Zaytuna College- Where Islam Meets America

Zaytuna College: Where Islam Meets America

Alright everyone, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

(اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا وَلَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَلِيِّ الْعَظِيمِ - Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik ala sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman katheeran wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi l-aliyyi l-azim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ - Alhamdulillah)

We praise Allah, we thank Him, we ask for His help, we ask for His guidance, we ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allah from the evil of our souls and from the badness of our deeds.

Gratitude and Context

Alhamdulillah. First of all, it's an honor, really, to be invited, and we had a very nice reception yesterday. And today, the Atiyah family, Samrah, and the other people that have been involved, many of the youth that were here that volunteered to help make this possible. So we're very humbled by your support and by also the turnout tonight. So I'm really on behalf of everybody at Zaytuna thanking you.

The Beginning of Zaytuna Institute

Zaytuna Institute began over ten years ago, and it was some of the people in the area where I'm from, California, got together, and part of it was recognizing that we had a lot of Muslim youth in the area, and there weren't vehicles by which they could really study their religion outside of certain halaqa in the masajid. But I was looking at more of a text-based, to replicate the experiences that I had with my own teachers in the Middle East and in North and West Africa. And alhamdulillah, I think that it's certainly been a learning experience, this time that we've put in this.

But of late, we were deeply fortunate by having Imam Zayd Shakir move out to the West Coast and really put his energy and effort into this institution. And out of his vision and some of the other people that he's been working with, came the idea of the college, really, to take this from a traditional madrasa, which is how it was functioning prior to that, and really try to move into an institution that could stand up alongside many of the institutions that are already existing in this country.

Christian Educational Institutions in America

In the United States, there's over 150 Christian colleges. So anybody who's seriously dedicated to Christianity, they're able to go and study at a Christian college and learn the Bible, they can learn Hebrew, they can learn Koine Greek, they can study the Church Fathers. They have options within their denominations. If you're a Baptist, they have Baptist colleges. If you're a Catholic, they have Catholic universities and they can go to the

divinity colleges and they can study. But unfortunately, we have yet in the United States and Canada and Western Europe to really produce institutions that are functioning at the level of some of these other religions. Even, we have to admit, if you look at the Buddhist institutions that have of late come to the United States, they're working at very high levels. There are many solid Buddhist institutions.

The State of Islamic Representation in Bookstores

If you go to, for instance, Barnes and Noble, I'll give you an example, or Borders, which are the more common bookstores that have taken over all the independent bookstores. But if you go and you look at the Buddhist section, almost all of the books on Buddhism are written by Buddhists or serious Buddhist scholars. They're generally presenting Buddhism in a positive light. If you go to the Christian section, it'll say Christianity, and you go and you look. It's all written by Christian scholars, by committed Christians, different denominations. You can even have their subsections, Catholic theology, even Orthodox theology. So you can buy books on the Eastern Orthodox Church.

If you go to the Bible section, it's just amazing. They have several shelves. You have the study Bible. You have the husband-wife study Bible. You have the 365-day-a-year study Bible. You have the red-letter study Bible. You have the study Bible that you do with your diet plan so that you can count your calories with the verses. And this is what they've done, and it's just amazing the type of thing. You have dictionaries of every subject under the earth related to the Bible. So you have the women in the Bible, the children in the Bible, the lizards in the Bible, plants in the Bible, everything that's there because they've really put an immense amount of human energy and endeavor into preserving and transmitting their religion.

If you go to the Mormon, there's a little Mormon section. There's all these books on Mormonism. Now in the religious section, they have a new section called atheism, and they even have all how to become an atheist and find inner peace, atheism and yoga, everything under that. If you go to the Satanism and Wicca and witchcraft, same thing. You know, Satan, the bum rap that he's been given, the bright side of Satanism, you know, Satanic contributions to human civilization. So even Satanism, they have a nice section.

