ISNA 2003: Ethnic Jihad

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Event Name: ISNA 2003: Ethnic Jihad
Transcription Date:Transcription Modified Date: 5/21/2019
Transcript Version: 1


Transcript Text

Georgia with her

brother to San Francisco and they were

interested in Buddhism in the 1930s and

literally were so distressed and this is

story I heard from my uncle they

migrated to San Francisco and my uncle

opened up the first metaphysical

bookstore that's still there

fields bookstore and one of the sections

he had was Islam and he actually said

his Shahada and he was very happy when I

became a Muslim so they moved because

the South was unbearable

and they went to San Francisco because

it was considered to be one of the most

progressive cities in America but this

is what was happening and this did not

happen to everybody and I've spoken

taken oral history from people that grew

up in the South people that grew up in

the South in the 40s and 50s that I've

spoken to this was not the norm but this

became increasingly common as black

people in the south began to desire an

equitable situation and this is why

people that were called uppity ended up

often at the end of a rope and one of

our great Muslim people from this

country is imam naf him who's was the

father of unwalled abnormal Haman and

Anna's in Philadelphia he was having

such a difficult time living in the

South under those conditions his family

feared that he would get lynched because

that injustice was intolerable to him

and so they actually sent him to

Philadelphia and he ended up becoming a

Muslim moving to Medina and his son is

probably one of the first and certainly

we consider him the first until there's

evidence of other how far these probably

the first half of of the Quran from that

generation of people that became Muslim

despite all of those conditions they had

people of intellect people of

desire2learn and you should read about

Frederick Douglass read his own

autobiography and what he went through

just to learn the alphabet tricking

other white kids that knew how to read

and write to teach him the alphabet he

was a brilliant man and and people

should know their stories because their

stories are inextricably bound with your

situation today the people that have

come to this country and found this

country reasonably welcoming have

largely found it so because of these

people and what they went through and we

honor them by knowing their stories and

knowing who they were these are the

people that built the railroads African

people John Henry is a story that every

child used to learn in this country

about a man who wants to outdo the

Machine to prove that human labor is

better than mechanical labor and kills

himself proving it an Elizabeth Eckford

this is one of the first women who who

was this is the beginning of the forced

integration this is her first day in

school and look at the hatred

they had to bring police out so that she

could go to school and look at the

dignity of that woman this is not that

long ago people death to all race mixers

keep white public schools white

but I am oh Allah

this is what people went through so that

people could eat in restaurants that

they could actually have the right to

sit where they wanted to and 2/3 of

those white people that were down there

were Jewish people because the Jews were

also people of struggle in this country

and what they've earned in this country

they are entitled to because they earned

it with incredibly hard work and with

massive effort with extraordinary

generosity creating endowments that are

now worth billions of dollars and this

was a great day for this country and

we're celebrating the 40th anniversary

of isne and the 40th anniversary of this

march and they're related because these

struggles are related they're the

struggles of minorities in this country

to be full members at the table of this

continent to have complete

enfranchisement rights to do what they

want and this was struggle people and we

have felt nothing and the complaints of

Muslim Muslims should stop complaining

because we don't know what difficulty is

if you've had a knock on your door if

you hear clicks on your phone you don't

know what struggle is and that's the

truth that these people struggle and

people like Muhammad Ali who had his

title stripped and this was not a coward

this was a brave man he did this on

principle he had his title stripped from

him and he said I have nothing against

the

because no Vietcong ever called me a

nigger that's what Muhammad Ali said and

the Irish just to let you know that this

is also a white struggle and I was once

with an Irish man who an

african-american man was asking him

whether he was a Muslim or not he asked

him are you the Grand Inquisitor and the

african-american man became quite

belligerent with him he said don't play

games with me stop just tell me what you

are you know this and that and became

quite and immediately he said listen get

your white people right I'm Irish you

got a problem go find an anglo-saxon and

vent because most african-american

people in this country have Irish blood

and the reason they have Irish blood is

because Irish men were not allowed to

marry anglo-saxon women and so they

married Native American women and they

married African American women and that

is why most of the african-americans in

this country have Irish blood and many

of the Native Americans have Irish blood

and it's not from rape it's from

marriages that were lawful marriages the

Irish were looked down as barbarians

when they the British initially did not

allow them to dress like British people

they were treated horrific Lee no Irish

need apply and this is this is where

they went to they went right to the top

because they persevered and people that

persevere overcome obstacles people that

give up don't and the Hispanic struggle

is another extraordinary sort we serve

whites only no Spanish or Mexicans as if

they could tell the difference I'm

surprised they spelt them right

but that's the truth and the the

Mexicans are also part of the history of

this country the Vaqueros who were the

Cowboys who taught the white Cowboys how

to why is lariat and lasso and Stampede

all taken from Spanish because that's

where they learned it they learned it

from the the Mexican Cowboys

it's where that came from and then this

great man Cesar Chavez who went out and

struggled and marched they were beaten

they were repressed they were attacked

this is a United farmworkers this man

was beaten by the police for striking

why because they wanted rights for the

farm workers that were picking the

vegetables and the fruits that all the

white people in this country were eating

and and my own wife and I've told her

never be ashamed of the fact that your

mother worked in the field it's nothing

to be ashamed of because honorable work

is honorable and the prophet sallallaahu

was that I'm said the best that a son of

Adam will ever eat from is from the work

the labor of his own hands and even

deluded a senem the prophet of allah

worked from the labor of his own hands

and Islam never demeans labor never

demeans labor many of the Sahaba were

laborers Sena Ali collected wood that's

what he did as a job he collected wood

and sold wood and now the lieutenant

governor and possibly I mean see I'm

from California and were flexing our

muscles now Bustamante was asked about

Arnold Schwarzenegger because apparently

in an interview he said that he'd been

in orgies and done drugs and and

Bustamante said well I can honestly say

I've never been in

anything like that and I've never done

drugs and I don't exercise

the Chinese struggle this is an amazing

struggle the Chinese Exclusion Act of

1882 was the first act in which people

were actually prohibited from

immigration on the basis of race because

there were people in Congress that felt

that the Asians were such an alien

culture their religion was alien their

language was alien their Luke was alien

and they were dangerous to the

homogeneity of this culture and this is

very interesting in terms of how the

Muslims are being looked on now as an

alien culture as a culture that cannot

adapt to the judeo-christian culture

which is the judeo-christian Islamic

culture and anybody that studied the

history of Western civilization knows

the impact of Islam the exclusion fence

this is how they were looked on as

demons Chinese attacked it Rock Springs

these were cut they were called coolies

shot at killed that man being shot in

the back these things happen in this

country

Chinatown attack at Denver they used to

go in and attack these these places

where the Chinese live and in Chinatown

in San Francisco there are still fifth

sixth generation Chinese that only speak

Chinese in that city they've never

learned English and now the governor of

Washington State is a Chinese man

because they persevered and they

struggled the japanese-americans another

extraordinary case the Jap the NIP I

mean you've even got Bugs Bunny from the

1940s with Japanese being portrayed as

as vicious and vile creatures and and

and him bombing them and

taking racial slurs that people watched

in cinemas Japs keep moving this is a

white man's neighborhood the reason I'm

telling you about this is because what

it says now is Muslims keep moving

that's that's the message that some

people out there are trying to put out

but it's nothing compared to what these

people went through because by and large

this country has changed incredibly and

if you don't recognize that you're doing

a great disservice to the leaps and

bounds that this country has made but we

know that it still has not gone far

enough and that's where you come in

because this is the new struggle to take

this country to another level and that

is why our struggle is bound with the

Asian Americans it's bound with the

African Americans it's bound with the

Native Americans it's bound with the

Mexican and Hispanic Americans we have

to see that that we are bound to these

people and ultimately the future in this

country is not white the future is brown

and that is a fact and it's a fact that

many people in this country are

lamenting but I believe it's a fact that

we should not lament that we should

celebrate it because our religion is not

a religion of race it's a religion of

truth and principle that puts spirit

above mud it puts the human soul at the

center of human beings that does not

allow people to look at other people

with contempt because the color of their

skin

or the language that they speak or the

creed that they believe in not kuraman

of any atom we have annulled all of the

children of adam' this is our Lord that

did that and so in acknowledging these

people and their struggles we are

acknowledging the most noble qualities

of people and the people that died in

these struggles died for you they died

that you might live with dignity and if

you study the history of what people

went

up against the suffering that they bore

so that their children would not have to

live in the same conditions that they

lived in or their children's children

and this struggle is continuing on and

the Japanese are one of the the great

success stories of this country they're

the only people in the 20th century in

in this country that were interned in

camps and there was a plan to intern

German Americans but it was never done

and we have a Japanese congressman now

in Congress who was interned as a

six-year-old child in California their

lands were taken from them they lost

their farm lands they were expropriated

by misappropriated by peoples who bought

up the lands this happened and there are

people alive to tell this story people

that we know Japanese people who these

people were gentle people there were

people that did not rock the boat in

Japanese culture here they say the

squeaky wheel gets the grease

but in Japanese culture they say that

the nail that sticks out gets the hammer

but they got the hammer anyway but now

they've learned to squeak even though

their cars don't which is good that's a

good lesson to learn this is all the

internment there and now here we have

the head of the Department of

Transportation we have congressman now

japanese-americans we have heads of

universities and the Jewish struggle is

an extraordinary struggle in this

country and it's worth our study because

of all communities we are most like the

Jews and that is a

Hadiya a sh muhammad oma TV Ashbaugh

almighty ash mojave ben-israel myoma is

most like many israel and so we have to

really consider that hadith very

carefully because look where Benny

Israel ended up in Europe and like

doctor of the Hakim winter said that the

path from Auschwitz to sever Anika is

not a crooked one that in our lifetime

we've seen Muslims interned in camps

rape programs against them in Europe and

the neo-nazi movement now the new

anti-semitism is being against Muslims

and you should recognize that and that's

why we have to recognize that the Jewish

struggle is also part of our struggle in

this country and there are people that

we should recognize this is Leo Frank

the founder of the anti-defamation

league lynched up the Jews have

struggled for their rights and and the

Jews also they were squeakers early on

they went in to the camps and they were

considered agitators because they fought

for just work wage they fought for just

hours they created the unions this is

all from the Jews and they worked very

hard at it and they didn't just do it

for themselves and that's what you

should understand and this is one of the

powers of this community they were they

worked with the african-american

community many of the Jewish jazz

musicians refused to play and less

blacks were allowed to play with them

this is well known also Hollywood if you

look even though there's a lot of racism

there was still an attempt to bring the

african-american into Hollywood and

there's some interesting stories that

have been done about that these look now

like that guy looks like he's Hamas if

you the recent cartoon just put a little

turban on

head and that's this is how they're

portraying and that's the fatso D

seriously just put a little eagle and a

hike and it'll look exactly like the

cartoons out there today because we're

the new Jews we wear the same kind of

caps we dress funny our women don't wear

wigs but they wear headscarves we have

funny dietary laws what's wrong with

pork you know well I mean you call it

Devil's ham don't you that's what it's

called a little devil on that on the

pork thing that's true you can go to the

grocery store and I you know he please

has a sense of humor I once got doctor

order laugh so hard because my boy had a

cape on and he jumped into the room he

didn't see me but he said I'm back

Muslim and I'm and I'm gonna kick shape

on in the butt and I came he was five

years old and I said I didn't know Shep

on has a bottom he said everybody has a

bottom except Allah I said hungry Allah

is not an anthropomorphic

[Music]

