Salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa
barakatu welcome everybody is menorah
non Rahim sorrow to a ceremony I say the
Mohammed Maya any wasabi was said him to
see me kathira what handle I have a
bride I mean first of all welcome new
students and our existing students to EW
no colleges our convocation which is
really to open up the school year
particularly for the master students but
we certainly are welcoming the incoming
class small but potent of our freshmen
and the returning students hundred we
this this year is for us an exciting
year for a number of reasons one we have
a really beautiful campus that's in
essence been gifted to us and it's very
important to study in a beautiful place
because what you're studying is really
about Beauty truth goodness and beauty
these are the great virtues of the
ancient world and they were virtues that
the Muslims certainly not only
cultivated but excelled at they always
made their mattresses beautiful and even
the most simple of schools we could
imagine the Prophet sallallaahu Simms
mosque where which was really his
University it was his madrasah but for
anybody who's ever been in very simple
places I lived in a place called ghetto
in West Africa and it was a very simple
mud adobe village but it was really one
of the most beautiful places I've ever
lived so even the utter simplicity of
the beauty of nature imagine having a
Masjid that's basically built from the
natural world around you the roof is
made out of date fibers and the pillars
were made out of the date palm tree and
and very simple but beautiful
straw mat carp carpets that grace the
place so it must have been a stunningly
beautiful place to study for that early
community but the Muslims excelled at
building beautiful institutions because
the perpetuity of a tradition is
strongest when it has institutions that
can transmit it to future generations so
just like we're all links in a chain
those of us who are teachers now and
still students all of us remain students
but those of us who have been up to Dena
the Tatton team with the tribulation of
teaching because it is a tribulation
with the tribulation of teaching we're
links in a chain of a tradition that
goes back 1,400 years and one of the
aspects of that tradition is advice you
know while SIA
giving advice the prophets all I said if
you look at the final Hajj the last
message to his oma was all advice take
care of your women folk stall so be nice
at Yahara you know take care of your
women folk avoid racism avoid
manipulating nature those were all his
final advice even on his deathbed the
last thing he gave was advice take care
of your servants take care of your women
the prayer the prayer guard your prayer
so this is one of the aspects of the
tradition which is advice allah subhana
wa ta'ala gave the best advice when he
said we give you the advice that we gave
the previous pupils before you that you
should be awfully aware of God you know
awful in the original sense of that word
filled with all you know that an a
temple law when I was saying Aladeen
America become well yeah come any type
of law that you should have you know we
gave advice to the previous people and
to you that you should have this awful
awareness of God so in the spirit of
advice I want to give you students a few
these pieces of advice and because we're
attempting to do something I think is
really unusual and that is to grapple
with two traditions it's hard enough to
grapple with one tradition and very few
people ever master one tradition very
few people ever master even one segment
of one tradition if you look at our
tradition for instance the period of the
Quran there's ten variants of the Quran
that are considered acceptable those
take now for most people that master
them they take a good life time to learn
calligraphy alone is a lifetime study
now so many aspects of the tradition
really do take a lifetime there's a
young 22 year old Arab boy who has
memorized all nine collections of the
hadith he was tested recently in the
Haram and it was really stunning to
watch the the testing by mahadji Thoon
they would only give him the first part
of the hadith and he would finish it and
then tell which book it was in and it
was it was really quite a masterful
performance but the point is he was
gifted with a photographic memory
obviously and our OMA has had many
people like that I've met a few myself
that that's a great gift memories a
great gift and it's it's really a almost
it is a prerequisite to to to studying
tradition to have a retentive memory at
least it's not a condition for HT HOD
that you have rote memorization but you
have to know where to find the things in
the books at least so in the spirit of
that I'll look from two traditions let
me give you some fatherly advice to our
younger students the one comes from
Amanda and Joe aney who said he wasa in
rewire lenten and Elma in Lobby citizen
you will not acquire knowledge except
with six things some Becca bit of Syria
and by and by Annie I will give you in
detail what those six things are and
then the first one he said that cotton
which is intelligence you have to have
some level of intelligence to grapple
with this
one of the things about our tradition is
that we actually believe in what's
called a fete and one of the names of
God is El Fattah the the opener the one
who opens and gives you openings
I saw a fella at one Shetty see that
really struck me as interesting it was a
photo about a student in Fez who was not
very smart and but he was really
struggling and and and they asked
whether or not he should be kicked out
and his stipend taken away from him and
then the the photo is give him ten years
and if the foot that doesn't come to him
by then get rid of it so that was quite
good there's a motor tanyon story just
about because it's important because
some of you all of us feel that our
intelligence is is not what we would
like it to be hence we've got a whole
industry of AI trying to work out how we
can just insert chips into our brain and
become super computers but all of us
feel that you know we're not really
worthy or intelligent enough to grapple
with some of these ideas so just two
quick stories one there was a more
tanyon who studied the motor sort of
Hadiya and and it takes a few years to
study this book it's a book of really
riddles and he had a very difficult time
with it and he just wasn't making sense
to him and he had studied it 10 times
and he still really couldn't understand
it and he decide he was going to give up
and he went and he was sitting by an
anthill and then one of the things that
more teens love to do is watch insects
and bugs they're incredibly they're like
oh it's like a culture of entomologists
because in the desert there's not a lot
to watch and so you get like I really
got used to watching like lizards and
dung beetles are fascinating to watch
carrying their dung around I've got a
whole culture of dung beetles now but we
he watched this ant trying to get a
piece of couscous up the anthill and and
it kept rolling down as like Sisyphus
and and the aunt did it 10 times and on
the 11th time it got in with this piece
of couscous and he said to himself I
can't let a aunt have greater aspiration
than me I'm gonna do it one more time
and he had his opening so that's a
famous story another story is is a
famous story of imam @f Dasani who was
noted to be not very bright and he had
an incredible spiritual experience and
after that he was noted for his
incredible ability to grapple with the
most difficult metaphysical concepts
with incredible dexterity so there is
hope for us we should always aspire ya
fattah ya Ali Mustafa tank arriba was a
traditional do I know I was taught that
by a habib lamin my children had that as
a dua for study you call on the Fatah
the opener and the newer so that car is
something that we know now with
neuroplasticity that it actually does
increase as you study so that and and
they used to think that it closed at
about adolescence but it actually
continues on throughout your life so the
more you study actually the bigger into
that gets and say now Omar said tydomin
Autopia Finnerty's IDO philopon learn
Arabic because it will increase your
intelligence and we know this now to be
true that if you learn a subject it will
actually increase the the
neuroplasticity of your brain will adopt
to the new things there will be more
dendritic connections and you'll be
smarter and brighter so you should see
that as you study and the harder you
study the brighter you get like the
golfer who made an incredible putt and
somebody said to him that was so lucky
he said the more I practice the luckier
I get the same is true for studying the
more you study the more intelligent
you'll get so and then he said the count
and Wahid o son you know being covetous
for knowledge like really being covetous
Hedison your wanting to know and this is
one of the things Aristotle begins his
great book on metaphysics which even
seen I read 50 times before he
understood it
he begins it by saying that all people
want to know that it's part of our
nature that's why little children ask
why why then they're the little children
are the they're the meta physicians of
the world because their great question
is always why it's not how they want to
know why they want to know causation and
so health is really important to have an
intense desire for knowledge and then
there's 2dy one says it's the bottom
which is patience and that's certainly
true is butyl wasabi it'll be patient
but also enjoin each other to patience
to also been happy with awhile soba soba
they advised each other to the truth but
also to be patient because study is
incremental you scaffold in your
studying it's an incremental you you
have plateaus and learning goes it goes
initially you might have a lot of
insights and then you plateau and those
plateaus are very difficult because you
get bored and so it's very important and
and boredom is the great enemy this is
the the great that the the one of the
seven deadly sins it's called acedia
which they called it the the noonday
devil because it was the one that
afflicted monks more than anything
because they they were supposed to
meditate in their cells and they would
get bored and so boredom
they caught now you know a type of
laziness but it's really it's a it's
really a nun way that sets in this type
of boredom and one of the things that
the great philosopher Kierkegaard said
is that the people who remove God from
their lives they become afflicted with a
deep boredom they they become very bored
with life and he said always
accompanying that boredom is a type of
cynicism and so they're always looking
to be stimulated because they're just
bored with everything whereas people
that have gone in their lives are in a
constant state of wonder because God is
just so extraordinary and so amazing and
so bewildering one of the meanings of
Allah in Arabic is the one that
bewilders and it creates high era in you
so that's very important is to learn how
to
alone with yourself right it's very
