Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed w/ DarusSalam Seminary in Chicago, IL
By Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 2026-06-04T12:59:52.602803+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah
Dear beloved brothers, inshallah I request you to come for a few minutes together, inshallah I've come as Shaykh mentioned for a few hours alhamdulillah from Chicago to spend this day with all of you here in San Diego, we ask Allah عز وجل that He allow my coming here to become a means of khair for myself, hidayah for myself, and inshallah for the communities that I'm visiting, ameen.
The Crisis of Our Time
A very simple reason I'll tell you of my visit this day is to share with you the plight of our Muslim youth, and not just in this country but generally speaking, the fact that we are going through a very challenging era of fitna and difficulties, and these trials and fitna are not, in this country for example, on the body and physically there is no fear of being tortured or punished, alhamdulillah we're enjoying aman, and may Allah keep this aman with us forever, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not test us with masaeb and difficulties.
O Allah, do not put any musiba and difficulty in our deen
And so this is where we are suffering right now, is that the youngsters and the generation that is born and raised here, who has not seen the deen and the Islamic environment of the countries where the immigrant families have come from, nor have they seen the poverty and difficulty that the immigrants have seen, and now born and raised with luxury and ease and comfort without having any exposure, first hand exposure to any Islamic environment, are now being bombarded with all sorts of different absolutely un-Islamic thoughts and ideas, that are definitely from shaytan.
No human being can think about this type of ideas that are so evil, وَإِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ لَيُوحُونَ إِلَىٰ أَوْلِيَائِهِمْ the shayateen they communicate with one another, shayateen ins wal jinn are communicating with one another, to bring such type of deprivation, some type of loss of haya' within the community, such type of evil thoughts about anyone and everyone, starting off with the thoughts about Allah, from the fact that this thought that Allah does not exist, or the thought that there is absolutely no God, or I don't know if there is a God, atheism, agnosticism, that we're seeing is on a very big rise.
The Attack on Faith and Morality
Then beyond that, after that is the different types of shahawat, and one is the doubts about Allah, and one is the shahawat, the lustful desires that have taken a very morbid and disgusting turn of what has now become acceptable, in terms of attraction, in terms of how to lead their life, etc. None of these things were present three decades ago, none of these things were present four decades ago, but this era has brought in with it so many new masa'ib on the deen that it's just shocking.
Beloved brothers, the fathers and the mothers are not on the same page, because they were not exposed to that. And so that's why they think there is no issue. They don't realize that there is a major problem outside, raging within our homes. The community who is not born and raised here, and hasn't been educated here, and is not continuously reading what's happening, is not visiting the dorms, not visiting the college campus, not reading regularly reddit, not regularly reading all the different forums, is unaware of the type of war that is taking place on the quloob, and the hearts of people, to create within.
It's not only in the hearts of Muslims, it's against the hearts of Christians too, and the hearts of Jews as well. Anyone who follows a faith, anyone who follows a tradition, everyone is under attack. And the new religion that is the fastest growing idea, or fastest growing way of life, is atheism. No longer Islam, no longer anything else.
The Global Spread of Atheism
And these studies have shown that wherever there is an increase in secular western education, number one. Number two, wherever there is an increase of wealth. These two factors, they correlate with the increase of a belief of an atheism. And so this belief is increasing in the entire world at a faster rate than anything else, except for one portion of the world, which is called Sub-Saharan Africa.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, obviously the wealth gap is still there, or the wealth has not increased in the past few decades as it has in other parts of the world. And number two, western secular education also has not increased here the way it has in other parts of the world. And so you can possibly say that that is one of the main reasons why atheism has not spread to that region as fast as it has in all other regions of the world, including the Middle East, and including Muslim countries of course.
The Battle for Hearts and Minds
So now we are up against a battle, or rather an enemy that we had never dealt with at this degree, where people's faith is being robbed. You speak to the average Christian, Jew outside in the street, youngster in school, college, in the train, in the plane, which I have been doing in these travels of mine, and they will tell you that we don't go to church. There is nothing for it in us. It makes no sense. We never think about it. Our mind doesn't go to God anymore. We've got too many things going on in our life for us to think about God.
And the same for a Muslim. Subhanallah. Who's got time to attend a program after Dhuhr on a Sunday? We've got other things to do. Who's got time to go to the masjid? We've got other things to do. Even if the adults do come and pray, Subhanallah, Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha, how many percentage of those who are born and raised in this country are attending our masjid?
The Unsustainable Reality
For every husband and wife from the Muslim community, you have between two to three children at least. And so you just see the representation of all over the United States, what are the number of Muslims attending the masjid that were born and raised here and educated here? And that number you'll see, very small.
The masjids are still, till today, the new masjids are popping up everywhere. Who's building them? The vast majority of immigrants are the ones who are building it. Who's establishing it? Who's running it? Who's the president? Who's the imam? Who are the founders? Till today, the new masjids and musallas that are popping up in San Diego or anywhere else, you'll see the same thing. You'll see the same thing. That it is mostly immigrants who are doing that. Fresher, newer immigrants are coming, so new masjids are popping up.
