it was by a learned scholar of that
time Zade IB
sah and I said look this man he
had put the dots
together and he was expecting a
messenger like they were to come and he
had came and he was looking at his life
and everything fit except one thing that
he had read in the Torah talking about
the
forbearance that this messenger would
have so he wanted to test the prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam so
I'm telling my kids this that we're
extracting guidance we have a blueprint
for how we need to live our lives that's
a
blessing and he had found that the
Muslims were in desperation they needed
some money so he put up he said look I'm
going to give you alone for one year he
came back after 3 months grabbed the
messenger of Allah by his
neck started to insult him can you
imagine someone put their hands on you
go back home but I was born here you B
what do we do what are you about to do
standing in front of the muses with guns
what are you going to snap unfortunately
you have some Muslims getting out of
line getting ghetto that doesn't help
the daah look at the forbearance of the
messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam
amazing the guy's got his hands on him
Omar he's got he's like let me get
him so he insults him you guys you don't
pay your debts he's doing he's setting
it up look he promised a year came back
after three months he wants to test him
so the prophet s says go pay him and
give him some more cuz you frighten him
you should have should advise him in a
nice way so
for scaring him give him more make a
long story short he ends up paying it
back the man says do you know who I am
asking Omar he said no why why' you snap
like you're
acting in this way to the messenger of
Allah I was testing him there was just
one thing I had connected the dots and I
saw that indeed this was the messenger
but there was one thing holding me back
it was this thing
that I needed to test his forbearance
and forbearance means when you're in a
position that someone's oppressing you
someone's bringing harm upon you and
you're able to punish them back like the
prophet he could have just said go get
them right now it's finished
done but he didn't and the man after
that he accept this was a learned man of
that a Jewish scholar this isn't a
wasn't a Layman and he accepted Islam
take that to the
streets we have to be
forbearing to a whole another level
because there's a lot of heat coming on
people they don't understand the beauty
of Islam The Message of Islam and
they've Fallen victim to the
islamophobia machine so forbearance
remember this patience
sorry I was planning to actually start
my lecture with this but I think he
already spoiled it Eddie he's always
ahead of everyone uh I don't how how
many of you guys know that Eddie is
actually a qualified martial artist
anyone know that that you guys just
learned that just learn I'll tell you
one thing because I've rolled with him
I've sparred with him he's a teacher of
mine not only is he a mixed martial
artist but he's actually one of the best
I've ever met in my life if this guy
wanted to hurt someone he can literally
probably snap every joint in your body
before you can even say ouch I'm not
exaggerating I've trained with him for
three four years and this is as me
training in competition and I've seen
other great Fighters fight with him he
fought with he's trained under the
founders of Brazilian jiu-jitsu so um
many Muslim people from the community
don't know but he is a national gem like
people from across the country they they
take they take pride in studying and
training and sparring with him I've seen
UFC fighters who've actually taken time
from their career to come and train with
Eddie as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu um
instructor so if any of you guys are
ever interested in
learning Eddie is uh and that's what
amazes me a lot that's one thing I enjoy
a lot about him is because where he had
a career and he still does he still
trains he has I think three or four gyms
across the city where people from all
over the country come all over the city
are with him he has hundreds of fighters
in Chicago that train underneath him not
Muslim but everyone from all Fields I've
foughten with in his gym with police
officers with firefighters with uh um
federal agents they all come there and
they train there so one thing cool that
I like about him is that where he Mah is
so successful in his in his art and is a
master in it he's so passionate about
his Dean about his religion and I think
that's beautiful where he excels in one
he takes his belief system and he takes
his what make what makes him feel very
proud you know what makes him feel very
great when I when I was training at his
gym I remember on one wall it said
something I don't remember the exact
words of it but it was it was some
saying that he had on the main wall it
was it was in bold and I read the saying
and I was like oh my God that's a Hadith
right there right what he had on the
wall there on the main wall there was
something written there regarding anger
I'm not sure what it was and it was
about it was a it was a statement of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and
that just shows us how when you're doing
da or when you have something that
you're passionate about you can always
use that as a platform to convey your
word to others so with that I just
wanted to step into the the session that
I have at hand
earlier today I had a session and I kind
of Ed that session to go off another
session that I had yesterday in another
mid and all these talks are kind of
linked together with the same theme the
importance of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam in our life what does
the prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him
mean to us what does it mean to love him
why do we love him why is loving him so
important and I ask myself this question
quite
regularly that why do I need to love
this man who lived 14400 years ago and
why is his life so relevant and so
important to my times how does his life
make me a better citizen how does his
life make me a better son how do I
become a better teacher by studying his
