The Mission of the Muslim Ummah - Siraj Wahhaj

assalamu alaikum bismillah r-rahman r-rahim al-hamdu lillahi rabbil aalameen nothing to understand when a stock fear would not mean new behavior Network Valley all of the land me shooting for cinema semolina Yahoo laughs Allenwood elephant may you love Allah hadiyyah-lah the shadow Allah Allah illallah wahdahu la sharika lah we shadow muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh i'm a body brothers and sisters I am truly grateful II honored and thankful to Allah the Almighty for the invitation of the organizers to have me as a speaker at this great conference I have never had the opportunity of being the first speaker at any conference this is new for me but I am pleased the very name of the conference the United Alma conference I am in love with the idea of Muslims being truly United and inshallah before the conference is over we will take a closer step a little bit better inshallah every organization every group every movement begins with a mission statement this mission statement expresses the very reason for the existence of that organization the group the movement I believe that such mission statement the very mission of the Muslims in North America in Africa in Europe in the Middle East or wherever I believe that mission statement appears in the Koran they all double a minute on the regime Bocca della cucina combatant wisata Lita kunisada Allen s vicuna rasulu alaikum shahida and thus have we Allah made you a just a balanced a good nation so that you might be a witness over mankind and that the messenger be a witness over you I believe that this ayat in the Quran in surah Baqarah in my estimation is a mission statement for the Muslims in this part of the world as well as others I would like to if I could set the tone of the conference with our mission the very reason that we exist and if we don't understand our mission we will be in America and instead of representing what Allah and His Messenger given to us we would misrepresent the mission mission statement I am a lover of the study of Arabic grammar I studied all the time I love it all Merton wisata there are many in maths in fact the messenger of allah salla lolli Salim taught us that Allah showed him all of the omens and the respective leaders some of the leaders of the prophets had a handful of some only had two followers even some messengers had one and even other messengers had none but Allah gave the Messenger of Allah a great big Ummah so there are many old man's the word o man is a noun is moon but what makes this oh man special is what is called it's no safar the adjective the adjective that describes what kind of mound it is if you say Raj alone a man that's any man but if you say Raj alone a delune then you say a just man then that describes the kind of man that you are anyone can be a man but can you be just we can be an Ummah but what kind of oh man so Allah gives us the description of the oh man he calls it unmatching wisata it is what citta it is a very comprehensive name it could mean the middle it could mean that oh man that is in between that's balance that goes to no no extreme neither too far to the right nor too far to the rest to the left then that one citta is balanced it's it's in the middle and this is the Olmedo Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu solemn but but that wasit ah that middle nation is also a just nation and that middle nation is also a good nation so this o ma Teng wisata Allah Himself describes it as a balanced nation oh man in the golden mean that's good and that is just that's the name but the mission comes behind it leta connoisseur darlin ass and this is the key so that this balance just and good nation should be witnesses for mankind and that the messenger would be a witness over us in this the next few moments I want to discuss this idea as witnesses for allah subhana wa ta'ala because I believe that this gives the mission of the Muslims I have over the years as imam sat down in my office brothers have come down in my office and cried because their wives wanted to leave them they wanted to get a divorce over the years I've seen sisters cry because their husbands want to divorce them and they don't want to have the separation so this feeling of separation is a horrible feeling a feeling of divorce is a terrible feeling I've sat down in my office and brothers have come to me and cried because they were fired from their jobs if a person feels bad because they're divorced from their husband or wife if a man feels sad because he's fired from the job what about those Muslims who are given a job a mission a responsibility but allowed a lot of the worms and if you feel bad because your wife divorced you or your husband divorced you if you feel bad because you get fired from the job then what about becoming divorced from allah subhana wa ta'ala what if allah himself would get rid of us because we fail to do the very job for which he called us to do I want to remind us tonight and this great conference that we are here for a reason I don't believe that is an accident that all Muslims from around the world are here in the United States of America if you look around even in the city of Orlando every major area in the world is represented by Muslims even in this city in New York City in Detroit and Chicago and Los Angeles you see Muslims all over the world from Saudi Arabia from Bangladesh and India and Pakistan you have Muslims from Egypt you have Muslims from Malaysia you have Muslims even from Europe you have Muslims from the Caribbeans you have Muslims from Saudi Arabian Kuwait in Lebanon you have Muslims from Jordan Iraq and Iran and Kuwait and Sudan and you have Muslims from Nigeria in every where you look on the globe you have Muslims in this city and around the world and around the country in this country and I don't think that it is a mistake I teach a leadership training class and our Masjid master the taqwa and we're training insha'Allah 70 brothers to become leaders be it kneel and sha Allah in one of the first ayats of the Quran that we reminded the brother of and the brothers of is the ayat where allah subhanho wa taala reveals when Marisa naka Allah Ramayana men are suelen illa billah' sanika me he Lee atiba Enola hoon and we've only sent a messenger speaking the language of the people so that the people may understand what he's saying and I'm saying to every Muslim in Orlando Florida that if you migrate to America you must learn the English language learning the English language will help you and me to perform our mission here in this country the very reason for which we here so for whatever reason we came to America I was born here somewhere along the line my forefathers were taken out of Africa and somewhere along the line made our way here in America and I was born in this country and Allah blessed me in 1978 1969 to begin my journey toward Islam to become a Muslim and when I became a Muslim it took me years to understand the mission and not all of the experience that I have the years of study and personal experience I'm going to try to share with you tonight so that we can discuss a crucial point about our mission and if we don't do our mission I'm afraid that Allah is going to practice or put into effect his son because never forget that Allah also has a Sunnah let ajidasu Nativity let Abdullah you never find a change in Allah sooner then touch Adela Sunnah Tila Tequila you will never find a change in Allah Sunnah and one of the sunnis of allah is that whenever he gets a people