# Allah Will Ask: What Did You Do With Your Freedom? | Imam Tom Live **Author:** Tom Facchine **Series:** Imam Tom Live **Published:** 2024-10-17 **YouTube:** https://youtu.be/Y5R2_0lQ-f4 **URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/allah-will-ask-what-did-you-do-with-your-freedom-imam-tom-live **Topics:** Culture, Family & Community, Politics & Practical Theology, Social Justice ## Description We talk about a recent IG post that critiques Imam Tom's article, discussing intersectionality and Palestine solidarity, and why leftist causes fail. ## Transcript **[0:01]** As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. Everybody, welcome back to what used to be Imam Tom Live. We've got big news and it's going to be good news hopefully insha'Allah ta'ala that the live stream will be coming to an end. Well, wait a second, how can that be good news? It's going to be good news because it's going to make way for **[0:19]** two or three new programs that we're going to be doing through Yaqeen Institute hosted by myself. So, stay tuned for that. You can continue to expect the weekly program being uploaded. Unfortunately, I will miss interacting with you all and we had a really nice run. But hopefully **[0:38]** insha'Allah this is paving the way for something greater in the near future. Now, when it comes to the past week, we've had certainly subhanAllah a lot of stuff going on. All of our hearts are bleeding because we've seen the attack on those hospitals yet again. **[0:53]** You know, some people have said that this is a war on children. And we could also say that the last year, last 12 months, it's been a war on hospitals. How many hospitals have been bombed? How many times have we seen people evacuated from hospitals in wheelchairs or being carried out, **[1:09]** hooked up to IVs, you name it. Things that I think for many of us, we never ever could have imagined seeing. And so, some of the horrifying, horrifying images that came out of this past week's hospital attack on Al-Aqsa and Shifa Hospital were people being engulfed in flames **[1:28]** as they're hooked up to IVs, as they're still on their hospital beds. Truly, truly horrifying images. And someone pointed out to me, subhanAllah, a connection that hadn't occurred to me, which is that it's almost as if we're being given a preview into hellfire. Not to say, of course, **[1:46]** that the people who died in this sort of tragic way are in heaven, you know, martyrs, inshallah. But that, when we think normally, you walk around and you see people and you might say, okay, this person, they have their private lives and I don't want to sort of interfere or anything, **[2:02]** or I don't want to be noticed as a Muslim, or I don't want to explain Islam to them and sort of hide your Islam away. But when you see people actually burning up, it reminds you of the hellfire. And it makes you both scared for yourself, and it makes you also, hopefully, **[2:18]** more empathetic to other people and trying to represent Islam in the best possible way to minimize the amount of people that end up in that particular way in the hereafter. Shaaban was the name of one of the martyrs. The video of him was particularly gruesome, **[2:33]** and it's important that we remember their names and their stories. And he was a hafidh of the Quran. He was somebody who has avoided and dodged many near-death experiences in the last 12 months. And somebody beloved to his family and his community. And we're happy that Shaaban has **[2:49]** achieved martyrdom. But of course, we are aggrieved by the criminal circumstances in which he was martyred. And so we're praying for the martyrs of Gaza and Palestine and for the people in general. In other news, we had Israel, not surprising, attack UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. And this **[3:06]** is something that has become another regular occurrence, just like it is a war against children. It is a war against hospitals. It is also a war against international law. 287 aid workers have been killed since the conflict began on October 7, 2023. This total includes 205 UNRWA **[3:25]** staff members, marking the largest recorded loss of UN personnel in a single conflict. And most of these have taken place in Gaza. In other news, we've got that the US has both simultaneously tried to say that, this was leaked by the Biden administration, that it has given Israel 30 days **[3:44]** to sort of ensure that humanitarian concerns are going to be honored. At the same time, they have deployed US soldiers to the Middle East and given a THAAD missile defense system to Israel. The troops that are going to be there are going to help operate the system. And that is in response **[4:02]** to the escalating missile attacks from Iran and also from Hezbollah in Lebanon. And so this is another sort of technique that we've seen from the incumbent administration of sort of saying one thing and then doing something else entirely. Here at home, we've had a tragic incident in **[4:20]** Detroit where a seven-year-old girl named Saida Meshra had her throat slashed by a man in a Detroit park in what is a brutal and infuriating attack committed by someone who was a 73-year-old man identified as Gary Lansky, who did it with a pocket knife. Now, somehow this is not being **[4:39]** charged as a hate crime. Lansky is being charged with assault with intent to murder and felonious assault, but is not facing hate crime charges despite the political context and despite the potential symbolic significance of what's going on. Obviously, this has sparked outrage in the community. No secret to anybody, Detroit is the home of one of the largest Arab American **[4:59]** communities in the country. It looks fishy, let's just put it that way. So we ask Allah to give patience to the family. Finally, one of the clips that have gone viral in the past week, we had Mehdi Hasan giving sort of a plea to the Muslim communities. What I want to address here is one of **[5:16]** the sort of the secularist claims that Mehdi made in his video. The trope or the sort of suggestion that Mehdi was making that faith has nothing to do with politics, that the Imams are abusing their station or that they are weaponizing Islam or they're blackmailing people spiritually **[5:32]** into doing this or that political action. And this is a very, very problematic framing because as we know in Islam, we don't have this bifurcation between our private sort of secularized faith and our public secular existence. That we see our faith informs everything that we do. **[5:50]** And that your political decisions are also moral decisions. They have moral dimensions to them. That how you vote, how you spend your money, the policies that you support one way or another, you could face consequences in the afterlife because of it. You will stand in front of Allah subhana wa ta'ala and you will be asked, what did you do with your opportunities? What **[6:10]** did you do with your vote? What did you do with your freedom? What did you do with your ability to speak? And if you did something that contributed to the suffering of another person or spread corruption on earth or spread harm or spread oppression, then that is something that you will be spiritually liable for unless Allah chooses to forgive it. And so to attempt to **[6:29]** artificially separate these two things is a very, very surprising, but also I guess, non-surprising tack. We hope that we do not leave our faith at the door when we walk into the polling station on November 5th. We hope that our faith guides our actions, all of our actions, from something **[6:45]** as simple as how we use the bathroom to how we vote to how we organize politically. Remember that this is something that the companions were proud of when they were asked by the Quraysh in a sort of mocking way. It's like you even follow instructions about how to use the bathroom. **[7:02]** And they said, yes, proudly, proudly. We have guidance for how to use the bathroom and clean ourselves. Islam is something that touches every aspect of your life. It's not just for the mosque. And now it's time for our next segment, which is tafsir. Moving on to Surah Al-Kafirun. And the question is, what is the unique word that appears in Surah Al-Kafirun that does not appear **[7:23]** elsewhere in the Quran? Remember, this is one of the linguistic miracles of the Quran. 114 chapters. Every single chapter has at least one word that does not exist in any other chapter. And in Surah Al-Kafirun, the word is 'abadtum. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, when He's telling the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) **[7:42]** what to say, saying, say to the people who are fighting you, the people who have rejected and denied faith, that I don't worship what you worship and you don't worship what I worship. And I am not a worshiper. So we have, we're going to talk about that in a second. And I do not **[8:00]** worship what you have worshipped. So 'abadtum, which is a past tense verb for the second person plural, is a word that does not exist anywhere else in the Quran outside of Surah Al-Kafirun. It's actually very important whether Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is talking about something **[8:17]** using verbs or nouns. That in Arabic, a verb indicates something that is a repetitive action that takes renewal. Okay? So when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, for example, ya ayyuhal ladheena aamanu, He is saying, oh, you people who have believed, literally, **[8:33]** in the past, you have believed. He's putting it in tense of a verb because that belief requires continual maintenance and upkeep that you could change your mind. You could stop doing it. Right? And so it's almost a subtle implicit reminder to renew your faith, to keep doing the things **[8:50]** that make you somebody who is believer. Now, on the flip side, if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses a noun that this indicates not a verb that is more transient, that requires continuous upkeep, but rather a more essential state. So when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in this ayah, **[9:08]** ya ayyuhal kafiroon, He didn't say, ya ayyuhal ladheena kafaroon. He said, ya ayyuhal kafiroon. Oh, you who have, basically, you have doubled down. Your essence is to deny. Like you have made it your thing. It's not going to change. Right? That is one of the subtleties of the word choice **[9:25]** that Allah uses here. This surah is addressing the people who have, who denied Islam. That He's using the noun, which indicates that it is something that is essential to them. Something that it's not like they're on the fence. It's not like they want to know more. It's not like they have some **[9:42]** doubts that they want clarification for. No, their determined position is one of denial. And we've seen this elsewhere in the Quran, when Allah says that there are certain people that if you were to show them every single ayah, every single miracle, respond to every single thing, they would still **[9:58]** not believe. So their doubts or their questions are not genuine good faith doubts or questions, that they are rather excuses. This is the type of person that we're talking about. Right? And this is the type of person Allah references in Surah Al-Baqarah, He says, sawa'an alayhim a'andharatahum amlamtundhirhum la yu'minoon **[10:14]** That it's the same whether you warn them or not. This is the type of person that we use the ism for, that we use the noun for, the type of person who is essentially and fundamentally and through and they have resolved upon denying no matter what, what should we say to them? la a'budu ma ta'budoon **[10:30]** I am not worshiping. It uses a verb there. ma ta'budoon What you are worshiping. Okay. So you are worshiping at that time, idols, superstitions, ancestors. I am not worshiping those things. wa la antum 'abidoona ma a'bud Allah switches to the noun. Okay. It's very interesting. It says, **[10:48]** And you all are not worshipers of what I worship. So again, Allah uses the noun here because He's not talking about just a transient state that some of them are going to eventually discover Islam. No, it's like you are not worshipers that you guys have no interest whatsoever in worshiping **[11:07]** the creator, the Lord of all worlds, the one who controls everything. What I am worshiping. wa la ana 'abidun ma 'abadtum And I am not a worshiper of what you have worshiped. So again, the same flip, Allah uses the ism, He uses the noun to indicate to the **[11:25]** Prophet (ﷺ) that essentially, fundamentally, continuously, that he is not a worshiper of that, which they worship, whether it's their desires, whether it's their ego, whether it's money, whether it's whatever, everything that they've been worshiping, the Prophet (ﷺ) has never been **[11:42]** and is not, essentially is not a worshiper of those things. wa la antum 'abidoona ma a'bud Allah repeats, and you all are not worshipers of what I am worshiping. And then Allah finishes the surah by saying, lakum deenukum wa liya deen And to you, your way, and to me, mine, or to you, your path, or to me, mine, or to you, **[12:01]** your religion, and to me, mine. Now, basically that this was in response to some of the attempts to muddy the waters, right? There were some people of the Quraysh at the time that would say to the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), salallahu alayhi wa sallam, Hey, look, why don't we split the difference here? **[12:17]** You worship our idols for one year, and we'll worship Allah exclusively for one year, and we'll go back and forth. And so the Prophet (ﷺ) wanted to keep the furqan clear. He wanted to keep the distinction between these two things clear, **[12:32]** that you can't muddy the waters between truth and falsehood. You can't blur the lines, that you have to make it distinct. That my way is not your way. You guys are worshiping, and as we see elsewhere in the Quran, Allah exposes them for being hypocritical. They're using these idols, and they're using these superstitions, **[12:50]** not necessarily because they genuinely believe in them, but for their own sort of maslaha or benefit. Remember, if you've ever asked your parents for something, okay, you ask your one parent, if you can have some sweets, and they say, no, what do you do? You go to the second parent and ask the same question, right? **[13:06]** This is the way that they were using their idols, that they were using the idols as a ruse to do whatever it was that they wanted to do anyway. And then they would feel bad about things, and so they would make extra rules and superstitions that they had to follow, and this sort of nature. It was not good faith, it was motivated by ulterior motives. **[13:23]** And so that type of practice cannot mix whatsoever for a second with true, genuine submission. And remember that Islam means submission to Allah's will and decree. That means that the attitude of a Muslim is, that no matter what comes down from Allah in the Quran **[13:41]** or the Prophet (ﷺ), we agree, we submit, we'll do it. We're not going to try to find loopholes. We're not going to try to find workarounds. We're not going to try to misinterpret or play with it or whatever. Our disposition towards Allah's guidance is one of submission, **[13:57]** which is completely different from the attitude, orientation, and disposition of the people that were habitual deniers. And now turning to our personal development section, we've been completing this book together, Atomic Habits by James Clear. **[14:12]** We've been benefiting from the four fundamental rules of building good habits, which make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it rewarding. So we've come a long way. We're in law number three, make it easy. He talks about energy and motivation is precarious, **[14:28]** and it fades quickly. How many times have you woke up in the morning? You say, yep, today's the day. I'm going to change my habits. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. It's going to be different. You've got high motivation. You work out, you do Quran, you read a book, you do all these things, you eat healthy, you cook a good meal. **[14:44]** And then what happens? What's tomorrow like? What's a week later like? Your motivation evaporates into thin air. Motivation is precarious. It fades quickly. We can also see this from a different angle that most of the things that you do automatically **[15:00]** without thinking about it, they are things that take very, very little motivation to do. So imagine you scrolling your phone, imagine you vegging out on the couch, binging Netflix. These are things that take almost no motivation to do whatsoever. And that is the key to this particular law, **[15:17]** the law of least effort. Imagine that you have a hose, a garden hose, okay? And your garden hose is folded in the middle. It's got a kink. You turn the water on and there's some water coming out, but not as much water as you need. Now you've got two options. You can go back to the spigot **[15:33]** and you can open the water more and try to blast the water as much as possible. Or you can try to unkink the hose. Which is going to do better for you? Obviously, unkinking the hose. Imagine that the spigot is your motivation. And imagine that all of the obstacles, okay, **[15:50]** is the kink in the hose. It's way easier when it comes to your habits, rather than try to dial up that motivation and watch these rise and grind motivational YouTube videos first thing in the morning or whatever you do for motivation. That stuff is very, very transient. It will leave very quickly. **[16:06]** It's way easier to just unkink the hose. Remove all of the obstacles. Make it easy to achieve your habits and do the things that you want. Structure your habits for ease. Now we talked about this a little bit when it comes to environmental design. He talks about automating, eliminating, and simplifying. **[16:24]** So anything that you're able to automate, automate it. This is why rather than write a check for your bills, remember we used to do that back in the day, your electricity bill, your phone bill, right? You get out the checkbook and you write it and then you balance your checkbook. You send it in the mail. You got your stamps right there next to you. **[16:41]** Nobody does that anymore, except for people in my parents' generation. You have it on your phone. You set up auto pay. Boom, it goes out automatically every month. You don't have to worry about it because you automated it. Automating your habits makes them very, very easy to make sure that you never miss. Eliminating, what is he talking about by eliminating? **[16:57]** He's talking about subtracting any of the disruptive, distracting elements that you might have, okay? There's a principle even in group work called addition by subtraction. Sometimes there's just one person in the room that just makes it difficult to get anything done. Sometimes you take that person out **[17:13]** and then the team all of a sudden is unlocked and unleashed and they can do what they came to do. So there are things like that in your life. One of these things is clutter, right? Clutter is a big thing that stops people from doing their habits. And that's why one of the things that he advocates for **[17:28]** is what he calls resetting the room. It's a very, very good habit to get into that when you're done in a room, you reset it for the next action that you're going to do later. So imagine rather than you sit down to a meal and you've got your plates **[17:43]** and you've got your silverware and you eat and then you've got the kitchen's kind of a mess, you've got your pots and your pans and you eat lunch, then you run out the door because you have to make your next appointment. All right, now when it comes to, you come back later in the day and it's time for dinner, the house is a mess. You not only have to cook, **[18:00]** but you have to clean up everything from before and then cook. That's when you reach for your phone and order out because you would rather do that and it's easier than resetting the room. If your gym clothes are dirty or your jogging outfits dirty or you don't know where your running shoes are, **[18:16]** you wake up in the morning, you're like, all right, I'm gonna go for a jog today and you spend 15 minutes trying to hunt your shoes down. Okay, it's very, very unlikely that you're going to be able to actually complete that activity. So in order to make it easier for you, reset the room. **[18:31]** You can flip this for bad behaviors, okay? So for every bad behavior that you have, your job is to make it inconvenient. Your job is to make it difficult. Your job is to make it less easy. So if you watch too much TV, try unplugging the TV **[18:48]** after every time that you're done watching it. Just that simple action of having to plug it in and then fire it up is going to stop you from watching it unnecessarily. Your phone, that's the big one, right? Try actually turning off your phone. **[19:03]** You know that it takes a good minute or two minutes for your phone to boot up, right? So if you were actually to turn off your phone during work hours or special times of the day, you will find that you're using your phone less because it's not on, it's not convenient, it's not easy. So you can do these things in your life **[19:20]** to basically shape where you're going. You want to make the bad habits that you want to minimize more and more difficult. And you want to make the things and the habits that you want to repeat and that you want to keep more and more easy. **[19:35]** And with that, we will end there for today. We've got a lot more to cover, but we will see you next week, insha'Allah ta'ala. I appreciate everybody. May Allah accept your prayers and your worship. Until next time, as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. ## Other Episodes in "Imam Tom Live" - [The Promise and Paradox of the Islamic Republic | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 2 | Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/irans-political-system-explained-deep-dive-iran-ep-2-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Sunnis vs. Shias | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 1 | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/sunnis-vs-shias-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Who's Your Real Enemy? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/who-is-your-real-enemy-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How ‘Taqiyya’ Became an Islamophobic Talking Point | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-taqiyya-became-an-islamophobic-talking-point-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Does Islam Actually Oppose Science? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/does-islam-actually-oppose-science-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [What Sharia Law Actually Means | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-sharia-law-actually-means-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Why Not Every Seat is One Worth Taking | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-not-every-seat-is-one-worth-taking-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Debunking the Myth of the ‘Oppressed Muslim Woman’ | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/debunking-the-myth-of-the-oppressed-muslim-woman-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [What ‘Allahu Akbar’ Really Means (And Why It Scares Them) | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-allahu-akbar-really-means-and-why-it-scares-them-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How Does the Qur’an View the Bible? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-does-the-quran-view-the-bible-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [What the Qur’an Says About Christianity | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-the-quran-says-about-christianity-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [The Truth About AI’s Intelligence | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-truth-about-ai-intelligence-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Amazon's Kill System & the Network Behind Sami's Detention | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/amazons-kill-system-and-the-network-behind-samis-detention-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [What Real Masculinity Looks Like | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-real-masculinity-looks-like-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [What Islam Reveals About Socialism and Capitalism | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-islam-reveals-about-socialism-and-capitalism-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Kings Chased Thrones. He ﷺ Chased This Instead | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/kings-chased-thrones-he-chased-this-instead-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Why You Can’t Escape Organized Religion | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-you-cant-escape-organized-religion-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Why Some Scholars Critique Resistance | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-some-scholars-critique-resistance-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Columbus Wasn't Just After Gold – He Wanted Jerusalem | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/columbus-wasnt-just-after-gold-he-wanted-jerusalem-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How to Stop Falling for Fake Mahdis | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-stop-falling-for-fake-mahdis-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How Should We View Gaza’s Celebrity Support? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/gaza-celebrity-support-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Living Up to the Prophet’s ﷺ Final Speech | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-last-sermon-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Israel’s Link to U.S. Anti-Terror Policy | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israels-links-to-us-anti-terror-policy-focal-point.md) - [Will Recognition Help Palestine? | Snapshots by Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/will-recognition-help-palestine-snapshots-by-imam-tom.md) - [Modesty Is More Than What You Wear | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/modesty-is-more-than-what-you-wear-snapshots.md) - [How Your Victim Mindset is Destroying You | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-your-victim-mindset-is-destroying-you-snapshots-with-imam-tom.md) - [The Hidden Bias in Every History Book | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-hidden-bias-in-every-history-book-focal-point.md) - [Islam Isn’t Just Therapy | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/islam-isnt-just-therapy-snapshot.md) - [Is This Da’wah or Entertainment? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/is-this-dawah-or-entertainment-snapshots.md) - [Representation Isn’t Working. Here’s Why. | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/representation-isnt-working-heres-why-focal-point.md) - [How to Stop Chasing Validation | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-stop-chasing-validation-snapshots-imam-tom.md) - [What Activism Is Missing Today | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-activism-is-missing-today-snapshots-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How Colonialism Hijacked the Muslim World | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-colonialism-hijacked-the-muslim-wor-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Why the Islamic Calendar Matters | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-the-islamic-calendar-matters-snapshots-wit-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [How Islam Completed what Christianity Began | Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-islam-completed-what-christianity-began-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [The Multi-Million Dollar War on Islam | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-multi-million-dollar-war-on-islam-focal-point-with-imam-tom-facchine.md) - [Hajj is the Great Equalizer | Imam Tom Facchine](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/hajj-is-the-great-equalizer-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Malcolm X's Legacy We Forgot About | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/malcolm-xs-legacy-we-forgot-about-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [How Music Impacts Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-music-impacts-your-brain-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Debunking the 'Islamic Dilemma' | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/debunking-the-islamic-dilemma-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [The Ummah or the Nation? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-ummah-or-the-natio-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [How Islamic History Was Frozen and Forgotten | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-islamic-history-was-frozen-and-forgotten-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [The Secret Cost of Individualism | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-secret-cost-of-individualism-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [The Dark Truth About Secularism | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-dark-truth-about-secularism-focal-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Muslims Are a People of Principle | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslims-are-a-people-of-principle-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [When Did Ramadan Become a Festival | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/when-did-ramadan-become-a-festival-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Why Don't Muslims Just Leave? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-dont-muslims-just-leave-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Will Celebrity Muslims Save Us? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/will-celebrity-muslims-save-us-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Trump Wants to Take Over Gaza | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/trump-wants-to-take-over-gaza-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Doomscrolling is Rewiring Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/doomscrolling-is-rewiring-your-brain-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-islamic-cure-for-overconsumption-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [What Does Trump's Second Term Mean for Muslims? | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-does-trumps-second-term-mean-for-muslims-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Why Reps Matter More than Time | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-reps-matter-more-than-time-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Surah Al-Masad & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-masad-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-ikhlas-and-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Why You Can't Resist Cravings (and How to Take Back Control) | Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/why-you-cant-resist-cravings-and-how-to-take-back-control-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-an-nas-and-atomic-habits-imam-tom-weekly.md) - [Atomic Habits: Why Most Quit Early | Imam Tom Weekly](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/atomic-habits-why-most-quit-early-imam-tom-live.md) - [Surah Al-Kawthar & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/surah-al-kawthar-and-atomic-habi-imam-tom-live.md) - [Oct 7th Changed Everything | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/oct-7th-changed-everything-imam-tom-live.md) - [All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/all-praise-be-to-allah-in-every-situation-imam-tom-live.md) - [Muslim Votes Swing 2024 | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslim-votes-swing-2024-imam-tom-live.md) - [Remembering Aysenur's Courage | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/remembering-aysenurs-courage-imam-tom-live.md) - [Empowering Student Activism | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/empowering-student-activism-imam-tom-live.md) - [Hypocrisy at the DNC | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/hypocrisy-at-the-dnc-imam-tom-live.md) - [Falsehood is Bound to Vanish | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/america-unraveling-political-violence-imam-tom-live-2.md) - [No Limits: Israel’s Growing Atrocities and Global Indifference | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/no-limits-israels-growing-atrocities-and-global-indifference-imam-tom-live.md) - [What France & UK's Electoral results mean for Muslims | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-frances-and-uks-electoral-results-mean-for-muslims-imam-tom-live.md) - [The Real Guise of 'Islamophobia' | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-real-guise-of-islamophobia-imam-tom-live.md) - [Muslim Influencers Profiting from Apartheid | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/muslim-influencers-profiting-from-apartheid-imam-tom-live.md) - [Israel's Ceasefire Rejection, Nurse Fired for Gaza, and the Law of Sacrifice | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israels-ceasefire-rejection-nurse-fired-for-gaza-and-the-law-of-sacrifice-imam-tom-live.md) - [Do Influencers Owe their Followers Advocacy? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/do-influencers-owe-their-followers-advocacy-imam-tom-live.md) - [University Raids, Fake Negotiations, Holocaust Remembrance? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/university-raids-fake-negotiations-holocaust-remembrance-imam-tom-live.md) - [Live Revolution: The West Rallies for Gaza | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/live-revolution-the-west-rallies-for-gaza-imam-tom-live.md) - [Biryani Diplomacy: The Illusion of Political Influence & the "Flour Massacre" | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/biryani-diplomacy-the-illusion-of-political-influence-and-the-flour-massacre-imam-tom-live.md) - [Unveiling Truths: Aaron Bushnell, NYT's Agenda, & Stopping Military Aid to Israel | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/unveiling-truths-aaron-bushnell-nyts-agenda-and-stopping-military-aid-to-israel-imam-tom-live.md) - [What Will Ramadan be Like in Rafah? A Conversation About Sha'aban and Leadership | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/what-will-ramadan-be-like-in-rafah-a-conversation-about-shaaban-and-leadership-imam-tom-live.md) - [Israel Bombs Rafah During Superbowl, that Biden Tweet, and Constructive Conversations | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israel-bombs-rafah-during-superbowl-that-biden-tweet-and-constructive-conversations-imam-tom-live.md) - [The Lives of Imams, Hate Crime in Texas, Israeli Humiliation, Ceasefire Resolutions | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/the-lives-of-imams-hate-crimes-in-texas-israeli-humiliation-ceasefire-resolutions-imam-tom-live.md) - [Musk's Take, Columbia's Skunk Surprise, Islamic Unity, and India's Ram Revelation | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/musks-take-columbias-snake-surprise-islamic-unity-and-indias-ram-revelation-imam-tom-live.md) - [Michigan Mosques Say NO! | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/michigan-mosques-say-no-imam-tom-live.md) - [Does Protesting Work? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/does-protesting-wok-imam-tom-live.md) - [How to Develop Better Habits | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-develop-better-habits-imam-tom-live.md) - [How To Become A Strong Muslim Leader | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-become-a-strong-muslim-leader-imam-tom-live.md) - [Courage in the Face of Israeli Censorship | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/courage-in-the-face-of-israeli-censorship-imam-tom-live.md) - [On the Gaza Ceasefire | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/on-the-gaza-ceasefire-imam-tom-live.md) - [How to Fight the Israeli Backlash | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/how-to-fight-the-israeli-backlash-imam-tom-live.md) - [Israel is Losing - and They Know It | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/israel-is-losing-and-they-know-it-imam-tom-live.md)