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S2E8 - Faith, Poverty, and Community | DoubleTake
The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) compared the believers to one body; when one limb aches, the whole body feels it. However, the members of this body come from different backgrounds, and this can sometimes cause us to become disconnected from one another and from our responsibilities to each other.
What can we learn from the different experiences of Muslims from different socioeconomic backgrounds? How can poverty and wealth affect our relationship with God?
In a special episode of DoubleTake, host Mohamad Zaoud sits down with Dr. Tahir Wyatt, the Director of the Systematic Theology Department at Yaqeen Institute, to discuss his background, his work in the inner city of Philadelphia, the relationship between material circumstances and faith, and how we can find our place in our local communities.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullah. The Prophet ﷺ compared the believers to one body. When one limb aches, the whole body feels it. However, the members of this body come from different backgrounds. And this can sometimes cause us to become disconnected from one another and our responsibility to each other. What can we learn from the different experiences of Muslims who have various socio-economic backgrounds? How can poverty, for example, and wealth affect our relationship with God? Welcome to Double Take, a podcast by Yaqeen Institute about the questions and ideas around Islam and Muslims that give us pause. Remember to subscribe and rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. It makes a big difference. And please do consider sharing your thoughts directly with our team using the link in the description. I'm Muhammad Zahed and today we're sitting down with Dr. Tahir Wyatt for a special episode of Double Take to discuss his work in the inner city of Philadelphia. The relationship between material circumstances and faith and how we can find our place in our local communities. Sheikh Dr. Tahir Wyatt is the director of the systematic theology department at Yaqeen Institute, as well as an associate editor of Yaqeen's editorial review board. He spent 21 years studying and teaching in Saudi Arabia, where he earned several degrees, including a doctorate in theology. Dr. Tahir was the only American ever to be appointed to teach in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. He also serves as the executive director of the United Muslim Masjid in Philadelphia, and he's the president of the Quran, Arabic and Reflection Institute, QARA, that teaches the Quran and Arabic language. We hope you enjoy the episode.
Sheikh Dr. Tahir Wyatt, Assalamu Alaikum and welcome to Double Take. Wa Alaikum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh Honestly, I'm very excited about this conversation. You told me a couple of weeks ago that as a guest on Double Take, you're slightly different to the other guests. Tell me about where you are at the moment and what your experience is. Okay, Alhamdulillah wa salatu wasalam wa ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala ma ba'd. So first, I want to just thank Allah subhana wa ta'ala for this opportunity to be on Double Take. And thank you, Muhammad, for hosting me. Jazakallah khair. I'm currently in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection. That's what they call it. Even though, as you probably know, you know, we're living through very turbulent times, a lot of violence, a lot of difficulties, you know, that people are facing here in the city of Philadelphia. That being said, I don't like to focus on the negative. I think it's very important for us to put a spotlight on the positive. The Prophet, alaihi salatu wasalam, was optimistic. The Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, also encouraged us to give people hope. And he said, you know, whoever says that the people are destroyed and he is the most destroyed of them or he is the one who has destroyed them based on a different narration. So I do think it's important, though there are a lot of things that go on. You know, the poverty that is in this big city of Philadelphia, it's one of the largest or one of the poorest big cities in the United States of America. So we have to deal with a lot of different things. You know, the Muslims are not divorced from, you know, from the surroundings that we live in. I mean, we're still a part of the broader society.
So tell me what's a typical week in the life of Sheikh Tahir Wyatt. Like what's the last week look like? Where are you? What are you doing on a day to day basis? Well, subhanAllah. So I actually work out of two different masjids here in the city of Philadelphia. So the first of them is the United Muslim Masjid, which is in South Philadelphia, where now it's considered center city south. And I also work out of the Philadelphia Masjid, which is in West Philadelphia, specifically the Mill Creek neighborhood, which is a lot different from the South Philly neighborhood. And Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods. Right. So working out of both masjids, you know, there's there's a lot that we do. And it's and I when I say we I'm not just talking about me and I'm not using the royal we. I'm really glad there's a team of us and we complement each other in the work that we do. But I mean, we try to service the community from the young ones to the elders, for example. And just this last week, we've had meetings about a seminar for end of life care and establishing hospice and palliative care that is specific to the Muslim community. We are in the process of some property acquisition. Also, we also have a parcel of land that we are developing. And so there are plans for that. So subhanAllah, besides the things that may be typical for religious leadership, like there's always the issue of researching, writing the classes that we give, the khutbahs and so forth, which takes a lot of time, by the way. Research is not something that can be done in an hour or two. You know, it's a daily process. It's a grind. Right.
And Alhamdulillah, I would say that that my training has afforded me by Allah's will, the opportunity to really do that for many years of my life. So these other things do not come as easy. Right. The research part is is lovely. I mean, it's something that I enjoy tremendously. The other things, the family counseling, the marriage counseling, and then there are things that are beyond the scope of what we can do as religious leaders anyway. You know, we have to call in experts. We also run an after school program. We have 54 children that are learning Quran, they're learning Arabic, they're learning the Seerah, the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam. We also have some academic studies that we do with them. So we partner with University of Pennsylvania, which is an Ivy League university here in Philadelphia. And we have a computer science program that we run for the kids. So coding, learning JavaScript and so on and so forth. So, I mean, it's just we're all over the place. We do a lot of work. Alhamdulillah. Sheikh, I'm a little curious. You spent 21 years, mashallah, in Medina studying and also teaching in the Prophet's mosque, which is a huge honor. You've got enough degrees to last a few lifetimes, mashallah, in Islamic sciences. When you came back to Philly, and it sounds like you're on the front lines, you're in the trenches, you've got your hands in a whole bunch of different projects, dealing from kind of blue sky thinking and buying property and expanding your services to, I'm sure on a day to day basis, a lot of welfare projects, a lot of one on one dawah and issues that individuals might kind of tap on. Was it a shock to you coming back to Philly? Or what is it that Philly gives you?
Ah, okay. That's a great question. You know, subhanAllah, this is home at the end of the day, right? So even when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was forced out of Mecca, the Prophet, peace be upon him, did not stop loving Mecca, right? Even though he was forced out, it's home. And, you know, it's the heart has a level of attachment always to home. You know, this is this is where my people are. This is where my brothers are, my sisters are. I mean, you know, literally, you know, family as as well as, you know, the people that I've developed relationship with, relationships with over over the decades, you know, since I've become Muslim. So I think that one of the things that I've I've seen and, you know, you have to excuse this term. But, you know, a lot of times I think that before I left to go to Medina and after 21 years coming back, I think there's been a big change in what I've seen in terms of what divides us as a Muslim community. Right. I'm always looking to see, OK, what can we do to be better? Like, what can we do to form that unified front that we need to do that, that block? And, you know, I used to see a major ethnic divide in the Muslim community. I'm very pleased to say that, though, there is still, you know, predominantly, you know, or messages that are predominantly of one ethnicity, that a lot of that has changed. But there is still a big divide between the haves and have nots in the Muslim community, between those inner city misogynist and the struggles that they deal with and the messages of suburbia, if you will, and the struggles that they deal with.
And the last time I had, you know, afforded me the opportunity when I first returned to America, I was still working out of two messages. But one was in a was in a relatively posh suburb of Philadelphia and the other one was in the inner city. I was still at UMM at that point, was not working out of the Philadelphia masjid at that particular time. And one of the things that I was was able to see was how each community actually can scratch the back of the other community. Right. How the Muslims of this particular area can serve the Muslims of the other area and vice versa. Right. Because because there's needs across the board. And so where the needs of the inner city may be a lack of financial resources. Right. The the needs in the suburban communities may be a lack of human resources to get certain things done. So the reality is, is that we complement each other. And I think that that's what's important when we talk about teams. Right. Any any sports team, whether I mean or sport that a person plays, whether it's, you know, soccer and excuse the term. I know you're in Australia, so it's like football here. But here, you know, soccer, football, basketball, baseball, whatever it may be. If everybody's playing the same position, it doesn't matter if they're great players, but if everybody plays the same position, that's not a good team. Right. And I think that if we start thinking about our community, the way that we think about, well, how do you win this game? Right. What can we do to help each other? But you do need a coach. You need somebody to say, hey, listen, we need you to do this and you to do that. And then hopefully, you know, we work together towards a common goal, which is to establish Islam where we live, you know, to make Islam that for Islam to be our worldview,
that we're not so, you know, affected by by the environment around us because we have created pockets, you know, where Islam is the worldview. Sheikh, just listening to you, I like I understand this divide between the inner city mosques and kind of the suburban mosques. And it sounds to me like, you know, the type of challenges that you face from your community or within your community are probably a bit more confronting. The mosques that you serve are facing a lot more kind of confrontational issues, something that's a bit shocking, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. No, no, no. I would agree. I would agree with you. Let me let me put some things in perspective for for the listening audience. What what you're not going to deal with in suburban masjids are returning citizens is the politically correct term, you know, that is used right now. So you're not going to have to deal with the brother who, you know, was just incarcerated for 27 years and he comes home and he has to start his life over again. Right. He needs help finding a job. OK. People can say, well, that's not the message's responsibility. But at the end of the day, whose responsibility is it? You know, or who do you pass the buck to? You know, who's going to care about this brother more than his Muslim brothers and sisters? And so ultimately what happens is the responsibility of of helping people in general, you know, falls on the lap of the community. There was a brother, Subhanallah. I mean, and this is this is exceptional. But but it happened, you know, last year there was a brother who was released from prison after serving 52 years. I don't even know. Like, I can't even imagine what it's like.
52 days. I mean, 52 years. Subhanallah. And he came, you know, immediately after being released. He came to our masjid. He he knows a lot of the brothers from from our masjid. Many of our brothers were incarcerated with him. So it's a panel. You know, he told me that he wanted to get married and it was a sister that wanted to marry him. I officiated the wedding. This was last September. Twenty twenty, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. September of twenty twenty. And four months later, she died of Covid. Right. And so this brother, you know, mashallah, I mean, you just think of that test, right? That test of being incarcerated for 52 years and then coming out. What do you say? What do you say to someone like that? Like, you know, as a religious scholar, what do you what do you offer? What does Islam offer to someone like that or someone? Yes. Let me let me say this to you. You know, you know, let me let me let me lay this on a line before I actually answer your question directly. Do not underestimate the faith of these people, man. Subhanallah. I don't have to say anything to him. People like him who have spent 52 years behind bars, right, 52 years in a cage to get where they are in life and have faith in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Believe me, their faith is different. It's not professed faith. It's not a faith based on something that they read in a book. It's live faith. So, you know, what we say to them is what we say, you know, to the rest of the Muslims in that in that way. But really understand them what that means. We say we belong to Allah.
We belong to Allah. Allah can take us back whenever he likes, because we belong to him and all of us will meet that one day. And so, I mean, obviously, we say words that that, you know, are meant to console, you know, each other and console the Muslims. But honestly, Mohammed, when we're talking about people like this, well, how did we have a lot to learn from them? What do they have to learn from us? Yeah. And I want to learn. I want to learn. Like I I'm hearing you speak and, you know, just your experience in Saudi Arabia, for example, 21 years, you would have seen, you know, to the divide as well. The haves and the have nots. You would have had those who are really living kind of comfortable lives and those who are struggling a little bit. The same thing in America. Same thing in Australia. Probably more so where you are at the moment that the the divide is a little bit more clear. You know, can I jump in? Yeah. Tell me. Tell me. No, let me jump. Let me jump in right there, because I think that that divide, it existed at the time of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, right? It just that maybe the difference was that they prayed together because they had a central leader that they were, you know, that they lived around and that was the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And so that was their that was the unifying point. But if you look back at the the, you know, hadith of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, I think by the hadith of Abu Huraira, radi Allahu ta'ala, where he said that the that the poor companions went to the Prophet, he said, ذهب أهل الدثور بالدرجات العلاء و النعيم المقيم You know, they said to the Prophet, the rich companions, they've gone away, they've taken all the rewards. Right. And so and so the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, what do you mean by that?
And they said, يُصَلُّونَ كَمَنُوا صَلِّي They pray like we pray, و يُصُومونَ كَمَنُوا صُوم And they fast just like we fast. But what? But يَتَصَدِّقُونَ وَمَنَا تَصَدَّقُ They give away charity. We don't give away charity. We don't have anything to give away. و يُعْتِقُونَ وَمَنُّا عْتِقُ And they free slaves and we don't have the ability to free slaves. Right. So then the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, to console them, you know, he taught them the adhkam that we say at the end of the Salat, right? The سُبْحَانَ اللَّهُ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالْعَالَىٰ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرَ 33 times, right? The point being what? You had poor companions and you had companions who had some wealth. It's it. But look at what they did with their wealth. See, and I think that's the difference between a lot of how we, you know, how we process all of this. Wealth is not a bad thing. It's a it's a great thing, depending on how you use it. Right. Because it's all a test. Poverty is a test and having is a test. وَنَبَلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنًا Don't you feel, Sheikh, that like one test is harder than the other? Like if you're living a well-off life, you can give more charity. You can you can serve Islam, serve Allah a lot more. Like we did cover a couple of topics in this series, for example, with traumatic experiences. We learned that if you face a traumatic experience, you're affected, your religion is affected, not just your your material life. So don't you feel people who are who face that material, material difficulty have a more harder road to travel to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
I think that that's I think that that's very relative because the people who have more have to answer because we're talking about standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So so so those those people who have more, they're going to be they're going to have to stand for longer. What did you do with the blessings that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you? And so so that's number one, because what's our paradigm? How am I how am I judging what test is harder or not? Because the test of shukr is not an easy test, by the way. Are you grateful for the opportunities that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you? Are you grateful for the blessings that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you or not? How have you used those blessings that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you? So so that's number one. Number two is when we're talking about people who are dealing with some difficulties in terms of, you know, sustenance and what they have and what they don't have, then the reality is, is that the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught us to seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from poverty. Right. Allahumma inni a'udhu bika man al-kufri wal-fakr wa a'adha bil-qabr. From the dua of the Prophet, peace be upon him, O Allah, I seek refuge in you from kufr, which can be both disbelief and ingratitude. Right. Seek refuge in you from kufr. I seek refuge in you from poverty. That poverty also can be poverty of the soul, just as much as it is physical poverty, you know, not having enough to to eat or not having a suitable place to live in and so forth. Wa a'adha bil-qabr, seek refuge in you from from the punishment of the great. So why am I mentioning that? Because there is a threshold, right? Even for, you know, the psychology of happiness and those type of new studies.
There is a threshold, like a minimum threshold that people need certain things to be happy so that they're not worried about where the next meal is coming from, that they're safe and secure in terms of their physical well-being and that they have a nice, you know, a dwelling that they can live in and they're not worried about being, you know, evicted and so forth. Those things are very important in the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, also highlighted that as the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam said, man asbaha minkum aaminan fee sirbihi, the hadith. So whoever from amongst you starts his day safe and secure in his dwelling. aaminan fee jasadi, ya'ani, afwan, mu'afin fee jasadi. So he's physically okay. Yeah, he's not dealing with ailments and a lot of pain and so forth. He's physically healthy. Right. And then the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, after that mentioned the third thing, which is that he has provisions for the day. Faka andaman heezat alhudunya, it's like he has the whole dunya in his hands. Right. So, but what? That is a bare minimum if we look at it. We're not talking about 401k's, retirement plans and, you know, a person, he's got all types of life insurances and so on. So there's, you know, needs that a person has to have in order to have some level of stability, right. And that kind of coincides with that whole psychology of happiness so there's a there's a threshold, there's there's a point that we want to get to. And if you pass that test of having way less than that, then no doubt that's a very difficult test and it requires sabr. But also having a lot more than what you need is also a difficult test because there are a lot of people that their wealth causes them to move further away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah azza wa jalla revealed that, right, in the Quran.
Inna ikra' bismi rabbika alladhi khalaq, kalla inna alinsana layatgha arra'ahu istaghana. Right, that a person begins to yatgha, go beyond the bounds, they begin to transgress when they see themselves as being self-sufficient, independent, because their independence leads them to believe not only don't they need people but they don't need Allah. Right, and that's what pushes a person away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sheikh Tahir, we could go on for ages, but there are a couple of questions that I that I need to squeeze in. Sure. You, you've dedicated much of your time recently to the history of Islam project in Philly. Yes, yes. Do you mind talking us through what the project is and why it's so important. Oh, okay. So this is the history of Islam in Philadelphia is a project, alhamdulillah, older brother, who accepted Islam in 1970 brought me in on a project that he started, which was primarily to capture the narratives of Sunni Muslim men and women, those who came to the Sunni Islam in the 1950s, 60s, and very early 70s in Philadelphia. And that's because, you know, up until this point, the, the primary narrative that has been captured has been that of the nation of Islam, also known as the black Muslims the followers of Elijah Muhammad. And so that Sunni narrative in the academy and outside of the academy, and it wasn't something that had been captured. So, alhamdulillah, let me just so that is the, the nature of the project, and that was the, the initial impetus of the project, it has grown since then. I've learned so much from, you know, interviewing these these older Muslims. The idea is that we need to catch their stories all of them are 70s and above.
I mean I've interviewed people in there, 85, 86 years old as well. What I've benefited from them is absolutely tremendous. You, you are, subhanAllah, you're humbled by the sacrifice that they made for Islam. Their journey to Islam is so enlightening. And even though my generation and those below me may have been afforded that opportunity to have, you know, the technical book knowledge, a lot more access to information than their generation had. I mean, you got to think, they didn't have books, you know, they obviously didn't have the internet. What they were learning was, you know, it was nowhere near what we have in terms of access to knowledge and information, but, but what they do have is experience, and it's tremendous, you know, and we have precedence, you know, in Islam, you know that shows how much we value experience, alongside knowledge. So it is a wonderful project, Alhamdulillah. Hearing you talk about your experience and then hearing about this project. My final question before we get on to some of the rapid fire questions that I'm sure you're very excited about, is about being on the front lines. Dr. Tahir, you are on the front lines, and may Allah reward you and the people around you for for rolling up their sleeves and being in the trenches. I, there's a lot of value in that. I personally, I'm speaking on behalf of myself, feel disconnected from the community that I'm involved in at the moment. That's because I spent eight years overseas. And a lot of my dawah before I left Australia was being very active in the community. Once I left, I couldn't give back when I was living in the Middle East.
And then when I came back, I feel disconnected. What am I missing out on by not being on the front lines and supporting day to day issues in the community and not being too connected? Like I'm doing other stuff. I'm doing the podcast. I'm doing a bunch of stuff online. But what am I missing from that bricks and mortar kind of support that you talk about with with the history of Islam Project and those forefathers? Yeah, you know, you know, Muhammad, I think what's what's important, not not just for you or for me, but but for every Muslim, is to see where their heart is, right? I mean, ultimately, we have a purpose in this life and our purpose is the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we're not all going to do that the same way. What do I mean by that? There's obviously a bare minimum that we all have to do as Muslims. And Allah has prescribed, you know, some bare minimums because we all need a portion of Salat, right? We all need to be praying at least five times a day. That's for our benefit, not for the benefit of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We all need to be fasting, you know, a certain minimum. And that's that's that Ramadan. Right. So there but then we'll excel in other areas. And the prophet, alaihi salatu wasalam, you know, brought this up in a very famous hadith where he talks about the gates of Jannah and whoever's from Ahlus Salah will be, you know, called from the from the gate of Salat. And whoever is from the, you know, people of Siyam, then they'll be called from the gate of Arrayan. And so Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radi allahu ta'ala a'inhu, he asked the prophet, alaihi salam, is there anybody who's going to be called from all eight gates? And the prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said, yes, and I hope that you are from amongst them.
Ibn Abdul Barr rahimahullah ta'ala a'ni said in commenting on this hadith that it is very rare that a person will be that more than one door will be open for a person, meaning that usually a person is going to excel in a certain area. And they're not going to excel in those other areas. They may just come with the with the bare minimums. And that's based on on this hadith. There was a there was an abid zahid, a person who was a, you know, an avid worshiper of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala during the time of Imam Malik. He was known for his worship. His name was Abdullah al-Omairi. And he wrote a letter to Imam Malik, kind of criticizing him for being busy with hadith and teaching the people hadith and so on and so forth. And maybe he didn't look at Malik as being as great of a worshiper of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as he was. And so he was calling Malik to stop teaching and just, you know, start worshipping. And Imam Malik, rahimahullah ta'ala, responded to him with a very beautiful letter. And basically, the gist of the letter is what I'm going through each and every detail of it. The gist of the letter is that, you know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has qasam al-amal kama qasam al-arzaq, right? That he has distributed the abilities of the people to do good deeds, the same way that he has distributed the provisions for the people. And what I'm doing, I don't see that to be any less than what you're doing. And I hope that both of us are upon goodness and righteousness. And it is upon each one of us to be content with that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has distributed for him. Right. So I'm saying that to say that your involvement in the community as a person in the background is is no less important than the people who are out front. Not necessarily. Right. It all depends on what is the need of that time. Is there an advisory board, for example, for your masjid that you may be able to serve on so that you can help direct certain things?
You know, each one of us has to look at our place at the end of the day. Yes, our masjids are important. We should be building our lives, you know, around around the masjid. That does not mean, however, that I need to take on a leadership position in my masjid. You know, or be available for everybody all the time. That doesn't work for everybody. Right. So each person has to know, you know, where they fit into the equation. And that and that is about, you know, calling upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and really asking him for guidance and that our purpose, you know, as people is one, which is the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to dedicate ourselves to his worship, to dedicate all of our devotional acts to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But, you know, each each person is going to have a different door that's open for him by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Jazakallah khair. You know, just on that note, my favorite dua is Allahumma astaghdimna wa la tastabdilna, you know, Oh Allah, use us and do not replace us. You know, that's that's the main thing. I know you need to lead prayer in a few moments. So do you mind if I squeeze in a couple of rapid fire questions because we can't have Dr. Taha Wyatt on double take without a few rapid fire questions. We really can't. Sure. OK. OK. Question one, who is your favorite Qari of the Quran? Well, OK, favorite Qari of the Quran is al-Husri, hands down. But, you know, in terms of who I enjoy listening to these days, I would say... You're old school. You're old school. I'm very old school. It's nostalgic, man. You know, it is. Idrees Abkar, I like listening to him these days. And the last book that you were reading. OK, so there's a book by Dr. Kevin Abdurrahman called Solving the Riddle.
Very interesting book. That's probably the last book I've read cover to cover outside of, you know, what I need to read for, you know, for research purposes. OK. And if you took this book to a dream breakfast, what would that dream breakfast be? Dream breakfast. Well, that's an interesting one, but I'll say I would kind of I like to keep it simple, but I love the Middle Eastern style breakfasts. You lay it out, the ful, the fresh bread, the falafel and the leaven. Just don't say that. Just don't say the kibdeh, right? The liver. No, that I'm not really a fan of, quite frankly. Good, good. Tik, if you were to have dinner with one person who's passed away and of course not the Prophet, because it would be him otherwise, who would that be? I'd have to say my father so that I could invite him to Islam. A couple more. What was your favorite memory from your time living in Medina? Sheikh, that was 21 years trying to pull out a memory. 21 years is very difficult. You know, my children were born there. Alhamdulillah. You know, so that there's so many memories, man. It would really be hard to narrow that down. And in your community, what's the most common misconception that people have about your community? About my community? I would say that one of the most common misconceptions is that because, you know, a lot, most of them do not speak Arabic. And if you ask them to recite the Quran, it's going to be, you know, choppy and so forth. A lot of people think that because of that, that they don't know Islam. And I think that's a major misconception. I mean, when I tell you that, you know, these are people, Alhamdulillah, that they have studied in their own way, but they've lived Islam. They continue to live Islam. You see their Iman, their faith in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala's decree.
You see their preparation for their standing in front of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. You know, so I just think that it is a misconception that that for those because they may not have that technical book knowledge, that they don't understand Islam or maybe they're not good Muslims. Jazakallah Khair. And one final one. If as a result of this double take interview, someone taps you on the shoulder and says, here's unlimited resources to put together the ultimate service for your community. What would that be? So let me just say this, inshallah, as quickly as I can. I believe we have unlimited resources as a Muslim community already, Alhamdulillah. And we have a direct line to Malik al-Muluk, subhanahu wa ta'ala, the king of all kings and the owner, Al-Ghani, subhanahu wa ta'ala, the one who is rich and independent and sufficient, self-sufficient. So we have unlimited resources. We really do. And and though we may not see them right in front of us and our bank accounts may not grow just because, you know, we made dua yesterday, the reality is that Allah Azawajal has given us what we need to build our communities. And it is a matter of using what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us in a manner that is pleasing to him. I can tell you, Alhamdulillah, we are building the infrastructure for that multi-generational model, you know, where we serve people from birth to death, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, the institutions that are necessary for that, you know, building community, owning homes around the masjid and not just the masjid, but building other centers. Of course, the masjid is the focus, but building those other centers and institutions that are necessary for people's growth and development, you know, spiritually, emotionally, educational advancement and dynamic community life.
That's what we're doing, Alhamdulillah. And we do need people's support and we do need people's support because the people are, you know, Allah Azawajal, as Umar radi Allahu ta'ala said, one of you knows that the sky doesn't send down gold, you know, so go out and work for it. Our people, the Muslims, we definitely need their support, Alhamdulillah. Jazakallah khair and barakallah fiqh, Dr. Taha, for joining Double Take. We're going to hit you up for a few more episodes in the future, inshallah, because we could have gone forever. InshaAllah.
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