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roughly 20 years before the prophet
Muhammad sallallah alaihi wasallam began
preaching his message as a prophet an
incident happened in
Mecca that was to Forever shape the
future of Arabian
society it was an incident that our
Prophet Muhammad participated in even
though the W the Revelation had not yet
begun he was barely 20 years old and
what happened was that a poor Trader a
poor businessman from one of the tribes
of Yemen
and the tribes of Yemen were not
considered to be as Elite and as Noble
as the tribes of qur a poor Trader from
the tribes of Yemen came to Mecca before
Hajj and he sold a good amount of
merchandise to one of the rich noblemen
of qur and his name was
Al and Al said come to me after Hajj
I'll give you your money so the man said
okay fine he came after Hajj and he went
to and said can I have my money now you
owe me such a large amount and he said I
don't have it come again
tomorrow and he came again tomorrow and
tomorrow and tomorrow and it was pretty
clear
that was simply procrastinating never
intending to pay this man any money why
because he was a rich nobleman he was Ai
and who is this man to get this money
from him and where would he go to to
what court of law could he go to what
higher authority could he go to wheni
was one of The Chieftains of the
qur this poor man went to many of the
other Elders of the qur knocking on
their doors help me out do something Ali
owes me so much money and every one of
them gave an excuse I'm sorry I can't
get involved Ali is too powerful he too
rich I'm not really go to somebody else
until finally in inspiration he resorted
to writing a satirical poem a harsh poem
criticizing the qur and he stood up in
front of the Kaa and this was their
propaganda this was their CNN this was
their their means of getting news across
poetry he stood up in front of the Kaa
and he gave a scathing critique of the
qur and he said of what use is it to
claim descent from the quray and to live
close to the when a poor man in like
myself can be cheated can be stolen from
in broad daylight and not one of you
moves a finger for that blessedness he
said doesn't come from living next to
the KA blessedness comes from your
manners and mannerisms a speaking the
truth as if there is no tomorrow clearly
saying who cares what your lineage who
cares where you're descended from who
cares where you live if you're not
honest and if you're not upright who
cares you're not worth anything and this
poem spread across Arabia and the Elders
of the quray decided we need to act and
the first person to act was the uncle of
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
the eldest Uncle Zu
abdb and Zu ABD came together he he he
gathered the Elders of the qur and there
was only one person who was of the
youngsters amongst them and that is our
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam everybody else was of the
elders except for our Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam and they
formed for the first time in Arabian
society a pact a treaty this treaty We
Now call
it it's also
called the same treaty
and basically
had at its core that no matter who is
shown Injustice to we as the qu will be
on the side of the oppressed we as the
quray will be on the side of the one who
was wronged even if the one who wronged
him was our brother or our uncle or our
senior and the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam participated and he was of the
youngest in fact he was the youngest who
participated in this pact and and this
pact became the most honorable pact of
Arabia before the coming of Islam our
Prophet sallallahu alai wasam said many
years later in Medina when he was 40
years after this incident he said as a
young man I witnessed the treaty in the
house of IB judan this is the Treaty of
ful a treaty that if I were asked to
uphold it even in Islam I would do so I
would obey the treaty even now and I
would not give up my place in that house
for many red camels which means in our
language for a million dollars I would
not give up my place for being in that
room what is so beneficial why do we
start a lecture with this
treaty this treaty demonstrates to us
one of many things that the prophet
participated in before he became a
before the came down before Allah sent
down our Prophet established a character
he established a paradigm he established
a means an honor uh uh he established
street
credibility and a part of that street
credibility was to stand up with the
weak and the oppressed against the
strong and the oppressors and our
Prophet was so proud of this treaty that
he said that even now as a prophet if
they called me to uphold that treaty I
would be the first to respond to that
call and I would not give up my place in
that house for a million dollars this
treaty demonstrates many things of the
things that it demonstrates of course is
that our Prophet despite his young age
the quray recognized he's going to
become a leader he's only 20 years old
when is the last time you heard of a
20-year-old sitting on the sh of a Masid
sitting on a national conference when is
a 20-year-old never but our Prophet
despite being 20 years old the qur
invited him in and this shows us his
mature it and the fact that they
understood that he would be a future
leader this treaty also shows us that
the qur did have some Noble qualities in
them that despite all of their evil they
also had a good streak and it was
because of this streak that the prophet
sallahu alaihi wasallam was sent amongst
them and most importantly for our
