EPIC Masjid, Br. Ayman Aishat, Dignity in Faith.

Opening: Taqwa — Consciousness of Allah

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Dear respected brothers and sisters, let me start first with reminding my mistaken self and each and every one of you to be fully aware of Allah, fully conscious of Allah. As Allah says:

O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared, and die not but as a true Muslim.

O you who believe, fear Allah, and let each soul look at what it has presented for the hereafter. And fear Allah, for surely Allah is all-knowledgeable in what you are doing.

We ask Allah to make us among the pious and righteous people of Allah, and to benefit and gain from all these rewards that Allah promised for the righteous servants of Allah. And let's keep these two ayat — very important, key ayat — in our minds as I am speaking, because they are the foundation and base really for the conclusion that the Muslim Ummah reached. And each one of us, I am sure, looks to be there.

Izzah — The Dignity of Islam

High level of Izzah — Honor, Dignity, Pride — you name it. Probably when I am thinking of your ultimate goal, each one of us is busy with something, every single day. And probably you think this is the ultimate happiness if we reach that goal.

Yet the Muslims reached a high level of success even in the early stages — even in the early stages when the Persian Emperor and Roman Emperor were all over there, at the time of Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). And they just wanted to know more about Islam. Who are these people? They just came. Muhammad (peace be upon him) just came, and they gained all this success.

Before they asked why, they were asking: who are you? And subhanAllah, Umar ibn al-Khattab just sent a regular, illiterate person who doesn't know how to read or write — a shepherd, a Sahabi, who intuitively understood Islam. When he came to meet with Kisra, they told him: keep your sword or keep your arrow aside. He said: no, my arrow stays with me. You like it or you don't — you are the ones who called me. Otherwise I will turn back. They said: no, no, come in. And he met with the Emperor with his arrow — a full feeling and sense of dignity and honor.

And then he explained Islam: we are a group of people Allah sent to get people out of worshiping one another, to worship Allah. Very simple. And from the injustice of the practices of other religions to the justice of Islam. And from the hardship of this Dunya to the easiness of this Dunya and Akhirah. Very simple.

Umar's Lesson: Dignity Comes Only Through Islam

This also explains the main principles of our dignity. When Umar went to take the keys of Jerusalem from the priests at that time, he went in a garment that had too many stitches — apparently too many holes — too many stitches on the garment of the Amir al-Mu'mineen. Just to focus on what are the important keys of success.

Abu Ubaidah (may Allah be pleased with him) was telling him: if you dress up a little, you are about to meet the elites of Jerusalem. And Umar corrected his understanding, and told him this famous saying:

"We are a group of people who gain dignity and pride with Islam — with the soul and spirit of Islam, with this great faith. If we seek dignity by any other means, Allah will humiliate us."

And when I mean it, I mean it by any other means — position, job, PhD, money, family, race, color. It does not matter. If you think you will gain dignity through that, Allah will humiliate you. And if you seek dignity with this great faith, Allah will honor you.

The Rise and Fall of the Muslim Ummah

Look at the era of Umar ibn Abdulaziz — having extra money, a flood of money, not even a single poor person to take the Zakah money. Where is Umar ibn Abdulaziz nowadays? With machines printing money on the go, as we go — and yet too many people are dying out of poverty, lack of food, lack of justice, because the right spirit of Islam is not being implemented.

And the success of the Muslim Ummah continues, and we reached — yes — the peak. We reached to the level where the kings of Europe sent delegates, letters, appeals to the Muslim Ummah's Khalifah at that time, asking for scholarships, asking for support: "Let our European children come to the Muslim Ummah's educational institutes to learn the civilization, the industry, the technology of that time." Yes, we were at the top — at a time when we implemented Islam and the soul and spirit of Islam in the way Allah wants us to.

But then we did have that free fall — much scarier than the sixth-grade free fall. The moment we shifted our focus from the principles of Islam, that is what happens to us.

The Key Ingredients of Success

So what are these key ingredients, brothers and sisters? Let's make it simple. What are the key ingredients that made the generation of the Sahabah the best generation? What made the Sahabah, as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, like the stars — whoever you follow, you will be guided?

What are the key ingredients? Basic information each one of us knows, but it is good to remind ourselves that we need to go back and focus on them — so that if we really shift and focus our attention on them, we may gain success again.

Knowledge, Then Action — The Way of the Quran

Notice: the Quran and the message of Muhammad (peace be upon him) started with بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ — Read in the name of your Lord. In simple English: faith-based knowledge followed by action.

The next surah and the third surah: after you learn, read and understand, and you have faith in your heart, call, Muhammad — stand up all night and pray. SubhanAllah. Although standing up at night is a very tough task, yet Allah wanted to beautify the hearts of those who would follow Muhammad, to empty them from anything other than the Iman of Allah and whatever pleases Allah. Stand up all night in prayer. And the third surah: action — speak up, voice out your concern, reach out to others, integrate and act.

So in simple, what are the ingredients? Faith-based knowledge followed by action. Very simple. And Allah in so many ayat keeps reminding us: do this, do this, do this — "O you who believe, act," "O you who believe, do this and do that." And in too many ayat, Allah still reserves the reward for those who believe and act. Not just any action — the right action.

Belief by itself, without action — fruitless, useless, and helpless. It does nothing. Action without knowledge is craziness, because you can act in any obnoxious manner. So you need to have action based on solid guidance from Allah. This is what we ask Allah every single rak'ah, aren't we? Don't we ask Allah to guide us to the straight path?

Guidance, by the way, according to scholars, is of two different types. Guidance is Allah enabling you to know the right path. And the higher level of guidance is that you know the path and you follow it. Because if you know the path and you don't follow it — and if you don't even know the path, you are among the misguided. You don't want to be among the cursed and the misguided. We ask Allah to give us the path and enable us to follow it. This is the true hidayah from Allah.

The Model of Dar al-Arqam

Main principles again: knowledge — in Arabic, fiqh, understanding, right education, right understanding. When Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) started, he did not make it haphazard. He had organized work. He knew what he was doing — he is the guided person by Allah. He gathered a group of people in a halaqah, sat down in Dar al-Arqam — a young man who hosted the Prophet (peace be upon him) and a few believers, coming together in a periodic, regular manner.

And this is the key ingredient: we need to continuously educate ourselves, remind ourselves, and rise to a higher level of knowledge — the guided knowledge that will take us to a higher level insha'Allah. That is what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did.

Despite the harassment, despite the attacks, despite the media outlets — the CNN and Fox News of that time — they used to attack him: "He's a crazy man. He is a magician. He wants to misguide our people. He wants to destroy Makkah. He is not honest and loyal to Makkah." Those were the rumors spread about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). And the Sahabah of that day were patient for 13 years — building faith based on the knowledge they were receiving from the Quran, from Allah. And then action started: with the salah, with the zakah, and then with the other commands. That is how we reached the top.

And whatever benefits Islam in the later stages we live in will not be anything other than the key ingredients that brought success, dignity, and honor to the Muslim Ummah when they followed the right path — the Quran and Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Of course, you must have sincerity, you must have sacrifice, you must have brotherhood and sisterhood among ourselves, to be among the successful people. May Allah make you and me among the successful people.

The Path Back to Dignity

In brief, brothers and sisters — how are we going to gain back our dignity, honor, and pride as Muslims and reach that high level again? We can, by Allah. Because Islam is a valid religion, a valid recipe, a valid formula — the only valid formula that Allah will accept until the Day of Judgment. This is a fact stated in the Quran by Allah:

No other religion will be accepted by Allah other than Islam — we know that. And the recipe is valid until the Day of Judgment. It is up to us to implement it, and we will be successful.

We went all the way down to the bottom levels — to the point where the Tatars would come to a group of Muslims in the market and say: "Stay here, let me go get my sword" — come back, and chop their necks. Out of fear, humiliation, defeat — at that time our Muslim Ummah, unfortunately, would stay in the market until the Mongol soldier went back, got his sword, and came back to chop their heads. And even we went to a lower level, where instead of going to the Quran and halaqah and educational classes, we started going to dancing places and being misguided — where you find the cigarette, smoke, alcohol, hookah, shisha — all of this replacing the Qiyam, the Salah, the study circles, and all of that. That is when we were humiliated. That is when our Ummah became divided into 60-plus factions — and more to come. Look at the numbers: it is increasing every few years. This is because we shifted from the right path.

The only way to go back is when we shift back to the Quran and Sunnah, and implement them with sincerity, understanding, and sacrifice. That is our way back.

Signs of Recovery

And guess what? The good news — after the two laps of the khilafah, we started going back, insha'Allah. You would not see this number of Muslims in a masjid if we are not in the signs of recovery, insha'Allah ta'ala. Even in Muslim-majority places, where the imams or those who come to the masjid used to be attacked — not too long ago — used to be attacked. If the youth went to the masjid, it was something strange and people would attack them: "Why are you going to the masjid?" Now, alhamdulillah, our masajid are full of Muslims, full of believers who want to establish Islam back in their lives.

And this is the way. To go back, we need to be here in the masjid. Establish the masjid with our brotherhood, sisterhood, support, sacrifice, and understanding of what we are doing.

One Ayah That Summarizes Everything

Amazingly, all these recipes — belief, actions based on knowledge, sacrifice, giving, establishing salah — one ayah can summarize that for you, subhanAllah. Where Allah says:

Amazingly, in one ayah, the utmost importance of all these principles together: those who establish the houses of Allah are none but those who believe in Allah and the Day of Judgment, establish the prayers, give the zakah and sadaqat, and fear none but Allah. Fear none — that includes everyone, every power — except the power of Allah.

وَلَمْ يَخْشَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ — You don't fear poverty, you don't fear loss of job, you don't fear anybody or any entity or any group. You don't fear anybody.

The moment of recovery is when the sincere imams and khatibs and scholars and educators of this Ummah started to speak out and say: enough is enough. This is when we start seeing the harassment and attacks — people being thrown in jails, people being assassinated. These are the signs of recovery, and we are there, and we are getting there insha'Allah ta'ala. We are getting stronger and stronger. Yes, it does take time, but we have seen the signs, and we are seeing the signs, alhamdulillah.

You need a quick reminder of recovery? Look at the Muslim Ummah nowadays. Many, alhamdulillah, are going in that direction — going to the halaqat, whether we know it or not, whether you realize it or not. Many of them are going back to the Quran and Sunnah and they want to establish what pleases Allah. We are in the recovery.

Announcement: MACE Dallas Islamic Center

I am talking about masajid, and I have great news for you — and this is the reason why I am here among you today: to make sure another minaret is established and built right next to you insha'Allah ta'ala, not too far from here in Richardson.

Your brothers and sisters at MACE Dallas finally have the chance to have their own home insha'Allah. We found a huge building — a huge church, 40,000 square feet, two buildings. One of them is already leased as an educational facility, and the big church has gone up for sale. And we, alhamdulillah, signed the deal. We made the contract. We gave every money we had and we are running right and left gathering money, gathering loans, gathering investments, trying to make sure the 2 million dollars will be collected before May 15th.

May 15th is in 33 days. A very tough task. Yet, alhamdulillah, we are almost 80% there — short approximately $400,000. Insha'Allah, if you are patient, if you will be among us — as-sabiqun, as-sabiqun — in establishing a new house that will be called MACE Dallas Islamic Center insha'Allah ta'ala. Another house of Allah, another big masjid in the area, where the musalli will make prayer and you will gain the hasanat because you are among the founders — with your contribution, with your money — establishing a new house of Allah in the Richardson area. Please be there.

And just be assured: all the masajid are in full support for this project — first with IAT, second with Plano, and third, here we go, EPIC. All the masajid are giving us their full support, alhamdulillah, Rabb al-'Alamin. After salah, five minutes — we will make sure your loud and strong sound of support will be there for MACE Dallas Islamic Center, insha'Allah.