Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

https://youtu.be/Z_Vv4fy5ukg

https://youtu.be/fwM_HWKTEQY

Driving transformational change is the most difficult of tasks, but the most rewarding. If we take the two Ahadith that are quoted on this subject, in one Rasoolullahﷺ said: وَإِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُ مُعَلِّمًا and in the other: بُعِثْتُ لِأُتَمِّمَ حُسْنَ الْأَخْلَاقِ We can say from these two that he was sent as a teacher to transform society. Allahﷻ called the teacher – Rasoolullahﷺ His blessing on the people. We write books to be read. Allahﷻ’s Book came to be taught. Not simply to be read and understood according to the capacity of the reader. The Book was sent to the teacher. The teacher to the people, to teach them to live the Book. تَبَارَكَ ٱلَّذِى نَزَّلَ ٱلْفُرْقَانَ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِۦ لِيَكُونَ لِلْعَـٰلَمِينَ نَذِيرًا Furqan 25: 1 Blessed is the One Who sent down the Standard to His servant, so that he may be a warner to the whole world. Which explains the role and critical importance of the teacher as the medium between the message and the recipient...it was a verbal message. Without the Messengerﷺ we cannot understand the message. There is no Sahabi on record who claimed to understand the Qur’an on his own without the agency of Rasoolullahﷺ. For example, Aboo Bakr (RA) one time said, "What earth would give me place to live and what sky would shade me if I should speak about the Qur’an with my opinion or by something I do not know." `Umar ibn al Khattaab (RA), also said, "Beware of using your opinion in religious matters." Ibn `Abbaas (RA), the one who Rasoolullahﷺ made dua, for him to understand the Qur’an, to get the understanding of the Deen, and to be given by Allahﷻ the Ta’weel or the understanding of the Qur’an, he also said, "All that there is to follow and obey is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messengerﷺ. Whoever makes any statement after these two according to his opinion, then I do not know if you'll find it among his good deeds or among his sins." This is the style of Ibn `Abbaas (RA), meaning that even if what you did looks like something good, you will find it among your sins. This humility and turning to the teacher with humbleness are fundamental conditions of learning. That is why Allahﷻ gave Rasoolullahﷺ four related tasks which are a Teacher’s Checklist. Tilawatil Qur’an, Tazkiyyatun Nafs, Taaleem ul Quran, Hikma. Inform, Purify, Explain, Wisdom. This is the key to teaching anything. WHAT > PREPARE > HOW > WHY. That is why in our tradition of scholarship whenever any scholar is mentioned, they don’t ask how many followers he/she has but who their teachers are. Followers, especially in today’s world of virtual followers, mean nothing and add no value to you. On the contrary, popularity is a big test of Ikhlaas and a slide into Ar-Riya (Shirk) for the unwary, when the person starts believing what people say about him. That is why I advise myself to look in the mirror. It is teachers who add real value. A person without teachers in Deen remains ignorant. The teacher is critical to learning. That is how the Sahaba are distinguished, and recognized and blessed because of their teacher, Rasoolullahﷺ and not vice versa. We recognize the importance of the teacher in all bodies of knowledge that impact lives. Nobody becomes a pilot or surgeon or physician by reading books on aerodynamics or surgery, pharmacology or physiology. Reading is important but to qualify, the student must practice under the guidance of a teacher until the teacher is satisfied. Not the student. But when it comes to sacred knowledge that impacts not only the life of this world but much more importantly, the Aakhira, we imagine that reading some books, watching some videos, some pseudo-intellectual discussion, we have become experts and set ourselves up as teachers. I remind myself and you that as in life, so also with Allahﷻ, when you become a teacher, the rules change. You become accountable and culpable. Students are excused. Not teachers. So, be careful. Reading is important but it takes you only to the first step, Information. To truly benefit, we need the human agency of the teacher. We need humility to go to the teacher, accept that we need to learn and put ourselves under his tutelage. Develop the attitude to enable learning. Accept that we do not know. Accept that the teacher has something of value to impart which we desperately need and cannot get except from the teacher. Accept that it is OUR need to learn and not the teacher's need to teach us. Be like a patient going to the doctor. You feel the pain. You need to get relief from the pain. You need the doctor. The doctor doesn't need you. If you don't get to a doctor, you will die. In the case of spiritual illness, you will suffer endlessly in the Aakhira. The doctor is doing you a favor by giving you his time and sharing his knowledge and prescribing medicine. So be humble, be eager to learn, be grateful. Learn the Adaab of learning before you try to learn Islam. Adaab are the password into