to do a job and if that person doesn't do the job he finds them he divorces them he gets rid of them and bring someone else to do the job anytime we read an ayat of the Quran I always know that every ayat of the Quran has a context it has verses that come before and verses that come after in so often as Muslims we read the ayat of the Quran but like other people we read it out of context if you read the ayat of Quran kodály Caggiano come on matin wisata we have sent you as a just and a balance and a good nation you will learn much wisdom from that but if you want to get the Jews the meat of the ayah then you have to read the ayat that comes before it and the ayat that comes after it because it comes in a context it doesn't come in a vacuum not on not only does it come in a context in the ayat itself but it also comes in a historical context so when this ayat was revealed in the second year of The Hitcher in the city of Medina something was happening what was happening one of the verses before it and one of the verses after it what is the historical context of the ayat and by learning the verses before the verses after and the historical context then we get more of the wisdom and the Jews of the ayat first if you read surah bakra around the hundred and forty third verse around this area 133 134 35 36 in these yes the verses that immediately come before this ayah Allah is speaking about the Qibla the foolish among the people will say what have turned you away from the Qibla that you used to historical context according to Ana's ibn Malik hora de Lyonne and many Sahaba for sixteen or seventeen months The Messenger of Allah Lisa that was sallam and the followers prayed toward the direction of Jerusalem this was a test for the Arabs these people who loved their nation loved the Arabs loved the mecca loved even the Kaabah attested by Allah Allah gives them a Qibla and the Qibla is in the city of Medina toward the north the city of Jerusalem that's a test because people who have in there a feeling of nationalism and they love their nation then they love everything their nation to be the center of all activity so allah tested the arabs from the very beginning by giving them a qibla away from mecca then people began to join the ummah and the o map begins to grow even some jews become muslims they convert to islam some christians convert to islam and the ranks begin to grow pagans convert to islam and the ranks begin to grow and then in the second year of hijra right in a salon allah reveals after this ayat making you a just balanced good nation allah now abruptly changes the qibla and none of you in the city of medina notice that in the north is Jerusalem but almost in the south in the opposite way is Mecca is the Kaaba so even in the prayer is recorded in history that in ruku and when the ayat came they changed from roku they didn't stand up they stayed down in recruit and change and turn in the very opposite direction now it becomes a trial for those who came into Islam who used to be Christians and used to be Jews now in the Qibla change how will you act now if your with the messenger of allah alayhi salat wa salam then you will follow him in the qibla that allah subhana water has given to him so the ayats before this ayat allah has made you just and a balance a good nation is the qibla after it the ayat about the qibla now brothers and sisters after my introduction nan I'm ready to give my talk yes that was just introduction now run sisters I want to speak very seriously tonight because while I do not believe that I am in any way the smartest Muslim I'm not so many of you in this audience right now is much smarter than me and I do not believe that I have the most taqwa among you I know I don't for many of you who sit in the audience right now have much more taqwa and say of Allah than myself and I ask myself then what is it that I have to offer I believe that the best thing that I can offer is my experience as a Muslim trying to practice in the context of North America and my studies and I'm asking Allah subhana Allah before I continue to guide my my tongue in my heart that I may say words of wisdom from him that will help us in this conference to get us started inshallah you know isn't it symbolic that the Qibla in the context of Medina was almost turned opposite note the symbolism Karla Rasulullah he Salalah seldom Holly full al-khattab when hadith and Al Bukhari says be opposite the people of the book so we face in the north Allah gives the commandment and then we go almost opposite from the north to the south consider the symbolism I must be honest today and what I'm about to say is my opinion this ayat of the Quran baka da leakage and oh come home Ottumwa citta is very powerful ire we have made you as just an a balance good nation the Muslims that I see in quoting this ayat they quoted as a brag yes we all do yes it's us we won yeah well we once if you study the significance of the ayat there was a change of the god when the Qibla was changed from Jerusalem to Mecca it meant that the ending of one leadership and the beginning of a noon it ended the leadership of Benetton should I heal it ended their leadership and Allah brought into leadership in prominence prophet mohammed salameh Salim and the Muslims and this ulna became now the oh man the standard bearers and now forever has been changed why was it changed why did Allah change the qibla because brothers and sisters if you don't understand why Allah chose the Qibla then you don't understand our mission in America and why Muslims have to go back to the mission and if you and I don't go to the mission believe me Allah will remove us and bring somebody else he won't bring another deen al islam is the Deen and the Quran is the book Prophet Muhammad is the last messenger there will be no prophet after him there'd be no book after him there'd be no other Deen after Islam but allah subhana wa sallam will always change of people and bring somebody else who doesn't do the job and a lot removes the Bene Israel has the leadership when he changed the Qibla from Jerusalem to Mecca now the question is are we ready to assume the leadership what's the mission I want you every one of you for a moment to think about death and I want you to visualize yourself laying in the casket about to be buried and I want you to look around and try to count how many people will attend your funeral will there be a handful will there be a whole auditorium filled will there be a lot of people who make dua for you ask allah forgiveness for you or what one two or three people come how many people you think would come to your funeral it's a significant question it is significant brothers and sisters and you must must ask yourself the question what do people think about me yes it is a significant question to ask yourself what do people think about me you say it doesn't matter what people think yes it doesn't matter it always matters what people think about you because what people think about you has a direct effect on you yes I remember reading in Prophet Muhammad alayhi salat wa sallam standing with a group of people and the gern answer passed by a dead person the people around begin to say oh what a great person that was begin to praise the person and the Prophet the LEI said that was so not merely said watcher bat then another janaza came by another dead person came by and the people began to say bad things about the person who died and the Prophet said Raja been confirmed in ving Omar ibn Khattab brother-in-law and said yeah Messenger of Allah what