difficult for a lot of people so it's
debar own and in another rewire HT had
on to really struggle and give a lot of
effort and then and then he said well
below cartoon below ha in Arabic is what
will get you somewhere it's like the
provision you need to complete a task
Bella is from Bella ah you know to reach
something so Bulova is what enables you
to reach something so the beluga is I
mean people here you've been given a
great gift which is leisure time it's
time where you don't have to worry about
the cost of things Imam Shafi he said lo
could live to shira Abbas or attend
surah abasa Ratan madam to Masada if I
if I was forced to worry about how much
the price of onions were I would have
never learned in other words having to
think about worldly affairs all the time
really prevents you from that type of
stress-free environment as stress-free
as up as possible dunya is stressful by
nature and and then he said and then
there's another rewire horrible which is
being in a place where you're not from
because when you're in a place where
you're from you've got all your friends
and all your distractions but by going
moving away to another place
that's why Retta was so important in the
Islamic tradition for study was actually
to take a journey to learn to get away
from your environs that were distracting
all your friends and all your companions
and and then and then he said what tell
Pina was seven and then to learn from a
teacher tell Pina loose Taven it's very
important traditionally it was said that
the the knowledge was in the breasts of
men and and women obviously because
there are many great women scholars
especially in that early period the even
sad is filled with women and
historically about 15 percent of notable
scholars in any generation were women
this has clearly been proven by the
thought literature the biographical
literature of scholars that between ten
and fifteen percent in any generation of
notable scholars were women so we did
have
many many great female scholars they
tended not to write out of modesty and
humility because writing was considered
very dangerous that's why the there's so
few tough seers
despite the fact we had so many great
scholars they just didn't want to write
about the Book of Allah and that's why
we have so many toys we'd books and
grammar books because they weren't
worried about getting those wrong and
then he said the and the T and then he
said what lose our money and having time
that knowledge really takes a lot of
time so you have to you have to have the
time to learn and when you when you
graduate from the BA this is really the
beginning of the journey and then the
Masters traditionally the Masters was
our highest degree in the West the PhD
was a research degree that came later
but the original masters was the highest
degree because it was a license to teach
which still in our culture it's a
license to teach that what it's saying
is that you've studied enough to be able
to transmit what you studied to other
people so you have to work to become
masters as best to your ability because
when you get that degree you can go to a
college you can go to a high school and
you can get a job as a teacher and so
it's very important that it not be you
know in our tuition we have what's
called shahadat Azure which is false
testimony and she Mohammed Amina Shin
clearly was asked once what what the
best definition for false testimony was
and the word in Arabic for testimony and
for diploma are the same and he said
it's these diplomas that you get when
you graduate from from this institution
he was teaching in Medina so you don't
want your Shahada to be Shahada to Zoar
you want it to be really to be
meaningful so and then how do boubakr
also gave advice he said that that you
he said that you have to have
humility there's a verse in the Quran
that says surah and ayat Allah Dini
attica Beruna but I will remove my signs
from those who have arrogance in the
earth behavior hack without any warrant
for that because only Allah is
mutakabbir only Allah can declare his
greatness and so that's very important
humility that without humility you will
not be able to learn and arrogant people
can have information but they will never
have wisdom it's just they're mutually
exclusive and so that's a very important
then he said also to have humility
before the subject there's you know a
charitable reading of things you should
always read things first charitably
before you read them judgmentally to
have a type of humility to make sure you
understand things come in I even Odin
sorry hawa a patio for famous sake me
and motanaby says how many people find
fault in something and the fault is
their understanding of that thing right
because you didn't know understand the
grammar of it or there was a misprint
and you assumed that it was right or you
you you were applying something from
another science to that science that
wasn't applicable like demanding
precision in one science that doesn't
allow for the type of provision
precision that you think it allows so
that's very important is to have
humility before the subject and then he
said humility before the teacher it's
very important to have humility before
the teacher and sometimes teachers will
have students that really challenge them
because they're smarter than them right
because I had students that I know are
smarter than me and you really have to
respect their intellect but they also
have to understand that there's a type
of humility that's necessary with
intelligence that if it's not there it's
