We've heard this. We've heard so many
people coming to Islam. Do you believe
there's one God? Yes, I do. Do you
believe Prophet Muhammad is the
messenger of God? Yes, I do.
Hashu hashu. Allah.
Swear.
There is no god to
worship except my one
God, Allah.
A shadow
on
Muhammad rasool Allah. There is nothing
really of worship worship except Allah.
Allah you right now.
[Music]
No god, no god. But Allah but Allah and
Muhammadan and Muhammad. Messenger of
Allah. Messenger of Allah.
Abdul who? Abdul who?
[Music]
Abdul who?
We've seen the videos, but now right in
front of me, he's telling me the
catalyst was I'm seeing it live now.
He's explaining to me he was seeing the
the
resilience of these people. Like people
don't even know what's happening, but
they're like, "What is that? Who are
these people? How can they live through
what I can't even watch?" Right? It's
mindblowing.
And what kind of inspiration can they
take from the people of Gaza?
Have we
forgotten? Have we forgotten?
Live with that in mind. He's calling
your bluff. Assalamu
alaykum. From here and there. I get
people coming up to me and they're like
they start singing this theme song. I'm
going to see if I can get you guys in
that rhythm real quick. We'll try it
together. How's that? You guys just
heard it.
So, I'm going to say the the words and
then you guys will kick it from there.
How's that? This is
the This is
the This is the
dean. Allah Akbar. This is the dean.
The
show. This is the show. This is the
show. This is the This is the show. This
is the show. This is the Dean Show. This
is the Dean Show.
Let me share something with
you. For those that didn't know,
alhamdulillah, the Dean Show started
around 20 years
ago. And if you didn't know, we were the
first Alhamdulillah Islamic TV talk show
in America. That was when YouTube was
just getting started. In those 20 years,
I've been blessed to share so many
inspirational
stories of people coming to Islam, also
clearing up the many misconceptions
about Islam.
Another thing we've been
highlighting is the many injustices that
have been happening to Muslims all
around the world. You know, in
1992 to
1995 before
YouTube, we had the greatest genocide
that happened in Bosnia. It's where my
family's
from. And
now we're witnessing in
4K being live streamed Tik Tok and all
over the place the great greatest modern
genocide of our time. And that's what
we're going to be
discussing with my panel here as we
explore the resilience of the people of
Gaza from both the Islamic and
psychological perspective highlighting
how they exemplify patience, hope,
dignity. And we want to leave you guys
the audience feeling
empowered after this session as we
discuss how the Islamic teachings of
faith
[Applause]
imo in Allah the creator of the heavens
and earth and the justice resonate
resonate with the story of the people
of takir.
So I have with me no stranger to the
dean show Muhammad Ashinawi. How are
you? Alhamdulillah. Hanging in there and
doctor Ahmed. How are you?
Alhamdulillah.
Let's start off with um this first
question I want to ask you. How you guys
been? How's everything? Alhamdulillah.
More blessed than we realize, more
blessed than we deserve. We ask
Allahawel to continue to grant us the
good of this life and the good of the
next and protect us from the torment of
the fire.
Sister, how are you? Alhamdulillah. I
mean, it's been a good start at the
convention. Um, but I think this topic
that we're talking about is is a deep
topic and I think it's a topic that a
lot of us need to work through and talk
through because this is one of the few
places and spaces we can do this. And
so, I'm looking forward to our
conversation today, inshallah. Let me
ask you guys, it's been over a year.
Listen, a year we're entering
2025, 2024 now. It's been over a year
that this genocide has continued to be
live streamed. So, how do you think
people are experiencing now as opposed
to then? Sister, you want to take it
away?
I mean, I think one of the things that
we need to realize is just like back
then, a year ago, um, when it initially
started, people were struggling then and
were shocked, but I think now it's gone
on for so long that we're having a
number of different experiences. You
know, on the one hand, you have many
individuals who are who are feeling
overwhelmed, feeling stuck, feeling
exhausted,
um just not knowing what to do with
their emotions, right? There's so much
they're still carrying because how can
this be going on for so long? How can we
as human beings, regardless of faith,
right? I mean, we as Muslims are
horrified, but how can people of other
faith allow that to continue to happen,
right? So there's a lot of loss of hope
in in in society in humanity and I think
a lot of people are still grip
grapprippling with it grappling with
that like you know and so we're stuck
and we're struggling and we're exhausted
and some of us it's resulting in
difficulty focusing difficulty kind of
carrying on with life's
realities and then some of us are kind
of trying to block it off I don't want
to think about it anymore. I don't want
to talk about it anymore and sort of
block it off because I need to function
still, right? And I think one of the
things that we as a community need to do
is start talking about it. Recognizing
that this issue, these challenges, it's
heavy on our hearts. And for us to be
able to really help and have an impact
and help our brothers and sisters in we
need to deal with our emotions so that
we can channel it in a way that is
proactive and helpful. So I think one of
the biggest things I would say is we
haven't necessarily fully talked about
and worked through and processed our
feelings.
Sure.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean in addition to all of
this
uh definitely feeling a lot of that from
the general pulse in the community. Uh
how is it that we can self-regulate our
emotions in a way that will keep us
productive because to get overwhelmed we
will throw in the towel. And also to get
numb you're also going to be rendered
nonproductive. You're going to throw in
the towel.
So we neither want to get desensitized
and become indifferent nor do we want to
become sort of jaded and desparing and
therefore also it's going to give us the
same end. And I think this is a great
opportunity for us to appreciate how
Islam reminds us to as we grieve the
deaths of our martyrs also celebrate
their lives. You
know, one of the great examples I've
heard one of the uh the scholars mention
who who's also a psychologist. He says,
you know, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam is standing there in Medina
delivering a sermon and
essentially watching what's happening in
Ma 600 miles away. The army, the Muslim
army was out there
and three of his greatest companions are
leading that army. One after another
they die. He's watching it live stream.
Allah is permitting him to see it. Very
similar, a great analog for what we're
seeing today. And he's narrating to the
Sahabah what is happening as he's on the
pulpit and he is saying that you know
has fallen and Jaffur picks up the flag
and Jaffer has
fallen happy to the flag has fallen and
tears are streaming down his blessed
cheeks sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Then
he says, "A sword from the swords of God
has picked up the flag and Allah has
granted a way out at his hands. The army
comes back and it's exactly as it
happened." Right? So in addition to be
it being one of the proofs of
prophethood, it is also a prophetic
regulation of emotions. He showed us
it's okay for the eye to tear and the
heart to
achamall. But also think about it in
another in in subsequently he goes to
his companions and he says to
them because of the three that fell was
his cousin especially him. He watched
him die right? He goes and says to the
people, "Prepare food for the family of
Jaffar because there has come to them
that which preoccupies them, that which
emotionally smothers them, the death of
Jaffer." And so he's giving them room to
grieve. But then 3 days later, he says
what? Don't cry over my brother today.
The pain is still going to be there. You
may not be able to fully move past it.
you're now going to move with it, but
after giving us three days. So likewise,
some people feel this uh imposttor
syndrome they call it or this survivor's
guilt they call it. It's all right. You
need time to grieve. Go ahead and grieve
so that we can get back to work. It's
normal. It's human. You're not a
hypocrite. But make sure this is for the
sake of getting back to it, not giving
yourself an excuse to check out of it.
That's that beautiful balance that Islam
strikes in every respect. This just
being one wonderful example of that.
Are you guys seeing just recently a few
weeks ago? So I'm in the I'm in Florida
at the Dean Center
and the brothers called me and say we
have some visitors. Uh they flew in and
they're going to stay in the masid and
visit and they invited some locals to
come by. One of them was his name is
Jonathan. So he's a convert. So now I
sit with Jonathan. We're talking. I
started to do an interview and to get
his story because that's what we do,
right? We get their stories how they
came to Islam. And then we've heard
this. We've heard so many people coming
to Islam. We've seen the videos. But now
right in front of me, he's telling me
the catalyst was I'm seeing it live now.
He's explaining to me he was seeing the
the
resilience of these people. He's now
he's a Christian and he's watching these
videos and I and when I asked him what
kicked it off, he was talking about this
term resilience of these people and that
took him to a level where he started
asking questions and next thing you know
he's on a dean show talking about how he
accepted us how he how he came further
and accepted. Are you guys seeing that
now? Also, you're in imam in the masid,
you also active. Are you seeing I got to
see it not just on the TV but right in
front of me. this this will come out
soon. Are you seeing that?
Absolutely. I mean, I do want to give
room for our sister to speak here, but I
I love the way you captured that it was
about the resilience. Like, why are
people becoming Muslim faster through
the people of Gaza right now than all of
the 20 years of da me and you've been
doing together? Subhan Allah. Wh why why
are they I I say that the people of Gaza
have done a better job at dawa and a
better job at mental health for people
than all of the sh and all of the mental
health therapists combined because
they're walking the talk like people
don't even know what's happening but
they're like what is that who are these
people how can they live through what I
can't even watch right it's mindblowing
and you know walking the talk is a
different thing seeing the faith in
front of you is very different than
hearing about it. And we've all, I'm
sure, heard of it. I have personal
stories of as well. People walk through
the door and say, you know, can you tell
us about like what drives these people?
For sure. What renders them unbreakable?
What is it that allows them to smile in
the face of tragedy despite the pain?
Smile through the pain. I get pricricked
by a thorn and I have a meltdown. Their
whole world crumbles. The superpowers of
the world can't keep them on their
knees. What is going on here? I need an
explanation. I want that. Wait, I don't
I don't think they heard that. You have
a meltdown for what? People get
pricricked by a thorn cuz you know the
iPhone is coming out today and they only
have white and and charcoal and they got
a meltdown and you have to wait till
Monday for the rose one. How am I going
to show up to school without the rose?
This Jonathan was telling me he said,
"Look, he just saw this he just saw this
man lose his house, his family, and he
said and now he's just got his cat and
he's saying
alhamdulillah. Sister, do you want to
comment?" Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think
there's also another thing we need to
think about. Um, they're going through
so much trauma, right? And we're seeing
the trauma and their reaction to the
trauma is actually it's amazing. I mean,
there's nothing else we can say about
that because they're going through so
much hardship, you know, losing their
families, losing losing their houses,
losing everything, anything and
everything around them intentionally
being targeted, right? And despite that
hardship, they're turning to
Allah. They're turning to each other.
They're turning to the world and still
pushing through for change. And so when
we think about what's going on, we need
to really think about what is the
connection of what's going on in terms
of trauma and
resilience, right? And so when we think
about the trauma, any other people, any
other nation, if this type of thing
happened to them, totally demoralized,
could not continue
on. Now that's not to say that our
Palestinian brothers and sisters are not
exper experiencing trauma. At least 90%
of children in Ghaza in Palestine
experience trauma and a reported trauma
and this trauma has been going on for 76
years. So it's not just the kids, it's
generations of individuals. So recognize
that this is happening and yet how are
they able to be resilient? Right? And
part of it is recognizing that when
we're talking about resilience, we're
talking about the
ability to uh to deal with the hardships
around you and be able to adapt to the
reality to be able to heal from it, to
find meaning and
purpose. And one of the reasons why
they're able to do it is because our
beautiful dean, right? Our faith gives
you the space in place to grieve but
also gives you mechanisms and methods to
make meaning of what's going on to
understand that there is a purpose of
what's happening to understand that even
if there is this hardship Allahhana has
promised us ease. So a lot of the
cognitive restructuring that we talk
about in psychology those abilities and
those gifts have been embedded within
our faith. It's embedded in our sira.
And so they have this ability and this
example within the s within the faith
that they've been living through for 75
years. And for us to be able to see
that, witness that is truly a gift. And
what we're also really cool thing is
we're seeing the impact on our young
people today. So I I'm the executive
director of the family and youth
institute and we've just completed a
research study looking at the impact of
what's happening in Gaza has had on our
youth and what we did see is we found an
increase about one in three Muslim youth
are experiencing anxiety and similarly
levels in
depression. But what's amazing is in
despite those issu those challenges,
they're also reporting character growth,
right? They're learning from the
examples of our brothers and sisters.
And so, not only are they representing
for themselves, but they're also
impacting our our lives as well. So,
that's beautiful. Mashallah,
I want to define here because we're
using this word resilience for some of
the people like okay, give me a
definition. So resilience, pay
attention, refers to the ability to
recover, adapt, and thrive in the face
of adversity, challenges, or stress. I
mean, they're doing it at a whole
another level. What do you want to add
to this term, this word resilience?
I think recognizing it's the ability
like you may not have the ability to
control what's happening around you
which is the reality of our brothers and
sisters in Palestine as well as all over
the world. There's so many different
situations at home as well as abroad
where there are issues of adversity and
challenges.
But I would also add is that's the
resilience is how you're reacting to the
adversity around you. And that helps us
realize that we have some control in
situations where there is no control. So
for our brothers and sisters in
Palestine, they're able to control their
reaction to the challenges given to
them. Right? And for us as well to
learn, we can react to the challenges
that we're seeing, the horrors that
we're seeing and react in a way that is
pleasing to Allah as well as helping our
brothers and sisters make change. Let me
ask you this. How does one take trauma
and turn it into resilience? And does
all trauma lead to post-traumatic stress
disorder?
So not all trauma necessarily leads to
post traumatic stress
disorder. However, if
you sometimes when the trauma overtakes
you and you don't have the support
systems and you don't have the ability
to help you get through the trauma then
it has a higher chance of experiencing
and resulting post-traumatic stress
disorder. Now I think one of the things
that we are fortunate to to have is our
faith. Now having our faith doesn't mean
that you will never experience
PTSD. It just means it gives us an added
boost to help us get through. Right? So
as I mentioned earlier when we think
about trauma and you see all of that's
going on, right? If you didn't for us
with our dean for with our faith we have
trust in Allahhana tala in the sense
that if this is happening there's good
in
it meaning there are changes that we
don't know about we don't understand but
there is a reason that Allahh is making
this happen there's a reason for the um
and there reason there's a personal
reason right for the um you're seeing us
come together in a way that no one has
seen before behind at one cause pushing
no matter where you are. No matter if
you're in Malaysia or if you're in in if
you're in England, South America, you're
seeing people around the world gathering
together to push and address and raise
and and call for the end of the
genocide, right? But also at the
personal level, we're seeing individuals
make major changes such as accepting
Islam or even changing life directions,
trae career direct trajectories because
they're re they're realizing that
there's more to life than money, right?