There are two ways to guide anyone. One is to give them a map and leave it to them to follow it. The other is to send a guide with the map, who teaches them how to read the map and guides them on the right path, course correcting as necessary, so that they can never be lost. In corporate consulting, we recommend a course of action and then run a pilot program as Proof of Concept to demonstrate the benefits of following our recommendation. That not only builds credibility in the new way but also prevents costly mistakes from being made. Allahﷻ chose that method, when He decided to give the world a new way of life for the last time. That is why Allahﷻ taught us to make dua for guidance to the Path – Siratal Mustaqeem and not to the destination, Jannah. The Path of those who He blessed and not those who incurred His anger or became misguided. That is the dua we make at least 17 times a day when we recite Sura Al Fatiha in every Salah – Ihdinas Siratal Mustaqeem. Allahﷻ accepted this dua and said: هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُۥ بِٱلْهُدَىٰ وَدِينِ ٱلْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلدِّينِ كُلِّهِۦ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ شَهِيدًا Fath 48:28 He is the One Who has sent His Messenger with ˹right˺ guidance and the religion of truth, making it prevail over all others. And sufficient is Allah as a Witness. The question to ask is, ‘Allahﷻ accepted my dua and sent His Messengerﷺ. But am I following him or someone else?’ Let us ask before we’re asked. Allahﷻ not only accepted our dua but He also told us what the result of following His Messengerﷺ would be. The way of Muhammadﷺ, Islam would become the most preferred and prevalent way of life on earth. Today we wonder at how certain negative and harmful lifestyles and choices have become so prevalent and powerful when just a few years ago they were despised and kept hidden. That is the power of living your choice with confidence. No matter what it is, if you do it with confidence, the world will follow you. If this is possible with negative things, how much more with positive ones. But when the ignorant are confident and the knowledgeable are diffident and apologetic, ignorance will prevail. Remember that when the truth must be spoken, silence is culpable. Rasoolullahﷺ and all those who followed him in excellence demonstrated this and will be our witnesses. Everything we have in this world, from the air we breathe, produced by trees we cut, to gravity which cancels the centrifugal force of the spinning of the earth and saves us from flying off into space; to water which came from outer space and is the most ancient substance on earth, essential to survival of all living things, locked into a perpetual cycle of self-purification and renewal; to the Northern Lights, evidence of the shield that Allahﷻ placed to protect us from solar flares, a single one of which would be enough to reduce us and our arrogance to ash. From love in the heart, to courage, to Imaan which makes those who have lost limbs and families in Gaza, ask questions related to the Fiqh of Wudhu and the permissibility of adopting an orphan who not only doesn’t have parents, but who has nobody in the world. From the food we eat to our health and wealth, families and friends, power and authority, to happiness and the equanimity to face grief. For Tahajjud and His descent to the lowest heaven and offer to accept our dua, and even more for the Tawfeeq to get up and pray and ask Him to forgive us. And most of all for His Mercy and Forgiveness, His Generosity and Grace, His Glory and Majesty and the faculty to recognize it as such and fall in Sujood and say, SubhanAllah and Allahu Akbar instead of saying, WOW or OMG. Every single one of them, all that I mentioned and all those I cannot possibly mention, or even count, are the blessings of Allahﷻ. That is why He said: وَءَاتَىٰكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ وَإِن تَعُدُّوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَآ إِنَّ ٱلْإِنسَـٰنَ لَظَلُومٌ كَفَّارٌ Ibrahim 14: 34 And He has granted you all that you asked Him for. If you tried to count Allah’s blessings, you would never be able to number them. Indeed, humankind is truly unfair, ˹totally˺ ungrateful. He gave us all this and more. Yet the only blessing that He drew our attention to and called that His Blessing on us, is the presence of Rasoolullahﷺ among us. It is very important to reflect on the Qur’an, on the meaning and import of the words used and the way they are used to emphasize certain things. This is because when Allahﷻ emphasizes something, it makes it essential for us to acknowledge that and to ensure that we express our gratitude for it. Allahﷻ said in the case of Rasoolullahﷺ and emphasized His statement: لَقَدْ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ A’al Imraan 3: 164 Indeed, Allah has done the believers a ˹great˺ favor by raising a m