This, my beloved friends, is not sustainable. It very obviously is not sustainable. How long is this immigration going to continue? And how long are the, how long is this immigrants going to remain immigrant and they're going to live? It's obviously not. Very soon, my time and your time is going to come. And we're going to be gone. My parents' time, your parents' time, all going to come and go.
And we will leave the masjid and institutions and the deen in the hands of those people who were born and raised here, who did not see the deen that you all saw. And who didn't see the poverty and the difficulty of life that you all saw. They have never saw and heard of a pre-LGBTQ era. They don't even know what that means. Because they were born in this time, 10, in the past 10-15 years, who's ever been born? Is born into an era where this is the madhhab السائد الرائج. This is the madhhab that runs.
The "Do Whatever You Want" Culture
Which is, you do whatever you want, whatever you want. This is what you call it, اتباع الهوى, up to the absolute level. Whatever you feel like it, just do it. Brother, that doesn't make sense. Where is the sense of modesty? Who knows what modesty is? There's no such thing as modesty. Hayaa, inqibat, enough from something. No, there's no inqibat. You do whatever you want. This is what Rasulullah ﷺ said, when you lose modesty, do whatever you want. This is now the madhhab. Just do it type of mentality.
So now you ask yourselves, what will be the future of our generation? If you say, oh forget Muslim community. Where will your grandkids be in 60 years or 50 years? Where will your great grandkids be in 40-50 years? This is the question. Every man sitting here should ask himself.
The Reality Check
If while you who are mostly I can see in this crowd here, maybe there's one or two maybe who are born here. The rest are all foreign immigrants. So if we, subhanallah, while we're here alive are seeing that our children are not able to come to the masjid. Are not able to pray in the front row. Are not taking leadership. Are not getting involved in the Muslim community. What do you think will happen when after you and I are gone into the grave?
You ask yourself, while we are present we cannot bring change. What makes you think that as soon as you die everything is going to become perfect? And our sons and daughters will say, oh our dad was a pious man. Khalas, that's it. I'm going to change my life and dedicate it to the masjid and take care of the masjid that he built.
A Personal Story
I was giving a Jummah khutbah in New Jersey. And in the end of my talk I spoke about the height of atheism in the Muslim community. And how people are leaving for the fold of Islam left and right. There was a person who was standing at the back of the Jummah because there was no space. He came in at the end. He was dead but he stood by the outside door. La ilaha illallah. He looked at me, okay anyway. The khutbah was over.
Afterwards I received a text message. And the brother says, that I am the person who came at the end of the masjid, back of the masjid during Jummah, if you saw me. I said, yeah I saw you. He said, what you said the last few minutes of your Jummah khutbah, I came for the last few minutes, it resonated with me very well. You spoke about people leaving Islam, the youth leaving Islam. It resonated very well.
I said, what is your story? He said, the masjid that you just gave khutbah in, if you look my father's name is in the lobby. There's a whole plaque dedicated to him. My father bought and founded this masjid, church. He bought it and founded it and he ran it. He received a reward by the village because of his dedication to the town. Although he founded and bought this masjid and ran it, till he passed away. Today I am an atheist.
And the only reason I came here is because I know I liked my dad. It would have brought him happiness. So every Friday I show up for a few minutes. He doesn't pray, he doesn't attend. He just shows up, he shows his face for a couple of minutes in the back and leaves. In his mind he says, wherever my dad is, it will bring some happiness to him. He said, I am the story you're saying.
The Call to Action
So we don't have to look in Colombia, South America and the Caribbean. We're talking about what is already definitely happening here. My message, why am I here today? To share this concern. That as moms and dads, as elders, we must wake up and get out of the slumber of ghafla and heedlessness.
Thinking that everything will be fine as long as I am praying my salah, as long as I am okay, I give a couple of dollars in the donation box, my son will be and daughters will be okay, my granddaughters will be okay. Absolutely not. That's not how it's going to work.
The Alarming Statistics
The rate of atheism in the community is already reached beyond 25%. The statistics showing more than one out of four Muslims today born in Muslim homes is no longer Muslim. But since we don't look around, we're not connected because you go job, home, masjid. You're not connected to what's happening outside. You don't realize what's going on. So that's why this statistic seems to be wild and outlandish.
The Crisis Facing Our Youth
But it is absolutely not outlandish. I have been working on this topic, alhamdulillah, since I came from studying abroad. 2005, I came back to this country. And I came back to find three of my best friends who attended Islamic school with me, all 12 years. All three of them became atheists. One of them became an engineer at MIT. One of them became a doctor in New York. One of them went to law school in the University of Urbana. But subhanAllah, all three of them ended up after having studied in Islamic school because why? The Islamic school educational system or the Hifz class education system or the Sunday school education system is not up to date. It cannot, it is an old vaccine from the 1940s. It's not going to help with today's mutated virus. What you require is a vaccine that is continuously updated to continuously address the latest issues that are coming about. Doubts and desires, shahwat and shubwat, these are the main two issues.
Our Educational Programs
So alhamdulillah, friends, then I've been working on different various projects. 2009, we began a summer intensive program for the youth, specifically targeting these issues. It's already been, mashallah, almost 15 years. Continuously, every single year, we've taken over 150, 200 students from across the country, both boys and girls. Alhamdulillah. And then we started a one-year immersion program. Our first batch we took in 2012. Mashallah, 10 batches have been graduated from our one-year program.
What is the one-year program? The one-year program is like, in my opinion, fardh, fardh. Because why? To save your iman is fardh. And anything that will help you save your fardh and save your iman, it also becomes fardh. If we do not educate our children in علوم إسلامية (Islamic sciences), and we do not give them the confidence that is required for them to walk out and say, I'm a Muslim and I'm proud of it. And I know I'm on the haq. I know I'm on the truth. My Prophet was a true, most amazing person.
The Challenges Our Children Face Today
All the elders sitting here, and the immigrants, I ask you, think about your childhood. Can you think of even one person during your childhood who attacked Rasulullah's ﷺ honor as a Muslim in a Muslim country? Can you think of one person who says about Rasulullah's ﷺ marriages? I don't think any of you sitting here will say, yes, I had a friend in 5th grade who said stuff like this. Or 10th grade. Overseas. In the 1970s and 80s and 90s that you went to school. But now this is the norm. This is the norm.
I have now 8, 9 year olds who are coming to our Sunday school and now are objecting, why did Rasulullah ﷺ have this many wives? لا إله إلا الله. Then the fathers are calling, saying, we're going to pull our child out of Sunday school. How dare this is taught? What do you mean to teach? Should I say he's got one wife? The seed of the Prophet ﷺ is there. But this is the type of najasah and filth and ritz that has completely made the minds and the hearts of our children of this era absolutely corrupted. And to harbor evil thoughts about our Nabi ﷺ. What deen you going to have left? What deen you going to have left? Nothing. Kufr. Only kufr when a person has evil thoughts about his Nabi ﷺ and has doubts about his Nabi ﷺ.
Our Comprehensive Curriculum
So this is what we're faced with. So we developed a program, our own program, 12-11 years ago to say we have to teach seerah, we have to teach aqeedah, we have to teach fiqh, we have to teach tajweed, we have to teach tazkiyah. And we have to focus it on current issues. So that the student who graduates from this Islamic studies curriculum inshaAllah is confident spiritually and academically to be able to handle what university gives it to him.
Number two we included within it a very strong Arabic curriculum. And for the Arab speaking brothers here who know fusha and what not, I'll tell you we'll take students who don't even know how to write their name in Arabic. And by the end of the 11 months they are fluently reading through Arabic textbooks. MashaAllah for example this year our students read Maqamat Hariri, one of the maqamat from Maqamat Hariri. They read Harry Potter in Arabic. They read many tafsir books including one of the most challenging tafsir books called Al-Tahreer wa-Tanweer of Ibn Ashur, a very famous Tunisian scholar whose tafsir is like the masterpiece in lughah. Alhamdulillah from zero, from not knowing how to write your name in Arabic to be able to read this. This is a gift of Allah. This is a gift of Allah.
Intensive Program Structure
So when we say it's intensive, it means from 8am, 7:50am to 5pm every single day. Six days a week, Saturday till 11:30am. And then in the evenings we have murajah, two hours of review sessions. It's for 11 months. It's intense definitely. But what happens is the end product is so amazing. That you can walk out saying that you can understand 60-70% of the Qur'an and you can actually pick up Arabic text and read.
Now are these people ulama, scholars, imams? No. They are now masha'Allah students of knowledge. They can go back to their communities and continue benefiting from the scholars of their community or can continue to benefit from our own continuous continuation ilm program. But then they will move on to universities and they'll go on to colleges and they'll go on to the workforce. But they've got the foundational deen with them to make them a good father, a good mother, a good father-in-law, a good mother-in-law, a good husband, a good wife, a good one-day grandfather, and a good office worker, a manager, a good doctor, a good engineer. They can be the imam of the musalla of the hospital, the imam of the musalla of the law firm, imam of the IT office, whatever it is. Handling the basics. They've been trained how to give khutbahs.
Spiritual and Academic Requirements
They have to memorize 300 hadith. If they're not hafidh they have to memorize at least one juz. If they are hafidh they have to do murajah and review. Every single month we examine five juz. So that by the end of the year their Qur'an is insha'Allah to be a better state than it was when they came in.