very easy to become arrogant and it
becomes very dangerous and so even if
you think that you might understand
something better than the teacher be
very careful because you might not and
if you do there's a great wisdom and
benefit in just simply being hum
because it's a great gift and then
having a good opinion personal one is
very very good you know they called
Saint Thomas Aquinas the dumb ox you
know and they used to make a lot of
jokes with him because he was very easy
to play tricks on and they said there's
a story once that one of the monks said
was looking out the window and he said
oh my god a flying cow and Aquinas went
to the window to look and they all start
laughing and he just turned and said
better to believe in flying cows than
monks that lie so personal one is a very
good approach just to have a good
opinion two to think the best of people
before you think the worst and then he
said to scaffold like to recognize
grammar is is what it all begins with
grammar if you don't know grammar you
cannot learn a civilizational tradition
because it's based on grammar and and
and also obviously logic which is very
important we're trying to restore the
centrality of that science in our
tradition and and the logic that we're
learning is a logic that a lot of people
that are involved in this area think
it's been supplanted by other forms of
logic propositional logic Gottlob freak
started this movement to get rid of the
metaphysics of logic which is largely
found in the concept so the type of
logic we're teaching here is a classical
form of logic but it's very important
because one of the things that we talk
about freedom of speech
everybody clamors about freedom of
speech which is a highly overrated
privilege freedom of speech or some
people obviously would view it as a
right freedom of speech is predicated on
freedom of thought and freedom of
thought is predicated on being able to
think freely most people can't think
freely because they're shackled with the
constraints of their own intellects with
with the logical fallacies like hasty
generalization
you're not thinking freely if you make a
hasty generalization you're thinking
based upon a default setting of the mind
itself and then he talks also about
madad Cara which is very important to
most of your study will be on your own
and then when you do more that get out
with your fellow students in other words
speaking amongst them about the subject
matter and that's why the cohort system
is so important because the cohort
system creates a community of learners
that's because you're reading the same
books and one of the gifts of different
people reading the same book is there
that they find out they're reading
different books because their
understandings differ and so they can
allow insights somebody might have an
insight that you didn't know and one of
the studies they did at UC Berkeley that
I studied when I was at GT u was a
really interesting study about group
learning and and they were struck by how
good the Asians did in math and how poor
some of the other communities were doing
in math so they took some of the other
communities that were doing poorly in
math they first of all they studied what
the Asians were doing they found by and
large they studied math together and so
they would help each other work out the
problems so they actually had these
students groups minority groups that
were not doing as well in math actually
studied together and consistently they
found that their grades went up from
that so group mode akhada is very
important so that's an Islamic tradition
and I want to look at quickly at and
then I'll conclude my remarks look at
from the Western tradition we have
Shakespeare who was obviously a great
master of many many subjects it's clear
for anybody who's ever read Shakespeare
he he was also a great sportsman he knew
he knew a lot about different sports
especially Bowlings one of his favorite
traditional English bowling so like I
there's the rub
and that's a sporting metaphor there
that he's using so he has
advice to latest who was going off to
study from his father Polonius and he
says in that he says and these few
precepts in thy memory
in other words retain these I'm gonna
give you some advice I want you to
retain them see thou character you know
really work on your character on your a
lock your moral well-being give thy
thoughts no tongue
don't don't always have to give your
opinion if i thoughts no tongue nor any
unproportioned thought his act in other
words don't act on thoughts that you
haven't fully deliberated really think
deeply about what you do before you do
something because most of the major
mistakes we make in life are from doing
things without thinking and one of the
most amazing things about our tradition
is what's called istikhara which is
where if you're going to do anything of
any serious consideration you always do
is Sahara which is a prayer
where you actually pray to God as the
haruka right I ask you to choose for me
right Esther uka the with your knowledge
stop the auto capital Attica and and and
I'm asking you with your ability to you
know to do that so that's very important
and then he says be thou familiar but by
no means vulgar be familiar with people
but don't go down to that level that
very often happens when people become
too familiar which is where they tend to
become vulgar right Vulgarian is a word
you might want to look up because we
have a whole culture now of vulgarians
where people that swear for no reason
one of the signs of the end of time the