https://youtu.be/wCc77gKtIbc

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَمَلَـٰٓئِكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا Ahzab 33: 56 Indeed, Allah showers His blessings upon the Prophet, and His angels pray for him. O believers! Invoke Allah’s blessings upon him and salute him with worthy greetings of peace. He is the one who Allahﷻ praised and blessed and the Malaika send blessings upon him. And Allahﷻ ordered all Muslims until the end of time to do the same. What can be more honorable than that? Allahﷻ promised: وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَأَنتَ فِيهِمْ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ Anfaal 8: 33 But Allah would never punish them while you ˹O Prophet˺ were in their midst. Nor would He ever punish them if they prayed for forgiveness. To have Rasoolullahﷺ with us means to follow him. Remember that even when he was physically present, his Companions were only those who believed in him and followed him. Not those who were physically in his presence but didn’t believe in him. Not even those who believed him but didn’t follow him. Allahﷻ reiterated the position of Rasoolullahﷺ and said: لَقَدْ مَنَّ ٱللَّهُ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍ مُّبِينٍ A’al Imraan 3: 164 Indeed, Allah has done the believers a ˹great˺ favour by raising a messenger from among them—reciting to them His revelations, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom. For indeed they had previously been clearly astray. We ask Allahﷻ to navigate us to Jannah at least 17 times a day. Allahﷻ granted our dua and gave us Rasoolullahﷺ and told us to follow his way. But then do we follow that direction or some other. That direction is called Sunnah. We asked for it. Allahﷻ gave it. Let us not get deceived by anyone or anything and leave the Sunnah because that is the only way to Jannah. Allahﷻ told us that the life of this world is deception. The truth, reality, hides behind what is apparent. That is what we must see. Allahﷻ warned us that the life of this world is deception. So, we must question everything we see or experience and understand its reality. That is why we have the dua asking Allahﷻ to show us the reality behind things. اَللّٰهُمَّ اَرِنَا الْحَقَّ حَقًّا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اتِّبَاعَهٗ وَ اَرِنَا الْبَاطِلَ بَاطِلًا وَّ ارْزُقْنَا اجْتِنَابَهٗ O Allah! show us the truth as true and inspire us to follow it. Show us falsehood as falsehood and inspire us to abstain from it. Allahﷻ in His Infinite Mercy didn’t leave us guessing and inventing our own ways to deal with the Matrix – the Ultimate Deception. He sent a guide and an entire pilot program as proof of concept that Islam works in all times. That is why Allahﷻ caused the Sunnah to be preserved with such integrity. We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who through the ages, starting from the Sahaba, preserved the minutest details of the life, ways, teachings, likes, and dislikes of Rasoolullahﷺ for the benefit of all, to learn and follow. This gave rise to an entire body of knowledge, Ilm-ur-Rijaal, that has no parallel. There is no history that has been preserved with such rigor and passion. May Allahﷻ enable us to benefit from the treasure of the life of Rasoolullahﷺ which He blessed us with. That is why Allahﷻ declared that he is the best example to follow in all aspects of life. لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلْيَوْمَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا Ahzab 33: 21 Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day and remembers Allah a great deal. Allahﷻ gave his Messengerﷺ an amazing life that encompassed every aspect of human existence. From the individual to family, business, employment, building a community, creating laws, commanding an army, to ruling a state and told us to follow the way of His Messengerﷺ in every aspect of our lives. And said that this is for those who look forward to meeting Allahﷻ. For those who do it out of love for Rasoolullahﷺ, Allahﷻ promised to love them and directed His Messengerﷺ to announce this and said: قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ A’al Imraan 3: 31 Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then emulate me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” Emulation is the sincerest form of praise and proof of love. The reward is that Allahﷻ will love us. Stay with that and feel it and ask if it is worth it. Narrated Anas bin Malik (R), “A man asked Rasoolullahﷺ about the Hour (i.e. Day of Judgment) saying, "When will the Hour be?" Rasoolullahﷺ asked, "What have you prepared for it?" The man said, "Nothing, except that I love Allah

