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Bravery, Tawakkul, and Risking it all for Allah | Iman Cave
Why is bravery important in the life of a Muslim man? Are bravery and strength the same? What do we have to lose in the absence of bravery?
Dr. Osman Umarji and Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy join Sh. Abdullah Oduro and cohost Ust. Morad Awad in the Iman Cave to reflect on exercising bravery particularly in defense of Palestine, the encampments, lessons from the Irvine 11, the cost of fear, and relying on Allah.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I need to be brave enough to defend my sisters, even if I wasn't going to go to that protest, even if I don't agree Even if I don't agree with it, right? This is what happened at UCLA, right? You know, we got text messages at midnight, you know, people were saying our sisters fear, are fearing for their lives SubhanAllah. And so hundreds of Muslim men literally drive an hour or two hours away because a woman has said hey I'm in fear. What would you tell the parents of these youth in the encampments? We want to tell the parents don't try to fix it. How can the Muslim who believes that Allah is the provider, the ultimate provider, not be out there? The protests have shown us again people who believe the police are here to protect us. They're not here to protect us They're here to protect the state. So literally we saw this right again at UCLA where like police watched 150 thugs beat up all the students, shoot fireworks, you know, bear spray, mace. It's good we experience these things So Allah is kind of shaking us and being like get out of your false sense of security Right and then get up and do something yourself As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu and the peace and blessings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be upon you all Hello everyone. I'm Abdullah Oduro and welcome to the Iman Cave where we discuss issues of male excellence while being grounded in faith The Prophet peace and blessings be upon him had a beautiful statement that we have many of us have heard over numerous years different occasions, different times, different situations We usually hear it on the basketball court or on the football field or in some type of physical engagement Where he said salallahu alayhi wa sallam المؤمن الطويل خير وأحب إلى الله من المؤمن الضعيف وفي كل خير الحديث, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he said the strong believer is Better in the sight of Allah than the weak believer and both and in both of them are good The rest of the hadith continues this is what we say a lot of times for the person that is strong and Many scholars have explained that strength is Emanates from Iman initially because he said المؤمن the one that has the belief and that strength ultimately should emanate from that
It doesn't deny the fact that someone is physically strong. But the question is is Someone that is brave Necessarily strong is someone that is physically strong Necessarily brave. I think there is a convolution between the two, but we are here today with the beautiful brothers to talk about bravery Why is bravery important in the life of the human being but particularly in the life of the Muslim man We're going to discuss that today inshallah with none other firstly with our beautiful co-hosts brother Masha'Allah Masha'Allah entrepreneur Youth enthusiast and also we always have to remember to mention Bergadis because you will find him at a food truck near you inshallah. May Allah bless you And to your left Masha'Allah you have none other but the one and only brother-in-law of the Lifetime Masha'Allah Sheikh Mohammed al-shinawi. Masha'Allah Dr. Mohammed al-shinawi. Masha'Allah we go way back He's been the he is the director of systematic theology here at Yaqeen Institute and you will find a lot of videos for him online Particularly those of the proofs of prophethood you find the books the proofs of the book the proofs of prophethood and it's part of the curriculum that we've Yaqeen have for The high schoolers that speak about the life of the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and the proof of his prophet hood Along with many other papers from them being to know him is to love him to speaking about the names and attributes of Allah Subhanahu wa'ta'ala and he is the Imam of the Jesus son of Mary mosque in Allentown, Pennsylvania Welcome Like a lot and to my right we have none other than a doctor who's man Umar G. Masha'Allah I think how you doing? I'm the left. I'm the left and the doctor's man. I'm already there's a lot about him too Masha'Allah, he's the director of the psycho-spiritual studies department in Yaqeen Institute
Masha'Allah director of survey research Masha'Allah. He's a professor at the College of Irvine, California And he's been heavily involved in Irvine, California in Orange County if you will Cali What's so beautiful about this gathering today is Masha'Allah. We all go way back at Hamdulillah I mean, but to my right in front of you to your left is someone that has been on the campuses in California in Irvine the Irvine 11 he was there He's gonna speak about it my Charlotte about a lot and to my left to your right is someone that's been on the campuses in The East Coast in general in regards to what is going on in Gaza may Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala Relieve the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and all around the world inshallah ta'ala But particularly we want to talk about this issue of bravery in this issue of Gaza and even outside of that What is it? Why does it matter and the lack of it? What does that mean? Before that I want to start with the particular statement that even okay and mentions in his book and for Lucia and Muhammad Yeah, which would translate to be what would for Lucia mean prophetic chivalry for chivalry? Something much. Oh, this is why much always a translator of numerous books I love at the very end of this book if you have the opportunity to look at it He speaks about the characteristics of Shajah and Shajah is bravery And he makes that difference between Shajah and Kua and he says Shajah is as he termed a sabbat and then no As it is to be firm and solid in times of calamities and the distinction that he makes is so beautiful Now once I'll expound upon this inshallah. We'll start with that is he gives the example of a booker all of us No, I'm all of us know that Omar Ibn Al-Khattab was a quiet man who just mean he was stronger than him physically with His body and his stature, but Abu Bakr
I know was the bravest after the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and even okay him goes down the line Rahim Allah goes down the line in the situations in Islamic history when Abu Bakr Exhibited his bravery and there were times where Omar bin Khattab needed Abu Bakr to remind him of stay strong in the times of calamities That's very important bravery a sabbat in the Noah's is being firm in times of calamities So starting off with you shake a doctor's man What do you see as? Bravery, how would you define bravery in the life of the Muslim man? It's been a lot sort of summer. So now about It's like a little claim mentions that just to start off with like just being physically strong is not enough to be brave, right? So the necessity here we're talking about even times of difficulty when one may even feel fear When one when one may feel these negative emotions that might be telling them don't do something That is what being brave means. It's at that time. You're able to Conjure up that strength that you have a spiritual strength and that physical strength and bring it into action And so it's not this theoretical or abstract strength, but it's something that's come to life in the situations that mandate it It's reflective it comes off Almost as habitual in many ways, right someone who has trained themselves in a certain way that bravery just emerges without even thinking about it Because you've trained yourself spiritually and physically so that when you're in a situation that mandates it you're just like I'm ready to go I'm ready to do what's right and you don't even think about the consequences because you know that this is what Allah demands from you Mmm, it's upon like I said when we're training those of you don't know much Allah We have two jujitsu specialists here. So I feel very safe We don't know my brain when the time comes Conditioned myself, you know, never know Shaykh, but we we can have assumptions I'll be behind you any day
Was a long time ago, but we have very loose gun laws in Pennsylvania I When you hear that word comes to mind, yeah, I mean Shaja is huge, right? Like bravery is very very big. I mean, that's why even in the claim Rahim Allah himself elsewhere in in my daddy just said a keen He speaks about how fun foundational Shajah is bravery is and he says that all good characters traits Boiled down to four they stem from four if you don't have these foundations if your foundations are rocky You won't be able to build on them character. And so he says suburb patients. He says if Which is sort of like having integrity and the ability to restrain yourself from my sticking your hand out to others or reaching for? What's not yours or humiliating yourself for the for the sake of some material gain or worldly gain? Then the third one has a Shajah is bravery and I believe the fourth one is in Knowledge, you got to be able to identify rights from wrongs discern Make moral judgments, but in terms of Shajah it is why is it so foundational because it's so overarching like you even mentioned a book I said the accordion level on a book of Sadiq Certainly certainly in moments of fear In moments of horror. He stood his ground and that is part of what Shajah is I mean when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam passed away No one loved him more than a book of the Allah on and yet He was the one that stabilized everybody else when it hit right and so he is the hallmark of bravery But also what may even come to mind before those moments of horror Are moments of need right when people need you it takes great bravery to put yourself out on a limb for others
Right and so and that's the hallmark of a bucket before anything else which is generosity, right and generosity is bravery. Yes Yes, and so What could so be called the Allah ones I left for them Allah and his messenger Allah and that's a big part of what bravery? is you know bravery even like think of entrepreneurs like They're able to imagine a different reality and embark onto the unknown and take the risk Whether it's sort of charity philanthropy or it's sort of like business commerce or otherwise that takes a lot of bravery, right? I'm willing to accept the fact that this could go south and I'll take a few hits before you know It gets on the uptick and of course This is inborn on some level but you need some training with experience it builds but there is no greater Feed for it than your faith, right? They say like feed your faith and your fears starve to death, right? And so you need it like to stare death in the eye if you will, right when you face horrors you need bravery You need it to be generous because like stinginess is in a sense cowardice, right? form of cowardliness you need it also to be To be manly in in the gendered sense because these two of course are for everybody man a male and female, right? But to accept the fact that I may be rejected By her father and I'm still gonna approach him first and not slip into the DM approacher, right? This is bravery. Yes, right. And so it's foundational. I know that for a fact Intimidating moment of my life, you know meeting meeting No, I just overarching right? Yeah, just leave it there, you know It's not better to be honest without sort of splicing this too far and splitting hairs. So but is everything patience is everything, right? People even think like the Dean is half patience and half gratitude and that is true if you mean like patience In hard times and gratitude in good times
But in the wider sense of the word patience is everything because even being patient upon gratitude is a form of patience, right? right and so Shajah is like a subset of Patience to be able to persevere to be able to stand your ground to be able to stay paid to be able to Remain at your station, right? Don't waver. That's what Shajah It's a subset that Allah singles out in the Quran Using the word rebut actually and maybe you shouldn't you can speak to this You give a beautiful football about this Sheikh Osman at the encampments when Allah just said in the end of Surat Ali Imran He said it's Biro or Sabir. Oh, so be patient and then he said and continue being patient I'm not talking about a moment's patience. Then he said Robito and like anchor yourself. That's Shajah that one, right? But even though they're subsets of a spittle Because them getting lost in the mix is so dangerous Allah singled them out to highlight them. They're indispensable You know, it's beautiful. I think it's the it's beautiful enough secret Well, so I'll be do about the combata like if yourself should be patient But so I'll be do is to help in a system making the others patient because within this time frame It is very these calamities can cause one to lose focus and lose unravel, right? So probably yeah and unravel exactly and the Robbie too is how do you implement that patience with you know? Standing your ground and and particularly like we mentioned in the encampments and that's what I want to move on to inshallah Both of you all of us here have had an experience at the college campuses It's funny. We're in the South and we have the West and the East here So, what have you seen If you could start out with the Irvine 11 and we all we also have an interview Masha'Allah with the brothers and Irvine 11 check it out on the on the on the Akina YouTube channel inshallah when you were there during the time of the Irvine 11 What are some things that you see the similarities from then till the in campus and that you see now?
