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Loving Muhammad Series 3: Season Finale

Shaykh Alauddin ElBakri (unverified)

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6 moments mention “Youth”:

Man, subhanal.
When we planned for today our season
finale, this is third uh series of
loving Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. Um and by the way in the end
of June, June 28th, inshallah we will
stand start season number four. Uh so
this season was titled uh Islam at the
workplace.
Um and we've tackled different issues
that concern Muslims
uh especially where we live and work and
alhamdulillah Allah has blessed us with
multiple guest speakers. Uh we had Dr.
Mangora with his book living wisely and
we had a discussion on his book and he
signed the book and today we have
another guest mashallah a dear friend
and brother of mine and someone that
I call and consult in things that are
personal and regarding tawas. Imam Aziz
is on our board of advisors along with
other people
mashallah. He founded the Turbia
Institute in
Sacramento. Uh started with humble
beginnings uh renting places for Jum and
now mashallah they have uh two locations
that have been purchased and
functioning. Each location is double the
size of if not quadruple. Alhamdulillah.
So they function at three different
locations and recently you even added
the fourth location with the asmar
the grand.
So mashallah it's a growing institute
and an organization. So they are ahead
of us at inawaso in the game. So we uh
we we learn from them.
Alhamdulillah. Um so my thing is these
are the last the last hour of
uh so alhamdulillah you probably watched
three many videos I've released on
Instagram
uh this try to bring some benefits from
the day of I said why is called I
[Music]
watched so uh just so that we don't
ignore because the topic that we are
that is at hand is not necessarily
about so for you who didn't watch that
real I said that they means came to know
from and to know well so they said
that's the day that Allah the place and
the day Allah sent to ibraim to teach
him how to perform Hajj
sob he came to know how to perform Hajj
the second is that where Adam and Eve
met each other on earth in that place.
So they get they got to know one another
on that in at that place on that day and
the third is that it's the place where
Muslims come from all over the world and
come to know and get to know one
another. So you know so this is so I
said we need these three we need to know
allahel and revive our relationship with
Allah we need to uh re-energize
and rekindle the love between the
husbands and wives. And for those who
are not married, may Allah grant you a
righteous
spouse in this blessed beautiful day.
And um the third one is we Muslims this
is a day of unity worldwide where we all
alhamdulillah
um you know worship Allah and unite with
each other. I guess one of the if you
ask me what's number two after
relearning Islam in the Muslim ummah.
Number two would be learning how to do
team
work. Uh we've lost the art of teamwork.
So as an ummah in general, we're not
able to perform because performing
requires a team. And when every time you
make a team, the team falls apart
because of god knows what uh you know
emotional, mental, spiritual
diseases. Then that's uh that becomes a
hurdle. So,
alhamdulillah, I hope you made enough
dua and keep on making dua to the last
minute
of but the
uh the topic at hand if you bring me
actually one of these
books is the book that I imiz wrote and
um I thought it was very relevant to our
topic Islam and the workplace because
you know most of the time we're
surrounded with people do not believe in
God most of the time. This is where
America is hitting. If you keep on
hearing the news, the church has been
losing attendance at an alarming rate of
100 uh I mean 10 to 15% a year church in
America. So
uh so people are leaving Christianity
and with it they're leaving the idea of
God altogether. So, and you end up with
a godless society and that's very scary
for all of us. So, I this is the im you
know the the book that was written by
the Imam the Imam and the atheist
inshallah if the parent can control the
child that would be amazing um the imam
and the atheist. So, I a first of all
welcome to the Bay Area. You're no
stranger to here. So it's good to be
here for driving couple hours plus
from uh Sacramento. May Allah reward you
in this day. Very few people would
invite me on the day of I would actually
come. You're one of them for sure.
You know I like I know there's so much
we can talk about this book but I always
like to start from the personal. What
what made you write this book? What was
the story behind
it? Well, first of all, uh I wanted to
say alhamdulillah that we are here
together on the day of the most
important day of the year for us. Um and
uh you know I can't think of a better
day on which we would have this
conversation. Sorry. Uh, you know, thank
you for getting me out of your out of my
comfort zone. I was my my my day out if
I would have just been like a steady,
you know, lazy, you know, stay home kind
of, you know, fast and then break my
fast with the kids. But you gave me an
opportunity, I think, to make my day
more meaningless, more more meaningful
with some
extra. And
so, additionally, I've never been to the
Yasin Foundation before. Subhan Allah.
Uh, and so I'm honestly like, yes, thank
you. On behalf of the board, mashallah,
the board of foundation have been very
supportive of us at be giving us this
place and really supporting us in every
possible way. So, some of the boards are
here. May Allah bless you, brothers and
sisters. Thank you. Yeah, I mean it's an
opportunity inshallah hopefully uh you
know first time but definitely won't be
last. May Allah reward you for opening
you know this beautiful masid for us uh
today. Um honestly if you ask me about
the book and the book was uh the project
was completed about two years ago. It
was it was published about about a year
and a half ago. Uh and um and so at the
very core of this entire book project
honestly is is uh is my kids. And so you
know as an imam you're spending most of
your time really when people ask me how
do you spend most of your time? They
think I'm I'm going to say
preparing you know
uh reading a book or writing an essay or
uh you know getting ready for an
upcoming class or whatever. I think
imams 95% of the time we're putting out
fires. We're managing crisis in the
community. And it's not what I signed up
for, by the way. When when they told me
it's going to be like a bright career of
service, I didn't think that I was I was
going to be saving marriages, you know,
247 or or dealing with with, you know,
teenage delinquency. Um but I honestly
like I think when my daughter was uh and
I have I have Zayan uh Adam is the
middle one and Zanab is you know 21ish
uh Adam is 18 and Rwan is
16 did my daughter's by the way very
recently
um and my son-in-law Amir is right here
by the way so he was in the Bay Area and
then he he told me I'll see you at at
the masid
So when she was in middle school, uh she
would always come to me and she used to
go to public school. I think now I heard
you, I think once say
it's to send your kids to public school.
I was like, "Oh my god, no one actually
put it in those terms before." So I
totally agree with you that way. Uh so
back in the day, uh she used to go to
public school and then she would come
home for dinner and then she would ask
these questions. One of my friends asked
this, one of my friends asked that. And
then I would I would just because I have
been, you know, I'm a philosophy major.
I have been very interested in this
subject, you know, for the longest time,
you know, for my own faith, but also as
an imam, you got to be able to answer
some of these questions. So now my
daughter is at the age where she's
asking me these questions. And every
every uh dinner, I I we spend like about
45 minutes after dinner just answering
her questions. And my my wife is just
sitting there like, "Oh my god, is he
going to pull it off or not?" So imagine
like every night your child's faith
hangs in the balance
because of of of these influences at
school because of of these kids that
that have atheist, depressed, alcoholic
parents. And then they go to school,
they take out the meaninglessness of
their life on other children and they go
after these kids who are Muslim or have
any type of faith and they want to
extinguish the light of that faith so
that they're all like us.
