Dunya To Deen At Isna

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Bismillah Alhamdulillah, Salaam Alaikum. Peace be with you. Thank you so much for joining us here on the D show. You get away from the MTV from the pit, my ride and the all the other distractions out there. A lot of the things are just a waste of time. But here you're benefiting with your time because you're here with us on the D show. And you're getting to learn something here every week. And today here on the D show. We got an attorney on the show an educator who we're going to be asking some very important questions, because a lot of times, you know what?

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Mohamad come over here, you get randomly selected to three times, like what's going on here. You're a law abiding citizen, you live by the law of the land, you're doing good. And sometimes, you know, you feel a little bit a little you feel like you know, there's there's some eyes on you. And what do you do? You don't want to be in a reactionary. You don't want to overreact and do the wrong thing. You want to do the right thing. So we want to get some good advice. So we got someone to give us this advice here on the deen show. Don't go nowhere. We'll be right back. This is the

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peace be unto you. Assalamu aleikum. Hello.

How are you handling now? How are you? Good. Alhamdulillah thanks is the Creator of the heavens and earth who has given us this platform here to meet together. I'm very excited. Thank you for being here. Thank you. So Dr. sofa, sofa sofa. So you just because time is short. So we'll just go ahead and kind of talk a little bit about yourself. You're a doctor. I mean, you finished with a juris in a doctorate from the DePaul University. You also teach law Leola University. Yes, I do teach law on part time basis. I teach one course on public school law, private school law and one course on Islamic law. Mashallah. And you also have a master's in education, but educating for a long time.

Yes. For about 15 years as a teacher, and a principal of one of the largest Islamic schools in the nation. You keep him busy. Absolutely. Doing good. inviting the good. Yes, absolutely. Yeah. But it is about and it's what Muslims are about. inviting the good. Yes, yeah. So now you heard me open the show, you know, and a lot of times, now there's a misunderstanding. Islam is the fastest growing way of life in the world out there. It's a way of life that was actually lived by all the messages of God, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, it's not a new religion. That's one misconception. It's been there since time immemorial. Because God Almighty, he's not the author of confusion, he sent the same message

throughout all the messengers, submit your will, to the owner of all that is to one God, the one creator saying God that Jesus worship, that's the God that we're worshiping. And we're just continuing the legacy of pure monotheism, doing good. And now, you know, sometimes it's heavy. It's heavy on a person because you know what, he's a law abiding citizen. He's a doctor, he's an engineer. He's not talking about blowing nobody up. This is the furthest thing from his mind, terrorism and all these other things. A person just wants to live with his family and peace, peace with his greater peace with himself he society. So he's getting randomly selected, selected three

times. He's getting what he feels is harassed and looked down upon. We don't want people to lose hope in the system here. We don't want people to get discouraged. You're an attorney. We want some good advice. We want some good advice. How should a person handle these situations? When they feel the heat is coming on? Please talk to us. Absolutely. There's three points that I would like to make in that regard. Two of them really are not legal, rather, relates to the fact that you know, Allah Subhana Allah says in the Quran, has he been natural? And Yokoyama now home life? No, it's part and parcel of being a believer to really have have things thrown at you. Sometimes they can be thrown at

you by by by your job sometimes by your family, sometimes by people you live around sometimes by your government, sometimes by whatever it is. So we need to understand that you know, we are not facing anything that that an average believer faces everywhere. The second point I want to make is that also as Muslims

In America, we are not also facing anything that other people, other minority, religious and ethnic and otherwise did not face. It is part of becoming part and parcel of this country part of taking your place and making your contribution to the country, there is a time where you reach a critical mass at which some people start feeling threatened by you by your presence. And they start trying to find ways and excuses to marginalize you to demonize you to push you aside to say, somehow, of all other Americans that came through and have managed to make their mark on the society, you are different, that you are too bad. And this is this happened to Catholics, this happened to Mormons,

this happened to Jews, this happened to African American, obviously, and they suffered perhaps the most on this. So it's not also any different and every community that have succeeded at the end stood its ground didn't overreact, as you said in the opening, but at the same time, did not bury its head in the sand and just walked away. So that comes the third point, which is just go to places and people who can give you advice here in America, we have many organizations within the Muslim community, and without that, basically are there ready to help anyone who needs help in this regard.

