Empathy, the Key to Positive Change - Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Qazwini - Interfaith Iftar 2015

15 المشاهدات· 15/09/11

Al-Rasoul Islamic Society
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Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Qazwini delivers a captivating speech filled with enriching illustrations and historical references during the Annual Multifaith Iftar, discussing how our individual roles in helping one another can be fulfilled and further developed through the concept of Empathy. Al-Rasoul Islamic Society, Halifax - Canada | The Holy Month of Ramadan 2015

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Transcript

[0:01][Music] I begin in the name of the almighty God the compassionate

[0:19]the merciful the Lord of Abraham Jesus Moses and Muhammad peace be

[0:25]upon them all distinguished guests elected officials my dear brothers and sisters

[0:37]in faith I greet you with the greeting of Islam peace be

[0:41]with youal allum the almighty God states in the Holy Quran in

[0:49]chapter 5 verse 32 the almighty God States and whoever saves a

[0:55]single soul a single life it is as if he has saved

[1:02]the entire humankind what a powerful verse in the book of God

[1:09]at 8:45 a.m.

[1:12]98 years ago December 6th 1917 here in Halifax Harbor a major

[1:22]Collision occurred between a Norwegian vessel and a French cargo ship which

[1:29]was carried caring weapons only God knows how much damage weapons have

[1:34]done to humans throughout history but do we learn Unfortunately today you

[1:41]see many nations are continuing to produce weapons and they export billions

[1:47]of dollars worth of weapons a major Collision occurred a major explosion

[1:53]now there was a young man by the name of Vincent Coleman

[1:58]this man was a train dispatcher he worked at the train depot

[2:03]now when the Collision occurred he wanted to save his life so

[2:08]he left the train depot but then suddenly he remembered that train

[2:17]number 10 which had 300 passengers on board was coming to that

[2:21]area what would you do if you were in his shoes of

[2:26]course Vincent had a life to look forward to just like you

[2:32]and time he had a wife and a 2-year-old daughter waiting for

[2:36]him at home but what did he do what did he choose

[2:40]his life or the life of those 300 passengers on board Vincent

[2:46]on that day made a very heroic decision he went back to

[2:49]the train depot to send a warning message to that train he

[2:55]warned the train not to come there's an ammo ship which is

[3:01]is about to explode and then he says in his message this

[3:04]is probably my last message goodbye boys at 9:05 the explosion occurred

[3:13]and Vincent lost his life he lost his life but he saved

[3:20]the lives of hundreds of people what a heroic man what a

[3:24]heroic decision that happened here in Halifax 98 years ago now two

[3:29]months ago in a suburb of the city of damam in Saudi

[3:35]Arabia a similar scenario occurred a suicide bommer walked to Al Imam

[3:41]Al Hussein mosque in the city of damam strapped with explosives and

[3:46]he wanted to take the lives of hundreds of innocent people who

[3:51]had gathered simply to pray simply to worship their creator but there

[3:59]was this young man Abdul Jal Alish what a heroic man when

[4:04]he realized that this is a suicide bomber wanting to harm these

[4:11]people he tried to stop him he did eventually stop him but

[4:15]that cost him his life by sacrificing his own life he saved

[4:20]the lives of tens or hundreds of worshippers that day and you

[4:27]know two days before that sadly it was his engagement who would

[4:31]do that except one who is full of humanity who is full

[4:38]of love for humans for his fellow citizens these are great lessons

[4:43]for us my respected guests on this evening and the reason why

[4:46]I wanted to share with you these two very important incidents is

[4:50]because when we look and examine the world today it's truly in

[4:58]a mess just last week nearly 30 innocent people were killed in

[5:01]Kuwait by these suicide bombers look at what's happening in Yemen daily

[5:09]people innocent people are losing their lives there's an ongoing civil war

[5:14]in Syria that has claimed the lives of two or 300,000 people

[5:18]in Iraq my home country every day innocent people are being killed

[5:29]what are we doing to stop this Injustice I tell you we

[5:33]can honor Vincent Coleman this man who wanted to save human lives

[5:36]if you the people of howfacts want to honor him do something

[5:41]to stop this Bloodshed let's pressure all those groups or governments who

[5:48]are actually supporting this extremist ideology we can do something unfortunately I

