Al-Hamdulillah my brother imam Siraj Wahaj, all the other imams and scholars here and all the people and our
translator here who I always get worried
they're saying this person is completely
mad but that's the basis of translators
they have to be trustworthy that we were
in a car once and one of my little boys
said to my four-year-old say to dad to
go and get some ice cream and so he said
say to dad to go to get some ice cream
and I realized that secret of Pulu Allah
who had you know when Allah said say the
prophet saw him was so trustworthy and
faithful in his transmission he said
exactly what he was told to say say
because you have to be trustworthy to
translate now God God I love that God
that's amazing
god no I
this were the people that are listening
through the the sign language balloon
who's one of the great Quran Trent
reciters and he is a he has a reception
from Iman Navi air balloon was deaf he
couldn't hear except the Quran and
that's confirmed in all our books of
Quranic transmission he can only hear
the Quran under the the MSA I was I
heard Dalia muga had said something last
night our really sister that we're all
very proud of doing incredible work
Dalia Mujahid said something last night
it really affected me she said to Pastor
Rick Warren that she grew up in Islam
and she said that this organization had
such an impact on forming her
personality and her understanding of her
faith and that really struck me because
sometimes we tend to forget the impact
that these events have on our young
people especially I mean some of the old
people are also benefiting and getting
impact but the young people these are
can be turning points in their lives and
I was in Chicago and I somebody picked
me up in a car and and they said you
know what the first time I ever met you
was at its nah I was 14 years old he was
now 30 years old that tells you how long
I've been coming to isne and he said I
remember everything you said to me in
that meeting that brief meeting and it
really struck home to me the importance
of recognizing the immense
responsibility that we have towards our
youth and providing these and the MSA
the Muslim Students Association is an
extraordinary organization that has the
potential to really transform Islam in
America I believe that the prophet
Elijah said I'm
companions were young people generally
the people that followed him were young
people he had many many very young men
many of them under 20 saya Ali is really
when Sedna Ali became Muslim he was only
seven years old but he was so fervent in
his belief in faith and the Prophet
acknowledged him sallallahu wasallam
when when he was the only one that said
I'll stand by you a seven-year-old in
the spirit of July 4th Independence Day
I mentioned earlier that Independence
Day is on Muslim celebration and because
Independence Day in 1187 July 4th 1187
salahuddin at AU Bea's army defeated the
Crusader state at the Battle of heptane
so when we see the fireworks going off
we can remember July 4th July 4th
1187 now Independence Day is a
celebration of freedom but Muslims
celebrate every day dependents day which
is a celebration of servitude to Allah
subhana WA Ta'ala
that we are servants of allah subhana wa
ta'ala and this is what our young people
have to recognize that life is about
service life is not about licentiousness
liberty and libertine are related words
Liberty is freedom but libertine is the
one who acts without any constraints
libertine in English is a negative word
Liberty is a positive word there are
negative aspects to the ability to do
what you want to do when you want to do
what Allah wants to you to do you're
truly free but when you do what you want
you to do you're a slave to yourself
you're not a free person a free / the
Arabs the
in Arabic the Arabs say Abdul Karuma
honey what her Oh Abdul Mohammed this
servant the slave is a free man as long
as he's content and the free man is a
slave as long as he's covetous the free
man is a slave as long as he's a slave
to his passions this country has
afforded many Muslims an extraordinary
opportunity but we as a community have
to begin to give back in a much bigger
way to this country and the African
American community there's a whole
separate history there I'm talking to
the immigrant community that's coming
here after 1965 when a lot of people got
their heads bashed in before that so
that you could come here and get jobs
and work and eat in restaurants and be
treated like human beings but it's time
for this community to give back this
country is in a crisis it's in a moral
crises it's in a financial crises of
unprecedented proportion trust me
this crisis is far worse than what
happened in 1929 it's far worse if you
actually understand what happened and
the amount of credit that was created
the amount of debt and deficit financing
that has been the practice of this
country for far too long there hasn't
been a balanced budget says John F
Kennedy and claiming Clinton claiming
that he balanced the budget is a false
claim because what he did was he used
Social Security money to pay for his
budget so he was actually borrowing
instead of borrowing from banks by
selling Treasury bonds he was borrowing
from the future income or earning of
people that are putting that wealth
thinking that the government is actually
saving that wealth for them this country
according to the federal controller who
would resigned a few years ago to go
around the United States and
in this country about the impending
financial tsunami proved that this
