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Allahﷻ gave us a purpose of existence which is given to the highest in any society – to guide and show the way. This is the purpose that we inherited by being the followers of Rasoolullahﷺ – to give to the world. To give mankind a standard by which to live. To give it by living it ourselves and demonstrating it as Rasoolullahﷺ did. A ‘Standard’ is something to aspire to, to aim to reach, to benchmark and measure yourself against. A ‘Standard’ is a flag, high and alone on its staff, establishing its presence, a symbol of great thoughts and ideas, a guide to the lost. A ‘Standard’ is the flag which represents its nation, a symbol of respect. A ‘Standard’ is called a standard because it stands out. A flag drying on a clothesline is laundry. A flag flying high on its staff is saluted. A ‘Standard Bearer’ is the one who carries the flag. In the days of medieval warfare, the Standard Bearer carried the battle standard around which the troops rally. As long as they saw their flag flying their morale remained high. If the flag fell it demoralized the soldiers. The Standard Bearer would not be armed. His only job was to keep the flag flying as the battle wore on. His comrades surrounded him and protected him from the enemy. On the other hand, the Standard Bearer was the focus of attack of the enemy because if they could cut him down it would have a far bigger effect than the death of any other soldier and would be a great victory for the enemy. The Standard Bearer was the rallying point of the army, the symbol of the nation. The Standard Bearer was not an ordinary soldier. To relate this to our lives today as Muslims, living in a world that seems to be hurtling towards moral and ethical destruction, the term ‘Standard Bearer’ has special relevance. A Standard Bearer of Islam is the embodiment of the Islamic Way. This person is a walking, talking, living model of the beauty of Islam; completely obedient to Allahﷻ and a follower of the Sunnah of Rasoolullahﷺ. A Standard Bearer of Islam is someone who you would point to if someone asked you, ‘Who is a Muslim?’ A Standard Bearer of Islam is confident, not apologetic; stands out from the crowd, does not blend in; is proud of his/her Islam and practices it joyously as a matter of choice. Islam to the Standard Bearer is the primary focus, the criterion for every decision, the basis of their identity. A Standard Bearer differentiates based on Islam and Islam is their ‘Brand’ and their ‘Signature’. A Standard Bearer of Islam is someone who considers their Islam to be the greatest gift from Allahﷻ and considers it a privilege to be its Standard Bearer which they would not exchange for all the gold in the world. A Standard Bearer of Islam understands that being a Standard Bearer is sometimes a lonely job and is ready for it and is proud of it. After all it is the ideology behind the flag that converts a piece of cloth into a symbol that is saluted. What does it take to become a Standard Bearer of Islam? Allahﷻ said about the first Standard Bearer of Islam: لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا Al Ahzab 33:21    Indeed in the Messenger of Allâh (Muhammadﷺ) you have a good example to follow for the one who hopes in (the Meeting with) Allâh and the Last Day and remembers Allâh a great deal. Allahﷻ sent Muhammadﷺ to be a living model of His Message, to demonstrate Islam in practice in every aspect of life and therefore Allahﷻ quoted the whole life of Rasoolullahﷺ as an example for us to follow and related it to our meeting with Him on the Day of Judgment. A Standard is meant to be followed and to be handed down from generation to generation.