life there could be there are millions
of people who've passed before us
billions of people that have passed
before us why
him and I then turn to the Quran which
is the book that we read in the
revelation of Allah
subhah and in there I find God Almighty
Allah saying that you will find your
best example in the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him follow him you will be
guided Whoever has obeyed him has obeyed
God Almighty Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
himself and you know I'll give you one
example if few years back I had a spinal
injury which ended my time with Eddie um
it was just an injury that I had so
after that injury I went through a lot
of pain I ended up going through surgery
after that I was still in a lot of pain
and actually I'm in a lot of pain as I'm
talking to you right now and I had this
constant you know this phase of just
being heard and being injured and being
in excruciating amount of pain doctors
are giving me medicine that I'm not
interested in looking at let alone
taking it and I kept asking
myself you know this there's this tance
that every human being is trying to
figure out the tance of pain and
difficulty we face as human beings in
relation to the mercy of Allah subhanahu
wa tala the mercy of God Almighty how
does this settle in with my life and I
gave it some
thought difficulty and trials are a part
of our life These are things that we
actually can never ignore they'll always
be with us no matter what phase in life
you're in right now there will be
difficulty that will follow you there
I was born in in Elizabeth toown
Kentucky and the public school that I
went to there weren't too many people of
color there I was one of the few people
maybe five six of us all
together so when I went to um
kindergarten I remember some of the kids
there they mocked me they made fun of me
I had to introduce myself in school they
teacher asked me what's your name and I
said Hussein and one of the kids in the
back of the class said he's not Hussein
he's insane and everyone started
laughing
ha and I was like man that's so mean why
would that guy say that to me and then
Lo and behold I was called insane for
the rest of the Year everyone say hey
insane get over here hey insane go do
this hey insane go do that so I thought
to myself you know what life's going to
get better when I get to first
grade I'm just telling you that's what I
thought okay I get to first grade and I
realize that I don't get to sit in the
back of the bus until I get to fifth
grade I get to fifth grade now I'm going
to middle school life's not getting
better I thought you know what when I
get to high school life will get better
when I get to high school life doesn't
get better I now all about getting into
a college when I get to college now you
have these loans that you have to start
wearing to pay off and as soon as you
graduate college now it's about getting
a job you get a job every uncle and
auntie in the community is asking
you when you're getting married and it's
kind of like mind your own business
please I'll figure that out when I'm
ready but it's leave me alone and then
when you're married then everyone ask
you when you're having a boy or you're
having a girl you're like no no boy no
girl I'm trying to figure out life when
you have your child then you got to
figure out a home then you got to get a
car then you got to get a Sienna or ody
Y and after you figure out which one
you're going to do then you got to buy a
house and you start paying off that
house you have to start preparing for a
college fund and then you start
preparing for your business and once you
pay off one house a second house and
third house you guys know the drill and
a point comes in your life where you ask
yourself when is my life going to be
peaceful when is this all just going to
end and then you tell yourself you know
what my life is going to get peaceful
when I retire then you realize by the
time you retire half of the limbs on
your body aren't working
anymore and I I reflected over this and
I came to a solution I came to not a
solution I came to this understanding
that our messenger Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi wasallam taught us this lesson
1,400 years ago he taught us a lesson
which
is that the world is actually the field
for you to put your seeds in the ground
but you will not see the fruit in this
world you'll find your fruit in the
Hereafter this world is a struggle it's
a constant struggle there's some
struggle or the other some sometimes
your struggle is emotional other times
it's Financial sometimes it's physical
at times it's intellectual but there's
always a constant struggle that goes on
and on and on and I think to myself that
as a
Muslim shouldn't I be the one who
actually never goes through any problems
I mean I I believe I that I I believe in
Allah subhana God I believe in his
messenger I read the Quran I'm regular
in my prayer hopefully so my desire is
that I mean I tell myself that I
shouldn't be the one who faces
difficulty it should be the one doesn't
obey God he should be the one whose life
is miserable not mine but then Allah sub
then I turn back to the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him and he actually says
the exact opposite the prophet Muhammad
is talking to me400 years ago and he's
telling me that out of all of the
creation those who are most beloved to
God are the ones who are tested most by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and out of all
of the people the prophets were most
beloved to Allah so they were tested by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the most and
then after that the people who followed
then the people who followed and the
people who
follow and I sat there in my house there
was a time after the surgery where I
wasn't able to move at all I was just
bound to a chair it was exactly a year
ago I had my surgery on December 23rd
almost a year ago so two years ago
actually in 2014 so I was sitting on the
chair and my doctor told me not to move
from there not to move around too much
unless I had family members that would
help me so I sat there and I thought and
thought and thought is there a time in