But then you go to the Muslim section, and just do this, just really do this, because I do it quite often, so I follow the book. Why I'm not a Muslim. What's wrong with Islam. Islam unveiled. Terror and Islam. What, you know, what went wrong. I mean, these are the books that are there. Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi. And she's not even a Muslim, by her own admittance. So why is she in the Islamic section? She should be over in the atheist section. But they put her in the Islamic section, and then they put like ten books of her book. So I must buy it, because they've got so many books there, expecting people to buy it.

This is the Islamic section. And then you'll have these little Ahmadiyya books that are there, and they've been there since 1898 or something like that. You have to give the Ahmadiyya credit, because they've really been doing this work for a long time. But, unfortunately, many of the books there that represent Islam do not represent the religion of Islam.

The Story of Imam al-Ghazali and Western Scholarship

This extraordinary world religion that captivated human civilization, and produced some of the greatest scholars in existence, historically. Imam al-Ghazali, my father, who was a professor of philosophy and humanities, and has spent his life reading Western tradition, literally. As long as I've known him, that's what he does. He reads books again and again, same books. He's read the same books over and over again. There's probably about 50 books that he just... But he reads important books. One of his favorite writers is St. Thomas Aquinas. Well, I've been talking to him about Islam for many years, and he hasn't been all that interested.

But a few years ago, he went to the screening of a film that I was involved in. I was in the script, and was one of the presenters, which was about Imam al-Ghazali, the alchemist of happiness. And I took my father, and my father watched this film, and when the film was over, he said, does this man exist in translation? And I said, yes, there's a lot to see his books. So I gave him a stack, I think about six or seven of Imam al-Ghazali's books, and he read right through them.

A few weeks later, he told me, this is what he said, he said, the West has never produced a man of this caliber. And this is somebody who spent his life... Imam al-Ghazali knows my father. He spent his life reading Plato, Aristotle, he's read Marx, I think, three times. He's read Adam Smith. He just finished his fourth reading this year. These are books that people read three pages, they close and never look at again. So, he really took Ghazali seriously. And he told me, the West has never produced al-Ghazali. And then he said something very interesting. He said, if you spend the rest of your life just reading this man, it won't be a life wasted. And this is somebody who, as long as I've known him, he's done a khatam of Shakespeare every year. He reads all 39 plays every year. Like, he's been doing that since... So, that's what he said about Imam al-Ghazali.

Why don't people... Why isn't Imam al-Ghazali alongside these great teachers the West recognizes? Really, why? Because mostly they don't know about him. Some of the people that know about him ended up spending the rest of their life studying him. I met a PhD at Brigham Young University who did his PhD on Imam al- Ghazali. And he did it on the Ihya. And on the way to the airport, he drove with me. He's a very nice man. He's a professor of Islamic studies. He's a Mormon. And he was a, I think, fifth generation Mormon. Like, his great- great-great-grandfather was with Joseph Smith. And on the way to the airport, he said, what's the classical position of somebody that knows Islam is true and then rejects it anyway? I told him, the classical position is that you don't want to be in his shoes on the day of judgment.

The Crisis of Representation

But my point really is that this religion which is so extraordinary is so misrepresented by, not only by its enemies but by its own people. And that's where it becomes shocking. I had a Saudi once told me, he said (ماعندنا أحسن قضية وأسوأ محامين - ma'andana ahsan qadiyyah wa aswa'a muhameen) "We have the best case and the worst lawyers."

But the Prophet said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 7169, Sahih Muslim 1713)

"Perhaps one of you is more eloquent in presenting his case than another, so I judge in his favor."

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though all the Qur'an is half Meccan, there were more years in Mecca. But Mecca (يَا أَخِي آيَاتٌ مَنْسُوخَةٌ كُلُّهَا - Brother, all the verses are abrogated.) Is it abrogated? Well, why is it in the Qur'an? What's the purpose of having it if it's meaningless? Because that's what you're essentially telling me. All those verses have no meaning. They're just wiped out. Every ethical consideration, all those wonderful things we say in interfaith dialogue. Oh, we just say them for them, you know, trick them once they get into Islam. We'll tell them the true teaching that we go out and kill people that disagree with us. We don't turn the other cheek.

