Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity

Upholding Faith, Serving Humanity

Opening Greetings and Recognition

As-salāmu alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh, al-hamdu li-Llāh. Very quickly, I just want... you see the interpreters up here doing a wonderful job, but we want to invite up the people who are being interpreted for. Can you call them up here to the stage? These are my friends I met in Florida. Come up, quickly, quickly. Yalla. Yeah, these are... I met these brothers, or most of them in Florida, during the East Coast MSA Regional, and I just wanted to call them up because these are some beautiful brothers, and they are the ones who are listening to what the ladies are saying with their hands.

The Importance of Sign Language Interpretation

And I want you to know something. A story that these brothers told me during our encounter in Florida, during the MSA Winter Regional, is that there are many hearing-impaired brothers and sisters who have left Islam because they don't have any access to the teachings of the religion. So the fact that ISNA and MSA has made this service available is something that warms their hearts, and it should warm all of our hearts, knowing that this is a means for us to make the teachings of Islam available to our brothers and sisters who are hearing-impaired.

So give them a takbir. Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar. Jazakallah khair. Alhamdulillah. And that's serving humanity.

Serving All of Humanity

We have human beings who are hearing-impaired, and as Muslims we shouldn't forget about them. We have human beings who are visually challenged. We should not forget about them. We have human beings that have emotional disturbances. We should not forget about them. Many of them Muslims. We have human beings, including many Muslims in this country, who are wrestling with drug addiction. We should not forget about them. For they are our brothers and sisters in faith and or in humanity.

And until we think about the least, then we are not doing our job, brothers and sisters. Take it upon yourself. Alhamdulillah. We have interpreters. There's always a need for more. How many brothers and sisters are going to dedicate themselves to learning sign language, so that we can provide a means of information.

And Alhamdulillah, it warms my heart to know one of our students in Oakland, California. A very good Muslim sister studied in Syria, in Yemen, and a diligent sister is learning sign language right now. She's taking it upon herself to learn sign language.

The Core Teaching: Service for the Sake of Allah

Brothers and sisters, one of the beauties of our religion, and it's a teaching all of us have to dedicate ourselves to, is that our service, as every speaker has emphasized, should be for the sake of God. And the verse that I think captures the theme of this session, one that is one of my favorite verses, is Allah Ta'ala saying:

"And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive, (Saying), 'We feed you for the sake of Allah alone: no reward do we desire from you, nor thanks. We only fear a Day of distressful Wrath from the side of our Lord.'"

Feeding People: The Best Manifestation of Islam

They fed people. When asked (أَيُّ الْإِسْلَامِ أَفْضَلُ؟ - ayyu al-islami afdal?) "Which manifestation of Islam is most virtuous?" The Prophet, peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon him, said: (تُطْعِمُ الطَّعَامَ وَتَقْرَأُ السَّلَامَ عَلَىٰ مَنْ عَرَفْتَ وَمَنْ لَمْ تَعْرِفْ - tut'imu al-ta'ama wa taqra'u al-salam 'ala man 'arafta wa man lam ta'rif) (Sahih al-Bukhari 12, Sahih Muslim 39) "Feed people and greet people, those you know and those you know not."

So one of the best manifestations of our religion is feeding people. Is feeding people. And Allah Ta'ala has put us as a community in a position to feed the world.

Our Capacity to Transform the World

I will repeat, Allah Ta'ala, Almighty God has put our community in a position to feed the world. If we organized our resources, if we galvanized our community, if we took it upon ourselves as a community of Muslims in this country, not the entire country, as a community of Muslims in this country. And of course there would be others who would join us and others we ourselves would join.

But if we took it upon ourselves, brothers and sisters, we could eradicate hunger from the face of this earth. We have the resources to do that and we should have the vision to do that. And you can go down the list of problems.

Working Toward Peace and Disarmament

One of Sheikh Hamza, perhaps he'll talk about it. One of his great projects is ridding this world of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. And I saw it's not that one of the interfaith projects is nuclear disarmament, but we shouldn't stop there when so-called conventional weapons are gaining the force or possess the force of a low-yield atomic weapons.

We shouldn't just be talking about nuclear weapons. We should be talking about total disarmament because we can no longer afford in a global village to set off bombs all over the place. This is because our lives are too closely intertwined. We no longer live in remote corners of the world. The world is shrunk due to communication, due to transportation. Our lives are intertwined.

What we do affects everyone. We cannot afford, with weapons being what they are, we cannot afford war. We cannot afford war, and especially when war comes at the price of infrastructure. When war comes at the price of mutual cooperation. When war comes at the price of the poor. We can't afford it. We have to work to eliminate it. And that is an Islamic objective. That is an Islamic objective.

The Islamic Perspective on War and Peace

Some people might say, well, what about jihad? Allah Ta'ala says in the Quran:

"Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors."

Allah Ta'ala says:

"And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah."

Allah Ta'ala says, even if you are fighting, if those who you are fighting inclined towards peace, make an offer of peace, then you so incline and accept their offer, because peace is what is desirable, not war and trust in Allah. Put your trust in Allah. I'm not making this up. This is our religion.

When Isa (Jesus), peace be upon him, comes, one of the things he will do وَيُرْجِعُ السَّلَامَ "He will return the peace," which means what? The original and desirable state is peace. So let's give Isa a head start. Let's give Isa, peace be upon him, a helping hand and start returning the world back to the peace that Allah Ta'ala desires for the human family to live in.

Understanding the Depth of Quranic Teachings

Brothers and sisters, in the verse we started with:

"And they feed, for the love of it, the indigent, the orphan, and the captive."

They feed people. Sometimes you read the Quran and the full import of what's being said doesn't strike us. And that's why it's very important to study commentary, exegesis, to try to understand the context, to understand the subtleties of meaning.

(وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ... عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ - wa yut'imuna al-ta'ama 'ala hubbihi... 'ala hubbihi) "On account of its love" - In spite of their love for the food. Imam Ash-Shawkani mentions in his tafsir he says: (عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ لَدَيْهِمْ وَعَنْ قِلَّتِهِ عِنْدَهُمْ - 'ala hubbihi ladayhim wa 'an qillatihi 'indahum) "On account of their love for it and its scarcity with them." In spite of the love that they have for the food and the scarcity of it with them. In other words, they love the food and they don't have much of it but still they're willing to give it to someone else. This is Islam.

Moving Beyond Human Rights to Ithar (Altruism)

And the deeper lesson, we were recently with one of the great scholars of the Muslim world and we were blessed by Allah Ta'ala to spend an entire week with him, Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah, may Allah preserve him. And in a concluding lecture one of the things he said, he said, it's time for us to move beyond the idea of human rights to the idea of ithar.

To the idea of giving preference to others. That I don't just want to secure my rights, I want you to secure your rights first. And then if there's something left over, I'll worry about my rights. This is what our religion desires

for us.

Ascending the Steep Path

Allah Ta'ala is telling us that there are people who have to move to a higher road:

"But he has not broken through the difficult pass. And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? It is the freeing of a slave, or feeding on a day of severe hunger, an orphan of near relationship, or a needy person in misery. And then being among those who believed and advised one another to patience and advised one another to compassion. Those are the companions of the right."

What will make you know? They've made no progress on the steep path without feeding a person. It's liberating the slave.

Ending Modern Forms of Slavery

There are people who are enslaved. Physically enslaved in our world. And we should work to eliminate them. Because we're the people or should try to be the people of the steep path. فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ "The freeing of a slave." All of the sexual slaves. The State Department estimates that every year, 800,000 women and girls are cast into sexual slavery on this earth.

We should be a community that takes the lead in ending this vile practice. There are agricultural slaves. And more importantly or perhaps more tragically, there are mental and psychological slaves.

Liberation from Psychological Slavery

People whose lives are tormented and tortured by enslavement to false ideas. Enslavement to ideas that think they're less than human if their clothes aren't the clothes that they think they should be wearing because this or that star are wearing their clothes. Who think that their lives are less than adequate if they're not walking around with their navels exposed.

Because all the girls who are really in have their navels exposed and their midriffs off and I'm not desirable if I don't do that even though I think it's something disgusting and vile. That is psychological slavery. And we should be a community that leads the way in liberating people from that slavery.

What better example in that regard than these beautiful Muslim women in their hijab and their modest dress to say to the world that I may not have my belly button showing to the world but I am, as Jesse Jackson of Chicago, Illinois says, somebody. Sisters, they take beer. Allahu Akbar. I am somebody.

The Call to Higher Standards Through Ithar

Brothers and sisters, we need a higher standard. How many people are worried about my rights, my rights, my rights? I want my land. I want my tri-ancestral tribal rights. I want the water. I want my water. I want access to

my calories. I want access to mine, to mine, to my security, to my well-being, to my prosperity. It's time for us to say, no, I want you to prosper. I want you to have some land. I want you to have some security. I want you to have some peace. And if there's any left over, then I'll worry about myself. This is what the Sheikh was talking about. Ithar. This is Islam. This is Islam. Ithar. Giving preference to others.

The Story of Two Scholars on Ithar

Two of the scholars were having a debate. One of them asked the others, what is Ithar with your people? He said, Ithar with us, if we're given something, we thank God. And if we're denied something, we patiently persevere with our dignity intact. I'm excited. I forgot the Arabic.

Then the person who was discussing with him, he said, "This is the state of the dogs with us. You throw them a bone, he's happy and thanks you. And if you don't give him a bone, he just waits until he gets a bone. He's patient." He said, "This is the state of the dogs with us. Ithar with us. Zuhd with us. When the people of preference with us, when they're denied something, they give thanks. Because they know there's a blessing in that. And if they're giving something, they give preference to others in that. Here, you take it first." He said, that's the people of preference with us.

Our Islamic Call in a World of Selfishness

So brothers and sisters, the Quran, this verse, this idea, this conference, our Islam is calling us in a world of selfishness, in a world of greed, in a world of "my rights" to be the people of Ithar. To be the people who give preference to others. To be the people who think first about the others. To be the people willing to deny themselves, if our denial means that someone else can have, and someone else can be happy, and someone else can benefit, they will gladly give, not think about ourselves.

The Example of the Companions

And in conclusion, this is Islam. How were our Sahaba, our companions, the companions of our Prophet, described?

"And [they] give [them] preference over themselves, even though they are in privation."

And they gave preference to others, even though they themselves were in dire need. So we're not talking about giving preference, or sharing the bounty. We're talking about people in need, giving preference to others.

Creating a New Vision for the Ummah

As an ummah, as a community, we have many needs. But we've been blessed tremendously, especially in this country. It's time for us to galvanize ourselves, to create a vision for ourselves, to create an agenda that Keith Ellison was talking about, but not an agenda that is focused and centered on securing our rights, and securing our benefit, and securing our security, but being people who can open up a new chapter in the history of human endeavor, a people who can create an agenda, at whose very heart is securing the rights of others, and securing

the interests of others, and securing the security of others, before we even begin to think about our own rights, interests, and security.

Conclusion: Becoming the Children of God

And if we can be a people who can do that, who can dedicate ourselves, and live, and give to others, then Allah Ta'ala will take care of us, because we will truly be the children of God.