive but one thing I want to say from the start a loss of Hannah Hannah understands how important reputation is to people how important image is to people and that's why Alonzo Jetta has made it so sacred sanctified that you should not harm anyone else's image and not harm anyone else's reputation Allah knows how bad it is to feel that sense of insecurity and so for you to contribute to the insecurities of another person is so rigorously condemned in the Quran and the Sunnah that it's it's likened to killing somebody you know somehow Llewyn a lot as it just says and about backbiting in certain who Jerrod Eduardo Camacho hehehe mater would one of you like to eat his dead or the eat of his brother dead and what that means is how long some of the red line they said what's the point of saying Mayta dead right some of them said because when you back bite when you slander you it's you might as well kill that person when the prophet slice of them he on the on the night of it a certain maraj one of the sites that he saw where people that were scratching their faces off with copper nails it's a very horrific sight the prophets eye son was horrified by it and when the prophets Ison asked what that was he was told that those are the people that used to backbite and in essence just as you removed people's ability and comfort to show their faces in society a lot as oujet allows what will cause you to remove your face on the day of judgment literally so it's so sanctified and the punishment for slander the punishment for backbiting the punishment for harming someone's face in society and that's why the way that we even make up for that is the profit slice time taught us what that you speak good of that person in front of people as you spoke evil of them you should speak good of them you should restore their image and society so Allah as one understands how important it is for us to be able to be comfortable and even confident and what a lot condemns obviously is arrogance and insecurity but a large n understands that's why I lost mine SATA has made people's out of their honor and their dignity so sanctified and we see this all the time right now I'm sure this might have been brought up but you know young girls that will commit suicide because you know images that they texted to the to their boyfriends got you know got all around and their reputations were ruined and they no longer felt a reason to live and that's just what it is in this society where you're constantly you're constantly forced to express yourself express yourself through Facebook express yourself through Twitter express yourself through Instagram express yourself in school express yourself in the Masjid express yourself at the convention express yourself at the family gathering express yourself at weddings express yourself at this express yourself at that you're constantly forced to be expressing and to be showing something right as of a lot you know I think often of the hadith of the Prophet slice of them that the worst of people on the site of a loss pants on are the retain people of two faces Allah deity how would I be white why would I be wedge someone who comes to one group of people with a face and then goes to another group of people with another face I'm like and the world we live in today people have 2030 faces not two faces right you have you're expressing yourself constantly at the world through all these different means and what it comes down to at the end of the day is am i secure in my own skin a very interesting discourse that I once read and usually when you read about a b'stilla when you read about tests and trials you read about the test of wealth and the test of Aveeno Fame and things of that sort imam been quoting rahim allah he actually had a chapter the test of l-jamaa a test of beauty he considered Beauty to be a test a trial for a person why because look Allah Azza WA Jalla you know the way that your nose is positioned and the way that your eyes are positioned and that mole that that's somewhere here or wherever it is a loss of hana hana decreed that perfectly and allah gave you just the right amount of attraction or lack thereof it's a test because when people are too beautiful what do they become they become shallow most of the time they become shallow they become arrogant they're more likely to fall into zina and things of that sort with people throwing themselves at them beauty is even considered a test by the retina because it's a gift from Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala so when a loss of hana hana you know and all of you are thinking it that is my test you know and why did allah make me so beautiful right i can see all of you nodding your heads so I guess I don't need to be talking to you all about security but um how did the Prophet slicin deal with this people not feeling good about themselves what you find consistently from the messenger sallallahu ardi wa sallam is that he would tell people to worry about how they seen or looked in the sight of a lost man oh it's a hug it's as simple as that I know my time is short every time the prophets isome address someone with low self esteem he mentioned their image in the sight of Allah subhanAllah - Adam how many of you seen the video the ugliest Sahabi raise your hand if you haven't seen it please go youtube it and ugliest is in quotations because none of the Sahaba ugly of course but you read about the stories of those who actually Jala beep about the ilaha tada I know is I had all the Elana I know the Companions and how the Prophet slicin boasted their self esteem please go watch the video on chela because I don't have time to through the story of Jala beep it's incredibly powerful jalebi means the deformed one and what the profits like the lengths that the profit slice in and when to to make sure that Judy Beebe felt valuable ahead of the allahö Tyler I know who the profit slicing him grabbed him in the marketplace in the souq and he you know and he started to wrestle with him and I had all the allotted I know he said that when I realized it was the profit slice of