the prophet Muhammad peace be upon his
life where he went through difficulty
where he went through a situation where
it felt like the world was crumbling
down where a person feels hopeless cuz
we feel like that at times sometimes our
challenges in life become so great that
we don't know how to deal with them
we're not sure how to look at them in
the face and say I'm not afraid of you
because they're they're in our heart
they're really bothering us we have this
facade this face in front of us in front
of the people where we show how tough
and strong we are and how emotions don't
phase us but inside we know our weakness
so I'm thinking to myself was there a
time in the prophet's life where he was
really going through a lot and if there
was a time in his life where he was
emotionally struggling struggling how
did he deal with it because I want to
know I'm really struggling right now
myself and then I went back and I found
one incident in the prophet's life where
he was struggling a lot he was
struggling so much and the people of the
community his townsmen they came and
they said to him the reason why you're
struggling is because God is because God
hates you and this is is the
common language that we use in our
communities when someone's struggling
rather than saying everything will be
okay you're beloved by God what we end
up saying is stuff like your lord hates
you your creator hates you that's why
you're going through this there was a
lady who came to me who told me that she
was expecting a child and the doctor
said that her child would be born with
severe disabilities when the child was
born the child had disabilities people
in the community came and told her that
she was being punished by God that's why
she had this child this is the language
we use because in our mind the image of
our creator is of a devil unfortunately
we think that God is constantly anger
and he wants to punish and how God is
waiting to throw us into an infernal
that is eternal when on the other hand
when you open the Quran that's that
that's not the primary description of
Allah subhanahu wa taala the primary
description of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is one that is merciful your lord loves
you more than your mother can never
Dream of Loving You all the love that
your mother can express and she can give
to you your lord love you 99 more folds
than that you know your lord isman the
most merciful your your lord is AR the
ever merciful he will always be there
for you his Mercy will not only engulf
you in the world but also in the
Hereafter and there are so many examples
where the Quran
says that God says my Mercy encompasses
all any person who believes in me will
find my Mercy any person who follows
this Dean will find and I'm not saying
that the punishment doesn't exist I'm
not ignoring that but that's not the
that's not not the primary introduction
of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is that
punishment is there and it's a reality
we find the Quran talking about paradise
and it also talks about the fire of hell
but it always mentions Paradise it
focuses on Jenna it focuses on the prize
that's what Allah subhah waa constantly
reminds us of so when I'm thinking about
this I ask myself what happened so the
prophet was going through this very
tough part of his life the community
people came and they said your lord
hates you your lord is angry on you he's
abandoned you when a marriage break when
a marriage breaks in our community this
is the first thing people say they were
cursed when a business fails the first
thing they say that person was cursed
when someone has some sort of a mental
disability or some
psychological conflict or problem
they're dealing with the first thing
everyone says there's a Jin there
they're cursed when we don't understand
the value of a natural difficulty that a
human being faces and we as Muslims
don't view them as as as curses rather
we view them as a blessing and this is
where the prophet's biography really
helps you out this is where knowing who
the prophet muham Muhammad was just as
brother Eddie was saying a moment ago
that we live in a time where you know
people they don't understand our
religion they don't know what Islam is
you have people sitting on foxs
commentating and telling us who Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him was when
they've never read a Muslim biography of
his you know they've only read critique
of him they've only read the story of
him that actually was written by people
who never liked him in the first place
why don't you read a critique of his
from a Muslim why don't you read read
his life from a muslim's perspective you
want to know who the prophet Muhammad
was come and talk to me let me tell you
who he was actually scrap the talk let
me show you who he was you know he was a
person that smiled he was a lovable
person his family loved him to bits his
children loved him to bits for those of
you who think that the prophet Muhammad
peace be upon him was an abusive man I I
swear by God you can never provide me
with a single case a single scenario in
his entire life where he ever raised his
hand on any of his family members even
once is that true or false is that an
exaggeration not an exaggeration this is
an academic Claim by the way I instruct
at a seminary I'm an instructor at a
seminary I teach on an academic level
this is actually a factual claim this is
not true it's not possible all these
claims that the prophet Muhammad peace
be upon him was out there to murder
everyone that wasn't a Muslim absolutely
false think about this he lived in a
city called Medina before he arrives
there all non-muslim when he comes there
a fraction of society accepts Islam and
the other fraction remains as non-muslim
until he passes away and even after that
so I ask you a question if Muslims were
supposed to anate everyone on the face
of this Earth who weren't Muslims there
was only one of two possibilities that
would remain in his city either everyone
would be Muslim and forced into Islam or
they would be non-muslim and all the
Muslims would have been killed simple
yes no simple logic
right but 10 years later what happens