“Islam began as something strange, and it shall return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers.” Saheeh Hadeeth [Ibn Maajah, Kitaab al fitan 3986 Like most thinking Muslims of our time, over the last few years, I have also been thinking about the sad state that the Muslim Ummah finds itself in. Like lost sheep we are large in number but distracted, disconnected, and dispersed, prey to every passing wolf. All the power, authority, wealth and influence seems to be in the hands of those who are arrayed against us, leaving us with little choice if any, even with respect to the wealth which is apparently in our hands. It is they who dispose of it at will even though on the face of it, we are its owners. Like most people I too complained, defined our ‘problem’ and re-defined it; discussed it, debated it and agonized over it until I came to the conclusion that none of this was getting me any closer to a solution. And frankly that is all that matters. I read the Qur’an and the Seerah of Rasoolullahﷺ and our history, both ancient and modern because history has the potential to teach us lessons. I spoke to people wiser and more learned than I am and listened carefully to what they had to say; Ulama and others in several countries. I prayed and asked for the help of Allahﷻ to understand our situation and devise a way out of it.  As I thought about these times, I couldn’t help but see many similarities between the situation today and the situation as it existed in the time of Rasoolullahﷺ and his Sahaba during the major part of his life in Makkah. They too had almost no influence, power, or wealth. They were the victims of all kinds of persecution and deprivation. They were evicted from their homes, boycotted, and embargoed, tortured and some were killed. Yet in one generation, in less than 20 years, the situation completely transformed and Muhammadﷺ and his followers became the leaders of Arabia and the known world. The big question is, ‘HOW DID IT HAPPEN? HOW DID THEY DO IT?’ The answer is very simple – this happened simply by Muhammadﷺ and his followers living Islam. All that they did was to be Muslims. They were living models of Islam, Standard Bearers of Islam. They did not spend time in giving speeches about Islam or holding seminars and symposia about points of Fiqh. They did not write momentous treatises on the hidden aspects of this Ayât or that. They lived the Qur’an. They did not lecture others about the importance of the Sunnah. They followed the Sunnah in every single aspect of their lives. They did not debate and create nomenclature to distinguish between what is Haraam and what is Makrooh and within Makrooh what is Tanzeehi and what is Tahreemi. They did not get stuck in minor matters of religious observance, thereby creating divisions. They simply did not do anything that was displeasing to Allahﷻ and His Messengerﷺ. They did not ask which sin was big and which was small. They avoided sin because in their mind it was not the quantum or nature of the disobedience but who was being disobeyed, that was important. And that is why when Allahﷻ used the word ‘Believers’ He meant the Sahaba. So, there it was the answer to my question, ‘What should we do to help ourselves?’ The solution was clear as daylight: ‘Be Muslims as the Sahaba were Muslim. Become Standard Bearers of Islam.’ I realized that it was necessary for us to go back to the basics and see how Rasoolullahﷺ and his Sahaba practiced Islam and do the same with the hope that Allahﷻ would then change our condition when He saw that we were ready to do His work and to give it precedence over our own desires and pursuits. It is really quite simple. We are the ones who complicate it for ourselves and then suffer.

"The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Jabir (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people.” I am not against happiness, and neither was Emerson. But happiness can be the result of very selfish and toxic behavior. People engaging in substance abuse or in backbiting or slandering, and other negative activities can be very happy in their toxicity. That is why the importance of focusing on meaningful, honorable, compassionate action. The root cause of our problems as a society globally is that we have lost our ethical and moral compass. We have made the single-minded pursuit of profit our life’s objective. That is why we have a world that is full of war and violence. This is not sustainable and must change.   People are not equal. Not in this life. Not before Allahﷻ‎. Our job is to become winners and raise winners. Losing is the default. That's the Law of Entropy. Everything goes downhill unless you stop it. A garden untended grows weeds, not roses. A house left unattended doesn't clean itself. A car not maintained breaks down. A body not exercised loses muscle and strength. Not the other way round. So, you must decide what you want from life and then go and get it. The only thing that comes just by waiting, is death. Everything else needs back-breaking effort because results are proportionate to effort. You won’t make that effort unless you enjoy it and that is where a belief in yourself and your mission makes all the difference. To be - You must do. To do - You don't have to be. But unless you do - You will never be My favorite coach is Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers. He won five NFL championships, including Super Bowls I and II. He said: “Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat. Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”  If you want to know whether you are a winner or loser, check if you made your bed this morning. Check what your car looks like, outside, and inside. Do you return a shopping cart to where it is supposed to be after unloading your shopping? Everything matters. All your attitudes and actions indicate your mindset. Winning is important because only winners matter. In 2021, Georgia Tech coach Lewis Caralla asked his football team a question: Are you willing to sprint when the distance is unknown? That will happen only if you have a deep belief in yourself and in your goal. One without the other won’t work. You need both. That is why passion is so important. In WW2 Japan was all but destroyed with the two atomic bombs that America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What followed was not one or two people but the whole nation sprinting without a finish line in sight. Despite the unbelievable loss of life and destruction of infrastructure and society there was neither despair, nor an exodus of Japanese towards the West, nor any hatred for Americans who had destroyed their country. Instead using the strength of their Bushido tradition, there began a reconstruction that in 2 generations made Japan an industrial powerhouse. Japan not only excelled in manufacturing products but also innovated production practices and quality standards that became a byword in industry worldwide.

 بَدَأَ الإِسْلاَمُ غَرِيبًا وَسَيَعُودُ غَرِيبًا فَطُوبَى لِلْغُرَبَاءِ ‏‏ Abu Huraira (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being strange, so blessed are the strangers.” Ibn Majah (Kitab Al-Fitan) In a world based on oppression, courage is strange. In a world based on amassing personal wealth, charity is strange. In a world where net worth means dollars, net worth meaning character is strange. In a world ruled by merchants of death, saving lives is strange. In a world where making money is the goal, the means be damned; virtue is strange. Therefore, blessed are the strangers because they struggle for a world where charity, character, courage, virtue, and kindness will be the standard. This is Islam. We Muslims are like those on a sailing ship, caught in a storm. As the captain of such a ship, there are two paradoxical things that you must be able to do well. Be aware of the forces that are trying to sink you as well as be disconnected enough from them to be able to focus on the best way to navigate your way out of the storm. If you ignore the forces around you to focus, they will sink you. If you get distracted by what the forces throw at you, and lose focus on the goal, that will sink you just as fast. Time is of the essence and urgency is a competitive advantage. That is the difficulty – how to be aware, yet emotionally disconnected. Emotional reactions, no matter how justified, always lead to bad decisions. Seerah is the answer. Suleh Hudaybiyya is Rasoolullahﷺ’s Master Class in dealing with this dichotomy. First a quick essential history lesson. The proliferation of nation states started after WW2. That is a reference point for us to understand that the Nation State is still very much a WIP project and is by no means complete.   https://madsciblog.tradoc.army.mil/180-the-evolution-of-nation-states-and-their-role-in-the-future/ Add to this the complexity of the MNC some of which are wealthier than many Nation States – Amazon at $1 trillion (in 2018) would be #17 in rank if it were a country – and therefore what such companies and those who own them can do to impact global politics is a very important aspect to consider. Given the increasingly important and powerful role of online technology including AI and the enormous resources that these companies wield, it would be extremely naïve to imagine that they wouldn’t want to influence present and future markets. This will lead to a new form of colonialism which will be far more pervasive, insidious, and powerful than anything we have seen in the past. Here people’s minds will be the playgrounds and we will voluntarily allow them to use ours to make profit for their owners. FB and Insta members are already doing it. More will follow. The Nation State idea differs from empires principally because for the first time common people were given a voice in law making. Like all WIP projects it is far from perfect but from our perspective as common people it is a very big step in our development which must be cherished and supported. The alternative is dictatorship. The biggest strength in times like this is to have a historical perspective and as clear an idea as possible about the best way forward. To do that effectively we must be prepared to face facts squarely without any sugar coating. If you can’t diagnose the disease, you can’t prescribe or implement the cure. You can’t diagnose with your eyes blindfolded. So, here’s a no-praise-no-blame view as I interpret the history of our people. You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you. It’s your choice.

This Khutba is a summation of the 7 Khutab titled ‘The Way Forward’. Here, I am going to highlight the action points only. I will begin with my gift to you, which is my own motto: “I will not allow what is not in my control to prevent me from doing what is in my control.” This is based on the reality that when we stand before Allahﷻ, we will not be asked, ‘What happened?’ But we will be asked, ‘What did you do?’ Get ready for the long haul.This is a generational project so the sooner we start the better. Never give up because the balance will tip.It just requires sustained effort. Work only for the pleasure of Allahﷻ. For any building to take shape, first, you need rocks who are willing to go into the foundation and be buried, never to be seen again, known only to the builder but nobody else. We must be ready to be those rocks so that the Muslim Ummah may be reconstructed. Let us remember that victory and defeat is only decided at the end and is not decided by who is left standing, but by which side you stood on. All great successes are built on skin in the game; what you do yourself and take the pain that comes with it. Excellence is the capacity to take pain. Legends are not defined by their successes but by how they bounce back from their failures. If ever there was a legend in the truest and most noble sense of the term, it was Rasoolullahﷺ. Nothing illustrates these principles better than his journey to At-Ta’aif. In the 10th year of Revelation, Rasoolullahﷺ decided to go to At-Ta’aif, to present Islam to the Banu Thaqeef. At that time, many of the biggest names among the Sahaba had already accepted Islam. Abu Bakr, Hamza bin Abdul Muttalib, Omar ibn Al Khattab, Othman ibn Affan, Ali bin Abi Talib (RA) and others were all Muslim and would have given anything to be entrusted with the job of taking the message of Islam to the Banu Thaqeef. But Rasoolullahﷺ didn’t give it to any of them but went himself, with just one companion, Zaib bin Haritha (R). We all know the story of the journey and all that happened during it, but if we talk about personal commitment to the cause demonstrated by action, there’s no finer example. As for resilience, Rasoolullahﷺ’s dua after leaving At-Ta’aif is testimony to his faith and Tawakkul on Allahﷻ. This is the very essence of Islam and the standard which we must compare ourselves to. After all it is the same Allahﷻ that we worship. But we have changed. He begins with: O Allah! To You alone I complain of my helplessness, the scarcity of my resources and my insignificance before mankind. You are the most Merciful of the merciful. You are the Rabb of the helpless and the weak, O Rabb of mine!  And he ends his dua with: May it never be that I should incur Your anger, or that You should be angry with me. And there is no power nor resource, but Yours alone.   This is the essence and the most beautiful example of Taqwa and Tawakkul that I can imagine. To always be focused on the pleasure of Allahﷻ alone. Imagine his situation. He had been walking for about three days to At-Ta’aif. There he and Zaid bin Haritha (R) had been attacked and reviled because of which both had been injured and were bleeding profusely. His emotional injuries were clearly much worse. He was a scion of the most honorable tribe in the Hijaz and descendent of its most honorable chief – Abdul Muttalib. He was famous and honored among all people before he announced Islam. He was a brave warrior, the Messengerﷺ of Allahﷻ who was on a mission as directed by His Rabb to invite people to Islam. He had a right to expect Allahﷻ’s help and protection. Yet when he reached At-Ta’aif, he didn’t see the help of Allahﷻ or His protection. He was insulted, reviled in public, attacked, and was injured and had to flee his persecutors. He knew that His Rabb was witness to what was happening and had the power to stop it and to punish the attackers.

What distinguishes people who never experienced subjugation from those with a collective memory of empire and subjugation, is their willingness to speak up, fight for their rights and to pay for what they enjoy, while the others only complain but do nothing to change the situation. This is the ‘learned helplessness’ of people whose bodies are free, but minds remain enslaved. To own responsibility for our destiny, and work and pay for what is important is a sign of a free mind and emotional maturity. The solution to the copout of globalizing is to localize. If you can’t feed a hundred, feed one. Ask, ‘What can I do?’ And then, do it. Because when we meet Allahﷻ, we will not be asked, ‘What happened?’ We will be asked, ‘What did you do?’ The Arabs of the Hijaz in the 7th century were not subjugated to any empire. They had no king. Their millionaires used to meet in a hall called An-Nadwa to decide on emergent issues. They didn’t have a codified law or judicial system. They had no rulers and bowed to no man. That is why it was easy for them to accept responsibility for taking Islam to the ends of the earth. Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (R) reported that Rasoolullahﷺ ordered us to act to stop injustice. Change it or speak out. The third ‘option’ is a reprimand. عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيّ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ مَنْ رَأَى مِنْكُمْ مُنْكَرًا فَلْيُغَيِّرْهُ بِيَدِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِلِسَانِهِ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَسْتَطِعْ فَبِقَلْبِهِ وَذَلِكَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِيمَانِ “Whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot do so, then with his tongue. If he cannot do so, then with his heart, which is the weakest level of faith.” This was the speech of a man free in body, mind, and spirit. A man who was subjugated to nobody but Allahﷻ. And he told us to take charge of our lives, stop blaming others, and work to make things better. Today our biggest challenge is to reboot our mindsets and learn to think about the community as one and work together to change our lives and destiny. Each of us must learn to pull his weight and not wait for someone else to bleed for us. Muslims are 1.1% of the population in this country. There is no way that any Muslim can ever get elected to the Congress or Senate unless others vote for them. The only way for that to happen is by winning hearts. Our isolationist way of life is suicide. But what do we do about winning hearts? If we want to be taken seriously, we must stand for elected office at the local, state, and national level. Ask how many Muslims are Mayors, Aldermen, State Senators, and on School Boards? Yet we complain that nobody cares about us. Are you surprised? We must encourage our youngsters to make career choices that are different from what they do today. We don’t need more Muslim doctors and engineers. We need more Muslim Senators and Reps. The two paths are different. We must support our youth by working with them to build credibility. And by setting up an endowment fund to support their choice of career. We must accept that only we can save ourselves. But sadly, we hate anyone who tries to awaken us from our stupor. We will not invest what is necessary to change our situation and are satisfied with ‘doing at least something’. Sorry to disappoint you. ‘At least something’, is not from the Qur’an. It is not Sunnah. It is not what the Sahaba did. It is not only useless, but worse than useless because it gives a false impression of action and success. It takes the edge off the pain which is necessary to motivate us to do more than usual. It will never take us to the tipping point and so the scale will never tip for us. We m