country has liabilities and debts
reaching over fifty trillion dollars so
the 11 trillion dollar official debt is
only part as the tip of the iceberg and
we're on the Titanic we're on the
Titanic and people are singing and
shooting off fireworks they're
celebrating an indebted nation that's
indebted Varzi to China with Chinese
firecrackers that they bought in China
we don't even produce firecrackers so
there is a lot of work to do
I believe the Muslim physicians alone
could solve the healthcare crisis by
doing what Bill and Charlie mail who
found that the Mayo Clinic did Bill and
Charlie Mayo serviced 30 percent of all
their patients they brought us because
they believe that as physicians they
should be serving the poor for free
that was the Mayo Clinic that was Bill
and Charlie mail that's American history
it's about time that people started
thinking about serving the underserved
in this country we talked about Rick
Warren was talking yesterday Rwanda
because I said Muslims need to get
together with Christian doctors and
serve the party said yes in Rwanda were
doing as I said I'm not talking about
Rwanda I'm talking about East LA
I'm talking about Washington DC I'm
talking about Jacksonville Florida the
ER doctors have seen an increase since
this financial collapse because people
are using the ER as a primary care
because they don't have insurance to go
to a doctor they can't afford to go to a
doctor
we have people that can't take their
children to doctors because they can't
afford that the Muslims have over 30,000
doctors in the United States if each one
of those doctors gave one day out of the
week for the sake of Allah and His
Messenger to serve the poor people we
would solve a great deal of the
underserved problems in medicine in this
country now that sacrifice and maybe
it's asking too much but I don't think
it's asking too much personally I don't
think it's asking too much we can do
this and that's when people yesterday
Rick Warren I thought Rick Warren was
going to do what evangelical people call
witnessing which is where if they meet
people that don't adhere to their faith
they tell them about Jesus Christ being
the personal Savior Rick Warren there's
so much social work he doesn't have to
witness about Jesus Christ all he has to
tell you is about what his group is
doing that's his witnessing that's his
witnessing that is what the Muslim
community needs to do we need to be sure
hotter than this witnesses over mankind
by serving humanity the prophet
salallahu alaihe wasalam said the best
of you are the most beneficial to the
dependence of God that the pay all along
the dependence of God which is a worthy
heir abused for children the best and
most beloved of you to Allah are those
who are most beneficial to the
dependence of allah subhanho wa taala
service we need to call our community to
service we don't need President Obama to
call us to service our God has called us
to service our God has called us to
service we don't need the President of
the United States to call this community
to service because Allah and His
Messenger have called us to service asta
gee bully lei well they're a suti if
they're directly my Yuriko
answer the call of God and His Messenger
you to bring you back to life through
service life through
servus the first hook bethat the prophet
sallallaahu said him gave in medina
when he arrived to medina the very first
hook by that he gave johannes of shoe
salon
what up a moran was sallou alayh when a
Sunni on touch full genitive is Salam o
humanity o people spread peace feed the
hungry get up in the night and give some
portion of your night to God and you
will enter paradise without any
difficulties two-thirds of that message
is service to others is spreading peace
if you look at the famous hadith inside
Muslim in which the three people there
was a the the upper us the acara and the
Atma there was a man who had vitiligo
the skin disease there was a man who was
bald he lost his hair through a illness
and there was a blind man and Allah sent
an angel to test them and this is a
proof that somebody could come to you
and he's an angel he sent an angel to
test these people the the first one that
he went to was the man with vitiligo and
he said what is the most beloved thing
to you he said to have good skin and
then he said then let it be that and he
made a prayer wiped over him and his
skin came back but the reason that he
wanted good skin is because he said
mother Ani & nass people don't like my
skin they look at me and they don't like
me so he was worried about what people
think that's why he wanted good skin the
neck then he asked him what wealth you
like he said camels so he gave him
camels and then he went and he came to
the next man who lost his hair and he
said what is the most beloved thing to
you and he said that I have nice hair so
that people don't look askance at me so
he said may you have good hair his hair
came back he said what type of animal do
you like he said I love cows he said may
you have cows he gave him cows and then
he came to the blind man the blind man
unlike the other two said
the most beloved thing for me is that
God Allah yah rodent yo dude Alania
bursary for Abu Dhabi he knows that God
gives me back my sight so I can see
people so I can see people he wanted his
eyesight back so that he could see
people not because he was worried about
what other people were they because he
wanted to see people and he asked that
God returned his sight and he said and
the angel said and so it is he got his