Yeah, exactly. So I mean the Irvine 11 issue was what was was a big issue at that time but it was preceded by a lot of other activism which I want to speak about because it's about saw beetle like you're doing this With groups of people so when there was the bad from the you know The the late 90s and the early 2000s when the Muslim students on the west coast began to speak up on behalf of Palestine We're very small and very few right there were like a dozen maybe two dozen and everyone else was just looking at you like you're Crazy, but we didn't care because it was the hook So that gave momentum for another generation to come five years later Which is the Irvine 11 were and be like, hey these guys did it We're gonna do it and we're gonna do it even more right, and so they were able to excel and even over, you know do more, you know of exhibit more bravery than we did so in their situation right the Israeli ambassador United States came to give a speech at the University and You know, he's spewing his lies and they said look we're gonna do some, you know We're gonna speak out against him and because he is who he is Right, all 11 of them were arrested as they spoke literally just said like you're a liar And the police grab him cuff him take him out right hit him with a misdemeanor right take him to court Oh, yeah, take a national spectacle out of it, right try to ruin their lives But they knew there were gonna be consequences, but they were like this is the time to stand up and be brave This is not the time to worry about your dunya it's not time to worry about you know, all the other things that Shaitaan might be getting into your mind and Just to continue what we got to today where the students are in the encampment that history is what gives them courage to do what? They're doing a lot. So courage is like contagious. Yeah Perhaps like, you know, one of the Baraka of being brave is is You kind of spreading it to others who have this like untapped potential bravery You gotta name this what we kind of like Somebody stands up and they see you and they're like, I mean I could do that, too Let me take the example of a bucket He went to you know when the one and like how to bread does a great example of this right? Where's like everyone is wavering, you know, the Prophet Islam has died
And everyone's like what should we do? And he's like look there's these guys that want to pay zakah and everyone's like let's take it Easy, let's take it easy. And he's like, I don't care what you guys think I'm gonna do what's right and everyone else is like I'm gonna fall on the line. He's a bravest of all of them Let's all continue this right and that's why they say, you know He was one of the most important figures in the history of Islam bringing people back to the faith, right? So no, that's so important. I mean when we talk about these characteristics just to we've all mentioned it already but it's Important to remind ourselves that these characteristics are transcendent that it's for a purpose that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala the creator of the heavens and the earth That's the anchor to where all of this comes about right and that's what really gives me the like you said the untapped potential because if I see my Muslim brother or my mentor that's Muslim myself and We both believe in the creator of the heavens and the earth That be it in the left is the honor billah I mean, I'm trusting in Allah and I seek help in him That is what's going to make me brave to the degree that you know Subhan Allah death is not something that's going to make me stop and that's why it's beautiful the whole concept of death when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam mentioned, you know Aqthiru min dhikri hadim, or hadhim illa that is to increase yourself in the destroyer of pleasures Because that is just the stage moving on to another stage, right? So it's a marhala. You're going to move on to another stage Khalid Waleed Right. He said I Sought death where you would expect it most. This is like his famous monologue as he was dying He was reflecting on his life as a warrior. He said of course not sought death. Obviously, it's not suicidal ideation Islam is not a death cult these tired sort of accusations. We've given our disclaimers for them Let's get to the inspirational part of this. We don't fear death How do you defeat a people who don't fear death is something that has been surfacing and deserves to be celebrated, right? He said as he was dying how? Crazy it is that I have basically Thrown myself in harm's way throughout my life where death would be expected most and I never died
He said and here I am today. There's not a spot left on my body except that there's a scar from a Arrow or a spear or a sword and yet here I am dying on my Cushion on my bed the way a lamb dies in its pen. Then he said Fema Nama Taino Jubana He said may the cowards never find any sleep But you lost so much sleep over your life or your livelihood and it didn't lengthen your life And I didn't lose any sleep over this and look at me. Anyway, I still didn't die there, right? What hit you wasn't gonna miss you what miss you wasn't gonna hit you and if you die believe anything else You don't qualify for paradise. Can you imagine like Islam requires you requires you to armor yourself with confidence in? His destiny subhanahu wa'ta'ala And that's what bravery does bravery is confidence in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala because you know that you're you're standing up for something That is much more than this physical this physical life. That's what makes it so beautiful Can someone without bravery have true to what could that's a is that a is that a question we could pose? Can someone without bravery have trust in Allah and you truly trust in Allah without like because it is it requires Bravery to say, you know what? No, I'm not gonna get poor. No, I'm not gonna die right now No, I'm not whatever is written is gonna happen to me, but that's what the wakul is So like maybe we could explore some of that interconnection. Yes, interesting because the work was a big part of yeah It's yeah, it's confidence in Allah's beautiful names and attributes that they will manifest when he chooses right exactly But then I guess and y'all can elaborate on this The manifestation of that trust in different times will require bravery to stand up to those that may question your decision If that is it for like for instance, you know the husband when you first get married and you know You may be asked questions by not the wife Maybe other family members around and say how could you do this? Are you gonna do this and the reason you're doing it is because you trust in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
It's not an overzealous type just where you're doing to a cool where it's not something that is I don't see not logical But it is not let's say 51 200 percent reasonable decision Yeah, well in my humble opinion on those best it will require a level of bravery So there has to be bravery when it comes to implementation of that talk on that trust in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala. I think the idea of Bravery being Evaluated after the onset of fear is very valuable, right? Yeah. So for example, we don't believe in superstitions in Islam, right? We have good assumptions of Allah. Always. We don't care about seeing a black cat. We don't care about walking on the ladders We don't care if there's a 13th floor or the Friday lands on the number 13 on some Gregorian calendar I'm sorry everyone right? But even mr. Odeh, I'll do a lot more on he says something very profound He said a clear ah, which is like to notice something that is interpreted by everyone as a bad omen So sort of like makes you pause right like a discomfort an anxious pause. He said this happens to everybody He said as for the believer you have it that would cool He insists on dismissing it with telecom, right? And also the Hadith narrated by Ahmed Rahim Allah Where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Shaitan the devil, of course, he sort of incites fear all the time, right? He evokes and elicits fear. He said he sits on Every path for the son of Adam He decides to become a Muslim and he tells him you're gonna leave the religion religion before so he defies him and comes Muslim Mm-hmm, and then he decides to migrates gonna see you're gonna leave your homeland and your livelihood and he defies him and you know migrates and then The time for jihad comes and he tells him she's gonna remarry and your kids are gonna be or and he defies him and he does It right and so the issue of it's gonna hit right it's good You're gonna get some tough questions when you knock on the girl's door. All right, but I have Shaja I'm gonna sort of put my best foot forward put my trust in Allah and I'm gonna brave the storm
This is what I think people, you know They have this idea of like is that the answer to my style like any sort of friction or discomfort? Is that a bad sign that's where bravery is tested it's after you take that stuff Another question and I want you to speak what you've seen at the camps as well. But you know subhanAllah I think there's a misconception when we speak about Bravery as though there is there was no fear that preceded the bravery But was Musa was scared, you know, and you know, right, you know I fear that they that they would transgress the bounds, right? So is it if someone is scared is that Unmanly, what do y'all think of that? If someone is brave? So let's say someone is brave and they're a brave person. Let's say hardly would eat and we say, okay. He was fearless Or was there an element of fear? Is it okay to have fear as a brave person? Yeah, absolutely I mean that and I think you mentioned it well I mean Moussa I said I'm as exemplar for us in the Quran the words that are used over and over in almost every situation if you Possess right and many other ones the situation Allah says Like it's specifically put there to say that look in this situation Musa had fear, but then it's always followed up by but he still did the right thing But he still do the right thing over and over and over. So I would say that Fear is a human, you know emotion that one cannot escape And so rather than think that like, you know, eliminating fear is a goal Actually, it's not it's overcoming the fear, which is the goal and that is the sign of to echo in many cases, right? I have the trust in Allah that this fear that I have if I put my trust in him The outcome is going to be good, right? The outcome of the outcome will be in my favor in this life or in the next right? We're not trying to eliminate fear. It's not the goal but When you're in the situation that is fearful you will have far less fear than probably the people around you who might want to run Away, right? And it increases it's a muscle. Yeah, exactly. It's a muscle. Yeah, you know, I'm acting like I'm mr. Brave over here
I Remember one time one of them is shy and he said to me something was really cool He said there was a guy in a Muslim army, right? And of course like this is bravery is not just about sort of bad the battles Even though the Muslim man, especially should be battle ready and ready to protect his family more so than anyone else, right? That hinges on him and is expected of him, but he's in this one in the army and he's like Panicking like I really hope this war doesn't happen Like I hope you know, like they send a messenger envoy emissary saying, you know, we're calling it off We're gonna do it after Christmas not right now He says and like every day they're inching closer and closer and he's just fretting at this point and he says like they send a volley of arrows from enemy lines and it just misses his face and It lands by his, you know right behind him and Kills a snake that was like camouflaged in the sand right under him Wow So it just hit him like wow, why why why why why all this fear like it was his time not mine So let's not over, you know calculate this. I'm gonna be a little bit pragmatic, right? But let's not over calculate and little by little, you know, I remember dr. Hammond span will cut them one of our Moshe and psychiatrist actually he says he used to always tell the students of knowledge never belittle Anyone because perhaps Allah put a certain person through so many bouts of fear in their life even like a traitor He subjected himself to bankruptcy so many times perhaps unintentionally, of course And so he developed more bravery and trust in God then someone who's picking it up out of theoreticals in the books and giving lectures about it It's about the odds as well, you know, cuz sometimes there's fear but there's also intellect like a person Can understand the repercussions of being brave in this situation, right? Okay. This is gonna happen to me
I know this is gonna happen to me. I know I might get denied my credit. I might get fired from my job I might go go to jail. I want like this might happen to me What Balances that out again in my opinion. It's always it's always the Akhira it balances everything out the moment you understand the reward from Allah That's it. If everything should like it should tip the scale, you know, cuz the other day I was talking a few Shabab. Okay And I had humble of the opportunity to speak in One of the protests here in UTD. Mm-hmm. So they went and they so humble. I prepared hamburgers. We're done by University Yeah, so we made a hundred hamburgers and then we went out to feed them there in the in the college campus, right and just to just to feed them and Then when I I was on the way and then they're like, oh They took a bunch of our our like, you know, are the Shabab, you know, they took him to prison Like the jails Took him to jail, right? Where it's like everybody the protest is gone, so there's nobody there. They're like, yeah, they're all in They're all over there and like McKinney where I can't hear that that was happening. So we went out and Sheikh Abdullah you were there, right? It was it was pretty cool I was talking to one of the Shabab like, you know, one of the greatest amulet that I had there was When the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam said the greatest form of striving for Allah is a word of truth in the face of an oppressor right and we could imagine striving in all of its forms and how tiring how Straining and how stressful it could be right and how it could take a toll on everything in you, right? But but a word was equivalent to all that and greater Mm-hmm. So I think you know, just knowing that
Makes it gives console like, okay Yeah, I'm gonna do this, but I'm doing the greatest form of striving Like what I'm doing is the best thing I can be doing right now, right? So I think knowledge just the ilm and just Knowing what the reward is knowledge and then knowing what the reward is and that remembrance of the reward and knowing that that reward may Not come in this life. Yeah, and the reward the next life khairun wa abaqa, right? It's it's it's much more everlasting Muhammad what have you? What would you? Tell the parents of These youth in the encampments, right? Because I've been in situations What's going on now? You know, the son is like my dad won't let me go out Because he fears that I you know, you know My I'll lose my opportunities continue to complete my education But I this is how I want to exemplify my religion this is what I feel that I can do I feel I haven't been I haven't done anything and this is an opportunity to do that What would you say to that parent and what would you say to that student? You know before I even say that allow me to say that these sons and daughters these Youth that are in the encampments and of course there are faculty there and there are community members there Mm-hmm You started the episode saying how like who are East Coast and West Coast both in the encampments on both sides of the country and things like this, but the truth is that pales in its bravery compared to what these youth are doing first and foremost because Our careers are not on the line as sort of religious leaders in Muslim communities by showing up in these places, right? We might actually get a raise or something Like oh man, he's at the social justice right like my stock might actually climb from this but these youth are Their lives are just taking off and they are sort of a contingent that is in the mainstream
That is on the cusp of being in corporate America or whatever. It's going to be their their livelihoods Presumptively right their careers. Everything is on the line and they're doing it. There's a lot of reasons why they're doing it Of them is the sense of purpose even if you're not Muslim like the sense of purpose is huge, right? and I think the vacuum of purpose in modern life the very felt flatness of the secular age is a big part of that but For another time irrespective though Being young Makes you braver than the elderly the elderly would not accept the change the bravery It would take to get cancelled by following the prophets. I said now Right and so this is expected of the youth and extremely brave of the youth and We want to tell the parents don't try to fix it, right? I Sort of tried to lean in a little bit as respectfully as I could to the parents in Jamal last week And I said to them the kids aren't doing anything wrong, you know our Dean celebrates those who speak truth to power and And The country in which we live in shrines in its Constitution right this right to assemble and and speak freely, right? and The people are also all out there like it's not just the Muslims, right? the Jews that are against genocide and the Jews that are for peace and the faculty are out there and the the ethnic minorities who have you know, great economic challenges usually ahead of them right are out there and The 70 and 80 year olds who helped, you know Push the needle forward until Vietnam became unfavorable came out 50 years later, and they're out there So how can the Muslim who believes that Allah is a Raza is the provider the ultimate provider not be out there? and so it would be a concern that we should have that We don't condemn Those trying to silence them. That's the real problem. And I said to them that I'm Ahmed Rahim Allah He was asked by one of the prison guards
you make do I against the volume mean the oppressors and When a volume mean the assistants the aids the advocates of the oppressors, he said am I one of them? There's like a jail guard. Mm-hmm. He's at the door. He said to him. No, no, no the one who Aids the oppressor is the guy who tailors his clothes and cooks his food. You're one of the oppressors You're not category to your category one, right? Like so may Allah protect us from ever being that that was the promise that Musa alayhi salam made to Allah So be man on Taalay. Yeah, so then I could have a hero to the mean because of the great favor You've conferred upon me. I will never be a supporter, right and Silencing those doing the right thing is in fact supporting those doing the wrong. That's a very hard to communicate that as best I could I can add to that. I think for parents to realize that The academic Islam is not what really lights the fire of faith in people's hearts It's that experiential Islam and so the experience of being on a campus is of the most important Identity solidifying moments of one's life a parent does not allow their kid to participate They are stripping them of an opportunity to really latch on to a firm Islamic identity because they will never forget this for the rest of Their lives. Yes, right. I mean, I'll be personally in my own life You know, it was my college activism that really lit my my faith on fire made me realize Islam as a living vibrant Religion that actually is here to change the world, right? It's not just something for me to go into my bedroom and go do they couldn't Quran All the ayat that they're hearing like in the deuce all these things They're all theoretical until you get out there and you realize okay. This is the real world and all these Years ago. I'm seeing them in front of my eyes And so that that your team that you get right you cannot replace that with sitting in a classroom and any other experience It's not about not sitting in a classroom But it's about allowing them to do both right and I go back and I think about the Prophet I said I'm in the Sahaba the muhajiroon They were made the young ones especially right the Prophet I some allowed them to be in some of these circumstances
Like Abdullah Masood when he goes to the Kaaba and he recites the Quran out loud He's a young man and the Sahaba did not see him as very physically strong But he goes and he recites Surah Rahman and he gets beat up for it and he comes back and they're like, you know We told you get beat up He's like I've never had more contempt for the enemies of Allah than today and he goes if you want me to I'll go Again tomorrow the law and they're like look like you made them angry You did your job for today, right? But I just think about his the rest of his life When he becomes who he becomes right and and the famous of them So it's that experience as a young man in Mecca that has given him a certain identity that cannot be shaken, right? Yes, and so we don't want to take those away from our youth, right? Yeah, because the finalize as we're seeing and as we've seen so far They feel I mean all of us to a certain degree have felt a little helpless and what is going on now So when I see that that effort, I mean countless times I've been asked before these encampments is like what can I do I Feel horrible watching what's going on on television and I can't do anything about it, right? Without going and taking any means that is not conducive to Muslims here or Muslims there But trying to find that middle course without just being someone that is card Or not and not guard at the same time, right? We're finding that middle course and subhanAllah the lack of bravery, okay, let's say that The Muslims didn't go out in These encampments, what would you because there's a level of bravery? I mean the level of fear that we've seen to where they actually went out and said, you know They looked at their friend. Are you gonna go? Okay, let's go. It's been that moment. It's like let's go Yeah, just hypothetically speaking or not even hypothetically speaking There are probably still some out there that are not That may be condemned going out there for example And as you mentioned that could be and if I hate on them, would you mean it could be someone that existing in? Condemning those that are trying to manifest a religion in a positive conducive fashion the lack of this bravery. What would you see? I mean, what would it look like the lack of the manifestation of this bravery? Yeah, no, I can speak about it in our own community in Irvine
I mean so like Muhammad mentioned like it's these youth who have put a lot on the line and they're being very brave But the success of the encampments depends on the bravery of the community to support them So in our situations and you're saying we saw that UCLA I was there at UCLA when the police rioted right and we had to go out there and many other campuses at UC Irvine the kid the faculty themselves and other People on the campus said if it was not for the Muslim community and the Muslim men on the campus Surrounding the encampment to protect them. This would have been gone Right. So that's the cut that's that's what's at stake here If we sit at home, it's like, you know my paycheck, you know, and this and that and my sleep They would have been over on you It would have been overrun and what is that loss possibly hundreds of millions of dollars of divestment money, right? Changing of the public narrative, right? So this is not like a small like the cost of not being brave is is tremendous. It's true I honor brothers and sisters. All right, you know I mean, I'm gonna tell my billions of dollars of money in weapons industry that we can divert if we stand strong and we're brave And if we don't right then we're gonna bear the consequence of it. I'm like, you know how we're always thinking dr. Ashman how how We can help our brothers and sisters there who are grieving who are sad who lost loved ones How many videos I've seen on social media on like different social media outlets of Brothers and sisters and huzzah coming out and thinking exactly the brothers Smile on their feet. They probably lost 60 people in their family and they're smiling because they see you Protesting or in camping because of them it like isn't that enough of like, okay, you can't send the dollar You can't guarantee anything's getting there. But at least you're making them happy. They'll be Yeah, you know that that hadith from the Prophet says that smiling is charity Holding up a sign saying thank you so much UCLA Columbia NYU. It's like Well, I'm gonna be totally honest transparent like I saw one of them and I was sitting there with my family
I saw that I said get up. Let's go. Yeah, when I saw that I showed my daughter my son said we're going let's go Yeah, and they appreciate it. Yeah, there's so much. Yeah, and just imagine Imagine their do'at, you know the do'at of the people who are being tested And the do'at of the Mazlum the oppressed is the closest do'at to Allah, right? You know in the hadith. There's no Hijab, there's no cover between it and Allah and imagine out of everyone They're making from their do'at for the people That are coming out for them, so it's like just by being there you're automatically You know, that's a very Bestowed and the other thing I think a lot about is that what is what is the consequence in many ways? It's it's unknown, but we have precedent right when Musa. I said, I'm is taking bunny Israel and saying go into the sacred land What do they say? You guys go we're gonna be cowards. So what is the punishment? 40 years 40 years Cowardice has a punishment. It does right it does and we may not and but I'm not gonna come down and tell us that we're Being punished for it. But how much longer will Palestine be occupied if in this moment, we don't get up and do something about it Right, and we don't know the answer to that. All we know is that you're gonna be I'm gonna throw myself out there I don't care about the consequences I don't believe that most of the things we're being threatened with are real because that's how Shaitan works He's gonna threaten you with all these things But the reality is almost none of them. So we go back to Ravine 11 They threaten them with you're never gonna get a job and get a misdemeanor. You're gonna get this. Guess what? They go to Harvard Law School, right? They go to University, Minnesota doing their PhD. They run a MP. They work at Google They go here. They go there like Allah shows us these things just to be like Oh Muslims. You have no excuse. All these theoretical fears Let me show you a living example of how Laughable finale
There's no fear upon me in this situation, this is beautiful is showing that bravery. How can we not? That's what we're getting this inspiration, right? I mean the biggest cowards in this whole thing are the the the ones who failed to just come out and have us say a statement One statement, you know of like just being a human right? That's it. This is all done Just with one. Well, there's a bigger cow. There's a bigger. Yeah, it's a Zionist Who will not even go out right unless they have police officers behind them to protect them from counter-protesting, right? So they are the biggest coward. So how do you fear a coward? All right, that's something which is not within our You know like using the term Judaism very widely, of course Zionism by testimony of so many Jews and Jewish scholars the departure from Judaism, right? So at least that much without getting into sort of theological discussion that's out of context here Look at what it breeds, right? it breeds This Zionist paranoia, right? They live with the victimhood mentality and so many of these like Mutations right spiritual sort of diseases that latch on to people when they let their faith get compromised I'm not even pointing at Zionists anymore. I'm telling you the Quran Said be careful of becoming that person right the person whose faith falls into shambles and Therefore they are captives of their fears. They miss out on this world. They miss out on the next right? That is the danger like bravery breeds faith and cowardice can actually eat away at their faith It can erode your faith. There's so many ayat in the Quran about you know, for example Nifaq the disease of Nifaq hypocrisy, which is sort of the faith as it's dying, right? They presume that every noise is about them. They're always looking over their shoulder, right the other ayah that says
They let the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam go fight See it wasn't just Musa alayhi sallam and his people, right? Sometimes in time the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam even in the presence of the Prophet meaning everyone's got to make their own decision You can even be surrounded by the Prophet. It's not gonna help you sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They said after Uhud what? If you were in our homes, right? Even if you remained home those destined to die would have went and met their place of death You would have went out there for some business. You would have went out there to use the bathroom That's where you're supposed to die, right? And so the fear Needs to be shaken off on some level. Yes, we're going to be pragmatic Yes, we're going to sort of try to measure things as best we can and I also I always need to say I don't Categorically classify as cowardly or cowardice not going to a protest I do conceive of but Not to be involved at all in this moment I think requires some honest introspection and scrutiny for every single one of us Yeah, I mean the process I'm even saw refuge from the Jibreel I can build on your point here It's a there's a difference also between one who was gonna go on their own accord and for different reasons didn't go But then the Muslims have gone our brothers and our sisters and then our sisters are in need and they're being attacked and Then and this is a whole different issue now where it's like I need to be brave enough to defend my sisters even if I Wasn't gonna go to that protest also like even if I don't agree And I think this is such an important like issue for us like the Brit This is part of our like of our of our manliness Islam, right? it's part of our being in a Kowloon right of being able to protect our women and In a moment's time like if you know if sister says, you know, I'm in need this will happen UCLA, right? You know, we got text messages at midnight, but we know people were saying our sisters fear are fearing for their lives So right and so hundreds of Muslim men literally drive an hour or two hours away because a woman has said hey I'm in fear right and I think of that story of
And this is why these stories are so important because they give us Like these roadmaps for who we are, right, you know, like who who do we want to be like, right? And so you have you know, I'm not awesome Bilal, you know famous a sister one sister was like Oh, I thought some come and help me because she's wrongfully in prison He's I'm gonna send a whole army after you right, you know So we need to revive this in our spirit because or else we got sitcoms or we got all this other, you know Unbefitting behavior of men that's being promoted everywhere. And I mean to go back to who we are. Yeah yeah, it's I mean you think about it you ask the question I mean even to make it general is a Okay, and you mentioned you touched on that before and even a fan mentions that as well This should jazz the one that helps and defend someone that they don't even know right, they're generous with it with their with their strength and with being honorable and and Fighting the oppression as Musa did I lay Salam with the to be a therefore he fled to even somebody you don't agree with Yeah Doing what she believes is right at a protest like as a Muslim if I were to see A woman being assaulted on the street that man maybe isn't even her husband She may not be dressed properly at all. All of those are not considerations at that moment that particular moment Yes, and this is important because particularly in the East Coast. I'm gonna give you a situation that happened to me. I Was headed to mesh it up on Brooklyn. I was like, I'm gonna go mess it up. She survives. What's the first? So as I'm taking I think I was leaving Harlem and I was I was heading there I'm on the subway man, and I'm sitting there and there's some some some females sitting right in front of me You know facing, you know, I'm from the south. I'm not used to the subway, right? And there's but there's a guy standing above them holding on to the rail onto the post here You can tell that he's high as a kite He is like so high his pants on spirituality
This guy was Intoxicated. Yeah as the subway stopping and moving stopping and going. Oh mind you this guy's, you know, his pants are sagging And he has a backpack, right? And as the subway stopping he's like leaning over he can barely hold himself up Everybody can see I mean Ray Charles can tell this guy's high, right? So I don't know if the generation knows One he's a blind pianist in as as the subway stopping going something you get the women are like this the girls like like in my mind I'm like, okay If he falls on what is in his back? My main concern is what is in his back because if something goes down I have to do I have to do something Right. Nobody else. I'm a Muslim, but I have to do something a lot does yeah a lot of us. I'm doing a lot I mean So he's he eventually falls on the girls. Mm-hmm, and I'm hoping he doesn't he wasn't vulgar He didn't become vulgar anything like that falls in the girls and it's so funny because the girls are sitting like this She's like so still she doesn't want to move and he's just totally out of it. So I say a man Just come on. Just just just get up if he gets vulgar if he gets violent Whatever happens happens because in my mind I'm like what is in his bag, but then I was as I was leaving I was thinking to myself You know when Matt to do any matter he was who she who or dies protecting his honor his family his money Then he is a martyr in those situations the Muslim particularly even in that area We look at the history of Master Tuck we even even the history of Master Tuck one Right how they had to stand up for oppression and willing to fight those that were That were you know that we're bringing the community down and not helping and improving the people, you know the Muslim it's important They clean out all the drug do they clean out all the drug dealers with physical therapy with the now?
The man who led that project Ali Abdi Kareem, he was the head of security mr. Dequa. No, sir. I had his right hand, man this man Was an icon of the law and bravery We buried him last year so this man when we sued the NYPD for discriminatory policing a Few years prior he came to me and said to me Muhammad When your father was wrongly accused after 9-eleven actually before 9-eleven They were actually accused in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. I'm sorry as well It's one of his so-called unindicted co-conspirators. My father was with him Mmm, and he said I was there in their courtroom and subhanAllah and I fast-forward 30 years He's standing by me in the courtroom. So right he said I'll tell you one thing Muhammad I'll ever let them see fear in your eyes And I'm the law like I had prayed in my Sakara and I know it was a very very difficult thing to embark on this Lawsuit to file this lawsuit because of many factors, but he said to me don't change nothing Shave your beard don't walk any different. Don't act suspect and he shared with me a story. Mmm He said to me is it I he actually has his own private firm as a private investigator He could he clocked someone following him around a few blocks So he pulls over acts like he's going to a store and he loops around and he faced he stands in front of the guy And the guy's like, yo, man, be easy. Be easy. Stand down. He's also the head of the ninja to program as it's Apple He's a killer martial artist. Yeah, and so The guy's like yo bees and listen, I don't know who you are. I don't know if you're feds I don't know if your moose said I don't know who you are. He's like, listen, man Just calm down lower your voice constantly. I just want to tell you one thing You not my god. Do you understand that? Mmm, and the guy was horrified by how?
Unflinching Ali was right Rahim Allah. This is important. That's why it's anchored in faith You know and when Saeed and Jubair was told by the hajjaj Rahim Allah like my life is in your hands He said if I believe that I wouldn't have worshipped anybody but you Like don't get it twisted because I don't have it twisted. You're not my god, right? I have a duty to my God and he is worthier of my fear. Subhan Allah. Subhan Allah. So with that I mean That example and of our companions are a little high number. I tell you tell rain Rahim Allah You mentioned you mentioned this earlier. It's not something that just comes haphazardly. It comes immediately if you're someone that has not Trained yourself or condition yourself with the worship of Allah compliance in the religion practicing the Sharia when that time comes You may be brave, but it may be had to you all In the ocean, right and that hadith is very important as well. You know the one that fights just so it can be said that he is brave Right, but rather it's to do it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala I think that distinction is very very important particularly for the one that believes in it believes in Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and believes in The creator the heavens and the earth that that is the motivation and the destination, right? So when you see someone like our Sheikh Mashallah, you know that lack of fear and then you can you can feel that energy You know it's something particularly speaking to our Shabab now that Remember that it's for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala tie that what you're doing and finding meaning and purpose tied to Doing it for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala knowing that he has given you the faculties to do it and continuing on bismillah For the name with the name of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala like testosterone is something that's that like we don't talk about a lot Right and it's a necessary component of men and as we've been seeing actually for the last 30 years If not longer that you know young men in this society have lower levels of testosterone Which is we found related to the lifestyle to live the diet the lack of exercise, right? They're sitting and playing video games all day long. So so much like when you want to be brave, but you live a lifestyle That's anti bravery. Like you're not gonna be able to enact the bravery, right?
So okay again, this goes back to preparation right you live this active lifestyle where you are exercising you are running out You're lifting weights. You're playing sports. You're doing competitive sports all this develops a natural testosterone So you're winning when you're in a situation that you need it like it's ready to go I'll get all those parents who are just like, you know sit down and do your homework all day long That's the path to success in life. This is a recipe for disaster, right? You know, what's interesting? I read that even Khaldun said He said that people that live out in the country are braver than city people And I thought I was surprised he's like, yeah, that's because the people in the city depend on Like the government right to protect them to maintain everything for them to guarantee that they're gonna get there They're there, you know, there's can everything their safety and whatnot. He's like, but the one who lives out rural You know gotta fend for themselves got always be prepared to defend themselves. So they Developed more bravery than the city people. What do you you think that has anything to do with that? Sure, I do and I think if you go even deeper I would say that it's it actually breeds a different type of the weapon Think about somebody who lives in a city and you get like a paycheck every two weeks how different is my guaranteed paycheck and Then I have my AC and I control my temperature I have my GPS and I control everything like this level of control and certainty over your life Is very different than somebody who lives out in a situation where you're like, it's rough I don't have to be hot today. It's cold today. I don't want to make any money I don't my crops are gonna grow this season Exactly. So all this breeds a different sense of To a cool number one and number two is acceptance of what happens, right? Like in the city life you become so accustomed to things being a certain way You go to the grocery store. The apples are out of stock you throw fit Right because you've been used to apples is always being there rather than be like no apples are seasonal Sometimes they grow sometimes they don't grow right or I'm doing, you know business and some days I make money some days I don't make money. So I would say it's not just city life
But it's more of the technology around us the dependency on this technology is what makes us weak It makes us like intellectually weak. It makes us spiritually. It makes us physically weak, right? Sometimes the notion of self-selecting hardship is a really important part of developing You know the type of bravery that we're speaking about right and I said self-selecting That's why we go and we do things like like martial arts, right? They'll beat me up in a controlled setting right? Let me go camping for 20 miles in the you know in the forest, right? You put yourself in these situations. So when you're when you're when you're in that situation not by choice, you can deal with it, right? Exactly, right. It shows you know, right? I'm about to do my eyes on one of the club said right, you know rough it for good times Don't always last right you train it like a muscle, right? So coming back to this whole issue if we talk about what do we want to do with our kids, right? Our young boys in our community. We need to put them through these hardships Just like Allah as a widget put the NBF of these hardships exactly, right? They couldn't be grown up in the palace, right? You grow up in the palace You're gonna end up being soft and you get out need a rough it you need to be a shepherd Right, and then when you come back you can deal with like, you know the situation that you have at hand, right? So part of I think being a good father being good more upbeat being a youth director being a good mother Whatever might be you say I want to put my kids in hardship Get him out of the sedentary life get him out of the the comfort because I need to build these men up, right? So No, no soprano. It's beautiful. How you connected to testosterone or lack thereof with Potentiality to lack of bravery, you know It's a kind of something that Allah swt with the manifestation of his creation has put within us to prepare us for certain situations but we still have that responsibility of Nurturing it in a way that is conducive for our development for ourselves and for those around us Those that we know and those that we don't like every virtue by the way bravery being a virtue a Foundational virtue it always lies in the perfect middle between two extremes, right? So it was bravery. There's recklessness Presumed bravery. It's just Someone is reckless and there's cowardice, right? So that was important. I really appreciate the issue of
Considering the holistic approach right that the luxury, you know, good times create weak men type thing weak people in general, right? and then also Outsourcing our security to the state outsourcing our provision to the supply chain That creates an illusion of control that puts you under this notion that I don't need to prep for hard times It's actually a really good book on that. So I don't spend any time on it the king of the castle He speaks a lot about how the Industrial Revolution has revolutionized the worldview of people in a very dangerous way It sets them up because it's just not reliable I mean the protests have shown us again people who believe the police are here to protect us They're not here to protect us. They're gonna protect the state, right? They're actually very happy to attack us as long as it suits the needs of the state, right? So literally we saw this right again at UCLA We're like police watched a hundred fifty thugs beat up and try it, you know to attack with chemical weapons all these things Like, you know college fireworks at the shoot fireworks, you know bear spray mace Actually, we had one of our imams right in San Diego, you know who got maced But standing up to the protesters, so it's good. We experience these things So a lot is it kind of shaking us and being like get out of your false sense of security and have some agency I have to walk a lot in a lot of the state right and then get up and do something yourself, right? So what I wanted to add in addition to these three was Something you alluded to and I if we're talking about raising our boys, right and even our girls but the issue of getting robbed for your Bravery meaning imagine we actually build bravery, right and then it becomes pointless, right? Because every single one of us especially teenagers and young adults you're looking for acceptance. You're looking for belonging. That's natural. That's fine So you're looking for a currency you can sort of trade off to get belonging from people, right? So like Someone muscular like myself right who's gonna flex that on people someone doesn't have muscles like yourself, right? It's gonna flex their brief
Don't worry if you push up so he'll be fine But the idea is we're all looking for something and so if someone is able to actually grab bravery even that can be sort of You can rip out of it its value. We started talking about how foundational it is, but even that When when the first three people to enter the hellfire one of them is gonna be a person who spent his life trying to get Celebrated for his bravery. Imagine of all the things right? The first three people one of them is Leo called Jerry So he'll be it would be said about him Fearless, right? Well, I'd clean and it was said so you're going to be condemned for your misuse of You were actually brave, but it's pointless. It's just like physical strength, you know What is the point of physical strength if you use it sort of harm the the helpless in the week and the vulnerable? What is the use of bravery if it is used towards shallow ends? Right, and that's that's that's so beautiful. My Charlotte's about it and that that that is important because a lot of You know social media Plays a big part of this, you know spreading the word and and letting everybody know that like, you know I'm at the in camp Manicata, you know renewing your intention Before letting everybody know before recording yourself and streaming live and XYZ, you know, you're sending all your friends Yo guys, you got to come out here You don't want to do it with the intention to just show off and be like, hey, I'm out here Rather do it Okay I'm for a law and I want everyone to come out to help this cause because I do see this as a way to help Our brothers and sisters, right? Yeah, so like I think it needs a lot of renewing like every I think every post needs an intention Right. Yeah. No, no, you're definitely right man. You're definitely right I mean that like you said renewing the intention just to get back and anchor to your ultimate purpose exactly with a loss of Hanukkah No, I'm not just up a little hair for this beautiful beautiful inside we could stay here in the cave and That'd be too. Fee. He is shallow. He's asleep here and talk about it
I could only pretend for so long Under lodges aqua care for coming by this is my Charlotte They had a researcher a director's research retreat and handle I just pulled him and said, you know what? Let's talk about this issue and jazz. I'm lucky for coming through on the law beautiful brothers I love you for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala Allah bless you in your endeavors and use you as a means to to to motivate and keep these brothers and sisters consistent along with their parents and following along with this beautiful beautiful means of worshiping Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala and have a rippling effect on those around them and For all of you out there that are watching this inshallah Please say they take this as a message to remind you of the importance of this particular Manifestation of worship because without a doubt when we tie this attribute of Bravery to the one that has given us the faculties to be brave This is where it can become worship whether you're out there in the camps or whether you're at home May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala bless you for your effort and your intention May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala bless all the brothers here for coming here and talking about this beautiful topic topic Jazakumullah khairan. May Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala make you of those that are brave for his sake Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh You
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