foreign
and on all those who follow the path of
righteousness
until the last day
the lecturers was or talk as was
introduced
called growing up under the shade
addresses
the realities of
growing up Muslim
in the West
reality which I have
come to see firsthand
after spending
about eight months here in Canada
I came here back in April May
and since that time I have remained in
Canada
in Toronto
for the last six months I was Imam
of Abu hurairah Masjid in Toronto
and
during that period of time
I had the opportunity to meet
many families
and to hear
problems and issues that people were
faced with
I had two days in which
I did counseling
and it became very evident
to me from that personal experience
that
the Muslim Community
is suffering
is suffering very
severely
it has a bleeding wound
and the blood that is pouring from this
wound
is the youths
the Youth of the community
if we were to look around
here in the Masjid and this is like most
other masjids
we would notice that
people are either
elders
or
young kids
those that are in between
lettings
early 20s
they're not here
whether males or females
males more so than females but
both
those are the critical years
and they're missing
we have to ask ourselves why are they
missing
why aren't they here
what happened
what happened to our communities
what is the future what what is the
future of this community
if
a whole generation
is missing
this is the beginning of a trend because
the same young children that we see here
now
in another
eight years
they will be missing
like the ones that are missing now
eight years ago
they were here
no they're not
and it is something
that
has to be answered
for
they will have to answer
those that are missing
will have to answer because we know on
the day of judgment as Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam informed us
when we are Resurrected
we will not be able to move from the
position
we are in until we answer certain
questions
and one of those questions is
our youth
and how we spent it
our youth
and how we spent it
this critical time the use
time of Youth
a time where
if it is
properly spent
it becomes
the basis for Paradise
the youth
if they
grow up
worshiping Allah
make it through that period
they enter into a special
group of people who Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam described as
being shaded by the shade of Allahu
foreign
on the day when there will be no shade
except for the shade of his throne
the just
ruler
and the youth who grew up worshiping
Allah
the just ruler
The Scholar said this is not just
the head of state
yes it applies first and foremost to the
Khalifa
or to the president or the Prime
Minister whatever that leader
but it is all those who are in that
position of leadership so it goes all
the way down to
the head of the family
that if they
fulfill the requirements of being the
head of the family
they would also be among those shaded
by The Throne of Allah
but the youth
who grew up worshiping Allah
are especially
identified by Allah's messenger Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam
because of the challenge
the challenge that the youth face
that age group
15
to 25 those 10 years
those are the years of rebellion
ideas where
people either rebel against what is not
good
in society and choose another way
I can say from my own personal
experience
that
some
20 20 years ago
21 22 years ago
when
I was in Saudi Arabia
after the Gulf War
when I was in Saudi Arabia
and American troops were being processed
out of the country
I was
a part of a team
of duat
who focused on carrying The Message of
Islam to those
half a million Americans
and alhamdulillah in the course of five
months
in the course of five months
from our Center alone more than 3 000
Americans accepted Islam Allah
more than three thousand
and these
were mostly within those same 10 years
I would say about 80 percent of them
were in those same 10 years
between 15 and 25.
they were able to make choices
that adults would have difficulty making
when you talk to people who are older
later 20s 30s and so on so
they may recognize the truth
but it's very difficult to make the
change then
you are now accustomed you're used to
that tradition
way of life that all the people that you
know who know you are familiar with
so
like Abu Talib
though the truth is in front of you as
clear as they
you can't follow it
you can't make that decision
you are afraid to Rebel
because of the consequence of
embarrassment to family and all these
kinds of things
too
but those youth
from those three thousand and there were
more that accepted Islam
they were prepared to make that choice
once the information came to them
once they understood
what Islam really was
then
they could make that choice
they were not afraid of the consequences
it didn't matter whether their parents
liked it or not or whatever it wasn't
important to them they saw this was
correct they had misinformation they now
knew what the truth was and they
accepted it
they're prepared to do it
so on one hand it's very positive it
says there's a positive element to that
time that youth
but on the other hand for our
communities
this is an evil time
this is the time when we lose most of
our youth
a night ago
I start discussing
with
a young lady
from that same period of time she was 22
years old
from a Muslim family
a practicing Muslim family
here
and she was Raising questions
that
I'm sure are the same questions that
arise in the minds
of the youth who grow up here
and who end up losing their way
same questions
they're the questions
that are the natural consequence and
product of
an educational system
which is secular
the secular educational system
which basically challenges
they believe in God
it seeks to nullify or to neutralize the
belief in God
one student
told me
another few days back in Toronto
he came up and asked me this question he
said listen you know what do I say to my
teacher
who
keeps asking me in world religions class
there's a class called world religions
grade 11
the thought it keeps asking in world
religions class
how do I know that there is a God
now world religions class is supposed to
be
teaching about the various world
religions
to in to Enlighten the students to
understand
what the other religions are there are
the religions around the world to
respect these other people with their
other systems of beliefs etc etc that's
what it's supposed to be on the outside
but on the inside
it is Raising that question
and it is posing that question how do
you know there is a God
at the earlier stage
that same question
is raised for children
in Primary School
when the teacher teaches them about
myths
and truths
what is a myth
and what is true
well
dragons
are myths how do you know dragons are
myths well because we never seen one
whether it's in the movies cartoons
whatever they're dragons
but we never see one we cannot find one
in a zoo
so you can't see them you can't touch
them you can't smell them senses tells
you as a kid that dragons are myths
and then the teacher mentions when he's
asking mentioning or she's asking about
the different myths is this a myth or is
this a true truth myth or truth
eventually
the teacher
will drop it on the child one way or
another
God
the children have learned that we know
that things are not real when you can't
see them touch them smell them
measure them
you can't prove they exist
they're just things that people talk
about
they're not real
and eventually
they will put that bug in the ear that
thought in the mind of the child God is
a myth
this is what's happening
this is what the secular system seeks
to create
doubts about the very existence of God
or even
do believe
our they like to use that instead a
higher power
religions
are so many
to know which ones true
how can you insist that anyone is true
truth is relative
what you see as being true somebody else
sees as being false
one man's meat is another man's poison
it's all relative
so for you to insist my religion is the
True Religion that's like being
you know extreme that's being very
biased that's being uh
not good
that's not the way we're supposed to be
all religions
are equal
we should respect all of them equally
so then what
then it means really these religions are
what man-made
man made them up
human beings made them up that's why
you feel that Islam is the right
religion but somebody else feels that
Christianity is the right religion
who's to say that you're right and he's
wrong or he's wrong and or he's right
and you're wrong or whatever who's to
say that
it's just an opinion
so that system
seeks to raise doubts in the minds of
the children
so that like this young lady who I spoke
to last night
she had huge doubts
huge doubts about religion in general
yet she had grown up in a Muslim family
and when I asked her
about her background you know what
happened what caused this to happen to
you
she said well you know
I was practicing Islam
because my parents told me to do it
I prayed I fasted
because they said you are a Muslim
as a Muslim you're supposed to pray
when I asked them why
they said don't ask why you're Muslim
Muslims pray so you should pray
no explanation
no clarification
just culture
we are Muslims we pray you are a Muslim
you should pray
so naturally with this other information
coming at her about myths
and truths
about world religions
different beliefs different ideas
Etc
how is she going to hold on to Islam
she hasn't understood Islam
she said I used to go to Quran class
and they made me memorize you know
verses from the Quran but I was
memorizing this stuff I didn't even know
what it said
did it but because my parents
parents go to Quran class
I learned how learn how to read these
visitors in Arabic and these words and
sounds Etc but I didn't know what it
meant
I didn't know what it meant
nobody taught the meaning the
understanding
because it was just traditional this is
tradition you learn it
you say it in your prayers
doesn't matter if you don't know what
you're saying
as long as you say it that's what you
need to do you're a Muslim Muslims say
these things they do these things
you don't have to understand why it's
not important don't ask why
just do it
so what is the consequence
the consequence
is her
by the time she was 13 she stopped
praying
by the time she was 15 she stopped
fasting
but she fast sometimes
you know
a week or two few days
it's just custom
there's a iftar coming up this weekend
okay fast those couple of days
custom
and this is what is happening to the
youth
so it is no surprise
that when they reach that
critical decade
15 to 25 or 17 to 27.
that critical decade
we lose them
I visited the Muslim schools
one with the best record of the
assessment government assessment of the
schools I visited
and I looked at the
classes
they create classes kindergarten maxed
grade one full grade two three four five
six
seven the numbers start to drop
eight the numbers have dropped down
they tried to do grade nine last year
but they weren't enough students
so no grade nine no High School
similarly here
High School's gone
the building is still there
empty
why
what happened
it's those same critical decade
the same critical decade the most
critical time when the children need to
be receiving Islamic instruction
islamized instruction we have them in
the public school
what's happening are we not thinking
about what's going on here
can we learn from what has happened to
those who came before
what is the Quran telling us about the
ad and the samud and all these people
what to learn the lessons of History
what happens when people stray
but we're not learning these lessons
we just
doomed to repeat the mistakes of
the decade before
and the decade before that
it is sad it's saddening
but we have to stop this
because we will be asked
Allah will hold us
responsible because we were not a imma
Adeline
we were not just rulers we're not just
leaders
we did not fulfill our responsibility
to our families
we put the children in the early grades
why because
culture
we want him to know something about our
culture we are Muslim so we put them in
the primary school
that is those of us that do that
most of us are not even doing that
but even those of us who do it we're
doing it for the wrong reason
and that's why we don't have a problem
of pulling them out when high school
comes around
we cannot fill the high school
can you move forward a bit Brothers
crowded at the back
this is the problem that we are faced
with
that
we're thinking
in terms of preserving only
Muslim culture
preserving only Muslim culture
and that's why this young lady
she had this big question in her mind
she said
there are people
you know who are Muslims
but they're not good people
and they're going to paradise and
they're non-muslims who are good people
and they're going to hell this she said
this is not fair
doesn't seem fair
and truly it doesn't seem fair because
she was taught that Muslims go to
paradise
and non-muslims go to hell
and in her mind even Muslims were
a new religion which started after
Christianity and Judaism
that's what she understood I mean this
is what's being taught in
uh
uh world religions class
yes they're called the three
monotheistic face the first of them was
Judaism the second was Christianity and
the third was Islam
this is a lie
it's a an opinion but for us as Muslims
this is a lie
there is no religion called Judaism
there is no religion called Christianity
that came from the prophets of God
there is a religion called Judaism by
people
but not from the prophets of God there
was only one religion that came from God
and that is Islam
so in her mind it didn't make sense that
these people who are called Muslims who
just showed up
the last of these three monotheistic
faiths
that they should all be going to
paradise and all the people who are
non-muslims were going to hell
that's what she understood
and she comes from a religious family
mother wears hijab father prays five
times a day
but she's going to
Public School
so they are teaching her religion
what religion really is
the opinion of some people
laughs
and who's at fault
who's to blame
where do we point the finger
who Allah hold the countable on the day
of judgment
it's the family
it goes back to the family and the head
of the family
more so
this is the reality
we have to change this we have to stop
this now otherwise
we'll all end up answering for what's
happening to this decade the decade the
little ones that are coming up now
we will have to answer for them
each and every one of them very few of
them will make it through
very few of them
we know that's real
because we can see right in front of us
here right now we can see
the missing
decade
we're living it
and for everyone from that decade that
we see here
there is 10 20 30.
that are not here
but we're busy building mosques
mosques which will be filled
on Fridays
on occasions like this and the rest of
the time they're empty
okay
we have to rethink
Allah has given us intelligence to
reflect
alone
will they not reflect
the Quran for us
has become a
an amulet
something which we use for protection
from that same family one of the family
members was asking me
he had a
smartphone
and he had these verses in the
smartphone he said I had these verses
here for protection now when I go to the
bathroom
is it okay for me to carry my phone with
me
this was his question fifth question
right
is it okay if you have these verses
you know in your smartphone for
protection
and you keep it in your pocket and you
go in the bathroom the toilet
I said brother the problem
is not going into the bathroom with this
the problem is believing that these
verses are going to protect you
this is where the problem is
and he was got into this discussion
I know
there is some Hadith which is said that
if you even believe in a rock
God will protect you through that rock
I said brother I never heard of this
Hadith
what I know is when he was making
tawafani pointed to the black stone he
told the people
I know this is only a stone
it can neither benefit mean or harm me
and this is the most important Rock in
Islam
and the only reason why I kiss you is
because rasulullah sallallahu kissed you
today
stems are there fighting to get to that
rock
there's not even content just to kiss it
and go they have to rub your face in
there and somebody will pass this baby
along and rub the baby in there and you
know
wipe it wipe it on ourselves and
everything you know
all this belief
misbelief
so this was the problem
that though the family may have been
Muslim Etc there were issues there were
problems there they didn't really
understand Islam
and that's what they inherited
we've got these verses on our walls in
our homes those of us that
try to practice Islam we put these
verses on the wallsi
but Ayatul Kursi is written
