of spiritual pride and we begin to see
ourselves as better than other people
when in fact they may be better than us
because some of them just might be
ignorant they don't even know that Islam
is a revelation from God and that's why
when Islam came to me I really thought
this is true even though I was raised a
Christian I thought this is true and so
I had to become Muslim now when I became
Muslim what I was really trying to do
was enter into a state of submission
that's what I wanted I wanted to be a
submitter I didn't think I was joining a
tribe
Benny Islam and then I have to be with
the tribe right or wrong you know my
tribe ride around like Veniamin Rica
they say my tribe right or wrong my
country right or wrong love it or leave
it
that's tribal they're not truthful and
so that's where I have a real serious
problem is that people expect me to be a
spokesman for the tribe and I can't do
that
because if the tribe is wrong and I'm a
spokesman for the truth I have to say
the tribes wrong even against yourselves
that's what our law says what oh I'm
comb and I think we need people to
do that and we need more of them because
I really think we need to look at
ourselves and that is not to say that
what's going on what I mean them there's
there's so much
down so many terrible things being done
to the Muslims I'm not denying that but
what I'm saying is that's been going on
for a long time and the strategies we've
been using so far have done nothing to
alleviate that so I'm just wondering
maybe we should reassess maybe we should
actually try to develop new strategies
for changing our condition and and I
think one of the first and most
important is is to reflect on the fact
that the Quran says when Europe you when
you were afflicted with calamities you
asked why is all this happening to us
old woman and the emphasis come Said's
from your own selves that's one thing
another thing when was it a high-density
remedy let whoever find good let him
praise Allah but whoever finds other
than good let him only blame himself
that's inaudible in olia so it's right
there you tell me I mean do we take that
seriously does that mean what it says I
was once in Folsom Prison and there was
a sign we were in the mess hall is for
Eid and there was a sign that said
warning shots will not be fired and I
looked up and I turned to this man he
was in prison Muslim man next to me I
said what does that mean
and he looked at me and he said it means
exactly what it says
do you see because sometimes you you you
read something and who does that mean
so when when the Prophet SAW license
said whoever finds good that him thank
Allah and whoever finds other than that
let him only blame himself what does
that mean it means exactly what it says
so just do it
stop trying to philosophize yourself
into a corner with God submit let the
tears fall show some contrition I mean I
think we as Muslims we should be walking
around bowing our heads in contrition
and begging the non-muslims to forgive
us for being obstacles to seeing the
beauty of Islam I mean I'm serious I
feel like we should be growing up people
say what
these people what did they do to deserve
our presentation of Islam to them when
if you look at the public forum he was
patient with people persecuting him
throwing things at him spitting on him
throwing stones at him for 23 years and
then when a few of them actually finally
come to it Abu Sufian after 20 years he
and his wife who ate the liver of his
uncle bit into it and spit it out
washy who threw the spear from behind
his back in treachery and killed him and
the prophet saw him give Shahada to all
three of them sat with them in the same
way he couldn't even look at washi but
he sat with him you tell me what where
is that understanding of this long
because I want to see it where is that
20 years of persecution and he's still
saying welcome welcome into the fold
because he wanted good for people and
Iman only in his shot let me know
article hat tell you HIPPA via Heaney
MIOSHA pudina Seanie none of you truly
believes until he loves for his brother
what he loves for himself email no he
says in his commentary and I and I have
two versions of it one a more recent one
from Lebanon they removed this whole
thing from his original commentary
because it's it's politically they don't
want it they don't want this
understanding he said well hot wood
owner on your arm women Oh who wa this
should be interpreted first and foremost
as universal brotherhood in other words
the Muslims should love for his brother
the kaffir and his brothers are Muslim
what he loves for himself and then
listen what he says he says and this
love is spiritual love not human love
because humans do not desire good for
their enemies they desire harm and they
desire to discriminate against people
who are not like them and therefore
spiritual love which transcends human
love is for the sake of God you're going
against your nature for the
of God and that is why he said it is
