How do we Build A Just Society? - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2020

9 المشاهدات· 20/02/05

Al-Rasoul Islamic Society
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We all aspire to live in a society thats filled with justice. What steps can we take to contribute to such an aspiration? Brother Ebad Abidi addresses these points in his insightful discussion. Al-Rasoul Islamic Society || Fatimiya Youth Program 2020

أظهر المزيد

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[0:00][Music] today I would like to discuss an issue that many of

[0:16]the youth including myself have long since struggled with and this is

[0:20]the issue of how is it that we go about implementing justice

[0:25]and building a just society here in the West what is our

[0:28]role as she of the West in building a proper just society

[0:36]as envisioned by amirul mumineen and in the quran the holy quran

[0:40]commands us in verse 135 of surah nisa oh you who believe

[0:46]be maintained errs of justice bearers of witness for allah sake though

[0:50]it may be against your own selves thus for us to be

[0:53]just and to strive for justice is more than just mere polemics

[0:58]it is divine instruction furthermore we are commanded to be just not

[1:02]even even to our own detriment to be ready to sacrifice for

[1:05]the sake of Allah and for the sake of what is right

[1:09]now the holy quran gives us ample instruction on what is right

[1:12]and the AL obeyed give us ample example of what is just

[1:16]the question that many of us in the West ask ourselves is

[1:19]not what justice we implement but rather how we implement it how

[1:23]is it that we build such a society philosophers thinkers and political

[1:31]leaders have debated about these very questions for thousands of years in

[1:35]ancient Greece many philosophers believed that a just society can only arise

[1:41]to a just leader Plato made mention of a philosopher King in

[1:48]his book the Republic a leader who uses wisdom and reason to

[1:52]rule by example and under this Plutonian model justice would be something

[1:56]that would be taught to citizens of the society it would be

[1:59]something that would be instilled by the state into each individual so

[2:04]that they would embody the principles of the state but this view

[2:07]is flawed a just society cannot exist without just people a society

[2:11]is ultimately the reflection of the very people that make it up

[2:17]rather justice starts with the individual to make a better world we

[2:21]must ourselves strive to be better we must take action ourselves to

[2:25]build the better world and more importantly we must embody the very

[2:29]virtues we wish for the rest of the world to possess a

[2:31]philosopher king without a wise population is a powerless King today when

[2:36]we look at the news we see the suffering of our brothers

[2:39]and sisters in places such as Yemen Iraq Pakistan Syria to name

[2:42]a few we as Muslims in the West look at these tragedies

[2:47]and ask ourselves what can we do we try to channel our

[2:51]outrage into political action and activism we seek to follow the example

[2:54]of husband Fatima and mom was saying by speaking out against the

[2:57]injustice we see with ferocity and conviction as individuals and as a

[3:03]community we build big ambitions for ourselves and try to leave our

[3:10]mark on the wider world we seek opportunities to become more involved

[3:13]in the issues plaguing our brothers and sisters across the world often

[3:17]we seek to romanticize those of us in these countries who have

[3:20]taken up arms against oppressive regimes and we fantasize about emulating their

[3:24]heroic deeds however for others the sheer scale of the crisis is

[3:30]that we see gripping the Muslim world can still can instill in

[3:35]us a sense of despair and powerlessness many of these regions are

[3:39]gripped in proxy conflicts among the world's most powerful nations decisions are

[3:43]made affecting us and those around us by leaders that many of

[3:47]us never chose we are told to strive for justice in this

[3:49]world and yet we live in a world that seemingly laughs at

[3:53]the notion we do try when we do try to become involved

[3:57]when we try to speak up for our brothers and sisters who

[3:59]are bombed in Yemen or killed in Syria we are frustrated when

[4:03]no one listens when the war that we try to build support

[4:08]against continues despite all our attempts to stem the conflict we lose

[4:12]faith we start becoming jaded and we start believing that perhaps such

[4:17]justice is unattainable and not worth the effort that we put into

[4:21]trying to build it we may be Shia who live in the

[4:26]West but our thoughts and our hearts 12 and the problems in

[4:30]the East understandably we wish to follow the examples of our Imams

[4:33]we look at her mom Ali peace be upon him who ripped

[4:37]the doors of hybird down and and the scheming of Banu nadir

[4:41]we look at a mom was saying peace be upon him who

[4:43]chose martyrdom over submission to an unjust regime and watched his family

[4:47]and supporters butchered in front of him and so our instinct is

[4:53]to fight to resist whatever injustice it is that we see in

[4:56]the world around us these are the examples we try to emulate

[5:01]as Muslims here in the West many of us talk of tackling

[5:03]the great injustice of our time of implementing God's justice on an

[5:06]international scale we worked towards challenging the leaders of our world by

[5:11]becoming involved in politics or advocacy we organize and participate in protests

[5:16]and solidarity in the oppressed with the oppressed of the world however

[5:21]in doing so we neglect implementing justice at home within our immediate

[5:25]community within our friends and family and most importantly within ourselves when

[5:30]we see our 14 masu mean we see that only three of

[5:35]them fought openly against injustice in the manner that we internally picture

[5:39]and subconsciously glamorize we neglect the fact that not all fights not

[5:43]all struggles are open and external rather when we look at our

[5:46]other Massa mean we see that their fight against injustice was not

[5:51]loud and wide wide reaching but oftentimes measured we speak of imam

[5:55]ali as the warrior who killed Marhaba khyber who defended the oma

[5:58]at Safina and nar hewan yet we neglect the intervening years of

[6:04]his life we neglect his role in compiling the Quran and striving

[6:07]to prepare his sons and his daughter for their responsibilities as the

[6:12]Imams and as the leaders of the Shia and of the wider

[6:16]Muslim Ummah the struggle for justice today by Muslims must be two-pronged

[6:21]when we argue for Yemen in Syria we must first show justice

[6:27]with ourselves and those around us often we see that those were

[6:30]the most loud and unspoken the most loud and outspoken about injustice

[6:36]in society in the wider world those who argue the loudest supposedly

[6:40]for the rights of the Muslims often have disordered lives themselves such

[6:46]people often promote habits and views that are contrary to the very

[6:49]Islamic views that we claim that they to defend and often they

[6:55]demand where they may demand world leaders show compassion to their people

[7:00]and to their perceived enemies he will not choke state of chaos

[7:10]such activism rings hollow unexpect nations to be fair to entire peoples

[7:16]when we look at the example of husband thought to my peace

[7:18]be upon her we see that she was not afraid to challenge

[7:22]the government of her time she was not afraid to speak out

[7:24]against the Khalifah when the land of fife was taken from her

[7:30]when Imam Ali's rightful place as the khalifa was taken from him

[7:34]yet we also see that husband fatima peace be upon her was

[7:39]cognizant to build a strong household with strong children Huzur fatima recognized

[7:43]that to speak of righteousness one must demonstrate righteousness themselves she saw

[7:48]that her struggle doesn't end with her it has to continue well

[7:54]past her that her example has to be carried on by her

[7:56]children and her children's children and all those that come after them

[8:03]when we see a relationship with Imam Ali we see a relationship

[8:06]based on compassion and understanding a relationship built on justice amongst each

[8:13]other and amongst their children and it is because of this to

[8:19]others because they were able to home they distance society in addition

[8:25]we as Muslims prioritize large social causes for many of us building

[8:30]a just society means advancing large overarching so we neglect the small

[8:37]actions that we can do in our day-to-day lives we will proudly

[8:42]speak of the oppression of Muslims in places such as India and

[8:45]Palestine but we turn a blind eye to the needs of our

[8:50]own community Allah gives us a thousand opportunities to make a positive

[8:55]change in small ways yet we ignore these smaller opportunities in favour

[8:59]of large glamorous opportunities we favor the opportunities which give us the

[9:03]thrill of belonging and the glass of media attention those of us

[9:09]do not desire such things we mistaken such activism is the only

[9:15]real path towards implementing Allah's will and this desire and because this

[9:22]desire we feel defeated when such activism fails to usher in the

[9:27]righteous society we desire however in fighting for the big pic in

[9:31]however in fighting for the big picture we must remember that the

[9:36]big picture is made up of smaller pictures we should not underestimate

[9:40]the power of small acts of kindness charity and mercy nor should

[9:44]we underestimate the power of service in our local community we must

[9:47]recognize that not all of us have the ability or opportunity to

[9:52]make our mark on the world stage but we must also realize

[9:55]that in the eyes of God the size and consequence of the

[10:00]act is irrelevant before allah feeding one beggar is no less righteous

[10:05]an act than feeding a thousand beggars if we wish to work

[10:10]in the idle debates cause we should be willing to advance their

[10:14]cause at a local and even private level we may not be

[10:16]able to help Palestine today but we can certainly help our neighbors

[10:21]our friends our relatives even our countrymen here in this country it

[10:25]is by being willing to step up in whatever capacity necessary when

[10:29]we least expected that we implement a less justice not when we

[10:34]are comfortable and plan planning to step up it's not by allowing

[10:38]ourselves to become professional activists where we devote our lives to pursuing

[10:45]abstract causes that we implement the vision of a just society but

[10:49]rather by ensuring that we remain grounded in our immediate reality and

[10:52]that we tackle the issues that we can deal with in our

[10:59]personal and communal capacity finally we must be mindful that each of

[11:03]us has a role to play many of us look at the

[11:07]struggles against injustice as one of confrontation we see it as a

[11:11]war that must be fought and won between the oppressed and the

[11:15]oppressor certainly this is an attractive idea is attractive to view society's

[11:18]oppressors as an enemy that we must confront through any means possible

[11:23]one which we can triumph over through determination in action however this

[11:27]is a line of thinking that often ends up being more unhelpful

[11:31]than helpful not all of us have the honor of defending huzzas

[11:35]enum but we each have a role in this life while some

[11:39]of us may be called on to fight to sacrifice to stand

[11:44]and speak out against the injustice is and oppressors who grip this

[11:47]world for many of us our role is to build our community

[11:49]we must recognize that the sacrifices of our brothers and sisters throughout

[11:54]history were so that we who stand here today may have the

[11:58]opportunity to strengthen the community here and now nowhere is this truer

[12:01]than the lies of our very imams for example when we look

[12:05]at our later a mom such as imam reza we see that

[12:09]his struggle in life was no less painful than the trials faced

[12:12]by imam hussain at Karbala and mama saying had to face arrow

[12:15]a rain had to face the pain of spears and arrows he

[12:20]had to witness the loss of his sons his brother and his

[12:22]companions but a mama Radha had to witness the persecution oppression and

[12:27]extermination of the Shia he had to bear the pain of watching

[12:33]the Shia suffer knowing that to fight would be to doom them

[12:37]all his trial was to witness the injustice done on the shia

[12:45]of his time and to resist the desire to fight but because

[12:48]because to do so would be detrimental to him and to the

[12:54]Shia as Shia in the West we must also follow this example

[12:56]as we witness the oppression of our brothers and sisters in Palestine

[13:00]and Xin Jiang and the Rakhine State we must recognize that sometimes

[13:05]confrontation is not an option to truly help our brothers and sisters

[13:09]who are oppressed overseas we must build ourselves in our community here

[13:15]the trial of the Yemenis is to endure bombardment and destruction without

[13:18]realizing the resolve but our trial is to watch without losing our

[13:24]purpose it is by staying cognizant of this purpose that we build

[13:28]a properly just society we must recognize that it takes strength to

[13:31]fight but it also takes strength not to fight when we do

[13:36]speak out we must ensure that what we say and what we

[13:40]do doesn't weaken our community here at home we must ensure that

[13:43]when we strive for justice we do so for a less satisfaction

[13:45]not for our own satisfaction our actions are an expression we must

[13:51]ensure that our actions are an expression of our conviction in a

[13:55]less instruction and not an expression of our own personal outrage at

[13:59]the inn justices of this world when we go for the latter

[14:05]we lose our purpose we lose our direction and we lose our

[14:08]credibility there's only by maintaining this consistency by ensuring that everything we

[14:12]do is for the sake of Allah that we maintain the credibility

[14:17]of our cause and ourselves an example of course of this is

[14:22]when imam ali was at the Battle of high birth he was

[14:29]fighting one of the mushrik and as he was about to deliver

[14:32]the killing blow the mushriks spit in imam ali's eye and imam

[14:36]ali roof dropped his sword and refused to kill him and when

[14:38]he came back he said if i killed this man in that

[14:42]moment I would have killed him for my pride but I will

[14:46]only kill him for the sake of Allah not for the sake

[14:48]of myself thus to conclude when we are asked ourselves how best

[14:53]to implement justice in the modern world we must first implement justice

[14:57]in our own personal lives we must be willing to step up

[15:00]with small acts of compassion no matter how small and you must

[15:05]understand the necessity of building our own community at home and for

[15:08]advocating for the sake of Allah not for the sake of ourselves

[15:10]with this I conclude this brief discussion thank you all for coming

[15:15]here and ask for forgiveness from you and from our love for

[15:21]any shortcomings thank you [Music]

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How do we Build A Just Society? - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2020

Transcript

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How do we Build A Just Society? - Ebad Abidi || Fatimiya 2020

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