(يَدْرَعُونَ بِالْحَسَنَةِ السَّيِّئَةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ - "Who repel evil with good and spend from what We have provided them.") (Quran 28:54) You know, the people that you... (أُولَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُم مَّرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا - "Those will be given their reward twice for what they patiently endured.") (Quran 28:54) Because, I was a Christian before I was Muslim. Christians, according to the Qur'an, get double reward. That's right, we get double your reward. I'm sorry.

(اللَّهُ يُؤْتِي فَضْلَهُ مَن يَشَاءُ - "Allah gives His bounty to whom He wills.") (Quran 2:90) I'm sorry, but that's in the hadith. We get double reward. What does the Qur'an say? Why do they get double reward? Because they have sabr, and they turn the other cheek. That's what it says in the Qur'an. You read the Qur'an. Why don't people read the book? Just read the book. Think deeply about the book.

(فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ - "So give good tidings to My servants who listen to speech and follow the best of it.") (Quran 39:17-18) Give good tidings to the people that listen to these words, and then follow the best of these words. One of the acceptable tafsirs of that is that when God gives you the choice of getting your justice or of forgiving, that you forgive, that you take the higher road. That that's the best way. Because that's the way of our Prophet.

The Example of Prophet Yusuf

The way of our Prophet was (لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ قَدْ غَفَرَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ - "No blame will there be upon you today. May Allah forgive you.") He said (لَا تَشْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمْ - "No blame upon you.") (Quran 12:92) Who said that in the Qur'an? Who said that? Yusuf. What did they try to do to Yusuf? His brothers tried to kill him. I mean, this is a man, his brothers threw him into a well. You know, so if you think you have a bad family, just read surah Yusuf. You know, I've got these brothers, you know, they give me such a hard time. Just read surah Yusuf. And you'll hug them. Abdullah, JazakAllah khairan. Don't worry about the 50,000. At least you didn't try to kill me.

But Yusuf (عليه السلام) what did he say to his brothers? When everything turns around, when the high are made low, and the low are made high, when everything turns around, what does Yusuf say? (لَا تَشْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ - "No blame upon you today.") (Quran 12:92) No blame game today. That's what means. No blame game. I'm not playing the blame game.

How could the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) say, no blame game today, when he came into Mecca, after these people had fought him for 20 years, and he says, no blame game today. He didn't say, look at you. Don't you see what God's done? Now I'm over you. Look how pathetic you are. You thought you could chase me out, but look what God's done.

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He's given me victory over you. He came with his head humble, he came low, and then he honored Abu Sufyan. (مَن دَخَلَ دَارَ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ فَهُوَ آمِنٌ - "Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe.") Whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is somebody who has security. That's the messenger of God.

The Blame Game and Iblis

Where are we in that? When are we gonna learn these lessons? He forgave those people. No blame game. Who plays the blame game? The devil. That's (بِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ - "Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.") (Quran 7:16) Iblis. You lead me astray, I'm gonna lead them all astray. That's Iblis (رَبِّ بِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي - "My Lord, because You have put me in error.") He even blames God. He's so confused. But in the end of the day, you're blaming God.

If you wanna blame the Israelis, you're blaming God. Because part of our decree, we believe in the qadar.

Where's the belief in the qadar? (آمَنْتُ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ وَحُلْوِهِ وَمُرِّهِ - "I believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil, its sweet and its bitter.") I took that musalsalat from one of my teachers. It's called the (مُسَلْسَلِ بِقَبْضَةِ اللَّحْيَةِ - "The chain narrated with the holding of the beard.") After the Prophet said that (قَبَضَ عَلَى لِحْيَتِهِ - "He held his beard.") He said, (آمَنْتُ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ وَحُلْوِهِ وَمُرِّهِ - "I believe in the divine decree, its good and its evil, its sweet and its bitter.") The good of it, the evil of it, the sweet, the bitter. It's all from God.