I mean, if you are, for example, in the airport, and they stop, you take the name of the person who is dealing with you, for example, keep track of what's happening. And then you basically contact you know, if someone is trying to you feel violate your rights, you have a right to ask them

to talk to an attorney. And you can also make phone calls to organizations that can help you here in Chicago, I know firsthand, that, for example, care Chicago, is an organization that can

respond to you and can can and can tell you, what is it that you need to be doing to guard your rights. There are many other organizations that do that as well. And and they put on workshops that you can contact them on your own time, you can go on their websites, and they have plenty of advice. In that regard. The key is that don't, don't feel that you are suffering in silence, that there is nobody who who can support you. And also, more importantly, don't let it go without standing up for you. Right, but without, again, overreacting without you know, battling wrong with wrong. Now, you started off with point number one and you quoted the verbatim Word of God, the Qur'an, it's was sent

down over a span of 23 years tamper, free tamper proof is not edited by men. It's preserved as original memorized by millions living miracle. And you said it in the original language that Arabic Can you translate him because he talked about it being a test? That's a very key point. What? Explain this verse here, that verse says, do people think that they will say, I believe and they will not be tested? tested? Is the test a part of the test this whole scheme here, this whole scheme of things? It's a test? So don't panic and absolutely know that? God? Is it? Some people think that man has got angry with me? Is he upset with me? So is this you know, how we should take it out? Just

how should they handle it? When the calamity hits? You know, you got the you're pulled to the side you like, Oh, you know, my flight, I'm about to say, you know, my family, my job, I'm going to lose it and you start to panic kicks in how do you handle this moment, you basically you remind yourself that this is a test and you are going to pass it with flying colors. And so you you you keep your calm you keep your politeness and you communicate with whoever is across from you in a very

assertive, very respectful manner. And most of the time people get good results with that. I like that this very we're being optimistic. Absolutely not pessimistic. True. Yes, definitely. This is beautiful. We're going to go ahead and take a break. And we're gonna come back for more questions here. I got it. I got so many of them. And we're blessed to have you here with us. Thank you so much was right back with more here on the dean show. Jeff undeterred judgment, the mercy of a law these are the things that finally made me realize there is no time to delay anymore. I want you to take my Shahada, right.

The essence of spirituality is to become more sincere to less Penny with our contemplate. It is very, very scary, but it brings you back to reality there is a life which is everlasting. And you have to make a conscious decision of which group of people do you want to be the people or the people of help?

I am not afraid to say

I am not afraid.

I'm not afraid

Back here on the dean show with Dr. zuffa. Tell us

you have your own law firm also. And you have done a lot of good in the community heard you also got an award from the mayor Mayor Daley of Chicago. Yes. Mashallah. So there's somebody who's respected in the community. And is your door open now, if you know we had these peter king hearings late recently, now, if someone like that was to invite you, because I heard that many of the Muslim scholars and people who who have a voice interview that the door was close to them. So what you know, now we have this platform we want to speak radical Islam, it seems like I always call it they make it out like the Boogey Man is coming to get you everyone to develop in this fear in the hearts

of people, which Islam when you get to know it, eradicate any fear, it's something beautiful, it's something when you practice brings peace in your life, peace in the community. And it's something that, you know, is so beloved to our hearts. So what are your comments on this, when you hear this term being thrown around radical Islam? Well, actually, let me talk to you from from experience about a little over a year ago, I became the Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America. And though I am a partner in my law firm, I'm really an absent partner. Because I devote all my time to the work of this man, it is very extensive, and it requires a lot of travel. Now, the

thing for for me with esna is that we have really decided to take the long term approach to this issue. And that is not to necessarily react every time there is an issue every time someone cries islamophobe Islamophobic cries foul, or starts attacking us calling us radicals rather start to work with civil society and interfaith community and government to try to really explain to them the facts, because the beauty of this is that the facts are on our side, they have to put on a pony, you know, show to basically pull what they're trying to pull and it doesn't stand because the facts don't support it. Give you an example, the hearings, for example, for for Peter King.

We put together as as an organization, I'm talking now about the south side of North America, we put together a coalition of 24 religious communities, from you name it from from evangelicals to Baptist domains, line denominations, to all four denominations of the Jewish community. And they came together and they formed an organization called shoulder to shoulder and the rest of the name is combating anti muslim bigotry in America. And what they are saying is that what is being said, including peter king, what he's saying is not true. In fact, on the day of his hearing, we had a press conference in Congress, we are joined by by the second Muslim congressman Andre Carson. And

and we talked forcefully about the fact that this is a show, and this is not going after the facts. And the biggest proof of that is that first I mean, if you listen to the to the,

to many of the Congress, people, especially the democrats on the panel, I mean, they were they were, you know, putting putting holes through the argument of Peter King like no tomorrow, but more importantly, you know, the whole hearings supposedly, or about radicalization of Muslims. Right. So who would you call for that to testify? You are supposed to call law enforcement and the Muslim community in the Muslim community on their supposed radicalization and grill law enforcement on their, you know, what did they find what their investigations found? Well, no FBI agent testify. No law enforcement testified except for one, who was the sheriff of Los Angeles Sheriff Baca. And he

was invited not by Peter King, but by the ranking Democrat on the on the, on the panel. And he sat there to rebut and counter every assertion that King made. He said, The community is cooperative, that the community is peaceful, that the community is law abiding, is helpful. And so and the other thing is that there were no Muslim community members, there were some people in the community that that are more self haters than anything else that were there. But they were no legitimate representative of any legitimate organization in the nation. He just held his second hearing, which went without fanfare at all, about supposedly radicalization of Muslims in prisons. And guess what?

No correctional facilities, you know, correctional officer was called to testify. Nobody from the Department of Corrections in any state on the federal level was invited to testify in his hearings. So So luckily, again,

was in our side, when were you the truth in your side, you are very lucky. And so all we need to do is build those Coalition's explained to that to the average American who really is. Most of our fellow Americans come from backgrounds that have gone through this experience. They can name somebody in their family one day, who was ostracized, who were considered not quite the right American. And so when you tell them your story, when you when they know who you are, all of these things fall by the sideway. And that's what we need to be doing. And that's what we have been doing. As an organization. July 1 to July 4, we have our annual convention here in Chicago. We are asking

Sheriff Baca to come to the convention he accepted and he will be there to be honored for his courageous stand talking, you know, truth to power to Peter King, and and we have also a lot of panels on how to combat Islamophobia, who's afraid of Sharia, trying to really explain to ourselves to our fellow Muslims in America, but also to America at large. explain to them what Islam is all about. It's clear like there, as you said, Islam is the religion of God that has been embraced by the prophets throughout including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. And it is the same, it calls for the same truth of being kind to your neighbors of doing right of upholding what is right, of

combating injustice standing up for,

for oppression. And that's what we are about. And I think it's something to be proud of, and we should wear it on our sleeves, and I'm communicating with our fellow Americans. And we'll be surprised with the results. Absolutely, absolutely. so eloquently put, shake, tell us Now, the thing is that you said a key point here, it's, it's that the truth is on our side. And the thing is that many of us, we know what the purpose of life is, it's clear. And we know that as those who have submitted to the one guy doing good, because God is good, he only accepts good. And that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to stay away from from evil. We're trying to stay away from things

that aren't good for us anyway, and trying to sincerely humbly just submit to God. And the thing here is that many of us if we were submitting to God as Muslims being role models for the communities, educating the people, our job is not to try to convert somebody, our job is not to force something down people's throats, but just to deliver the message and to share the purpose of life with the people. They want to accept that they accept. If they don't, it's on them. It's between them and their Lord, many of us as Muslims, we're not doing that we're not educating the people. So do we have to look at ourselves? First and foremost, talk to us about this change the

truth. So that's the beginning of it. And again, if I may quote the Quran again.

Yeah, you're Latina, Emmanuella, mata coluna, malata, falloon, cabra mactan, en De La Hoya and taco illuminata. Fan, who are you who believe? Why do you say what you do not that it is an abomination in the sight of Allah to say what you do not. And so really, in a lot of time, in a lot of ways, and the most, the most distracting thing for people out there about Islam or non Muslims, is sometimes the actions of Muslims is sometimes the way Muslims behave themselves. And that includes the radicals and the terrorists. But it also includes a lot of Muslims who really don't show a good example, you know, I can tell you about, you know, we live in a suburb that today has quite a few

Muslims. People know who Muslims are, we have comfortable relations with our neighbors. I can tell you 15 years ago, it was not the case. And I remember one time we were checking out of Dominic's, my wife and I, and and we realized, you know, after we checked out that everything is in the bag, except this over the counter medication. So we took it back to the lady and said, I don't think you check this. And she checked it, we paid for it. And and she said, Oh, thank you, this have never happened to us before. And I was walking telling my wife because at the time we have some issues and some problems and people saying, you know, they're Muslims, you know, what, what, you know, then

people and I told her that, that, that enough of these events, and enough people will start realizing that we have good people living among us. So that's what we need to focus on not not to get caught up without slogans and with the, you know, wearing you know,

slogans on your shirt or whatever, or speaking out or being combative, rather with our behavior, just going back to our Islam, and living it everyday living your choice and showing that, you know, I can tell you I traveled one time I have seven children hamdulillah my oldest is 17 I travelled few years back and

you know, on the plane, some people were my wife couldn't travel with me. They were saying, you know, what did you give the little ones they're so quiet they are so you know, happy, jovial we had, you know, and that's what what matters because people know what it means to have six kids and then to see them handler will behave doing well, etc. That's the kind of thing we need to show off to people. When we do everything else falls in

Place. That's what our religion the way of life all the messages teases us to do to be as the Prophet peace be upon him said the best of you, you are those who have the best character. So we need to be living this way of life. So it can amplify in our behavior. If I can just invite everybody to come out to the, to the convention in Rosemont, July 1 to the fourth, it's a beautiful event over 200 scholars, everybody you know, who's who in the Muslim community is out there. You name it, they are there. It's beautiful. We have a film festival over 18 films, meet the author program. It's a beautiful time to spend in Chicago and it culminated with with the fireworks on the

fourth. I really hope that a lot of people join us and we will put on a show to the world that what Muslim look Muslims look like when they come together and show? Absolutely we're going to be right back to wrap it up and use it we're going to talk about also the film dounia to do is at this not this year. We'll be right back. Close it up here on the show. Don't go nowhere. Not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

Back here on a D show with our guest, Dr. Safa. And we started off and we talked about being patient. God Almighty says in the verbatim Word of God, do you think you'll be left alone? I have to say I believe he you have to do some work, you're going to be tested. And his life is a test. You eloquently explained that. And also doing things the proper way not to be reactionary. Go by things according to the law, take the person's name, and go up to the higher chain and put your trust in a law. But the second part, educate and share the purpose of life with the people and live as Islam tells you to live with good character noble character. And then we are wrapping it up now with the

convention that the not yet Muslims that are out there. The non Muslims, they're welcome to come anyone if you got the mayor, if you got the politicians, whoever's out there in Chicago, even if they're peter king, could he come? Absolutely let him come? Absolutely. This is when again, he wants to show up. He can call anyone, anyone, they can ask for you. Now, they can ask for you. And so give him the VIP treatment. Absolutely. It's not that net, they can go to it and my email is there and they can contact us and they can register as well on my So you're telling me that even peter king, you'll give him the VIP treatment at this point? Why not? Why not absolute Mr. Peter King, come on

down, sit with the Muslims, he briyani with them.

Now, before we close, we also you mentioned the film festival, you know what, almost two years in the making, we've had this film people wanted to know, you know how the host of the D show came to being

to doing this and coming from another form of life to this life and hamdulillah

a film producer came put this together and is called dunya to Diem, and you guys are hosting it. And it's our pleasure. And it's one of 18 works that are that are being showcased in in the convention. And this this is growing every year. I mean, we started out we had maybe four or five submissions the first year and now it's we got like over 40 and I think we narrowed it down to 18.

The beauty of this is that our we try to do a decent convention. I'll be very honest with you. Some people say, You know why go to this convention? You know, we're not they're not you know, there's not enough religious stuff. Well, what we are trying to do is to show our religion with all of its beauty and broadness. We're not about just we're not bringing people to just lecture them to death, or just cram lectures down their throat the whole time. We are there to show an average person who will come out this is the Muslim community in all of its diversity all of its beauty. And so we have a variety of things if you are the serious type we have very serious lectures. If you are the

activist type we have very workshops that teach you that know how if you are someone who likes the art, we have an art and calligraphy display, we have the film festival whatever your take on life is whatever you you know you want come and see it it is the Muslim community on display and that's the whole purpose of it to show the normalcy of the Muslims in America and that's the reality of it. So I hope you come and witness that and be a part of it then we got some good working behind the scenes we're trying to get the D show live sir at the is not this year. What do you think you think we got a it's all gonna come down to technicalities. If we can work out the logistics. We are happy

To do that, I promise you, inshallah, we're trying to make it happen. So that's all this year at the esna. Thank you very much May God Almighty the creator of award you, thank you so much. Thank you for having you on. Thank you Blake and Salaam. And thank you for being with us here on another episode of the D show you got to hear the good news is you're going to be in Chicago, that weekend of July 4.

Jr. To Dean the long awaited, highly anticipated film is finally here. So you can go to the esna to view it and we're working out the logistics to have the D show live at the convention inshallah. So hopefully, we'll see you there. And remember, as we covered in the show noble character,

developing yourself to be the best human being that you can be being kind to your neighbor, if he's a Muslim, or even a non Muslim Islam called you to everything good and noble, being good to your parents

being good. And this is what it's all built on that pure monotheism of only worshipping the One God The one who created you and created this whole universe and everything in it. And if you like what we had to say here today on the deen show continued to come back and even visit us at the Islam convention. We'll see you next time God Willing inshallah. Until then, peace be unto you. I am not afraid.

I am not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

Not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid.