Confident Muslim
11 / 20
On Finding Your Purpose and Investing in the Youth - Ibn Ali Miller | Confident Muslim
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. I am Altaf Hussain, I serve as the Vice President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and I want to welcome you to this session. InshaAllah you are in for an amazing session as always and we thank the Muslim American Society for hosting us as Yaqeen. We had an academic conference yesterday and indeed we will have this one hour session today. For those of you who are not familiar with Yaqeen, we started just a little over a year ago last October of 2016. We launched formally and the idea was always there that Muslims and even people of other faiths were looking at Islam much more but they were not and there is not, has not been available content to be able to address some of the most difficult questions facing humanity at large but in particular about Islam and the core beliefs. So we are dedicated to translate classical texts, to analyze them and to get experts who are in this space to be able to create material in the form of journals, articles, videos, basically to be able to say it's free and accessible to anyone who wants to understand authentic Islam and really answer the questions that are facing all of us today in terms of modern civilization. So without further ado, it is my great honor and pleasure to introduce our president and founder of Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research, Sheikh Omar Suleiman.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Once again. Dr. Altaf, he disappeared already. For all that he does, alhamdulillah, for our community, for being essential to Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and so many other organizations and the da'wah as a whole and the work that we do as a Muslim community here in the United States, may Allah reward him and reward those like him that have selflessly given themselves to this cause, alhamdulillah. So I have the pleasure of also introducing someone but before I do that, I want to talk a little bit about Confident Muslim. Confident Muslim was a program that Yaqeen Institute started from the very beginning in which we tried to shine light on some of the most talented individuals in our community, those that not only were talented, not only showed great promise, but those that could root their contribution or their proposed contribution in our text, in a place of conviction. The finished product of Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research is to hopefully produce confident Muslims, people who have that great conviction and contribute through that great conviction they have in their deen. So we started this last year, alhamdulillah, and Mass was generous enough to give us a session at that time and may Allah reward them once again for giving us this session. We're very appreciative of that and we decided that every year we would award the best presentation or a presentation that we felt like was most deserving of a Muhammad Ali Confident Muslim Award. Alhamdulillah we awarded our first Muhammad Ali Confident Muslim Award with the daughter of Muhammad
Ali, Rashid Ali, a few weeks ago in Dallas, Texas and now we are in the new session of the Confident Muslim Program. And there are very few people that you can find that get caught doing the right thing. And because of that, they not only show a better image of Muslims, but they show the power of Islam to transform them and to transform through them. You know, in an era where people get caught doing bad, you don't find many people that get caught doing good behind the scenes, just being themselves. And that's one of the most beautiful characteristics of the Awliya of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, those who are closest to Allah, that they do a very simple act, but through that simple act, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam notes them. And because of that, they inspire their entire Muslim community to do better. So how many of you remember seeing this video, which is going to play in, well, you might have seen this video of this brother by the name of Ibn Ali Miller. Ibn Ali Miller is a beautiful brother, MashaAllah, I've had the chance to sit with him just now before this program. And he basically got caught breaking up a street fight, because he cared enough about these two young men to stop them from getting themselves into greater trouble. And he's a brother, MashaAllah, that's dedicated to Islamic work. And SubhanAllah, someone just took a cell phone video of that. And then LeBron James tweeted it out, and a bunch of people tweeted it out. And this brother became a national sensation, MashaAllah, he was on Steve Harvey and different shows, received numerous awards from the city, and just beautiful tributes that he gave to his mother, which I thought was the most beautiful, about how she raised him to be that person that he was. SubhanAllah, I can't think of a better person that represents the confident Muslim that
we are trying to produce than him. So we're going to play the video, InshaAllah, of that street fight, for those of you that don't know. And then InshaAllah, we're going to bring him onto the stage. And I want you to give him, once he comes on, a great welcome for the first time here at Masjid Hikmah, InshaAllah, and through the Confident Muslim program. So we'll play the video, InshaAllah, and then he'll come out and speak for a bit, and then we'll have a talk show, a conversation on Islam in the inner city. So please do direct your attention to the video, InshaAllah. And then shortly after, welcome our brother, Ibn Ali Miller. Listen, look, they all laughing, little brother. But you really upset. And you really upset. You more mad than he is, I can see it in your face. So you fighting for a reason. He only fighting you because you want to fight him. Because you mad. No, he came to me, he text me. So you... All of this shit, I don't even know. So you defending yourself? Yeah, I don't know what's going on. Alright, so, look, so alright, little brother, so you on the right, you defending yourself. Look at the crowd. And little brother, look, whatever you texting for, that you don't know, you was ill-advised. My thing is, look at the trick of the devil. Who ill-advised you? Look around. Who ill-advised you? Who told you wrong? Who told you wrong? You don't have to answer that. Who told you wrong, little brother? And the only reason I'm saying this to all of y'all, yo, is because y'all almost men. All of y'all, yo. Y'all almost men. Y'all ain't kids no more. Y'all girls ain't little girls no more. Look, yo, y'all men, yo. Y'all men, yo. 14, 15, 16, 17, y'all men. Start acting like it, yo. We ain't going to get nowhere like this, yo. Y'all going to wind up like the niggas y'all want to be like,
yo. Word up. Word up. Look, look, they still laughing. They still laughing. You upset. Think about that. Anybody can laugh at you. Straight up, yo. Straight up, yo. Straight up. Anybody can laugh at you. Why you upset like that? They ain't your friends. And they sitting here letting you do the dirty work. I don't even know what we're doing, but I know what we're doing, though. And they sitting here letting you do the dirty work. I'm going to freeze. I'm going to freeze, bro. I'm going to freeze. Oh, yeah, word. Say what? He not no punk. But they know he not no punk. They know he not no punk. So they going to send you, what, what, what, what, what? Now y'all out here fighting in the middle of the street. Now y'all ain't fighting in the middle of the street, huh? Now all y'all, hey yo, please, yo. Sound like a little, bro. All y'all, though, yo, yo, y'all got parents, yo. Y'all got parents, yo. Don't make your parents look like this, yo. Word up. Don't make your parents look like this, yo. It's important, yo. Don't make your mom and dad look like this, yo. Word up, man. And if y'all live around here, y'all listen real good. Mess that up, ah. Mess that up, ah. Hey, yo, you, I know where you from. I know where you from. Humble beginnings. Your mom and dad worked hard to get where they at, yo. They worked hard to get where they at, yo. Telling y'all, yo. Little bro, your dad doing life. You think it's a game out here? Ain't no game out here. It's real out here, little bro. Y'all playing games, yo. Stop playing games, man. Y'all don't, yo, I'm telling y'all, man, don't let nobody do that to y'all, man. Y'all shake hands, bro. I'm telling y'all, y'all got to do that, bro. Like, right now. I'm telling y'all, y'all got to do that, bro. Shake hands, yo. I ain't moving, bro. I ain't moving. I'm just around here. Bro, shake hands, bro. Shake hands, yo. Yo, shake hands, yo. That's all, man. I ain't leaving, bro. Y'all don't shake
hands, bro. I'm not leaving, bro. I'm not leaving, bro. Shake hands, bro. Shake hands, bro. Shake hands, bro. Shake hands, bro. That's it, bro. Yo, nah, nah, nah. Now, look. I'm telling y'all, now, look. Now, look. Now, look. Now, look. Now, look. Now, look. They want y'all to be enemies. Now, look. He can't even stop smiling. You ugly as hell. You got that look. Put your hand back out, bro. You're going to shake it this time, I promise you. Put your hand back out, bro. You're going to shake it, bro. Y'all be good, bro. I'm telling y'all. Please welcome our brother, Ibn Ali Miller. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa salallahu ala sa'idina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam wa al minwala. Excuse me. We start with the name of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we say alhamdulillah for all of the things that he has endowed upon us that was not obligatory upon him. We send a complete and a perfect salat and salam upon our master, Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa salam. And we ask Allah Ta'ala to raise his rank and his status. His family, his companions, his Muslim nation, and those who loved him. Ameen. I won't take up too
much of your time. And I can't see all of your faces and I wish I could. The message that I have for you today, this is better. Is that better? Okay, alhamdulillah. I'm still getting used to this. Insha'Allah today is my intention to represent for a group of people and a group of Muslims whom it is felt that the larger Muslim community have forgotten about. And these are the indigenous black Muslims in America. Wait, before you give me a round of applause, because by the time I finish, maybe you'll boo me. I don't know. Here's the catch. How many of you are from Palestine? Make some noise. Anybody from Syria? Egypt? Mashallah. Morocco? Okay, how about the Desi community? Anybody from Pakistan? Bangladesh? Okay. How many people here are from an American ghetto? Okay, alhamdulillah. I'll ask the question one more time. Please answer honestly. Make some noise. How many people here are from an American ghetto? Okay, alhamdulillah. That's more than I was expecting.
Why do you mention this, Ibn Ali? Why are you mentioning American ghettos? Why are you mentioning places and people? Why are you mentioning black Muslims? Why are you mentioning these things? Alhamdulillah, my life has changed. A year ago, I was working 10 hours a day to support my family on a construction site. Sometimes 12 hours. I had the colleges to prove it on my hands and on my feet. Today, I literally go around the world speaking and spreading Islam about those Muslims in the ghetto. But once you ask themselves, why is speaking about Muslims in the ghetto such a hot topic? Why is it such a hot topic? And I'll tell you why. Because those Muslims in the ghettos, those people in the inner cities, period, period, are literally the leaders of tomorrow. One second, no clapping, no clapping. Why do I say they're the leaders of tomorrow? Because anyone from Palestine, anyone from Iraq, anyone from Iran, any of these places, anyone from the old country who's living in the new country today, when you look at your children, many of us, there's a divide between the parents and the children. So first I want to say to all of the children who feel that your parents don't understand you, please, please be merciful on your parents and be merciful on their customs and be merciful on them raising you in a place that they are
not from. On the flip side, parents, when your son or your daughter, when they turn on the television, when they turn on hip hop music, anything that has anything to do with American pop culture is going to be largely influenced by those kids in the ghetto. From LeBron James and his sneakers, to the big rappers, to the big singers, the clothes they wear, the jewelry they wear, the slang words they use. It's literally made acceptable in a social realm by those kids in the ghetto. And it's very important for many of you who are not from these places to understand these particular dynamics. Why? Because sometimes these days we are losing our children who have no idea what any of this stuff is about. They just like the song. They just like the TV show. They just like the Nike sneakers. They just want to be from the West. So here's the thing. In the inner cities, there is corruption. There is murder. There is drugs, drug selling, and there is drug addiction. There is prostitution. There is stealing. There is lying. There is backbiting. All of the ills that you could possibly imagine, they exist in the ghetto, and they're magnified there. But even amongst
the darkness, there are people, some of them you know of, like Malcolm X, rahimuhullah. Give him a round of applause. Like Muhammad Ali, rahimuhullah. But how many of you know of a man named Imam Ameen Muhammad? One, two people here. He's a person responsible for teaching me Islam. I was 19 years old. I walked into the masjid. I asked him to help me with a crisis that I had, and he helped me. He helped me. I won't say what it was, but I will tell you it was illegal and haram. He didn't turn me away. He gave me practical advice, and then he held my hand, and he held my hand for years. And then he taught me how to grab the hands of other young men, hold their hands, and to never let them go. This man that I'm mentioning, he's a light. He is a light. He's not going to travel around the world. No one's going to say, hey, you're Ibn Ali's teacher. Hey, you're the guy who taught the guy who broke up the fight. Right? No one's going to do that. Inshallah, I will. I'll tell you his name. I'll tell you his story. I'll tell you that every time you hear
me mentioning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, that I'm praying that he has some of that reward. Because he didn't have to hold my hand. He didn't have to walk me through a life crisis that I was having. He didn't have to pay my bills, literally pay my bills, because I didn't have the money and I didn't have the income to do so. When I started to study the dean, he gave me the charity on the Eid. I cried for like two days, literally. It's only like $1,000. Our community is poor, like $1,000. But for me, a young person, no one's ever done anything for me. No one's ever cared about anything that we've cared about. And here he is. He wants to make sure that my mind is being taken care of. And he's teaching me sacred knowledge. He wants to make sure that my body is taken care of, that I have food in my house to eat, to feed my wife, to feed my children. But more importantly than that, he wants to make sure that my soul is in good shape. Because here's the thing, young people, old people, black people, white people, green people, whatever, whatever, it's a shell. These are clothes. Everything I'm saying to you, these are just words. I could possibly be saying these things just for you guys to say, oh, Ibn Ali, mashallah, he's a good speaker. Alhamdulillah, Allah reward him. But in reality, if one is thinking about his soul, if one is truly, truly, truly thinking about his soul, then one is thinking about death. And one is thinking about returning to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So he's thinking every step he takes, every word he says, every thought that he has, how is this going to affect me and my positioning with God? Because the video clip that you've seen, I'm telling you, by Allah, I had no idea that it would turn into this and me speaking to you today. No idea. But I was represented from my hood, from where I'm from. Because those young men, they look like me. Those young men, they look like me. They speak the same broken English language that I speak. They went to the same broken schools and were fed by the same welfare system and food stamps. Those young men. Social economics are identical between me and those young men. Alhamdulillah, I have to tell you the truth, that today it saddens me that it's actually some type of phenomenon for me to take care of my own people, from my own city, and from my own hood. So I've bored you enough. So I'm going to stop now. The only thing that I have to say is find your connection with Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. If you have a lot, if you have a lot, find your connection with Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So if you're a person, you're a doctor, you're a lawyer, one of these things, you're making a lot of money in the West, right, be like Abu Bakr. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, when he calls for you and he calls for your help, bring everything you got. Everything you got. But on the flip side, and this is the case of many of the young men and young women who grew up where I grew up, if doing it is not your thing, you don't have money, you don't have cars, you don't have a big degree and a fancy job,
all you have is time. All you have is time. What does a person do if all he has is time? Then this one, you should be like Abu Huraira rahimahullah, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, and record more hadith than anybody in this nation. So all of you young people, please find your purpose. Are you the person who's going to change Islam in the future? Are you the person who is going to make Islam socially acceptable in the future? Or are you the person who will fund that person? Who are you? Who are you? Ask yourself this question, who am I? Set a clear intention, and then inshallah, die on that. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah.
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