And so she would come home and then I
would work as hard as possible and then
after the conversation is over she's
like actually thank you dad that makes
sense you know and you know my daughter
she's extremely opinionated and you know
very asks all the questions questions
everything so I would go to my our
bedroom you know it's like in the movies
when you close the door behind you're
pretending to be strong but when you
close the door all your emotions come
out and then I'm looking at my my wife
and I was like, you know, I can't
believe like if I made a mistake today,
if I if I wasn't inspired to answer the
right question or use the right word, my
daughter could lose her faith, right?
And if she lost her faith, then what
about what about her brothers, her
siblings?
So I think two years passed and oh my
god like the the we were talking about
Jean Jacqu Roso we were talking about
Emanuel Kant we were talking about John
Lock we're talking about Aristotle St.
Augustine on our dinner table. I'm
Egyptian. I'm supposed to be talking
about Cece and
Musi, right? But we were we were talking
about about philosophers the whole time.
And so two years passed and then, you
know, alhamdulillah, my daughter is now,
you know, in college, you know, she she
graduated high school early. You know,
she she decided to put on a hijab, I
think, when she was still in high
school. But you know, when she was in
college, I think one day she came to me
and she said, you know, do you know how
many kids my age would benefit from our
conversations if you put this in a book?
Subhan Allah. I was like, what do you
mean book? Like me, write a book? She's
like, did do you see how my time is
limited? She's like, no, I I'll help.
You know what? We can work on this
because other teenagers and other young
people see the the the the the questions
about God and about faith can be very
easily answered. That's the problem. You
know, the atheism industry thrives on
ignorance, on people being put in the
corner and surrounded by the barbed
wires and the spearheads of of of, you
know, sound bites. It's a sound bite
industry. That's that's what it is. the
minute you address it with some insight
seconds and it's it's resolved. So she
said a lot of people could benefit from
this right. So I I set myself off on
this journey, you know, to write. It
took me about two years and I contacted
some friends of mine who are in
London and they they ended up feeling
very excited about the project and they
contacted me and they published the
book. Alhamdulillah that it came to
fruition.
Um I I have certain things that I wanted
to ask but for the benefit of the
audience can you give us like a maybe
five to 10 minutes overview about the
book? Definitely. So that we can then
have questions from myself and from the
audience in
Absolutely. How many of you are like
long-term residents of the Bay Area by
the way?
That's almost everyone. Thank you.
Um, so the the the book basically is
designed as as a tool to help parents
and mentors and teachers address
questions that their kids and students
and mentees ask. It's not it's not
designed to be directly used
with to debate atheists.
It's designed mainly to to strengthen
the faith of someone who already has
faith by basically shutting down the
doors and and surrounding them with with
the right type of shield. Um, and so I I
asked myself, what is it that young
people can actually read? You know,
people are not interested or I shouldn't
say people, you know, a lot of people in
this age, they're not interested in
reading pros paragraph after paragraph.
So I asked myself, what is it that they
that they actually still read? And I was
like, "Okay, they read fiction." Uhhuh.
They're still interested in fiction. So,
what if I what if I created a fictional
story that is really not very fictional?
Um, but it's a dialogue.
And and in this dialogue, I
invented three characters. One one of
the characters is the imam. Okay. The
imam is basically at the center of his
community, deals with this stuff all the
time. And then there is an uncle whose
nephew lost his faith and became
atheist. Okay. And the nephew the uncle
is extremely upset as his nephew because
his mom you know the nephew's mom the
uncle's sister is very upset. So he
comes to the imam with vent. Mhm. And
then the imam through these dialogues
and conversations he guides the uncle as
to how to address all the issues and the
questions that his nephew has been has
been raising basically. And through that
sort of like quasi fictional dialogue uh
I'm I am giving point po po po po po po
po po po po po po po po po po po po po
po po po po po po po po po po po po po
po po po po po po po po pointers to
parents and and to and in this
particular case I I would say it would
be you know professionals who have to
interact with people on the fence a lot
or people that would raise questions
like you know I don't know if if if God
exists there would be you know why is
there so much evil in the world like all
these these basic very easily processed
questions if you have the right tools to
respond. First of all, it's important
for your faith because maybe you're
you're having some doubts yourself. But,
you know, additionally, it's also good
for, you know, colleagues. It's good for
students, you know, in your class, in
your classroom, you know, it's good for,
you know, other people, you know,
interaction, friends, right? And through
the dialogue, I actually go through the
historic arguments for God, right? So we
talk about the of course the terms that
I'm using with you right now are
technical terms. This is not what the
uncle and the imam are talking about.
I'm simplifying this a lot in the book.
Uh but you know you're talking about
basically the argument you know from
from cosmology the cosmological argument
which is you know how that the the the
universe had a beginning and if it had a
beginning then it has a cause then and
that cause has to be God. I talk I talk
about you know teiology the design
argument because of the the universe is
so meticulous and and is so orderly and
is so purposeful that it must have had a
designer uh I talk about the the
onlogical argument you know uh which is
the argument for God through the
necessity of his existence you know this
is an argument that uses rationality
does not use the the the physical world
and I also use the uh the moral argument
which you know is is my favorite I
this the the frontier of knowledge and
philosophy when it comes to faith and
and God there is so much that is yet to
be discovered in the moral in the moral
argument and how morality leads to God.
So that was um you know one of my most
favorite things. I also talked about um
uh how uh the existence of reason
uh as a faculty leads to God. And I
address all the reputations to these
things as the uncle says, "Well, what if
they said this, you know, what about
that?" And so I anticipate the
reputations and then I address those as
well, layer after layer after layer
until nothing is left. And so when I did
my research, I really anticipated every
single response that they might give. Um
and so that's the um quick overview
basically of of the book. But
ultimately, you know, and this is just
something that I wanted to share with
with you guys
and is
that for us as Muslims, this there's an
ama that was given to us. And that is
the same ama that kept up all night.
It's the same ama that kept up all
night. The same ama that
kept up all night. It's the ama of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and
all the prophets and the messengers and
all the parents. It's the same ama that
was burning in the heart
of when when his son refused to board
the ark and that
is Allah has selected the choicest of
paths for you. The path of Islam is
designed by Allah subhana wa tala
specifically given to us as his greatest
gift to humanity and and asam instructed
his
kids. Do not let death overtake you
unless you are in a state of
Islam. And so that's what drives me
every single day. Right? If there's a
better alternative out there, I'll take
it. But there isn't. I've examined
everything. I've had my faith crisis
when I was younger. I looked at the
Hinduism. I looked at Christianity. I
studied Judaism to the tea. I read the
Bible and the Torah. I guarantee it.