Mustafa hab it is is not only rewarding
with God but highly encouraged to pray
for your enemies and he said therefore a
man should go against his soul and pray
for those who harm him where does that
understanding you see where is that
I mean I'd really I'm serious why is
that in our books why is that email no
way I mean are you gonna tell me that he
didn't know he didn't understand the
hadith that he didn't know the messenger
of our loss Elijah and what he meant
seriously but that goes against your
nature that's what he's saying you
desire harm for your enemies but if you
recognize that your enemies are just a
test from God for you and the point is
is to guide them that doesn't mean you
don't fight them if they're fighting you
I mean that's not what it said but don't
fight them with a hatred that you don't
want them to be guided fight them to
remove the blinders from their eyes to
remove the veils on this and that's why
when you conquer them you forgive them
and show them largess and that's when
they become Muslim I mean that's what
happened when the pulverizer marched
into Mecca he forgave them and they
became Muslim because they couldn't
understand it did he's going again
that's the power of Jesus because those
early Christians they were being eaten
by lions and they were praying for their
enemies people couldn't take it because
they were superhuman they were going
against human nature and they were
invoking angelic nature people forget
that why did Christianity spread it
conquered the Romans why the Romans were
had conquered the Christians they ruled
the Christian why how is it that the
conquered people conquered the
conquerors how because of morals that
their moral state and because of the
fact that they they didn't allow the
fact that they were being persecuted and
defeated by them to destroy their hearts
and cause them to lose their humanity
and that's why when the mongols came in
and destroyed two million muslims killed
two men
Muslim and who loggers brother ahmed
became a muslim within two years of the
conquest of baghdad and I'd be like Jeb
Bush today becoming Muslim you know sure
that's what it would be like if you like
Jeb and they're not impossible don't
think that's impossible if you think
that's impossible you know I don't think
you believe in God because he's a human
being he's facing his mortality just
like everybody else and if he reads a
sound version of the Quran if he hears
somebody speaking the truth and
realizing my god this could be another
prophet like Jesus like Moses because
they're all brothers moving to the next
question you have said that we are
living in trying yet interesting times
and that the age we're in is either
birth pains or death throes can you
please tell us more about what you mean
by this and your views on the nature of
this age well what I meant by that
statement is that on the one hand if we
look on the one hand unless eyes worked
at we're at this endgame it looks like
it's coming down they're telling us 85%
of the fish that we eat is gone it's
just gone that we've over fished all
these areas in these great oceans and a
lot of providers they're telling us the
polar ice caps are melting they're
telling us that the water is rising
right that our major cities have such
high rates of pollution that it's not
safe on some days in Mexico City or
Tokyo to go out for children because
they'll get asthmatic attacks in 1945
one out of 16 Americans got cancer today
it's one out of three so what's going on
aids aids is 50 million people so far
have died from AIDS 50 million you're
talking about the plague of the Middle
Ages the Middle Ages took 25 million
people
we're already double the number with
aids aids isn't a plague it's not a
plague on humanity so on the one hand if
you look out there it looks grim
it's high water everywhere I mean the
flood has has come the dam has broke and
and that's that's what the death throws
and looks like his we're in our death
throes on the other hand if you look out
there it looks like we're on the birth
pangs of an extraordinary Renaissance so
it is interesting that right on but
they're interesting times and I really
mean that for the first time in human
history
racism is seen by the majority of
humanity as a blight even though we're
still suffering from racism all over the
world it is no longer an accepted idea
it is rejected by all thinking people
across the board in in much larger
numbers than has ever existed in human
history 71% of Americans in a recent
poll said that they not only were not
opposed to mixed marriages but would not
be troubled if their own children
married outside of their own race I mean
that is amazing and it's happening and
we're seeing it in in in my children my
children are there Brown my when we get
to get family reunions my mother and
father's generation we had an entirely
white family now there are more mixed
children in our family reunions than
there are white children so what's going
on and that's not a novelist that is