[5:53]tell you and I'm honest with you some of them are supposedly

[5:59]our allies I think we could do more especially our respected elected

[6:01]officials we can do more to pressure them so we can stifle

[6:08]the root of Injustice and extremism in many parts of the world

[6:12]that's extremely important for us to consider I know we have mutual

[6:15]interest you have the oil business there right especially with the United

[6:21]States even though by the way our allies here in Canada they've

[6:24]done us a lot of harm with this Oil Business recently right

[6:30]by lowering the price of oil you Halifax should thank God you're

[6:32]not working in Alberta these days I've heard it's terrible there but

[6:37]really we can do more we as one United Society one country

[6:44]we can all work and collaborate with each other to address the

[6:48]root cause of this extremism that is claiming lives on a daily

[6:52]basis whether it's Isis baharam or what's happening to innocent people in

[6:56]Minar or any other part of the world I think we can

[7:02]do more but in order for us to do more my respected

[7:08]guests we need empathy we have to have this golden key or

[7:13]tool that allows us to help other fellow human beings and that

[7:19]is empathy empathy is when you truly feel what the others are

[7:23]going through to be able to put yourself in their shoes often

[7:29]times we have no idea what other people what other what other

[7:33]communities sometimes people in our own communities we have no clue what

[7:37]they're going through empathy is more than sympathy it's truly trying to

[7:44]feel what others are going through I'll share with you a very

[7:51]short incident that demonstrates to us the importance of empathy they say

[7:56]once a father with a few of his children they got on

[8:01]a bus traveling from one city to another city now as soon

[8:04]as this father embarked the bus with his children they started yelling

[8:09]screaming crying they Disturbed everyone on board the bus the people were

[8:17]upset they were agitated they were saying you know this irresponsible father

[8:22]why can't he control his kids does he not realize that we

[8:26]want some peaceful time we're traveling we're exhaused we're stressed out like

[8:31]him why cannot he control his kids some of them even thought

[8:37]of getting up and making a scene there with the father verbally

[8:41]fighting with him imagine the attitude now on the bus minutes later

[8:47]they realized that the mother of these kids has passed away and

[8:53]that's why they're crying imagine what happened on that bus the same

[8:58]people on board they're going from the the same place to the

[9:05]same destination but now the entire attitude changed because now they had

[9:10]some empathy they realized what these kids are going through the same

[9:14]people who were sitting there frowning angry agitated all of a sudden

[9:19]became nice people walking up to the kids embracing them kissing them

[9:22]giving them candy giving them some gifts because they realize these kids

[9:27]are going through a tragedy their mother had just has passed away

[9:33]the entire attitude changed what the world needs today is some empathy

[9:37]so we can feel what the others are going through and this

[9:41]is the message of the month of Ramadan this is why we

[9:47]Muslims fast our respected scholar Dr bedi he shed some light on

[9:51]the philosophy behind fasting and one of the greatest reasons why we

[9:55]are required to fast for 29 or 30 days so that we

[10:01]can feel the pain and suffering of other people when we fast

[10:05]we go hungry for a few hours the almighty God is teaching

[10:12]us look don't take what you have for granted the pleasures and

[10:16]the joys of this life food water whatever it is do not

[10:19]take it for granted because there are millions of people who are

[10:24]deprived they're impoverished they do not enjoy these blessings like you do

[10:31]think about them this is one reason why we go hungry so

[10:34]we can feel the pain and suffering of other people so that

[10:38]every year for 30 days we constantly remind ourselves don't think as

[10:44]if you only exist in this universe there are other people who

[10:49]exist make sure you fulfill your Humane responsibility towards them this is

[10:56]exactly why our beloved Prophet The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him

[11:01]and his family this is why even though he was the head

[11:10]of a state towards the end of his life he always chose

[11:14]to go hungry he would never fill his stomach to the point

[11:18]of satiation he would never do that one narration tells us one

[11:24]day the prophet went to visit his beloved daughter FAA as he

[11:30]entered her house she realized that her father was weakened because of

[11:37]his hunger she took some dry bread made from barley and she

[11:41]offered it to him after the prophet consumed it you know what

[11:45]he told his daughter he said my beloved daughter Fatima this is

[11:53]the first time since three days that your father has eaten anything

[11:57]this is how Prophet Muhammad used to live because he always wanted

[12:02]to remind himself that there are people suffering in my Society I

[12:06]cannot forget about them I could be the head of state I

[12:09]could be the last messenger of God but I cannot forget these

[12:15]people I still go hungry sometimes for two or three days and

[12:18]that's what makes him such a great leader that every human being

[12:23]can relate to because his humanity and his mercy and his forgiveness

[12:32]was always a priority even when it came to his enemies who

[12:36]fought him mercilessly every opportunity he had he would set them free

[12:41]he would forgive them because for him the mer demonstrating the mercy

[12:47]of God was the priority and we take pride in following such

[12:51]a great humble man who teaches us how to achieve the peak

[12:58]of humanity by helping other people by extending our arms you know

[13:03]once in one narration God asked Moses his great prophet he told

[13:08]him oh Moses what have you done for me imagine if you're

[13:14]asked this question by God Moses said oh God I pray I

[13:20]fast I fulfill my obligations my religious duties God told him Moses

[13:29]when you do that this this is for you when you pray

[13:31]you're helping yourself you're not helping me I have nothing to gain

[13:34]from your prayers when you fast when you worship me you're benefiting

[13:40]what have you done purely for me Moses began to cry he

[13:46]says oh God you teach me you teach me what can I

[13:48]dedicate purely for you the almighty God revealed to him he told

[13:55]him oh Moses have you fed someone who's hungry have you you

[14:00]helped someone who's distressed depressed going through problems have you done that

[14:06]if you do this that's how you help me and that's how

[14:09]you worship me 100% that's what you can offer and dedicated and

[14:15]dedicate purely for me we have a similar scenario with Abraham peace

[14:19]be upon him when he finished the construction of the Kaa that

[14:23]cubic shaped building in Mecca because the first one to build it

[14:27]was Adam and then he rebuilt it after he finished building the

[14:34]house of God he was very proud imagine if God assigns you

[14:38]to build his house isn't that an honor after he finished he

[14:44]felt very proud the almighty God revealed to him he told him

[14:47]oh Abraham yes you have built my house and I thank you

[14:52]for that and this is a great honor for you but now

[14:54]do you want the bigger honor Abraham was puzzled is there a

[15:00]bigger honor than building the house of God he said absolutely what

[15:03]is it God God told him go and help the people in

[15:09]your Society that's how you build my spiritual house by going to

[15:14]all of its inhabitants and helping them out by doing so respected

[15:22]guests we will be forgiven by the almighty God another narration tells

[15:27]us that once Prophet Jesus p be upon him was passing by

[15:33]a cemetery when he realized that one of the occupants of that

[15:38]grave was being punished the following year he passed by the same

[15:43]grave and he realized that this time the occupant of that grave

[15:49]was no longer being punished so he asked God he said my

[15:52]dear God last year he was being punished but now he's no

[15:57]longer being punished what happened explain to me the all Mighty God

[16:00]revealed to him he told him oh Jesus this dead man who

[16:07]was being punished he has a son his son fixed a pathway

[16:09]he removed an impediment from the road and he sheltered an orphan

[16:16]and because of that I have forgiven him if we want the

[16:22]forgiv Forgiveness of God we should also raise a generation of youngsters

[16:26]who hold these teachings dear to their heart hearts and this is

[16:32]why for 30 nights here at alas Islamic Society We Gather every

[16:35]night and we discuss these wonderful teachings of the Holy Quran of

[16:39]the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him with our youngsters because by

[16:44]doing so we are not only securing our lives but our future

[16:48]as well in the day of judgment imagine if this person removed

[16:54]something from the road and sheltered an orphan and because of that

[16:58]his father was no longer punished for his sins we also have

[17:03]hope in our youngsters and in their future my respected guest it

[17:06]has been a great honor for me to address you tonight to

[17:10]see you on this evening I look forward to seeing you again

[17:15][Music] [Music]

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Empathy, the Key to Positive Change - Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Qazwini - Interfaith Iftar 2015

Transcript

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Empathy, the Key to Positive Change - Sayed Mohammed Baqer Al-Qazwini - Interfaith Iftar 2015

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