And so these are opportunities for us to
bring about change. So PTSD,
post-traumatic stress
disorder, are you seeing at the misogyny
people like, "Okay, what's wrong with
you? I think I got PSD uh because my
father yelled at me or I got PSD because
I had to um shut down my TikTok or you
get the point, right? So, what kind of
PTSD are you cases are you seeing and
can all PTSD can it be turned into
resilience?
So, I I am not licensed to make that
diagnosis. Right. Okay. We'll ask that
if you give us some after he finishes.
Yeah. But is it an observable reality
that we are more irritable? We are more
fragile in the age of comforts and
luxuries and trying to make you got it.
This is an undeniable facet. We even
call it the age of rage. People sort of
get up in their feelings way too quick
because they don't have a tolerance for
frustrations. And this should be
expected. Like if I'm so used to swiping
across a screen and something gets drop
shipped at my door real quick within 24
hours what do you mean the key is not
fitting in the hole? What do you mean I
need to wait an extra 20? That's double
the length. That's two lifetime. So this
idea of uh building resilience through
tolerating frustration. I want to say
that number one that's part of the magic
of our faith. If people are comfortable
with the word magic there are halal
forms of magic if you will. I don't mean
the black sorcery or anything like that.
I mean like eloquence. The prophet
sallall alaihi wasallam says eloquence
does the work of magic. Likewise
faith is transformative. That's a better
term. You know I have a friend who
actually left Islam uh born into a
Muslim family and he came back to Islam
and one of the things he loves to talk
about is how Islam and those who adhere
to Islam develop anti-fragility.
I had no idea what the term was. So, let
me explain it in a quick second. He says
there's things that are fragile. You
know, fragile, like that sticker in the
airport, then they still throw your
luggage and break it. That one. So,
there's fragile, easily broken. Then
there's nonfragile means it's durable.
It can take a hit, right? It can
tolerate trauma, right? He says
antifragile is kind of like the
Incredible Hulk notion. The more you
stress it, like a muscle, the more you
stress it, the bigger it grows. He said
likewise the more you fight Islam the
more it grows and sort of the more a
Muslim is pressed the stronger he gets
because the capacity of faith is endless
it is your supply from allahel and that
is why the trauma we're not saying it
will never phase you but it will never
break you it will not break you if you
have a sufficient amount of faith and in
the long run it will enable you to
become even stronger and the people of
course once again we're going to I have
to keep circling back to them because
like you just look at what they do like
you know I was reading how this
physician uh in Gaza she restores
someone's jaw that was blown off by that
little flimsy wire on the top on the
nose piece of the face mask you know the
co face mask as the she restored
someone's jaw with that who would have
even thought to try when you see someone
in that condition I'm reading about them
uh utilizing the battery pack on the
dynamite
uh to recharge their phone so they can
keep live streaming the genocide and
telling the world the Zionists are
lying. You read about people they cut
off their water supply and they make a
makeshift tool at home to desalinate,
remove the the salinity, the salt from
the seawater to give them a little bit
more mileage, a little bit more
hydration in the coming months.
Who would even think to try? You would
be broken without the faith that is very
evident in these people. And whoever
thinks it comes from anything but their
faith should just check. Are we not
subjected to a fraction of that? And we
don't have such a framework to process
to bounce back to power through. It is
from the iman. The iman that Allah gives
to only those that he loves.
Uh Dr. Dr. Could people go from having
PTSD to becoming resilient?
Yeah, I mean I think it's important to
recognize that, you know, there's
different kind of um in terms of trauma
may come on a different uh spectrum,
right? And so sometimes people will need
professional help, right? And there's no
shame in that. Sometimes it's it's
important to make sure that you get the
professional help that you need when you
need it. Just like you go to the
doctor's office to take care of your
blood pressure and diabetes for trauma
sometimes you do need to get the
professional help. In addition to that
to recognize that one our faith can be a
protective factor. This is a term that
you're talking about in kind of helping
us get through those those that trauma.
And when you have enough protective
factors in place, faith is one of those
protective factors that can help you.
Another important factor is community
right having support system like your
brothers and sisters in faith ha knowing
that you're part of something bigger one
of the beautiful things last last mass
convention we had all come here
brokenhearted feeling really down and we
came together and there was something
beautiful that happened at the end of
entertainment I don't know if you saw
that or not but when the dupka came on,
the Nishe came on and Islam started
singing Viva Viva Palestina. The energy
shifted, right? And I kept and then
after the
entertainment, everybody shifted over to
the Hyatt and there was nid and singing
and connection. I I've been coming to
mass convention since the beginning. I
have never seen this before. And as I
thought about what was going on, I
realized that was us coming together as
a community, feeling the pain together,
celebrating together, recognizing that
yes, we may feel alone in our homes, but
we aren't alone. You look to your right,
you look to your left, your brothers and
sisters who are here, we all care and
bleed and and and care about what's
going on. And so when we think about
trauma, when we realize that there are
other people who care for us, love us
and are there for us, that helps us
reduce the impact of that trauma. These
are individuals who can reach out to as
well as who can look after us. And that
makes us all that makes all the
difference when it comes to switching
from trauma to resilience. You know, I
even heard from a a marketing specialist
that this like algorithmically speaking
in terms of the traction on the internet
happened as well that it got to a point
where people because of all of the
trauma, they stopped uh
engaging the endless bad news. But every
time something was shared that showed an
uptick, a a bright a silver lining, a
bright moment, that was getting all the
engagement in the world. It shows you
that people are thirsty for it. Thirsty
to see we are together. Thirsty to see
we were starting to make a difference
together. You know, I uh I I shared this
with my community uh recently in auda
that the same way we're celebrating
their resilience in their lives, we also
need to stop and celebrate what we have
done as well because the tide is
turning. Wall it's turning. It has never
been like this before. And sometime you
just stop and see there's tangible proof
for it. The um has never been more
united. Right or wrong? Yes.
Like the the the CEO of Starbucks has
been fired. Yes or no? Like McDonald's
the the campus in you know encampments
everywhere spreading like wildfire in a
non-coordinated way so it couldn't be
systematically squashed. Uh McDonald's
did lose $7 billion. Tel Aviv did shut
down their you know their Samsung next
and the Intel $15 billion expansion. you
know, the countries that are recognizing
Palestine, the seat at the UN, and the
list goes on. The the rescendency of the
the presidency from Biden, Puma
rescending its endorsement of the
Israeli national. You did that, right or
wrong? So, you have to stop for a moment
and say it's true. It's all from Allah,
right? You don't shoot when you shoot,
except that it's Allah who actually
shoots. Meaning, he's the one that makes
our efforts effective. It's true. No
might or power except with Allah. He is
our God. He is our source of power. But
he used us. He accepted us. He deemed us
worthy for this incremental shift, for
this step in the right direction. He
rendered us able to put a dent in this
monster. And that's why we're just
getting started. That's so important. So
if you don't see that, you're not going
to be able to continue. That's a part
and parcel of sort of the the resiliency
gas tank is to recognize the winds as
well. And alhamdulillah, Allah has shown
us many in the past year and a half. And
and I also want to end this to also
mention when we think about the changes
and I don't know about you, when I
wasn't young in college, what I saw on
college campuses, what you could say,
what you could not do, and all of that.
And I see the young people today and
what they've done with the encampments,
what they've done for for Palestine on
campus. It's amazing. I never in my
wildest dreams could have imagined all
that they've been able to do. And they
led us, right? The young people in this
country led the changes to put the
pressure on to make change. And these
are the young people that many of us,
you know, we talk about the Tik Tok
generation. They're scrolling their
lives away. But these are the same young
people who are putting pressure to the
point that college university prof
presidents are being called into
Congress and
pressured. I didn't do that. You didn't
do that. But they did that. And that's
the future of our um the fact that they
were able to do this and they're
continuing that hard fight. Subhan
Allah. Gives me so much hope. I want to
go ahead and uh shift a little bit and
come
back and go
towards talking about the concept of
iman and particular
the of Allah. I want to talk about one
thing the people of Gaza exemplify I
feel more than the Muslims here in the
west is their faith in
Allah's they truly believe that all this
will be resolved. They believe in
Allah's
plan. They believe that there will be
justice at the end. They'll be
recompensed with Allah. So here's the
question. Why do you think the people of
Gaza have such a stronger faith in the
compared to us here in the
west? It takes a lot to look in the
mirror and ask that question. It does.
And a part of this is
as
said that this world the appeal of this
world the glitter of this world it's the
wine of the devil is the what is the
wine the intoxicants of the shaitan the
devil of the shaitan it's his cannabis
it's his wine right if you drink from it
you will be intoxicated
And some people when they get
intoxicated, they don't awaken except
among the dead. They awaken at death.
May Allah protect us. Amen. But the idea
that those that are
insecurity are they have a greater
propensity, a greater likelihood to
doubting is absolutely true. I mentioned
this in the in the hereafter retreat
yesterday at mass
that fear and hardship brings you to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala even faith
faith begins with fear you said fear and
hardship they bring you to Allah bring
you towards your creator because he's
the source of relief he's the source of
security right and
so he has this wonderful example of how
fear brings you to faith and that's why
there's nothing wrong with and it's an
observed reality that faith starts with
fear. For a lot of people, it does. Oh
my god, I'm going to die. Oh my god,
there's a hereafter. Right? He says,
imagine someone sitting at a meal
indulging and some little kid, random
kid says to him, "By the way, there's
poison in that meal." He has no reason
to believe the
kid except that he might be right. He
said that 1% likelihood will make him
stop eating his favorite meal. Why?
because the risk is too high. So the
fear made him believe it just in case.
I'm not saying we should have faith just
in case but as the stepping stone even
when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
Allah Allah sent down this the best of
speech this
Quran this book of his I'm rushing
through it. He
says that causes goosebumps that causes
shivers to occur on the skins of those
who fear their Lord. It
says, "And then their skins and their
hearts find peace." In the remembrance
of Allah. You know, we often say in the
remembrance of Allah, hearts find peace.
It's a verbatim verse in the Quran. But
does that not contradict the fact that
it says here the they hear Allah
remember Allah they quiver. It starts
with a quiver. It starts with a tremble
and it delivers you to peace to accept
his decree to accept being his subject
to accept to await your reward in the
hereafter. That's what the people's look
like today. The formulas in the
Quran it's being seen in living color is
on display in front of us among these
great people.
Sister, any comments on this? No. Tell
me this. Uh, how can we establish, how
can we here establish such a level, this
level of im yakim in Allah, this
certainty in our creator and his plan
and
his I feel like I'm overspeaking at this
point, but I'll I I'll behave and answer
all your questions because you're
prompting me. uh actually a has a paper
uh called how to build unshakable faith
and it's a very practical walkthrough.
It's not a research paper per se of 1520
pages. It is more of the four to six
page extended blog type and I recommend
everyone to read it. However, if I were
to summarize for you some of the end of
it in the Quran, Allahaw says to
us, "Be patient. Be patient. the promise
of Allah is true. That phrase shows up
multiple places in the Quran like that.
But then what comes after it is
different and every single one of them
is a good cue for you. A good tip. Be
patient. The promise of Allah is true.
It
says and don't be disheartened by those
that don't have. In other words, we are
all products of our environments. You
need to put yourself in a surrounding
where your faith will not be eroded.
people that believe like you and
practice their belief like you or else
you will be impacted by it. Believe the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam more
than you believe yourself. He said you
will follow the religious commitment of
your friend. The same way secondhand
smoke will hurt your lungs. Secondhand
doubt will cause you to
doubt. So be around people that cause
you to believe in Allah and assume the
best of Allah at all times. people that
fill you with positivity because your
Lord is Allah and that's enough. Don't
be disheartened by those who doubt. The
other verse says, "Be patient. The
promise of Allah is true." Listen, it
says and seek forgiveness for your
sins and celebrate the praises of your
Lord by night and by day. You see, when
you commit a sin, like how do I have
faith? How do I It's not intellectual
acrobatics. It's not just the neurons
firing. This is a reality that could
affect our psychology. But it's a it's a
metaphysical a spiritual reality. When
you disobey Allah, that spiritual heart
of yours bleeds. What does it bleed? It
doesn't bleed blood. It bleeds the
glorification of Allah. It bleeds
certainty in Allah. And that's why Allah
is calling you to repair that wound by
saying the promise of Allah is true. Now
seek forgiveness for your sin. So you
can believe it's true. seek forgiveness
for your sin and restore the
glorification. Glorify your Lord by
night and by day. And so obeying Allah,
being where he expects you to be, not
being where he expects you to be, absent
from, being aligned with him, respecting
his boundaries, all of that is a part of
building your faith. The last thing I'm
going to say is you need to answer the
why. When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said, "Put your trust in Allah.
Because you are upon the clear truth. Do
you know that you are upon the clear
truth or did you inherit what your
parents claim to you is the real truth?
Do you own it for yourself? All of the
final prophet research at and elsewhere
was for that very reason that many times
we don't want to ask ourselves how much
do I actually believe in this stuff? How
much how much do I believe that it's not
blind faith? It's not just wishful
thinking. It's not just inherited
doctrines. It's not just dogma
indefensible to me. We need to find out
why it
is the clear truth. Is it clear to me?
May it be clear to us all and remain
that way.
Can I just add on to that when we're
talking about iman, right, and building
iman, one of the mistakes that we tend
to make in the community is we start
with the rules and not starting with the
heart, right? When we think about how
the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam connected with people the love
the connection that he had for people he
started and led with that right after he
bu he built that connection and love
then he worked on the character of an
individual. But we as parents often
start off with the character and forget
the love. And when you try to mold
somebody or develop someone's iman, you
cannot do it outside the context of
love. Right? And so beginning as as
parents or as individuals who are coming
back to this deen, we have to see the
beauty of Allah. We have to see it in
the creation that he's created in us and
our physical, our mental, our spiritual,
in the people around us. We have to see
it in nature, right? We have to see it
in technology, in science. We have to
see the footprints of Allah in
everything because if we don't see it,
we can never appreciate him, right? And
so recognizing that it's a process. A
lot of times parents will come to us,
you know, being the family and youth
institute, they're they'll come to us
and be like, well, my kid isn't doing
this, my kid isn't doing
that. This is a process. You know, we
were talking earlier today about faith
is a journey. It's a process that comes
over time and that we need to recognize
that little steps that we have to do. It
has to do relationships, the connection
that we build with Allah as well as the
people around him. And so what you were
mentioning earlier about the community,
who you surround yourself, it's huge. It
makes a huge difference. If you're
around yourself, if you surround
yourself with individuals whose hearts
are bleeding, you're going to care for
what's going on in haz. If you're with
people who are not even thinking or
talking about what's going on, you're
going to ignore what's going on, right?
So really thinking about one, what
opportunities are you doing or giving
yourself to get closer to Allah? How are
you building your iman? What are the
other are you learning and growing about
our faith? Are you reading Quran every
day? You can cry all you want, but if
you're not doing anything, then how are
you going to change? And so it's it's
important that we are building our
relationship with Allah on a daily
basis, not every year at a convention.
It's important that we're seeing him in
everything we do. It's important that
we're being with people who bring us up.
It's important for us to constantly
expose oursel, but it's not just the
receiving, it's also the doing. If we're
not doing the work, we're not going to
build the relationship.
Uh let me go back again. So when you
when people experience trauma, what
message would you have for
them and what kind of inspiration can
they take from the people of Gaza?
So in terms of trauma, if you've
experienced specific to what's going on
in Gaza or just general
spec anything, anything anything in
life, somebody's experienced some kind
of trauma and now as trauma and now you
see what's happening in Gaza, can they
take inspiration for that to help them
overcome
their trauma? Yeah, I mean I I think one
of the one of the hard things is a lot
of times people ask why me, right? Why?
Why did I have to go through that? And I
think one of the questions is to say to
to say to ourselves, Allah, there's a
reason for it. I may not know. I may not
understand it, but there's a reason that
this has happened to me right now and
and I'm going to try to get through it.
Right? When we think about the story of
Ysef Alisam, he went through so much. He
went from a loving family thrown away by
his own siblings. That's traumatic. The
people you trust are throwing you into
the well and then getting enslaved and
then from getting enslaved. So to to be
to be accused of something you didn't
even do to be thrown into jail like
trauma after trauma after trauma. And
each
time he took that he understood that he
used that to build his character
right really to making sure that he's
growing and from those experiences he
knew he trusted Allahhana had this
experience for him there was a specific
opportunity for him we need to figure
out what is the opportunity in whichever
challenge that we're faced with take the
resour resources that are out there.
Whether it's counseling, whether it's
medication if need be, whether it's the
family support, the community support,
whatever, whatever is out there, take
the take what's out there and use it to
help you go through it and use our faith
to help us through. And as we go through
it, looking at the experience of
brothers and sisters, we see that
they're able to use your faith to help
go get through the most difficult of
challenges and to realize that it is
possible with our faith as well as the
help around us. As we begin to uh wrap
up soon, let me ask you this. What's our
responsibility now towards the people of
Gaza? What would you say?
There is so much to be said, but if I
were to point us in one direction,
something maybe we haven't touched as
much,
uh our sister
uh was sure to bring it up, which is the
power and influence uh and efficacy of
our youth. Uh and I am a great admire of
the family and youth institute by the
way. So interesting. I gave a
presentation online today using the data
from the FYI and I come downstairs and I
share a panel uh with the executive
director of the FYI. May Allah bless you
and your entire team but the youth
because you know I always try to say to
myself and to others
that is not coming back
tonight but our being activated for it
cannot await another night.
this idea of like we're late, we're
playing catch-up, and there's a long
road ahead of us. Yes, the tide is
changing, but we're just getting
started. And this always makes me think
about enriching our youth and equipping
them to take the baton. You know, a lot
of times we speak about empowering our
youth, and that's important, but we
don't speak enough about enriching our
youth. And sometimes it's implied and
empowered, but sometimes it is
overlooked, right? You just throw
something in their lap and figure it
out. But have we given them a proper
runway for the world they will inherit?
You know, I uh I was reading for Hussein
who has done research for at this and we
published regarding positive youth
development at Y one paper from him. He
speaks about the difference between
competence and
confidence enrich versus empower. Right?
What's the difference? You're confident
meaning you're let me try to stretch
myself into areas I've never been before
to embark on new frontiers. The growth
zone, right? It's scary zone. Without
confidence, you're not going to embark
to learn new things. I can probably
learn it. I can probably get it done.
Let me try. That comes from a sense of
competence. you've seen that you've
gotten things done. Or you've seen that
you've experienced mistakes and you you
survived. I'm fine. I got back up. So
this sense of competence that I can do
certain things, I have certain skills. I
I have resilience as well when I fall
short. This is where confidence comes
from. And so to invest in the competency
of our youth, which inshallah will
translate into the confidence of our
youth. You know the prophet wasallam
when he passed
away. The leader of the army
is us 17,
right? A few years before that, Usama
made a huge mistake, right? They were in
the middle of a battle and so someone
was crushing the Muslims. They chased
him down. He slipped. He fell. He
saidillahill. I'm Muslim now. I'm Muslim
now. And anyone in their right mind
would say, "Come on, man. He's faking
it." He know. And so Usama finished the
man. He felt guilty. Went back to the
prophet sallallaham explained it to him.
Turned out other people had already
forwarded the message. He had already
known and the prophet sallallah wasallam
was extremely upset at him. How could
you kill someone after he
saidillah? He was just saying it. Did
you open his heart to see if he said it
like right you? How did you do it? He
said, Allah he was just faking it. What
are you going to do
withahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahillah
said what are you going to do
withahillah that statement of his on the
day of judgment he just kept saying it's
sallallahu alaihi wasallam that ocean of
mercy and is the the beloved the son of
the beloved he's like his own child and
he is the mercy to all the but he was
really upset sallallahu alaihi wasallam
he could not accept that he made that
mistake in the
moment follow me brothers and
sisters he kept saying that to the point
that us said I wish I had not become
become Muslim until that day like I wish
I could just hit reset. I wish I could
start
over. Part of that is to accept our
youth are going to make mistakes and yes
they need to own the mistake because if
they don't aren't allowed to make
mistakes they aren't going to be allowed
they aren't going to feel the confidence
that I made the success. If the failure
is not theirs the success is also not
theirs. So he held it against him
sallallahu alaihi wasallam momentarily
but he did not allow this young man to
feel defined by his mistake. He did not
allow the community to cancel him or
define him by his mistake. How do we
know that? Because he was the commander
the day the prophet died sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. So we need to find that
balance. Empowering our youth, enriching
them, enabling them, accepting from them
that they will have trip ups. Otherwise,
they'll never feel like I have the
steering wheel. I really can't drive
unless they're allowed to be given room
for controlled mistakes when they do
drive. And allahel knows best. Yeah. And
just to add to that, I think we want to
expand it further, right? in addition to
young people to also help all of us
realize we all have a role to play. Yes,
we feel sad, but what are we going to
how are we going to
transform that sadness into action,
right? How are we going to take make
something out of that? And I think
that's one of the things that we all
need to question ourselves. What are the
gifts that Allahh has given us? How are
we going to use those gifts to make
change? And each one has a
responsibility. you know being the
executive director of the family and
youth institute we focus on Muslim
mental health so we've channeled our
energy by doing research on this on
what's h what what's the impact we're
channeling it and giving resources to
the community but you have the dean show
you using that for that purpose
individuals on campus are doing stuff if
you're in the working world and you are
a part of affinity groups you can be a
part of those and start making change we
can use our money and make sure that
We're following the BDS boycott. We can
use our power and choosing our voting
power and making sure that we're making
a cho change at the local and national
level. We can use all of our collective
power to make that change, but we also
have to realize that we can make that
change and really push for that change.
We got 30 seconds less. How you want to
close it off? Any final words,
encouragement,
advice? People leave here feeling even
more empowered than when they came. May
Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless this umah
and continue to bless this um and make
our tomorrow better than our today. I
hate to end this with something other
than ayah or a hadith or a statement for
the righteous. However, I always
remember what has been attributed to the
first prime minister of Israel,
Bengurian. He said, "The old will die
and the young will forget." I have a
question for all the youth. Have you
forgotten?
Have we
forgotten? Have we
forgotten? Live with that in mind. He's
calling your bluff. Get married for that
reason. Raise righteous children for
that reason. We will not
forget. Thank you both. Thank you.
[Applause]
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Peace be with you. Assalamu alaykum.