actually becoming increasingly a norm
that in 50 years 50% of America is going
to be brown not white this is no longer
a white country it's no longer also
increasingly so it is becoming less and
that's a Christian country so we have
also the possibility of the plurality of
races and religions in conviviality
which is extraordinary
for the first time in human history
people are not being persecuted for
proselytizing I mean all over the world
people couldn't think they were allowed
to think now you can actually you can
you can choose your religion people can
choose their religion
chose to become a Muslim and this is the
first time in human history that you've
had that type of a freedom of choice
because there was a time when I would
have been burnt at the stake for
becoming a Muslim burnt at the stake so
that is an extraordinary many many
extraordinary aspects to the modern
society that we have to recognize the
tools that we have now to illuminate
people unfortunately they're largely
being used to foreign document not for
illumination but rather the opposite but
they're there and they could be used and
potentially their immense I mean even
though you know there are many things
that troubled me about Fahrenheit 9/11
just from a Islamic point of view of how
how we engage people we disagree with I
still think it's very profound event
that a film like that has grossed over a
hundred million dollars and it's only
been out for a few weeks it's what it's
going to be one of the loves grossing
films in history and it's a documentary
telling people that we did something
that was really wrong
just wrong so I think that's that's I
think there are many reasons why we
should be optimistic so this is the
paradox of our age it's an age that on
the one hand it really looks like we're
dying on the other hand looks like we've
hardly been born that brings us to the
last question from Dean point many
Muslims are suffering today the OMA
seems to be in a state of helplessness
what can we do as individuals to make
positive changes and also where are the
pros and cons of working as individuals
for this change as opposed to in groups
well for now the first thing that I
would say is about that is that our
helplessness is a gift from God
because we have to see that it's from
God God has removed our power partly
because we started thinking that it was
our power and not and not God's power so
it's a gift from God I don't think we
should see our condition as anything
other than an opportunity from Allah
Subhan Allah tada
to truly submit because the world is so
beyond it's like Robert McNamara said
one of the lessons that he learned and
this is the man who was in charge of the
Vietnam War who lived through the Cuban
Missile Crisis one of the lessons that
he learned was rationality will not save
us because he said Kennedy was rational
Khrushchev was rational
Castro was rational and yet they brought
us to the brink of destruction rational
men rationality will not save us so
that's a lesson and if that's Robert
McNamara saying that I mean how
shouldn't Muslims learn that lesson
because that's an Islamic lesson
rationality will not save us nothing we
can do what will save us nothing we
cannot do anything that will save us it
is Allah alone our Creator alone that
can save us and that's what we have to
call on Allah Subhan Allah Tala that
that's the only thing that we can do
like like one of the poets and Muslim
poets he said I bring you something God
that even you don't possess my
impoverishment that's the only thing I
can bring to you that you don't possess
everything else you have but that's the
one thing I can bring you that is
uniquely my own to give you because I
can't bring you my my strength you've
got that and and it cancels my now I
can't bring you my intelligence you have
that and it cancels my now I can't bring
you anything I can't be in you my wealth
you've got that and it cancels my now
but the one thing I can bring you is my
helplessness my impoverishment because
you don't have that that's what one gift
we can give to God that is uniquely our
own to
yeah and and and that's that's why it's
a great gift from Allah helplessness but
we have to see it as that in terms of
working in groups or not groups working
and I would say that allows with the
Jana you had a line now Jenna that's a
good Heidi so it's important that we
work together as the best of our ability
and there's some people that will never
be able to work with groups there's
personalities that that's just and those
people should find the best way that
they can do that and and that's from the
there's a chapter in variable cytosine
removing one cells from P from people to
protect them from his harm so there are
certain people that they're just they'll
sabotage everything they get into they
can't help themselves so if that's your
state then just don't don't don't block
other people from doing good work well
we thank you for your timing you're
hungry enough economy