Zaytuna College- Where Islam Meets America

Zaytuna College: Where Islam Meets America

Opening Prayers and Greetings

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى سَيِّدِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ، سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمْ - Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidil Mursaleen, Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim.)

(رَبَّنَا لَكَ الْحَمْدُ كَمَا يَنْبَغِي لِجَلَالِ وَجْهِكَ وَعَظِيمِ سُلْطَانِكَ. سُبْحَانَكَ لَا نُحْصِي ثَنَاءً عَلَيْكَ أَنْتَ كَمَا أَثْنَيْتَ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِكَ. اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ وَبَارِكْ عَلَىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَىٰ آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا - Rabbana laka alhamd kama yanbaghee bi jalali wajhika wa azeem sultanik. Subhanaka la nuhsee thana'an alayka anta kama athnayta ala nafsik. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira.)

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.)

Gratitude and Opening Remarks

Alhamdulillah, it's a great honor to be here. So many people sacrificed on a work night to come here. May Allah reward you, all of you abundantly, and may He bless us to have a very productive evening here. May Allah bless all the youth and all the organizers, the maintainers, the board, the workers at this masjid. May Allah bless the generality of the community.

May Allah bless all of the people, the activists who are working hard to address various issues. May Allah give you all tawfiq, much success in your life, in your deen, and in your akhira, and your hereafter. May this world be a preparation for the rest of eternity, and may we all go forth from it in the very best of states.

Event Announcements

Before starting, I'd like to mention that the Al-Madina Institute is going to have a program called Purification of the Soul, featuring Shaykh Muqtar Maghrawi and Imam Muhammad Majid, Friday, January 30th through Sunday, February 1st, 2009, at the Adams Center. So please, look out for this flyer coming to a masjid near your home.

Alhamdulillah, we're here very briefly to tell you about Zaytuna College and to do a fundraiser. The fundraiser will be at the end. It's not your typical fundraiser who's going to give $90,000. I know there's somebody out there, but we're just going to ask you to make a commitment, whatever you can do. $10 a month, $5 a month, we'll have the pledge forms. It's part of our Counting the End campaign. So we want everyone here to be counted in, and if you don't get counted in, Shaykh Hamza's not going to speak. No, that's not the condition. Allah barak fikum.

Zaytuna College: Where Islam Meets America

And so Zaytuna College, you see this slide here, where Islam meets America. A lot of people might be uncomfortable with that thought, especially in these days and times when America's heart, to greater or lesser extent, is so much death and destruction in the Muslim world. But brothers and sisters, whether we like it or not, this is home. Some people say you should leave America, make hijrah. Anyone with that opinion, I'll help you with the plane ticket, inshallah.

America's Contradictions: Promise and Darkness

On a serious note, this is a place that, as Shaykh Hamza mentioned earlier, has always been qualified by contradictions. On the one hand, there's been tremendous promise, the promise echoed in the words of the founding fathers, which, in terms of participatory government, in terms of separation of powers, in terms of responsible government, in terms of the idea of government for, by, and of the people, has been a very unique and enlightened political experience that only someone who's ill-informed or miseducated will deny.

On the other hand, there have been dark aspects of American history, beginning with the slavery campaign that brought so many people here enslaved to live a life of bondage, genocidal campaigns, the genocide against the native people here, the genocide against many people of African descent, the genocidal campaign that was culminated by the usurpation against the native Hawaiian people that was culminated by the usurpation of that island and then the eventual annexation of it, a sovereign, independent kingdom under the reign of Queen Lili'uokalani, wiped out by Samuel Dole, the United States Marines, and some missionaries.

So, there are the dark moments and there are the promising moments.

Muslims' Stake in Building America

The challenge for us, brothers and sisters, first of all, is to understand that we have as much a stake in this land as anyone, that Muslims, with their blood, sweat, and tears, played a major part in building this country. One out of every five slaves is estimated. 20% of the slave populations whose labor, as we mentioned, whose blood, sweat, and tears built this country. There were Muslims who participated in building the Capitol building, in building the very White House. Perhaps one of those Muslims' name was Hussein, who was building a house that would one day be occupied by Hussein.

Muslims' blood, sweat, and tears built this country. So, it would be an abandonment of our responsibility to carry on and to continue the legacy that they started for us to pack up and run away and leave.

The Power of Unity and Organization

Secondly, having as much a stake as anyone, there is nothing to stop us from unifying our ranks, from putting our resources together, our mental resources, our fiscal resources, and material resources, and bringing our collective weight to bear on the policymaking, institutions, and policy formation process in this country, except ourselves. There's nothing to stop us except ourselves. And we should realize that.

It's almost tragic, it's almost tragic, that while many of us are sitting around and debating, and I, for one, have participated in these debates, whether we should even be involved in the political system here, for year after year, decade after decade, an individual comes to this country, Barack Hussein Obama Jr., stays a few years, his son, who is really the first generation of his family from his father's side to establish permanent residency, takes full advantage of that process and rises to the very top. While we're still debating, and our ancestors built this country, in part. That's a historical tragedy that we have to begin to address, not with words, but with action.

Beyond Emotions: The Time for Action

It's time for us to work, brothers and sisters. It's time for us to stop being emotional. A lot of people think that I don't care about Palestine. Brother, how come you're not emotional? I'm finished being emotional. We were emotional back in the 70s, 1978, when southern Lebanon was bombed and invaded, and everyone got emotional. And then once it left the television screens, the emotions died down, and no one did anything on an ongoing basis to build some power in this country.

We were emotional in 1982, when 25,000 Lebanese were murdered in the city of Beirut, and parts of the city were reduced to rubble. We got emotional, we demonstrated, and once it died down, and the conflict died down, and the massacres of Sabra and Shatila left the news, our emotions died down, and we did nothing to come together, to unify, to build some power, and to take advantage of the opportunities we have to organize and to build institutions.

Then we got emotional again in the 90s, and we got emotional again when Hamas won the elections, and then the elections were stolen, and the Palestinians were put on a diet, as Dov Weissglass termed it, and then the emotions died down. We got emotional when they blew up and flattened Janine, and then the emotions died down, and now we're emotional again, and we're ready to go out and scream and yell.

Building Institutions, Not Just Demonstrating

But you notice something, when you go to all these demonstrations, I'm not speaking against demonstrators, but I'm trying to make a point. When you go to all these demonstrations, how many Zionist counter-demonstrators do you see? Twenty? The Israeli flag in the corner? Fifty? How many do you see? Because the majority of the supporters of Israel, they're not demonstrating, they're working. They're not demonstrating, they're building institutions. They're not demonstrating, they're finding ways to create better and more effective think tanks. They're finding ways to heighten their influence in the media.

They're strategizing, they're organizing, they're planning. That's why they're not out demonstrating, except the handful that you see in the counter-demonstrations. And the time has come for us to start building institutions, to start planning, to stop getting mad and to start getting even. To stop getting mad and to start getting even. And the only way we're going to get even is by building institutions. That's where societal strength lies.

The Real Jihad: Education and Institution Building

And we should see that as a jihad. People running around talking about, we'll show them the sword of Islam. What are you going to do with the sword of Islam against a JDAM guided missile, even as Gaza is turned into a

parking lot? It's time for us to wake up and have some real courage and get out and engage the people here. Educate the people. Now that's a real jihad. Build some institutions. Educate, build, organize.

And if Barack Hussein Obama can overcome his name and can overcome a perception in the minds of 15 to 20 percent of the people that he's a Muslim at the time the government is officially at war with so-called radical Islam and still, through organization, through strategy, can attain to the presidency, then what stops our masses from doing something significant in the country? We stop ourselves. We stop ourselves with a lack of vision. We stop ourselves with a lack of commitment. We stop ourselves with a lack of planning. We stop ourselves with a lack of unity.

And it's time for us to overcome these issues so that again, we can stop getting mad and we can start getting even. That's how we have to think, brothers and sisters.

The Hadith on Changing Wrong

And again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from participating in demonstrations, speaking out. If you see something wrong, change it with your hand. If you can't, speak out against it. If you still can't, hate it in your heart, and that's the lowest level of faith.

(Sahih Muslim, hadith 49)

The Reality Check: We're Not Even in the Game

So what we're trying to do, brothers and sisters, we're trying to build an institution. We have to build. We're talking about taking over the game. We're not even in the arena. We're out in the park and not selling peanuts. We're not even on the bench. Much less in the game, much less taking over the game. That's the reality.

Educational Institutions and Endowments

What kind of institutions do we have educationally? Harvard University, before Madoff stole half of their endowment, Harvard had a $50 billion endowment. Yale has a $20 billion endowment. Pomona College in the Los Angeles area, with a student body of less than 1,000 students, has a $1 billion endowment. I don't think we can name a Muslim institution of higher education that even has an endowment.

So, you look across the board, it is institutions. We're talking about taking over the world. I heard it. It was on YouTube. What, an AK-47? We have to go to Russia and China to get to shoot at this. We have to come down to earth and plant our feet firmly on the ground, get ready for long, hard, deliberate, focused, organized work to systematically build ourselves up.

Acknowledging Our Weakness

And if we can't acknowledge we're weak, we're in deep trouble. We're ready to get in the ring with Tyson at his prime, and we haven't even stepped into a gym. We haven't even stepped into a gym. But we're going to take on

Tyson at his prime, when people used to name their pit bulls after him. They don't do that anymore. We're sitting on the couch eating popcorn and freeze pops, channel surfing, and we're going to fight Tyson at his prime.

Brothers and sisters, we have to start building institutions. That's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to build a credible institution. I'm trying to get the thing to change here. Here we go.

The Growing Muslim Population

Our population's growing. Our academic institutions are not growing. Higher level academic institutions. We don't have a single accredited college. So we don't have a philosophy of education that in a systematic way tries to wed the roots of our tradition with the branches that are blooming in this country. It's time for us to do that, brothers and sisters. I'm just going to go through this very quickly to get to our Arabic video.

Zaytuna College Mission Statement

So this is our mission statement. Zaytuna College aims to train the future generations of religious leaders and give birth to a new age of writers, thinkers, scholars, and leaders who are well-grounded in shaping modern society. That's our mission statement.

Transition from Institute to College

Initially we planned, beginning in the fall of 2010, when we completed this transition from Zaytuna Institute, which was an organization doing a lot of things, trying to be everything to everybody. But now we're focusing on becoming a college that will provide an institution, an accredited institution, where our young generations can be trained to lead our growing population in this land.

Islam Becomes Indigenous Through Local Scholarship

Islam has never become indigenous in a land until it produced its own scholars. So when you go to Syria, the scholars are Syrians. They're not Jordanian. And Jordan's right next door. When you go to Turkey, they're Turkish. They're not Syrians. And Syria's next door. You go to Pakistan, they're Pakistanis. They're not Indians. And India used to be Pakistan. You go to Bangladesh, they're Bengali. That's the reality. You go to China, they're Chinese.

You come to America, they're Chinese, Bengali, Pakistanis, Syrian, Egyptian. And that's good for a time, for a while. But if we're going to develop an Islam that's consistent with the social, cultural, political, economic, demographic realities that qualify our community, that is totally unique from any of those countries, we're going to have to have our scholars and leaders who are from that people. Who were born and raised right here in the U.S. of A.

Our Birthright as a Unique Community

And we should see ourselves as that being our birthright. That we're not going to sell or give away to anyone. Because Allah has made us this unique community. Allah has brought us all here. And Allah doesn't do anything in vain. This is the only community on earth where the descendants of Salman al-Farisi, the Asians, and the

descendants of Suhaib al-Rumi, the Europeans, and the descendants of Bilal al-Habashi, the Africans, and the descendants of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Ajma'in, the Arabs, are brought together on equal footing in a communal setting.

Like the brother said earlier, look around you. You don't find this anywhere. Watch this.

Our Educational Potential

How many of you are either in university or have a university degree? Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Look at that. At least 80%. You won't find that anywhere on the face of this earth in the Muslim world. You might find 8%, that small elite who are blessed to go to the one national university. Some countries have two. But you won't find 80% of a randomly selected audience who are university graduates or students.

Our Tremendous Potential

We have tremendous intellectual potential. We have tremendous financial potential. We have to begin to focus and shape that, to train and foster that potential so that we can begin to realize it. And when we realize it, we will make a difference for Muslims all over this world. When we realize that potential, we'll make a difference for Muslims all over this world.

And believe me, if we don't realize that fact, the people who are trying to convince people Islam is so bad, get rid of all these Muslims, they're all terrorists, they're all incompatible with the American way of life, etc., etc. They realize it. And that's why they're working so hard. They realize our potential. And they realize if that potential is realized, it will have implications for some of the parties and elements that they support in the Muslim world.

The Need for Training and Leadership

So realize the potential. But we have to have training. We have to have leadership. We have to have the ability to bring that all together. And at Zaytuna College, we want to play our part in making that happen.

Right now, so I'm just, I was just rambling off the top of the dome there, freestyling. Brothers and sisters, what we want to show you right now, part of Zaytuna College, and this is our initial phase that we've already started, is our Arabic, summer Arabic intensive program.

Arabic Intensive Program

All incoming students will have to attend this program so they can get a head up, a head start with their Arabic studies when they enter the college in the fall. And it's open to, the Arabic intensive program is open to a wider array of students who want to study the Arabic language at various levels. So right now, we're going to play the Arabic intensive program. And after that, Shaykh Hamza will be coming throughout.