does watcher bat mean why did you say confirmed he said when the first janaza came by and the people began to praise Allah made confirm that that person shall go to Jinnah and then when the second funeral procession came by procession came by the people began to complain about the person how evil the person was Allah said confirm the prophets had confirmed that person shall go to Hellfire then he gave us a clue why he says antim sure doll laughs alarm you are allows witnesses on the earth when I saw that you are allows witnesses on earth and then I begin to understand now the responsibility of the mission that we have on our shoulders and on our backs ooh Martin wasit rather just and the violence nation and the good nation why is it so that you can be Peter Cuneo show down on an ass so you can be a witness for mankind witnesses for mankind and the Prophet be over you a witness now let's pause for a moment have you ever heard of a person going into what is called witness protection you know why a person goes to witness protection you say witness is a very dangerous person if a person witnesses our murder and the murderer sees you you better watch out because they know that your testimony could be real dangerous to them so therefore usually when a murderer kills somebody and there's witnesses they'd like to get rid of the evidence get rid of the witnesses killed witnesses so therefore they have to put the witnesses in a protection program so that they can testify when the time is right you Muslims are very dangerous you are very dangerous because you are lost witnesses take your role responsibility and mission seriously witness I remember about ten years ago New York City there was a tragic rape that took place in one of the parks and we learned that they were men who witnessed the rape take place and they did nothing about it I don't believe that when a law said that we are witnesses for mankind I do not believe that a lot meant silent witnesses I don't think a lot meant that we should look and see what America is doing said oh look what they're doing oh look what they're doing isn't that terrible isn't that horrible look what they have done look what they're doing they're so evil they're so wicked we're great we're witnesses we see them we observe them we're witnesses I believe a witness meant more than that the witness is not a silent witness a witness is not a mere observer but a witness has a responsibility in the next few moments I'm gonna tell you why in Sharla by the way I'm almost finished she thought is gonna be a long talk right you know something brother sisters there's a hadith in the sense it frightens me and I'm gonna be honest with you I am very frightened for our own that right now I don't want to be pessimistic I want to be positive and upbeat but in some areas I'm very concerned I think we can change it around yes but I think part of changing around is what happens at this conference I looked through the whole conference I looked at every speaker and every topic that was given and I like to tell you if I can if I can if I can find my sheep what I thought at least what I had is is the most significant I I couldn't I can't figure it out with that one the most significant talk is session number six at least the one that I had and it and talked about from what I as I remember strategic planning for the 21st century and the two speakers I think is dr. Massimo sadhika and brother sha dr. Shah juwatch ah and I think it talks about something about the conclusions of the conference is it is it consistent yeah in any way but of course I can't find what I'm looking for oh I got it so you thought I didn't have it right now this may be a preliminary but let me show you what it says it is session number six Friday from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. and dr. muhammad siddiq conductor I'm dr. Josh Shaw Street Conference recommendations that's the point that whenever it is if it's that session or whatever whoever's given the speech the point is is that to me for this conference to be a success you must walk away with something what are we going to do after all the speeches after all of the coming together then what what are we going to do and I'm recommending that you be very careful as you go to the sessions and write notes down so that when you leave this conference then you leave with something something is going to happen in the city of Orlando in Fort Lauderdale in Tampa in Miami and the rest of Florida and Charla something going to happen and the rest of the country if this conference is going to mean something and I'm recommending that that session should be the most important session everybody must be here for that session to talk about where are we going what do we get for those days that we were here what did we learn what will we implement what will be put into practice now I'm concerned about us because I quite frankly don't think we're doing the job there's a hadith that I read the prophet Mohamed Salah solemn said that Allah the Almighty were acts nor Prophet Noah on your mark a hammer held by letter did you deliver the message you say one thing nam yes but Allah won't stop there and I want you to think about this hadith bukhari hadith Allah won't stop there he will acts the people of Noah Hal Bela cocoon did he deliver the message because Allah wants to bring down the evidence even though Allah is the lord of the world he's all Noah he don't have two acts he knows but lost teaching us a lesson hey did you deliver the message nam there along X the people did he deliver the message and listen to what they will say may I Tana min nevere no Warner came to us no one who came to us and then Allah will act prophet nor man yes I do like a who will bear witness for you where's your evidence who your witnesses he will say Muhammad no matter who Muhammad and his own man are my witnesses and we will come to bear witness that effect Noah did preach the message how do we know what we there know how do we know how do we know it's in the Koran and we allah subhanho wa taala has blessed this own man to be witnesses for mankind non brothers and sisters in my conclusion how many of you heard of this group called the Nation of Islam raise your hand we criticize this group don't we don't we of course we say that Minister Farrakhan doesn't teach Islam don't we yes come it's not a trick question we say that this group is not following the Sunnah don't we yeah of course yes you've heard him and Suraj criticized them haven't you yes cause I used to be in the Nation of Islam you know that I used to be a minister in the Nation of Islam I mean if you knew that and Allah has always inspired me I felt blessed to always go back trying to invite some of them to Islam a lot bless me I brought many of them by last permission to the fold of Islam some of the ministers in the Nation of Islam Allah blessed me to give dower invite them to Islam and some of them have come and become Muslims like you and I sha Allah we have a lot of criticism about the Nation of Islam yes one thing I keep trying to do is to look at them and look at their effect on the people especially black people and then I tried to put my mind back when I was in the Nation of Islam and my mindset and I try to compare myself in the Nation of Islam and myself not as a Muslim who follows Quran and Sunnah to the best of our ability and I try to put it in perspective and I remember that I when I join that movement I thought they were listen that's what they were rightly guided therefore I acted like I thought