in calligraphy which is so deep so
complex you can't read it
it's not for reading
it is put there in the belief that
simply hanging it on your wall it is
going to protect your home
who say brother where did this come from
the sahaba
we don't know of any sahaba doing this
we don't know of them doing this this
was not their method
when the prophet saws told us about
Ayatul Kursi he said you know whoever
recites it
not plays a DVD
hangs it on a wall
keeps it on a locket
where is it around his neck
this is not the way
this is not what rusul Allah
why Allah described
through his messenger
Ayatul Kursi as the greatest verse in
the Quran
relative to human beings
when he asked to babe in Cup this
question what is the greatest verse in
the Quran relative to human beings
he added this point relative to human
beings because to Allah it's all the
same
but to us
that was the greatest verse
why
because this verse Ayatul Kursi
is a summary
of Islamic belief in Allah
it is describing Allah from A to Z the
most important
elements or characteristics which
describe Allah are there in Ayatul Kursi
so it is reading
Ayatul courtesy and understanding what
Ayatul Kursi is saying
because Allah himself said in the Quran
Quran
will they not reflect
on the meanings of the Quran
or are their hearts locked up
what has happened is that the generation
of Muslims today hearts are locked up
relative to the Quran so Ayatul Kursi
becomes like for the non-muslims
abracadabra
you know abracadabra when I was growing
up that was the big word right
abracadabra
it's like a magical word
anything to happen you say abracadabra
so that's what Ayatul courses become
you just
say it doesn't matter you don't it's
just like nobody knows what Abracadabra
means
there's no meaning to it
so like that I have to Cursi just say it
it's gonna happen for you
but that's not
what the Quran was revealed for the
sahaba didn't use the Quran like that
this is a result of ignorance
distancing ourselves from the Quran
that we have turned the Quran into
magical amulets
and talismans
hung on walls
printed on rings
so naturally it is not surprising to
find that our youth
in that critical decade questioning
these things
what is this
what does this really mean
they naturally will rebel against it
because it doesn't make sense
because really it doesn't make sense
the older generation have accepted it it
was handed down to them this way that
way and you know
that's what the folks did they've always
been doing it so we do it
but that younger generation
they have been raised in an educational
system which calls them to critical
thinking
calls them to critical thinking
you think critically analyze
is this truth or is it a myth
and
the consequences
that they will reject it
they will rebelt
and for them most of them there's no
other alternatives
so when they Rebel and they break away
they end up in drugs
I hear it
homes where
that critical
decade kids are coming home High
on alcohol or marijuana some coming and
smoking in the homes
and we
can't even fill our high schools with
Muslim kids
we've got schools
and we can't even fill them in the most
critical years
this brother's sisters this is
a major sin
a major sin on our part
that we do not provide proper Islamic
education islamized education for our
children so that they could grow up
in the shade of Allah throne
we have put them on a path
to hell
parents saying well we've given them the
basic basics
you know whether we put them in Quran
school we put them in weekend school or
after school we've given them the basics
they'll come back
so some people say this they'll come
back yeah yeah they're off now but
they'll come back I came back
okay brother you came back but how many
of your good friends never made it back
this is the point
simply because you managed to get back
there's no guarantee that your child is
going to make it back
and reality is that they're not
we have so many of them out gone not
coming back
so when are we going to wake up
this is the question when are we going
to wake up to this reality and do our
duty for our children
thank you
make this school
which Muslims have
provided sacrifice put money together
and built a school
and we don't put our children there
and it's not just about well it's too
expensive no it's more than that
we need to take our children out of the
public school and fill this high school
here
this junior high school here we need to
fill the school there should be a
waiting list
we should have our
homeschooling programs for those who
can't get in there's not enough room the
other schools
so they're studying at home
we have to save our children
are used we have to save them
brothers sisters
the message
has been given
this is the message that I came to share
with you tonight
a message which addresses the reality
the future of our ummah here in
Vancouver
I hope that each and every one of you
will reflect
and then act
to fill this school and the other Muslim
schools
and build more schools
not more empty masjids
but more schools schools that can be
used from masjids
we don't need masjids that can't be used
for schools
the Masjid of the Prophet salallahu was
a school
this is critical
the youth
can only be saved if we provide a means
and a place for them to be able to feel
comfortable to come be together to learn
to benefit
place where there is
room for
sport Etc and things which attract them
which are halal
we have to think in terms of what we're
doing here with our money
yes it is true Prophet Muhammad sallam
did say
man Bana
Masjid and Allah
whoever builds a mosque for the sake of
Allah Allah will build a home for him in
Paradise
but we have to think
multi-purpose mosque because if we're
just thinking Musk
in this Society
we have not done we have not used our
wealth
wisely
we have done something which you can't
say is bad
but we've not used our wealth wisely
so inshallah we're going to stop here
it's time for the Adan or ikama of Salat
Alicia
and as was announced in the beginning
after the Salah inshallah will have an
open q a hopefully focusing on this
topic the topic of our youth and how to
save them and how to break this cycle
and open a new page for the future of
the ummah here in Vancouver is