sight back and then he said what what
type of animal do you like he said goats
or sheep
nunim he and he gave him and they each
one of them became wealthy and
prosperous until they had a valley
filled with these camels cows and and
goats and then the angel came back to
the first in the form of Allah a man
with the same disease and he was poor
and he said who will help me on this
journey of mine so that I can reach my
journey and he said will you give me
some of your wealth and he said no go go
on
and he said weren't you like me at one
time and God blessed you with this
beautiful skin he said no I've always
looked like this and I've always had
these animals and he said may God return
you to the way you were and he lost his
animals died and his skin went bad he
went to the next man he said the same
thing and the same thing happened when
he went to the blind man the blind man
was overwhelmed by seeing how he once
was and how God blessed him and so he
said take whatever you want because you
remind me of the way I was before God
bless me that is a lesson for our Ummah
that's a lesson for all of you that have
come to the shores of this land and have
been enriched have been blessed that you
have to give back to the needy because
those are the people that Allah Subhan
Allah
has blessed allah subhan allah tala in
the hadith books he says my rich people
are the caretakers of my poor people if
they abandon them I abandon them if they
abandon them
I abandon them this community needs to
serve we need service our Prophet was
the servant of people and I'm now in
with a story to drive this point home
the second American that I know to
become Muslim was George Bethune English
he was born in 1787 he took his degree
at Harvard Divinity with excellence he
was awarded an MA which was the highest
degree given in the United States at the
time in theology he was fluent in Hebrew
Arabic and Cherokee he wrote his
dissertation on the New Testament and
lost his faith in Christianity and
actually ended up writing a refutation
of the Christian religion an examination
of the grounds of the Christian religion
which was a best-seller in the United
States of America George English Bethune
was appointed a special envoy by the
President James Madison and sent to
Egypt when he arrived to Egypt he
resigned his commission in the Marines
joined the Bosh's army converted to
Islam and with Ismael Basha went up the
Nile to subdue the there was a the funds
Sultanate which was a cenar they called
it it was an independent nubian
Sultanate that the ottomans wanted to
bring in to Egyptian control George
Bethune English wrote a narrative the
reason I discovered this I was reading
the correspondence between Jefferson and
Adams and they read this book and they
mentioned this book in their
correspondence he Jefferson asked Adams
have you read George English's
his travel dialogue up the Nile River I
was like wow and then in the footnote it
said this man converted to Islam and
ended up in Egypt so I looked him up
there he is on Google and on Google they
actually say he arrived in Egypt
converted to Islam and then in brackets
they put as a formality now how did you
know that was a formality did you call
him up on the phone because he died in
1828 and I have no I found no evidence
and I'll give you the evidence that he
was a Muslim he ends his narrative when
he was in the village of Cebu in Nubia
he had a young boy with him that was
serving him and he got so sick that when
the caravan left they left this boy
behind to die when he found this out
they got to the village of Cebu he found
this out and he said where was the boy
and they said oh he's he was left and he
said why and he said because he was too
sick to travel with us and Jorge English
was so distressed by this he said no you
have to go back and get this boy and
they said there's no point there's no
hope for him he said if this was a
Christian we would have 40 men go back
and get this boy and then he convinced
the chef of the village and he spoke
Arabic he convinced the shadder
to send somebody he traveled on to Aswan
when he got to aswan he writes and this
is how he ends his narrative and you can
read this online he ends his narrative
and this was a best-seller in the United
States of America he ends his narrative
by saying when I three days after I
arrived in Aswan I met a nubian traveler
who had found the boy he told me he
found him he had fallen into a ravine
and he was nearly dead and he helped him
he gave him food he took him on his
camel he brought him to the village
and the boy died and he buried him and I
said to this man I promised a reward for
anyone who would help that boy and I
want to give you that reward and he said
quote to my astonishment he said I don't
want your reward because I didn't do it
for you I did it for one who can give me
a much greater reward than you could
ever give me
I did it for my god and this George
English ends his narrative by saying I
said to this man I am so pleased to meet
a true Muslim who is following the
precepts of the Quran that demands
people act charitably and with
benevolence to people in distress this
is how he ends his book that I am happy
to meet a true Muslim who acts according
to the precepts of the Quran this is the
aluva kiya the people of constancy who
have become too far and too too far
between and too few in the Muslim Ummah
today and this is what we as Muslims in
the United States of America have to
become the people of Budo baqia the
people that are constant in the virtues
and the uprightness of our tradition as