them I actually put my back closer to his chest because it was a soulless Isum who wouldn't want the profit slice on to hug them and to and to wrestle with them and Russell lost ice and I'm jokingly was saying many a study had the lab many a study Heather who will buy this slave who will buy this slave and ahead of the allot of time I know he said yeah I was sold a lot even if I was a slave who would want to buy me you see how low the self-esteem he has who would want to purchase me even if I was apt Anza had all the allowances the profits like somebody turned me around and he put his his hands on my shoulders and he smiled and he said what I can I kinda live on but you are priceless in the sight of Allah why are you worried about what other people think why are you why are you down on yourself now do you think for a moment just connecting it to what I wrote what I said about even put a bow tie him a lot and his writing on the test of beauty do you think for a moment ahead would want to come back to this world and be you know really handsome and really good-looking or would he be satisfied with what the profit slice and um did for him that day and what the profits I some said about him maybe it was the humility that came from his test and trial of not being so attractive but also loss I some reminded him what you're priceless in the sight of Allah why do you care what people think of you and also lost i sanam would would would randomly test the Sahaba you know and one of the things understood the Aloha I know he says the prophets I son was sitting with us one time and the prophets license aw man who's walking and masha'Allah he's handsome he's rich he's famous he's got everything this little awesome says what do you say about this person hallelujah Rasul Allah they said the office allowed this man if he speaks everyone listens I know some of this was the inspiration episode that came out so date shameless plug in right honoring mankind a little soul asylum they said to the Prophet slicin if he speaks everyone listens right if he intercedes on someone's behalf his intercession is granted and if he was to propose to anyone he could marry any girl that he wants prophet slice I'm sorry okay another man walked by very poor very low in society so lost I Samson what do you say about this man so the auto Salah if he speaks no one listens to him no one cares what he has to say and if he was to intercede no one would care for his intercession and no one would marry their daughter to him and the prophets I some said what prophets license says the example of this person in the law in the sight of Allah is better than the earth full of the example of that person he's teaching them to shift their mindsets and the way they look at people and the way they look at themselves as well because they might think very highly of themselves you know what if you are small in the sight of Allah subhana wa tada I don't care how beautiful you are I don't care how rich you are I don't care if you've got $140 shoes on or if you've got nice clothes on if in the sight of Allah you are little you are little I've added to no sama totally Allah I know very powerful dua that my shift taught me when I when he first saw you know this is really awkward my teacher called me because he saw my first video on YouTube I was like oh man he's like tequila you fear allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and he reminded me of this statement he said you know about that all the Elan was a very famous companion he used to say are you the villain a cone al limón fin FC an akuna element fin FC were in the lie Akira I seek refuge of Allah in Allah from seeing myself as great but being very small in the sight of Allah meaning I look in the mirror and I say masha'Allah look at me right but then in the sight of Allah I'm nothing and the Prophet slice at him every single time he had that opportunity to make that distinction he did Abdullah bin mr. Udall Deol are and how many of you have heard of the name had been mr. Udall deal on her raise your hand if you've heard of his this name it been miss Ruth all day long I know a great companion great Sahabi a mountain in this religion but you know what somehow love physically he was very very very short very small so small that when he's with the companions the wind blows him into a tree he's he at the trunk of a tree and he's blowing into that tree by the wind and his legs are exposed and the sahaba laughs Adam and the prophets lice on him he didn't let that go you know by the way the prophets eye son was not one to stop people from laughing like you see this consistently throughout the CETA he'd jump in so I sell him he joke with them when he saw them joking and having fun but not at the expense of this man's self-esteem oh so lost why some said what are you laughing about so they knew it was serious so the auto stole all his legs are so small they like twigs right well so loss is Allah he said but those two legs in the sight of Allah on the day of judgment are the size of hood how many of you have seen Mount Hood if you see Mountain the mountain of or had one of the mountains of Jena it's a huge mountain well so lost my son said even mr. Luthor the Allah and when the day of judgment will be walking and his legs will be the size of a hood you're talking about him you don't know who he is that's the attitude of the disbelievers and interestingly enough even miss Ruth was the one who ended abou jihad and abu jahal was the size of our table adore delano huge man and when even miss Ruth or the allahu ta'ala anhu climbed he literally climbed up on top of him when he was laying down to finish him in the battle of bedded and abu jahal is so arrogant he looks up and he's like this is who's gonna kill me this guy he said you you've climbed the difficult mountain yet away i'll haunt him you Shepherd of sheep who do you think you are you're gonna kill me can you go call on him to help or someone great so at least I can go with some dignity he's upset that out of the love and miss earth is killing him because our beloved Masood