(وَجَعَلْنَا بَعْضَكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ فِتْنَةً أَتَصْبِرُونَ - "And We have made some of you as a trial for others. Will you have patience?") (Quran 25:20) We made some of you a tribulation for others. Will you show patience? Are you going to be forbearing? Will you show patience? That's what the Qur'an says.

Fighting Injustice Without Anger

We made some of you a tribulation for others. And this isn't saying that we don't fight against injustices. No, that's part of our religion. But we don't fight out of anger, vengeance and hatred. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said (انْصُرْ أَخَاكَ ظَالِمًا أَوْ مَظْلُومًا - "Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or oppressed.") (Sahih al-Bukhari 2444) How do we help the oppressor, Ya Rasulullah? By stopping him from his oppression. Because Muslims want guidance for people.

Understanding American History and Immigrant Struggles

These are my people. You might have come from somewhere else. These are my people here. I've got Irish blood. I've got Scottish blood. I've got Greek blood. I've got people here. They came with my great-great-grandfather on boats to this country looking to breathe a breath of fresh air. I had fleeing from British persecution in Ireland in 1838. That's when one of my grandfathers came here wanting to breathe free. And when he got here, he got his head knocked upside his head in Philadelphia during the Catholic riots. When all the Protestants went out and burnt the Catholic churches down and beat up the Irish. That's America. Welcome to America.

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You think because somebody threw some rock at your masjid, you're gonna get all upset? Why don't you read the history of this country? Read what people have been through. Read the struggles of people in this country.

This immigrant community, nobody has come to the United States of America with more red carpets laid out for them in the history of this country than the immigrant community of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and of this current decade. Nobody in the history of America. If you came here as an Italian and American, you duked it out on the street. If you came here as an Irish-American, you duked it out on the street. A Polish-American, you were a Polack. You were a Polack. You were treated like dirt. But each one of these communities struggled until they brought themselves up by their bootstraps.

If you came here as an African... I said this last night. People came here, some people came here in business class. They came here in business class. And if they didn't, they came here in economy class when they used to give free peanuts and they didn't charge you. But we've got... And dinner. We have African-Americans whose ancestors came here in the hulls of ships in chains. And they're here now. You see, you look at African-American community, if you see some strung out, wiped out African-American on some inner city street, you read the history to understand how that person got there. Read the history.

The Muslim Immigrant Experience

But this community, this community came to this country and the red carpet was laid out. And we're getting a little bit of push and shove and suddenly everybody's screaming victimization. I'm sorry. It's time to wake up people. Read the history. Know what this country's about. This country is about struggle. There's nothing this country gives for free. Everything you get, you pay for. And if we want to be a powerful community in this country, that's what we're talking about. Because it took us a while to realize, you know what, I wasn't born in Rawalpindi. I wasn't born in Cairo. I wasn't born in some dysfunctional backwater of the Muslim countries. I was born in the United States of America and Islam has every right to be a successful religion in this country as any other religion.

We have every right to be participants in this country. We have every right to shift the discourse just like the Jews have gotten the support of Israel. We have every right to get the support of the Palestinian people but it's not going to be shouting on the street corners. It's going to be spending money. It's going to be building institutions. It's going to be putting up candidates. It's going to be putting people like Keith Ellison into Congress. That's right. That's what it's going to take. So people have to wake up. Wake up. This is America.

America as a Land of Possibility

And this is a place of possibility. Because there's not a lot of possibilities right now in Gaza. But you're not in Gaza. You're in Baltimore. You're in Baltimore, Maryland. Maryland, the land of Mary. Because this is where the Catholics fled in the United States where they wouldn't be persecuted. That's what Maryland was about. It was about a minority religious community coming here. That's where you live. Read the history of this state.

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Read what this state is about. This is the United States of America. This is the land of possibility. And our religion is the religion of possibility because we believe with God all things are possible.

The Need for Strong Muslim Institutions

It's time that we wake up. We need institutions. We have 30 million Muslims now in Western Europe. 30 million Muslims. We probably have 10 million Muslims in the United States. We have 10% of the second largest city in Canada is Muslim. 10% of Toronto, Canada is Muslim. And we have young people that are confused about their religion. We have imams telling them that you can show no allegiance to a kafir state that you live in. First of all, I want to know what the hell is that imam doing in Canada or in the United States of America. He needs to make immigration to Sudan or Mauritania. I'm an honorary consul of Mauritania. I will facilitate for you a visa to the Jamhuriyyah Islamiyyah in Mauritania. The Islamic Republic of Mauritania. That's right. They might not let you in if you're crazy because they don't like crazy. But if you want to make hijra to a Muslim country, if you want to get your water from a well every day, pull it up from a well. You'll get good. You don't have to go to the gym anymore. In Mauritania, you don't have to go to the gym. Just living normal life is exercise. Alright? Because you have to go out and milk the cow. You don't go to the aisle in the grocery store and buy... No. I milk cows. I milk goats. It takes muscle. The women in Mauritania that do the work, they look like Jane Fonda did back in the 80s when she was doing those videos. Alright?

The Problem of Confusing Our Youth

So that confusing our youth to be in this country. If you hate this country, you have no right to be here because I don't hate America. I want to see liberty and justice for all. Not criminals stealing the wealth of the people. The American people are as much victims as the people of Gaza. Seriously, all these people being deprived of their homes, all these things, this has been the big criminals of the years. They make out to $50 billion scamming on a Ponzi scheme. $50 billion. He even cleaned out all of his Jewish friends. With friends like that, who needs Palestinians? I'm serious.

The Need for Education in Usul al-Fiqh

So if you want to change things, then you need to recognize we have a lot of work to do. We need guidance. We believe you know, the last 10 years of my life, I've been studying with Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah Usul. My knowledge of Usul was very weak before that. The Usul, when Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah began to teach us Usul, I changed radically. Radically. Really. Because I realized the vastness of this religion. We have Muslims all the time saying Islam can be appropriate for every time and place. But they say that as a slogan. They don't know what it means. They don't know how to apply this din to the specific time and place. That's what we need. We need educated Muslims. That's one of the things that we're trying to do.

Supporting Muslim Institutions

If you say why are you coming to Harvard, get donations from people, something that this country takes pride

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in. People from all over the world come to study in American universities and Americans take pride in that fact. Any Muslim institution in this country that is working at a caliber that represents the best of our religion, every Muslim should be proud of. We have institutions that we should be proud of. CAIR is an institution we should be proud of. Rahima. The Islamic Networks Group. There are many many. I could go on. Imam Majid. The ADAMS Center in Washington D.C. That is an Islamic center that every Muslim in America, I'm proud of that, the ADAMS Center. And I will support that masjid. And I will support Imam Majid. The Madina Institute. All of these organizations that are even the ones that I disagree with. Or I have a different understanding about certain things. If they're moderate, they're not advocating violence because I'm opposed to any advocation of violence. I believe in self-defense.

The Right to Self-Defense

I'm not a pacifist by any stretch of that word. I believe in self-defense and the right of self-defense and every sovereign people has a right to self-defense. But that's not Islam. That's as American as apple pie. You don't need to be a Muslim to understand the right to defend yourself. But that's part of our religion. We believe in the right to defend ourselves. But Allah says, don't aggress on people. Don't aggress on people. And don't use the unethical practices that they use saying, well that makes it halal for us. Because they use it with us. No. Allah says in the Qur'an that you can use just as what's being used against you, but that still has the limits of Shariah. And then it says, but if you're patient it's better for the people of patience. People always forget that part of those verses.