they were rightly guided I remember on a Wednesday in 1969 in December I sat there in that temple for the first time in my life and I listened to the minister a man by the name of Arthur 14x in that night I became a member of the Nation of Islam college student I became Jeffrey 12x keep that between us I came back that Friday had meetings Friday night I remember the suit I had on I had a I had a pinstripe suit on with a brown brown tine and brown shoes on and I sat down and I listened to that man speak and that's the man that sounds powerful and they had a newspaper then called Mohammed speaks newspaper and the minister said we have to sell this to the people we have to teach the people because the people are blind we have to teach them so the my second night there that that Friday night I stood up and said the minister give me 100 newspapers now I never saw the thing in my life I've never sold anything fraid to death but I took 100 newspapers and when I walked out of that temple with a hundred newspapers I said what in the world am i doing and I went in my neighborhood on Utica Avenue Eastern Parkway that night I never forget Friday night and I pick out a newspaper and I never saw before I said I saw a person come and said you don't want one of these do you there's a note and I tried to sell the newspaper and I tried to explain the program and I tried and as I began to learn about the theology and I became more more comfortable and then I became good at it and then I begin to sell not 100 newspapers but a thousand a week why two reasons because I believed in the message and number two they kept telling me that you have to go get two people you have to go get the people you have to go get the people they told me that so much that one time I told the leader I said give me a bus and I will go get some people and nobody ever asked for a bus before but they gave me a bus in my drive I said listen I want you to keep driving he said where I said just keep driving and we came up to a park and I said stop the bus and I saw a group of people and I said wait here Allah is my witness I got out of that bus and went in the park and I started calling the people together I said ladies and gentlemen I have something for you we have the truth and you need the truth I want to take you to a place where you can get the truth get in the bus can you believe it they got in the bus 34 of them got in the bus and we took him to the temple boldness I didn't have the right religion but something in my heart told me I wanted to get to the people I didn't have the knowledge but I had the spirit and then we would go out by myself in the streets of Brooklyn I know somebody would never even go to Brooklyn now I know now I know you yeah thanks ago I sell newspapers that's what I you should do sell newspapers and you know when I walked the papers crossed a corner now can you imagine all these quarters in my pocket I'm walking down the street newspapers going in people's hallways in Brooklyn where all that changed by myself selling newspapers I never forget I was on Eastern Parkway two blocks a block where where the first paper I want an apartment building I said and I said go knocking on people's doors and sell them this newspaper called Mohammed speaks newspaper sell it to him right and I went into a hallway in Easton Park Way between Utica Avenue and Rochester Avenue and when I walked I saw two men standing in the middle of the whole hallway and they look ominous and I said to myself you know what these guys gonna try to rob me I felt it I have a decision to make turn around go to another building or go straight through I decided to go straight through I walked and right in the middle of the hallway one was on the right and one was on the left I'll never forget that in my life it's etched in my brains and the guy on the right he looked real me the one on the left he looked a little bit softer so what I did I took a newspaper and put it on his arm I took another newspaper and put it on the arm of the other guy and I talked to the one look a little softer I said listen give me a quarter to paper cross a quarter and I'm looking at this guy inside of my eyes you know and he liked me real mean he didn't smile so the guy left smiled a little bit the guy on the right Allah is my witness took out a gun he said you know what you just can't rob a Muslim and put his gun back in his pocket and bought a newspaper and then he became my customer wrong theology but the spirit the desire to call the people to what I believed was right was there now I'm calling on these the followers of Muhammad sallallaahu l'm to take our rightful place we've got al Haq the truth we've got the Koran if we could do that in darkness what could we do in light brothers and sisters I don't want Allah to remove us I don't know about you I love this Deen the people in the Nation of Islam I ask Allah to guide all of them to Islam yes yes in my dua that they become all Muslims and I know it can happen I feel within me a mission to go after them because I was there and I knew in my mind I was sincere I believed in it and you know what all of the years being in the Nation of Islam I have one fond memory of a Sunni Muslim coming to me I was on crack Carroll Street in Brooklyn selling Muhammad speaks newspapers and when I got downstairs a Sunni Muslim brother looked at me very tender warm warmth said brother maybe you ought to consider this message it is a wonderful message and I don't remember all the worries that he said but I remember the spirit that I felt so warm and so beautiful that's you brothers and sisters our mission is to be the witnesses of mankind how in this spirit Monroe or min-koo moon caught fire guerrero badd whoever you see is an evil let him change it with his hands all right you can't change it with your hands speak out against it change it with your tongue at least all right you can't do that okay at least hate it in your heart and you know what and when you hate it in your heart that's the beginning of change but if you have you feel nothing if there's nothing in here you feel nothing you walk and you see prostitutes and you feel nothing you see drug addicts and you feel nothing you see winos in the street and you feel nothing you see the people going to hell and you feel nothing something is wrong you can't change things unless you first change what's within here you must feel it within here so Allah bless me years ago I made dua Allah make me love the people make me feel for the people make me want to go to the people and then Allah made me for the first time in my life to really feel for the people so now that when I Drive past the homeless shelter and I see men homeless men they say Allah help us to help these people when I see the Mae Mae mayors of cities cutting people for welfare when I see major industries downsizing keeping people off the jobs when I see mayors of cities not even allowing brothers to sell all in incense on the street when I see millions of New York City not allowing even people to put the squeegee two white windows when I see all of that I said where's whom at my citta where's that just balance oh man that's going to bring a change so brothers and sisters I say our mission Dawa yes invite people to Islam yes oh but more than that I'm on a mission myself those who know me and know us in New York City we're on a mission and I'm training these brothers in New York City for a reason I'm gonna work on my home field maybe I won't be travelling around maybe in the next couple years I'll be in New York