To reach a goal, we must have a goal. That seems self-evident but just see if you have a written down lifegoal. If you don’t, then ask yourself what you are working and living for? Just to eat, drink, satisfy desires and die, is what animals do. To live for a purpose is not what most humans do, but what all humans are supposed to do. The truth is that for most humans, there is little to distinguish them from other mammals other than that they are the only ones who wear pants and show their teeth when they are happy. So, please invest some time in yourself and write down a lifegoal that excites and energizes you. Something you believe is worth dedicating your life to. That is where the rest of your life will begin. Either live by default. Or live purposefully. The choice is yours. The result will be yours. Choose wisely. Because to live is not merely to draw breath. They say, ‘You only live once.’ That is not true. You live every day. So, live deliberately and consciously. Live for a purpose. Live to please Allahﷻ. Live to leave a legacy of honor. For the second piece of the puzzle, Allahﷻ defined parameters of success. كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ فَمَن زُحْزِحَ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَـٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ A’al Imraan 3:185 Every soul will taste death. And you will only receive your full reward on the Day of Judgment. Whoever is spared from the Fire and is admitted into Jannah will ˹indeed˺ triumph, whereas the life of this world is no more than the delusion of enjoyment. Nothing can be clearer than this. Allahﷻ mentioned three things: Everyone will die and be called to account and rewarded or punished. Success means to be protected from punishment and be granted Jannah. The life of this world is deception. Let us begin with the first statement of Allahﷻ - Every soul will taste death. Ask, ‘Does this apply to me? When will it happen for me?’ Sounds like a dumb question, but believe me, it is the most important question you will ever answer. And once you answer it, your life ahead will be crystal clear. If I truly believe in the core of my being, not just intellectually, that I can die at any time and will have to answer to Allahﷻ, then I will remember that, at every decision point and will never do anything that I know, displeases Him. Let us remember that when we stand before Allahﷻ, it is our bodies which will speak and bear witness for or against us. Allahﷻ said: ٱلْيَوْمَ نَخْتِمُ عَلَىٰٓ أَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَتُكَلِّمُنَآ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَتَشْهَدُ أَرْجُلُهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ Ya Seen 36: 65 On this Day We will seal their mouths, their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will testify to what they used to commit. Look at your right hand and imagine it speaking. What is it saying? Then do the same with your left hand, your right and left feet, your eyes, ears, skin. If they are all saying good things, Alhamdulillah. But if not, the time to change that is now. Allahﷻ gave us Istighfaar and Tawba until the end. But when that end comes, the door will be shut. Let us not wait until then. See the mercy of Allahﷻ. He said about repentance and returning to Him: إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا۟ كَبَآئِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْهُ نُكَفِّرْ عَنكُمْ سَيِّـَٔاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُم مُّدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا Nisa 4: 31 If you avoid the major sins forbidden to you, We will absolve you of your ˹lesser˺ misdeeds and admit you into a place of honor. Allahﷻ said about those who commit sins and want to repent: قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ Zumar 39: 53 Say, ˹O Prophet, that Allah says,˺ “O My slaves who have transgressed against their souls! Do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy, for Allah certainly forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. How can we thank the One who calls those who transgress against Him, ‘My Slaves?’ How can we thank the One who promised His forgiveness to the one who seeks it? What do you say to the one who still doesn’t seek it? إِلَّا مَن تَابَ وَءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ عَمَلًا صَـٰلِحًا فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ يُبَدِّلُ ٱللَّهُ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ حَسَنَـٰتٍ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا Furqan 25: 70 As for those who repent, believe, and do good deeds, they are the ones whose evil deeds Allah will change into good deeds. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful. Think of your No. 1 goal. Is it Jannah? I sometimes do this exercise in my leadership courses when I teach goal setting. I ask people to list three goals in order of priority. I have never seen anyone write Jannah as a goal. So, how can we expect to reach a place which is not even on our list? This must change. And right now. The sign that Jannah is a goal; and it should be our No. 1 goal; is that from now on, every decision we take will be based on whether it brings us closer to Jannah. It i

