Confident Muslim
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Helping Those Who Have Nothing - Abd Al-Rahman Traboulsi #ConfidentMuslim
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Salamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. So, mashallah, he got more rounds of applause than I think most of the speakers did as well. And that's the talent, alhamdulillah, we have in our ummah, inshallah, and we want to continue to expose it. So far we heard from Umm Salam Abdul Basir about the importance of the neighbor. And then that transitions into Nabil talking about the importance of even serving those that don't like us. And often we forget that there are people that are not just our neighbors, that are not just close to us, but they also have a right upon us. So this last presentation is a focus on that. Our last presenter is Abdul Rahman Traboulsi. He's also from Ohio State University, inshallah, and we'll hand it over to him. Jazakumullah khair. Salamualaikum. This is really full. Mashallah. So the summer of 2013 I spent working with Syrian refugees and injured civilians in a small Turkish city along the Syrian border called Rehanli. And as I was walking to the clinic one morning, I ran into two small Syrian girls, two young Syrian girls. And what was interesting is they weren't running an errand, they weren't playing around, they weren't asking for money. They were sitting on the side of the curb, and the older sister, subhanallah, was teaching her younger sister how to read. Through all their hardship they have suffered, this was their determination to persevere. And what was even more heartbreaking was learning the story behind these two girls.
They had lived in Aleppo and had been forced to flee after their father had been killed in an airstrike and their mother raped and shot in front of their own eyes. And unfortunately we live in a world where these two girls and all the other millions of refugees have been dehumanized. They have been stigmatized by the media. They have been marginalized by our own communities, our own Muslim communities. But they have the same capacity to feel joy, to reciprocate love, to learn, but they have been stripped of that dignity and hope. The refugee condition is not new to our Muslim ummah. It's in our Islamic history. The Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and his companions in Mecca, they were spit on, they were tortured, their families were killed, and they were exiled due to religious persecution. And these same people who left because of persecution during the time of the Prophet, including the Prophet himself, who are they to us now? They are our role models. We look towards them for inspiration. We look towards the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and wish that we could gain an ounce of his prophetic character. InshaAllah we can all see the smile of the Prophet Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, on the Day of Jannah, in Jannah inshaAllah. But with this condition it's very easy to feel hopeless. The refugee condition is something that a lot of us are familiar with. For me as a Syrian-American, it's my family, my friends, for Somalis, for Burmese, Iraqis, our community has been affected by conflict and war, and there are many refugees among us. And it's easy to feel helpless. I remember when I would call my aunt on the phone in Homs and hear artillery and gunfire in the background, not sure if I'd ever get to hear her voice again.
I'd feel helpless while working in a field hospital in Syria, and two miles away, in the distance, I can see a bomb falling from a helicopter, unable to do anything to help. The problem is too overwhelming for us, that we can't solve it. But I believe that every single one of us has the responsibility to serve and the capacity to contribute. Allah SWT reminds us of the plea of those who are oppressed in the Quran. وَالْمُسْتَضَعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاءِ وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَلْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ وَلِيَّا وَاجْعَلْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ نَصِيرًا Oh Allah SWT, the oppressed among the men, women and children who call out to Allah SWT and say, Oh Allah remove us from the city of oppressive people and appoint for us from yourself a protector and appoint from us from yourself a helper. And Subhanallah we have an opportunity to answer that call. We have an opportunity to be those helpers. And it starts here, it starts by mobilizing our own communities. When I returned from Turkey in 2015 from my medical relief trip, I was very frustrated. I spent summers working overseas but it felt very ineffective. I didn't feel like I was actually creating change, I wasn't utilizing my capacity to impact people effectively. So I started thinking, how can I use my capacity as a college student at Ohio State to help refugees in our community? When I began to research the issues, I saw that there was a huge gap in education.
I visited local high schools, conducted surveys, talked to community members and mobilized a group of colleagues of mine who are also very passionate about the issue. And Alhamdulillah over the last nine months we have been working on a new organization called Refuge. A college prep program dedicated to empowering resettled refugee youth in their pursuit of higher education. To connect them with positive role models in current college students. To increase their confidence, their abilities, to expedite their social and cultural acclimation. To increase their ability to speak good English. Inshallah we are launching our program this coming January. Our pilot program with 15 students in Columbus. Our program is online. Alhamdulillah. Our program is online. It bridges the gap of isolation, the lack of transportation that refugees face. There was one refugee I met who had come home to school on the school bus and her mom worked a second shift. She had come home, her mom had already left for work. She'd go to bed, her mom hadn't come back. She'd go to school in the morning, her mom was asleep. And that was the cycle every day. School, home, school, home, nothing else. And technology allows us to bridge that, to open their horizons, to learn about their worlds. Khan Academy, YouTube, all these things around us. And we want to equip our students with that capacity to do that as well. And we hope inshallah through the medium to expand our program out of Columbus, into the Midwest, into the country. Now the thing is, this is my sphere of influence. Alhamdulillah, as a college student, I understand the educational system. I have time. That might decrease a little bit once I get to medical school, but maybe we'll find a way to increase the amount of time in the day. But my question to you is, what is your sphere of influence?
How much are we willing to sacrifice to help those who have nothing? When the muhajireen came to Medina, what did the ansar do? What did the helpers do? They gave their homes. They shared their businesses. They sacrificed their lives for the well-being of others. And especially in a time where refugees have been convinced that they're less human than others. They're constantly defending their humanity as if it's in question. We need to look towards better understanding the refugees in our community. Of the nine national organizations that serve refugees, that work with the federal government to resettle refugees, seven are religiously affiliated. None are Muslim. In 2016, the largest proportion of refugees were Muslim. We should try to reflect on how we can use our skills to help. As physicians, start free clinics, provide health services. As business owners, create job opportunities. As teachers, start tutoring programs in our local masajid. And if anything, just take the time to smile, to make the refugees in our community feel welcomed. To feel that they are part of our family, that they're part of our Muslim ummah. And I'd like to end with our prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He always stressed how much he loved the ansar and his appreciation for what they did for him. In one incident, he said, if the ansar were to take a path and the rest were to take a different path, I would go with the ansar. And what else could we want more than the companionship of our beloved prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Jazakum Allah khair.
MashaAllah, three incredible presenters. Alhamdulillah. Another round of applause for them. They're watching in the green room. So alhamdulillah, for those of you that haven't heard, Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research is a new project. Our goals are to inspire contribution through conviction. And this is what Confident Muslim is all about. This was our launch, alhamdulillah, and we plan to include these programs all over the world, inshaAllah ta'ala. Hopefully more times in Chicago, inshaAllah. Jazakum Allah khair and for your support, I'm going to hand it over to the vice president of Yaqeen Institute as well, Dr. Attaf Hussain. Jazakum Allah khair again. I want to begin, first of all, bismillah, alhamdulillah, wasallatu wasallam wa rasoolallah, by thanking Muslim American Society, MASS, for really hosting us and giving us such an amazing time slot so that we could actually share with you the projects we're doing. While you appreciate what you saw on the stage with these young people, they're actually scholars who are researching, mashaAllah, tabarakAllah, and approximately every month we put out a very deep study on topics that are affecting our young people. So we invite you to visit the website for Yaqeen Institute, go on Facebook, like us, do the usual social media thing, and also, it's not fundraising, but obviously before December 31st, if you can, inshaAllah, visit the website and donate something so the work of Yaqeen can go on, inshaAllah, in your name, on your behalf. Again, thank you so much. Salam wa alaikum wa rahmatullah. Alright, now I'm here for another reason. I'm going to tell you guys a personal story. So one thing that I like to do is that when I have an idea about a project,
I like to type up a Word document, put my ideas in there, and then leave it on my desktop so that when I can get around to it, inshaAllah ta'ala, I'm able to get around to it. So a few years ago, about now, six years ago, I had this idea for a project that would serve those with special needs and disabilities in our communities, and it's obviously that in our communities, the accommodations for those with special needs has been, you know, not the best. I don't want to use harsh language. It's been not the best. And we need to make a change in that. So an organization that would allow us to certify masajid, that are taking the next step to make sure we're accommodating people, an organization that would make sure that conventions like this would accommodate people with disabilities, and this is the essence of Confident Muslim. We're in Hajj five years ago, and one of the sisters that was attending, or that was part of my Hajj group, Sister Juhi Tahir, told me about her daughter who has a special need. And we started to talk about it, and I told her, well, I have an idea. I sent her the idea, and mashallah, she ran off with it and her incredible team, and alhamdulillah, we have an organization called Muhsin, Muslims Understanding and Helping Special Education Needs. And inshallah ta'ala, you know, we want this to be something that's accommodated throughout conferences, throughout masajid. We want this to be a part of our community, inshallah. So here at this convention, you might have seen there was a dedicated Muhsin registration check-in, designated no-wait lines for families with special needs, free pre-registration for attendees with special needs, reserved Muhsin seating in the main hall, specialized child care program, family quiet rooms, wheelchair rentals in the main lobby, ushers and greeters. You might have seen those with the orange Muhsin buttons to make those who have special needs feel loved and welcomed,
and we want them to know that our community is great because of them, and we want their families to be accommodated as well. And of course, Muhsin is also providing for our sign language interpreters who do such hard work. May Allah reward them, and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increase them. Insha'Allah we leave you with a short video about Muhsin.
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