The Balance of Justice and Mercy

You'll never find any verse in Qur'an that calls to justice except within a few verses later it's telling people to be patient, forgive, overlook. That's the balance. We need justice but we need mercy too. And if you ask me, I'll take mercy over justice any day of the week. Because I want mercy over justice on Yawm al-Qiyamah. I don't want to be, I don't want a just God on Yawm al-Qiyamah. I don't want Al-'Adl on Yawm al-Qiyamah. I want Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. That's why I'm looking forward to meeting on Yawm al-Qiyamah. I'm not looking forward to meeting Al-'Adl or Al-Jabbar or Al-Muntaqim or any of those Asma al-Jalaliyyah. Yawm Ar-Rahman, Yawm Ar-Rahim that's who I'm looking forward to meeting. But all the Muslims, they say, yeah, for us, not for the other people.

Loving Good for All of Humanity

The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said (لَا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِأَخِيهِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ - "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.") (Sahih al-Bukhari 13, Sahih Muslim 45) Imam An-Nawawi, Ash-Sharbini, Ibn Rajab, look at the great Imams of our tradition. They said (هَذَا يَسْمَلُ الْيَهُودِ وَالنَّصَارَى - "This includes the Jews and the Christians.") This humanity, it includes the Jew, the Christian, the Mushrik, that you actually love guidance for them, you love salvation for them. Seriously, that's real Iman.

The Prophet ﷺ said ("الرَّاحِمُونَ يَرْحَمُهُمُ الرَّحْمَٰنُ ارْحَمُوا مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ يَرْحَمْكُمْ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاءِ - The merciful will be shown mercy by the Most Merciful. Be merciful to those on the earth and the One in the heavens will have mercy upon you.") (Sunan Abu Dawud 4941, Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1924) And in a riwayah, with raising and jazm. Show mercy to those on the earth. And the Merciful in the heaven will show mercy on you.

That's the first hadith any student of hadith knows. It's called (الْمُسَلْسَلُ بِالْأَوَّلِيَّةِ - "The chain narrated by being first.")

Why is that the first hadith? Because (وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ - "And We have not sent you except as a mercy to the worlds.") (Quran 21:107) We only sent you as a mercy to all the worlds. The essence of the prophetic message, is mercy.

Islam as a Religion of Mercy

Man in Arabic language, the Usuli scholars know, it's called (صِيغَةُ الْعُمُومِ - "The form of generality.") Everybody. Show mercy to everybody. Imam Malik considered jihad a mercy. Imam Malik was not of the opinion that jihad was ta'dhib. He actually said jihad is a mercy to stop oppressors, because if you stop them, you stop them from committing more sins. So it's actually a mercy for them to stop them from their oppression.

This religion is mercy. Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah said (الشَّرِيعَةُ كُلُّهَا رَحْمَةً فَإِذَا انْتَقَلَتْ إِلَى غَيْرِهَا مَا كَانَتْ مِنْ شَرْعِ اللَّهِ - "The Shari'ah is entirely mercy, so if it shifts to other than mercy, it is not from the law of Allah.") This religion is all rahmah. So if it goes to the opposite of mercy, it's not from the shari'ah of Allah. He said (الشَّرِيعَةُ كُلُّهَا حِكْمَةٌ فَإِذَا انْتَقَلَتْ إِلَى ضِدِهَا فَلَيْسَتْ مِنْ شَرْعِ اللَّهِ - "The Shari'ah is entirely wisdom, so if it shifts to its opposite, it is not from the law of Allah.") If it goes to other than wisdom, it's not from the shari'ah. He said it's 'adl. The whole thing is justice. If it goes from other than justice, it's not from the shari'ah of Allah.

The Din We Were Taught

This is the din that I was taught. This is the din that I became Muslim and I'm not interested in all the angry people out there that want to use Islam for their own social pathology to justify their own egoistic social pathology because we have a lot of sick Muslims. They're not well. They've been traumatized. A lot of them discovered. Myself one day will be attributed to me in the medical textbooks. Post-colonial syndrome. So you know, we're here to ask. We really think we have an important role. It's not us. Let it be somebody else. But Allah's tawfiq is ultimately the standard and the criterion by which all things are measured.