What you have, you know, that beautiful
book that the Quran that we often ignore
that the imams, you know, in Ramadan
have to say, you know, don't abandon the
Quran. That's the greatest gift. That's
the greatest gem. And so my job as a
parent, but also as an imam, is to do
what I can to preserve, right? We we
preserve this knowledge. And
preservation doesn't just mean memorize.
It also means facilitate the proper
conditions so that the hearts are able
to thrive with faith. Indeed. And and
you know, we live in a very difficult
environment that is trying to do the
exact opposite. Indeed. So, Subhan
Allah. Um, I know that when youth come
to me, they're they want to learn
arguments and I feel like they want to
get the bullets, stack them, and then go
shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. Right? Load
the gun and fire. Load the gun and fire.
And it's exciting for them, right? Uh
whether you teach them passages from the
Bible, uh, Old Testament, New Testament,
how to, which is good for them. But
um there's something like that our young
professionals here they go to work
whether they're young or old you or I
whether someone you meet at a BART
station train or in the bus or in Uber.
Um I feel like there's what is it before
you make da I feel like we just
sometimes we get excited we want to make
dawa just most of the time that's not
the case. People are not excited to make
dawa these days except for you. But for
those who want to make da what is there
a prerequisite? Is this something that I
have to look at before I start shooting
these bullets? Well, I mean just I I can
spend 45 minutes just answering that
question honestly. But um there is you
really have to to assess all of the
circumstances. You have to assess
who that person is and which stage of
their life they're at. What is their
background? You know, is it is it
someone who lost their faith because of
pain and trauma? You know, is it someone
that is on the fence? You know, just
needs a nudge to come back or move away.
Uh you have to ask yourself what is it
that drove that person to the brink.
Right? Number two, you also have to make
an assessment as to what is the
particular issue about faith that they
are having a problem with because maybe
they have they are angry at God because
you know they were not raised by by
faithful people and therefore you know
they just look at the world the world is
a pretty messed up place sometimes. You
know if you if you want to see the world
as a bad place you will find a very good
reason for that. I I'm I don't believe
that the world is a bad place. I
actually believe that there's more than
than that in the world. There is more
good than that. But you know I I I this
is this is how Allah saw the world
because he always saw good in everyone
and he saw the potential for good in
everyone and it's just about nurturing
the good. And so I don't believe that
the world is an evil place but I I know
that a lot of people think so. And so I
have to ask myself who is the person?
What what is their background? and and
and what what what is that person why
are they at that station you know in
life you know where they where they are
but then again as I as I zoom out I also
ask myself you know it's like uh you
know I remember in one of his books he
used to say
what is it that we're really calling
people towards what are we calling
people towards like when you say I'm
making dawa making dawa to what so that
the person says
and starts praying five times a day and
become becomes shaf
and and and then you know does the and
make makes every single day. No. What is
it that Abu Bakr Sadik preached the
following day after he became Muslim
when he brought Abu
Abd what was he he the five daily
prayers were not in place the fasting in
Ramadan has not been ordained yet there
is no Hajj Hajj came in year 9 after
right what is it that he was calling
people to there's no nothing all the
theological details of the faith are not
there but what is it that that he was
managing he addressed
issues. He he talked to people about
polytheism versus
he established concepts that are
intellectually and spiritually relevant
to people, right? And so when you when
you engage before you talk about you
know the tenants of Islam before you
talk about the five daily prayers before
you talk about any of this you have and
after assessing the person and where
they are that's when you get a little
bit into the the the things that matter
to that person and I'll give you an
example so there was this particular
gentleman who is not Muslim but he works
at the building next to the mas and so
we usually like before Eid because of
the unfortunate conduct of the Muslim
community with their parking habits. So
we have to go to our neighbors and we
have to smooth things out with them with
with you
know and baklava and and gulab jam I
mean there's no problem in the world
that gulab jam cannot fix right and so
we have to go to all these businesses
and we give him sweets and so there's
this guy 65 years of age and then he
strikes a conversation with us and I I
go by myself by the way he strikes a
conversation with me and he asks oh you
know I know that you're you're from the
mosque right next door and this and that
and and the conversation starts evolving
and then he he brings up Sharia. I was
like, "Dude, I'm here to to give you
guys some sweets. What is this Sharia
thing that you know this this boogeyman
that that everyone is scared of?"
I was like, "Do you want to really know
what Sharia is?" I said, he said, "Yes."
You know, tell me what is it? You know,
is it about like cutting people's hands?
Like is it about stoning? Like what that
said for to me is it means to me that
when when my parents are elderly that it
is my responsibility to take care of my
parents. They live with me and I will
honor them and I'm not going to put them
in some random nursing home for
strangers to take care of them. That's
what Sharia means to me. Sharia means
honoring my parents. You know why I said
that? because he is 65 years old and he
still works at the reception. So I
figured this guy needs the job, right?
Mhm. So I needed to come to him from an
angle that would be irrelevant to him.
You know when I said this, you know what
he did? He started steering up. And his
response was um you know if if if I wish
that my
kids would implement that particular
article of Sharia because when when the
minute they got out of the house they
basically delegated their dad to to his
his own devices and they left me on my
own and now here I am close to 70 and I
still have to work.
Thank you. Can you tell me something
else you know about Sharia that that I I
do not know? And that's how the
conversation started going, you know,
from one thing to the other. He said,
"What does Islam say about
abortion?" Because, you know, American
society is divided, you know, between uh
you know, uh uh uh pro-life and and
pro-choice and so forth. So, I I was
like, well, Islam does not give the
woman the the the complete right to
terminate pregnancy at will or at whim.
But at the same time, there are very
legitimate reasons at which
determination of pregnancy becomes uh
becomes legitimate. He said, "Wait a
second. Are you saying that Sharia is
somewhere in the middle between
pro-choice and pro-life?" It's like,
"Yeah, that's actually exactly what it
is." He's not used to the notion that
there that there is no wants. They don't
know that. They think that they've been
taught time and time again that you have
to choose camps. You have to choose
sides. It's either this extreme or that
extreme. So, wait a second. There is
actually something else in the says,
"Yeah, you know, in this case, in this
case, and in this case, and in that
case, it becomes legitimate to terminate
pregnancy." Mhm. We cannot pit the
baby's life against his mother's life.
Exactly. Right. And so this is this is
what it means to me to make da if you
want to engage someone, you truly have
to we need to make Sharia not only just
work for us, but work for wider American
society. Non-Muslims need to find value
in the articles of Sharia. make him feel
like even if I'm not Muslim, if I live
by that code, my life is going to
improve.
If I avoid consumerism and buying things
that I that I do not need, you know,
when Omar says to the guy, you
know, what's wrong with you? Every time
you you desire something, you just have
to buy it. Which really is an antidote
against, you know, hyperconsumerism. No,
just because I can afford it doesn't
mean I have to buy it, right? And so
imagine how many mental health issues
would be resolved, you know, if people
follow the simple prophetic advice, do
not do not overeat, you know, or or do
not indulge, do not overindulge or or
this is what it means to me to make da.
It's not that I'm making a case for God.
This this is the cherry on top. You
engage people and then if it comes down
to this, you know what? I have the exact
answer for you. So that's you know
that's basically that my mode of
operation. I I like to when we get into
that discussion I like to look at
people's body language you know facial
expressions. Uh they might be talking to
you about God but something else is
going on. Right. So uh so you come from
the human connection. Sit down, have a
cup of water. Can I invite you out for
lunch? Exactly. You can tell if a person
is lonely who's in front of you. Uh so
through so it's it's beyond we're not
trying just to make an argument and move
on. Nope. We're we're trying to save a
human soul that Allah created subhana
tala. Well it's a process that is driven
ultimately by care. Indeed. Yeah. If you
don't care you and and and interesting
in every one of us Allah put a sensor.
You know if the person in front of you
cares and you know if they don't care.
They really do. We Allah gave us this
sensor in us. They can tell they if
you're treating them as a calendar
appointment from 3 to 3:30 or like an
actual human being that requires her
attention. There was, you know, speaking
of that, by the way, there was this
young sister. I say young, she's like
17ish. And, you know, she's way too
smart for her own good. You know, her
parents are are such simple people. You
know, we should not, by the way, fault
our parents because they're just simple,
hardworking immigrants who, you know,
really doing their best. You know, not
everyone needs a philosopher. So, but
she needed someone that was smarter than
her in order to help her stay on track.
So, she talks to her parents to give her
the most simplistic responses. So, she
lost her faith. And then she comes to
me. I mean, this is this is she has like
a Harvard scholarship, you know, that
type. So, she comes to me and then she
she talks about the problem of evil and
and and how there's there's way too much
evil in the world to justify the
existence of God. I was like, "This is
this is the strangest thing I've ever
heard." And I have to say that like I I
I use hyperbole. I use exaggerations in
order to get her attention, right? This
is the strangest thing I've ever heard.
Now she's on the defensive. I What do
you mean is I've seen stranger things.
So now she's responding. She wants to
She's curious to know why I thought that
this is the strangest thing. It's like I
don't see the correlation
between evil being in existence and or
and God because I can imagine a universe
where God exists and he allows for acts
of evil. You can be angry at God for the
choices but but those two things are not
mutually exclusive. This is like saying
oh the the speed limit on highway 5 is
you know 75 miles an hour therefore the
state of California doesn't
exist. like these are are are not
mutually exclusive things. You can
question God's choice. Why is he
allowing evil in the
world? She starts scratching her head.
Now you've made some progress because
now she feels like that the argument is
is is intellectually overwhelming. I
cannot ignore this anyway. Right? And
then I that's when I ease up and and you
know this sister, okay, I'm not here to
attack you, right? We're here to have a
really honest conversation. Did I offer
you any coffee? Right. And that's when
we get into some, you know, nicer
exchanges. And I I I said, "Does free
will matter to you?"
She said, "Yes." I like, "No, no, I'm
asking you again. Does free will matter
to you?" And she said, "Absolutely. It's
the most important thing. It's all I've
got." I was like, "Yes, you're
absolutely indeed. You're absolutely
right. You know, especially us Western
people, free will is the most important
thing to us. I am in control of my own
destiny." All right. Very good.
Do you want your free will or you want
to give up your free will? She of course
I want my free will. So I asked her,
your free will enables you to do good
things all the time or sometimes you can
still do bad things. So I can I can
still do bad things. So I said to her,
free will mattered to God so much that
when he gave it to us as a gift, he
fully acknowledged that our free will
might lead us to do bad things
sometimes. So all the evil that you see
in the world, why does it happen? Does
it happen from because God did it or
because other human beings did it?
Because human beings. Oh, okay. So, who
gave them the free will to do those
things? No. God gave them the free will.
So, should you blame God or you should
blame human beings? Why are we holding
God accountable for our
actions? And I and then I asked her this
is this was like the my my master
stroke. This is how you see this is a
sales pitch, right? You can do marketing
all you want, but you got to sell the
product in the end. And so it's at the
very end I basically told her you know
ultimately ultimately as as a human
being God gave you that choice to make
in the absence of all evil what do you
think is going to happen in the world?
Well you're just going to be happy. I
was like no you would not know what
happiness means. The only reason you
understand the word happy is because you
know the word miserable. The only reason
you know that there is light is because
you've experienced darkness. The only
reason you know satisfaction is because
you've been hungry before, right? It is
only through the presence of suffering
that you're able to appreciate, you
know, those moments of of of contentment
and so forth. And so, you know, this is
it's a process. It's a process. Subhan
Allah. So um the that led me to think
um many times we think people lost their
faith because of intellectual arguments
but that is almost never the case by the
way 95% of the time that's what I was
about so my question to you as you were
doing this research and you are in the
field why do you think people lose their
faith different reasons I will I will
share you a few reasons at least from my
own from my own experience right number
one there is you know a lot of struggles
at home broken families disconnectedness
uh mental health issues uh you know
people lose their faith because they
have been mistreated by their parents
they lost trust you know to authority
figures they lost trust you know to and
by the way culture reinforces that it's
it's really paradoxical
because On the one hand, we feel so
broken up that that our parents are not
there giving us guidance, but then
culture and movies tell young people,
ignore your parents and be yourself and
you do you and go do your own thing,
right? These how do you how do you
desire both? Those two things are
supposed to be mutually exclusive, but
sometime somehow we're taught to desire
both. Um, you know, so this is one
category. The other category that I've
seen is is uh uh um peer pressure. Not
not peer pressure, your your
surroundings. Who are your friends? Are
your friends people that are upright and
and moral and and make better not great,
not the best, but but perhaps good
better choices? Or are you surrounded by
people that just give give no heed to
moral principles or values or whatever?
Right. Um number three, mental health
issues. M mental health
struggles gradually sever the the ties
that we have with God because in in my
anger and sadness and anguish and I'm
not getting the help that I want um I I
will gradually just lose trust that
maybe there's someone out there you know
that that can hear me out. Um the
actions of religious people plays a big
role in in impacting people's faith when
they see their imam you know committing
unspeakable act when they see Muslims
committing acts of terrorism you know
when they give in to the constant
rhetoric in popular culture that Muslims
are this Muslim this Muslims are that
you know just you know that fear moves
you away you know gradually from from
faith um and then you know after this a
couple of other things after this
intellectual things. You know, when you
have been raised in a simplistic way,
you're taught to pray and to how to make
woodoo. All the emphasis is on what
breaks your fast or not. All the
emphasis is on tawa and you know and all
of these things. The challenge the
intellectual challenges were not
anticipated in your childhood. No one
ever talked to you about, for example,
which by the way was an essential part
of our the recipe of Islamic learning,
you know, throughout the last, you know,
1400 years.
Was always something that was taught.
Today, I I can ask anyone, do you have a
in your Sunday school curriculum? I
highly doubt it. They're not going to
teach the children, you know, about the
attributes of God when they are still
five. Yet kids, Muslim kids growing up
in the Muslim world throughout they were
taught at a very young age. So is an
anticipation of intellectual challenges
that will come later down the road. So
that when it actually happens, we talked
about this in in my Sunday school
classroom. It's no big deal. I already
know the answer, right? And so those
simple purehearted kids, you know,
masid, right? They were flying around
the masid playing and attending every
event, right? They go to college and
then he gets stopped at the the clubs,
you know, the atheist club will will
give him a brochure and the brochure
will say something very simple, right?
It'll say something about how evolution
explains life.
And it's sinister because it doesn't
really say you should exclude God. It
just says, well, science has all the
answer. That's the title of of the
brochure. Science has all the answers.
And then you read on, it makes perfect
sense. And then you ask yourself, wait a
second. I was I was taught that we that
Adam came down to earth and then Allah
gave him a mate, you know, Eve and then
they had children and that's how life
started. And it's like happened like
10,000 years ago. By the way, the Bible
is not helping either because the Bible
actually says that Adam walked the earth
like 8,000 years ago and that earth was
created 10,000 years ago and then those
kids smart. The fossil record says that
we've been around for 200,000 200,000
years and and and and religious
scripture says 10,000 years something's
wrong. And Earth was created according
to the Bible 10,000 years ago. It's been
around for 4.3 billion years or 3.4
whatever and that's when that seed of
doubt starts and then it gets
exacerbated. You're going to go home,
you're going to go talk to simple-minded
with all due respect to all the parent,
the busy parents, mom and dad, you don't
have the the tools to answer. They don't
they're not equipped. Right? So the the
the second recourse is going he's going
to go talk to his to his im. you know
the vast majority of the imams are not
equipped to address these questions. So
in his heart or her her heart they feel
that they've done everything they could.
Plus I I will I will embrace atheism.
The last thing that I wanted to say is
isolation and separation.
What is the number one goal for every
Muslim family in America today as far as
their kids academic excellence?
They want him to get a scholarship and
go to Yale, go to Princeton, go to NYU,
go to Harvard, go whatever, right? What
happens in that process? You're
thousands of miles away from home.
You're isolated from your family from
the strict guidelines from the
boundaries. You're in the dorms
surrounded by non-Muslims, a lot of
atheist kids. The masid is there. I can
voluntarily go if I wanted to. Maybe I
won't go. And that separation, that
loneliness, that arangement
erodess the faith. like fire eats paper.
And I always tell
parents, faith thrives in systems of
association.
You have to feel that you are part of
something bigger and a hierarchy that is
bigger than you. Families that live
together, mom, dad, uncles, aunts,
cousins, extended family, grandma,
grandpa, there's like a hundred people
like the the Palestinians and the
Hyrais, right? families like this when
they stay together, you know, white
people do this all the time. You know,
they have like uh, you know, William
Gates and then William Gates senior and
then William Gates Jr. and then William
Gates II and then William Gates the
third and the fourth is like five, six
generations and they live in the same
area. They get married and they all
trust fund kids, right? So you can't
leave, you can't leave New Hampshire and
and go live somewhere else. You have to
stay within the same area. So literally
entire towns are made of the same
people. No one's going to lose their
faith in that town. I guarantee you
that. You know why? Because I'm already
fulfilled. I am surrounded by the people
that love me. I my they've taken care of
my kids. There is legal advice. There's
financial advice. There's financial
support. There's always something I can
lean back on. Loneliness is destructive.
And and I've been advising
parents, don't send your kids away from
home on for school.
Unless there's absolutely exceptional
circumstances, there is no You guys live
in the Bay Area. What's the What's the
closest school here, by the way, to to
to the Asim Foundation? Yes. Stanford
and UCF. You know, UCSF, Stanford,
anything where they where they drive for
an hour and then come back home. There
is no difference in in the grand scheme
of things when when the chips are down.
There is no difference between UC Davis
or SAK State or UCLA or NYU or the
University of of Arkansas. There is no
difference between unless you want to
work for the for NASA or the White
House. 99% of us are not interested in
any of that. We just want to live
fulfilled existence, make enough money,
and just raise our kids and be happy.
Don't let your kids go on these
adventures away from home. Keep them
around. Build local power. build local
families, build local institutions.
America wants to tear you apart. And not
just us, by the way. You know, it's a
capitalist system in general. You wants
to slice and dice people. Why? Because
you are more effective worker when
you're isolated from your support
system. If you isolate from your support
system, the job becomes your support
system. Your supervisor becomes your
support system. Your colleagues become
your support system. So you spend more
hours at work and that becomes the
purpose of your existence. That's it.
It's
amazing. Two days ago, I'm in the hotel
in Dallas, flipping channels in the
hotel room, and there is a show about
throwing a party when an Amish person
leaves the Amish community,
like talking about tearing you apart.
Sure. There is a show about celebrating
we save them. We save them. And then
there's another show about the Mormons,
like leaving Mormonism. There is another
show about uh you know even Jewish youth
that leaves the Jewish community. So
it's like very targeted. You will get a
show, you will get a party, you will get
fame if you leave, right? But they never
follow them in life and see what
happened to them later on. Personally,
one of the things that I have been
finding out with Muslim youth, and I see
it, it's the same root cause with
Muslims and with some non-Muslims, which
is the
idea, as you said, there's a difference
between I don't believe that God exists
and I am angry with God. Mhm. And uh
many of our youth, I find them that
they're they they say I'm an atheist,
but when you sit down and have a
conversation, they're the farthest from
being atheist. I sat down with a sister,
this is God knows how many years ago.
And she started by saying, "I'm losing
my iman. I I'm losing I don't believe in
Allah and anymore and this and that." I
said, "So, please can you tell me?" So
then she went and told me her life story
and how she's angry with Allah at
everything that happened with her in
life. At the end of the conversation, I
said, "I literally envy you. Envy your
im the you have in Allah and his
existence because you are attributing
everything that happened in your life to
Allah. You have an amazing
im like you are I I I don't even think I
remember to attribute everything that
happens in my life to Allah like you
doing the problem just you need to
change one thing you're not happy with
how Allah runs you the universe and
that's what the non-Muslims they're not
happy with how Allah runs the universe
the problem of evil yeah exactly then he
doesn't exist yeah then he doesn't exist
that's a two different issues Um so
subhan Allah this is just also when you
talk to Muslims you might think they
actually lost their dean and iman they
they actually very strong believers and
that leads me to my last question and
then we have half an hour. Uh it's 8:00
and is 8:30. Um and this is a
theological and practical question too
that I'm sure it's in the mind of
everyone. If I am a Muslim
um and I go through this like I hear
these arguments I hear for the first
time I think about it and I for a second
I doubt the existence of Allah right
right have I become a kafir did I lost
lose it I'm done can a believer have a
doubt and how does a believer so you
know it's a theological question but at
the same time very relevant to you know
this this reminds me This reminds me of
of this this kid. He's a teenager,
right? And one one of his friends at
school, you know, in a derogatory way,
you know, to to insult him, to bully
him, he calls him gay. Okay, you're so
gay. So he goes home and he looks at the
mirror. He's like, "Oh my god,
my god, what if they're right?" So
someone put the idea in his head. This
kid made his parents suffer for three
years thinking that he's homosexual.
Uhhuh. Because in that one moment there
was a doubt in his mind about his own
sexuality. And he let that 1% seed of
doubt determine his life for three
years. This kid was he was used and
abused and they found him in in
dumpsters and they found him you know
almost on the verge of of of overdosing
on drugs and you know he he was arrested
multiple times. Alhamdulillah he's okay
now. Alhamdulillah. But he made his
parents suffer so much. She's she's
traumatized for life because of just a
small seed when most intelligent human
beings if they have been really mentored
a little bit they they're taught
that there is absolutely no point in
trying to resist doubt because resisting
doubt is futile. Doubt is part of life.
Doubt is what gets us to do things.
Doubt is actually the most exciting
force in the universe because it is only
through doubt that I'm trying to outdo
myself and and best myself. So going
back to faith, all right, what is the
difference between faith and
knowledge? Like knowledge is I know that
I am at the Esim Foundation, right? Mhm.
Is that faith? Like can I say I believe
that I'm at the Essen Foundation? No.
No. Why? because I saw the sign when I
entered and there's a prepoundonderance
of evidence, you know, from from your
email and and the board members and and
the website and everything that this is
the Esen Foundation. So, I cannot say
that I have faith that I'm at the Ein
Foundation, right? But I but I could say
that, you know, I have faith that it's
not going to rain tonight.
Because it looks clear and the forecast
didn't say anything about rain. Can it
still rain despite my faith? You see the
difference? It's not possible that the
foundation is going to turn out to be
MCA.
But it is possible that it could still
rain despite my faith. Faith by its very
definition allows for a space of doubt.
In fact, if it is if there's no doubt,
then it's not faith. Then it's
knowledge.
And you cannot say that I have I have
concrete knowledge of the metaphysical
and God is a metaphysical concept.
Right? Anything that that resides beyond
the physical senses is something that
needs to be believed. And and there has
to be enough science for you to believe
it. But you cannot really reach the
point of certainty or the point of
certitude that you would say I know. And
and and and if anyone said, "I have
never doubted God ever in my life," then
that person's got to be it's got to be
lying. And you shouldn't say that, by
the way, because when you say that, you
make younger people feel like
something's wrong with me. Because my
older brother, my older sister said, my
mom said, you know, a true Muslim would
never have an ounce of doubt about God.
Wow. You know, the prophet used to say,
right? you know the the the there was
always this notion you know that that we
are scared of losing our faith in the
hadith how does faith go up and down
unless it's not complete
and that's why the Quran tells
you so continue to worship your lord
until you reach certitude where do you
reach when do you reach certitude when
Allah subhana t transforms from being a
concept of faith into a concept of
knowing and that only happens when I see
Allah and I stand before Allah, you
know, right? And so in my life, I need
to not not just allow for a little
little bit of doubt. Actually need to
celebrate it because what is the
alternative? The alternative is that I
give up on the idea of God and then I'm
going to end up with a million more
questions.
So, I would rather accept a slight doubt
in the existence of God than to accept a
massive amount of doubt in the
non-existence of God. Um, and so this is
this is something about the doubt that
that I've just I I've learned how to
coexist with some doubt. One day it's
stronger, one day it's it's it's it's
better. It doesn't matter. And if I
allow us and and the atheists, you know,
us and the and the kufur, we're always
going to go toe-to-toe every single day.
They're going to come up with an
argument. We're going to come up with
come up with a response. There's going
to be some scientific discovery that
will suggest, oh, you know, the
universe, you know, does its own thing.
We don't need God. And then 60 years
later, there's going to be another
scientific discovery that lends itself
to God. You know, Anthony Flu, are you
have you ever heard of Anthony Flu? Was
this, you know, European philosopher? I
think he died in 2007. His entire
career, Llew, look him up, right?
Anthony Flu
Lw. Um, he dedicated his entire life,
his entire penmanship to attacking the
concept of God. And the book before last
that he published was 2004, I think, was
was titled There is no God.
And then he republished the book two
years before he died with a with an X on
the word no. There is and then he put
the a letter a on top. There is a god.
And a lot of people say had he lived a
little bit longer he would have become
Muslim. He accepted God but he did not
accept Christianity. I think he was on
his way to become Muslim. Right? And so
we will go go toeto-toe with the
atheists. Well, what happens in the
universe as as our iman grows stronger
and weaker? Does God come in and out of
existence at our win? No. Allah is
there. And your faith in him gets
stronger and weaker depending on the day
and the circumstances. And you know,
I've seen people in the community
because of what's happening in right.
I've I've they've said it in front of me
multiple times. How could God let this
happen? How is Allah letting these
filthy Zionists get away with this?
Right? And and you know, they don't say
that they're losing their faith, but I
know that they're struggling. But Allahh
is what is the alternative? The
alternative is there's no God and
there's no justice and that you knowh
Israel and its leaders are not going to
be brought to justice one day. No, I
would rather I would rather choose Allah
subhana t. And that by the way is what
makes it this is what makes faith
meaningful is that it's a voluntary
choice. I choose God. I choose to live
in a universe that is governed by a
creator. I don't choose fairy tales
where there was nothing and then
suddenly the universe came into
existence on its own. I I choose not to
believe in fairy tales. It actually
takes more mental effort to remove God
from the equation than to leave him in
the equation. If we really get down to
it, it it takes a lot of iman to say
that there is no god. Absolutely. Yeah.
That's what people do. Atheism is a
religion by the way. It is a religious
religion. It is a religion. Um I I I
found in in my research for this how
much doubt is accepted in. So I found
three words.
Two of them Allah does not expect them
from the believer. But one of them they
have a room what you're saying. So the
the one the 49% like your iman is 49%
and less that's
called then there is the 50/50 that
is this could be that could be this
50 and then the 51 all the way to
100% uh all the way to 99% right is
aan
is most likely based on all the evidence
and as you know how our iman was
established onra so we build our
im on knowledge as you as you said so
there is that element of certainty but
what did the person say
on I fought
the most
likely like 99% I'm going to go and
stand in front of Allah and be judged
and Allah accepted that because for if
Allah only accepts 100% we're all in
trouble of the level of im and that's
why they
said worship your lord until you reach
that has two meanings like certainty in
this world but the actual certainty is
after you die and meet Allah. Worship
your Lord until you meet your Lord and
then you will get that. And even look
how sophisticated is Islam. There is
three levels of I trust you. You tell me
there is a place called Costa Rica and I
went to Costa Rica. I trust you. So
that's I don't need to see Costa Rica. I
don't need to go to Costa Rica. I trust
Im Aiz. You show me a picture of you in
Costa
Rica. I go to Costa
Rica. Even has three levels.
We're very sophisticated people. Our
Quran is amazing. So, you know, there's
technical terminology by the way that
that philosophers use. So, is is God
impossible?
No. I think no one can say that. Even
atheists could say that there is a a
possibility that God they hate that
question by the way. So you can't say
that God is impossible and then the next
question is is God uh um plausible?
Yes. And then the after that is God
probable? So you want to work with
people gradually right? So you establish
that God is not imp God is possible and
and after that you establish that God is
plausible. The idea is plausible that
the it's very very plausible that there
was nothing and then 13.8 8 billion
years ago, someone made a decision for
all of this to start, right? That's
cosmology, right? That's very plausible.
And then as you work with them further
and further and further, then God
becomes the most the most probable
outcome. I'm okay with probability. As a
man of faith, I live with probability
all the time. If God is the most
probable concept, then I I I'm I'm
willing to live with that because
everything else is entirely improbable.
And and when we see Allah that is when
you when you see that certitude.
Amazing. Subhan. So um I wanted to uh
open the mic. We have a mic here. Uh
brother who who has Yeah, we can you can
turn it on. If you don't we can ask. I
wanted to open the question for the
audience uh to Imam Aiz. So we have
Halabi
I was curious, do you think that by
restricting your kids from going away
for college or even after you're pushing
the doubt or the engagement with doubt
farther along?
See, it it's primarily about um building
family strength and power um financial
and political by the way. Um, but I
think that protecting their faith is a
secondary cherry on top. So this is this
has been my philosophy like I I didn't
set myself out and prevented them, you
know,
from from doing this
um because I wanted to protect their
faith. But I really wanted to for the
family to stay together. My brother
lives in in in Sacramento area with his
kids. my wife and her entire family, all
of her siblings except one lives in
Egypt. You know, their grandmother is
there, two grandmothers are there, you
know, all of their cousins are there and
so we're probably like 60 and and that
is really important for the children to
feel like, you know, there is it's it's
important for their morals as well
because the cost of straying off the
path is way too high. It's not just mom
and dad I will lose. I will lose my
cousins. I will lose my aunts. I will
lose my grandma. I will lose the respect
of of of all of these people. No, it's
just it's too much. I would rather stay
in line. Um but I but I think that that
the the added benefit to that is that it
it keeps them within that
construct because they adopt everything
that comes with it. They adopt the
Saturday dinners. They adopt the Hawaii
trips. They adopt the business
opportunities. They adopt the
educational opportunities, the the
ability to find spouses, uh you know,
the the the family name that they're all
proud of. And that family is also
Muslim. So, they will trust me, they
will adopt that as well. So, there is
there is a a great deal of psychology
about faith. Faith is not just an
intellectual exercise. Faith is an
emotional thing. Faith sometimes like fa
faith sometimes a psychological thing
and so you want to put them all together
and give them you know a very very
strong reason to stay on track and and
and I like actually you open something
in my mind if you study child psychology
you will find that the core of the human
is built into stages first six years
then uh from 6 to 12 then from 12 to
18 then from 18 to 25. So actually
delaying dealing with doubt is a very
good strategy. I'm not ashamed of it. I
did it with my kids and it paid off. So
I never tested them with public school.
They either did homeschooling or Islamic
schools and I can see the fruits.
uh because if you grew up with something
up to age 25 and 25 is when your frontal
lobe is completely you know you can see
the world um after that if if you built
someone with something for 25
years it's almost impossible that they
will change after that right so I I
would I would even go for
that I mean yes sister um if you can
pass them
[Music]
so much to both of you. This is really
inspiring and opened my mind in a lot of
ways. Um you mentioned that you studied
Christianity amongst a lot of other
religions and um I went to Islamic
school alhamdulillah and then went to a
Catholic school for one year and a point
that was made often was that he said um
died for Christian sin sins and actually
actually not just Christians he died for
all of us. Oh yeah. So I was according
to Christian dogma. Yeah. So I was
wondering if you were to ask them that
oh if died for all of our sins, what is
the point in having the will that you
mentioned? You know to choose what's
good and what's wrong? And if they
answer that's why we have a conscience.
How do you respond to that?
Let me put it this way. You know
Christians have grown acclimated to
living with doubt. They took that to the
whole like next level. All right. Like
they have 80% doubt,
but they're still okay with it, right?
Um I I like I said, sometimes it's not
an intellectual exercise. The church
means a lot more than than theology and
dogma and doctrine. The church for the
average let's say American Christian
means um family, it means friends, it
means social life. It means
food. Our food obviously is much better
than the biryani will kick the the the
whatever it is that they eat that what
do we eat at churches honestly like um
you know casserles and things like that
um out of the water. But what I'm trying
to say is that the church constitutes a
lot more to its member than and this is
something for us to learn as Muslims by
the way because a lot of a lot of
massagid operate with the assumption
that the masid is is a place of Islamic
learning or a place of Islamic education
or the iman thinks of himself as a
teacher. You come to Juma teach your
faith I will educate you about your
faith. No, there's a seminary for this.
There is a bare minimum of Islamic
learning that needs to happen at the
masid. But but people need pastoral care
from their ims which is what what
Christian pastors have done so
effectively. They're involved in
people's lives. They they visit them at
home. They are with them in in the the
bad times and the good. And so their
attachment to the church is is not born
out of an intellectual conviction that
Jesus actually died on the cross for my
sins. It's because that's the place
where I meet my friends. That's the
place where I have my support. That's
the place where where where my heritage
as as a white American Protestant, you
know, resides, you know. Exactly. Um,
and so I remember visiting taking my
youth group,
uh, I think it was about 10 years ago
when I had time and energy for that.
Alhamdulillah, I don't lead the youth
group anymore, but I really took them in
one summer on a tour to all the
religious institutions
uh, in in town that were not Muslim,
right? So, we went to the Jewish
synagogue, conservative and reformed. We
went to multiple Christian churches,
Orthodox, Catholic, you know,
Episcopilian, Lutheran. Uh we took him
to the Hindu temple. We took him to the
Buddhist temple. And it was a bit of a
it was a bit of a gamble on my part, but
really I was counting on the fact that
the kids are going to come back to the
masid just grateful for being Muslim
because they were going to experience
things that would make zero sense to
them. And subhan Allah, lo and behold,
it's exactly what I expected. There are
so many inconsistencies in every single
one of those faiths that the kids every
time they come to the van they're just
rolling their eyes. Oh my god, what are
we doing here? Right, can you please
take us back to the masid? So I remember
we were talking to the Orthodox priest
at the Greek Orthodox church and the
kid, one of the kids, it was a Libyan
kid, asked the priest, same exact
question that you asked. And the priest
basically said to him, well, you know,
it is only through Jesus Christ that we
achieve salvation. He died so that we
don't have any sins, but it doesn't mean
that we don't make good choices. So the
kid was like, okay, but why should I
make any good choices anymore? Well,
because you still have to be a good
person and make the right choices. And
the kid was like, but but why do I I'm
already
saved. I'm already going to heaven. Why
do I What's What's the desire? What's
the what what's what's what compels me
to make a good choice
anymore? Literally seven, eight times
and this kid keeps pushing and then I
had to pull his jacket.
Stop. You made your point. And then the
priest was like, um, you know, in
Christianity we call it a
mystery. That was like, imagine if one
of the imams is trying to explain
something like a controversial topic in
Islam. We just call it a
mystery. The kids came
to write memorizing the Quran. They want
to do the deal was sealed. And the issue
of im in just so that you know that when
you read the Quran Allahh makes the case
for himself that there is a god through
human
logic through signs in the universe. So
one of the things that any will tell you
there's 500 ayat in the Quran that talks
about the law do this don't do that
inheritance this is haram this is
marriage divorce marriage divorce 500
ayat in the Quran out of 6,236
ayat there is 1,000 ayat that talks
about nature and natural phenomenons to
the point that Allah calls the sun an
ayah and a sentence in the Quran is an
ayah. So ayah number
one, but
also the night is an ayah, the day is an
ayah. So Allah makes through his
creation the case for himself. Allah
makes through the systems of the
universe. If there was more than one
God, there would have been
chaosness. They would have you would
have seen. So it's unbelievable like you
don't think that the Quran is making the
case for Allah because we think it's
just the Quran saysahill
do this don't do that actually it
saysahill get to
knowahill which shows you it's a process
and Allah said that to his messenger
sallallahu alaihi wasallam so it blows
your mind do you know why is when you
when you study the Meccan society In the
mechanis of the Quran shows you in Mecca
and in Arabia they were angel
worshippers, jin worshippers, devil
worshippers, Jews, Christians, atheist,
agnostics. Their
arguments are mentioned in the Quran
that there is only
time. So you would think that the Quran
is not talking about all of these modern
philosophies. They all existed at the
time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam and their arguments one by one
you don't think that is in the Quran but
that is in the Quran which makes you
like love and respect the Quran to build
your im on a strong foundation. I like
the the idea here when I imiz is saying
there is a room for doubt that doubt is
the engine like there's a famous story
about
im one of his students said I'm going to
confess something you can chop off my
head after that because I can't even
stand myself. He said what's what's the
problem? He said I doubt the existence
of Allah subhana tala. So he told him
get closer to me. He got closer to him
and he said that's how the journey
starts from doubt to search to
certainty. Welcome to the journey and he
became one of his greatest students. So
the idea is if you find a doubt that's
an indication that you need to start
fire up your engines get
intoallah there must be something that
you did or something that happened to
you that created that doubt it's a call
from Allah to you to come back to him go
back and learn your dean so it's it
doesn't we're not saying if you have a
doubt go and sleep on it and accept it
and live no no if you have a doubt
go on the offense, go on the attack and
you have all the answers in the uh in
the Quran in in the
Sunnah. Another question we still by the
way just uh you're
welcome. Um, support life foundation is
collecting donation inshallah at this
point that will go to the most needy for
our brothers and sisters um you know in
under the siege under the embargo under
the genocide under this. So may Allah
reward you. They will be here today and
tomorrow to give the donation. It's the
most sensitive time and place to give
that donation. Yes, please. Next one we
have brother. Yes.
Thanks a lot. It was really nice talk.
So
I connect with that you place a lot of
emphasis on the family. I believe a lot
of people will be like we are only poor
family here. We don't have extended
family. So you do you do we are your
extended family. I agree completely.
That's the point. I completely agree.
I'm trying to connect what mom was
saying like
cousins father. So in that scenario your
family circle become pretty small. I
believe there will be lot of families
like that around here. So what will be
the your uh suggestions for those really
small and second question uh will be
uh you mentioned uh I mean 10,000 years
uh 20 million years so what is the
Quranic u I may not be knowing that's
why I'm asking
uh so what is Quran telling us about
origin and how old is the
the universe small family and age of the
universe. So for the for the second
question, you know, I I I strongly
recommend that you look it up in the
book. Um and I honestly because we were
so busy last couple days, I did not
think about bringing more copies. So
there is only one box. I think it like
whatever 20 25 copies. But I I am I am
giving these copies as a gift to Bakari.
So he will sell them. He will gift them.
He will just use them however he wants
for the benefit of but I think you know
if you if you if you get one of the
copies of the book and and if if you ran
out you can always get it on Amazon. But
it it addresses that question. There's
an entire chapter about the origins. So
probably want to read that. But I think,
you know, to to your first question and
without putting a daughter on the spot,
although I think I still will put put
her on the spot, is that when shalom day
comes and and you you get a m you're
getting married and you're going to
build a family, make sure that you that
you stick around and that sure right now
you have a nuclear a small nuclear
family, but let that be the beginning of
something beautiful. Inshallah, one day
you'll become the patriarch. you you
become the grandfather and you're 85
years old and and your great-grandfather
are around in town and and your family
will be about 65 people in you know at
that time. So it has to start somewhere.
And the answer to the age of the
universe very interesting Allah said in
the Quran he put it in our lab he said
go and find out how did the universe
start and once you find out that's how I
will start it again on the day of
judgment.
Anybody's calling
inahismah I think if you can give them
the microphone inshallah maybe I can
stick around if they have questions.
Yes. Then I imiz will stick around as
you're having
after
and he will sign the books and you can
make a donation inshallah to tawas and I
will give you the book for free
inshallah Allah

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