Most of us are historically illiterate and our cherry-picking approach to history ensures illiteracy. However, our lives won’t change until we learn lessons from history and break out of the vicious cycles that we are caught up in. We don’t learn the lessons because we can’t differentiate between critiquing and critical analysis and criticizing. We have no capacity to objectively analyze incidents in history without either hero-worshiping those involved or trashing them. People who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it. That is what we are doing today, both globally and locally in our organizations. We do the same with each other and have this insane, unspoken rule – For me to love you and be your friend, you must agree with everything I say. We must develop the capacity to not only accept dissent but to encourage it and learn to disagree without being disagreeable. We must not only accept those who disagree with us, but value them, because they help us to look at another side of our pet theory. Without that it is very easy to blind ourselves to reality until we meet it face to face and realize that it is the face of Malakul Mawth.   Here's a short history lesson. Since the late 7th century, Muslims have lived in empires and have imbibed the culture of feudal subjugation. First the Banu Umayya (661-750). Then the Banu Abbas (750-1258). After that arose three great Muslim empires, the Safavid (1736), the Mughals (1857), and the Ottomans (1927). Today most Muslims live in democratic non-Muslim countries. The dynamics of society, opportunities for development, citizen’s rights, and obligations, have all changed. If we still want to live in the fantasy of empire, we will be discarded. It is time to wake up and face the reality of our existence today that we are far better off than we were under empires. Let me share my perception through the lenses of political science, and psychology. Emotional maturity is the process of changing our mindset from – Others are responsible for me – to – I am responsible for myself and others. So, are we adults or still children? In (Transactional Analysis) Eric Berne calls it the Parent-Child Ego State. The Parent is ‘authority’, and the Child feels powerless and blames authority for whatever happens to him. It is always someone else’s fault. To mature emotionally is to break out of this cycle and become Adults. Most people are physically adults but emotionally still Children looking to the Parent, to solve their problems. Let’s do a self-check. What is your greatest, most urgent desire? Job? Car? House? Marriage? Holiday? Umrah? What is it? Things for ourselves or for the Ummah? That’s why they say, ‘The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.’ The sign of emotional maturity is to think of others. The finest examples of this were the Anbiya. At the end of his life when Rasoolullahﷺ was passing away, Jibreel (AS) came to inform him that Allahﷻ wanted to meet him. Rasoolullahﷺ didn’t ask about the future of his family. He asked Jibreel (AS), ‘What will happen to my Ummah?’ Concern for others is the sign that we have matured. Concern means action. Without action it is only words; useless, powerless, and worthless. So, the next question is, ‘If you claim to be concerned about the Ummah, what are you doing about it?’ We had a self-test last week, the 25-mile march for Ceasefire in Palestine. It was an opportunity to see our faces in the mirror. You know if you participated or not. You know why and why not. However, let me remind you that the march was organized by Jewish Voices for Peace under the leadership of a college student, Molly Aronson. Ask why? In material terms what happens in Palestine makes no difference to her. And doing this resulted in paying a very heavy price. Yet she did it knowingly. So, on the Day of Judgment when she and we will be asked,

My brothers and sisters, in these series of my 7 – Khutab called, ‘The way forward’, I will try to define for you the problem that we Muslims face globally and to suggest the way forward to a solution. There are two critical things which you must remember as you listen to me. One, that we didn’t reach this state of being overnight. And therefore, neither is the solution going to work overnight. It is not magic. Second, the only way for the solution to work is if all of us commit to working with total sincerity and enthusiasm to create the solution and continue to work even though many of us will not see any change. It is the theory of the tipping point to which I will return in my 7th Khutba. I just want to highlight this now and ask you to make dua that Allahﷻ gives us the Istiqama (perseverance) to succeed. We are living in a revolution, but it is perhaps not what you may think. Let me explain. We are living today in times that I call, ‘Forks in history’. Forking times in history are characterized by turmoil. Epidemics, wars, economic collapse, political instability, civil war and so on. But it is precisely for that reason that the foundations of the structures of society are shaken, and for a short time, it is given into the hands of ordinary people to change the path of destiny. The Industrial Revolution (1760-1840), the War of Independence in India (1857), the American Civil War (1861-65), the 1st and 2nd World Wars, the Great Depression of 1930 which ended with WW2 in 1939 which shows that endings are not always happy. All these are markers in history of changes in paths of destiny. There were others but this list will suffice for us to see how the decisions of people of the time, leaders, and followers, changed the path of destiny for others. We don’t have the time to do an analysis of each of these events to point out what the decisions were. But we must do it because today as I mentioned, we are living in another revolution and what we choose to do or not to do, will define the path of destiny for coming generations. Believe me, our destiny is in our hands. In the hands of adults. Not in the hands of children or the youth. It is we adults who created this society and we adults who can act to change it. That is why Rasoolullahﷺ focused on teaching adults. Children learn from adults, be those parents, teachers, or others. What they learn, they teach their children. So, be careful about what you teach your children. Children listen with their eyes. They don’t care what you say until they see what you do. We Muslims globally are like a ship caught in a storm. Battered by winds and ocean currents, striving to drive it onto rocks. As captains of such a ship, we must do two paradoxical things simultaneously. Be aware of the hostile forces that surround us, yet not allow them to distract us from our goal of navigating the ship safely out of the storm. The good news is that all storms end. The bad news is that any storm can sink a ship where the captain has no idea about the destination or how to get there. Navigation, whether it is of ships or of life, must be learnt. This means that in order to learn, we must spend time and effort with teachers who know what to teach and how. It is not instant coffee and won’t happen in your spare time. This is the choice that each one of us must make. Because it is we who will have to live our lives. If you think learning takes too long and is too expensive, try ignorance. Our biggest problem today is the absence of viable alternatives to leadership. Our challenge is to produce ethical, moral, global leaders. Without that the world is doomed. It is as simple as that. We are fed and most of us believe and have internalized the myth that technology and wealth can solve all our problems. But both are value neutral tools. Neither good nor evil. It is the mind that decides how to use them and so it is the ...

If I must die,you must liveto tell my storyto sell my thingsto buy a piece of clothand some strings,(make it white with a long tail)so that a child, somewhere in Gazawhile looking heaven in the eyeawaiting his dad who left in a blaze–and bid no one farewellnot even to his fleshnot even to himself–sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up aboveand thinks for a moment an angel is therebringing back loveIf I must dielet it bring hopelet it be a taleLast poem of Refaat Alareer, academic, writer, poet, and the voice of Gaza for the English-speaking world. He died with his family yesterday. We live in troubled times, a huge sign of which is the very sharp increase in mental illness of different kinds. Ranging from anxiety to much more serious ailments, resulting at the extreme in despair and suicide. In 2021, 48,183Americans died by suicide and there were 1.7 million suicide attempts. An estimated 49,449 people died by suicide in 2022. The rate of suicide is highest in middle-aged white men, the most privileged section of the population who accounted for 69.68% of suicide deaths in 2021. The strange thing is that this is happening in the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world. While in Palestine there are no suicides. Not one. People are being massacred but they have set such an example of Ridha bil Qadha and Shukr that it has become the reason for a lot of people converting to Islam. We don’t know what Allahﷻ has decreed for Palestine and Palestinians, but if we look beyond the material visible world, we will be able to see the gates of Jannah open above Gaza and the angels escorting the souls of the Shuhada into everlasting grace and beauty. We will be able to smell the perfume of the most beautiful musk as the curtains between the A’alam ush Shahada and A'alam ul Ghayb are parted for those who Allahﷻ chose to honor. Like it happened with the Mongols, who destroyed Baghdad and the Abbasi Khilafa and then became Muslim and became the defenders of Islam, the West which is blindly supporting genocide will wake up as it sees the true strength and power of the human being, which is not in weapons or money but in heart and spirit. As someone said, ‘Courage is made in Palestine.’ Our Palestinian brothers and sisters are demonstrating a level of this, which I am not sure, has ever been seen in the history of humankind. To mention just one clip I saw, a journalist asks a Palestinian man, ‘You have no bread, no water, no electricity. How will you live?’ The man smiles, looks up at the heavens, raises his index finger and says, ‘But we have Allahﷻ.’ You can see the wonder on the face of the journalist. The reality is that you can’t kill someone who refuses to die. Because death is not the death of the body but the death of the heart and spirit. The body will perish, no matter where we live. But the heart and spirit live and die by different rules. They live when they are connected to Allahﷻ and a weakness in that connection makes them sick and a break, kills them. The response of the Palestinian brother points to the meaning of real wealth. Truly Rasoolullahﷺ would have been proud of these people. I remember the Hadith of Rasoolullahﷺ in Musnad Ahmed. عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَدِدْتُ أَنِّي لَقِيتُ إِخْوَانِي قَالَ فَقَالَ أَصْحَابُ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَوَلَيْسَ نَحْنُ إِخْوَانَكَ قَالَ أَنْتُمْ أَصْحَابِي وَلَكِنْ إِخْوَانِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِي وَلَمْ يَرَوْنِي Anas ibn Malik (R) reported: Rasoolullahﷺ said, “I wish I could meet my brothers.” The Sahaba said, “Are we not your brothers?” Rasoolul

History teaches one critical lesson: Only those who contribute are valued. Only they have leverage, are influential, and have power. Their religion or ethnicity doesn’t matter. What matters is their contribution to society on a local or global scale. The world works on one overarching principle: What’s in it for me? WiiFM. That’s how it was and that’s how it is. Our belief and personal acts of worship add value to us individually because if we work for the pleasure of Allahﷻ, He will reward us in the Aakhira and put Baraka in our work in this life. But as far as the world is concerned, it doesn’t matter what you believe. If you contribute to society, you are valued. When you stop contributing, it doesn't matter what you did in the past, you are discarded. Allahﷻ told us about our role in society. He said: كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ A’al Imraan 3: 110    You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you encourage good, forbid evil, and believe in Allah. Allahﷻ is not talking about ethnicity. He is talking about action. We are the best if we do what we were created for.  To help us understand, let me ask you to list the top three universities, hospitals, libraries, research laboratories, factories, or things you use daily and without which life would be impossible or terribly inconvenient. You may like to start with your cell phone. Then ask, “Which of these is made by a Muslim company or is in a Muslim country?” My question is, “If the world wakes up tomorrow and all Muslims and signs of Muslims and Islam including all contributions of present-day Muslims have vanished from the earth, what will be lost for the others?’ Who will mourn our passing? Will anyone shout, “Bring back the Muslims?” What is our contribution to the world today? We are net consumers. Not contributors in any field. Contributors are valued. Consumers are used. That is why nobody cares about us. In 1631 the foundation of a building was laid in India. It was completed in 1653. In 1636 the foundation of another building was laid in America. Both buildings exist. The first building was built by a man whose personal wealth was equal to 25% of world GDP of the time. The second building was founded by a Puritan priest. The first one has two occupants. Both dead. The second one continues to contribute leaders to every walk of life in the world and to influence society in profound and lasting ways. It has an endowment of $50.7 and the biggest library in the world. That’s the story of the Taj Mahal and Harvard University. There is a difference between building structures and building people. Impact on society and life comes only from people. Not from structures. That is why I want us to think about the way forward. What must change with us? What must we focus on from today? The Abbasi Khilafa ended in 1258 and the Umayyad Khilafa in Al-Andalus ended in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Muslims from Spain. After that there were three great Muslim empires in India, Iran, and Europe – Mughal, Safavid, and Ottoman. But apart from building magnificent palaces, masajid and forts, and supporting art and music, and fighting wars they left no mark of their passing except ruins. This is why others have the world and we have the tombs. Allahﷻ told us what to do. وَعَدَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ كَمَا ٱسْتَخْلَفَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ ٱلَّذِى ٱرْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَ

Think long term. It is not about winning one conflict. It is about becoming influential and creating a situation where there are no more conflicts. It is about becoming influential where you can initiate and direct local and national policy. It is about being in positions where the decisions you take will positively impact people across the globe and become Sadaqa Jaariya for you. Let me mention for you just two such decisions the effects of which the world is feeling to this day. One was the Sykes–Picot Agreement, of 1916 (Nov 23, 1915 – Jan 3, 1916); a secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France, with assent from the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy, to define their mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in an eventual carving up of the Ottoman Empire. The British and French diplomats, Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot drafted the agreement which was ratified by their respective governments on 9 and 16 May 1916. The second was theBalfour Declaration (1917) which was a letter from the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British Government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, which was an Ottoman region with a small Jewish population. The big lesson to learn is that what matters even more than who you are, is where you are. Environment dictates effectiveness. A fish can’t even breathe on land but in the water, it is the epitome of speed and grace. Today we have as many capable people as anyone else, but they are not in the right places. That must be our goal, right person in the right place. To change anything, you must own it first. You can’t change what you don’t own. Your country is America. Not Syria or Pakistan or Iraq or Lebanon. It is America. You are a citizen. Not a visitor waiting to go home. The truth is that this is already the case with your children. Not one of them is capable of returning to your country of origin and living there. This is critical because only when you think of America as your own country can you work to make it beneficial for the world. If you read history, you will see that in every age there has always been some empire or nation which dominated. In this post WW2 age, it is America. Given that China or Russia are the other options, I am thankful for this. The citizens of this country have the opportunity to make that a blessing for the world. Only you can do this. Not outsiders. Therefore, you have two choices: to complain about what’s happening or to change it. Allahﷻ encourages us to become powerful and establish justice on earth. إِنَّا لَنَنصُرُ رُسُلَنَا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَيَوْمَ يَقُومُ ٱلْأَشْهَـٰدُ Ghafir 40: 51    We certainly help Our messengers and the believers, ˹both˺ in this worldly life and on the Day the witnesses will stand forth وَأُخْرَىٰ تُحِبُّونَهَا نَصْرٌ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَفَتْحٌ قَرِيبٌ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ Saff 61: 13   ˹He will also give you˺ another favor that you long for - help from Allah and imminent victory. ˹So˺ give good news ˹O Prophet˺ to the believers. To create change we need people in four critical areas. Legislature, Judiciary, Executive, and Media. Lawmaking, interpreting the law, administration, and mind-steering. That means we need attorneys, judges, politicians, administrators, journalists and media specialists, professors of political science and sociology, and financial experts. We have enough doctors, engineers, MBAs,

In Sura Isra Allahﷻ mentioned two historic events. وَقَضَيْنَآ إِلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ فِى ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَتُفْسِدُنَّ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَلَتَعْلُنَّ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ أُولَىٰهُمَا بَعَثْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ عِبَادًا لَّنَآ أُو۟لِى بَأْسٍ شَدِيدٍ فَجَاسُوا۟ خِلَـٰلَ ٱلدِّيَارِ وَكَانَ وَعْدًا مَّفْعُولًا ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَا لَكُمُ ٱلْكَرَّةَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَمْدَدْنَـٰكُم بِأَمْوَٰلٍ وَبَنِينَ وَجَعَلْنَـٰكُمْ أَكْثَرَ نَفِيرًا إِنْ أَحْسَنتُمْ أَحْسَنتُمْ لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَإِنْ أَسَأْتُمْ فَلَهَا فَإِذَا جَآءَ وَعْدُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ لِيَسُـۥٓـُٔوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَلِيَدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْمَسْجِدَ كَمَا دَخَلُوهُ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ وَلِيُتَبِّرُوا۟ مَا عَلَوْا۟ تَتْبِيرًا عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن يَرْحَمَكُمْ وَإِنْ عُدتُّمْ عُدْنَا وَجَعَلْنَا جَهَنَّمَ لِلْكَـٰفِرِينَ حَصِيرًا Isra 17: 4- 8    And We warned the Children of Israeel in the Scripture, “You will certainly cause corruption in the land twice, and you will become extremely arrogant. “When the first of the two warnings would come to pass, We would send against you some of Our slaves of great might, who would ravage your homes. This would be a warning fulfilled. Then ˹after your repentance˺ We would give you the upper hand over them and aid you with wealth and offspring, causing you to outnumber them. If you act rightly, it is for your own good, but if you do wrong, it is your own loss. “And when the second warning would come to pass, your enemies would ˹be left to˺ totally disgrace you and enter the Temple ˹of Jerusalem˺ as they entered it the first time, and utterly destroy whatever would fall into their hands. Perhaps your Rabb will have mercy on you ˹if you repent˺, but if you return ˹to sin˺, We will return ˹to punishment˺. And We have made Hell a ˹permanent˺ confinement for the disbelievers.” In the first instance, in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylonians besieged Jerusalem which fell after a 30-month siege, following which the Babylonians systematically destroyed the city and the First Temple. The Kingdom of Judah was dissolved and many of its inhabitants were taken as slaves to Babylon. The second siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, and following a five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city and the Second Jewish Temple and enslaved and deported the survivors. There were no Jews left in Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem was thoroughly sacked by the Romans. Buildings, homes, and walls were torn down, leaving the city in ruins. The level of devastation was such that Josephus claimed that those who visited the city after its destruction could scarcely believe it had ever been inhabited. In this period mentioned in the Qur’an, it was the Bani Israeel who were the Khair Ummah of the time. Allahﷻ said that they were living lives of disobedience and refused to repent, so Allahﷻ allowed His warlike slaves to enter the holy city and destroy it and enslave the Muslims. Allahﷻ didn’t say that this was because of what the people in Jerusalem were doing, but because of what the Bani Israeel where doing generally wherever they lived. That is why many scholars have quoted these A