is so small and he even asked him in miss Ruth he says who's winning the battle right now even miss adore delano says Allah Allah but Allah well e rasool allah yeah I do Allah victory is to Allah and His Messenger Oh enemy of Allah and he was the ones who had a lot that that that took the life of Abu jahil who took the lives of the lives of so many believers look at the confidence that was instilled in mr. OU's all day long I know just by being told by the prophets by Salaam you know Rasul Allah I was saying this in front of him his two legs are like the size of Earth on the day of judgment he's telling it Ben must even though as he's from reprimanding the sahaba he's telling even Masood as well don't worry what they say about you you're good you're okay don't worry about it you're better than that you're better than most of the companions and this is a fact urban myth is from the greatest of the Companions of the Prophet sallallaahu Hardy wa sallam he has such a status in this religion it's it's incredible you know when you go into studying hadith you see sometimes names and they're very strange like you'll see a blue button the father of the big stomach it's a hadith narrator - fela be no baby no care about the allahu taala in houma you find different narrators different names you see Abdullah and there are over 300 of the loss from the Sahaba but when it's just Abdullah it's been Massoud meaning what it's it's no need to even say even Masood that's the greatness of this man in our religion do you think that even mr. Udall do I know when he shows up on the day of judgement with his legs the size of mountain of her head will be thinking to himself yeah this is great but I wish I could have you know been a little bit taller in dunya you think he cares you think it matters to him at all maybe it was again the humility that he experienced because of the of the of the you know the ridicule that he went through in life maybe that's what led contributed to his to his to Walder to his good add up to his good Iman maybe that's what contributed to it that's all that mattered and so when the prophets like Salim says to you in Allah lion little Allah does not look Allah sorry come what inna at tzadikim Allah doesn't look at your faces he doesn't look at your bodies he actually says it in the present tense aria salat wa salam not Allah will not look at your faces in your bodies he says in Allah Leandra Allah does not look at your faces or your bodies but instead young little Yacouba come he looks at your hearts he looks at your hearts that's what matters to a loss pronto does that matter that does that mean that I can tattoo myself and you know do whatever I want and and you know dress any way that I want and it doesn't matter because I'll just say I have a good heart know what the prophets Lysanne is talking about is your status well so loss item is not it's clear from the context the hadith the Prophet sighs I'm is not talking about you know your your your deeds here he's talking about your status in the site of a lost man Oh Todd that's what matters to allah subhana wa ta'ala the heart and what comes from the heart which at times affects the body so the soul loss item is setting that stage for us at a very very early at a very very early period in Islam for the Sahaba that were deeply you know engulfed in tribalism and in classism and these these these silly little one status in society now here's the thing and this is where I really want to put it - this is where I the take-home message that I want for all of you to take home is that a loss of hanataro says in the Quran lot of authority will not loop the one who is sought and the one that was seeking have become weakened have become small meaning what even if people approve of the way you look even if people think that you know this your new facebook profile picture is awesome you cover photos great your clothes are great you look beautiful today even if people say that about you what have you earned in life what have you got and somehow a lot you will weaken yourself because you'll never be good enough because they'll always find something to point out you'll never be able to satisfy everyone people will always find something wrong with you and at the same time who are whose approval on whose pleasure are you seeking and then UD would multiply either way actually for su who's going to answer your call when you're in need anyway who's going to be there for you when you need them allow and matter law is there any God besides a lot meaning is there anyone to be sought other than Allah what are you getting out of it and the fact of the matter is in that in the 21st century people are more concerned with the illusion of being happy than actually experiencing happiness it's more important that everyone around me thinks I'm happy than actually being happy it's more important that everyone around me thinks I'm beautiful then actually feeling beauty and so you know I was reading an interesting study and it blew my mind but I can see how it's true that one of the criteria is one of the things that you go through as you're as you're looking for a spouse a lot of people will actually think this will actually be part of the decision-making process how good is he going to look with me on my facebook cover photo what are people going to say how the wedding picture is going to come out can you imagine that people actually think how are the wedding pictures going to come out what are people gonna say right when we when we get online and we have that thing 1 and thing 2 shirt I'm his and I'm hers and all that weird corny stuff that happens in the first month of marriage and then all of a sudden the pictures disappear it's like oh man what happened right because you're putting your life out there subhanAllah and you know at the end of the day people actually that's actually part of their decision-making process what are people gonna say how many how many likes will I get for that what what will people think of me and you know we're laughing about it but it's true and you know it might be true