Planning for Tomorrow

Planning for Tomorrow - United For Change - United Against Malaria

Opening Greetings and Gratitude

As-salamu alaykum, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim), alhamdulillah, ashadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu, amma ba'd.

My beloved brothers and sisters, if there were ever a time that I wanted to do a fundraiser, it would have been tonight. I am so grateful for all of you, Imam Zaid Shakir and his magnificent group, who called these wonderful scholars and teachers, lecturers, to be with us tonight. I thank Allah for him, and I ask Allah, Imam Zaid, to give you tremendous reward. Here is something that is so pure, not for my masjid, not for my school, but for those who need us.

Personal Connection to the Cause

I remember a few years ago, Imam Hamza, I was in the San Francisco area. Imam Zaid, I don't think you were there that day, and I gave a lecture at one of the universities. And I remember telling the people that I had different identities. I began to say, I am black. I am American. I am African. And I said that my most important identity, I am a Muslim. I am a Muslim. And I remember, Imam Hamza, I don't know if you remember that, you whispered in my ear, and you said, Imam Siraj, one more thing. He says, we are human.

The Crisis of Malaria

Tonight, I am especially moved about this dilemma of malaria. There was a young man that I was looking for to be here. He told me he would, he didn't make it. His name is Ali. Ali from Nigeria. And what makes Ali so special to me, he is my son-in-law, married to my wonderful daughter, Hudra. And Ali told me last week, that in Nigeria is a competition. A competition between who will get the resources, should we give it to those who are starving, because of famine, or should we give it to those who have malaria.

Meeting at Logan Airport

I was in Logan Airport in Boston about six weeks ago. And I'm sitting down reading, and all of a sudden a Muslim man and his wife approached me. He recognized me. I didn't know him. And he began to talk to me, and I told him that in a few weeks I'm going to go to Maryland area to do a conference on malaria. And I told him that we're going to try to raise $200,000. And he smiled at me. He said, you know, Imam, he's a doctor, and his wife is a surgeon. He said, we in America, and we have been raising money for a hospital in Pakistan. You know how much money he told me he raised, Imam Majid? $170 million.

The Value of Every Contribution

And then he began to tell me about all the programs that exist that we can get money for to help those who are less fortunate in Africa, which begs this question. Some may be tempted today to say that what we have done here today in this wonderful center is nothing but symbolic. I differ with you. Maybe the money that we raised wasn't a lot, but it certainly wasn't symbolic. It wasn't symbolic because the Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said, "Save yourselves from the fire, even with half a date." (Sahih Bukhari 1417, Sahih Muslim 1016)

So whatever you give in the way of Allah, whatever you give for the relief of others, how little it may be, how insignificant it may be, know that Allah would reward us. No, it's not symbolic.

Why Ramadan is the Right Time

I heard some people whispering that maybe we shouldn't do it in the month of Ramadan. Why do it in the month of Ramadan? Let's do it another month. And I would argue and say this, that those mosquitoes that bite at these babies at night, they don't discriminate. They don't say, well, we can't bite on them today because this is the month of Ramadan. Those that get sick, they get sick in the month of Ramadan, and those that die, they die in the month of Ramadan. And what better time to exercise this discipline than to do it in this great month, in the month of Ramadan.

The Impact of Location

My son-in-law, Ali, location makes a difference. They say location, location, location. Location makes a difference. When Ali was living in Niger, the life expectancy is 54.9 years old. In America, it's over 77 years. So on the average, we live longer than the people in Niger by some 22.9 years. Location.

From Wishing to Working

And so what do we come here today to do? Last week, I was in the same Logan Airport, and I was confronted with a huge sign of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader. And he had a picture like this, and I was captivated by the picture. And then under it was the caption, not just wishing for peace, but working for peace. We can't just wish for it. We can't even just pray for it. We must do something. We must work so that we can make a difference. And so I am here tonight because I want to make a difference.

Inspired by Dr. Fatima Jackson

Imam Zaid, wallahi, this was a great conference. All of the speakers that I heard touched me. And yet, among all those great speeches, the one who touched me the most, Dr. Fatima Jackson. Powerful, eloquent. She touched me so much and so deeply that I tonight became a convert. Dr. Jackson, where are you? Raise your hand. Where are you at? Where? I can't. Okay. I want to let you know, Sister Jackson. I want to let you know. Is this working? Is it working? Is it really working good?

Sister Jackson, I want to let you know. I want to let you know that anything I can do, I am here. I say this in front of all these people and Allah as a witness. I am so impressed by your work. I mean, I was sold. I was already sold about working for malaria. But since your presentation, I'm like at your beck and call. Whatever you need, I'll give you my cell number right now and only you can hear it. No, I better not give it to you now.

