Lecture
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Social Justice
Islam, A Coherent Social Justice Tradition | Omar Suleiman | 16th MAS-ICNA Convention
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Jurisprudence (fiqh)
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Islamophobia
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General Psychology
Spiritual Personality - Zohair Abdul-Rahman | 2018 Yaqeen/MAS Academic Conference
35
Social Justice
Conflict Resolution: The Line Between Justice and Peace - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Lecture
47
Identity
Keeping Masculinity from Trending Toxic - Dr. Jonathan Brown | Reframing the Gender Question
How the Prophet ﷺ Inspired Young People | Dr. Omar Suleiman
At some point, taking personal ownership of your own faith journey is essential. How did the Prophet ﷺ get young people to be inspired to greatness? How did he leave behind a blueprint for us as parents, leaders, and seekers to do the same? Dr. Omar Suleiman discusses in this lecture.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. The Prophet ﷺ used to love atafa'ah. He used to love things that would be considered good omens. He used to love to see the bright side of things. And I know that many times, you know, we talk about the darkness outside, and we talk about how difficult things have become for Muslims around the world, here in the United States. But I want you to actually see the bright side for a moment, alhamdulillah, in what you just witnessed. What you just witnessed were people, young people, saying the names of Allah ﷻ. And the Prophet ﷺ said that the Day of Judgment would not be established until the name Allah is no longer set on this earth. And then you witnessed a young sister recite Surat al-Fatiha, the opening verses of the Qur'an, Umm al-Kitab, the foundation of the Book of Allah ﷻ. And you watched the young man, mashaAllah, beautifully present the history of Islam in America, and how that led to his own personal attachment and what that means for us today. And then you witnessed personal journeys and testimonials of people that found a connection to their Islam in America, and want to help other youth with their Islam in America, who all somehow think that they're good basketball players, which I have my doubts about. That's alright. We'll let them have it. We'll let them run with it. And then it ended off with Umar al-Sulaiman. Who was a Umar al-Sulaiman? Umar al-Sulaiman, who mashaAllah, talked about his own means of refuting some of the pressure that comes his way for insisting upon his Islam here in America.
If that doesn't give you hope, what does? That is the entire spectrum of what we want to pass down to the next generation when it comes to Islam in America. And so I'm optimistic, and inshaAllah ta'ala we should all be optimistic about what the future of Islam, not just in America, but Islam in the world is, and what the future of these young Muslims actually is. I want you to think about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as he was facing the most difficult moment of his life. Or rather the most difficult moment as a community, because the most difficult moments were ta'af for the Prophet ﷺ. And I want you to contrast how the Prophet ﷺ dealt with his personal difficulty, and then how he inspired a generation of people to get through what seemed to be a moment that threatened their very existence. When the Prophet ﷺ was in ta'af in his personal moment, the worst day of his life was ta'af. It combined humiliation with rejection, and not just humiliation and rejection at the surface level, but digging deep into the Prophet ﷺ as a human being himself. You heard in these youth something that we all experienced, when someone questions your intellect, and someone questions your worth, shaytan will try very hard to make you start repeating those negative things to yourself and seeing yourself as worthless. And before they threw stones at the Prophet ﷺ and caused him to bleed in ta'af, when he addressed the leaders of ta'af they wouldn't even look at him.
And they belittled him, as if he wasn't even in the room. Who are you to speak to us? And then the stones came. And then the blood flowed. And then the teeth broke. And the sandals filled with stones, and Rasulullah ﷺ finds himself in a very alone place. And the thing that the Prophet ﷺ stakes his hopes in, is in the next generation of those people. Some of whom were actually the ones throwing the stones at the Prophet ﷺ. Think about how profound that is. When Jibreel ﷺ, when the angel Gabriel comes to the Prophet ﷺ with the angel who controls the mountains and says, I can crush all of these people between these two mountains. He's referring to the old and the young. The young of whom were actually casting stones. They didn't know any better. But they were actually casting stones at the Prophet ﷺ as well. And the Prophet ﷺ rejects doom on the basis of what? Maybe their children will grow up to say, La ilaha illallah. Perhaps they'll be different. Maybe their children will be attached to this word of monotheism, La ilaha illallah, there is no god but him. Maybe the kids will be different. He was able to see past their stones and instead see their innocence through it. He was able ﷺ to see past their insults and instead see the potency of the message that Allah gave him to cause them to reconsider their insults.
Even if you try to break him and his essence as a person and tell him you are not worthy, he knew ﷺ that La ilaha illallah, the statement of monotheism, the power of the message that was given to him was indeed worthy. And that any human imperfections that we have would not hinder the perfection of the message that's been given to us. And so the power of this message was enough to overcome the insults that were being hurled towards him, was enough to overcome the power dynamics that had made the situation seem impossible and give the Prophet ﷺ hope. And today, if you go to Ta'if, they're Muslims. Their children were Muslims. You know how 14 generations of Muslims, because the Prophet ﷺ did not give up on them, he saw hope despite being at his lowest point. Fast forward, the most hopeless situation for the Muslims in Medina, and this is arguable in the sense that it could be another incident, but Allah knows best, it seems to be Khandaq, the battle of the trench. Why? Because Khandaq, when the Muslims were forced to basically build a trench between themselves and those that had intended to massacre them and wipe them off of the face of the earth, they were more outnumbered than they'd ever been and less equipped than they'd ever been. And the Prophet ﷺ looks around and he sees young people, young people that were willing to dig the trench with him,
young people that found enough courage and strength, though they had not lived their lives as youth, to sing songs of hope, even as they couldn't find food to put in their mouths. It's one of the proudest moments of the Prophet ﷺ when he stands up, and I want you, you know sometimes it's helpful when you're reading seerah to try to see the world through his eyes. I want you to think about what it's like for a man that's been through ta'if when no one was around him, to rise up from the ditch and to see a bunch of young people covered in dirt singing songs of hope. And he says, Allahumma la'a'isha illa'a'isha al-akhira faghfir lil-ansar wal-muhajira. Oh Allah, there is no life except for the life of the hereafter. So forgive the ansar and the muhajireen, the youth of Medina who received us and the youth of Mecca who migrated along with me. Forgive them. As if to say ﷺ that these young people had through certainly a combination of the power of the message, but the shidda, the extent of the persecution, come to a realization very early on in life that there is more to life than life. That there is more to existence than these temporary sprouts of play and folly.
And it was the wisdom of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that they faced the test along with the embrace of the message early on to where they could come to that conclusion. Some of those conclusions that you heard just now in these presentations. That what I have is worth the struggle. You see, many parents try to instill in their children a life of comfort and ease so that they don't have to struggle the way that you struggled. Some of you grew up under intense racism and persecution or difficult economic barriers. And you struggled and you wanted your kids to live a life of comfort because you didn't have that childhood of comfort. But it may be from the wisdom of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he will challenge your children differently than you, nonetheless challenge them. Because sometimes the challenge is necessary for any human being to come to a deep place of reflection. How much is this message worth to me? What does this deen mean to me? When I get asked by my colleagues about it, when I see people around me who seem to have a much more fulfilling life than I do, what does it mean to me? Because you better believe that if you were in the ditch with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you had to ask yourself that question. Do you drop the shovel and turn back and run? Or do you stay there and keep digging because this message means something to me? You know the Sahaba faced Badr and Uhud and Khandaq and Tabuk. Some of the scholars say in the battle of Badr they learned La ilaha illallah. Because in Badr it was about Allah.
And in the battle of Uhud they learned Muhammadun Rasulullah because they had to throw themselves in front of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as he was being attacked and almost killed. But that's where the true meaning of La ilaha illallah came in was Badr. And then the true meaning, not that they didn't have it before, but really a fulfilled essence of Muhammadun Rasulullah, it came in Uhud. When they had to throw themselves in front of their Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, not because he demanded it, but because they knew that the message that they had demanded that of them. And protect him. They got it. Because the challenge forced them to ask deep questions to themselves. And to the young people that are here, consider it a blessing from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that sometimes you're going to be challenged. But what you have is so special. I want to ask a question here. How many of you grew up going to school without any Muslims around you? Anybody? MashaAllah, how many of you grew up in Utah with no Muslims? I too grew up in school with no Muslims around me. I didn't have any Muslim friends in school. I didn't know any other Muslims in school. And like Omar Al-Suleiman, I faced questions and honestly had to discover and I could hide from being Muslim. I could blend in and hide from being Muslim amongst my peers. And I look back and I'm grateful to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that I was forced to find my Islam very early on. Because I had to ask myself, is it worth the social alienation that I don't necessarily need to have right now?
That I could technically avoid. And to me that answer was absolutely the best decision I made of my life. Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin. Best decision I made in my life. It was worth it. It is worth it. You see subhanAllah when the Prophet ﷺ talks about the coming of the last days, and he says ﷺ that behind you or what comes after you are days of great patience. The likeness of which is what? Some of you know the hadith right? What's it like to do what? Ayaan al-sabr. Kaqad al-al-jamr. It's like holding on to a burning piece of hot coal. But then the Prophet ﷺ says, but the one who acts upon their faith in those days has the reward of 50. He said, Ya Rasulullah, ajru khamsina minhum? 50 of them, the reward of 50 of them? He said no, the reward of 50 of you. You see you could read that hadith and you could say, man, Islam these days is like holding on to burning hot coal. Or you could say, man alhamdulillah, Islam today is the reward of 50. You could emphasize the struggle or you could emphasize the reward. You could emphasize the crisis or you could embrace the challenge. And what we have in this beautiful message of ours is certainly a challenge. There is no way you could be fully Muslim and fully embraced in a world that doesn't fully embrace Islam. It's not possible. There is no way that you could fully be Muslim and then fully embraced by a world that doesn't fully embrace Islam. What does that mean?
There is going to be a necessary tension between you and the world around you. Not one that you provoke with your bad manners. No, itfa' bil latihi ahsan. fa'idha allathee baynaka wabaynahu adawatun ka'anahu waliyun hameen. When people are rude with you, when people are foul with you, respond to that which is evil with that which is good. With that which is better. Show them your good character when they show you their bad character. Show them how Islam turns you into the best possible human being. Show them what Islam turns you into as a neighbor. What it turns you into as a colleague. What it turns you into as an employer. What it turns you into as an employee. What it turns you into as a student or a teacher. Show them what Islam turns you into as a human being. Because that's what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did. rahmatan lil'alameen. A mercy to the world. But in the process, there are going to be some people that just don't like you. And that feel inherently threatened by your message even if you don't present it in threatening ways. Because it causes a tension in them. And at that point, you hold firm. And you realize, inna hum la yukadhiboonak. Ya Rasool Allah, O Messenger of Allah, the character that you've shown to these people is exemplary. You've shown these people nothing but beauty. They're not really denying you. It's not about you. It's not about your character. It's about what you stand for. And what you stand for sometimes is going to make you a target. Now the Muslim does not live in this world paranoid. But the Muslim surely does live in this world confident. With a great confidence.
Because just as the message is worth it and the reward is worth it. Allah will be my source of strength. And subhanAllah when you look at the youth around the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam and we talk about succession. You know, mashallah, I don't think I've been to a program in recent memory where I had youth presentations like this before me. What the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did in his community was that he did not just create succession by appointing leaders in advance. He didn't say sallallahu alayhi wasallam to the elders of the companions look you hold on to this for 20-30 years and then we're going to write a constitution in 30 years you pass it on to the next generation. What the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did was he integrated the youth into every single layer of the da'wah and of the dynamics of the community. They were there. There wasn't a majlis, a sitting, a gathering of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam except that there were youth there that were weighing in with important analysis. That were giving their opinions. That were not personally vested, that were welcomed, that were included. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam did not have a youth committee. His entire community was a youth committee. They were integrated. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave them important tasks but he did not give them important tasks without a support system with those with experience. Because you can't create succession without personal investments. That young companion had to be personally vested in this mission. And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam was able to create that.
I just finished talking about Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu on the Tuesday night class, the first. And you talk about Mu'adh, Sayyid al-Ulama, Yawm al-Qiyam the master of all scholars on the day of judgment. And he died when he was 34 years old. RadiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam built people early on, invested in them, gave them attention, included them, and gave them a support system. And he allowed them to be personally vested. You know it's very eye-opening about the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam and how the young people around him responded to this message. Some of the best companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam were the children of his enemies. Ikrama ibn Abi Jahl. You've all heard of Abu Jahl, the pharaoh of this ummah, fir'aun of this ummah. His son Ikrama radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu became an incredible companion, loyal to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Died a martyr, a shaheed. Raising the banner of La ilaha illallah where his father did everything to try to crush it. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, you know how he made Ikrama feel included? This is beautiful. Abu Jahl hurt the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam quite a bit. The Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam told the companions, do not mention his father around him. Don't talk about Abu Jahl around him. Don't taunt him with his father. Don't talk about the legacy of his father. Disconnect him from that. Don't identify him by the crimes and the sins of his father. Give him a chance to shine. Khalid ibn al-Walid, Khalid radiyaAllahu anhu's father, was a horrible human being. He's not tainted by the sins of his father. And look what Khalid became to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Durra bint Abi Lahab. Imagine being the daughter
of Abu Lahab. You read the surah in Quran about your parents being in the fire. Sahabiya radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha. Abdullah ibn Abdullah Nubay bin Salul. The chief hypocrite of Medina. So if there is an equivalent to Abu Jahl in Medina, it's Abdullah Nubay bin Salul. The chief hypocrite in Medina. His children, Abdullah and Jamila, become amazing companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Empowered in the community of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So those are the children of the enemies. And then you have the children of the companions that were also companions. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As. Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As. Amr ibn al-As radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu was a great companion. His son, Abdullah, felt a direct connection to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Personally was vested in the message. Personally had his own attachment. Had his own story. And you know what? From a quantity perspective, surpassed his father in ibadah, in worship. You imagine? It's like the greatest, it's one of the funniest things in the world to me. The complaint of Amr ibn al-As about his son Abdullah to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Alright? Abdullah ibn Amr got married. And Abdullah ibn Amr, mashallah, when he got married, you know the husband and the wife were supposed to pray two rak'ahs together? He read the whole Quran on his wedding night. The guy, radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu, wa'an abihi, used to read the Quran every day, finish it. Used to fast every day. Wasn't sleeping at night. Was just dedicating himself and Amr ibn al-As has to bring his son to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam to say, Ya Rasulullah, can you talk to my son? He reads too much Quran. Prays too much.
Every parent's dream, right? Ya Rasulullah, help me with him. He took it too far, too quickly, but that was something the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam welcomed about the zeal of it while still moderating the proportion. Without taking away the purpose and the zeal. Yes, you need to moderate the proportion. But keep that zeal. Keep that purpose. Keep that love. Abdullah saw the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam as his Prophet, not his dad's Prophet, not his dad's friend. Abdullah ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhuma, Abdullah ibn Umar, if there is any person who emulated the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam from the companions to the point of putting his foot in his footstep, walking in his footsteps, it was Abdullah ibn Umar radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhuma, the son of Umar ibn Khattab. He loved the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He had his own connection to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He used to ask the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam questions. He has his own ahadith from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. He doesn't just narrate from his father. He's got his own independent, unique connection. He was vested. This was his religion, not just the religion of his father. You understand the difference? These children of the companions were able to develop their own unique connection to the Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam, they too being companions, and had their own unique pathways to greatness. When you want to create succession, you have to create a sense of being personally vested. Now let me address the youth here in particular. At some point this has to become your own religion. At some point this has to become la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah to you because at some point your parents aren't going to tell you to pray anymore. Your parents won't be there to make sure that you pray on time.
They won't be there to tell you, did you read this much Quran? They won't be there to protect you from some of the sins that are out there and some of the temptations. At some point, you've got to connect your own purpose to that purpose and have your own unique relationship with the Quran, your own unique relationship with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, your own unique relationship to lectures. Your parents can't force you to listen to Omar al-Suleiman forever. At some point, it's got to be you. At some point you have to ask yourself why is it that this message is so special and so unique. You know, they say that money that you inherit is never as precious as money that you earn. You know, you work for money, it's like your kid's allowance versus the money that they just inherit or money that's given to them. Money that you earn is often more precious and more valuable to you. Same thing is true with this religion sometimes. Sometimes you've got to take that step back and say, you know what, this is my religion. This is my way. This is my path to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I want to go to Jannah. I want to meet the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. I believe. You have to take that. And sometimes Allah will put those challenges your way as a gift because it will force you to reckon with that message early on and ask yourself is it worth it? And I pray that the answer for each and every single one of you will be yes inshaAllah. I pray that the answer for every single one of you will be yes if you haven't had that tension arise yet in your lives. Now I'm going to say to the parents in particular that ask, you know, what is it that I need to be doing right now? How
do I raise righteous Muslim kids? There are three things that are necessary and I hope the youth in here are listening as well inshaAllah ta'ala. Number one, foundation. You have to work on their foundation. Their foundation is what they learn from you at home and how Islam is a lived reality with their parents. How Islam is the foundation of their home. To know the Quran, to know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to connect their existence to the existence of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, to connect their purpose to the purpose that Allah has endowed them with, you have to nourish them with that. Give them the tools, give them the foundation, show it to them, demonstrate it. And you have to expect that sometimes, you know, just like when you lay the foundation of a home, 10-20 years the warranty wears off a bit, there's going to be some movement. There's going to be some movement. And it's very interesting because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said, he is not amongst us man la yarham sagheerana wa yuwaqqir kabeerana, the one who does not show mercy to the youth and respect the elders. You're not amongst this community. Rahma looks like, first and foremost, forgiveness, a chance at redemption. Your kids are going to do some really dumb things, hopefully not too bad. But they're going to disappoint you. They're going to make mistakes that you thought that you did everything that you possibly could for them not to make. And you hope those mistakes are not severe. You hope they're mistakes they can bounce back from. You hope they can catch themselves before they go too far. But rahma is going to be important for you towards them as well. Try to bring them back to their foundation.
Okay, foundation. Number two, friends. And this is for both the parents and for the youth. The people around you will define who you are. It is as simple as that. You know what's amazing? That's not just for young people. We are all affected by peer pressure. It's the dress, it's the car, whatever it is, you get older, it's your kid's wedding, your kid's shoes, your house, what they're saying about this and what they're saying. I mean, but the peer pressure and the standards that are set for you are inevitably going to rub off on you. Foundation and then friends. Trying to give your kids the best friends that they possibly can have by putting them in environments where they'll make good friends inshaAllah to Allah. That's number two. Number three is one that often doesn't come up and I'm going to say it right now because I want young people as well that are kind of in that teenage phase to really take into consideration. Number three is good habits. Good habits. If you establish good habits in high school, they will benefit you tremendously in college. For parents, if you establish good habits for your youth when they're younger children, those good habits will help them because they'll become a part of them when they hit those critical ages. We're creatures of habits and sometimes we have a wake-up call, we have a moment of clarity that hits us when we get a little bit older and wiser, but our bad
habits pull us back down. And so trying to establish good habits with each other, young people in here with your friends as well, trying to establish good habits from now, a good sense of discipline will help you in your trajectory inshaAllah towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as you reach that next phase. And the way that I'd say look at it is that we all have these peaks. Ramadan is the peak of the year, right? Ramadan is the peak of the year. What's going to determine your good Ramadan? Your sha'aban. You prepare yourself in sha'aban, your Ramadan will be good. Everyone needs a good sha'aban before a good Ramadan. And so what I say to younger people always is get a head start. Get a head start. Start thinking about things that those around you are not yet thinking about or taking too seriously. Get a head start and that will set you apart once you reach that next level. Oftentimes people wait and by the time they start to try to set themselves apart, they're already acting while coalescing with the bunch. They're already just trying to keep up with the group at that point. SubhanAllah you find so many of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ took advantage of that head start and that's why they became the people that they became. Young people mashaAllah that figured it out in high school that they needed to make that change. And what are they doing with their university days? InshaAllah ta'ala excelling in their education but at the same time investing in other youth. And the last thing that I'll say to you dear brothers and sisters is that it's not just about surviving, it's about thriving. I want the young people in here to think about generating iman in the next
generation not just holding on to it for themselves. The more that you give, the more Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give you to give. I'm so proud of this group of young people mashaAllah that have decided to start an effort to help their peers because they see where their peers are because they have lived what they have lived in the present. And so that's the closest proximity to understanding the struggles of people and wanting to heal and wanting to give back and wanting to generate and wanting to grow others is one of the greatest ways that you grow yourself. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will keep on filling your tank if you keep trying to fuel it so that you can give to others bi'nindahi ta'ala so that you can help others and support others. I pray that Allah bless the youth in this community, that Allah bless the parents in this community to raise tremendous youth, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those that carry the torch and pass it, that have faith in their hearts and generate it in the hearts of others, that are guided and guiding, that are rectified and rectifying, and I pray that we can be a people that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes as having firm foundations but branches high in the sky producing fruits at all times for the benefit of everyone around us. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayran wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
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