The Dollmaker: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dollmaker

Perspective is the ability to hold two pictures simultaneously in your mind – where you are and where you want to be. Without this, it is impossible to give any directions. Physically, mentally or spiritually, we need awareness of where we are and where we need to be, to be able to chart out a roadmap for development. Only with perspective can we say what investment we need to make to reach our chosen destination. That is why we need the three skills I mentioned in my last Khutba: Reflection, Introspection, and Abstract Conceptualization. These are critical life skills which must be learned. All of them need an attention span longer than that of a monkey or goldfish, which is the average duration of TikTok and YouTube Shorts. So, either pick the most successful goldfish or monkey you know as your role model or develop the ability to focus attention on worthwhile goals long enough to achieve them. It is our life. It is our call. Because it is our Aakhira. Our species, Homo-sapiens have been on earth for about 300,000 years but when did civilization begin? In a 2020 article in Forbes, Remy Blumenfeld writes, “Years ago, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding stones, or religious artifacts. But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000-year-old healed fractured femur at an archaeological site. The femur is the longest bone in the body and connects the knee to the hip. In the wild a broken femur is a sure death sentence. A broken femur that healed is evidence that someone had taken time to stay with the one who fell, bound up the wound, carried the person to safety and tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts.” Looking at our current state of what we like to call ‘civilization’, where we have not only legitimized but sanctified fulfilling of personal desires, and where the highest ROI is in endless war and human life and suffering has no value at all, I wonder what Margaret Mead would have said. If caring for someone is the mark of civilization, what would you call the deliberate annihilation of people? Passing over centuries like you would pass over days we come to about 5000 years ago when we find the first writing, Mesopotamian cuneiform script, invented in Sumer, present-day Iraq, c. 3200 BCE, and can be traced to the present-day alphabet. Writing is crucial because that is what distinguishes us from animals and enables us to build on the work of previous generations. All creatures have languages, they communicate, they have life experiences, they remember some of them for a long time, even teach some of them to their offspring, but none of them have the critical tool to transcend the time and generational barrier so that their experience can be recalled, relived and learned from. That tool is writing. In the 300,000 years that our species have existed on earth we only know what happened to them from about 5000 years ago. That is why reading is so important. When we read, we see that all success has been the result of collaboration and mutual consideration. Our modern society here in America and all over the world, however, is primarily based on individualism. In the words of one of my dear friends, “Individualism as a philosophy draws from all corners of the lower nafs. It is hedonistic, myopic, egoistic, arrogant, selfish, self-preserving all masquerading as positive elements for “self-realization”. Human society is built on cooperative control of individuals for the greater good. No wonder that the social order has unraveled within a couple of generations since the idea went mainstream.” In the American context this manifests as arrogance, which is disguised as self-esteem and given the status of a religious ideology. That feeds into the tyranny of feelings which super legitimizes subjective feelings to the level that if a person feels a certain way, that is enough for him not only to act according to that feeling but to expect everyone else to subordinate themselves and their feelings to his feelings, so that his feelings are not hurt. Ed Batista says it very eloquently, “My feelings are justified, because they are my feelings. My feelings at this moment take precedence over all other considerations. I have the right to express my feelings any way I see fit. And if I believe that you are causing my feelings, you are obligated to modify your behavior in order to align with my desired emotional state.” This is simply not acceptable in any civilized society, including Islam, which demands the opposite - i.e., that I must subordinate my feelings to the feelings and needs of others so that they are not hurt or disrespected in any way. And if that means some inconvenience to me, then so be it. That is what consideration means. That is what caring and respect

https://youtu.be/3V9Vwso6EQA

Geoff Calvin on Talent is Overrated: https://youtu.be/osdc5g7Z9Ho?si=7Hz30v7lP1pnQyeE

https://youtu.be/2MLyPUjCVao

https://youtu.be/mjtwXtZdYUw Springfield College Invocation:https://youtu.be/cu9sMtUoFGg