Prophet said you will see obscenity
without any reason because you used to
be people swore when they got angry now
people just swear right just for the
sake of it an obscenity is it's it's
obscene for a reason every culture has
obscene words that that
so that's that's something very
important
don't become vulgar the friends thou
hast and their adoption tried grapple
them to thy soul with hoops of Steel the
prophets Eliza have said one of the
signs of the end of time is he said you
should count yourself lucky if you have
one true friend and a true friend is
gold right it's the one that you shed to
do Shem the holy edge Mac he will do
everything he will basically pull
himself apart to pull you together so
that's a true friend so friends are true
friends are rare and it's a very high
mom in Islam the my palm of sadaqa and
Cydia in Arabic which is a true friend
means that the one who's who's who's
truthful they don't they're not
obsequious or they'll tell you what they
really think
but do not dull vie palm with
entertainment you could look at this a
few different ways but one of the
meanings is don't everybody you can't
shake hands with don't let him become
your boon companion you know just
because a lot of people just like
sitting around with people and just
shooting the breeze and and if you find
an entertaining person it becomes a type
of enjoyment so don't don't dull thy
palm with entertainment by just going
around looking for people to associate
with and one of the the snares of the
devil with students is to get them to do
everything except study so you will
constantly be distracted and you and I
feel sorry for students today in that
the distractions are much greater than
they've ever been for people so I had
the good fortune of studying in some
really isolated places so I know the
blessing of pure isolation and then he
says of each new hatched yet do not dole
I palm with entertainment of each new
hatched unfledged comrade and so beware
of entrance to a quarrel
but being in there that the opposed may
beware of thee so don't don't
G da I'm America Robin Lana literally he
he was once in a in a gathering and they
started arguing and he got up and he
shook his Rida like almost like a
masseuse shakes their hands out after
they massage just to kind of get that
out of their system he shook his Reed
and he said unto me horrible
he said you you're war and he left and
he used to say lay seulji down minute
Dean fish a this religion has nothing to
do with argumentation and a man came to
him once and said he was from the Moriya
one of the sexes and he said yeah
Abdullah huija DeLuca let me argue with
you about this issue any mo Maddox said
why either adopt any and if you win the
argument he said Tony you follow me he
said what you da Arab dukkha he said
that's my oka if I win I'll follow you
and then he said what you Geoff either
j32 Avella bana what if a third comes
and he defeats both of us he said nuts
battle who he will follow him he said my
friend you're gonna be on a new religion
every day and he's as for me I I know
what I know and I know where I got it
and that's what I'm following so that's
tradition that you don't have to grapple
with things in each generation you have
a kind of consistent truth that's been
transmitted you have to still grapple
with it because not all of its absolute
but that's important not not to get into
arguments get into discussions but it's
very different from argumentation give
every man thine ear but few thy voice
this is very good advice for a student
you know listen attentively because this
is the time of listening but don't be so
quick to give your opinion about things
teach take each man's censure but
reserve thy judgment
listen to people's criticisms of you and
take them seriously but don't be too
quick to criticize others Imam Shafi was
once asked how did you get such good
character he said I always listen to my
critics if they made him think about
whom you know he's got a point I talk
too much or I argue too much or I'm
arrogant then he would work on changing
that and then he said costly thy habit
as thy purse can buy but not expressed
in fancy rich not gaudy you know wear
something that's appropriate to your
station don't dress like a poor person
if you're not poor and don't be gaudi
for the apparel oft proclaims the man
this is something that modern people
have completely dismissed although in
reality their apparel often does declare
them traditional people always dressed
well because they knew what the human
being was it's a very exalted creature
and and this is why all traditional
clothes have an elevating quality in
them even peasants dressed beautifully
and they always had good clothes to wear
on special occasions now we have
t-shirts at awards ceremonies this is
the type culture that we're in so and
just look at any pictures from before
the 1960s in any civilization on this
planet and look how people dressed and
look at the way they dress today because
it does declare who they are they their
minds are like that their their minds
are slouched our minds and so that's
reflected in their own state from and
then he says neither a borrower nor a
lender be good advice to not give surety
is surety as one of the great Greek
Wiseman said for loan oft loses both
itself and friend
you know people money and you lose their
friendship this above all and then
finally he concludes going back to the
beginning see thou character this above
all to thine own self be true and it
must follow as the night the day thou
canst not then be false to any man if
you're true to yourself you'll be true
to other people but if you're false to
yourself you're gonna be false to other
people so that's very good advice
so we're blessed to be starting this
year we're excited about this class it's
a small class but we're expecting big
things from the class and this is the
beginning of something and inshallah you
are
Sabby alone and may you be sappy alone
in in in the literal meaning of that
because you are sad alone just by the
mere fact that you're the first doing
this but may you be sad alone also
spiritually people that outstrip and and
really work hard one of the most
important things that that people have
really difficult time today is being
alone and one of the things that this
machine does is it prevents people from
ever being alone with themselves now
because you just constantly can be
entertained but you have to learn to be
alone and one of the great scholars he
said the Outland se lacy you fiducia and
see what had the animal feed and Makati
you know that meeting people really
doesn't benefit a lot other than just
kind of empty he said she said words
Oakland minion SEL Ally of the animal is
La Holly so don't have a lot of meetings
with people except to rectify your state
by meeting with people in a better state
than you and to learn to study so I
really hope you take that advice may
Allah subhana WA thought to give all of
you toe field I want to just especially
extend an immense gratitude to the
people that worked on this program and
were able to really convince WASC
inshaallah we believe justifiably that
this program was viable and that it was
in accordance with the standards that
WASC has set for the schools and
colleges of the western part of the
United States dr. del Pardee no faculty
worked incredibly hard on a very very
excellent report for our sub
of change he had immense help from his
team we've been best have Sumaira I
thought we also had dr. Hatton Imams aid
and other faculty members that helped
with this dr. Dominic Qureshi and and
and dr. Fadi and others that helped so
there was a lot of work that went into
this and I'll just conclude by saying
that like all starts there's going to be
some bumps in the road so you're gonna
have to help us also navigate those
bumps but don't get frustrated just see
them as the challenges that come with
life on Earth we're committed to making
things better
inshallah and better for you better for
us and better for this institution does
equimolar head on will sit on my knee
kumara nominate kumarahoe saliva a
cartoon or just like to take a moment to
shout out to Allah to invite methi Ameen
to the podium please said I'm Ronnie
comb we're gonna celebrate this in
shallow opening and so I invite everyone
to celebrate with us together in sha
Allah
meantime here
Aloha
why Jabba sure good why Lena
[Applause]
Lilla Hey
[Applause]
bye-bye Elena beam tiny
[Music]
to the worst
Jabar oh good Elena Manila Heda
oh the why moon rose over us from the
valley of a word
and we are we're to show gratefulness
the car is to Allah Allah
a namitha year
[Music]
till order
lena nila heeda oh you who were raised
among stars coming away the word to be
open
you have brought to California nobleness
you have cried to California nobleness
you have brought to California nobleness
welcome base color to God's Way Boyd I
[Music]
ain't no mutiny
you know I
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
while a he was I love mohammad
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hundred
sallallahu aleyhi wa salem solo muhammed
solo love while
was I
um takbir Allahu Akber Salam aleikum
[Applause]
Salam alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh
jazakallah khair for the song for the
nasheed this is a celebration for the
beginning of the master degree program
at Zaytuna College and we have our first
incoming class this would not have been
possible without the hard work of a
number of people that I would like to
recognize to begin with and I think one
is dr. mark Delp who really took on the
forging of our own independent master
degree we were thinking about creating
an MA degree jointly with GTU so that's
still in the backburner and we forged
ahead with our own independent MA degree
which required a far more work than
possibly would have been needed to do so
so really we have to recognize that work
sumaya sitting in the back she became
our in-house expert on WASC so much so
that now wasps have taken her to
actually become part of visitation team
and she just had lost past week training
so she would become she would go visit
other institutions to be part of the
accreditation process so in here we
her work is tremendous and now for us
we're actually going to have another was
visit for the BA degree in the
institution next February so we're
beginning the work right now to prepare
our files and our documents
institutionally for WASC visit so this
is very important that we have someone
in-house that is able to know the
topography of the accreditation process
as well as the inside work working of
WASC the same institution that accredits
UC Berkeley Stanford and other
institution is accrediting us as an
institution so the master degree really
owes a lot to the work that have made it
possible for this Catherine just for
those who can the students in the MA
degree this morning when we had our
first orientation they received the
catalog and it just was hot of the print
print of the press that the first page
table of content was missing so talk