I'm a this is going on today and it's

happening in our mosques as well

ignorant people stupid people foolish

people these people are so dumb they

call themselves Aryan Nation not knowing

that Aryan is from Iran I mean seriously

that's how stupid these people are you

know yo are you Iranian no I'm Aryan

what do you think Iranian means it means

Aryan and this is what we're dealing

with type of mentality and study their

history now you don't have to be

Einstein to know the Jewish contribution

in this country just that phrase alone

tells you everything striking Jewish

shirt workers I mean this is amazing and

how they were treated and what they did

to change the conditions in New York and

now we come to our struggle now what's

interesting about our struggle that I

like is it's not an ethnic struggle you

see it's not an ethnic struggle it has

an ethnic component to it because the

majority of our peoples are off-white

so it does have an ethnic component I

will not deny that but Dr Omar and I are

living proof and evidence that it's not

entirely ethnic although I somebody

wants at this Protestant lady from

England she kept saying how did you

become Muslim how did you become us and

she kept crying and crying and this is

well what were you before and I said

well I was Christians Jesus what what

branch and I said well actually I was

baptized Greek Orthodox I'm a quarter

Greek she said all of course in other

words a Greek you know of course makes

sense they're almost like Turks anyway

right I mean we stole their I grew up

thinking baklawa

baklava I thought that was Greek I was

proud that Greek least we make good

pastry we don't have a Socrates anymore

but we make good pastry and then I found

out it's all Arabic but the Arabs got it

from the Persians series and feta cheese

I thought feta cheese was Greek that's

what I grew up thinking Greek feta it's

feta it's crumbling cheese and then even

the dancing I had to learn Greek dancing

when I was because I was part of what

you did at church I mean you didn't do

it in church you did it but I had to do

that and uh and then I realized as

Lebanese dancing I thought it was Greek

and I was just learning Lebanese dancing

and then we had worry beads

I had worry beads seriously I was I

literally was given worry beads and why

they call them worry beads because when

Greeks worry they pull out their beads

because they used to see the Muslims

always doing them whenever they got

worried they pulled out their beads but

the Greeks just flipped them around they

don't actually do think oh so it just

makes them worry more but it's good for

the worry beads sellers the people that

sell worry beads make a bundle because

everybody's worrying and increasingly so

that in fact Muslims should start

importing those things right

you work 911

ever tried worried beats the Muslim

struggle Allah Allah kobato this is

amazing these people we should everybody

should know if I want to see yato

Mahmood on the cover of Time magazine

I'm serious I want to see them on the

cover of Time magazine a cover sir

because time does historical stories

they've had Native Americans Columbus I

want to see y'all on my mood or I'm up

inside I want to see people have to know

about these people and it's our duty

that these names are in every history

book in this country because these were

great men look at the composition here

24% Arabs and the majority of Arabs in

this country are Christian and we also

have an alliance with those people we

should recognize that and then we have

South Asians Europeans 2% 32% and then

African American what and what a

wonderful pie it's humble pie

I mean to all the island out of our

world law whoever humbles himself for

Allah Allah will elevate him so let us

be a humble pie right instead of having

to eat crow or Jim Crow people don't get

those jokes because they didn't grow up

with all that stuff that we got when we

were young Jim Crow you should know Jim

Crow other phase my goodness

but look at that slice right on top and

and I'll tell you something that slice

is getting bigger

because the other the other part of that

circle is hungry they're hungry and I'll

tell you something about the struggle

the only thing that makes struggle real

is God everything else is just empty and

false and that's the truth and that's

the power of Martin Luther King the

power of Martin Luther King is that he

struggled he always men

in God he ultimately was a preacher and

he was calling people to the moral

conscious a moral component in them and

reminded them constantly that we hold

these shoes to be self-evident that all

men are created equal and are endowed by

their creator and that's Providence that

that is in the founding document of this

country that is Providence and this is

Naji Lefou law this is the first person

killed in the United Farm Workers

struggle a Palestinian and this is what

Muslims should be doing we should be at

the forefront of what is right not

because it involves Muslims but because

it involves the conflict between right

and wrong and we should always be on the

side of right because the side of right

is the side of Islam that is the side of

right it is the side of Islam and

