Racism in our Midst: Moving Beyond Theory - Sayed Hadi Qazwini - Night 4

40 المشاهدات· 24/03/23

Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo
مشتركين

في محاضرات

Racism in our Midst: Moving Beyond Theory - Sayed Hadi Qazwini on the 4th night of Muharram at the Ahlul Bayt Center of Toledo.

أظهر المزيد

Transcript

[0:14]foreign foreign [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Laughter] [Music] are the creation of

[1:52]the heavens and the earth and the variation in your tongues and

[1:58]colors truly in that are signs for those who know amenable allah

[2:09]let us enliven our hearts and our minds and our gathering with

[2:13]the remembrance of the holy prophet and his purified progenies allah racism

[2:28]is one of the most destructive forces in society today we've all

[2:42]experienced and witnessed and seen racism on display around us most recently

[2:50]a couple of months ago in the prominent but not exclusive example

[2:57]of the strangling and killing of george floyd by a police officer

[3:04]we all watched in horror as he was killed at the hands

[3:12]of the police officers and since the murder of george floyd in

[3:21]the days and the weeks after we all experienced and perhaps even

[3:26]participated in sharing sentiments our condemnations either through social media posts or

[3:38]through talks and lectures or through protests on the street condemning the

[3:45]blatant racism and the bigotry on display and we found that in

[3:52]the days and the weeks after this tragic event that many muslims

[4:03]they discussed the horror of racism from an islamic perspective there were

[4:07]many talks that discussed racism and islam or gave an islamic perspective

[4:17]to how we can think about racism and many of these talks

[4:25]many of these lectures these workshops they often tended to focus on

[4:31]and to repeat those major quranic and prophetic pronouncements that condemn racism

[4:40]condemn bigotry now in my humble opinion when speaking of racism from

[4:52]an islamic point of view i think that people generally not always

[4:59]but generally in most cases they don't need to be reminded about

[5:04]what the quran or the prophet or the albeit say about racism

[5:10]that islam and the quran and the teachings of islam they prohibit

[5:15]and they oppose racism and bigotry because most of us have probably

[5:21]memorized the verses of the quran that talk about this we've memorized

[5:25]the hadiths of the prophet that discuss issues related to differences of

[5:31]races and ethnicities and so on and so forth we've all memorized

[5:38]this so what's important in my opinion is that we move beyond

[5:42]the theoretical and the intellectual and the abstract to the practical what

[5:51]are these specific actions that must be taken by us as individuals

[5:58]and as communities in order to eradicate racism from our communities and

[6:06]from our midst what should we do practically do now in order

[6:13]to answer this question which we'll try to do briefly tonight in

[6:16]the time that we have together first we have to understand what

[6:25]racism is racism is one expression of a larger phenomenon of bigotry

[6:32]and there are various types of bigotry for example one type of

[6:42]bigotry is extreme nationalism when you consider yourself as a member of

[6:48]a nation or your nation or the nation that you belong to

[6:52]to be superior to other nations extreme nationalism is a form of

[7:01]bigotry or ethnocentrism where you consider your ethnicity your background to be

[7:09]superior to other ethnicities and there are many other forms of bigotry

[7:15]racism is one of these forms of bigotry it is when one

[7:20]considers one racial group to be superior to another racial group or

[7:25]a particular racial group to be inferior to other racial groups this

[7:31]is the first point that we have to keep in mind second

[7:35]is that there are types of various types of racism itself there

[7:42]is racism that is based on ethnicity and color there is racism

[7:51]that is based on biology there is racism that is based on

[7:56]the body there is racism that is based on culture there is

[8:01]racism that is based on gender on space and so on and

[8:06]so forth so there are various kinds and various types and various

[8:10]expressions of racism and most importantly in the words of dr ibrahim

[8:21]kendi who is the author of an important book by the name

[8:28]of how to be an anti-racist for those who are interested this

[8:32]is a good book it was actually a bestseller last year i

[8:36]believe it was written in 2019 last year where he spells out

[8:42]these various issues related to racism it's a good book if you're

[8:45]interested i highly recommend you read this book in his words he

[8:51]gives us an important definition and understanding of racism he says that

[8:56]racism is not just a set of ideas that we have but

[9:01]that racism is the marriage of ideas and policies laws measures that

[9:10]produce racial inequity when one racial group has favor or advantage over

[9:19]another so racism is the marriage of ideas and of policies that

[9:26]lead to and promote and sustain racial inequities and he gives many

[9:33]examples of this one example of racism in this form under this

[9:40]definition is sort of the economic ideas and policies that are in

[9:44]pl that are in place we find that in communities for example

[9:50]if we take it take the united states of america as an

[9:53]example that in communities across this country and across this nation there

[10:00]are certain policies that are enacted by local by regional by state

[10:06]by the federal government that favor one group over another this is

[10:12]usually what is termed systemic or structural racism that it's not just

[10:18]ideas there are particular policies that certain districts certain neighborhoods they receive

[10:23]more funding than other neighborhoods and so their public schools are able

[10:28]to afford more supplies and to hire teachers and so on and

[10:34]so forth so the educational level of that community is better and

[10:37]as a result the students that are coming out of that district

[10:41]or neighborhood they have a better chance of going to better schools

[10:44]and then getting better jobs and so on and so forth whereas

[10:48]poorer neighborhoods neighborhoods that are not allocated those same funds or less

[10:54]funds they are at a disadvantage and so the members of that

[11:02]community they have a more difficult time competing with those who have

[11:06]greater resources this is not just a matter of ideas racial ideas

[11:12]or or racist ideas but also certain policies that promote racial inequity

[11:21]and one of the things that dr kennedy mentions and it's an

[11:27]important point for us to think about brothers and sisters is that

[11:32]the consistent function of racist ideas and other forms of bigotry is

[11:40]that it manipulates you and me to think of people as problems

[11:48]not of policies as problems so we think that the problem is

[11:52]with people with people who have a certain skin color with people

[11:56]who come from a certain background or culture with people who speak

[12:00]a particular language we are manipulated to think that those people are

[12:08]the problems and we don't think about the policies that promote racial

[12:15]inequity and so we begin to bicker about these these ideas without

[12:20]considering the significance of the policies that come along with these ideas

[12:28]but there's good news the good news is that the ideas that

[12:36]we have and the policies that we have they are not permanent

[12:40]being a racist for instance is not a permanent tattoo that is

[12:47]placed on you there is a possibility that one can change his

[12:52]or her ideas and that policies can also be changed and thus

[12:58]brothers and sisters what is important for us to consider is how

[13:03]important it is for us to both educate ourselves and our communities

[13:10]and also work towards enactment of policy changes how do we do

[13:19]this we begin first and foremost with ourselves with our families with

[13:26]our acquaintances and friends brothers and sisters we are responsible not just

[13:33]for ourselves but for the safety and well-being of others around us

[13:39]the quran tells us very clearly oh you who believe oh believers

[13:50]protect yourselves and your families from punishment we're responsible not just for

[13:56]our individual selves but for our families our spouses our children our

[14:01]parents our siblings our friends our family members those around us and

[14:05]so we have to begin with ourselves we have to begin with

[14:11]our families and our friends we have to be able to educate

[14:15]ourselves and others around us about the destructive nature of racism and

[14:21]the racist policies around us brothers and sisters and that we have

[14:28]to ensure that we do not participate in this because when we

[14:33]participate in this then we are promoting racial inequity we are promoting

[14:40]racism we are giving it new life we are breathing into it

[14:45]constant life and so we cannot participate in this and we have

[14:50]to be especially careful now most of us if we were to

[14:55]ask one another are you a racist most of us will probably

[15:01]say no we're not racist right but we have to be very

[15:03]careful not just about manifest racism that which is clear calling people

[15:13]names or god forbid hurting others who look different than us or

[15:16]considering ourselves promoting expressly promoting that we are better than others these

[15:21]are manifest forms of racism we have to be especially careful of

[15:27]the latent the subconscious the subtle forms of racism in our midst

[15:34]brothers and sisters in our minds and in our families in our

[15:38]gatherings i'll give you a few examples sometimes this subtle racism can

[15:47]be in the form of quote-unquote jokes we're sitting with friends family

[15:53]members and as a joke we generalize about black people or about

[15:59]mexicans or about asians right for instance we're sitting in the car

[16:05]we're driving on the road right and someone in front of us

[16:10]is driving slow or maybe they cut us off and we pass

[16:15]by and we look at this person and the person appears to

[16:17]be from a particular ethnicity or race and suddenly we generalize we

[16:22]make a comment in the car oh all asians for instance they

[16:26]don't know how to drive they're bad drivers now we might say

[16:32]it innocently we might say it even jokingly but these are subtle

[16:38]forms of racism brothers and sisters when we generalize in our gatherings

[16:44]in our discussions for example if we are speaking to one another

[16:48]perhaps about where to reside where to live you ask your friend

[16:54]or someone you tell them you know i'm moving to the city

[16:59]right or i newly come to the city to move where do

[17:06]you recommend that i live what area do you recommend that i

[17:13]live do you recommend i live in area a for instance and

[17:15]that person might say oh that area no no that's a bad

[17:17]neighborhood black people live there mexicans live there for instance these generalizations

[17:26]they promote racism brothers and sisters even if my intention is a

[17:31]good intention i want my friend to live in a good neighborhood

[17:34]to live in a safe neighborhood but the way that we go

[17:38]about discussing these issues these are subtle forms of racism these are

[17:46]subconscious forms of racism racist ideas that we have going around these

[17:52]people are arabs these people are ajem for instance these are all

[17:58]subtle forms of racism that we have and that come up in

[18:04]our midst in our families in our gatherings in private in public

[18:07]these occur and so we have to be very strict brothers and

[18:16]sisters as family members especially as those who are in charge in

[18:20]the family as parents as elders we have to be in force

[18:28]a strict zero tolerance po policy when it comes to racist ideas

[18:33]brothers and sisters in the same way that as a parent i

[18:37]would not tolerate at all that god forbid my son or daughter

[18:41]would bring alcohol to the house i would not tolerate this at

[18:45]all right in the same way i have to have zero tolerance

[18:49]for racist ideas and discussions in our midst in the family in

[18:57]the house amongst our friends zero tolerance should be unacceptable this is

[19:02]very important brothers and sisters and it is through these steps that

[19:09]we are able to slowly work towards ending racism and racist ideas

[19:14]and we have to think you know when we say policy right

[19:19]these are racist ideas when we say policy usually the first thing

[19:23]that comes to mind is laws laws of the city or the

[19:28]state or or the country the nation and so on and so

[19:30]forth this is the first thing that comes to mind but policies

[19:34]can also be informal laws informal measures all of us in our

[19:40]families in our immediate families in our nuclear families we have certain

[19:45]policies we have certain rules and regulations things that we abide by

[19:51]either they are explicitly known or implicitly we know that there are

[19:55]certain things that we abide by we have to think about what

[20:00]kind of policies do we have in our own homes and amongst

[20:03]our own families and friends that promote racial inequity i'll give you

[20:10]an example and this is a controversial example it might get me

[20:14]in trouble but we have to talk about these things take the

[20:16]case of marriage brothers and sisters the case of marriage this is

[20:22]very important do we have an implicit or explicit policy in the

[20:29]home that the members of this family may or may not marry

[20:32]someone outside of their ethnicity or outside of their race we have

[20:37]to ask ourselves this question maybe it's not explicit what is it

[20:39]implied is it implicit within us that i would not allow my

[20:46]son or daughter to marry someone just because they are from a

[20:49]different race or just because they are from a different ethnicity or

[20:52]they speak a different language this could be a policy this could

[20:58]be a measure it doesn't have to be written in stone but

[21:00]it could be implied in the way that we interact why do

[21:06]i bring up the case of marriage because it's an important case

[21:09]brothers and sisters as followers of the bait it is even more

[21:13]important for us to think about these things take the example of

[21:18]our own imams our own role models our leaders many of the

[21:27]imams they had interracial marriages the imams originally their ethnicity is that

[21:33]they were arab from the hijas from the arabian peninsula but many

[21:38]of them they married with other ethnicities and other races take the

[21:45]example of imam hussain alaihis who we commemorate imam hussain do we

[21:49]not every year we come together for 10 days and we lament

[21:53]and we cry and we commemorate we have to also learn from

[21:58]the life and the legacy of imam hussain these teachings the way

[22:02]that they conducted themselves there are great lessons in this brothers and

[22:08]sisters imam hussein he married a persian woman popularly known as sharbanu

[22:17]sharbanu is also the mother of the fourth imam al-imam zainal abedin

[22:23]al-imam zainul abedin is thus half hijazi half arab and half persian

[22:30]right when you have a husband and a wife when they marry

[22:35]the child when we talk about the child's wraith or race or

[22:38]ethnicity in this case they would be what he would be half

[22:43]arab and half persian is this not the case this is the

[22:46]case it's simple math in fact all of the imams brothers and

[22:52]sisters listen to this clearly all of the imams from the fourth

[22:59]imam onwards all of them were mixed race individuals all of them

[23:04]because beginning from the fourth imam who was mixed race himself following

[23:07]every single imam was mixed race take the example of al-imam al-jawad

[23:14]alaihis-salam our ninth imam al-imam al-jawad's mother the wife of the eighth

[23:22]imam al-imam the traditions they tell us her name was khaizaran she

[23:29]was a nubian anubian means what means that she was from north

[23:36]east africa the nubian kingdom or the anubian empire was an ancient

[23:41]civilization in the region of northeast africa this is the mother of

[23:48]the ninth imam al-imam al-jawad alaihis-salam and there are many other examples

[23:53]i'm just giving you a few examples just to think about this

[23:59]so we have to think about this especially as followers of the

[24:04]albeit what kind of policies and ideas do we have within ourselves

[24:10]and within our families and within our circles of friends and do

[24:15]these policies do they lead to racial inequity or not and who

[24:24]do we associate with we ask ourselves who do i associate with

[24:29]who is my circle of friends do i only become friends with

[24:33]people who speak my same language who come from my city from

[24:38]my country from my village or am i open to having friendships

[24:43]and acquaintances with people of different backgrounds of different races of different

[24:49]ethnicities we have to ask ourselves this question it begins with ourselves

[24:55]brothers and sisters and this is painful this is difficult it's not

[25:02]easy and it requires persistent self-awareness and self-examination and self-criticism so it

[25:12]begins first and foremost from our individual selves and our families and

[25:18]our friends the second stage is it moves on to our institutions

[25:24]and i mean institutions in sort of a broad fashion broadly speaking

[25:30]our religious centers our islamic centers our mosques our businesses other organizations

[25:37]for-profit or non-profit that we are associated with what kind of policies

[25:45]either explicit or implicit do we base our institutions on and what

[25:53]can we do in order to make our institutions not racist in

[26:00]their ideas and in their policies number one the important thing to

[26:06]think about is diversity when it comes to leadership and governance brothers

[26:12]and sisters now i'm not pointing the finger at a particular center

[26:16]or organization i'm speaking generally i'm speaking generally for us here who

[26:21]are present and we have many people who are viewing online this

[26:25]is a general advice and i remind of course first and foremost

[26:31]myself and those who i associate with before others that when it

[26:36]comes to our organizations do we practice diversity of governance and leadership

[26:42]and this could be racial diversity it could be ethnic diversity it

[26:48]could be gender diversity some organizations for instance they do not allow

[26:56]either explicitly or implicitly within their governance within their leadership they do

[27:02]not allow the participation of women for instance as an example or

[27:08]they do not allow the participation of people from a particular ethnic

[27:13]or racial background or they only allow participation from a particular ethnic

[27:20]or racial backgrounds again this could be explicit or it could be

[27:25]implicit so number one is diversity when it comes to our leadership

[27:30]and governance number two is that we go beyond simply tolerating diversity

[27:38]in our communities in our mosques in our religious centers towards actively

[27:44]promoting and welcoming others that we promote we actively promote we welcome

[28:02]diversity this could be in our promotional materials this can be in

[28:07]the people we invite for instance in an islamic center or religious

[28:13]center the people we invite to speak to participate to contribute that

[28:16]we actively find diversity and we bring diversity to the table so

[28:22]that others are contributing so that we have a range of voices

[28:27]that are contributing and this also includes other kinds of diversity brothers

[28:34]and sisters if you remember i said that bigotry can appear in

[28:41]many forms sometimes the bigotry is towards a particular race or ethnicity

[28:44]or culture sometimes it's towards biology or the body and this is

[28:52]why sometimes we find ourselves having bigoted ideas or policies towards for

[28:59]instance the physically disabled we have a general idea that those who

[29:05]are physically able those who are able-bodied they are superior to those

[29:09]who are physically disabled right this is a general idea unfortunately that

[29:16]some people have but that's not just it sometimes even our policies

[29:20]and this is why it's important that we also make our centers

[29:24]our islamic centers our religious centers our nonprofit organizations our businesses whatever

[29:30]organizations that we are working with and associated with that they are

[29:36]accessible to those who have special needs those who are physically disabled

[29:43]they are accessible to all so sometimes participants will come and they

[29:48]have problems with vision or hearing or mobility we have to ensure

[29:54]that our programs our institutions our events are accessible to those with

[30:00]special needs those with physical disabilities these are important points to consider

[30:03]brothers and sisters and then finally when it comes to our organizations

[30:09]that we try our best to participate in social justice work that

[30:17]we collaborate with others around us other groups and organizations that are

[30:23]dedicated to promoting racial and ethnic equity to promoting goodness in society

[30:34]that we collaborate with them we work with them hand in hand

[30:37]so that we can support these greater objectives this helps us this

[30:44]gives our family members our friends our community members a chance to

[30:50]engage in social justice work collaboratively with others around us brothers and

[30:59]sisters it's only when we individually and collectively educate ourselves and others

[31:10]about these ideas and these policies that we can actively work towards

[31:14]eradicating and eliminate eliminating racism and other forms of bigotry from our

[31:21]midst and from our communities we have to actively work towards this

[31:27]it cannot remain just a theoretical subject or an intellectual or an

[31:33]abstract subject there has to be action and we have many opportunities

[31:39]for action and we start of course with the appreciation of both

[31:47]our unity and humanity from an islamic perspective that we are all

[31:53]human beings we are all the creation of god we are all

[31:56]the children of adam and eve salaam but also to appreciate our

[32:02]god-given diversity god says this is a sign of god that we

[32:14]are diverse in our backgrounds in our colors in our languages in

[32:20]our cultures in our tastes in our thinking in the way that

[32:24]we live the way that we conduct ourselves this diversity is god-given

[32:29]it's a sign of god's existence and god's mercy upon us allah

[32:34]says this sign is there for those who reflect for those who

[32:41]know those who can appreciate both that unity and diversity and just

[32:47]take the case of imam hussein take the case of the unity

[32:55]of the stand and objective and the contributions of the companions of

[33:00]imam hussain alaihim assalam despite their diversity imam hussein had less than

[33:09]100 followers with him but if you look at the profile the

[33:12]demographics of those who joined imam hussain those who stood with him

[33:17]on the day of ashura and in battle you find there are

[33:22]men and there are women you find the one who is old

[33:29]very old and the one who is an infant who is a

[33:30]child you find the one who is arab and the one who

[33:38]is a non-arab you find the one who is free and the

[33:43]one who is a slave you find the one who was born

[33:48]a muslim and the one who converted to islam all of this

[33:51]diversity you find in the companions of imam hussain alaihis with a

[33:55]single objective and a single message and that is to stand for

[33:59]the truth so you see this beautiful unity in diversity i'd like

[34:07]to end tonight by remembering two scenes from kerbela the first is

[34:17]the example of joan this elderly man who the tradition they it

[34:30]tells us that joan was an ex-slave he was a freed slave

[34:35]he was the slave of abu dhari rifari the great companion and

[34:41]tradition says that after abu dharr had been exiled from medina during

[34:48]the time of uthman by uthman ibn afan after he expelled abu

[34:53]dharr rifari from madina joan he went under the care of amir

[35:02]al-mu'min al-ibn and he stayed with him and he remained loyal to

[35:08]him the tradition says that after amir al-mu'manin he went under the

[35:12]care of al-imam al-hassan alaihissalam and after al-imam al-hasan he went under

[35:16]the care of al-imam hussain and he remained a loyal follower of

[35:22]these imams how beautiful how beautiful of an honor joan had to

[35:32]be at the surface service of these great imams and to live

[35:38]with them and to see them every day joan we said was

[35:44]an elderly man he used to be a slave he was from

[35:46]abyssinia from africa and he had no family he had no ancestry

[35:55]no name recognition but he had loyalty he had devotion to the

[36:01]truth he had devotion to the albeit he approaches imam hussain alaihis

[36:09]he tells him oh my master i seek permission from you to

[36:15]go out onto the battlefield my master give me permission to go

[36:19]out and to fight for your sake and for the sake of

[36:26]the truth imam hussain he looks at him he tells him oh

[36:31]joan you don't need to go out and fight you are an

[36:34]old man you have been with us for a long time you

[36:38]are excused from going out into battle and from participating in battle

[36:46]go back joan he begins to weep he cries he turns to

[36:50]imam hussain he tells him my master how can you tell me

[36:55]this i stayed with you for all of these years in comfort

[36:59]and goodness i stayed with you and you took care of me

[37:05]but now in the time of hardship and difficulty you expect me

[37:08]to leave you and to abandon you by allah i will not

[37:15]abandon you i will not leave until i stand up for what

[37:18]is right and until i am killed for your cause and until

[37:22]my blood mixes with your blood allahu akbar joan goes out imam

[37:27]hussain gives him permission he goes out to fight and despite his

[37:32]old age he fights reliantly and courageously until he is struck and

[37:38]he falls the tradition they say that imam hussain he went rushing

[37:43]out to joan he took him close and he placed his cheek

[37:48]on the cheek of job this is one scene another scene we

[37:53]have is of the young man some traditions say he was 25

[37:59]years old a man by the name of wahhab the traditions they

[38:07]tell us that he was a young man that he was a

[38:12]newlywed it had only been a couple of weeks that he had

[38:15]gotten married and that he had come to karbala with imam hussain

[38:22]along with his mother and his wife and that they had converted

[38:26]from christianity to islam and they had joined the camp this young

[38:37]man he is with his mother his mother the the story of

[38:44]how they accompanied the imam is very beautiful it's a long story

[38:47]i don't want to mention it now very beautiful story but his

[38:52]mother she tells him my dear son wahab i want you to

[38:59]do everything in your capacity to stand with imam hussain do not

[39:04]abandon him do not leave him at all is getting ready to

[39:11]go out onto the battlefield his wife they had recently been married

[39:14]his wife tells him oh well please do not go out do

[39:19]not abandon me we have just recently gotten married do not leave

[39:26]me the mother wahab's mother she tells him my dear son do

[39:28]not listen this is abba abdullah hussain go out and sacrifice yourself

[39:35]for his cause wahab he goes out we are told he begins

[39:41]to fight valiantly courageously on the battlefield until his hands are injured

[39:46]he comes back to his mother he tells her oh my mother

[39:51]she looks at him she sees him injured and bleeding he says

[39:53]oh my mother are you pleased with me his mother tells him

[39:58]no i will not be pleased with you until i see you

[40:03]have lost your life goes out and he begins to fight the

[40:09]enemies until suddenly he notices that as he is fighting the enemies

[40:14]they surround him and they strike him at this moment he notices

[40:16]that his wife comes running towards him from the camp she is

[40:21]running towards him she comes to him calling out to him telling

[40:28]him i want you to fight as much as you can do

[40:30]not have any shortcomings he turns to her he tells her what

[40:35]is it that change your mind only a few moments ago you

[40:38]were discouraging me from going out now you are encouraging me to

[40:44]go out to fight what happened she tells him do not blame

[40:48]me for the sound of the cries of imam hussain calling for

[40:57]help and assistance the sound of the women and the children crying

[41:02]it broke my heart and therefore i ask you to do everything

[41:07]in your capacity to fight we are told that after he was

[41:15]struck on the battlefield suddenly one of the enemies he saw that

[41:18]his wife she was there he went and he approached her and

[41:23]he struck her on her head causing her to fall and to

[41:26]be martyred besides her husband [Music] m [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign

[42:16][Music] [Music]

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التالي

Racism in our Midst: Moving Beyond Theory - Sayed Hadi Qazwini - Night 4

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

يرجى ملاحظة أنه إذا كان عمرك أقل من 18 عامًا ، فلن تتمكن من الوصول إلى هذا الموقع.

التالي

Racism in our Midst: Moving Beyond Theory - Sayed Hadi Qazwini - Night 4

Transcript

التالي

استكشاف المزيد

اختيار طريقة الدفع

لغة