well as the best of America because
that's what George English represents he
represents the best of this country and
that Nubian man that he met who we don't
know his name he said to that man in
ending his narrative he said I am
assured that this deed of yours will be
will fill a great space on the blank
page of our good deeds on the day of
judgment and that's how he ends his book
our page is too blank and it's time to
fill that page up with great deeds great
deeds will lie the mo Allah he I swear
to God and God is my witness
the power in our community for
regeneration in this country is awesome
its immense there's so much power in
this room there's so much power and our
young people look at these young people
I was just in a room filled with these
young people beautiful innocent bright
faces and we have to help them to make
this place a better place because we are
demanding of this country to to call
itself to a higher standard to a higher
standard this country has fallen by the
wayside this country has gone far too
off course and because the shift of this
country is so important to the rest of
the world if we go of course we take far
too many people with us it's time for
the Muslims in America to live the truth
of their religion and to call people in
this country to the highest ideals the
ideals of George English in that Nubian
man of acting with charity and
benevolence to those in stress we're on
a planet that is in distress we've got
over 3 billion people living in subhuman
conditions on this planet more than half
of this planet is living in subhuman
conditions those of us who are enjoying
the fruits of life on earth have to
begin to share those fruits when aisha
radi Olano had a grape and a beggar came
and asked for something she split the
grape and she gave half the grape to
that man and one of the Sahaba that were
with her said is there any benefit in
half a grape and she said how many atoms
is in that grave how many atoms is in
that grape woman yeah man with another
lesson in Hyden Yara if you do an atom's
weight of good you will see that on the
day of judgment we have a world that is
so dysfunctional that is so distraught
that is so troubled that even the
smallest acts of charity fill up big
pages on the
page of our good deeds on the day of
judgment go out where I'm overjoyed this
year when I came I thought a cloud was
lifted from the Muslim community
ohright you could also say I feel like
we got out from under a thorny bush that
we were just burdened with all of us
were wondering if we'd end up if we'd
end up in orange suits with with with
earmuffs on our things and things on our
eyes somewhere wondering where we were
what planet we were on like mr. K in the
castle who's never told the crime that
he committed but some Baraka came down
really some butter cookin down some some
husana some Hashanah you know some
husana Obama Obama he's made some
mistakes already that's okay Obama Obama
our finishes Obama two things Obama is
in the Arabic dictionary it's in Tanana
roots among the biddies extension of the
famous it's under the meta Ali's bombing
he says and I'm quoting Obama Allah was
new Shama Obama on the paradigm of Osama
because Osama is a common name so the
Arabs put something where so you know
how it's pronounced Obama which is
pronounced like Osama is Obama if you
know - he's Obama the son of a haka fan
one of the great tribal chieftains of
Arabia and then he says what can a
lockable who had an a swag and his
nickname was this black guy you know God
has there's humor in the world I'm
telling you there's more connections
than people are aware of but Obama gave
a speech in Cairo where he unclenched
the fist of America and extended a hand
of friendship
but and butts are important little
prepositions there but blood as long as
this country is dropping bombs on
civilians in Afghanistan it's going to
be hard for Muslims to open up their
hands as long as this country is causing
havoc in Iraq it's going to be hard for
Muslims to feel comfortable about
opening the hand when there was an
incident in one of the Gulf states of
torture recently and we had our
Secretary of State decry the outrageous
practice of torture that sounded very
hollow to many people around the world
coming from the United States of America
after Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo after
waterboarding this country needs to be
called to a higher standard we're the
were the community that can do it with
other communities but we have to be
living at the highest standard of moral
observance because if we don't live that
moral truth we can't call others to that
moral truth much of the Muslim world is
morally bankrupt
we sound very Hollow when we're calling
America to a higher standard when we're
not living up to that standard but the
Muslims in this country we can achieve
that we have the well we have the
intelligence we have the communities
let's rise above sectarianism get beyond
the Sufi Salafi debates get beyond the
Sunnis Shia debates they're not going to
be resolved in our lifetime Allah says
just wait I'm gonna make it all clear on
the day of judgement when you get the
director's cut you get to watch the
whole thing you get the director's
commentary it's all going to be made
clear those are the special features of
the day of judgment it's all made clear
let's just wait may the best hour win
but let's all work together for virtue
virtue aesthetical higher odds vie with
each other in virtue set on my Dinkelman
for the lawyer will buttercup