Then practically they have charts, a'mal charts, daily ishraq, daily salah, five daily salah, tahajjud, adhkar, and each one based on their level. Someone says, brother I used to pray once a week. Okay, then we're not going to give you all this stuff. We're going to get you only on five times daily salah. Someone says, I used to pray all of this but I need to get a little bit more. So we customize charts for each student so that they are at a level where they need to be and start working. We say, whatever level you came in, no problem, we'll take you in. But by the end of the year you have to be many levels higher than where you came in.
Addressing Mental and Emotional Health
Then alhamdulillah they are assigned mentors. And so weekly they sit with their mentors and talk about their spiritual issues, issues at home, emotional issues, whatever types of challenges. Because I'm dealing with these, masha'Allah, children, youth for fifteen years in our institution and various other parts of the country that I travel. And I realize that the American youth, subhanAllah, they're wearing hundred, two hundred dollar watch, three hundred dollar shoe, three hundred dollar maybe clothes. But subhanAllah, they've got so many problems. Maybe problems you won't even see in third world countries. Like kids on the streets, they're happy with their little life. But our kids, they have all the luxury but they're emotionally broken.
I cannot tell you how many. We have to deal with incest. We have to deal with sexual abuse. We have to deal with trauma. We have to deal with divorce trauma. We have to deal with depression. We have to deal with multiple personalities. We have to deal with all kinds of, of course, OCD. We have to deal with other mental and emotional illnesses. I'm not saying all of them are like that. But the idea is, you would never think people got problems until you sit down and say, so how's life? And then you're like, wow. You're smiling. You look at your car you drove into the masjid with. And this is how broken your home is? This is what it is.
The Crisis of Broken Homes
The houses are broken today. The houses are big, beautiful. You heard me, the conversation I was having in the car right now, just now I was coming. I was just stopping a husband from having a divorce. Right now as I was coming to the masjid from another state. Because, and I'm like, he's like, my son is so disobedient and my wife is blaming me for the disobedience and I'm done. Wallah, I'll go to hell but I won't stay with my wife again. And I'm telling him, listen, relax. Let's not make a hasty decision. You've walked out of the house? Okay, fine. I've been helping them, trying to help them for some time.
But this is, you look at the son, why has he become disobedient? I know this family, I used to go stay at their house every time I used to travel that state. It wasn't like this before. The shaitan is working full force to break up the marriages and to create disobedience within the kids. If parents are married and the children are disobedient, imagine what will happen when the dad leaves the house. And says, forget it, you're mom on your own. What in the world is going to happen to the future of this child?
That is one of the major causes of atheism rise in the country. If you read the statistics on it, research done by non-Muslims is what? Broken homes. Broken homes is leading people also to leave religion. Because they're like, what's the point? I have no support. My mom and dad were, go to the church, go to the mosque. But I've been treated like this. There's no point in having any faith. It's very sad. So alhamdulillah, we try to be there as an older brother to our youth and help them get through this.
Success Stories and Advanced Programs
So mashaAllah tabarak wa ta'ala, successfully this past year was our 10th batch of graduates. 75 students graduated. And mashaAllah brother Shakeel's son, Ali, Umar also graduated from mashaAllah this year's program. As all of you probably know him. So his brother also, both twins, mashaAllah twins both graduated. One from our place and one from next door. And we are now, over the past 10 years alhamdulillah, are seeing beautiful success with the graduates. They're going to very good schools, but they're taking their iman and deen with them.
Now if someone says, I love what I did, I want to continue studying, we have a full 7 year program. So 1 plus 6. And they can do the complete sharia program for 7 years. Alhamdulillah, 3 batches of young men have graduated from the 7 year program. And women as well. Our first batch of sisters graduated this past June. Alhamdulillah.
And then we have a taqassos as well. So those who finish the 7 year program want to do specialization in hadith. We have a 2 year hadith specialization program and 2 year fiqh shafi'i specialization program.
High School Integration Program
So we also have a tadris integrated high school program. So those of you who are one who say, I'm worried about what you're saying, I want to bring my 13 and 14 year old. Yes you can. You'll have to move with them. And we have a high school program, half day high school, half day sharia program. By the time they finish the 4 years of high school, they have studied about 3 out of the 7 years. And they're enough now. They can go on to college. If they wish to continue, it's up to them. But they have at least a very solid solid foundation of the deen, Arabic language and so forth.
Our Campus and Facilities
So beloved brothers and sisters, this is being held in Darussalam in Lombard, Illinois, 20 minutes from Chicago International Airport, O'Hare International Airport. Alhamdulillah we have a 15 acre campus. We have a 85,000 square foot facility. And we have about 5, 6 homes in the campus where our out of state older students reside. The girls, they have their own. They don't stay on campus. They have to come with a mahram or have to have a mahram in Chicago. Or they stay, a few of them together and one of the mothers stay with them.
Building the Next Generation of Islamic Scholars
And the youngsters, they come, they have to come also with a guardian or come with their parents. Because we cannot take the responsibility and liability of that. What we do take responsibility of the 18 year old plus students.
If the 1 year program is a lot, sounds a lot to you, for this year, which starts August 15th, I want all the fathers who are sitting here to please become an ambassador. To say, you know what, and he can be a great ambassador and he can tell you himself. That at least make a نية (niyyah) to say, before my son and daughter get married, please give them the deen. Because I don't want your son and daughter to be extremely ill equipped and then they have kids and they don't know how to handle them.
The Questions of Our Generation
I have, الحمد لله (Alhamdulillah), 4 children. My child, one of the kids, since the age of 6, he asked so many hard questions, you cannot believe it. Just a couple of weeks ago, I was stopped by at home for a little bit and he said, "Baba, why do, if Allah already knows everything, why do we have to do everything? If already He knows where we're going," the issue of تقدير (taqdeer).
I never, how many of you thought of تقدير (taqdeer) when you were 7? How many of you thought of these questions when you were 7? But this is what this generation is. They question everything. Questions that we never thought when we were 70, we'll think when they are when they're 7. That's just how it is. Skepticism and doubt. Skepticism and doubt in everything.
So we need to make a decision right now that we want to protect our kids and we have to protect them through تعليم (ta'leem) and تربية (tarbiyah).
Our Educational Programs
We have a short program called the تمهيد (tamheed) intensive which is happening, الحمد لله (Alhamdulillah), during the summer. This is like the 15th year we're doing it. And ما شاء الله (mashaAllah), we have two sections of it. One is called the deen intensive which is only Islamic studies and one is called the Arabic intensive which is only Qur'anic Arabic.
The deen intensive is going to finish Tuesday and then the Arabic intensive will start on July 25th. It will run only for three weeks. It's offered on site and for brothers it's also offered online. Obviously the most important component of all of this is what? تربية (Tarbiyah) and بيئة (bi'ah) and environment and محل (ma'hul). Online doesn't give you that but if that's all you can afford or mean you can't travel then at least you can consider that.
But I would highly recommend you try to get your sons and daughters to come in person right before they go to college. What a nice way. Right before they head to college or university if they can come for three weeks starting from July 25th. إن شاء الله (In shaa Allah) it will create taste.
Bringing the Horse to the Well
I know you say I can't force my kids but your responsibility is to give them exposure. You can bring them to the masjid whether they want to sit and listen is up to them. Yes, it's up to Allah. But your job and our job is to bring the horse to the well as they say. You can't make the horse drink but you can bring him to the well. Our job is to bring our children to the environments and إن شاء الله (in shaa Allah) they will fall in love with the environment and say you know what Baba I want to study. Can I stay here for a few weeks.
This is exactly what happens to me when any father comes and says here's my son can you talk to him. This is his phone number can you talk to him. He's disobedient. He doesn't pray. He's doubtful about Islam. All this stuff. And I said no it's not going to work like that. You cannot do surgery without anesthesia. You have to do anesthesia first. And in order to do anesthesia you got to bring him to our institution. Let him simply even just come for one program. Even if he doesn't pray salah. Let him sit in the back. No problem. Let me finish the talk or whoever's speaking there and after the program I'll sit down with him with a cup of tea and we can talk. But you got to bring him there.
Oh how can I bring him to Chicago. Okay you tell him you're going to go visit the city. You're going to go on a food tour. You're going to go visit the beautiful city of Chicago and see all the sightseeing. Whatever you want to do. And then you just drive by the masjid. Hey this is a nice masjid. And you enter it for a tour. Like many people come even non-Muslims come to our masjid. So come in. And then ما شاء الله (masha Allah) we can bump into each other coincidentally. And الحمد لله (alhamdulillah) we'll take care from there. This is the method I tell people to do. Bring them to the environment and إن شاء الله (insha Allah) things will be set.
Growth of Darussalam Seminary
So I conclude with this that I'm here just for 12 hours. And I'm coming here after I told shaykh I was last here in 2008. That time we did not have Darussalam. We had just purchased the land. That's it. Now الحمد لله (alhamdulillah) we have 400 students. 75 staff members. And I'm happy and glad to have come back after so long. And I hope I can come back more often.
But I want this community to benefit from the buffet. We have everything set out. All you have to do is come and eat. You have to send your kids to come and enjoy. Some of us may say I don't have the means for it. The financial means. No problem. الحمد لله (Alhamdulillah) there are people إن شاء الله (insha Allah) we'll find within the community who will sponsor your son's or daughter's education. There are people who finish the entire 7 year program without having to pay a cent. And now there are Islamic school teachers and imams of masjids. الحمد لله (Alhamdulillah). And leading a whole community. And there were orphans. ما شاء الله (Masha Allah). Some of them were سادات اشراف (Saadat Ashraf) from the family of the Prophet ﷺ. And people came and supported them. And الحمد لله (alhamdulillah) today they're serving the community.
So if you have a financial situation don't worry about that. You simply say I have نية (niyyah). I want to send my son or daughter. Or I want to come myself and إن شاء الله (insha Allah) Allah will provide and we are there in your خدمة (khidmah) to make things happen.
Program Information and Success Stories
So on the way out there is a flyer. I ask you to take a look at that. It's called masjid.salam.org. Take the flyer. It's got the details of the 3 week program and the 1 year program. Ammar here is a student who just finished the 1 year program. He's from Tampa. He took a year off between high school and college. He did the 1 year program. Now ما شاء الله (masha Allah) he's going to be going. Him and his 2. His 2 older sisters. One's in dental school. One's in medical school. Both of them did the 1 year program. And now they're on professional schools. Himself same thing ما شاء الله (masha Allah). He's doing the same thing.
So we're not telling you to stun your son's growth or your daughter's growth. We're not saying take him out of the college and make him not study. Do all of that. But make sure you don't lose the deen as well. So he's got a QR code. You can just take a picture of that QR code and there's a whatsapp group called San Diego Darussalam updates group. So all our lectures, our talks, our flyers, everything will be posted there. It's an admin post only. There's no random forwards, videos, this and that. So you don't get junk in it. But at least you will be connected and stay informed.
Year-Round Programs
If right now it's too late for you, then إن شاء الله (inshallah) at least from next year you know. This course is every year. Christmas break, 4 days during our Christmas holidays, we have a winter intensive that is very academically orientated for your college age youth. Post modernism, LGBTQ, atheism, that's the خصوصي (khususi) of the winter intensive. It's very academically orientated. 4 days in Christmas time. Then we have a Ramadan اعتكاف (i'tikaf) program. Then we have Memorial Day weekend. It's a huge event which is more like for the family. Not too hard, not too academic, more spiritual. ما شاء الله (MashaAllah) we have between 3,500 to 4,000 people this year and last year. It's 100% free. All the meals are free, registration is free. We just want you to come. There's 2 Muslim owned hotels across the street. You can come, we go through our website, you get a special rate to stay there. It's available all year round. So you can stay there with your family and come visit anytime.
A Vision for San Diego
So I hope my coming here will be إن شاء الله (inshallah) a means of putting some seeds here. My vision for San Diego, I'm coming from Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland, today San Diego, tomorrow LA. Each place الحمد لله (alhamdulillah) we're spending 10-15 hours. But every place we're saying is that we want to bring solutions. We're not here to make you feel depressed. Yes, I'm here to wake you up, to make you lose your sleep a little bit, definitely. I hope it does. But what I'm here to give you a solution to say, if every year within the San Diego community, if we all unanimously decide and make مشورة (mashura) to say from this masjid, every year إن شاء الله (inshallah) 4 boys and girls will go. The other masjids I'm visiting, if they make نية (niya), 4 boys and girls will go. Collectively if we have 10 boys and girls coming from this community, from the San Diego community, imagine within 7 years إن شاء الله (inshallah) you'll have 70 graduates who will all be professionals in various places who did the 1 year program. Then you'll have people who've done إن شاء الله (inshallah) maybe 5% of those 70 will have done the entire 7 year program. They will come back and organically establish a seminary which will have its own summer intensive, winter intensive, 1 year program and the entire southwestern United States إن شاء الله (inshallah) will be coming to enjoy the beautiful San Diego weather and also studying in this institution.
People, every community I go to people say, brother nothing's happening. What are you waiting for? You're gonna wait for some paratroopers to descend to do something? ملائكة (Malaika) to descend? It's not gonna happen. You and I have to do this. ما شاء الله (MashaAllah) may Allah reward my parents, they sent us to Africa when no one wanted us there. In the 90s we went to Africa. It was hard for them. They sent us to Africa. They sent us to a war torn country. But سبحان الله (subhanAllah), Allah reward them, they made صبر (sabr) by letting us go but we came back and we established whatever we did.
So I want the same for San Diego إن شاء الله (inshallah). You all say إن شاء الله (inshallah). That this dream of mine will come true very soon. That we will have students graduating, coming back and establishing institutions and helping our مشايخ (mashaykh) who have become old serving this community. They need help, they're not getting the help they need. We need a group of young men and women to be the hands and the feet of our مشايخ (mashaykh) and to work with them and assist them to take, in their old age to make things life easier for them.
How nice it would be if someone sits there and makes your beautiful flyer, then makes the powerpoints, then makes small handouts and does youth program, takes care of the barbeque, takes care of the social services and they're all people of علم (ilm) and they're working under the shaykh. You have a group of ten. How nice the work would move forward in every single masjid. This is what our dream is.
Final Du'a
I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He accepts the خدمة (khidmah) of our staff, our teachers, our volunteers, our donors, our patrons, our parents, our مشايخ (mashaykh) and all those of you who sat patiently and listened to me. I ask Allah azza wa jal to make my coming here to means of my own salvation and your salvation. May He save my kids and your kids in our generations. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala save us from having doubt after having been gifted with يقين (yaqeen). May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala save our children from leaving the fold of Islam. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make every one of us a lantern of guidance and هداية (hidayah). May He utilize us to bring back the deen fully and introduce Islam back to the Muslims and to the non-Muslims as well.
Do any of the brothers here have any questions that I can answer إن شاء الله (inshallah)? Yes. بارك الله فيكم (Barakallahu feekum). Okay. At work? At work? Yes.
Addressing Contemporary Challenges: A Discussion on Islamic Education and Community Response
My son is 6 years old, 7 years old in his kindergarten class in school. The pride flag is bigger than the U.S. flag. This is happening not elsewhere. It's happening for the little kids. So the thing is we have to talk about it at home. We have to openly discuss this every day. We have to have مذاكرة حلقة of تعليم at home and we talk about what is deen and where do we get our moral code from a usuli perspective.
Oh they're all wrong. There's only a certain number of years you're going to believe that. Once he reaches high school, say who said they're wrong? They're 95%. You're 5%. Baba you're old. You come from old village mentality. I don't believe you. I'm going to listen to my peers. That's what's going to happen.
The Foundation of Islamic Morality
So that's why from a fundamental usuli perspective we have to show that morality and ethics is not something subjective. It is objective. And it is منزل من السماء. It is a revelation. It comes from a revelation. What is morally right and upright.
Because it is a common question. Who differentiates between a sister, a wife, and a mother? If everything is the same, then where's the difference? Then you might as well marry anyone. And subhanAllah as outlandish as they may seem, this is happening in New York. There's two lawsuits if I'm not mistaken. Two lawsuits. I know for sure one. That are challenging the fact that marriage of mother to son is illegal. Right now shaykh, this is happening in the New York state. That they're challenging that this should be made legal.
Prophetic Warning Coming to Pass
And this is hadith of Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم that he said the prophecy, you will follow the footsteps of your previous people. Footstep by footstep. And then he said if one of them were to enter a lizard hole, you'll do that. And then he said if one of them were to fulfill his desires with his mother, you Muslims will do the same. He said this 1500 plus years ago. And the era is around the corner right now.
The Solution: Open Dialogue at Home
So what is the solution? Is to talk about these things openly at home. Yes. To talk about it is very awkward. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Jazakallah khair. The question he's asked, the first question hopefully he was just saying how to handle the LGBTQ issue and things of that sort. And I told him you have to have open discussions at home. Second question he's saying but even as discussions as fathers, you know, we have a different way of explaining things. We feel awkward to speak about these issues.
It's true. I cannot imagine my mom and dad, you know, my mother speaking about this. She's a very educated, she's a physician. But she comes from a whole different era. To sit and speak about these things would be very, very, very cringy to think about even having to speak about this. SubhanAllah.
The Role of Islamic Education
So I would say for example, you know, that's why, that's where we come in, right? That's the whole idea. We're saying that let us, our staff is 100% born and raised here. I'm born and raised here. I'm educated. I went to, I did a degree in psychology over here. Yes, I studied Sharia abroad. But I, you know, I'm able to understand because I went through the whole system here.
So we're going to have to, what I'm saying is we have to have those type of, our Sunday school teachers, our Islamic school teachers, they are maybe born and raised here, they're educated, but they don't have the Islamic backing. They don't have the Islamic Tarbiyah. That's a big problem. That is why Islamic schools unfortunately in the country are graduating atheists. After spending $15,000 in tuition, why are we getting an atheist out? That's what's happening because the teachers themselves are not Islamically educated.
Available Resources and Solutions
So the solution is multi-pronged. Not everyone can immediately stand up and say, you know, I want to come to Dar es Salaam, for example, of course. But those who can, they should not do it only for the need of themselves. They need to do it to help the rest. That's one thing.
Number two is that, for example, Yaqeen Institute, as you know, has, for example, Yaqeen Circles, they call it. They have some, I haven't gone fully through it, but Sheikh Omar has told me, Alhamdulillah, they've done extensive work on preparing talking points for youth groups and Sunday schools specifically on this issue. So that's one resource that you can check up.
Didn't one already come out? No, but didn't this one, oh this one from LA, the Sheikh, what's his name, from Orange County? Sheikh Mustafa Omar? Yeah, he hasn't come out yet. So yeah, so there's many papers. Ustad Mubeen Vaid. Ustad Mubeen Vaid has a 50-page paper on it. Really good paper. He's awesome, mashallah. Ustad Mubeen Vaid has a 50-page paper on it and he's done many presentations. We've hosted him in Dar es Salaam during our winter intensive. Yes, Dr. Karl Sharif. We've hosted him also in our winter intensive, virtually.
So you have good resources, Dr. Karl Sharif, as he said, Ustad Mubeen Vaid, Mustafa Omar here from Orange County, and Yaqeen Institute. These are some, Alhamdulillah, and guess what?
The Blessing of Open Discourse
You know, Sheikh brothers, you know how lucky we are that we're having this conversation here? Do you think this conversation is happening in Bangladesh? You think this conversation is happening in Algeria? You think this conversation is happening in Hindustan, in India? And these issues are everywhere. They're in Medina, they're in Mecca, they're in Mumbai, they're in Karachi, they're in Islamabad, but unfortunately the discourse is not happening there.
So we are very lucky that this type of discourse openly is happening, Alhamdulillah, over here. And the fact is, the fitna is everywhere. But mashallah, there's some efforts in this country to at least fight back and to recognize that this is a fitna. While other people, they have no idea that this is an issue. And they will only realize it when it's too late.
So whenever I travel abroad, I always address ulama and mashayikh and board members and movers and shakers of the community. And I always have private discussions. I say, listen, this is where I'm coming from. I'm coming from the eye of the storm. And this is going to come at you in three years or two years. You already have it here, it's dormant. It's sitting inside the closet, but very soon it's going to come out of the closet and you'll have no idea how to handle it. Already the work is being done in America. Why don't you benefit from the resources over here and you translate it in your own language and start speaking about it? Alhamdulillah.
So I am very happy where I am. Someone just asked me last night, where would you move to? I said I wouldn't move anywhere. I said Allah has placed us here in a very, it's a ni'mah that we can actually do some work. And we are sitting like at the top of a hill to be able to see all the fitan. Because had we were in a different country, we may not have been able to have this vision, the way Allah has blessed us while staying here.
So I think there's a lot to be hopeful for. We can save ourselves and insha'Allah save our relatives as well. So all of you who have relatives back home, nephews and nieces who are studying in college, you have to talk to them. You have to connect with them because they all understand English. Connect with them to the English speaking scholars here who are addressing on these topics and issues.
A Call to Action
So please, I want you all to say insha'Allah you make ni'mah that before your sons and daughters become too old that insha'Allah you'll dedicate and give them for a year. Say insha'Allah. And you will also become ambassadors so that every single year we'll have a group insha'Allah coming from San Diego to come. And you will, subhanAllah, who is going to benefit? You as a father will.
A Transformational Story
I want to end with one story. My first batch of students, 2012. Two, three months into the program, I had one father whose son was in our program, come to me at 8am. We didn't have even a masjid, we had no madrasa, we had a warehouse we were using. He came to me in the morning, he was waiting outside the warehouse. I said, everything okay? He said, no shaykh, my wife and I have not slept all night. I said, إنا لله وإنا إليه راجعون. What's happening? I said, come into the office. I said, what's wrong?
He said, last night our son, who is your student in the one year program, came home, we were sitting around the dinner table. Although he was hafidh of the Quran, but he's your typical American cocky, arrogant teenager. Disrespectful to his dad and mom. So he says, while he's eating on the dinner table, all of a sudden he said, Ammi, mother, I'm very sorry, I've been such a disrespectful son to you. And he started crying, and he couldn't control himself, he got off the table and he left. So, that mom and dad were just shocked with all the other siblings, like what's going on over here? They thought it was their imagination.
He said, afterwards, the father said, I have a habit of tucking in my kids into bed. Six children, mashallah, he has. So he said, I went to all the rooms, eventually I got to my eldest son's room. And he was sleeping, but he was not tucked in properly, so I took his blanket and fixed it. He said, when I did that, he woke up. He sat up in his bed, and he told me, Baba, and he started crying, he said, I'm very sorry, I've been a very disrespectful son to you all my life.
So, he tucked him in and went back to his room. He said, my wife and I, we just held our hands and we cried the whole night, thinking what type of gift, what did we do to deserve this? That our sons have within a few months completely changed. Alhamdulillah, that one son, mashallah, became a hafidh, did the alim program, went on to Malaysia, got a master's in finance, and now, mashallah, teaches in our institution. Alhamdulillah.
The Fruits of Islamic Education
My point is, if your sons and daughters do study with the program, one of the main benefits that you get, besides iman, strong iman and tarbiyah, is that they will respect you. They will have adab for their parents, which is very sorely lacking, because there's no adab today. There's no adab here, there's no ta'alim and no tarbiyah. If there's no deen, there's no adab. Inshallah, you'll be, yourself, receiving the rewards of it in this dunya, besides whatever you receive in the akhira.
Jazakumullah khaira. السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته.
Program Announcements
Yeah, there is a program today, from four o'clock to six o'clock in Darul Uloom, on Miramar and Kamino Ru is for ladies. Just for ladies. And then for men, it's after isha at Darul Uloom. And then at MCC, it's after maghrib, but before, if you have youth, there is a special youth program at 6.30 in MCC. So MCC has two programs, 6.30 for youth, just the kids. And then at maghrib, it's for everyone. And at Darul Uloom, again, ladies at four, four to six. And then men, or everybody, after isha, inshallah, or right isha.
So inshallah, on behalf of Islamic Center of San Diego, I want to say jazakumullah khairan to the sheikh. May Allah reward you, may Allah bless you. And I ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى to help us to benefit, inshallah, all. Jazakumullah khairan. السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته.