5 Pillars Made Plain
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Pillar 1: Where Should We Make the Shahada (Testimony of Faith)?
Where can someone take the Shahada? Sh. Abdullah Oduro talks about places that pose a higher level of benefit for the Muslim community and reverts. Ultimately, the Shahada can be taken anywhere, however; be wise about where you choose to utter these words of proclamation.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. Abdullah Oduro and welcome back. There was a man that was sitting in the coffee shop with his friend and they were talking about how they embraced Islam and they were just reminiscing over the years and you know the trials and errors that they had. But in the end of their conversation, they were being very thankful. They were talking about where they would have ended up if they wouldn't have had this type of structure and guidance. Whereupon an individual was sitting two seats away and was listening to them. He walked up to them about 45 minutes later and he said, you know what, I apologize, but I've been listening to you all. And what y'all are saying is very intriguing. You know, I've been hearing about this Islam from my friend at school and I want y'all to tell me a little more about it. Whereupon they started to tell him about Islam and they sat there for hours on end. They ended up in the parking lot of that coffee shop because the coffee shop closed. It was around 1230, they were in the parking lot. This individual said, you know what, I think I want to embrace Islam, man. I really want to do this. They asked him, are you sure? He said, yeah, I mean, what you told me, is that right? What you told me about God and Muhammad? I mean, I've been reading about it, but I believe that. I think I believe that. Whereupon one of the friends said, okay, well, you know, we got to wait till tomorrow because that's when the mosque opens, the mosque is closed. The other friend said, no, no, no, no, no. You can embrace Islam right now. Embrace Islam right now. Where can one take their shahada? In this situation, what do you think? Of course, it was okay for him to take his shahada there. You can take your shahada anywhere. But the real question is, where is it more befitting and beneficial to do so? If you're in a bar and you're sober and you hear about Islam, as one individual that told me he heard about Islam in a bar and he decided to embrace Islam in the bar, he embraced Islam
in a bar. Would it have been more beneficial for him to go outside in the parking lot and embrace Islam? We say yes, because that's not a place to where one would want to embrace Islam, but we don't stop them from doing so. You can embrace Islam anywhere. Don't let someone think that you can't embrace Islam in a gym, in a parking lot, maybe even in a club. Is it appropriate? Not that appropriate, but do not stop a person from doing so, because we don't know when Allah will take their soul. We don't know when it can happen. So where someone should embrace Islam, do not confine it to a certain place. Now, the mosque is probably the best place to embrace Islam, and I'll tell you why. If you go to a mosque, that's a place where Allah is remembered, where the name of Allah is exalted, where people are praying, where the brotherhood and sisterhood is initially established. So for you to come and profess your Islam in front of the community, there are so many benefits from that. It's important for you as a convert to know your immediate community, to where you can possibly take on a mentor from your immediate community, to see the people that represent what you believe, that human connection, that fraternity of brotherhood that you have. It's important for you to establish that relationship. Islam is not only a religion of a personal relationship with God, there's also a community element that goes along with that. Consider this. Two things I want you to consider when embracing Islam in a mosque, taking your shahadah in a mosque. The first thing is that the community will remember the universality of Islam. As I mentioned when talking about when should one embrace Islam, we see that many times an individual that has a mosque near their house, it's very ethnic.
The ethnicity is of one ethnicity, and they feel out of place when going there. Sometimes they feel maybe some resistance from the immediate community. Yes, some communities, they do live in their bubble. When they're amongst people that are like them of their culture, they may look at you strange, but don't let that deter you. When going into this place, it will remind them a lot of times of the universality of Islam, that in America or in any place, when you walk in and you're not of their cultural fabric and you are accepting a religion that they probably have grown up upon, they realize that Islam is a profound religion and that it goes beyond their culture. It transcends color. It transcends experience. It transcends all of these superficial, tangible things. It reminds them of that. Secondly, it reminds them of their responsibility towards their immediate communities. If you're someone that comes into that mosque or that comes into an MSA or that comes into a certain locality to where people are so complacent within their practice of Islam with their people or their locality or group of people, it reminds them that people are still watching them, that people are still embracing Islam, that along with the universality of Islam and people converting to Islam, they have to remember that they have a responsibility of professing Islam in their actions primarily and in their speech and what they believe. So when it comes to where you should embrace Islam, remember, you can embrace it anywhere, but primarily in a place where the name of Allah is exalted, where you see your future brothers and sisters. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless you all with the courage that you have and increase you in your courage and bravery and embracing Islam. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you.
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