The Anesthesia Analogy

You know, I remember once, I don't know how many of you have ever been to the dentist. And my dentist looked at me and said, we got to take that tooth. And the first thing I noticed that something unusual was about to happen. And he strapped me in, in a seat belt. And then he got Imam Zayed, I don't know what you call it, but I call it pliers. He got some pliers. And he put his foot up for leverage. He put those boys in my mouth and he started yanking. My head was, blood was gushing. He was pulling and pulling and he's pulling and he pulled the tooth out. But all the pulling that he did, all the blood that came out, I didn't feel any pain. You know why I didn't feel any pain? Anesthesia. You put the body in such a way that you feel no pain. When you ought to feel pain, you feel no pain because of anesthesia.

But I want all of us, I want us to go to the dentist and I don't want us to take any anesthesia. I don't want our bodies to be under anesthesia.

The Prophet's Sensitivity to Suffering

Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him, he was so sensitive to people. Imam Majid, I was visualizing you when you're talking about going to Sudan. Can I tell you something about me, Imam Majid and me and Imam Zayed and Imam Johari Abdul Malik and Imam Malik Abdul Muhammad and Imam Qasim Khan? Let me tell you something about us. We're also from Africa. But the difference is, Imam, the difference is we don't know what country.

Therefore I have brothers in my masjid from Mali, brothers from my masjid from Senegal and from Niger and from Nigeria and all the brothers there. Sometimes they speak to one another in their language and I'm sitting there and I can't understand the language. But I noticed about our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, there's a universal language that the Prophet understood. And that universal language, when he was leaving the salat, he heard a baby crying and he would stop the prayer or shorten the prayer because of the cry of the baby. (Sahih Bukhari 707, Sahih Muslim 470)

And I'm saying as I was watching that film and I was looking at all those people crying and while I may not be able to understand their language and I can't speak their language, I can't speak Hausa, I can't speak those languages. But I can look into their eyes and see the suffering and wallahi it tore me up. So now I want to commit myself to fight against malaria.

Moving from Event to Movement

Finally, in my conclusion, what are we going to do? We can take this conference in one or two ways. Number one, we can say it was a great event and it was. We had some great speakers and they were good and they were motivational and they were good and powerful. They were educational and they inspired us. We can say that. And you can call it a one-shot deal.

I want to say this to the community of Masjid al-Taqwa who came here on a bus. Some of them had no money. But they came on the bus and they endured their fast just to be here. And I commend them. I love them. I love them. All of them who came from different places. I know some came from Atlanta, Georgia. They came from all over the country to be here. So we can look at it as a one-time event. It was a great event. Make a donation.

But on the other hand, you can say like so many things in this country that one moment, one event can transform into a movement. I believe that what we have here today is the beginning of a movement like Rosa Parks. One event, she refused to stand up and then all of a sudden you got a movement based upon something that happened. One experience to a woman in this experience today. Wallahi, Imam Zaid, there's so much barakah in it. I think it's going to be a movement.

The Power of Sustained Giving

Now, when I saw that we were trying to raise $200,000, I said, you know what? We'll get that and we'll get more. And one of the greatest examples of giving was last night. I was in Fort Lauderdale, Imam. Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And we were talking about some work that we were doing across the country. And there's a young man that gave, I think, perhaps the most generous gift that I've ever seen, a donation. Perhaps the greatest donation that I've ever seen all the years of doing fundraisers. You know how much he donated? He donated $100 a month for the rest of his life. $100 a month for the rest of his life. May Allah give him a long life.

Practical Steps for Action

So, brothers and sisters, what shall we do? Number one, Sister Salima. Where's Sister Salima? Is she here? She had to leave. I love Sister Salima and the great work that she's doing.

The first thing we want to do, brothers and sisters, is do what Allah says in Quran:

"Help ye one another in righteousness and the fear of Allah."

All of those organizations like Islamic Relief, we should always call Naeem, call Brother Anwar, and call these courageous workers at Islamic Relief to find out how we're doing with these projects. And that's what I want to do. So, all of us don't have to do the same thing. They have people there doing the work. We should give them our support. And when you leave here today, write another check. Write another check for Islamic Relief and all

the work that they're doing. If you can do $100 a month, maybe not a lifetime, but maybe you can do it for 3 or 4 years or 5 years or 6 years.

Getting Involved and Taking Action

So, number one, you ought to find out what are these NGOs, what are they doing? What is our government doing? What are all the charitable organizations doing? What is Helping Hand for Relief and Development? What are they doing? And so, that's number one.

Number two, always ask ourselves the question, what can I do? I don't know about you, it's going to be difficult for me to sleep the way I used to sleep. When I think about all those people that are dying, we heard today the devastation. But the word that we also heard from Dr. Jackson and others is preventable. A net, a net, go to sleep at night, that we take for granted. A net, to protect them so the mosquito won't bite them.

Closing Words of Encouragement

Imam Zaid, may Allah bless you, brother, for this great, great, great effort. And don't you ever gauge the success of this gathering today by the number of people that we have known. It's a great number, Imam. I love you and I thank you. May Allah bless you and continue this great movement. May Allah bless you. Thank you. As-salamu alaykum.