City just doing work in New York City who am i working on and working on the Muslims first I'm making sure that everywhere all the Muslim businesses but get rid of the gambling equipment get rid of the pornography get rid of the park get rid of the wine get rid of the liquor and if Muslims can do that and be an example for the people then maybe Allah will bless us to do our mission to be witnesses for mankind I say brothers and sisters just think when you become roommates and watch the time that balanced that good man comes also with that bragging right the responsibility leadership was changed it was put in our hands you young brothers and sisters in college what make elite is so special is they don't imitate others others imitate them the greater you are the more people want to imitate you but when you find yourself imitating others that means you think that they are greater than you I don't believe that I believe Allah has made us great potentially now we have to assume our role as school Merton was a time and our mission when his conference is over go out there on the internet and go ahead and walk talk on the Internet when the conference is over you write an article in a newspaper if you those who know how to write when the conference is over you go back to college talk to your roommates and you go when the conference is over go to your co-workers when the conference is over go back to your masters and organize Dawa to invite the people to Islam grow and help the City of Orlando grown in all of Florida in all of America the lost upon water I forgive us our sins have mercy upon us goddesu sirat al-mustaqim and make us strong enough to understand our mission to give that WA and to represent Islam and to enjoying the good and to forbid the evil and be witnesses of mankind by showing them and stopping the evil with our hands or our tongues and least heard hated within our hearts while hamdulillah her blood mean Salaam aleikum Salaam Salaam alaikum my name is Colin Sava han-pan Jatin I'm living in this country for about 25 26 years and in those time I have seen how Islam is rising in this United State when I came here New York City like you said I lived in Brooklyn also of Flatbush and charged everything I never thought I'll see Majid or I'll be able to pray in this country but by the mercy and blessings of Allah so Allah Tala I got the opportunity when I came to Florida to get involved in a mosque so this is just a little background my question to you is that how we practice the five pillars of Islam in America especially well I was not born here so it was not that difficult for me it still is difficult I'm talking about my next generation how can we make it easy for them and and make sure that they all do the things right and it will not be as difficult as it was for me thank you sounds like I'm okay brothers and thank you for your question um you know brother and sisters it's not was growing dramatically in this country and I think that has grown despite us if Islam has grown as fast as it is if we speak to some of the elders who've been here years ago when they were just a few messages in New York City you know there's over 100 marks now and seventeen full-time Muslim schools and all over the country in increase but it's not as a result in my estimation of us don't organize that will work many people they just come they hear something about Islam they may have read Malcolm X autobiography or ran into some Muslims in the classrooms and things like that but we're not doing organize enough one of the things that we can't do my dear brothers could is continue to build more Islamic institutions and while it's good to build more messages certainly this increase in building more Muslim schools but also my estimation we need things like Islamic recreational centers for our youth many of our youth are getting engaged in recreation why not have recreation announced for ourselves I'll measure the hamdullah is planning to tear down our Masjid and build up four stories and one of the things that we'll have is a gymnasium for our youth and in in addition to the library and and all other things that that we have so institutions also brothers and sisters one of the ways that keeps our Deen intact is given that one and our master the HMDA long I'm proud to say that last summer we gave out over 200,000 pamphlets pamphlets about Islam and we did it by going door-to-door knocking on doors and as a result of that in the back of the pamphlets it had the address of the Masjid the phone number the Masjid some people called us some people wrote us and people took Shahada as a result of us going to the doors we also found out that we knocked on doors we knocked on the doors of some Muslims who hadn't come out in years haven't been practicing in years the more visible we become the more active we become then we don't not only invite people to Islam but we help ourselves keep our religion going I always warn brothers and sisters be careful if your neighbor's house is on fire and you do nothing to put it out sooner or later that fire will be in your house and the reality is in America things are happening drugs sexual promiscuity AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and all the other problems that are happening in the community our community if you notice the beginning to seep in to the Muslim communities if we don't work to stop it there soon it will be here trust me and our children are older Bellaire become effective so we have to build Islamic institutions and one of the things that we have to begin to emphasize and I hope that this conference will do it then when you leave this conference you have a sense of Dawa you have and believe me believe me most people will give you an excuse not to give down and I'm expecting to hear it we had a training program and Winnipeg Canada and I tried to emphasize our and it gave me a million reasons very sophisticated reasons why we can't give down and you will try to do it while you're here I'm not gonna let you so insha'Allah I hope that one of the things from this conference you Muslims individual telling each one of you everyone brothers and sisters to get this that that my responsibility to come here is not just to get a good job not just to get a profession not just to make money yes do that get a good job a profession education get all of that but in the back of your mind it must be to deliver the mission and we got to spread this message to the American people that's our job and I emphasize it again every Muslim in America now some of you gonna throw stones at me some of you gonna throw tomatoes at me some of you gonna say mm Suraj too much I'm saying every Muslim in America has to learn how to speak English I'm saying again God hey if I want the Pakistan to live I'm wondering I speak or do whether I got one only speak the language and if your mission is to bring the people how you going to bring them fundamental you got to speak the language they call me Lily sandy call me you got to speak the language of the people you must if you want we help train we go all our serious we go all over America and help train doua seminars to help people to get into the mood and the spirit in the work of Dhawan Chawla yes well excellent because you opened up this this line of questioning about the Nation of Islam I just have one question yeah related to that only in the sense that you know the Minister Farrakhan is travelling across the nation of actually across the world and again that puts Islam in the limelight whether that Islam you know is a you know is a good view or a bad view it is a view of Islam that appears to be representative or you know the media seems make a representative of Islam in America and no one seems to be counteracting that or addressing that or whatever I just like the head your comment what happens is that there are some people that are dressing it but we're not addressing it as United oh man I personally believe in one of the things that we talk about tomorrow and shall on throughout this session is the need to have spokesman for the Ummah in every nation has an ambassador and that ambassador is an official representative of the nation we need people that's why I brunch is I'm telling you I'm convinced that the Muslim Ummah will go nowhere until we become United I'm convinced of it and when I say United I don't mean in a nebulous nebulous way because most of us we say United we'd have be having a clue we're talking about me we need to be united but what do you mean by that we will we gotta be one but what do you mean by that know what we mean is that we need centralized leadership we need to know in America that we have a leader really we have to do we have to in some way do it and go back to the Sunnah and having one leader and all you see because you can't keep saying what does the mubahala Jimmy I will enter for Rocco we'll add photo cool you keep saying it is now it become a slogan it's just a slogan yeah we got we gotta get together arc and there's no steps to really come together and one of the concrete things that you can do is select the leader and you know I've been preaching that and I'm gonna continue to preach it that we have to have centralized leadership you have to know you it's impossible possible to be to be successful without that and we will be able to can't combat whether it's Minister Farrakhan or some other representation of a person what they say is Islam then we have to say some things and we have a voice a collective voice that we can address all of these issues what do you think about Minister Farrakhan recent visit to different Muslim countries and why don't more Sunni Muslims do this job yeah that's the good see the sec i like the second part of a question better see the problem is not Farrakhan the problem is us you see the old adage you see to me I don't think that our job should be going around the world saying Farrakhan is not this Farrakhan not that no you see the reason that darkness exists is in the absence of light and once light is prevalent then darkness goes that's the nature and as long as we're quiet then darkness can rule and and our job to me is not going around the world saying that for our kind is not a Muslim I don't think that's our job our job is to go around saying what Islam is if he goes on a 50 tour nation then let us go on a hundred tour nation but you know what before you can go on a hundred tour nation you got beginning your own neighborhood so let's be real let's see because you can't blame see cuz you know Muslim like the blame well you what are you all what are you all leadership doing but yeah but what are you doing on your level in your neighborhood and around your message it in the same block as your Masjid in the same neighborhood as your Masjid and your neighborhood where you live and what are we doing as individuals so I'm hoping that this conference will address the individual responsibilities of Dawa as well as the collective responsibility in Shauna yes ma'am Salam alaikum Salaam I have a question about you know I know that wine is Haram but if a person has you know to buy a business they have to sell wine otherwise they won't know I don't accept the premise they don't have to sell wine let me please complete my sentence let me complete my sentence the thing is like it's a franchise and unless they bite along with the wine they will not get the franchise what kind of franchise is it gas station let me stop you first and then we'll let you further I mean let me state something first we as Muslims must begin to challenge the status quo you you you you have to change the laws let me give you one quick example one quick example I let you finish one quick example okay let me let you find it I promise you and then I'll be quiet but you know what happened about ten years ago a woman named Stephanie she worked as a traffic control in New York City and she went on vacation it just so happened when she went on vacation she came to the Masjid she became a Muslim and her name was changed to Fatima so Stephanie became Fatima she went back to work now she has a chemo she's just like a Muslim and when she came to work in the morning for what the core not inspection but inspection every morning and they said to her she had a uniform on but she had a chemo they said you not in conformity go home and they didn't fire her and she came to me I said sister go go to work I will go to the job and speak to the to the people in charge we did that and I discussed it with them and I said this is discrimination long story short we went to court and we won and she won a cash settlement a nice settlement she became the first Muslim in in New York City traffic control wearing full hijab hijab she set the precedent others came after her why because she challenged the existing law if you study all the great prophets they never gave in but they challenged the status quo we have to start challenging the status quo this is your choice you go there and say listen one against station but I don't want to sell alcohol don't make me sell alcohol or you get a different business and there's no in-between period and this is the attitude that Muslims have to start having because we have to stop compromising and do what a loss they do and stop doing always what they do and the point that I was trying to make in my talk is that a lot changed the Qibla because the Bene Israel refused to do what Allah ordered them to do now the Muslims are doing the same exact thing tell me what they're doing and show me the Muslims doing the same exact thing so I'm saying that in order for Allah to bless us then the first thing we have to do is not that because you're good speaker Qaeda clementa element quran wa ulema the best of you who learn Quran and then teach it not that you just a good speaker but to learn the Quran and then teach the Quran and so we have to begin first to live the example as Muslims in America and I believe that we do that the masses of the people will look at the justice and the beauty of Islam and they'll come running in but stop compromising and stop making excuses for ourselves saying that we have to do it we don't have to do it what I want to know is how do I convince the sister you know who tells me that this is applicable only that's what this is applicable only in an Islamic state and not in this country how do I convince them that it is a universal law no no no when allah subhan wat revealed the Quran to Prophet Muhammad alaihi wasalam it was total darkness in the light begins to change because the Prophet Allah Islam in his in his own man began to implement step by step and step by step and so we had everything start with the mandatory you see because brunssum tell you something you know from history that if you allow evil to be around you and you don't change it it's going to affect you for sure it's gonna affect you no doubt about it so I can't say I can't give you any magical words that she gonna be changed once a members around said this no if she's not convinced from the Quran itself in the Sunnah all I can do is you all you can do is appeal to her say listen there's nothing that's that's mandatory for you to open up a liquor store why sell liquor why can't you sell milk why can't you sell bread why can't you sell other items allow me by the way bun sisters you don't know this lucrative business halal meat how many halal meat market you have in Orlando hey check it out listen you want a good business allow me if you got some money invest it in a halal meat market and guess what not only Muslims if you advertise your product to non-muslims you can't keep enough you know a couple years ago a business called Philip Morris what they sell cigarettes they advertise one year they spent 1 billion dollars advertising their product see the reality is you got to get the message out I am Telling You you capture the imagination of the people in Orlando halal meat market do you know on the block of master taqwa we have three halal meat markets on one block yes I had a question I had actually two questions yes um one of them is that this is this is a United Muslims conference so a lot of times I've noticed mention of Sunni Muslims or Shia Muslims don't you feel that yes we shouldn't be yes yes no sect yes and it explicitly says in the Quran you know that there are no sect wait a minute see there's two things that's two issues in rights to issues the reality is they are sex there are people with different ideologies who call themselves Muslims we spoke about one earlier so that's a reality but I do agree with you that that Allah in the Quran he named us Muslims we're not Sunni Muslims for saying the Muslims you don't find in Koran Muslim you don't find hadith Sunni Muslim so this is call us as Muslims but what happens because there's so many groups out there when I did distinguish it listen I'm a Sunni Muslim I'm not authorized Muslim but really if we didn't have all of those groups we just be Muslims sometimes people for sake of identification to say we follow the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad SAW Allah the columns of Sunni Muslims I'm going to have more about this discussion tomorrow and I'll talk about unity and division I'm going to talk specifically to this issue about names different names and hoops that we call ourselves okay and my second question was during your speech you discussed that we should be witnesses yes and you gave that I believe it was a hadith about the two people that were around that died yes and one the people praised and one yes the people were the ones that were saying one was good and one was bad and the Prophet said that one was gonna go to heaven and one was going to go to hell but you weren't saying that the people is judgement counted for this person very good question listen see see sometimes when you look at the hadith you try to understand extract the wisdom if you go too far you're gonna miss the wisdom the obvious wisdom it doesn't mean that everyone who says that this person is good is going to heaven everyone said a person II was going to hell no doesn't mean that but what it was at the prophet alaihi wassalam being guided by allah was confirming the statements that they made and in according to some of the people who write the meaning of the hadith is that this person the bad person must have been one of those people that is well known his publicize of his evil like it's like you know like Hitler like everybody knows about Hitler everybody knows my Hitler right like one of those things it doesn't mean Allah is the judge of course Allah knows that maybe the people are slandering the person and maybe they're not telling the truth so we're not dealing with that issue of course Allah knows what a fabulous ahed our laws the sufficient as a witness so don't look so far into the hadith like that doesn't mean that it just means the general idea is that be careful of what you do in front of people people become the witness of the things that you do and you know what I found our brothers and sisters don't you ever think nobody is watching you because the moment you think you by yourself nobody saw it somebody's checking it out in many cases you find witnesses somebody was looking in the window late at night midnight when you kill somebody they would look they happen to be looking out the window at that particular time so Allah who knows Allah knows best and and guess what and even if there no people around not only the Angels the witness but your eyes the witness your skin will be a witness against you and your milk and your tongue will be a witness against you and your mum camera so somebody's always watching yes ma'am um I came in just in time you're talking about uh go back to the colleges and go back to your work authorities and when you do and when you are talking to people about your religion or they see you cover it up and they think about it will you to feel when people say well I don't see you dressed like this so I don't see you do a certain thing or I don't see you do this how are you supposed to feel when people do this to you or do certain things how in other words the tickity if they criticize you for not being a good practicing Muslim you mean is that what you're saying yes oh okay it's good you know because what what they do is they remind us you know a lot of times and non-muslim look at you say well you know no you're not a Muslim you're not you don't sleep you supposed to be doing this okay it's good they remind us for us I hope you take the admonition if they're telling the truth then we should take the admonition if they're not telling the truth then you just stand up because the prophets were slandered and and the people rejected what they said but what I'm saying to you my good sister is is be confident in your religion to be confident in your religion is not simply to talk about it but to follow it see because the more you practice it and the more comfortable you feel my brother Mustafa Saeed where are you I saw him so Mustafa where are you Mustafa was with me when I am landed from New York and and I said Mustafa listen I make my Nana make my salaat yet and so I made salat in the airport this morning and this afternoon Airport International Airport and I'm telling you I felt very comfortable I felt very I get to the point I feel very comfortable now and I must be honest with you I remember years ago wasn't like that I mean the first time I made I made slot in public I was like you know you feel you feel apprehensive you do you feel like somebody looking at you but what are you thinking about you oh god they think I'm so stupid they think I'm ignorant they think no no I feel like now Allah Akbar I remember I was at JFK Airport but he only half ago and you know is in the morning Fajr prayer I had to make it then otherwise I would have missed it if I got on the plane so I look for nice place and I found a nice secluded area and it's perfect right so I went there Sarat to fudge it right hungry you know Bill Alamein and there was nobody there I was really late and all of a sudden a plane must have just landed over there because everybody came right past me and I'm still making salat it Everitt the whole plane but it was a small area and I said subhanAllah but my point is is that when you begin to grow in your religion you become to you you become proud of the symbols of Islam you see your headpiece the FEMA the chemo is not Islam is it but it is a symbol it's a symbol it's a symbol of obedience it doesn't mean that every Muslim woman who wears schema or wear niqab or where Jill bad doesn't mean that all of them are the best Muslim but it doesn't mean that they have one of the symbols of the Islam and and it is a step toward more obedience sir certainly it is certainly it is and and and I'm saying I remember I was in Detroit and speaking to some young student Muslim students girls and I asked them about wearing tomorrow and I said that if in your school you want to public school and all the girls cover their hair would you then have a problem covering here they said no why because they by us has done it but you see used to feel proud that you setting the you setting the pace tone did you like you you the one that's out there and guess what let me tell you something non-muslim women especially they may mock you originally initially but the more you wear it the more they have respect for you because in reality they have respect for you when they see a Muslim woman dressed the way she does and she's not wearing tight clothing she went loose fitting garment why she's only dressing like that because she wants to obey Allah she wants to be a good Muslim woman and even though she's young and beautiful she doesn't care she wants to obey her Lord and so because she wants to obey her Lord she dresses like that or he dresses like that or they make prayer like that or they fast like that for the pleasure of Allah and you know what people respect you they respect you because your person of conviction but they say you're afraid and you being dislike them and so what's the difference you act like us you you go to parties like us you drink wine like us you smoke reefer like us everything we do you do what's the difference well I'm a Muslim well what's the difference I'm sorry I mean I don't mean to give you a whole speech just yes yes brother thank you sister yes one brother on the other side on this side here and it's going to be a little bit tough for Imam surah al-hajj because we have three minutes and I'm gonna try to give real short answers see that he's very smart that's what he's trying to tell me yes Sarah my from what excellent enough I would like you to elaborate on one of the points that you raised in your talk and that is concerning the spirit that we should have that it's not only the knowledge that we have but it is also the spirit and my question to you is what does it take to have this enthusiasm for carrying the devil of Allah as a built-in function in us actually this oxide well I don't find anything greater than the spirit of prophet muhammad aleyhi salam he's the best example of the spirit of anything we do because he's our example his hospital husana who's 14 husana he's the peace that model for us and everything that i see in his life is dedicated and committed to allah subhana wa ta'ala and not only knowing the islam but going and spreading the Islam He gave His life and to me one of the key ingredients of that spirit is when the people of Taif throw rocks at him and they want to kill him and they want to stone him and they do all of this thing to him and still when allah was ready to punish them he asked allah subhanho wa taala no because maybe someone from their future generation we believe in the oneness of Allah subhanAllah that's the spirit that we should have that is just because the people reject us we're not going to curse them but try to find another way I give an example there's a woman in New York named mrs. Thompson where everybody knows that for green projects you know we had a we had a training program at master taco on Sundays after the law mr. Thompson came every Sunday with her Bible and she would down it but the Bible says this and the Bible says that and her Bible said that me so mrs. Thompson again right after 10 weeks it was a ten week training program after ten weeks mr. Thompson said I already take my Shahada I said what you're talking about she said yeah I said but you every week you challenge us with the Bible she said you know what I believed but I wanted to make sure and I wanted to ask all my questions and I got my doubts taken care of and I'm ready to become a Muslim this sister today mrs. Thompson is sister Serena she's like the mother of the Masjid everybody knows sister Serena one of the most beautiful Muslims why she was a non-muslim and in our eyes arrogant but with patience at the right spirit because we're not trying to beat them up but we're trying to convince them in every way that we can like the Prophet Mohammed some of us on them and you will see brothers inshaallah i think the people will come to islam in crowds I wanted to ask um how does a brother who runs like a gas station in cells help Haram products how does that affect his wife and his children religiously when she is aware of his a good question how does it affect the children listen to this listen to this the prophecies cholera salut masala sonim in the lotta a lotta you boo lay layer below alert ayah Allah is good and he only accepts that which is good if you sell alcohol that money you make is Haram the food you buy with it is Haram the clothing you buy with it is now certainly the wife and children who don't know where it's coming from Las Montmartre is is merciful and maybe there's no blame but I would try to remind the wife of the iodine Quran that the believing men and women are friends of each other they enjoying the good and forbid evil encourage your husband to get into a new line of business or get rid of the alcohol inshallah yes but you mentioned something which you may also speak about in other sessions about the unity yes and having the need for a spokesman for Islam in North America yes alhamdulillah we have several organizations Eastern ignant MSA and my and so on so here yes it's about time for the leadership of these national organizations to get together and unify under one name modern name and one will be one spokesman for spokes Organization for the Muslims in North America it's about time and see if you can tell me if there is if SNL or any organization have discussed this or mentioned before more than discussed Romani but like someone said I want to tell you this good news because there's always good news that not only is a stigma and other national organization discussing it they have a meetings actually to try to bring about it and moving toward it it is a very lofty goal of unity on the centralized leadership but this efforts being made and one of the great things about this conference is this this conference is moving toward it and we hope that by this Turner is a good Turner and we just have this is the first session and it is good and we hope and again that by the end of the session we're gonna walk out of here with something written actually what we're going to do because this this is not us it's not this is a unique conference and that when you go from this conference inshallah you have something in your hand and we're going to do something in insha'Allah the people in this conference are going to do something historical insha'Allah you will be one of the keys in bringing about that unity that we so desperately been seeking for over the years and Sharla I think it's going to happen as a result of this conference if Neela Jacque ilaha illaallah come tada

Channel: Islam On Demand

Views: 24,154

Rating: 4.8104739 out of 5

Keywords: Siraj, Wahhaj, Wahaj, Wahajj, Wahhajj, Siraaj, Evil, Witness, Mission, Balance, Heart, Islam, Muslim, Islaam, Moslem, Qur'an, Koran, Religion, Khutba, On, Demand, MeccaCentric, ISCF, Masjid, At, Taqwa, Brooklyn, MANA, Alliance, North, America

Id: ZoEK1MnMgRo

Length: 78min 53sec (4733 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2011