for some of us as well and so what I want you all to think about when you get up in the morning and you look at yourself the first question that comes to your mind should be how does Allah see me right now how do I look in the sight of Allah right now now how will I look on yama yama the day of judgment you know that's that that is in its own time in its own place and we'll have to deal with that when it comes and it could be very very very soon I'm not saying put it off I'm saying now when I wake up in the morning the first thing that goes through my head before what will people say and how in fashion am I and how will people people approve of the way that I look or will people think I'm beautiful the first question should be is a lot pleased with me right now Allah Allah is looking at me right now is a lot pleased with me right now does a lot like the way I look and when you put on your clothes the first thing that should come to your mind is what al hamdulillah he led the khazzani hadith oh I mean lady Helen Minnie well aku WA the first thing you do is thank Allah before you say what's wrong with it and like others you know it's not it's not what I expected it to be and last time I put it in the washer dryer it went through this and it's no longer the first thing that should come to your mind is al hamdu lillahi Latika Sahni hadith o all praises be to Allah who gave me this garment men rightly held a mini well how cool with no doing or no power of my own you know the prophets I some said the reward of saying that dura is anybody know anybody well so lost I said I'm said whoever says that when they put on their clothes hopefully to PUD the Mammon dumby he will be forgiven for all of his previous sins that acknowledgement of a lost perfection and a la sneer ma upon you his blessing upon you not complaining about anything just being grateful and thankful being conscious of Allah even as you wear your clothes as you start your day and your image in the sight of Allah is your greatest priority that is enough to have all of your previous sins forgiven and somehow a lot the the empowerment of Islam well laa Islam empowers you Islam empowers you men and women because I'm not sure if it was covered haya applies to men and women so guys that are online I was because I always have these weird people that argue on my Facebook page and I have to admit you know someone said this happy the whole lotta Allah a murderous man when he said that Facebook comments are the new YouTube comments I'm like that is so true it's the most ridiculous now trager's comments on Facebook right so I often have people like a sister will comment and she's not wearing hijab and then it's totally unrelated a brother will jump on and reply to her and the brother will say sister how dare you speak you need to go wear a job first and you'll start commenting on all the other pictures on her facebook profile and what's that brother doing he's chilling in Cancun on a beach with his shirt off right and I'm like wait a minute something's wrong with this hyah applies to men and women Aslam is empowering because Islam really makes you not care not that I want to tell people that I don't care because you know that you know that attitude of am I done or 5 minutes 5 minutes ok that attitude of I want to project a feeling of not caring is in and of itself caring you know what I'm saying like when you when you're putting up images to show people that you don't care to / to portray yourself as a rebel you're actually telling people that you do care you actually care very much about their opinion of you you just want it to be a negative opinion so that you can feel empowered by that it still says something about your security it still says that you are pursuing a perception you're marketing yourself right you're trying to sell a certain image of yourself Alonso Dunn wants to free us from all of that a loss of parents out of wants to free us from all of that or most powerful poems beautiful sayings dasu Hammond Cal would do falco Lou Herrin Facundo Latif oka - Robbie - Rob oh it's a saying that's been attributed to sufyan authority Muhammad Allah that if I have attained your love o Allah then everything is worthless because everything that has been created from dirt is dirt in and of itself and everything that's on top of this dirt is dirt in and of itself meaning people are dirt I don't care for their opinion as long as you're satisfied I am pleased and you know I'll tell this story and when I saw the the tiles like I'm gonna tell the story I've told this story at like the last three isne conventions but I have to tell it because it matches the topic the girl in France how many of you have heard the story of the girl in France from me Oh Masha Allah not many of you at all go for it uh the job Bend that took place in France I believe it was in 2003 or 2004 when Jacques Chirac when he bend hijab in public schools in France there was a young girl by the name of Sunnah to Johnny she's 16 years old a French girl and she she caught news headlines because she shaved her head now subhanAllah she shaved her head and she went to school and it became a huge thing because she said hey you know I'm doing what I'm doing right and she goes to school and the reporters are actually in front of her school she's a teenage girl and they're bombarding her with questions because they set off such a you know such such media waves because of her action because this was so different and she was actually French she wasn't Algerian or Moroccan she's actually French right so why would you do this and they saw it as betrayal so they would interview her as she was going in and one of the interviewers caught her as she was going in and she said if the system is not going to respect me I'm not going to respect the system and walked off like a boss like serious like to see drop the mic and walk you know somehow I was like oh my god that's so powerful and profound you're not going to respect me I'm not gonna respect you gone it's like that imagine the confidence now when she went to school you know what