lecture most importantly for our talk
this treaty demonstrates the true Spirit
of Islam the true reality of what it
means to be a Muslim and that is that
our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
even before the Revelation began even
before he began preaching
ill he was standing up for truth and
Justice against tyrannical Powers
against evil and oppression and it was
only after the age of 40 that our
Prophet began preaching a theological
message that was different than the
message of those before
him unfortunately many of us in our
times and let me say this very bluntly
we put the cart before the horse we
think that da is only about talking it's
only about knocking at doors and giving
pamphlets out it's only about lectures
and
debates now I'm not trying to dismiss
that element of dawa it's very important
we need to call people to of course
that's the essence we need to preach we
need to teach we need to engage in
dialogue
but what I'm trying to stress here is a
reality that most Muslims ignore or
choose to ignore what is that reality
before the prophet began knocking on
doors before he began Distributing his
version of pamphlets before he began
preaching a different theology he had
already established his credentials as
somebody who cared for the society as
somebody who was involved with the
people of Mecca as somebody who who
stood up and who strove his best to
correct the wrongs of the and the ills
of society when the first revelation
came
down and our Prophet went back to and he
said and he said to yahad I think that
I'm losing my mind I think that I'm
seeing images I'm hearing voices what
did Khadijah tell him before even
heard before the prophet told her what
jel said to
him said to the
prophet no by Allah Allah will never
humiliate You by causing you to go mad
Allah will never humiliate You by
causing you to go mad why listen to
this number one you are good to your
relatives number two you feed the poor
number three you take care of the
orphans number four if there's any need
in society you're the one who volunteers
to do
it you do all of these Deeds how could
Allah humiliate You by causing you to be
misguided by causing you to lose your
mind notice Khadijah can say the
character of the Prophet sallallah
alaihi wasam even before is revealed and
what is that character he has
established a reputation for standing up
for the causes that afflict societ
for the social injustices for the for
the oppression he's already a figure
that nobody can accuse of being neutral
nobody can accuse of being selfish one
way to phrase this is and this is a very
simple
phrase our Prophet sallallah alaihi
wasam was known as
Al before he was called aaso on
Earth our Prophet was known as Al Amin
before he was called
AAS because before you start preaching
you need to have
credibility you need to have proper
credentials you can't open your mouth
and the people don't know who you are
you can't start telling them of a new
religion or a new Theology and nobody's
ever seen you before except to preach
this Theology and that is exactly what
our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
did that when he began preaching even
his most hated enemies had to admit that
he takes care of the poor and he feeds
the orphan and he's good to his
relatives Abu sufyan he later became a
Muslim when when this story is taking
place he's not a Muslim Abu sufyan is
interviewed by the emperor of Rome
hercus he's interviewed by the emperor
of Rome and he's trying his best to
dismiss the message of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam so Abu sufyan
is asked by the emperor of Rome what
does this prophet tell you to do what
does he tell you to do and he has to
speak the truth so what does he say Abu
sufyan says he tells us to worship the
one God and to leave the gods of our
forefathers and he tells us to be good
to our relatives and he tells us to take
care of the
poor this was The Message of Islam that
even a cafir pagan enemy had to say in
front of the emperor of Rome he tells us
to feed the poor and to take care of our
relatives look at the pr look at the
impression look at the the the message
that the early Muslims had what
stereotype exists for those Muslims
they're good to the
poor ask anybody of our times what they
think of Muslims and you all know the
answer you all know the answer why
because the fact of the matter brothers
and sisters is that we have failed
miserably to live up to the Sunnah of
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
to be known as
before we start preaching what is the to
be called people who care about the
causes of this world to speak out
against oppression no we're not known
for any of that and wah brothers and
sisters again allow me to be blunt here
look at the fundraisers that we have for
foreign causes many of which are very
good
masallah if we were to have a fundraiser
for festine for Kashmir for for any part
of the world that we are connected to
ethnically back home mashallah from the
six to seven digits we get from across
North
America if we try to have a fundraiser
for a local Soup Kitchen in our own
communities we all know we won't even
get 10 20
$30,000 What is the reality of Islam for
many of us and I'm not criticizing
giving to you all understand what I'm
saying there's a role for this and a
role for that there's a time for this
and a time for that even though to be
honest to be brutally honest many of the
say that charity is more deserving for
those around you versus for those far
away and some of the even say you are
required to give charity locally before
you give it internationally or far away
but I'm not even going that route I'm
saying that where is The credibility
that we have established with the people
around us it is as if my dear brothers
and sisters that we read the early makan
suras and we completely ignore what
Allah is telling the Muslims the
earliest
Revelations encourage the Muslims to be
generous Allah says in the
Quran one of the first suras to be
revealed what do you know is the real
difficult thing for you to
do go free
slaves or feed somebody when you
yourself are hungry and you don't have
enough you give your food to somebody
else one of the earliest revelations in
the
Quran
they give their food even though they
love it they give their food even though
they love it to the msk to the Yim to
the prisoners of War now brothers and
sisters when this verse came down when
this verse came down there were no
muslim mkin and fak and and prisoners of
War there was no war going on for the
Muslims such that there are prisoners of
War for the
Muslims the only prisoners of War are
Idol
worshippers but when it comes to hunger
my dear brothers and sisters when it
comes to oppression when it comes to zul
when it comes to standing up for the
rights of those whose rights have been
trampled our religion is Crystal Clear
we don't care about your race your
religion your Creed your color wall we
don't care whether you're Muslim or cfir
if you're hungry we have been told we
need to feed you for the sake of
Allah and what does Allah
say we don't even want your
thanks we give you this food for the
sake of Allah subhanahu waala oh Muslims
of America where is this early makan
verse implemented in America show me
then I can show you where our dawa is
going to be
successful brothers and sisters in
Islam brothers and sisters in Islam our
religion is an action based religion it
is a religion where you need to match
your speech with your
words and knowledge and Good Deeds they
go hand in hand many scholars point out
that the three letters of and are
exactly the
same and because they are the same
should lead to and should be based upon
but W brothers and sisters for many of
us becomes conferences and conventions
da becomes preaching and talking da
becomes knocking and distributing and
this is only one part of Da it is
important don't get me wrong but it is
only one half of Da and that is the that
is the talk we need the talk but we also
need the action we also need to show who
we are we also need to have the
respectability we need to be known as
being those who are championing the
causes of our
society islamophobia and that is the
topic that I have today how to battle
islamophobia islamophobia can primarily
be silenced we can silence our critics
not just by talk but through our actions
through championing the social
injustices that run through this Society
by preaching what our religion has told
us to preach and by speaking out against
oppression that our religion tells us is
oppression let me give you a simple
example very simple example brothers and
sisters related to what is happening
right now look at the anger that this
country has for the style of capitalism
that is currently being executed and
demonstrated by the rich Bankers in Wall
Street look at the Occupy Wall Street
movement look at the we are the
99% who amongst us could have predicted
5 years ago that this nation would
despise and hate the very system that
they used to claim was the reason for
their success now this system has been
destroyed and demolished now 99% of
America saying Occupy Wall Street they
don't like the fact that the rich get
richer that the top 1% of this land owns
more than 35% of this land they don't
like these unreal statistics this is a
fonic society that we enjoy the pyramids
but you cannot build pyramids without
millions of slaves and this is what this
Society has become brothers and sisters
where were we at the head of the Occupy
Wall Street movement to Simply tell them
oh fellow Americans our Lord has told us
in the Quran that this system is not a
good system that this system will
collapse our Lord has told us that the
economic system cannot be and I quote
the
Quran this Ayah is the strongest Ayah
criticizing in the capitalist system as
it exists in America in five words Allah
demolishes this version of capitalism
what does it say Allah says Allah
says money should not be a plaything
amongst the rich so that the rich get
richer Allah doesn't want the rich to
get richer Allah wants the rich to give
their money down to the poor Allah wants
to minimize this economic disparity that
we're currently seeing in America if if
we had been at the head of that movement
if we had been telling the people that
this is an economically unjust system
it's not going to be sustainable that we
need to make sure that wealth goes
through permeates throughout society
that wealth is not meant to generate
more wealth wealth is meant to take care
of society if we had been at the head of
that movement what would have happened
brothers and sisters the people would
have seen you know you guys are right
you guys were right we should have
listened to you and then you'll say well
you know what if you didn't listen to
that let me tell you something else
maybe you listen to that and that
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is if we had been at the Forefront of
environmentalism of animal rights all of
these things are a part of our religion
if we had been telling the people the
reality of what our religion tells us to
do and by the way this isn't just for
the pr PR comes along yes but the
reality is if we do these things for the
sake of Allah we are being true Muslims
we shouldn't be doing them just for the
sake of PR we shouldn't be wanting to
change and challenge social injustices
because it's going to benefit our dawa
brothers and sisters challenging social
injustice is the essence of our dawa and
until we understand that we're going to
continue struggling we're going to
continue trying to make people convert
to Islam and we will not be successful
because dawa is more than just talk dawa
is primarily
actions
and you
know I don't need to mention many
legendary stories of the past I don't
need to talk about role models of
Malaysia and Indonesia and no muslim
armies having gone there there's plenty
of there's plenty of stories that can be
mentioned but today I had the honor of
meeting in my humble opinion a living
legend for me somebody who had heard a
lot about and who truly for me
demonstrates the reality of what this
dawa is you want to battle islamophobia
you want to win over the hearts and
minds of the people there are far more
effective ways to do that than opening
your mouth and talking and that is by
showing through your actions what you're
really made of in an earlier session
today I was very humbled and honored to
be speaking next to Dr ha Abdi how many
of you have heard of Dr ha
Abdi not too many well after tonight
every one of you will know who Dr haah
Abdi is Dr haah Abdi is from Mogadishu
in Somalia and more than 25 years ago
she opened up a small woman's clinic she
was one of the few women who actually
managed to get an education become a
gynecologist study abroad come back to
Mogadishu but then the country was
immersed in a civil war and it's been
involved in Civil Wars and Warlords and
Islamic extremists the whole shebang
everything is a big mess what did Dr
Abdi do she opened up her Clinic and she
made it free for all and during the
Civil War when two tribes began killing
one another for no reason other than
nationalism Dr Abdi took in both sides
of the conflict both from this tribe and
that tribe and she didn't care about
what tribe the person belonged to and on
more than one occasion she was
threatened by members of The One Tribe
not to treat the other tribe so much so
that at one point in time one point in
time one of the tribes marched up to her
clinic and at gunpoint demand anded that
she hand over members of the other tribe
so that they could Massacre them right
then and there Dr ha Abdi didn't have an
army she didn't have CNN or any other
media she stood her ground as a woman
who believes in Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala and she said if you want to
kill them you're going to have to kill
me
first at another time these Warlords
some of whom think that they're Islamic
but the fact of the matter is you can't
be an Islamic Warlord it's an
oxymoron some of these Warlords with
their overzealous interpretations of
Islam told her that as a woman she
cannot treat men and she is the only
hospital and dispensary for hundreds of
miles and so they marched to her clinic
and said she's not allowed to treat men
and once again she stood her ground and
she said if you're not going to let me
treat men you open your own dispensary
you get your own clinic but until you do
so I'm not going to close my clinic she
stood up to them and guess what they
walk walked away in
cowardice Dr has treated tens of
thousands of
people so much so and W I am positive
that when she started doing this she had
no idea that the world would be watching
for 25 years she's been doing this but
slowly and surely news trickles out and
guess what happened when the West found
out when news agencies found out what a
beautiful story she was nominated she
was given Awards she won the National
Woman of the Year award by mult multiple
institutions Glamour magazine nominated
her woman of the year when was the last
time Glamour magazine nominated a for
anything TED Talks invited her over to
give a talk and Ted Talks is one of the
most prestigious speaking institutions
in the world and she gave a speech in
TED Talks wearing her full hijab
everything there when was the last time
Ted Talk invited a m this is what you
call battling islamophobia and listening
to her story and I knew it before moved
me so much I said it is not possible for
me to stand on this stage without
honoring this great woman amongst us Dr
ha Abdi can you please stand up and come
on to the stage because W you deserve
much more than this please come up
[Applause]
here and she has been nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize but wahi brothers and
sisters even the Nobel PRI PES cannot do
justice to
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her
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thank you brother and
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sisters I'm very happy today to share
with you this grateful day and stay
among you I'm thanking igna and and
helping hand people and all Muslim
world
thank you very
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much and of course ionine Helping Hands
has played a major role we have been G
giving her funds we have been giving her
a lot of electronic equipment to fund
her hospital she said that there are
only five doctors for over 150,000
people in that area and her and her
three daughters make up four of those
five doctors Subhan
Allah brothers and sisters I'll conclude
by a very simple statement you want to
battle islamophobia you see it right in
front of you this is how you battle
islamophobia that's all you need to
[Applause]
do