We are living the parable of the boiled frog. That is why we must get ourselves educated – not merely trained to make a living. Just ask yourself which books you have read in the past one year and you have the answer. Without reading and skills of reflective observation, introspection and abstract conceptualization you are totally open to being manipulated to believe and act the way those in power want you to act. Only real education can save us from being mentally enslaved and manipulated by the puppet masters for their benefit. There are two things that distinguish the enslaved from the free. The willingness to take responsibility for oneself and to focus on contribution and not consumption. In one word – Participation. Rasoolullahﷺ mentioned this in the Hadith where he defined the Ummah. Al-Nu’man ibn Bashir (RA) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “The example of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” [Muttafaqun Alaihi, Bukhari, Muslim] We Muslims as an Ummah counting backwards from post WW2 nation states to the Khilafa Rashida which was our first experience of statehood for Muslims, have lived in Empire in one form or another. One ruler with absolute power. People must obey. No participation in decision making. Change of leadership, almost always violently. Fratricide was the norm and declared legal by Suleiman Al Qanooni. Yet another reason to study history. Our history is the history of conquest and its economics – though actual conquests stopped over 300 years ago but the hangover remains. Our Muslim country economics has gone the same way – we have replaced state income from spoils of war to oil revenues. Local people never had to produce or show enterprise. They were on the dole and remain that way. Our wealthy countries are bank accounts, not economies. We compete in building structures, not minds. Ask how many of our speakers talk about conquests, wars, bravery, and how many about social work, industry, creating products or services? We live in the past, as if the present doesn’t exist. I believe that we must wake up and get out of our Empire mindset and realize that it was a glorious phase in our history, but it is over. Today we must draw inspiration from the use of knowledge, technology, systems and markets. We must learn a whole new set of skills and contribute in new ways to be viewed as productive and contributing members of society. Power and influence are derivatives of contribution, not consumption. We must actively learn from our great history by interpreting it in the modern context. It is not about regression but about progress standing on the shoulders of giants. I submit to you that most of what is happening to us today is because of our isolationist, myopic, and insular attitudes. We live as if there is nobody else in the world. Let me give you some metrics. Ask: How many of us greet people first and how many ask for a Fatwa about whether it is permissible to say wa alaikum salam to a non-Muslim who greeted you with Salam? How many of us speak the language of the country fluently enough to be able to represent ourselves in public fora? How many of us sit on school and other boards, and are in local government? How many of us volunteer in public programs for different social causes? How many of us volunteer in protests against different social evils like drugs, racism, gun violence, global warming, wars and nuclear weapons? How many of us participated in Black Lives Matter marches? How many of us participated even in the pro-Palestine protests and how many debated whether it is Halaal or Haraam to protest? How many of us vote and how many debate about voting? How many of us have local people as friends? In this country I don’t mean ABCDs or ABCAs but Caucasian, African or Native Americans. How many of us attend Jury duty and local Townhall meetings? I can add to this list but will leave you to do that. Shall I also ask, how many of us drive too fast in residential areas because we are late for Juma and park on neighbors’ lawns and block their driveways? Power and influence are the result of consistent contribution, not consumption. Nobody cares what we own. They care about what we give to those in need. Power comes with territory. Contribution defines territory. You want power? Contribute. Today almost everything that is happening to us is because we are seen as net consumers, not contributors. To give you an example, in the 2011 Motor Show in Qatar, the star attraction was the VW Tuareg with custom 22-inch wheels, roof rails, rub strips, and other details--all plated in 24 carat gold. Though the VW Tuareg is a high-performance car which won the Dakar Rally, the focus at the Motor Show was not on engineering but bling. Ask why? This is not only about rulers and other countries. Just look around you at what we do in our local society here in West Springfield and ask