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MYCAST: Episode 1 - Sayed Jawad Qazwini
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24/06/08
MYCAST is an interactive and live podcast created by the youth group at the IIA named the Muslim Youth Connection Tune in today's episode as we interview Sayed Jawad Qazwini and ask him about his journey as a scholar and lecturer and much more!
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Transcript
[0:01][Music] and welcome all to the very first episode of my cast
[0:28]my cast is a new live interactive podcast launched by the Muslim
[0:34]youth connection here at the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights
[0:39]the capital of the Shia world in America and our guest for
[0:46]today although he's not a michigander he for sure is a guest
[0:49]that needs no introduction but allow me and help me in introducing
[0:55]and welcoming Our Guest for tonight Sam jaad alaz with allow thank
[1:11]you so much for making the time and joining us tonight it's
[1:16]my pleasure to be here so we'll start strong okay and I
[1:19]apologize if this puts you in a pickle with your community back
[1:25]in Houston but is it true that Dearborn is your favorite Community
[1:28]uh first first of all I'd like to say that um deborn
[1:34]is one of the most vibrant um communities that I have visited
[1:38]and I have visited many communities all across the world um I
[1:42]think there is a lot of warmth in Houston in U in
[1:46]Michigan and Dearborn there's a lot of love um uh Community obviously
[1:54]the eldest Community um that's been around um very generous very kind
[2:00]very welcoming community and um I would say in in regards to
[2:06]you putting me on the spot or throwing me under the bus
[2:08]with my own Community that's home for me so as a guest
[2:12]yes this would be my favorite place to be inshallah alhamdulillah so
[2:15]let's let's have a salaat for that wonderful answer muham so I'd
[2:26]like to take you down on memory lane so the team has
[2:32]gathered few pictures of you over a few years and we'd like
[2:35]to see if you remember any of them and hopefully get your
[2:40]reaction so and the audience is able to see the picture on
[2:42]you know on the walls and I believe that there will be
[2:46]an iPad for you say if not then I can um I
[2:49]could see I could see the wall perfect perfect so the first
[2:54]picture um Ali all right so that first picture is is uh
[3:00]is of you and I believe a few of the cousins um
[3:04]which one is you say well I think uh I'll let the
[3:09]audience uh kind of guess which one is me y any any
[3:21]anybody wants to take a guess yeah go ahead go ahead say
[3:26]out your answers so I'm hearing top right bottom bottom left or
[3:37]top right which one is it say top right yeah it's uh
[3:44]I'm on the the right top right top right that's me next
[3:50]to me said Muhammad bakar say bakar is right next to you
[3:52]to the left yeah good old days when I was the same
[3:57]height as Muhammad Bak wow and uh right next to us is
[3:59]uh s k in front of us is Ahmed and right next
[4:04]to Ahmed is say wow and that's actually in our my grandfather's
[4:17]house our grandfather's house and what's interesting is that the um the
[4:22]little I mean this this seemed like it was the biggest pool
[4:24]ever but now that I look at it it's so tiny I
[4:28]don't think that's a pool say yeah it's I mean to us
[4:31]it was the biggest massive swimming pool to a to to the
[4:33]point there where they used to tell us don't get don't drown
[4:37]in there wow so we used to think there was a possibility
[4:38]of us drowning in there but I can't even uh I can't
[4:43]even imagine that now wow so yeah where was this this was
[4:45]tan B so do you do you remember how old you were
[4:51]and what year this was maybe I mean I'm assuming 1950 um
[4:57]I I can't remember the exact year but I I look maybe
[5:02]six five I don't know okay and what's the age difference between
[5:05]everyone in this picture uh a few months between me and said
[5:11]mammed B and said K and then two two years three years
[5:13]between me and said and said Ahmed how was it were you
[5:18]all Sal looks like he's three and I look like I'm six
[5:21]so yeah that's about how was how was the dynamic between you
[5:24]all was it was it friendly was it yeah absolutely yeah yeah
[5:28]well it seems like right now and it is right now so
[5:32]alhamdulillah you know you know back in the day when you were
[5:34]taking a picture uh you had you know it wasn't like you
[5:39]could take 12 pictures m so I think we were asked to
[5:44]you know pose for a while look present make sure yeah yeah
[5:46]just to make sure the picture is coming out well well it
[5:49]looks really nice another thing that I I could tell from the
[5:51]pictures is our family did not believe in Barbers yeah good ones
[5:56]I must say every single one of us needed a haircut in
[5:58]that picture so this was in tahran when did you move to
[6:04]the US then so everybody moved before us and then we were
[6:09]the the last family to move out of tan to the US
[6:14]in 1996 1996 how old were you when you moved to the
[6:16]US 11 11 yeah so one can consider you as someone that
[6:21]was actually raised in America and grew up in America um I
[6:25]I at least I would argue so how was the transition from
[6:31]from moving from tahan Iran to I mean the transition from a
[6:35]different country to you know Iran to um to the US in
[6:39]itself was a big transition but in the the end of the
[6:43]day we we lived together when we were in Iran as one
[6:46]very large family mashallah and then when we went to California actually
[6:49]a lot of people might not know this but we were uh
[6:54]about 30 people in one house wow how big was the house
[6:59]it wasn't that big so we were all in one house um
[7:05]and um there was I I won't say which family but one
[7:09]of the families for example had to take over the kitchen at
[7:11]night wow yeah some were living uh were sleeping in the living
[7:17]room I mean men and women the boys were in in one
[7:22]room the wom were in another room yeah we uh we were
[7:24]all together those was the the good old days that must have
[7:28]been tough for the old was tough in the time cuz there
[7:30]was you know 12 people for one bathroom wow yeah but for
[7:35]the young ones I think for you and it was very fun
[7:39]very exciting you can imagine yeah yeah that's like every kid's dream
[7:45]living with your cousins um so we would pray we would uh
[7:48]you know we would eat together we would read Quran together it's
[7:52]very beautiful that's beautiful that's really beautiful we have another picture for
[7:57]you s and uh I think you know it goes a little
[8:02]uh maybe 15 20 years later um and that picture is of
[8:06]the very first days or months of you becoming um a wearing
[8:13]the turban and representing a turbinator the turbanator that's a new term
[8:18]that we must use for sure but that's that signifies that you
[8:22]are now representing the school of the B which is truly I
[8:26]I believe is a blessing and um one can only hope to
[8:30]be you know a representative of of the school of the so
[8:33]if we can see the the photo um and show the photo
[8:38]to get say ja's reactions to it okay so that's that's the
[8:43]first uh that's the picture so tell us about do you remember
[8:46]that day s i do I vividly remember so what's what's what's
[8:52]the significance of that day uh that uh photo um was taken
[8:59]at the original Kini residence in the holy city of carala that
[9:03]residence um is about 200 years old so um if I'm not
[9:10]mistaken my grandfather's father was born in that house including my grandfather
[9:15]including all his brothers were born in this house it's a very
[9:19]small house um three stories uh my grandfather went to carala and
[9:25]um this house had no electricity it had no AC um actually
[9:30]the state of the house was pretty scary because it was um
[9:36]it was abandoned for like 40 years and um I I don't
[9:40]want to begin to tell you how the shower in the bathroom
[9:45]looked but it was uh it's pretty much a haunted house but
[9:47]what was beautiful about this house was the fact that it was
[9:52]in very close proximity of the shrine of um the imams so
[9:55]this is the closest house to the shrine of ab Abbas um
[10:00]you could literally feel that you're inside Haram and um yeah I
[10:08]mean those were the carala was very quiet um there was no
[10:12]Mass migration into carala was just the the indigenous people of carala
[10:15]people who lived there it was very quiet there was no traffic
[10:18]what year was this it was literally less than a few months
[10:20]after the fall of Saddam 2003 is 2003 wow and um and
[10:27]we we actually were my grandfather was receiving a his um a
[10:30]delegation from uh Naf representing Sani so I was sitting right next
[10:39]to him and he was listening um and then he also used
[10:41]to pray the the five daily prayers inside the shrine of IM
[10:47]Hussein you could tell I mean look this probably that's but that's
[10:51]that's howal was there was people closing down their shops around and
[10:55]was what uh less than 500 people for but it was not
[11:00]covered so this was this was the heat of the summer this
[11:03]was at least 110° right there in that picture um and U
[11:08]yeah I see s Hussein my uncle say muhammmad my uncle as
[11:11]well and some other scholars in there but that is the day
[11:16]that I was um gifted and blessed with the turban of wasallam
[11:22]by my grandfather that early morning wow after how did that feel
[11:28]when you first well you know um for me I I was
[11:30]still indecisive I didn't know if I was going to um you
[11:35]know wear the the turban um I um I always felt like
[11:39]you know I wasn't sure I I knew that I wanted to
[11:41]speak I wanted to engage I wanted to serve the especially the
[11:48]cause of IM Hussein but I remember um leading up to this
[11:52]event um my grandfather said something that was uh that that moved
[11:59]me to the core he said whatever you do whether you become
[12:01]the best attorney I I wanted to become an attorney uh whether
[12:04]you become the best attorney whether you become the best businessman or
[12:08]journalist or author whatever you become on the day of judgment you
[12:15]will have regrets in the grave you will have regrets and I
[12:18]asked him I said why he said because when im Hussein starts
[12:22]repaying his servants you feel like I'm not one of them and
[12:31]uh when you serve him you will have the D and the
[12:35]this life and the Hereafter so that was what gave me that
[12:41]last push that I needed to be sure that is a route
[12:42]I should take so beautiful words it felt like it was the
[12:47]beginning of a journey of dedication MH dedicating my life right next
[12:54]to the shrine of IM Hussein dedicating my life my existence my
[13:00]time my energy my thoughts uh to him beautiful beautiful so although
[13:06]you were the in the city of carala you you did not
[13:10]study in carala you didn't study in NF you actually moved to
[13:12]yeah and study what what made you make that decision to move
[13:18]to Iran as opposed to either carala or NF so I mean
[13:20]we were studying um we were studying uh with my grandfather in
[13:26]in Los Angeles me said Hussein my uncle and say Muhammad bakar
[13:28]my cousin we had had a daily class with my grandfather and
[13:31]then my grandfather as you know left to to uh carala and
[13:36]I think a month or two less than two months later me
[13:40]and said Hussein joined him in carala um so I had already
[13:47]started my studies um um and um my grandfather is a great
[13:50]teacher so whatever he taught us we you kind of just tend
[13:55]to memorize what he teaches you without having to review or or
[13:58]or um you know it's just a him he's his his art
[14:03]is that he simplifies things right um and then when we went
[14:07]tobala and obviously I wore theama and said Hussein had already wore
[14:10]it and uh you know we were thinking of you know now
[14:14]having to stay fulltime and study full-time um I personally realize that
[14:23]there were a lot of side commitments in carala um I mean
[14:30]you were getting visits by uh let's call them important people I
[14:34]don't want to say politicians because they were more than politicians there
[14:37]were there it was the beginning of you know a new era
[14:42]for forq and for Shia Muslims there were there were people from
[14:46]all over the world coming into carala and wanting to meet my
[14:48]grandfather and I remember the first day actually this this very day
[14:56]when I wore the turban and I left to buy bread yeah
[14:59]um people started kissing my hand and I said to myself because
[15:07]of my grandfather obviously but I said to myself I I want
[15:10]to be a student you know I don't want I don't want
[15:14]to feel special and I think when I went to I realized
[15:16]I saw a glimpse I saw I saw something that I I
[15:23]continue to remember um I went I was walking and I saw
[15:27]a mer I don't want to take his name but I saw
[15:28]a mer um who is obviously a very esteemed scholar um and
[15:37]he was walking by himself he was walking by himself in and
[15:42]I asked myself I said you know this is this is if
[15:47]you want to study if you don't want to be in the
[15:48]Limelight if you want to be able to focus on yourself you
[15:52]have to go through the phase of being a nobody or else
[15:56]if you feel like I've already accomplished I'm already accomplished to a
[16:00]point where people want to kiss my hands then what's the point
[16:04]and I remember also there were other difficulties you know such as
[16:08]electricity and you know you just you had to worry about too
[16:13]many other things while was very established you could just study start
[16:16]studying the next day the schools were you know the teacher teachers
[16:19]were still in teachers had not moved to NF at the time
[16:24]so the teachers that I studied with later on moved to NF
[16:26]but at the time they weren't G so you just mentioned you
[16:31]know that was more established and probably was easier to live in
[16:34]but a lot of people ask until this day they ask about
[16:40]you know the conditions of moving to Iraq or or Iran to
[16:43]study the conditions of the how how hard is it how difficult
[16:48]and some people think it's very easy and some people think it's
[16:51]very daunting and difficult but how is it like how was your
[16:54]experience at the how difficult was it what were some of the
[16:59]challenges that you faced as a student there yeah that's probably one
[17:04]of the uh most frequent questions that I get about life in
[17:07]the hza and actually when I was in the hza I I
[17:11]really wanted to do a documentary about you know a week in
[17:16]in the howza life and what it means for people to kind
[17:19]of feel what so I'll tell you one thing um I can
[17:23]say that I was privileged I was amongst the privileged students of
[17:27]the haza um why because the family name because people knew my
[17:32]grandfather because he first uh he had written letters to distinguished Scholars
[17:39]to to teach us privately so that right there gave gave us
[17:44]you know we like I said we were privileged um we were
[17:50]also not amongst those who um alhamdulillah had to go through extreme
[17:55]poverty you know there are some students in the house that go
[17:58]through extreme poverty so I'll give you an example we had um
[18:06]we had someone who used to study with he was a really
[18:13]good student um and he used to speak Arabic fluently but he
[18:16]was not Arab and he was able to keep up you know
[18:21]um with our Dynamics with our teachers he asked to join the
[18:25]class and he was able to keep up which was very impressive
[18:29]MH uh and I remember one day I asked him you know
[18:31]how do you you know how do you uh how do you
[18:38]basically sustain yourself and your family besides the very small amount that
[18:42]the how offers maybe $20 a month so you can't live off
[18:48]$20 a month and he told me that I um I fast
[18:52]he used to fast and pray make up for people who have
[18:54]missed they he you know how how when somebody passes away they
[18:59]hire someone to pass on their behalf and to do uh Quran
[19:02]recitations on their behalf and to do Salah on their behalf this
[19:07]was this was his daily job routine um which is very difficult
[19:13]very difficult and then he was also acing all his classes and
[19:16]then in in a conversation I had with him privately I don't
[19:21]know how he ended up also informing me that he was memorizing
[19:24]the Quran and at the same time um so there are very
[19:31]impressive individuals very determined individuals that are living off $50 a month
[19:37]at best um and they're working very hard till this day till
[19:39]this day so the H you know a lot of people for
[19:44]example don't understand the hza system why don't you ever graduate from
[19:47]the ha well you can't graduate from the knowledge of Islam I
[19:50]mean a degre you can't ever say there are you will end
[19:55]up getting degrees you will end up being able to you know
[19:58]go up the ranks however you know for example late he was
[20:04]teaching until the last days of his life you know 97 maybe
[20:08]yeah I mean there are never quits teaching and when you teach
[20:13]the reason why he teaches is because he wants to continue his
[20:16]research um so you really can't you know I mean the knowledge
[20:23]of the the Quran it's so vast and because in itself finding
[20:30]new theories having new Solutions is something that is ongoing on daily
[20:36]basis look I mean a few years ago there was no LGBT
[20:37]today there is a few years ago there was no cryptocurrencies a
[20:42]few years ago every day there is something new andad means that
[20:45]we have to come up with new Solutions which means the how
[20:47]needs to continue to produce and that is why you can't really
[20:53]say I graduated from the howza yeah you could say I I
[20:57]I I arrived at this level of the hza and I left
[20:58]or I've arrived at this stage now and I continue to um
[21:05]remain what they call a is is someone who seeks seeks what
[21:09]knowled seeks knowledge says there are two individuals who will never have
[21:15]enough those who seek knowledge and those who seek wealth if you
[21:21]ask a millionaire you've have five million is it enough I'll S
[21:23]no no no I want to go for 10 he gets 10
[21:26]do you have enough no I want to go for 15 he
[21:30]said those two two people will always say I want more one
[21:32]who truly seeks knowledge for the sake of knowledge not for the
[21:37]sake of a degree or because I just need to land a
[21:39]job and those who seek wealth they'll never have enough beautiful so
[21:47]I remember just to uh kind of answer your questions yes the
[21:49]look you have to wake up early you have to especially in
[21:54]the beginning when you know you have to you have to catch
[21:56]a taxi early in the morning maybe possibly before Sunrise arrive to
[22:00]your class what time do do the earliest classes start with Sunrise
[22:02]Sunrise the first classes begin with Sunrise so you got to get
[22:08]yourself to your class however you can so you have to either
[22:10]walk it or you have to find a taxi that's going to
[22:14]take you there and you know U that comes with its own
[22:16]challenges on cold days taxi drivers at just decide that they're just
[22:21]going to sleep in extra two hours so you're stranded in the
[22:24]middle of the street where is a taxi and you literally will
[22:26]not find one so I remember um you know I remember all
[22:32]those difficulties um and also you know imagine you're you're uh you're
[22:37]working if you are a speaker if you are an orator we'll
[22:42]talk about that see yeah so just imagine this you're working 30
[22:44]40 days out of the year and then you're living off of
[22:48]that for 300 days obviously it's going to be a financial disaster
[22:51]well alhamdulillah it worked alhamdulillah I don't think everyone if you're you
[22:56]know if you're content then everything works yeah I think if someone
[23:00]really wants to dedic from what I'm understanding from you is if
[23:03]if someone really wants to make it work at the then they'll
[23:05]have to be you know as you said they have to have
[23:09]and they'll have to be ready for the difficulties and you know
[23:13]the prospect of living on 50 or $100 a month um but
[23:18]it's it's a blessing I think what what do you think 100%
[23:20]I think when you feel that you truly have dedicated your life
[23:28]to Allah to to IM Hussein you keep going alhamdulillah alhamdulillah we
[23:33]have a a third and last picture for you s okay and
[23:39]it ties to speaking and this picture is about 10 years old
[23:43]from when you were here in Dearborn speaking at the Y um
[23:49]and I want to see if you remember that day or perhaps
[23:55]that series that you um that you gave I do and do
[23:57]you I do yeah and I wanted to ask you about speaking
[24:03]because when you enroll in the howza not every student becomes a
[24:07]speaker in fact the F the vast majority of of students in
[24:11]the H are not speakers so what led you to make the
[24:13]decision of becoming a a speaker and were there any few notable
[24:21]people in your life or people that you looked up to that
[24:24]made you want to become a speaker there are so many ways
[24:31]to respond to this question but I I I'll I'll give a
[24:33]response that hopefully will benefit others as well and it's not just
[24:39]a story about my life um look you can't you can't become
[24:43]a representative of Imam Hussein and his school or take the mimbar
[24:47]um and not have studied it's just not acceptable you know you
[24:53]can't look like a doctor but you know nobody wants to show
[24:55]up to a hospital and then there's there's a person that looks
[24:59]like a doctor would you go under a surgery you know would
[25:01]would nobody would undergo such a surgery by a person who looks
[25:04]like a doctor who knows how to speak like a doctor but
[25:07]is not you know a certified physician or a surgeon and I
[25:12]think that's that's something very important for people to understand that uh
[25:17]you know if if you're taking this as a career you have
[25:21]to put in the hours you have to study and uh yeah
[25:23]it's not going to be easy you have to leave your home
[25:26]you have to leave your comfort you have to go to another
[25:27]country and um you have to make it happen um so I
[25:35]knew that amongst the the different categories of being a a scholar
[25:41]quote unquote scholar um I wanted to be an orator I wanted
[25:47]to be a be a a speaker versus you know an author
[25:49]versus you know a researcher in a specific area of f or
[25:54]or or or what have you I wanted to be one that
[25:58]uh connects to people that speaks the message of IM Hussein um
[26:03]because I think it's just it's exactly what America needed at the
[26:08]time and possibly still does and when you first spoke I think
[26:13]it was you know very early on in the days of English
[26:15]speaking majalis right yeah how how when did it really start I
[26:21]mean I started before I went to I was lecturing um even
[26:24]when I was in high school I was lecturing because my grandfather
[26:27]gave us the opportunity to to speak before him in mam or
[26:31]Ramadan for 10 minutes and uh and he would critique us afterwards
[26:35]telling us you know this is what you had to do and
[26:39]this is what you had to say and um he was always
[26:44]very kind but he obviously had the experience and and and his
[26:47]way of teaching also you know I looked around my uncles and
[26:49]everybody was also doing that so um it was I guess I
[26:58]was privileged again in that sense to have topnotch speakers all around
[27:02]me and I mean growing up we had this massive library of
[27:07]I don't know 20 30,000 books at our home so you we
[27:13]kind of grew up with books and the ability to to to
[27:15]to do research and so take us to your first ever Magus
[27:20]I know you you mentioned that you first spoke uh before moving
[27:22]to for 10 minutes but but let's talk about your first Magus
[27:27]where you were invited to to go and speak maybe 30 40
[27:33]minutes do you remember that day yeah actually no I before I
[27:37]went to I was still speaking a full Magus okay um and
[27:41]um I was being invited where was the first one you remember
[27:48]the very first muharam that I went that I did was in
[27:51]Florida and um I I I I I felt that obviously not
[27:59]all the experience that a speaker needs but I I was able
[28:04]to give 10 10 days you know half an hour 45 minutes
[28:07]how was it compared to your very last lecture is it I
[28:15]mean is it a skill because sometimes people in what regard sometimes
[28:18]people think that you either have the ability of speaking or not
[28:25]and sometimes based on one attempt or two attempts they would think
[28:29]that they're not really good for it but do you think it's
[28:31]more of of something that you can get better at the more
[28:36]you train 100% I mean look speaking is uh is is an
[28:42]art you can't say that an artist may be born an artist
[28:44]within within him there is an art there's a you know a
[28:50]headen artist within him but you can't say or an athlete you
[28:53]know you can't say the best of athletes were born that way
[28:58]no they had it in them but they had to push themselves
[29:00]and and if you don't push yourself hard and if you don't
[29:04]challenge yourself if you're not the one who challenges himself if I
[29:09]don't challenge myself um I think well you you won't ever be
[29:12]able to to feel that sense of satisfaction within you um so
[29:18]there's one thing that I'll tell you I have in common from
[29:20]my first Magus and last maybe more important maybe more so in
[29:26]my last mjus and that is getting prepared for it sitting and
[29:31]preparing I have a system um and I never never uh cut
[29:35]Corners you know if I have a lecture then I sit and
[29:40]I prepare it could be days it could be months it could
[29:45]be weeks until I personally am satisfied with my content that's when
[29:49]I can say you know I have enough how do you go
[29:52]about choosing a topic okay so you know when when I first
[29:56]started was just the topic that you kind of see other speakers
[30:00]talk about um the topics that you just feel that everybody wants
[30:03]to hear you know um I don't want to mention those topics
[30:07]because people will feel like he's he's thinking less of those topics
[30:13]but they're the ones that you you hear from everywhere and everybody
[30:18]more traditional more traditional I would say yes um until you you
[30:23]know I I realize that you have to talk about topics that
[30:26]nobody else is willing to talk about because that's where people want
[30:34]to hear look one big challenge is making religion relevant if if
[30:39]you see people today bored with religion and they're like oh you
[30:43]know I I I'm bored I I don't want to go to
[30:47]a religious gathering or I don't want to hear a religious lecture
[30:50]or I don't you know I don't want to participate in a
[30:53]in a religious activity is because people view religion and the religious
[30:59]institution as boring why do you think that is yeah because we
[31:05]don't relate to people we don't talk about things are happening today
[31:08]for example what's happening in the universities today what's happening in Colombia
[31:15]University today every single Friday today in every single Magus throughout this
[31:19]whole country needed to speak about that whoever didn't has making religion
[31:24]um or the religious institution something that is not relevant and and
[31:30]that is unfortunate because Islam when it was introduced was the most
[31:34]relevant thing Islam was talking about you know ayat were being revealed
[31:39]on daily basis speaking about you know your day-to-day life in fact
[31:44]you know ISL the Quran was revealed to but then it would
[31:53]gradually also be revealed this is one of the opinions yeah why
[31:57]because and and Allah subhana waa alludes you know some Scholars that
[32:01]say Quran was revealed for example 100 verses the first year for
[32:09]example and then in the of that first year 100 verses were
[32:13]re- revealed to some Scholars say no the entire Quran in every
[32:17]would be revealed to and then gradual dissension and they use this
[32:23]Ayah within the Holy Quran that says yah Allah do not hasten
[32:30]in reciting the Quran why because he knows it he has it
[32:37]um or or the Ayah I'm paraphrasing that do not you know
[32:42]proceed in giving the answer before the Quran is revealed upon you
[32:45]which means that the Quran was revealed but why did it take
[32:50]23 years because it needed to become an answer to people an
[32:52]answer to their issues to their problems so was talking about the
[32:56]Quran talks about every single thing today the religious institution all across
[33:06]the board does not give you that sense I would say and
[33:10]and it sometimes even gives you a sense that it is kind
[33:15]of oblivious on what's going on in the world um while for
[33:18]example look I mean a lot of people are would would you
[33:23]you would You' mention for example Taylor Swift and people would uh
[33:27]would start hating oh you know you don't need to listen to
[33:29]her music but why is she so popular why is Andrew Tate
[33:34]so popular you know if I say this a lot of people
[33:35]will say say you know he's very toxic I'm not talking about
[33:39]his message I'm not talking about his personality I'm just saying that
[33:43]he speaks relevance and that is why Taylor Swift is changing the
[33:46]economy of certain countries countries are fighting over her concert why because
[33:51]if you just look up her lyrics go Google them look up
[33:56]her lyrics She talks about real experiences you know I remember I
[34:00]read one of her lyrics she's she wants to go out with
[34:04]her friends and her friends tell her yeah we'll meet you at
[34:06]the mall on Saturday and then they call her Friday night oh
[34:10]it's called off don't don't show up to the mall we're not
[34:12]going so like any girl she's sad and then her mom says
[34:17]you know what I'll take you to the mall no problem she
[34:20]goes to the mall and she sees her friends there so she
[34:23]writes a song about this experience nobody wants to say I was
[34:26]dissed I was left behind behind I was The Loner but she
[34:31]actually did so she writes you know lyrics about this and then
[34:34]suddenly it relates to millions of girls around the world I am
[34:41]not comparing religion to music okay but I'm talking about the fact
[34:46]that the religious institution has to be relevant so back to your
[34:52]question about topics I realized that look there are real issues in
[34:55]the community and I need to discuss them and I could not
[34:59]I can't shy away from them and you know that's when I
[35:04]started basically looking at for example one of the ways that I
[35:07]do is I read the 50 bestsellers the New York Times Best
[35:10]Sellers and some of them I don't really relate to I don't
[35:13]like them but I have to read them because I have my
[35:17]audience this is there there is a reason why they sold millions
[35:19]of copies is because the American public is interested in what that
[35:22]book has to say so you read those books the the New
[35:27]York Times bestsellers I I read every single of them yeah and
[35:29]from there I realize what's going on and what people want to
[35:33]hear about and and I will make sure that either a whole
[35:35]lecture is given to it or a few you know uh minutes
[35:40]from a lecture whether it's Ramadan mam weekends um as we you
[35:47]know something you like to read I love to read absolutely So
[35:51]speaking of re relevance and and the relevance of the Islamic institution
[35:54]in in the minds of the youth when it comes to social
[36:03]media I think you are one of the scholars that has um
[36:05]lots of presence on social media um last I checked I think
[36:12]you know Facebook Instagram Tik Tok um and lots of followers mashallah
[36:15]but I want to ask about you know your thought process behind
[36:18]that is what led you to make that decision was it in
[36:23]regards to keeping the Islamic institution and keeping religion relevant in the
[36:30]minds of of the youth look I always say I say we
[36:35]have to find ways to get to people we can't expect we
[36:40]can't say that the people here in those four walls they're important
[36:44]but whoever is not within those four walls is is not important
[36:47]right um Islam was revealed so that it could become the final
[36:53]message for Humanity okay how how am I taking I can't even
[36:57]take the Message of Islam to my neighbor I don't my neighbor
[37:02]doesn't even know what I believe in people at work are not
[37:04]willing to talk about Islam people at school are not willing to
[37:10]talk about Islam um so and we live in a free country
[37:11]so in the end of the day it's not fear that's stopping
[37:16]us it's hesitation that's stopping us or lack of knowledge and I
[37:18]think with social media it's such a powerful tool um it's a
[37:24]it's such a powerful tool yet it's such an un undervalued tool
[37:30]within our communities look I know some communities I have spoken to
[37:38]individuals within that Community their budget for Ramadan starts at 200,000 $200,000
[37:44]but it's it's all food that's a lot of I know you
[37:49]guys don't give food here in Ramadan but there are communities that
[37:53]give food now let's say they have a th000 to 2,000 people
[37:57]every night in in Ramadan right M and even if you end
[38:02]up going to Taco Bell you're going to pay $10 for a
[38:06]meal so I'm sure they're not giving them Taco Bell so that's
[38:09]let's say $10 a person that's 20 grand a night every 10
[38:15]nights every for 30 nights you're breaking the bank and you're feeding
[38:20]people that don't need food every one of them can afford food
[38:25]in fact people who don't afford food who can't afford food in
[38:30]this country the government will give them food Zaman will give them
[38:33]food so why are we if you don't if you have half
[38:37]a million dollars to spend in one month I say spend it
[38:42]spend one fraction of it spend 10% of it spend 20 30
[38:44]50% of it on multimedia you know you show up to some
[38:49]communities and the sound is horrible it is horrible it's squeaky sound
[38:56]until the end from the the beginning until the end and that
[38:59]there's a guy in the back who's probably my grandfather's age trying
[39:04]to fix the sound and you're thinking this guy can't even take
[39:06]turn on his radio and in the car what is he doing
[39:11]trying to fix the sound but that's just reality of things and
[39:13]they'll never get the sound right because the speakers are and then
[39:16]the surveillance camera videos is trying to you know get you to
[39:20]and then it just doesn't work that way I think if we
[39:22]invest in multimedia we invest in you know cameras we invest in
[39:28]and and and a good sound system and I'll tell you this
[39:31]is one thing that uh this community is is very good at
[39:34]the've always had or tried their best to be at the top
[39:40]of their game um and that is why you know I have
[39:44]videos from from here from this very place that have reached 8
[39:46]million people one video has reached 8 million people um I remember
[39:52]one of the years that I was here our total views within
[39:55]10 days had had exceeded 100 million that is massive so is
[40:02]it worth the money absolutely it's worth the money and and you
[40:05]see you see how it it can bring people that will otherwise
[40:09]never step in foot into a Masjid they will never step foot
[40:15]into a but now you can get to them you can speak
[40:16]to them they're just sitting at their home and they're listening to
[40:21]you and slowly but surely maybe five years down the line yeah
[40:23]you'll get a call I'm ready to convert three years down the
[40:26]line but what do you think the vision of the Shia Community
[40:30]should be regarding social media you know you mentioned equipment and many
[40:36]communities might have that equipment but what should be the vision what
[40:40]should be the content that should be aimed towards the youth or
[40:44]others beyond the Muslim Community relevant talk about something that is relevant
[40:49]to people in fact you know how just things have changed um
[40:55]I I I don't know if Instagram time this with Co or
[40:58]they just they were able to make that transition very quickly but
[41:03]when when Co hit and we were all stuck at home everybody
[41:11]was just using their phone 24/7 right I mean you were either
[41:15]watching um you know Netflix or YouTube or whatever on longer videos
[41:19]and then slowly between that you also needed something right you needed
[41:26]so that's why they came up with the reals and and now
[41:28]people can't you know within the first 5 seconds if you do
[41:33]not say something interesting you've lost your audience now some people might
[41:38]have this uh you know to hell with them who cares I
[41:40]don't need to if I lost them I lost them they're they're
[41:45]you know it's their loss that's not how it is no if
[41:48]you truly want to speak on behalf of Allah subhana do it
[41:54]right it's not imagine you have a five-star facility hotel right M
[41:58]and you say I don't care if I lose customers nobody's going
[42:03]to say that everybody's going to do everything they possibly can to
[42:08]get more customers why is it that for Allah subhana wa tala
[42:12]I don't mind losing customers that's not how it is if you're
[42:14]doing it do it right so I would say it has to
[42:17]be relevant it has to be attractive you know like you're you're
[42:21]competing against Netflix and you're competing against Hulu and you're competing against
[42:25]all those guys you know just make sure the content you're you're
[42:28]putting out has good sound has good you know it's an acceptable
[42:34]quality I would say and and the key to that is you
[42:38]have to get the youth involved if you don't get the youth
[42:40]involved it'll never going to happen it's never going to happen you
[42:42]know there are youth who have accounts half a million they're running
[42:47]Tik Tok 2 million followers on Tik Tok get that kid give
[42:50]him your Tik Tok account give him credentials get him to run
[42:56]your Tik Tok beautiful I think I think that's a very great
[42:59]vision and if adopted we can we can become much more influential
[43:03]um I mean look you can end up in every single American
[43:08]home that's the way you're not ever going to be able to
[43:10]get every single American to walk through a Masjid or or but
[43:16]but you can get them to listen to you through social media
[43:19]yeah and I wanted to ask you actually about you know social
[43:25]engage engagement on a you know personal level with with the the
[43:28]average you know uh Joe as one would say um and also
[43:33]on a political level you know at the moment we live in
[43:36]very difficult times um what's happening in Gazza is heart-wrenching and that's
[43:42]that's an understatement and if you take a look at the news
[43:47]and you'll realize that across the country from Colombia University in the
[43:52]Far East to USC in the very West there's protests going on
[43:57]and and the minds of the youth are just focused on Palestine
[44:00]and what's happening and while our community is very focused on the
[44:05]goal and United on the goal and that is to see inshallah
[44:11]a liberated Palestine inshallah but in terms of strategy in terms of
[44:16]political engagement in terms of social engagement there's a lot of different
[44:21]opinions there's a lot of disunity you see some people going to
[44:24]one extreme and others going to the opposite extreme what do you
[44:29]think as a as a scholar as someone that goes to different
[44:32]communities and visits different communities and meets different people what do you
[44:38]think should be the position of Muslims in America in regarding political
[44:44]and social engagement look I mean um unfortunately we have many self
[44:54]declared leaders and those self-declared leaders believe that it is either their
[44:59]way or the highway and I I believe that we have to
[45:04]receive guidance from the Quran we have to receive guidance from the
[45:11]teachings of the we can't just make up our own secret sauce
[45:14]our secret recipe we have to see what the Quran says what
[45:19]the say and we have to implement that in the year 2024
[45:22]first of all the Quran is very clear that if there is
[45:27]Injustice taking place we cannot remain silent that is very clear so
[45:31]I am surprised that people who represent you know Islam represent the
[45:35]to represent the Quran they're silent dead silent and as if there's
[45:40]nothing happening in the world he has not she has not this
[45:44]institution has not said a single word about what is going on
[45:46]in Palestine and that is very unfortunate I also don't believe in
[45:51]bullying them you know uh tagging them in Twitter shaming them going
[45:57]after them egging their homes I don't believe in that I believe
[46:01]in conversations look we have to talk to them here we feel
[46:05]that you you have misunderstood The Message of Islam Allah in the
[46:09]Holy Quran inah had says that he has sent prophets and Messengers
[46:16]and he has sent the books the revelations so that you can
[46:22]establish justice that is a Muslim that is a t that is
[46:25]the job description of a Muslim of a prophet or of an
[46:28]Imam however how we do that now you have the Other Extreme
[46:31]so you have the silent ones that are not willing to say
[46:35]a word not even a Dua yeah right which is to say
[46:45]the least ching and then you have others who are going to
[46:49]such an extreme as you know ill wishes upon this country you
[46:54]know we live in this country there are 10 million Muslims at
[46:57]live in this country you have freedom in this country don't forget
[47:00]all the good you know Allah subhana wa tala speaks of you
[47:09]have to deliver the to its people what is the am what
[47:13]your you have to be fair you have to say the pros
[47:18]and cons it is 100% American and 100% Islamic to say I
[47:21]love this country I am part of this country but I disagree
[47:25]with its foreign policy it's 100% American 100% is isamic right but
[47:29]it is UN Islamic and unamerican to have ill wishes for a
[47:38]country that you live in that has gifted you with many things
[47:41]right or else we would not be here or else you know
[47:46]if you feel that there are better places then you know you
[47:49]could you could go there so I think we have to be
[47:53]wise we have to be uh and we have to be resilient
[47:57]we have to be determined we have to be smart we have
[47:59]to have think tanks Allah subhana wa tala within the Holy Quran
[48:03]says Let Them Sit let them consult let them strategize strategize um
[48:09]and Allah subhana wa tala also talks about the route of Peace
[48:17]don't don't don't try to always be you know um fighting putting
[48:24]out a fight no if if you see that there is a
[48:30]chance for peace it's okay you can compromise if there is going
[48:32]to if the result is going to be peace um so I
[48:36]believe that look if we're going to end up spending hundreds of
[48:40]thousands of dollars every year on on uh you know Sharm on
[48:50]that's what you get you get sha and but if you spend
[48:51]hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists on your local elections on
[48:57]getting people in the right place then the results will also be
[49:02]the same you'll get a mayor you'll get you know council members
[49:04]you'll get a member of the Congress and then you'll get somebody
[49:08]in the Senate and finally somebody in the white house um look
[49:11]I'm not saying this just because I'm in Dearborn right now but
[49:15]Dearborn did something that I mean I I can't I I don't
[49:21]know if five years ago if you sat with the community here
[49:25]and said you're going to change the Fate of an entire nation
[49:28]that chooses the fate of an of the entire world they would
[49:32]believe you they would be like what are you talking about you
[49:35]know but that could be the possibility that Dearborn this very City
[49:39]could change the fate of the World by changing the elections as
[49:46]they did they they all came out and voted uncommitted that is
[49:52]wisdom right there we're not putting out a fight we're just letting
[49:56]you know that we disagree with you you we dis we are
[49:58]standing against Injustice we are standing against oppression and as much as
[50:03]the administration wants to downplay this they can't right a 100,000 people
[50:08]who have voted uncommitted the numbers could grow exponentially um you know
[50:16]when the real time comes and um and then you know if
[50:19]if if if it comes down to the fact that because you
[50:23]know I I don't know how many years ago the city had
[50:26]uh you know had no representation today they have the Mayors and
[50:29]they have city council and they have chief of police and everything
[50:31]else it's because they just woke up they had a moment of
[50:36]realization and said look we've been here for 100 years we we
[50:39]have to and and and what's beautiful is that they're serving the
[50:42]city not just their cause they are establishing Justice between everybody you
[50:50]know and that's what Amir talks about by the way he says
[50:53]to his representative he says y if you are sh if you
[50:59]follow Ali if you represent Ali you have to be kind and
[51:01]equal and and just to everyone including the non-muslims for there are
[51:08]two kinds of people he's either your brethren in faith or she's
[51:16]your brethren in your sister in humanity so you have to be
[51:19]kind to them in fact says even if you don't feel that
[51:25]kindness and compassion towards them make sure that you teach yourself you
[51:31]discipline yourself to feel kindness towards them because we we we we're
[51:36]closer to people who are closer to us in ideology and looks
[51:41]and and and skin color and and and our language and our
[51:45]belief and people who don't we don't have the same belief as
[51:50]them we're like ah who cares about them says built that habit
[51:52]built that put that moral GPS within you they're humans you have
[51:59]to be kind to them so I I believe that look if
[52:01]every city every city in America decides that they're going to be
[52:07]you know engaging Their audience in a way where go out vote
[52:09]don't tell me I'm not going to vote I'm going to boycott
[52:13]this institution that's not how it works if you don't like the
[52:15]food you're going to go cook something else but you're not going
[52:17]to starve yourself to death this country has a system and fact
[52:22]the greatest gift that you can give to the enemies of Islam
[52:25]is saying we're going to boycott them we're not going to take
[52:28]any part in any sort of election we're just going to like
[52:32]I said go back to sha and and and close our doors
[52:36]to the world and pretend that we we're isolated we live somewhere
[52:39]that's not how it works um in fact that's exactly what the
[52:42]enemies of Islam and enemies of peace and Justice want from us
[52:49]to do um so engagement however you know with with wisdom with
[52:54]with having you know um a well thought out plan will will
[53:00]I think change change things around and change them very quickly like
[53:03]I said you know this this whole thing of Dearborn putting itself
[53:06]on the map happened very quick but it happened very true very
[53:10]true we're almost approaching the end of our time we'll we'll wrap
[53:15]up in about 15 minutes a but I wanted to touch upon
[53:19]you know what you you talked about um the fight or flight
[53:22]mentality do we fight and fight for our rights and participate in
[53:26]the system and and make change for ourselves or you know move
[53:33]and leave and I think this dilemma is very common amongst parents
[53:39]at this moment many parents are thinking of you know having this
[53:45]dilemma of should I move back to the Homeland and pro maybe
[53:51]provide my my kid with a mediocre education or should I keep
[53:54]him here keep my daughter here my son here here with the
[53:59]risk of them being exposed to un Islamic things to to say
[54:04]the least in their schools and their environment and you're a father
[54:08]of three you're raising your children here in the United States um
[54:11]you're someone that was also raised in America as we touched upon
[54:16]so what do you think of this whole uh dilemma that parents
[54:19]are having yeah you see Allah subhah wa tala has answered this
[54:22]question many years ago 1,400 years ago the problem is we either
[54:27]don't have that relationship with the Quran or we don't we don't
[54:31]understand the Quran Allah subhah wa tala says Allah in the Quran
[54:45]swears by the Holy Land which is Mecca and he swears by
[54:50]the father and the son some Scholars will tell you the father
[54:54]is who who the father is Adam and his progeny which are
[55:02]us or ibraim and his son is so Allah swears by Mecca
[55:09]and then he swears by either Adam and his sons and his
[55:12]progeny or ibraim and his son is and then he says to
[55:18]him y those Muslims are also thinking we escape from Mecca we
[55:22]go to Medina and suddenly it's going to be you know everything's
[55:27]going to be great everything's going to be Dandy that's not how
[55:31]it is there will be other kinds of problems problems will never
[55:37]go away Allah the creator of Life the creator of universe the
[55:41]our creator says look problems can be different but they're never going
[55:46]to go away leave meca go to Medina yes mus will not
[55:52]be you know breathing down your neck but you will have problems
[55:57]will not go away every land will come with a set of
[56:02]problems so what do we do we keep on you know fleeing
[56:04]from one country to another we keep on going from one state
[56:09]to another from one country to another there are two answers if
[56:13]you feel that your faith and your children are in danger you
[56:19]must do that which ensures they remain Muslim they may remain practicing
[56:24]Muslim but doesn't mean that you have to leave it means that
[56:27]look you go to live in a community I mean there are
[56:31]me people who will be listening to us that live in in
[56:32]a place where there are no Muslims there is no Community Center
[56:38]there are no God bless them if they stay there they establish
[56:41]a place because Muslims are growing but if one is like look
[56:47]I can't I don't know how to build anything I you know
[56:49]the easy way out um go join a bigger community that has
[56:55]an Islamic school that has an established Center C like this one
[56:59]daily activities get yourself involved take care of your kids others will
[57:02]tell you no I want to be a Pioneer for B on
[57:06]the day of judgment I want B to say I we're proud
[57:11]of you you stayed there you're our lone standing Soldier and you
[57:14]establish this place for us may Allah bless you for Generations that
[57:17]come after us this is how Shia Islam was spread throughout the
[57:23]whole world by people who stayed there despite the dangers despite the
[57:28]prosecution they stayed some of them were imprisoned some of them were
[57:31]killed but they stayed they established today have a full fledge community
[57:34]of sh in in that specific country or that specific Village or
[57:39]that specific region um but leaving you're going to have other problems
[57:45]where are you going to go other problems you know you may
[57:49]have different kinds of problems um elsewhere besides the fact that I
[57:52]think we owe it to America to fix certain major mistakes that
[58:02]they're committing you know um to talk about the real sense of
[58:05]Happiness how how do you arrive to happiness right now they've realized
[58:09]that the answer is actually within the Holy Quran the by you
[58:14]know the minimalist lifestyle that they're talking about right now it's become
[58:18]a huge movement it's in the Quran all you need to do
[58:19]is just show them that that you the answer that you're looking
[58:24]for is right now it's within the Quran in fact every time
[58:26]America falls into a big problem or big ditch I realize that
[58:31]the answer is right there in the Holy Quran so we have
[58:36]to be able to Showcase that to them um I don't know
[58:39]I I am just not a fan of running away from problems
[58:43]I I say that we as the followers of especially the followers
[58:47]of will never ran away from a battle followers of IM Hussein
[58:53]who didn't run away from a battle let's stand let's stand let's
[58:55]be firm let's be resilient let's bring change let's take care of
[58:59]our families our our children and our communities and and I don't
[59:05]know I could be wrong but I feel that we we are
[59:09]lucky to be here we're we're lucky to be in this country
[59:11]yes things are changing and they're changing very quickly and in some
[59:16]States they're becoming very dangerous very dangerous but again you can plan
[59:20]around it you can I mean worst comes to worse change the
[59:24]state do homeschooling do you know other things are still available at
[59:28]our disposal where we are still not in a place where we
[59:31]have to run away alhamdulillah alhamdulillah inshallah we ask Allah subhana wa
[59:35]ta'ala to keep the community and keep the children of this community
[59:39]on the right track um with you know the blessings of having
[59:44]you and other Scholars S Ahmed Hassan and the scholars of this
[59:49]community um as a guide for us inshallah I have a couple
[59:55]more questions and inshah we'll wrap up you're currently engaged in in
[60:01]numerous initiatives um one of them being your local community I mean
[60:06]um you also have the Imam Ali conference um and you also
[60:10]speak what's your thought process or philosophy guiding these activities um overall
[60:23]yeah I mean you know um uh behind all those projects that
[60:31]you mentioned there was a thought process um in terms of establishing
[60:35]the Ali conference I I always wanted to see our entire Community
[60:38]come together um under the banner of um and unity um really
[60:47]regardless of their religious affiliation and and their their political views and
[60:54]and where they stand on on things but just come together and
[60:57]and have a very inclusive event um and to also be able
[61:04]to showcase the strength of the Shia Community to the rest of
[61:07]the world which I think is very important you know through the
[61:09]experts that we have you know we have artists and athletes and
[61:15]Scholars and authors and business owners and we have very important people
[61:19]but you know we just haven't had we we don't have a
[61:22]platform where everybody can come together and work together so that was
[61:26]the vision behind that and then um you know Amin is U
[61:31]is an organization that's growing and mallah it's growing very fast but
[61:34]one thing that I decided from the early on was that the
[61:38]youth are going to run it you know it's not going to
[61:40]be um you know we're going to look for the wealthiest and
[61:45]the richest people put them in a board and and then they
[61:47]can they have conflicting views with each other and then it's very
[61:54]difficult to to to get you know work done with with that
[61:57]kind of system so we'll find the most dedicated people uh we'll
[62:03]find people who are determined uh in this very rapidly changing world
[62:10]they're with it so they can you know they can lead and
[62:16]then if they do a good job people will give them money
[62:17]the people with Deep Pockets will have to depart that is the
[62:21]Islamic way to do things we'll have to depart from their wealth
[62:23]and support them and I think for both um I can I
[62:29]mean I believe that they've been successful um with the Ali conference
[62:32]it's all youth uh it's everything I mean from from A to
[62:38]Z you've helped us in the past and you're part of it
[62:42]and many other brothers and sisters here in this Hall and uh
[62:45]same thing goes for Amin um and even when I travel you
[62:49]know the topics that I choose the time that I want to
[62:52]allocate to sit with people um I wanted to be focused on
[62:58]the youth because again that is the theme that you find throughout
[63:01]the Holy Quran every Prophet gave um the their the vast majority
[63:09]of their attention and time and energy to the youth and that's
[63:12]how the religion of Islam survived I mean one of the greatest
[63:15]titles of was that he is a that young man uh and
[63:22]he remained a youth until until the day he was struck he
[63:29]was active he was full of energy uh but look at people
[63:34]that were around him willing to die for him were young men
[63:38]IM Hussein Imad we're next week commemorating Imad go look at the
[63:42]list of all his the best of the best most elite of
[63:48]his companions were young very young some of them you know Hashim
[63:53]he became one of the elite Companions of Imad before he had
[63:56]a beard that's how they describe him in the books one last
[64:00]question S I apologize if it's no I'm I'm enjoying it I
[64:05]hope the rest of you are as well inshallah I apologize if
[64:08]this is a very blunt question but oh my God but it's
[64:12]I think I think it's a profound one and I think will
[64:14]definitely benefit from your answer say inshallah after a very long life
[64:19]on the day of judgment when you're presented to Allah subhah wa
[64:24]ta'ala what is the action that you hope to present to Allah
[64:28]subhana tala a lot of pondering yeah it's a very difficult question
[64:50]I mean you you definitely caught me off guard um I'm hoping
[64:56]I'm hoping that my Allah knows Allah sees my heart and I'm
[65:03]hoping my sincerity for Hussein would because Allah has a witness that
[65:09]I unconditionally want to I love him and I want to support
[65:11]I want to serve him um that is not something that um
[65:16]I hope Allah subhah wa ta'ala is a witness to our intentions
[65:22]and and you know maybe in the process I've made mistakes in
[65:24]in the way that I serve Hussein but they've been unintentional and
[65:29]uh I mean and because he is so dear and beloved to
[65:34]Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala I hope that because of him I would
[65:39]also be accepted as one of the Servants of Hussein mean insh
[65:43]other than that I I don't think I can present something substantial
[65:49]that you know we always pray we say Allah judge us with
[65:55]your mercy not with your Justice not with your because I personally
[65:58]speaking for myself would not be able to withstand um the justice
[66:03]of Allah I am definitely desperate for his mercy and forgiveness thank
[66:08]you so much s for making the time today once again and
[66:10]thank you all for joining us tonight s would you do us
[66:17]the uh would you grace us with a Dua at the end
[66:20]of this um event inshallah yeah um before we conclude I'd like
[66:25]to also thank all the brothers and sisters and the organizers and
[66:30]my dear cousin samed for hosting me and the best of luck
[66:35]to the organizers and the brothers and sisters and I went and
[66:41]saw the the new site for the Islamic Institute of America mashallah
[66:45]it's massive it's beautiful it's very exciting it's exciting to be part
[66:50]of building you know the future of Shia Islam as you called
[66:53]it the Shia capital of of America uh man look nothing is
[66:58]going to be a nothing is going to change that Dearborn is
[67:00]the Shia capital of America it's all you need to do is
[67:05]just be here in muharam and and drive around and you realize
[67:07]that this is this is a place Allah knows I mean look
[67:13]Allah has the planner right he's the best of planners why he
[67:17]chose the city um it's not the most beautiful definitely not I
[67:21]can tell you that um you don't have the most beautiful weather
[67:25]either uh most not you don't have the most beautiful roads I
[67:29]just take the word beautiful out I would just take the word
[67:31]Beau no no no you have the most beautiful people most beautiful
[67:36]souls most generous people or else all those projects would not have
[67:39]happened you have a good beautiful area cod but I'll tell you
[67:44]this reminds me of the story of when the prophet ibraim was
[67:49]taking his wife ha and his son is to his sacred home
[67:55]and he would he would fly over hover over beautiful areas and
[68:00]he would ask is this the house of Allah and he would
[68:03]say no hang on we haven't arrived until he gets to a
[68:08]dead desert where there is nothing there is no water there is
[68:11]no life there is nothing there is literally nothing and then he
[68:16]starts descending and abim's like oh what are you doing this is
[68:20]not the right place and he's like no this is the right
[68:25]place so he drops his family off and he's very saddened and
[68:32]scared there is no life here but this is your plan and
[68:40]I trust your plan we ended up here now we leave this
[68:42]in your hand I am 100% confident that you know when people
[68:49]arrived to Dearborn 100 years ago or more they didn't know they're
[68:52]going to be part of something massive that you know there's going
[68:55]going to be thousand hundreds of thousands and possibly one day millions
[68:59]and like I said you know a city that could possibly change
[69:04]the fate of the entire world um a city that stands so
[69:08]beautifully for uh you know the people of Palestine and the Injustice
[69:14]that is happening to them look I mean there are there are
[69:18]mus so-called Muslim countries so are Muslim kings that that abandon uh
[69:24]those people who are being slaughtered or being Mass murdered they're they
[69:29]don't they're they it's not that they don't care about this ongoing
[69:32]genocide they're aiding the genocide and then here is a group of
[69:37]followers of B mostly who led this initiative I could be wrong
[69:39]I'm just I mean this is what I know and it stands
[69:44]for people who are not amongst the followers of let's be real
[69:47]the vast majority of the people of Palestine do not follow the
[69:54]cause of a bit or the school of bit but this shows
[69:56]that the teachings of have resonated within us within our communities within
[70:01]our children so it's very exciting to be part of the future
[70:06]of this community and to see the Islamic Institute and and to
[70:08]just to imagine you know the Mam and the Ramadan and the
[70:14]and all the activities that will take place place there so um
[70:17]best of luck to the community here and to its organizers um
[70:22]and instead of doing a very Trad traditional way of Dua I
[70:29]would say my Dua my my sincere Dua is for Allah subhanahu
[70:32]wa taala to guide this community in a way where it chooses
[70:41]the best of routes and for their leaders to eliminate Mistakes by
[70:49]the grace of Allah because if Allah is not guiding us we're
[70:53]humans we're we make mistakes Were Meant to make mistakes but Allah
[70:59]subhah wa tala says if I choose someone I Inspire them and
[71:02]if I Inspire them they'll make less mistakes they will eliminate I
[71:06]will eliminate the mistakes if they dedicate themselves for me so for
[71:09]the leaders to remain on the right path and to guide the
[71:14]community and to be guided by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and for
[71:17]those who have been blessed to be inspired to give this is
[71:25]the Dua of that says Ya Allah bestow upon the wealthy with
[71:31]the heart of generosity bestow our Upon Our with patience and bestow
[71:40]upon our teachers with love for their for for their students uh
[71:46]and that is how we can inshallah see um a brighter future
[71:53]for not only Dearborn but inshallah the followers of B through throughout
[71:56]this nation thank you very much for having me thank you s
[71:58]and thank you everyone for joining us and please stay tuned to
[72:03]the myc uh social media accounts for future events [Music]
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