# No Limits: Israel’s Growing Atrocities and Global Indifference | Imam Tom Live

**Author:** Tom Facchine
**Series:** Imam Tom Live
**Published:** 2024-08-01
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/vU6JgW46zH8
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/no-limits-israels-growing-atrocities-and-global-indifference-imam-tom-live
**Topics:** Politics & Practical Theology, Social Justice

## Description
We dive into the overwhelming state of the world, asking critical questions of Israel’s escalating crimes, including political assassinations and violence against prisoners. We also review the crackdown in Bangladesh and investigate the double standards of the Olympics. Continue learning with Imam...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** So now when I come off to live everybody welcome to Yaqeen Institute's live stream program. I'm your host Imam Tom. Welcome back. Now we're coming at you or coming to you at a strange time because we live in strange times. But a lot of amazing

**[0:15]** things to talk about, very intense things going on last week and we've been off. I was able to spend the last week in Malaysia at the Ummatics conference. It was an absolutely amazing time and we'll talk about that. We'll talk about the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. We'll talk about debates on sort of what all

**[0:36]** the rules that Israel has broken when it comes to its aggression in Gaza and the West Bank. We'll also talk about Bangladesh today and the crackdown on students there. We'll keep going. We've got to talk about Olympics. Of course that's gonna be a big one I'm sure on a lot of people's minds. In addition to

**[0:54]** continuing with our two books Kitab As-Seerah and Sahih Muslim which will give us some guidance on what our attitude should be towards conflict. And finally our personal development segment which we will talk about the book Atomic Habits and some really really crucial tips for how to start new habits and

**[1:13]** some activities for us to do together. But first let's go to the chat. Let us know where you're coming, where you're tuning in from today and what's on your

**[3:21]** mind. Sidi from LA. Thank you very much. Sidra Shafiq from Pakistan as well. Pakistan Zindabad. Arina Khairina from Malaysia. Salamat Datang. I have to stop the program and give a special shout out and thank you to everybody our

**[3:39]** wonderful hosts in Malaysia last week. Home away from home. Absolute amazing time. Malaysia is a wonderful place with wonderful people. Many thanks to the folks at ISTAC, the folks at the IIUM, the folks at Masjid Wilayah and everybody

**[3:55]** else who helped make us feel extremely welcome. It was an absolutely wonderful time and a beautiful amazing to connect with many people who tune into the show. That was kind of wild to meet face-to-face the people behind the usernames. So that was very special, very blessed and thankful for that

**[4:12]** opportunity. Let's see. Buba Mara. Human. From the Gambia. Dembo Sidibey. Mubasher Wani. Adunia Balash from LA. A couple folks from Los Angeles. Welcome. I'll be in Los

**[4:35]** Angeles inshallah. I think the last weekend of November for the MASS conference there. Hopefully see you there. Buba Mara from San Antonio. Very cool. Mubasher from Doha. I had a transfer in Doha. Welcome. Zahra Harawi.

**[4:51]** Wa alaikum assalam. Notar from Germany. Guten Tag. Abdus Samad. How am I so positive? We try to be positive. We know that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) loved positivity. And we know that Allah subhana wa ta'ala has already

**[5:10]** decreed everything. And we know that everything that has value there's a price to pay for it. And so sometimes we're sad, sometimes we're happy, but we believe in Allah subhana wa ta'ala and we believe that Allah subhana wa ta'ala will let his true supporters prevail. So we keep on

**[5:26]** keeping on. And it's something that we turn over to Allah. Hasbunallahu wa ni'ma al-wakeel. Adi from Iceland. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Human. Hamas from Malaysia. Malaysia is fantastic. I ate so much

**[5:42]** nasi lemak in Malaysia that my hands smell like sambal. I think I ate nasi lemak three times in one day just because people kept on feeding me and feeding me and feeding me. MashaAllah. Absolutely incredible. From Riyadh.

**[5:58]** Muhammad. Ahlan wa sahlan. Kif halak. Shalom. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah wa alaikum. Let's see. Mehmet Kareem. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah wa alaikum. Ash Ali from Nigeria. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah wa alaikum.

**[6:13]** That's Aisha. JK. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Austin, Texas. Spice and Slice. It sounds like a great name for a pizzeria. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Islah. AA from the UAE. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah wa alaikum. Abdulhakeem Hassan from Kenya. MashaAllah. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Muhammad Barry from Sierra

**[6:33]** Leone. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. We've got Somalia in the house again from Hamda. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Welcome to the program. Farha Farooq. Wa alaikum assalam. Barry Boston. I hope you're from Boston. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah wa alaikum. Saeeda. Wa alaikum assalam. From the Netherlands. Welcome. Thank you for.

**[6:50]** Moroccan from the Netherlands. Ahlan wa sahlan. Qadara allaahu baith allayk. Welcome to the program. Mulkat Muhammad Amin. Hamda asks what is nasi lemak? Nasi lemak translates I think to what does it translate to literally fat rice. It's basically a

**[7:07]** breakfast food in Malaysia that is coconut rice with anchovies, peanuts, sugar, and boiled eggs. And that might not sound amazing, but trust me, it is amazing. Let's see who else do we have. Wa alaikum assalam. From we have the UK

**[7:30]** London. Extreme Mini Hatake. Welcome. Arina Khairina. Yes. Alhamdulillah. Arina, I'm gonna go to Malaysia as often as I can get away with it. I love being there. It's a great place with great people. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Jasir from SoCal. A lot of stuff down this week. It feels like Jasir that time is

**[7:51]** speeding up just like Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said. That it feels like every week that goes by more and more things are happening. Alhamdulillah. May Allah help us. Watermelon786 from Detroit. Wa alaikum assalam. Welcome. Okay.

**[8:06]** Isla you have a cooking channel called Spice and Slice. That's nice. Spice and Slice. That's nice. Ethiopia. Asad Zakir. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Sri Lanka. Allahu Akbar. Wa alaikum assalam. Rafatullah. Muhammad Amhar. It's just, it always just

**[8:21]** astonishes me how beautiful this ummah is. And that's part of the benefit of getting out there and traveling and going to different parts of the Muslim world to see how Islam is lived locally and to see how the ummah is and how the ummah is strong. You know, life is more than just what's online. And sometimes

**[8:40]** just reading the headlines in the news can be actually very depressing. But when you get out and you see people and you meet people and you see all the movement that's going on and all of the energy and all of the initiatives and all the activities, it's actually, maybe that's the reason why someone had asked why I'm so optimistic. Maybe that's why I'm optimistic. Because I see the ummah

**[8:58]** alive or as Sami Hamdi says, the ummah is roaring. Right? I do see it. I do see it wherever I go that people are paying attention, people are waking up, people are moving, people are coming together. There's a lot of work to do. But a lot of work is also being done. Let's see, Chieftain, wa alaikum assalam, Abdullah from Nairobi,

**[9:14]** Kenya. We also have Atlanta, Georgia in the house, Hassan Fakhoury. Welcome. Imran Khan, listening from on the way from Houston to Dallas. Very good. I will be in both of those places within a couple months, inshallah. I'm guessing you're not the former leader of Pakistan. Hafsa Khan from Illinois, wa alaikum assalam.

**[9:34]** Austin, I have not been spice and slice yet to Austin. I'm waiting for the invite. Yeah, Seamus, I know. Anchovies and sugar does not sound like it goes together. But I just got to trust me on this one. Once you do it, you'll never go back. Abdullah

**[9:51]** is trying to trigger me over here. Can we do a segment where we review different decaf flavors? Decaf what? We're fully caffeinated all the time, Abdullah. We don't we don't skimp on that. You know, certain things they have to have, they have shurut, they have conditions and Abdullah from Amman. Alhamdulillah,

**[10:10]** Seamus. Ilma from Saudi. I was blessed enough to live in Medina for five years. Some of the best years of my life. May Allah protect you and the people of Arabia. SA from Ethiopia, wa alaikum assalam. Yeah, Seamus, I wasn't

**[10:29]** trying to make a comparative point. I wasn't trying to make a comparative point. But I do see a lot of good stuff happening now. So we try to build on the good. Ibrahim from Palestine. Ahlan wa sahlan wa marhaban bikum. At Taif and Mansura, inshallah. Excellent. Welcome, everybody to the program. As I said,

**[10:45]** we've got a lot to talk about. Let's get right into it. Obviously, the leading news today and part of what made this live stream delayed was the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh. He was assassinated in Tehran. And there's sort of different theories about what is going on. One theory was that Israel was able to trace

**[11:04]** his location due to WhatsApp. Another theory and that looks to be the preponderant opinion is that Israel implanted a device into the apartment months before he was there and detonated it upon knowledge of him being there

**[11:21]** from Riyad Al-Maliki. Ahlan wa sahlan wa marhaban bikum. And so assassinating him. And so this obviously is leading news. Many people have criticized this as many

**[11:38]** people have said, you can't be in negotiations. I think it was Qatar. I think it was the government of Qatar saying you can't be in negotiations. And you're assassinating the people that you're negotiating with, which is, I think, a really nice line to summarize the hypocrisy of a lot of this stuff, just like the United States claims to want a ceasefire or claims to want to

**[11:56]** negotiate something, but it is helping one side against the other. And so that is a very hypocritical stance. Now, many people have also pointed out that this has been Israel's strategy from very early on from November, December, they have had a very clear policy of trying to escalate because they know that if

**[12:16]** they escalate, they have a chance of drawing the United States into a more active role within helping them fulfill their objectives. Now, that is why throughout everything, you know, Iran and Lebanon, different actors within the

**[12:32]** region have attempted to show restraint and have not bit or have not jumped at the provocations that Israel has been committing because they know that if they go full in that it might provoke the United States to come in in a more pronounced way. And that would be bad, which is actually there's a silver

**[12:52]** lining to this. There's many silver linings. But one of the silver linings is that Israel is very, very desperate, that this act should not be construed as anything else but desperation. Because if it weren't failing on its own to

**[13:08]** achieve its objectives, it would not be trying to escalate in such a way to involve other actors such as the United States. But beyond that, we see a really, really important thing. And this is one of the most important takeaways for us as Muslims, where the sort of Islamophobic and I don't really

**[13:23]** necessarily like that term we can call it anti-Muslim sort of rhetoric, or the anti-Islamic rhetoric that portrays Islam as this global threat. And if you were in the United States, for the last nine months, you know, you've seen the billboards, where people playing on these tropes that Muslims are a danger

**[13:43]** to you everywhere that they're, you know, just sort of ready to commit violence all across the globe. This is the logic of the quote unquote, war on terror, that the reality is actually the opposite. Reality is actually the opposite. You look at what is Israel doing? Israel is going across the world assassinating

**[14:01]** people left and right. It has its hands in what's going on in Sudan. It has its hands in what was going on in Uganda, it has its hands involved in multiple, multiple things. So what we see is that if there's one actor here that's not following or abiding by any of the rules, it's Israel. Now, as Muslims, it's

**[14:20]** important to note that we have very, very clear rules. And we've started going through Kitab As-Seerah later in this program, in order to demonstrate some of those rules, that we don't have an ad hoc strategy to any to even military conflict, right? Even military conflict and stuff that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ)

**[14:37]** did, they have to follow certain rules. And the ends never justify the means, meaning that you can't just throw out the rules whenever it suits you or whatever they get in the way of what you want to do. And yet we see who is doing that, who's guilty of that in this particular situation. Time and time again,

**[14:56]** it is Israel. Israel has broken every single rule that is possible to break. It has shown that it will stop at nothing, that there's no tactic that is too dirty, too low down, too off limits, that it will not resort to in order to achieve its

**[15:12]** cynical annihilation of Gaza and the people of Palestine. Which brings us to the next issue and the next sort of newsworthy item of today, which is the debates that are going on, if we can call them debates, about the sexual abuse that Palestinian prisoners, men, women, and children are subjected to. Now this is

**[15:31]** well known if you speak to any Palestinian that's based in Palestine or people recently sort of diaspora, but for you who don't know, that Israel systematically uses sexual assault in its torture. And what is more shocking

**[15:49]** than that, because we would almost expect that at this point, what's more shocking than that, is that we have the, from both popular society and also from the government, defending the right of its soldiers to do this. So you hear, you have

**[16:07]** a quote right here, the Israeli minister, Ben Gavir, hails soldiers as heroes for sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee. We have another sort of clip here I think we're gonna play in a second, showing that they fully justify this. Now this is categorically haram in Islam. You cannot torture, period. And you

**[16:26]** certainly can't sexually assault and torture in the way that they're doing. Again, we have rules that we have to follow no matter what, even if our opponent or enemy is not following those same rules. But we've seen that Israel acts with impunity. It acts as if it doesn't believe that there's a God. That

**[16:44]** there's nothing that's off-limits for them. We have the clip guys. Yes, so we see it right there. Everything is considered okay to do for them. That

**[17:11]** they have a very identitarian way of relating to it. Us versus them. We've seen it before in Netanyahu's rhetoric, the children of the light versus the children of darkness. And literally everything is okay to do to them. The dehumanization of Palestinians and the dehumanization of Muslims and that same

**[17:30]** dehumanization that they bring to United States soil and try to put into United States law, that this is the undermining or sort of this is the undergirding logic of the Zionist project or the project for Zionism. And we see it on full display here. I think we have one last video of sort of a riot. Can

**[17:51]** we show that guys? This is popular support for the people that are committing sexual abuse. They were detained and these people are actually storming the compound trying to

**[18:07]** break out the soldiers who are guilty of sexually abusing Palestinian hostages. This is very similar to how we saw how Israelis blocking humanitarian aid, actually putting their bodies in the way of trucks that were coming on the

**[18:24]** border to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. It's a very very similar situation. We see a disgusting amount of dehumanizing rhetoric and just evil. This is really honestly at the end of the day it is a fight of good versus evil.

**[18:43]** Let's get return in the comments for a second here before going on to our next topic. We're going to talk about Bangladesh. That's something on a lot of people's minds. Chieftain said would love to have Imam in Kenya. I would love to be in Kenya. Ahlan wa sahlan. Aziz, wa alaikum assalam from Denver, Colorado.

**[19:00]** Yeah, it's a good point. Chieftain, the standing ovations were utterly shameful. Yes, that's a good point. And I also agree with human. Israel's existence is fluctuating.

**[19:17]** It's an apartheid state and is made up of lies. And as Allah said, wa qad jaa al-haqq wa zahaq al-batil, inna al-batil kana zahuqa Anything that is based off of falsehood is destined to perish. It's not going to last.

**[19:32]** And so honestly, we see that in front of our eyes. Yes, agree 100% JK. The latest news. It's absolutely maddening.

**[19:48]** Salahuddin is my hero. Ask it's clear. They're trying to escalate. But is it also a trap? What do you think is the best strategy would be right now? Do you think the US would support them in a larger war?

**[20:04]** Even though they said they wouldn't. That's the thing. I mean, like I think that obviously this comes off of Netanyahu's visit to the United States. He had private meetings with both Trump and Harris. We don't know what took place in those meetings. We don't know what kind of guarantees that he sort of received or possibly threats.

**[20:24]** If any politician views Israeli policy as too damaging to their own credibility. We have seen instances such as with Ronald Reagan where they have basically said even Biden early on. Not post October 7th, but you know in the beginning of Biden's administration.

**[20:44]** Saying to Israel, look, you have to cut it out. You have to stop it now. This is bad bad for popularity and bad for politics. So we don't know what was said behind closed doors. We do know that Netanyahu was testing how much support he has and whatever he saw whether he's right or he's wrong.

**[21:03]** He is betting on having enough support, which is if he didn't think that then there's no way he would engage in this escalation. Now, what will the US do? Will the US, especially we're just a couple months out from an election. It's hard to see people willing to escalate before an election.

**[21:23]** Participation in a foreign military conflict where the United States interests are not really sort of affected is not a very popular move. However, Biden is a lame-duck president and so he can kind of do whatever he wants. So that would be up to him. Now when it comes to the next elected president, that is another story entirely.

**[21:44]** So all that to say it's complicated and we're not really sure exactly what is going to happen. I don't see personally. I don't see the United States allowing itself to get involved more. However, definitely the narrative within Congress that is strongest to get involved. If you pay attention to the rhetoric from the right from the Republicans is always anti-Iran.

**[22:04]** So definitely that's got to be in Israel's thinking when it's trying to escalate with Iran and I'm sure that it was intentional to try to assassinate Haniyeh in Iran. Because now Iran feels more responsible for having allowed this happen on their own soil.

**[22:21]** It's tempting them into a response. Many congressmen have explicitly said that they want to go to war with Iran or they want to do something to Iran. This is something I think that is in their calculus. What happens next? We'll have to wait and see.

**[22:36]** Aisha Nashiru says, can you explain more what they did in Sudan? Yes, Israel has its hands in what's going on in the civil war or the massacres in Sudan. They are arming along with other sort of collaborators. They are arming the belligerent groups and the mercenaries that are operating in Sudan.

**[22:56]** So we see that Zionism has extreme effects across the globe, not just in occupied Palestine. Yes, thank you, Seamus. They support RSF.

**[23:13]** They definitely have an interest in destabilizing Sudan. Sudan has been the heart of Islamic political movements for some time. So there's definitely an interest in destabilizing Sudan, which is a shame because the people of Sudan are some of the most lovely people in the world.

**[23:28]** I mean, there were so many Sudanese that I benefited from, including professors when I my time in Medina. I was actually, many people don't know this, I was actually planning on doing my master's degree in Sudan. But then the political situation deteriorated there.

**[23:44]** There was a lot of protests over the prices for basic foodstuffs and then COVID happened. So I wasn't able to do that, alhamdulillah. But that was how close I was to going there. Let's see what else we have. Yes. Yes.

**[24:00]** Also the UAE is involved in that. You're 100% right there. Failed state is right now, 100% right. Shakira, wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam wa alaikum assalam

**[24:39]** It definitely wouldn't be possible without collaborators from the inside, and that hooks up to our next topic, which I'm going to get through the rest of the chat for a second. When it comes to the state of the nation states, the post-colonial nation states that sort of control the Muslim world that have been installed since World War II,

**[24:59]** that this is a very, very important central structural component to all of what's going on. It has diminished the capacity of the Ummah to do anything or to come to the aid of the Palestinians. Wa alaikum assalam, Minami Islam Khan. We're just about to talk from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

**[25:15]** Yes, and we definitely are here for you in du'a and in any other way possible. We'll be talking about what's going on in Bangladesh, very, very important things and heartbreaking things in just a second. Sada asks, where do you think this will end? What can we do?

**[25:31]** Well, we don't have a crystal ball. Well, we can't see what's in front of us and Allah subhana wa ta'ala only asks us to do the right thing. So raising awareness is the very, very least that we can do. Attempting to influence, if you're someone like me, you're in a Western country, the United States is the one who sort of dictates foreign policy for a lot of the world.

**[25:51]** Attempting to get involved and to change the foreign policy of the United States is one of the most important things you could do to help your brothers and sisters across the Ummah. If you're not, if you're in a different place, then it would depend on the specifics from where you live. MD Farhan Ahmed says, why Middle East countries threatening to withdraw from Abraham Accords?

**[26:11]** Abraham Accords were a horrible idea, that's why. The Abraham Accords were basically slow genocide. You get either slow genocide or fast genocide in Palestine with the occupation from Israel. And Abraham Accords was just slow genocide. That Israel did not adhere to any of the conditions or stipulations of the Abraham Accords.

**[26:30]** They were slowly taking over the West Bank and Jerusalem. They were not listening to any of it. So it was the slow annexation of the whole two-state solution, the whole peace process. It was all a ruse to buy them time to basically take more and more and more land from Palestinians.

**[26:51]** Angela Link. Yeah, 100%, you're right. Why are we still giving money to these evil people? We should do whatever we can and exercise our political power to stop it, to stop giving money to these horrible regimes.

**[27:10]** Fayzan asks, what are your thoughts on Netanyahu's ministry using nukes on Gaza? I don't see that as a – I think that's more bluster. You have to really separate between rhetoric and policy. I think that most Israeli politicians, even though they're very arrogant and even though they're very evil,

**[27:29]** they still recognize that there are certain things that are beyond the pale that will really make them a pariah state very, very fast. And that's probably one of them. That's probably the one thing that they won't actually do. But there is a certain political effect to saying that you would do it, right?

**[27:46]** Just like the United States, how many times people in Congress say, we need to nuke Iran or we need to nuke these guys or nuke these guys. They know that they're not really going to do it or get the chance to do it. However, the rhetoric does something when it comes to the audience and other things.

**[28:02]** Why are good Muslims not able to rule long? Well, that's because the garrison states that have been set up across the Muslim world from after colonialism and after World War II are controlling everything. That's why. Imran Khan asks an interesting question. How do we understand Iran?

**[28:18]** And I'll say what Sami Hamdi says, and it's true. Iran is its own nation state with its own interests, right? Sometimes we think very sort of sloppily or categorically of Iran. We think very sort of sloppily or categorically of, you know, that either they're heroes, right, of the resistance or that they're the most evil thing.

**[28:39]** They've never done anything good or that any seemingly good thing that they do is, you know, in reality, evil. You know, that's sort of simplistic, right? It's a nation state. Nation states have their own interests. They have interests in being portrayed in a certain way as being portrayed against the United States, being portrayed as supporters of Palestinian resistance.

**[29:03]** But they also have other interests as well. It's a good point about the UAE. They are, but they do have a lot of support from Israel as well. Imad or whatever the name is.

**[29:19]** Abdulwahid, yes, very good. All right, we're going right into the political questions. Salahuddin says, any updates on the Houthis? Do you think if Iran attacks, will it be through Hezbollah or directly? Do you think Lebanon is going to get involved as well since the attack on Beirut?

**[29:38]** I don't know. Again, nobody has a crystal ball. Nobody can see into the future. There's definitely, you know, there are some reports that are saying Israel is running out of munitions. Israel wants an escalation. It probably can't handle an escalation unless the United States gets involved.

**[29:55]** I heard, I think I read before jumping online here, that they are meeting today, that there is many sort of what they call the axis of resistance are meeting today to determine basically what they're going to do. I don't think that you're going to see a full out attack scenario, response scenario, because that would give Israel what it wants and that would provide sort of a justification for the United States to get more involved.

**[30:17]** However, I would expect something probably from Lebanon, but Allah knows best. We'll see. Yes, Naf says the ICJ also ruled the diplomatic accords weren't legal, which they weren't.

**[30:32]** That's true, Seamus. They are already a pariah state, halal for life. That's true. That is true. Amina, wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Oh, that's a good question.

**[30:47]** Have you seen and gotten the chance to respond to some of the criticism surrounding your recent blog post on Western voices and liberation movement? I haven't really because I've been I've been traveling. There are a few things that I'm going to respond to at certain points in different WhatsApp groups and things like that.

**[31:03]** However, I have not seen I haven't really seen much valid criticism, to be frank. And that's not just to toot my own horn. Like, you know, I'm a very self-critical person. I like to think I have mentors that would tell me, you know, hey, it's like this is a little bit out of line or whatever.

**[31:20]** Most of the criticism I've seen of it either overestimates what the left has done for the Palestinian movement and for Muslims in the West or is very sort of fear based or is very leftist based, meaning identity politics, you know, pipe down their white imam, this sort of thing, which isn't our way.

**[31:41]** It's not our way, to be frank. So I'm happy to engage with anybody who's who's critical of it. I know there's people that I respect a lot that don't agree, which is fine. I don't claim to have it all figured out. But stay tuned. There will be more of that, inshallah.

**[32:04]** Okay. Because why don't all the imams and all masjids gather all the Muslims and show them the power we hold? Why are we just talking? Well, I'll tell you what. Can I say that? Because the masjids don't function like that, Talal.

**[32:19]** The masjids are facilities that are often. Okay, let's say this. Yaqeen Institute, we have our own study that we did when it comes to masajid and imams. And I'll just speak to the United States. Over half of the masajid in the United States don't have full time imams.

**[32:35]** We have not prioritized personnel. When we do get good personnel in masajid, they are usually micromanaged. They are usually treated as just employees. They're not treated as community leaders. We have a structural problem with the masjid. So it would be nice if we imagine that all the imams.

**[32:52]** But all the imams are overworked and underpaid. All the imams need a weekend off to themselves. All the imams, you know, that's the situation we're in. So these things do have consequences, right? Not being able to have an imam's union or a licensing sort of for imams that creates standards.

**[33:12]** Both for the imams and for their employers. Creates a scenario in which imams are actually very weak and masajid are underutilized. Sure got a vibrant conversation going on today.

**[33:32]** Yes, people are pointing out the brutality of the Houthis. That's an important. Touché, Shamus. Touché. It is important to not minimize the brutality of the Houthis.

**[33:49]** A lot of people, unfortunately, when their only lens is politics, sometimes they forget. Nobody is this isn't a comic book. Like nobody are like 100% heroes and 100% villains. Like there's a lot of dirt to go around, right? So it's important to keep those things in mind and realize that in the realm of politics.

**[34:06]** Sometimes you have good actions that are done by compromised actors, right? We're not taking away from any of the good that was done. But we also can't be romantic about it. Great question.

**[34:21]** How has nationalism weakened support for the causes of the Muslim Ummah? Well, living in Al-Maghrib, you know that, for example, if Al-Maghrib and Al-Jaza'ir were to team up, they would be quite a force. But we don't have that. We have nationalist sort of ambitions.

**[34:36]** And we have the way that borders were drawn. Who was installed in power? Who was supported? It's unfortunately a very, very sad situation across the Muslim world that the governments care about themselves. That they're only looking out for their own survival.

**[34:53]** They're not looking out for what's in the best interest of the Ummah. Thankfully, the Muslim Ummah itself is still fairly intact, despite the governments that rule over us and that try to steer us in certain ways. However, it is true.

**[35:08]** The nationalist sentiment is a very big obstacle. Maybe the biggest obstacle. When we were in Malaysia, I'll give you another example, Shama. Some of the people asked really great questions because we were there for the Ummatics Conference. And we're actually trying to build up this sort of Ummatic feeling that we feel together as one, as an Ummah, as Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) wanted us to feel.

**[35:30]** However, in Malaysia and in Indonesia, they had a problem where they received Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. And there was a lot of bigotry against them. They weren't necessarily welcomed. They were treated as guests, but guests in the sense of like, okay, so when are you going to move on and go somewhere else?

**[35:49]** So they were complaining like, yeah, this is an unrealized ideal. Sometimes the nationalism is what stops us. Compare that to the attitude of the Ansar when the Muhajireen came to them from Mecca. That Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) took those two groups of people who are completely foreign to one another and made mu'akhah baynahuma.

**[36:09]** And made them brothers, made them inherit from one another, made them live with one another. And they were fine with it. That's a very anti-nationalist type of attitude. Right? So we see the barriers and the obstacles that we have to get over. And nationalism is one of the primary ones.

**[36:33]** Chieftain, how can we overcome the feeling of being completely overwhelmed by all the hurt we are witnessing around the Muslim world? The list keeps growing country after country. I agree and I feel the same way. Subhan'Allah. We really, you do need to pace yourself. You don't want to become incapacitated, right? Because the strong believer is better than the weak believer.

**[36:50]** We want to have capacity. So if you're putting yourself in a situation where you're bombarding yourself with awareness of so many things that you can't even do anything. And it's diminishing your capacity to do anything. Then perhaps it's best to turn off the internet and to put your phone down.

**[37:05]** And to focus on what are the local issues that you can actually contribute to. That is a very, very important ingredient. Right? We don't want to become, we want to be aware. But we don't want to become crippled. Right? So balancing between those two things is very, very important.

**[37:22]** Asalahuddin asks, have you ever considered making your own channel so you can go hard on some of these topics? So you're not restricted by OIMC. I think about it all the time. However, I would require, I would need people to take care of it for me.

**[37:38]** I don't want to have any social media presence in my name. I would want it to be a collective effort and other people sort of running it for me and that sort of thing. So it would have to be an arrangement like that. So that I can focus just on what I'm trying to do.

**[37:54]** And there's only so much time in the day. So we'll see. Who knows? I'm open to it. Blogging Thoughts. Who are the Druze? How much time do you have? Hello, how are you? We are lucky to have you here. Thank you for joining us.

**[38:10]** If I'm allowed to speak about this, thank you for the qualifier. Is Afghanistan going to get involved? I don't see that as happening. There was talk of a certain brigade from the Taliban getting ready to go to Gaza. I mean, anything's possible. But I don't necessarily see that happening.

**[38:26]** But I could be wrong. What can we do this presidential election to show our solidarity against all the oppression happening in the world? Especially what is happening in Palestine. You can make sure that that's your issue. You can vote and I can't tell you who to vote. You know, as the brother was saying. I can't on a platform tell you who to vote for, who to not vote for.

**[38:44]** However, you need to ask yourself one question. How much is Muslim blood worth to me? And let that dictate your vote. Don't allow yourself to be scared into voting for X or voting for Y. Just because you're running away from this or running away from that. If you act in a principled way, then insha'Allah, it will be better.

**[39:06]** Let's see, let's see, let's see. What else do we have? Let's deal with all of them. Let's go. Halal Fit Life brings up something that a lot of people feel.

**[39:22]** I know it's not PC, but let's just put it out there. Because I know a lot of people have had a similar thing. Perhaps it's not very PC of me to say. But what can we say when only the Shi'ites are willing to help Gaza? Again, we have to distinguish between the people of the Ummah and the governments. But it's certainly true that the Sunni lands are more oppressed and kept down by their governments.

**[39:46]** In the sense of not having any capacity to do anything to help the people of Gaza or Palestine. There you go. Shamus plugs Blogging Theology. Shout out to Paul Williams. Blogging Theology is a great channel.

**[40:02]** You can go there for some of the more theological topics you all are asking about. Raihan Chowdhury, Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah from Toronto. Same answer to RUX. That's where the Muslim armies are. Because they're all garrison states that were set up by the Western powers.

**[40:18]** We can't really expect anything from them, to be honest with you. They're doing exactly what they're designed to do. How the Ummah can be united? I'm glad you asked.

**[40:36]** Okay, a lot of good stuff. Amina says, What advice would you give to Muslims who want to remain steadfast in Western colleges while studying Islam theology within departments previously known as Oriental Studies? Yeah, well, I wouldn't study Islam or theology within those departments.

**[40:52]** Because you're not going to actually learn Islam or theology. You're not going to learn Western religion, which is a whole different animal. It's good to study the history of ideas, and it's good to understand ideology. But all of these departments are ideologically situated. All of these departments are based off of certain premises that are not based in our episteme.

**[41:12]** They're not epistemically Islamic. So if you understand sort of the architecture or the anatomy of those things, that's the best way to stay steadfast. Is that you actually understand. You don't take these things at face value as self-evidently true.

**[41:28]** That you actually see them for what they are. This is how they think about religion. This is how they think about Islam, etc. But it's a really important question. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah. We have Nuriyo. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah from Uzbekistan.

**[41:44]** Hope you're well. Imam Tom, what do you think about this coming elections for us Muslims living in the US? Should we vote? Please advise.

**[42:00]** There's only so much I can tell you on this particular platform. You can check my other things. Actually, we just dropped, when we were in Malaysia, we recorded for Islam 21C. If you don't know Islam 21C, go subscribe to Islam 21C. Dr. Salman and I recorded a nice little video there. You can get my election advice there.

**[42:22]** Okay, what else do we have? Atika, wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah. Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah. Astaghfirullahalazim. Astaghfirullahalazim. Thank you. Thank you very much. May Allah bless you.

**[42:38]** Okay, what else do we have? Okay, we finally got to the end of it, I think. Yeah, we're going to talk about Bangladesh right now. Exactly. Glad you mentioned it. Good point by Mojo. Thanks for bringing that up.

**[42:54]** Okay, let's talk about Bangladesh. So, we have, let's bring up the media, guys. I know we've got something. Alright, so there have been, there's an ongoing, unfolding situation in Bangladesh that is very, very hard to watch. Where the garrison state, right? The post-colonial government that has been set up,

**[43:10]** we see as doing sort of the evil work that it is designed to do yet again. So, there was a quota system that was sort of in place in Bangladesh where if you were the descendants of people who had fought in sort of the Revolutionary War, the War of Independence, then you were a part of the

**[43:26]** people who had fought in the war of independence. So, if you were the descendants of people who had fought in the war of independence, then you would have easy access to government jobs and obviously in a lot of these sort of corrupt garrison states, government jobs are the best jobs to have with the best benefits and the best pay.

**[43:42]** So, there was a lot of corruption around that. I've been told by Bangladeshis that I know that there was a lot of people faking that they were part of it and younger people were frustrated that they were not able, they were not given opportunities based off of merit to the point where

**[43:58]** there were people who are valedictorians, people who are very, very qualified who aren't able to get the best jobs because they're being taken up by this sort of archaic quota system. And so, there was protests and from what I understand they were very peaceful,

**[44:14]** but the government reacted in an extremely brutal and harsh and barbaric crackdown. People have been kidnapped, people have been shot, people have been killed and this actually increased the agitation and the demonstrations and the activism of the

**[44:30]** people of Bangladesh against the government. Now, not just calling for the removal of the quota system, but also calling for the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, of the PM, the ruling party as well of Bangladesh. So, this is a very, very important thing.

**[44:46]** Now, what's wild is that the United States will pride itself off of being supposedly a first world country and different from all these other countries, but this is a very, very similar thing that happened with the encampments in the United States. We see that. The governments that are in power today,

**[45:02]** they exist for their own survival and their own interests. That they do not represent the interests of the people. And so, they actually call upon the military and the police against their own people. You had universities in the United States called the police to come in with guns drawn

**[45:18]** against their own students. For what? For protesting something peacefully. For not wanting their university to be financially culpable, tied to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. And we see a very, very similar thing in Bangladesh where we have the government that

**[45:34]** is only interested in its own survival. When there are any protests, it calls in the police, it calls in the armed forces and tries to put it down. That it is the government against the people. So, if you want to know, many of you have wondered, why

**[45:50]** can't the Muslim armies do anything? Why can't the Muslims do anything for Gaza or Palestine? This is exactly why. Because the Muslim governments are against their people. They are not for their people. And they're operating in a way to keep them in line.

**[46:06]** So, we ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make it easy for us and to make us triumph and to make us do what is pleasing to Him. And our du'a and our solidarity go out with the people of Bangladesh. Commentary brings up some points about living in New Jersey and how difficult it is. Sometimes with the pro-Israeli narratives. May Allah make it easy for you.

**[46:34]** Yes, Nusaybah, another good point. The government literally had the internet shut down for almost a week. We couldn't reach our families that whole time. These are the dirty tricks that they play.

**[46:56]** So, you ask yourself, is the government for the people? Is it serving the people? Or is it actually weaponized against the people? And compare that, and here's where we get to, you know, again, as Muslims, as people who care what Allah thinks. Compare that to the Khulafa Rashidun al-Mahdi.

**[47:12]** Compare that to Abu Bakr (رضي الله عنه). When he was given the authority over the Muslims. And what did he say to the Muslims? He said, if I do something wrong, straighten me out. He didn't even just say to tell me. He said even to physically

**[47:28]** straighten me out. And when Umar (رضي الله عنه), when he was the Khalifah, that he would pace the streets at night to make sure that everybody was taken care of. Islam is for good governance. Islam is for governance that takes care of the people as the Prophet (ﷺ)

**[47:44]** said, كُلُكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُكُمْ مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ Right? That every single one of you is a shepherd, and every single one of you is responsible for his flock. And he compared, he said that the leader, the Imam or the Amir is responsible for the entire

**[48:00]** flock, everybody who is under him. So how can we compare this, the paradigm, the example that the Prophet (ﷺ) set out for us, compared to what we see now? Is the government of Bangladesh acting as if the

**[48:16]** people, that it is like a shepherd over the flock? No, they are using weapons and shooting and killing, and they're acting as if they are the enemy of the people. So we see such a vast difference between the good governance that Islam came to give, accountability,

**[48:32]** responsiveness, right? That we find in the pious predecessors, the Salaf, versus the complete aloofness and animosity and enmity that we find with the garrison states that rule over our Muslim

**[48:48]** brothers and sisters throughout the world. Ruslan says, would love to visit Malaysia more someday, we are neighboring Singapore. Yes, I highly recommend.

**[49:06]** Seamus, giving us more history, mashallah Seamus you're well read, maybe you should give us some book recommendations. Hasina buried hundreds of Deobandi ulama in 2013 in mass graves. Wouldn't put it past her. Sameeha, yes we

**[49:22]** couldn't even call Bangladesh directly, no news for five days straight, I'll almost die. It is heartbreaking.

**[49:38]** Internet came back yesterday apparently, Nusaybah is telling us. Also, Minami confirms that. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, help the people of Bangladesh. Yeah, I agree completely, that comparison,

**[49:54]** it does. How different are the two things? Okay, very good. So let's proceed. So that's all for the news, except one last thing,

**[50:10]** which is the Olympics. I think we've got some media to show here. Now, every four years or so, the Olympics comes around, and we've seen a lot of the pageantry. There's a lot of sort of chest beating.

**[50:26]** I remember, you know, the United States, it likes to advertise if it's winning in the gold medals, it'll show the gold medal count. If it's not, if it's only winning in total medals, it'll only show the total medals count. There's a lot of, you know, competition and things like that. However, this Olympics has been one of the most

**[50:42]** controversial in memory, and that is because we had a very, very provocative display at the opening ceremony, where a bunch of transgender individuals sought to recreate the Last Supper, mocking Isa ibn Maryam, alayhi assalam,

**[50:58]** mocking Jesus, the son of Mary. And this was a, it was an insult. It was tremendously insulting. Now, there's a couple points to make here. One is that the Olympics is something of a scam. Everybody should realize this.

**[51:14]** In that, these are athletes who make very little, if any money, off of this, you know, this event. They're basically taught that they are competing for pride and competing for national sort of, you know, patriotism and glory and these sorts of things.

**[51:30]** However, in the age of television deals and streaming deals, etc., the people who organize the Olympics make a ton of money, a ton of money, billions of dollars, off of the labor of these athletes. Okay? Now,

**[51:46]** when people tune into the Olympics, they want to see the sports. They want to see people competing. They don't want to see transgender, whatever, mocking religion. And yet, the people who are organizing the Olympics are trying to capitalize

**[52:02]** off of this moment in order to force this ideology down people's throats, in order to normalize this sort of thing, and in order to make a mockery of religion and how fitting apologies to our French brothers and sisters, but how fitting that

**[52:18]** this is all happening in France. So, we see that sports are just as political as anything else. Don't let anybody tell you that sports are apolitical. Look at how, when Russia invaded Ukraine, it was ostracized. And look at how much worse Israel has done

**[52:34]** to Palestine, and yet somehow Israel is still in it. Tell me that sports aren't political. Tell me that the Olympics are neutral or not political. We see that the open mockery of a prophet, of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,

**[52:50]** is on display. So again, show me how. Where's the neutrality? Show me where this is something that is not political. There are always very, very significant political messages that are being conveyed through international sports, especially

**[53:06]** the Olympics, especially FIFA, all these big organizations. And what we see is that 2024, it's almost as if this is the year that the West lost moral legitimacy, if you didn't realize it before that.

**[53:22]** We see that with the international institutions, such as the UN and the ICJ, and every single institution that has allowed the genocide in Gaza to continue. And we also see it culturally. All of the Nobel

**[53:38]** Peace Prizes and all of the posturing that the Western world was the most moral, the most enlightened, and this is what we have at the end of the day. What's at the end of it? The end of it is mocking Jesus, the son of Mary, alayhi assalam.

**[53:54]** We see that, who are the people that are left to defend Isa? Who are the people that are left to defend Jesus? The Muslims are the only ones left. Not even the Christians will defend Jesus' honor in the way that the Muslims will. As Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says in the Quran that he is the servant of

**[54:10]** Allah and the bearer of the Gospels. One of the five greatest messengers. We've actually got this, I think, if we can link to it and show it on Yaqeen Institute. Who is Jesus in Islam? A blog post. It's a very, very important one. This is by far one of the things that will shock Christians if you're ever in the situation to talk to Christians about Islam.

**[54:26]** Most of them have no idea that we believe in Isa, or that he's a prophet, or that we respect him, or anything like that. So this is a very, very, um, it's a very, it's a very important opportunity to take this. Because there are going to be people that are outraged.

**[54:42]** I know some people like Kagura are saying, I'm surprised that the Christian population wasn't more outraged. Well, they've been socially engineered to be not outraged. But yes, there are some people that are very outraged, and this is a very, very important opportunity for da'wah. So you're outraged

**[54:58]** by this? Guess what? I'm a Muslim and I'm outraged by this too. That no prophet, that we believe that Jesus is a prophet, he should not be mocked, religion should not be mocked like this. This is completely inappropriate. That the so-called, and we saw this with Charlie Hebdo and everything else, the so-called right to free

**[55:14]** speech is in reality a political maneuver to taint and mock everything that is sacred. To taint and to mock everything that people find holy, morality, virtue. And so this is something that is not

**[55:30]** neutral. It's not just about free speech, because as we know, and as we've seen in the last nine months, you can't say everything. There are certain things you're not allowed to say. But when it comes to making fun of religion, we're always allowed to make fun of religion.

**[55:46]** Yes, good point Minami Islam Khan. And the hijab is banned at the Olympics as well, because again, France. So we see, nothing is ever neutral. There's no such thing as neutrality. Nothing is apolitical. There's no such

**[56:02]** thing as not being political. Everything has a political dimension to it. And politics is on display once again. 100% Yazeed, if it was the Muslims committing a genocide, it would be front page every day.

**[56:18]** We wouldn't hear the end of it. Irina asks a good question. I can't get what's the relation between Jesus and the Olympics. There is no relation to it. They had to bring it in there because just they wanted to be provocative and mock it and make fun of it.

**[56:36]** So honestly, if I were you, and I do realize that we have people from Palestine that are participating in the Olympics, and there's some people who, I know there was some Algerian athlete who refused to go up against an Israeli athlete, and there are admirable moments like this. But

**[56:52]** if you were to put me on the spot, I would say that if you're a Muslim, don't watch the Olympics. Don't give them that money from their advertising, their commercials and the TV deals that they've got. I think that it's high time that maybe the Muslim and this is, we're thinking about unity,

**[57:08]** we're thinking about an Ummah, maybe the Ummah needs its own Olympics, right? Where we honor the prophets, where we wear hijab, where we have these sorts of things. Maybe we need our own cultural institutions. Yep, a lot of people pointing out the hypocrisy, 100%.

**[57:41]** Yes, Ranj, I completely agree, it was not family friendly whatsoever. And that is one of the crazy things is how aggressive it is towards children, honestly. Like you take these things and you don't even want to go outside anymore, subhanAllah.

**[57:59]** Like it puts you in a scenario where you just don't even know what you're going to be looking at, some sort of very sexually explicit thing. But people, as we're saying, people have been desensitized to it and the desensitization is actually a social engineering project. This is something that's very intentional

**[58:15]** to get you to be desensitized to it so that you won't be offended. OIC is another point, yes, toothless. Very good, okay. So let's transition now, we're gonna talk Kitab al-Jihad. We're gonna talk Sahih Muslim,

**[58:30]** the chapter of Al-Jihad or the Kitab al-Jihad. We've got a very interesting hadith today talking about meeting your enemies. And so the question we'll pose to everybody, yes or no question, we'll make it easy. Should we hope as Muslims to meet our enemy in battle?

**[58:49]** What do you think? What does Islam have to say? Should we hope to meet, I know a lot of the young guys out there will be like, man, like I wanna, let me at it. Right, they're raring to go. Should we hope to meet our enemies in battle?

**[59:07]** There you go, I like it Nusaybah. Muslim Nation Cricket World Cup. The Ummah Soccer Tournament. Sorry, we'd have to call it football, I know, I know. Rick Rashid, 'alayhi assalam, Rahimahullah.

**[59:24]** Okay, Minami Islam Khan says, yes. I think that you're responding to my question. Should we hope to meet our enemies in battle? Abdus Salman says, no. Uh-oh, we have khilaf. S.A., no. Irina says, should we? I don't know, that's what I'm asking you. Shayma says, no, we shouldn't.

**[59:40]** Abdus Salman says, there's a hadith. And that is the hadith of this particular chapter. Yes, the Prophet, 'alayhi assalam, he said specifically, let me get it up here. Laa tamannaw liqaa al-'adoo wa idha laqaytumuhum faasbiroo.

**[59:58]** The Prophet, 'alayhi assalam, said, do not hope to meet the enemy. But when you meet them, then be patient. And there's another, there's another riwayah. There's another version of this hadith, which is also correct. Laa tatamannaw liqaa al-'adoo was'aloo Allaha al-'afiyah.

**[1:00:17]** Wa idha laqaytumuhum faasbiroo wa'lamoo annal jannata tahta dhilal al-sayoof. Very similar, don't hope to meet the enemy. And ask Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, for 'afiyah, for well-being, that's a very important addition. And if, or so if, you meet the enemy,

**[1:00:35]** then be patient and know that Jannah is under the shade of swords. We don't have time to explain all of that. But one of the important things here is that we're taught, and we're taught to not hope to meet the enemy.

**[1:00:52]** Muslims don't go looking for trouble. That's the main takeaway from this hadith. We don't go looking for trouble. We don't, we're not aggressors. We're not looking for a fight. This is not the way of a Muslim, okay? Because as the 'ulama who have explained this hadith note,

**[1:01:09]** that is associated with vice and with non-praiseworthy, we can say blameworthy qualities, such as pride, boastfulness, recklessness, right? These are things that you would associate with somebody who's just all the way looking for a fight,

**[1:01:26]** like some of the nations who occupy Palestine are acting like, okay? Now, that's not to say that the only type of military activity or sort of fighting in Islam is only defensive. That's not strictly true either. I know some people have tried to make that claim popular

**[1:01:42]** in recent years in light of 9/11 and sort of the war on terror discourse. That there is room within fiqh for things like preemptive strikes. You can see it if you go into the fiqh and the seerah of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). However, it's very, very calculated. It's very rules-based.

**[1:01:58]** It's very sort of animated by all the rest of the rules that we've talked about and that we will continue to talk about. It's not the same thing as aggression, right? There are situations where you need to display a deterrent power, but even the display of deterrent power

**[1:02:14]** is only to stop the evil of your enemy. And that is if you wanna tie everything in Islamic sort of the rules of war, it's all about stopping the evil of your enemy, right? Is that we want a situation in which a just peace prevails,

**[1:02:31]** but sometimes you have to do things to establish that just peace. It's not gonna just happen by itself. And unfortunately there are evil people in the world with evil plans and evil does not rest. Now, the second half of the hadith where Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said, if you find yourself in that situation,

**[1:02:47]** then the most important virtue that you can take with yourself is patience. And certainly nine months into a genocide, we see the people of Gaza displaying immense patience, that patience in the middle of this thing is the most important virtue to have.

**[1:03:03]** It's what's going to get you through to the end. It's a very, very difficult. It's extremely hard. You will ask, just like Allah says in the Quran, matanasrullah, when will Allah's help come? But Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, has a plan. And as long as you're doing what Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala,

**[1:03:19]** wants, then we have good hope in Allah. We believe that Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, is with the believers. We believe that he is with the righteous. We believe that everything that happens, Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, is showing us something. He's showing us something and he wants something from us.

**[1:03:36]** He's showing us who are the traitors. He's showing us who are the people that don't value Muslim blood. Who are the people who don't value Palestinian lives? Who are the people who are ready to sell out the Ummah just to get a position in a cabinet or in a campaign?

**[1:03:53]** So maybe we say, well, why does it have to last so long? Well, Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, continues to show us things. And so pay attention and notice what he's showing you and try to learn and do what Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, would want us to do.

**[1:04:14]** Okay, here we go. Sa'eedah, you have a point. Yeah, you'll be a martyr or you win, that's correct. But when it comes for hoping for the actual encounter, then Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) said no.

**[1:04:29]** But if you find yourself in that situation, exactly right. That's a good point too, Yazid, about the Muslim French sportsmen such as Zidane and Benzema. Unfortunately, as we've seen, I mean, France, I think it was France that they sacked a footballer

**[1:04:47]** for even tweeting very, very minimally in support of Gaza. So imagine what they would do if you, you know, trampled on what they think is sacred. Ah, wait a second, we're not secular and neutral and tolerant anymore.

**[1:05:03]** Good answer, Salma, correct. Areena, correct. Kingfu, okay. Okay, Yazid has to go to work. Thanks for joining us today.

**[1:05:27]** Minami Islam Khan says, it's not about fight or being reckless, but shouldn't we sometimes meet face to face for negotiations or other discussions? Yes, that's a good point. That's not what the hadith's talking about. So when Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was saying, liqa' al-'adoo, he means on the battlefield.

**[1:05:43]** He doesn't mean meeting in the linguistic sense of just any meeting, like a negotiation or anything like that. Rick Rashid, we talked about Malaysia earlier, you're gonna have to watch the recording because it was awesome.

**[1:06:00]** Muna, from Montreal. Ozil also is a good point, Iraj. Yes, 100%, he was silenced. Yep, Maysage, you're 100% right.

**[1:06:18]** Okay, very good. And with that, we'll turn to our last segment for today. We've got a really, really specific and interesting segment of our personal development section where we're gonna talk about atomic habits. Now, you all had homework. Does anybody remember what it was? It was two weeks ago, it was a long time ago.

**[1:06:36]** Oh yes, do you remember what it was? No, he doesn't remember what it was. Nobody remembers what it was. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa. It was a chart, right? Yeah, yeah, okay, to track. Remember, just to become aware of your habits, that was step one. Step two was to rate them, plus sign, minus sign,

**[1:06:53]** equal sign, and we said that we were gonna come today with a habit that we were doing over the last two weeks and one example of a plus, one example of a minus. Okay, so work on that. Hit us up in the chat. What did you get?

**[1:07:08]** And we're gonna do stuff with that today. Now, we said that there was a stage three that the author was telling us that we're talking about speaking or naming or calling out, that this was actually a really important tool to increase our awareness of what we're doing. So he had given the example of just like,

**[1:07:25]** okay, I am now drinking a cup of water, right? That this is something that draws attention to the things that you do because sometimes you don't even notice your bad habits because you do them so automatically. So when you're doom scrolling on your phone, right, you don't realize you're doing it.

**[1:07:41]** Then you look up at the clock and 30 minutes have passed and you haven't done anything. You were supposed to be doing your homework. You were supposed to be doing other things, right? So that is really important is sort of being able to put yourself in a position where you're able to intervene.

**[1:07:57]** That if you don't, if you're not aware of your habits, you cannot put yourself in a position where you can intervene in your habits. Swarming asked, do you believe the state of Israel has a right to exist under any borders? Habibi, no state has a right to exist.

**[1:08:14]** What do you think this is? States aren't people. Nobody, no state has a right to exist. Okay, so I'll lead off since I don't see a lot of examples in the chat.

**[1:08:30]** Ah, no, it's not. Let's see, Abdullah, positive decaf, mashallah. One of my habits is drinking coffee. Okay, I drink three espressos a day, okay.

**[1:08:45]** I think that's a plus. I'm totally, totally fine with that. What's one negative habit that I put on? Sometimes I definitely doom scroll with YouTube. And that is something that we'll have a lot to say

**[1:09:00]** about sort of the habits that come about with the phone as well. Because the phone is really, really, it's really bad for our habits. We talked about it a little bit before. YouTube shorts, Abdullah, that's you. Alhamdulillah.

**[1:09:17]** Thankfully, I don't scroll shorts because you can't control what comes up. But you know, the main sort of thing. Wa alaikum assalam, sabr wa tawakkul. Patience, okay, Rick Rashida says patience. Doom scrolling, the bad news. Yeah, that's true.

**[1:09:35]** Okay, so let's get into it. Maybe you'll think about some of your things. Okay, here we go, Shaima, thank you. Sleeping after Fajr, okay, negative, excellent. Great example, great example, great example. Plus, Irina, walking instead of sitting for a long time. Excellent, that's exactly what we're talking about.

**[1:09:51]** Great examples. Munib, wa alaikum assalam, may Allah bless you from India. Nusaybah, scrolling YouTube while talking to my mom on the phone. Hey, you're so honest. May Allah bless you for your honesty and help you with it.

**[1:10:07]** Atika, I completely agree. Espresso is delicious and necessary. Fatima Ghali, also with the YouTube. Amina says, negative habit, checking Twitter for news instead of real articles. Yeah, that's part of why I got off of social media because they really, really do hack your brain

**[1:10:23]** and they hack into your habits. You end up wasting so much time on them as well. All right, good. Keep them coming. We'll get into some of the techniques and we'll circle back. So, today we're gonna talk about

**[1:10:41]** the best way to start a new habit. Okay, you're gonna like this because it gets into very specific things. The best way to start a new habit. Now, he cites a study and it's a really, really interesting study. It was an experiment that was done with three groups of people, okay?

**[1:10:57]** And the idea, the goal of the study was to see what would get people to exercise more. So they divided people into three groups. The first group was just the control group, okay? The second group of people were exposed to videos

**[1:11:13]** that were showing them why it's a good idea to exercise. What are the consequences of not exercising? So it's only focusing on motivation, okay? The third group gets the same thing that the second group has, the videos, the motivation, but then they're told and they're handed a pen and paper

**[1:11:31]** to make a plan for exercising, all right? You see the setup here. Now, the results are shocking. The results are actually shocking. There was no difference between group one and two in how much they exercised.

**[1:11:47]** Between 35 to 38%, that means that receiving motivation is not effective at all, statistically. It's statistically the same as not receiving any motivation without a plan.

**[1:12:04]** So that's the main takeaway from the study is that the plan is really the thing that is going to push you over the edge to be able to develop a new habit. Now, think about this. Group three, so we said group one and two were both like between 35 and 38%.

**[1:12:21]** 35 to 38% of them exercised the way that they wanted them to. What do you think the percentage was for the third group that not only received the motivational videos, but then were actually put in a position where they had to plan on how they were going to do it?

**[1:12:36]** 91%. 91% of them exercised according to what they wanted to do, which is amazing, okay? Like, so we see that the takeaway is that motivation is not enough.

**[1:12:52]** Motivation, honestly, is not very effective when it comes to establishing habits. That it is mostly about having a plan. Let's see, we got a couple of trolls

**[1:13:08]** here in the comment section. And some other people as well. Amanda Walker, wa alaikum assalam. Healthier diet. Very good. Sleeping before you chat, Arina. Yeah, I've had to sleep before you chat when I came back to the US

**[1:13:23]** because my body was still on Malaysian time. Okay, so we see that we need a plan. And this is what's called implementation intention. All right, that is the word for it. Implementation intention. That the strongest cues, if you're looking to start a new habit,

**[1:13:41]** the strongest cues are time and place. Time and place are the strongest cues to establish a new habit. They did this, this is why if you go to sort of political action committees and people that are involved in elections,

**[1:13:56]** one of the things that they always do when they got you on the phone, they say, where are you voting? How are you going to get there? Because they know that that last question, making somebody think, well, my local polling spot is there and I need to take the bus,

**[1:14:12]** or I'm going to walk, or I'm going to get a ride. That dramatically increases the likelihood that the behavior is actually going to happen. If you don't do that, if you don't make your implementation intention, that you're leaving it to chance. You're leaving it to chance.

**[1:14:28]** And a good amount of the time, we won't follow through. We'll get distracted. We will get busy with something else. Sometimes we'll just forget. And this is not due to a lack of motivation. Like we're often told, it is actually due to a lack of planning.

**[1:14:44]** So we are going to do an activity together right now. We're going to, I want everybody to make a statement. An implementation intention, you're going to think about a new habit that you want to have.

**[1:14:59]** And you're going to write it down in this form. You're going to say, I will blank. That's the behavior, the action that you want to do. At blank. That's the time when you're going to do it. In blank.

**[1:15:15]** And that's the location where you're going to do it at. So you need to have three ingredients. I will X at Y in Z. X is the behavior that you want to do. Y is the time when you want to do it. And Z is the location where you're going to do it.

**[1:15:34]** So let's see. I've been practicing my Malay. But I've been very sporadic at it. So I'm going to do one right now. I will practice Malay at, let's say immediately after I pray

**[1:15:49]** Dhuhr. In location. Hmm. Let's say in. In the car. Before I go. Let's say I go to the masjid for Dhuhr. Let's say in the car before I go home. There. So I've gone and I've prayed Dhuhr. I come back to my car. I'm in my car before I turn the ignition key. Or maybe because it's super hot here, I'll turn the ignition key and put the air conditioning on. And before I leave, I'll do, I'll work on my language study. That's the sort of example that we're looking for. Let's see what you can come up with.

**[1:16:29]** Oh, I like the habits here. Less junk food. Very important. Quran effort in the morning. Yep. Oh, we're going to get to that, Irina. What if we have difficulty in following plans?

**[1:16:47]** That's an extremely important question. Thank you for asking it. We are going to get into why do we have difficulty following plans? It's not your fault. Believe it or not, Irina, it's not your fault that you have difficulty following plans. We just need to adjust those

**[1:17:03]** plans. There's something about the way that you're making those plans that makes it hard to follow those plans. We're going to look at that and figure out how we can make better plans so that following them becomes easy. Yeah, most of us do, Shaima. We often leave things to chance.

**[1:17:22]** It's even sometimes something that we like subconsciously do on purpose, because then we can kind of get out of it. Actually, if you want to go be really crazy about it, Shaima, there's an example of this in the Hadith, an exchange between Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) and the

**[1:17:39]** Prophet (ﷺ), where I'm trying to remember the exact scenario. I think it was about taking a certain means to wake up at night, okay, for night prayers. And the Prophet (ﷺ), he mentioned this particular thing and Ali ibn Abi Talib (رضي الله عنه) indicated the gist of it was that,

**[1:18:01]** I'm going to rely on Allah, that he wasn't going to take the means that the Prophet (ﷺ) was suggesting. And so the Prophet (ﷺ) walked away, and he was a little bit frustrated with Ali and saying that, and he actually quoted one of the ayat of the Quran about being, you know,

**[1:18:18]** people are prone to dispute and to argue. So this is something that people do, and it's a trick of the Shaytan to leave things to chance because it lets us have a way out. Shakira says, I have no Facebook, but I watch just YouTube for learning Quran or cooking,

**[1:18:34]** that is habits. Yeah, I mean, YouTube is very useful, but like anything, it can be used against us as well. Here we go. Al-Isma'iliyah says, I will continue to read Quran between Asr and Maghrib at the masjid. Good, nice.

**[1:18:52]** Rick Rasheed says, I will try to be more patient with my family on a daily basis. I don't think that's specific enough, but we'll get to why. Abdullah says, I will go for a walk after lunch at the park across the street. That's nice and specific. Excellent. Fatima Ghali says,

**[1:19:08]** I will clean my room at 8pm. Nice work. Arina says, I will read a page while riding on the train in the morning. Excellent. See, we're pros. May Say says, I will exercise five times a week after Fajr at home. All right, nice. Hamda says, after breakfast, I will memorize a surah and do

**[1:19:27]** my Arabic course, inshallah. Okay, you didn't say where though. Amina says, not in the mood to is the new code name for this. Yes, we're all guilty of it, Amina. Not in the mood to. And that's exactly the point, is that this whole idea of looking at the architecture or the anatomy of our

**[1:19:45]** plans doesn't surrender it to our motivation or our inspiration. You know, because anything that you do, sometimes you're going to be highly motivated to do it. And sometimes you're not going to feel like doing it. And so basically, we want to create a scenario in which it's not

**[1:20:02]** subject to those fluctuations that the plan is foolproof enough that we're going to follow through on our habits, even when we don't feel like it. You say but says I will stop YouTube scrolling whenever my mom calls. Maybe take out what why YouTube from the phone. Tried it before

**[1:20:20]** but got it back again. See, this is good, though. But you're thinking about what are the structural design elements that you need to in order to we're going to talk more about that in order to achieve your goal. Omni says I will read 100 salawat in the morning when I take my daughter for a walk. That's nice. Arina says what about people with difficulty in focusing because like me, I can't

**[1:20:39]** focus too much, or I'll be prone to overthink and eventually the plan will flop. Not gonna lie. Maybe I don't know, we need to know some more specific details. I think before I can comment on that. One school of thought would say, well, why is there a difficulty on focusing? Are there

**[1:20:55]** too many distractions? Are there elements within the space that you're at? Is the space that you live in your environment that'll be next chapter designed in a distracting way? Oh, that's a really, really important one. So maybe it's the way that your environment is designed. We will talk about

**[1:21:12]** that next. What if you have other things Fatima Ali says to do that will interrupt the habit? Yes, well, that's very important. That's going to be in later chapters where we talk about that. Okay, Muna says I will stop looking at my phone after Fajr prayers at home. That's an important

**[1:21:34]** one. Too many of us as soon as we as soon as we're done with salah, wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah, boom, there comes the phone. And we say, well, yeah, I can do my dhikr and stuff while doing it, but doesn't really work out very well. I actually did that, Arina. I turned my history off as well.

**[1:21:58]** I just try finishing Surah Al-Baqarah after Fajr every day. Wow, that's that's ambitious. May Allah make it easy for you. Nice, Emma. Okay. Good. Shakira says I'll recite Quran after Fajr time and pray Dhuha. Nice.

**[1:22:21]** Create a sense of urgency for the habit 100%. Okay, Abdullah says, would you consider some habits to take greater priority over others like sleeping habits? Yes, I would. And that's where we're going to get into it now. Okay, so we have a general structure for how to make a habit that

**[1:22:38]** we want to tie it to a time and a place. I will do this at this time in this place. Now let's go to an advanced technique. Okay. An advanced technique is what they call habit stacking. Okay. So rather than trying to come up with a new habit, and many of you already did it,

**[1:22:58]** rather than trying to come up with a new habit out of thin air, you're going to take the new habit that you want to do that you're not currently doing. And you're going to stack it on top of a habit that you're already doing. Okay. So you take something that you already always do, and you tie a new habit to it. So it might look like let's say every day,

**[1:23:19]** you pray Dhuhr. After Dhuhr, I will read Quran. Okay, you're not reading Quran right now, you're always praying Dhuhr. And so that's how you do it. Many of you already did this, right. But the key and some of you asked about this, the key to the success of this method,

**[1:23:36]** is selecting the right cue. The right cue after the Fajr, at lunch, after lunch, whatever it's going to be. And there's two things you have to keep in mind. One of them is that the cue has to occur at the right frequency. So for example, if you said, I don't know, like I'm going to,

**[1:23:59]** like, if you let's imagine you had a problem brushing your teeth, you didn't brush your teeth enough. You said, whenever I watch Imam Tom live stream, I will brush my teeth. That means you're only brushing your teeth once a week, right? That's not enough. So you want to have a cue

**[1:24:16]** that's going to be the right frequency for the habit that you're trying to establish. The second thing you have to keep in mind is the cue has to be highly specific. Okay, and this is probably the biggest thing that you need to keep in mind if you want your habit to work. That the

**[1:24:32]** cue has to be extremely specific. And he gives a great example of one that he tried to do that was not specific enough. So he wanted to start a push up habit that starts doing push ups. So he said, at lunch, I will do push ups in my office. And what he found was that his cue was not specific

**[1:24:53]** enough. Well, am I doing push ups before I eat my lunch? After I ate my lunch? Like, it actually failed, the habit failed. And so he had to go back and look at why did the habit fail? For him, the habit failed, because the cue wasn't specific enough, there was too much

**[1:25:11]** ambiguity in his plan to allow for distraction, to allow for procrastination, to allow for it just to be left to chance, right, we're saying or left to inspiration. And so he made the cue much more specific, he said, Okay, when I take my laptop, and I close my laptop to break for lunch,

**[1:25:33]** I'm going to do 10 push ups. So that cue is specific enough that there's no room for ambiguity, there's no room for distraction, there's no room for procrastination, you know, exactly the moment that you're going to do that thing. And so that is what a successful habit

**[1:25:49]** looks like. So let's try it out. Our homework assignment will be to try to start one new habit for the coming week, to do it according to the method that we said either, you're going to come up come up with it out of thin air, you will do certain thing at a certain time in a certain place.

**[1:26:07]** Or you're going to stack your habit onto something else that you're already doing. Experiment. Don't worry if you fail. If you fail, come back next week. And we'll talk about why it failed. Was the cue specific enough? Was there something distracting? I think the next chapter

**[1:26:22]** is about environmental design and the other sort of distractions that might be around you that might make your habits fail. We'll talk about it. But the point is, everybody think about one habit that you want to start started this week. And we'll check in and we'll see if how we did.

**[1:26:42]** Let's see what we got here. We'll run through any final comments, questions, concerns, put them in the chat now and then we'll wrap up. Halal Fit Life uses a timer. A lot of people have success with timers. Farha Farooq says reciting Surah Al-Baqarah and saying my istighfar and durood Ibrahim.

**[1:27:04]** Okay. Oh, Arina, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know. I don't have any expertise with schizophrenia or any mental health training. So I can't really answer you there. Sorry about that. Siti Nuriati says I find using tasbih helps me to focus on my dhikr. Yes, I've also found the

**[1:27:19]** same thing. Adeshmae said before reciting Quran or starting wudu, I will use miswak. And that's a nice one. I would I would suggest that you choose one of them. Or you're saying both I think by or before either or both reciting Quran or starting with.

**[1:27:37]** Okay, thumbs up. Nusayba says listening to "Restating Orientalism" on Blogging Theology made me think how English has become a global language. And if having this makes us submit to colonization, if so, how should we communicate globally? That's a great question. Very deep question. I don't I don't not surprised by that. Nusayba always has good questions. I think that somebody said

**[1:27:59]** that if you were to take every Muslim in the world that speaks English, we would be the fourth largest group of people in the world. English truly has become a language of da'wah and a language of the ummah. I don't think that the language that we speak is so deterministic as to limit us in

**[1:28:21]** very, very problematic ways, like you might be suggesting. Right? I don't think that using English alone necessarily makes us submit to colonization. It can, if we view it as this prestige language, we look down

**[1:28:37]** on other people for speaking Urdu at home, or Arabic at home or whatever. And we want to speak French. We want to speak English. That's being colonized. Right? But if we don't have that

**[1:28:52]** inferiority complex, if we look at it as a tool, then it actually can be a very, very powerful tool for the ummah because where we're at right now is that we have a ton of Muslims that speak English. So if that is something like a trade language or a lingua franca between us, in addition to the

**[1:29:10]** other important languages of the ummah, that this could be something very, very important for communication. That the things that happen in the English language have maybe, we say even just English and Arabic and Urdu, have a wide, wide reach. And so it becomes very important actually.

**[1:29:32]** Dr. Farhan made a good summary. Lesson of the day, don't leave it to chance. Atika, how was food Malaysia? It was delicious. I love Malay food, except for desserts. No offense. Sorry, my Malaysian friends. I don't, I don't find the desserts to be very appealing to me.

**[1:29:48]** But that's okay because the other food is so good that you don't even need desserts. Now people ask me if I wanted to eat durian and that is the, um, the sort of very, very controversial fruit. And I'm not, I do not like durian. But I was happy to learn that there are many Malays that don't like durian as well. So I didn't feel, um, didn't feel so bad for that.

**[1:30:08]** May Sage asks, what if I tried a super specific method before and it didn't last? It worked for a time, but eventually fizzled out. We're going to look at that May. As we get through the book, like for example, next chapter is about environmental design. Having a super specific plan is only one element. There are other elements to

**[1:30:26]** analyzing your habits. So maybe next week, why don't you bring exactly what that habit was? And we'll try to analyze its design. Omni says, how do I create a salah habit that I want to do throughout the day? Should I start with one time? I definitely think that you should

**[1:30:43]** start with one time. Oh, you continue. You say I struggle with creating habits around salah time due to coming on my menses. Yes, that's, I was thinking that Omni, when we were talking about reading Quran, if you tie it to the prayer, then women, obviously you're going to have about six or so days, depending on your cycle,

**[1:31:00]** where you're not doing that. So it might be better to tie it to something else. Yeah. And if it's, you know, it sounds like for you that it's longer than, than, than many others. So yes. So then it should be tied to something else. I would suggest tying it to one start

**[1:31:15]** of, to one time of day. You can try to, you can try to up it after that, but at least to start small, we're going to get to, that's a later chapter as well, starting small and consistent, which is not ironically the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ),

**[1:31:32]** that Allah loves the thing that is small and consistent more than trying to do, let's see, one day you do like a thousand salawat, okay, but then you fall off quickly and it doesn't last. It's better for you to do five salawat, but you do it every day for years. Right? So our outlook

**[1:31:49]** is trying to find that consistency. So I think if you try to implement the method that we talked about today, extremely specific cue, a very specific time and location, then inshallah, hey, how about you make that your, your attempt on me, try to do it for this coming week. We're

**[1:32:09]** going to be back at the regular time next week. So Wednesday's 8pm New York time, 8pm Eastern Standard Time in the United States, we'll be having a live stream this coming week. That's Wednesday night. So let us know how you did.

**[1:32:26]** Yep, we do, May. That's 100% right. Yes, Atika, I do like Gulab Jaman.

**[1:32:43]** Zeeshan says, I don't know Urdu as a Pakistani. I can only speak English. I've had so many people find it so bizarre and frankly disrespectful that I don't know Urdu. Well, maybe we can both learn Urdu. Though I found it very difficult. I found learning Urdu harder than Arabic.

**[1:33:00]** But we can get there. I would love to learn all the languages of the ummah. The ummah is a beautiful, we have a beautiful ummah with beautiful languages, beautiful cultures. And we should stay grateful for that. So that's the end. Let's see. Amina says, if speaking a colonial language made us into maintainers for colonialism, then half the world

**[1:33:18]** would fit into that. Language can be a retrospective tool to decolonize as much as it has been a weapon. That is perfect. Let's just end on that. I think you really hit it on the head, Amina. Couldn't have put it better myself. Human asks, will there be live streams throughout

**[1:33:35]** September? Yes. We might adjust times, but right now it's just going to be on this time forever. Amina gets the last word. Appreciate everybody's participation. It was a great session. And we'll see you next week, inshallah ta'ala.

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- [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)
- [Allah Will Ask: What Did You Do With Your Freedom? | Imam Tom Live](https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/imam-tom-live/allah-will-ask-what-did-you-do-with-your-freedom-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)
- [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)