Muslims stand by right and the Prophet

sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in a

sound hadith on that if anyone is

treacherous to a limb me which is a

person of a non Muslim faith according

to Imam attic it can be any faith not

just Abrahamic faiths but any faith

Buddhists can be the immune and that has

been the active practice of our

tradition he said if anyone is

treacherous to within me any Muslim

oppressors are than me I will be the

them knees advocate on the day of

judgement our prophets on the lightest

and will stand next to the non-muslim

against the Muslim because we are not

about tribe we are about principle and

if the principle goes against the tribe

we say goodbye to tribe and that's the

truth and that is Islam and we have to

be witnesses unto humanity for the sake

of Allah well o Allah music on

even if it

against yourselves and we've got plenty

to testify against in our community too

much but it's time that we stop being in

denial or pretending people say to me

you shouldn't tell people about the

problems of the Muslims don't say that

to the non-muslim they read it every

single day in their newspapers they see

it in the in the Muslim world constantly

and when we sit there and pretend like

these things aren't happening we look

like fools we look like hypocritical

lying fools and they see right through

us and it's people that will stand up

for the truth in spite of all these

things that will be recognized as people

that those people want to listen to and

ultimately that is what we want we want

the ears because the ears are the

inroads to the hearts and if you shout

at them they'll plug their ears just

like anybody that goes into a room with

the music's too loud they cover their

ears if you're shoutings too loud

they'll cover their ears like Ralph

Waldo Emerson said I'm sorry I can't

hear you your actions are shouting much

louder than your words and that's the

truth and then our shaheed that I him oh

Allah this noble man that died because

he was a man of principle like Dr Omar

said that I him o Allah may Allah in

noble his face and elevate him in the

highest ranks of the people of paradise

and his wife who died - ahed in a fire

because the death of fire is the death

of a Shaheed and how fitting for the

wife of such a great Shaheed to die a

Shaheed his wife Betty Shabab oh that

was Malcolm right Malik Shiva al Hajj

Matic Shabazz said America needs to

understand Islam because this is the one

religion that erases from its society

the race problem why is this still

significant because this problem is

still deeply significant in this country

the problem has not gone away and we are

facing it today as a community this is

the fundamental problem after faith

itself if you look at it beliefs the

disease of beliefs was you created me

from fire and air you created him from

mud on a high dome in who that is the

devil and anyone that says that is a

demon anyone that thinks he's better

than anyone else because you don't know

and if you come into a room and think

you're better than anyone in that room

you're a fool that's a fool who has that

attitude because only I'll not super

Hannah without a nose and even a beggar

on the street might be better in the

eyes of Allah subhana wa tada

then the worshipful person in the moss

only Allah knows that and we are not

allowed to judge people's inner

realities and that's why race is

something that needs to be eradicated

and it is the Muslims

according to Arnold Toynbee the

extraordinary English historian it is

the Muslims that can offer a solution to

European and Western peoples to the race

problem which he wrote in his his essay

Islam in the West he said that we can

learn from the Muslims and benefit from

them and the two primary things that we

can learn from them is the solution to

our race problem because he believed

that the world was heading to an

inevitable race rate race war if

something was not done and we are here

to stand as obstacles to people that

want to see that to the war mongers out

there

we're here to stand as obstacles to that

because we are people of peace and Imams

aid shackle may Allah preserve him said

it would be one of the greatest

travesties of history if the Muslims are

torn and separated and sunk into the

quagmire of racism ourselves and if we

as Muslims that any force Muslim

some transform us into races who are

incapable of bringing this message to

America we have betrayed Islam and we

have betrayed Malcolm and that is why we

cannot allow race to be an issue we are

a people of meritocracy may the best

Dawa win and may the best in sin and if

it's a woman then let arise if a woman

is more capable let arise and this is an

age when the women are making the men

look pathetic I'm serious they come with

notebooks they there you don't have to

remind them to sit up with comportment

I'm really serious it's the women and

I'm not just saying this to make the

women feel good but I want to see the

man well V that ik affiliate NFS and

with the Nephi soon I want to see you

outdo these women and prove that you

deserve two to one in inheritance laws

I'm serious really prove it and you're

certainly worthy of it you young men all

of you I look at you and I see a

potential in this country really to go

out there and transform this country

there are a hundred and fifty thousand

members of MSA is that what it is 150

thousand how many and how many members

around fifty thousand

okay we always exaggerate so let's say a

hundred thousands there's a hundred

thousand MSA members and if there are

then let's make it so I was with a

afghani group a couple of weeks ago and

we and we were in a one of these Rancho

type places where you go ride horses and

I actually hungry like grew up riding

horses because my grandfather was a

horseman had a cattle ranch as well and

so I'm not a great writer but I can ride

ands and those horses that they rent out

are so broken down you don't have to

worry about it anyway

so I said let's go right hood then I

looked at I said do you know how to ride

horses and one of them he kind of did a

feta thing he said do we know how to

ride we're Afghan ease of course we know

how to ride horses and if we don't know

we'll pretend we know and that should be

your spirit well lie that should be your

spirit to go out there and and if you

don't have a hundred thousand members

pretend you have a hundred thousand

members and four dollars and a biscuit a

so a latte and a biscuit a is how much

moulay seven dollars seven dollars a day

right those would college students do

they go down and have a cafe and seven

dollars seven dollars a day huh

you can you do that I mean seriously

that's over two hundred dollars

give-give by your latte away for the

sake of allah subhana wa ta'ala if

everybody did that you know how much

money you'd have you can go back to

drinking after a couple of years that's

a not yeah not the other kind

don't do that that's what they said

people and I was in New Jersey and I was

saying that I would prefer that they

allowed marijuana to be smoking on

airplanes than alcohol because marijuana

cools people out alcohol gets him riled

up and they get belligerent because I

was on a plane where this man was drunk

he was very belligerent to the

stewardess and I told her you know they

could really solve this problem

just pass out joints for people that

want them and now and they'll just kind

of chill out right they might get the

munchies and want a couple extra bags of

peanuts but basically they'll be cool

calm and collected and and it's a double

high because you're 30,000 feet up there

so I said I'm worried there I said I'm

worried they're gonna say my mom says

promoting marijuana use so I'm not

promoting marijuana use don't use it

don't abuse it don't use it stay away

from it and and don't be like you know

the guy that said I never inhaled and

don't go to places where they smoke and

you inhale right I didn't smoke any but

it's called secondary smoke when you

hang out with people that are doing that

I don't want to do that all right so

stay away from that may Allah give you

all tell field and increase you and make

you fit Y on the allah subhana wa ta'ala

when he mentioned the the people of feta

is our 250th we led cap when they went

to the cave and that's what you have to

do you have to go cave of iman in the

midst of this plane of jaliyah

go to the cave of iman which is in your

heart there's a hollow space in your

heart and that is a cave and seek refuge

in that cave and safe Apollo Robyn a

Tina min ladunka Rama as for the grace

of Allah that's what the fit you do they

asked for the grace of Allah well yeah

then I'm an MD now Rashad ah and guide

us to do the right thing and then when

they came out of the cave what did they

say they told them vibrato a Hadouken

bwaaaah Tacoma Holly Hill and Medina

send a some of you with this money to

the city and then what does and he says

for young for you has kappa amma make

sure your food is pure because that's

that which will give you spiritual

strength is pure and halal food and

that's very important that that's in

there about the fit an and then also

Allah subhana WA Ta'ala says when he

mentions them he tells them fedia Talib

buff and let him be gentle and take care

don't go out belligerent don't go out

with anger anger and perturb states are

not the states of people that have

Sakina in their hearts don't go out

angry if you go if you demonstrate

demonstrate with dignity

never shout in a demonstration I'm Syria

it's not a Sunnah don't shout don't

shout

Huckabee if people don't know what that

means you scared them and really and

it's not it's not good to scare people

don't let any of you cause them to know

who you are why because they'll stone

you and try to force you back into their

min la so be careful because you might

get tribulations that you can't bear and

there are reports of suicides in

Guantanamo Bay you don't want to get

tribulations that you cannot bear it's

not the Sunnah of the Muslims if they

can avoid those type of things they

don't put themselves in the line of

tribulation

if they come to them then may Allah give

all of us perseverance to take what

comes from Allah subhana wa tada but he

may give us may he give us wisdom to

avoid what does not need to come there's

a camel ahead on was Salam alaykum Salam

[Applause]

you