she went through teachers ridiculing her friends making fun of her people saying all kinds of things to her and about her she spent the entire day being ridiculed when she got out of school she had a big smile on her face and the rapport got back to her again and told her how do you feel you know and you could actually hear the jeering in the back and she said if if being beautiful in the sight of the Creator means being ugly in the sight of the creation then it's worth it mind blowing so panel I was like oh my god that's not a saying of Russell Asylum that's not a poem from the Sahaba the tab being that girl and it's not even about hijab here it's about empowerment like how empowered she felt by her Dean like I don't care it doesn't matter Allah sees me I was beautiful I don't care if people think I'm ugly I'm Allah he all of us bear witness that she's beautiful because of that that's beauty somehow Allah that is beauty for her to do that well I I admire her she's an inspiration to me I admire her why because I wish I could have that sense of security and that sense of stability inside of me now this isn't to beat everyone down and I'm done my time is up what I want to remind you all to do in Charlotte odd just when you wake up in the morning and it's all spamela everything is tied together remembering allah subhana wa ta'ala the way that you make your out when you wear your clothes as soon as you find yourself becoming ungrateful or pursuing someone else's pleasure do something that would cause you to not gain their pleasure and their approval do something out of the ordinary alright I'll eat all the alotta enemy said that I had a good friend of mine and he said what I admired about him that whenever he was faced with with a difficult decision young virile au Huma Abedin FC he he would look to which one is closer to his self to his ego to his desires by you Holly foe and he would contradict it meaning when he didn't want to speak he spoke and when he wanted to speak he remained silent fight here enough so at the end of the day it's a battle with your nuts it's a battle with your lower self right and it's difficult it's hard to be Muslim it's hard to it you know and it goes far beyond body image it's hard to not do certain things that your non-muslim friends are doing to be that odd man out but don't just accept your difference embrace it's be proud of it and allow you when you respect yourself other people around you will respect you more I remember one because I wasn't always very religious and I shouldn't say that but I actually I wasn't always very religious and especially I used to play varsity basketball then all of a sudden I went through my religious phase and things of that sort and so people initially would mock me and it just didn't get to me and somehow a lot what I saw is that when I didn't respond to that and in fact I responded make a joke back at them and I just showed them that it wasn't bothering me I wouldn't even just look at them like upset and like walk away plus I was bigger than them so I could still beat them up if they're if I wanted to but part of it was fear but but really I mean what I would do is I would just I would just embrace it I'd laugh about it and make a joke about it and they'd forget about and then some Howell you know people would come up to me and they'd start asking me all these questions I'm a lie there's a there's a famous rapper that I went to high school with I will not share his name here because the last time I shared his name people were like I mean basically everyone just rolled rolled up you know people were it was really really ROFL in the audience I was like man this is what it looks like right everyone just fell on the ground started laughing and I couldn't even finish my lecture so I'm not even gonna tell you guys the name of the rapper a famous oh no hey honest a lot you guys here is a matter of time now even his name sounds funny so I don't even know you know he's a southern rapper though some of you guys know southern rappers you oh you do know southern rappers and stuff that a law that's terrible like all of you like yeah we know they are you know anyway there was a rapper that I used to do dare to somehow I brought him to the message a few times as well and he used to all he used to say that you know he used to express his desire to be Muslim and if you listen to Napoleon and and his experiences with Tupac and the outlaws and things that sort you'll find that even smile on people that are deeply concerned with their image that live for their image essentially and make a lifes make their living off of their image feel empty you know I talked to her saying Abdul Allah is a good friend of mine in place by the way the Kansas City Chiefs are America's Muslim team now let me tell you why two of my good friends two good brothers her saying I'm della play safety for them and Ryan Harris who's also a Muslim has an incredible converse story he plays off he's an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs now so I don't care who your team is you've got a roof I'm a Saints fan I'm a huge Saints fan I'm rooting for the Chiefs all right so you got a roof for the Chiefs Wow that's how I look that's like creeping City I though right to to Muslim players on the same team but somehow like you know every time I talk to me just tells me how empty the players are like with all the muscles and all the women throwing themselves at them and all the money they're empty empty insecure and what does a lost parent I say alibied Aquila poplin Alou don't hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah nothing else will settle your heart nothing else will grant you tranquility and nothing else will grant you peace all right the name of the rapper how many of you've heard of Lil Boosie a stuffed little Louis today mighty Khan okay

Channel: msanational

Views: 251,485

Rating: 4.9364786 out of 5

Keywords: Omar Suleiman, ISNA, MSA National, Muslim, Beauty, Appearance

Id: nKDpyRYMvyE

Length: 30min 1sec (1801 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 25 2014