OnIslam.net

Part 1

As most of the scholars, Ibn Al-Qayim mentioned in Madarik al-Salikin and others that zuhd (asceticism) doesn’t necessarily have to do with how much you have, but zuhd deals with how you handle what you have.

Being in Corporate America and working in Corporate America has nothing to do with your piety... The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that taqwa (piety) is here and pointed to his heart.

Some people came to me and they said “Oh you are much more pious than us.”

I said “Why?”

“Because you sit in the office all day, and you read books. You don’t go out, and you don’t mix with this and that. Masha’Allah.”

I said “That’s not piety man, that’s luck! That’s qadar (fate)”

The First Generations of Muslims

But the scholars used to say about Umar ibn Abdel Aziz something interesting. They said that they respect Umar ibn Abdel Aziz more because he had the propensity to do wrong and he did not do it. He had the chance to do wrong and he did not do it. That’s why Umar ibn Abdel Aziz is respected more than others. Those zuhada’a; those people who used to sit in their offices away from the people, they said “By Allah we respect Umar more then we respect ourselves.” Why? Because he had temptations in front of him and he controlled himself and left the evil things for the sake of Allah Almighty.

The other point is where did the Prophet’s companions settle after the time of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him? Umar kept them in Madinah, but after the time of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, the majority of the companions of the Prophet went where? To the caves? To the mountains?

They went to the major urban centers of the world: Kufa (Iraq), Basra (Iraq), Sham (Syria), Masr (Egypt)- by Allah, Egypt dwells in my heart, peace be upon you the land of Azhar- So they went all over the world to the major cities, except for a few of them, and they engaged the people. That’s how Islam spread. And when they went to those places, were Muslims the majority or the minority? Something that nobody ever thinks about. Islam was still a minority, but they functioned within the society, brought benefit to the society, and by them, the Companions of the Prophet, Islam spread. By dealing with the people. By engaging the people.

And that’s why when Umar was asked who is the best person: the one who flees from the people or the one who mixes with the people? he said the one who mixes with the people. He said the one who mixes with the people are those whom Allah has tested.

So my point is brothers and sisters, sometimes I notice that people feel an inferiority complex because they are in a professional field. By Allah you should not feel this way. Your example, all of you, is like those Yemenis who went to Malaysia. How did they spread Islam in Malaysia? It was through business. Through dealing with the people, engaging with the people.

We are not going to spread Islam through an Imam who sits in an office. Islam is not going to be presented to the people in America if a reporter comes to one of our religious leaders in the community and interviews him on TV and he says “Islam is peace. Muslims are good people. We don’t do anything wrong, we’re a constitutional religion,” and so on and so forth, but they have no one to talk to, no one to see. So, by Allah, to some degree I envy you, because you’re able to interact with the people.

Talking to a Non-Muslim on the Plane

When I taught Al-Maghrib course, I flew back from Houston first class Masha’Allah, first or second time in my life I think I flew first class. First class is not a  joke (I seek refuge in Allah from this world and what’s in it). So I was sitting in first class with my V8 and there was a guy next to me named Ben. I was actually preparing for a class that I teach on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I thought “You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to turn on the laptop and make the font like 100 so Ben can see what I’m writing.” And you have those interactions every day. I was like “Man, I’m lucky! Finally I get a chance to try out what I learnt at Al-Azhar.” ... So I turned what Siraj Wahhaj calls “da`wah moments.”

So I turned on the laptop and started typing “The Qur’an, Allah created us, etc.” That didn’t work. Then I needed to get up, and actually he got up before me, and the stewardess was kind of rough, kind of harsh. I said to him “You know it seems maybe she’s kind of rough.”

He said “You know, her husband lost his job.” So then I realized he’s a decent guy. He asked her and found out that she was a decent person.

Then he asked me “What’s your name?”

I said “My name is William.”

I say William or Muhammad. Why? Because if I say Suhaib they ask “What’s Suhaib?” Actually one of my names is Muhammad, that’s a long story, so I’m not lying to him. So I said “My name is William.”

He said “Really? What are you reading right there?”

I had an Arabic book with me. Don’t be shy of who you are man.

So the first issue is the issue of identity. I’ll be honest, when I was a non-Muslim I knew Muslims. I knew a guy in a high school named Salim Salim. Crazy dude, man. You would have never known it but he was a Muslim. And I remember I did not respect him. Do you know why I didn’t respect him? Because he didn’t respect his religion. And I was a non-Muslim! I’m not going to tell you his full name—names have been changed to protect the innocent. But I remember as a non-Muslim I felt that he was a sell-out.

I said “Man, this dude’s a sell-out.” Even though I was doing more dirt than the Caterpillar company, I thought to myself “This guy is a sell-out because he doesn’t practice Islam.” And we knew about Islam. What Islam tells them not to do, he does it. So I had no respect for him. But when I met a Muslim for the first time who held on to his principles and told me straight up “I’m a Muslim,” I respected that person. American people are like that. They respect you if you’re straightforward. No flip-floppers, no John Kerry! Straight, straight to the point. 

Muslims are Cool

I remember I met a brother named Ali who became Muslim in Wichita, Kansas of all places. He had a stereo that broke the sound barrier. The brother would pull up in front of the masjid and the windows would start shaking. Step by step he became Muslim. Alhamdulilah he’s all right.

So I asked Ali “Brother Ali, how did you become Muslim?”

He said “Muslims are cool.”

I said “Cool?” I thought maybe he was like me, you know I read the Qur’an, I read Ahmed Deedat, and got into intellectual debates about Paul and the concept of the trinity.

He was like “No. Muslims are cool, man. Muslims are cool.”

I said “Could you elaborate on that coolness?” Let’s get into our core coolness here and try to understand why Muslims are cool. Listen to this, sisters.

He said “From middle school to high school in Wichita, Kansas, there were these girls that used to wear this thing on their head. I couldn’t believe that they could do that.”

I said “Why?”

He said “Because of the pressure in my school for them to lose their virginity and dress like prostitutes. I watched those women from seventh grade to my senior year in high school, and I came to a conclusion.”

I said “What?”

He said “Those girls are on the truth.”

I said “How?”

He said “They didn’t waver, brother. Everyone wavered but them. To wear that in the nineties? The age of J. Lo? To wear that? Something had to be stronger than the human spirit. Something had to cause them to transcend popular culture and cling to principles. The only thing that can do that is Al-Haq (the Truth). That’s why Muslims are cool.”

I said “I agree, brother. Muslims are cool.”

He became Muslim and he said “I never talked to those girls. Those girls don’t even know me.”

By watching a living example of someone in the age of post-modernity, where there is no “fixed truth”, cling to the truth, and look how he watched them from middle school to high school, he was watching you, he was observing you, he said, “From middle school to high school I realized that these women were holding onto a higher power, man. Something that they were clinging to gave them the ability to transcend the jahiliya (pre-Islam) that was around them, and I realized it had to be the truth. So I stopped to ask questions, and I found out that they were Muslims.”

Muslims in Corporate America

You can do that in corporate America.

How?

By going out and preaching and telling people we are Muslims, etc? Oh man. The most important thing people need now is people of good character. Upright people, righteous people, decent people, man. People who are not snakes. All over the world people need that, not just here.

Why? Muslims are doing it. Muslims are doing a good job, Muslims work hard, Muslims are decent people, and they’re on time.

The brothers had formed something like an MSA. Because what happens? What I call PMSA Syndrome: Post-MSA syndrome. We get out of college and we have all that zeal. We come to the communities and they throw us out... Young brothers and sisters come out of college and they’re used to having that freedom to work as they did on campus. When they get older they lose that freedom and start to get depressed down. They give up. It goes from Islamic awareness week to Islamic awareness minute, if we’re lucky. So you have to find other Muslims and create organizations on campus, Muslim organizations that will support you and also give a good image to other people.

The third and very important, is to not cut the umbilical cord to the masjid. You’ve got to come to the masjid, man. Once a week, twice a week, three times a week outside of Jumu`ah. Four times a week, once a day if you can do it, man.

You might say, “But I’ve got kids.”

Bring your kids to the masjid! I’m not going to tell you to throw your kids out. I want to see your kids in the masjid. No problem, we’re a community, without exceptions. Just control your kids when it’s time to pray, brother...

And I want to warn you about the trick of letting your kids pray behind you. That’s a trick. There was a Sheikh once in one of our communities who used to put his sons between the men and the women. So he thought, “Ma-sha-‘Allah, I’m following the Sunnah, my kids are going to be all right.”

In night prayers as soon as the Sheikh would go Allahu Akbar [to start the prayer] his kids would go downstairs and play ping-pong and listen until they knew it was the last rak’ah then they would run up and make ruku` and pray the last rak’ah. Every two rak’ah. They loved ping-pong.

But one day the Sheikh broke his wudu' (ablution). He went back there and… We had to tell him, “Sheikh, we have child abuse laws in America. You’re not back home, Sheikh.”..

OK, so take your kids to the masjid. Take your wife to the masjid! Sister do you like your husband to take you to the masjid sometime? Would you love your husband take you to the masjid and you go and buy him a nice watch? Right brothers? Yes. No problem buying me a watch. Spend the evening together. Go pray Isha together, alhamdullilah. Go as a family.

Go to the masjid because you have to have that connection, brothers. You’ve got to have that connection with Allah, because what’s going to carry you through corporate America is not your talents. That’s a side issue. Allah has blessed all of you, many of you have gone to Cornell University or MIT masha’Allah, but if you don’t have that relationship with Allah it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not going to take you anywhere. It won’t take you anywhere.

So the third point is to have a strong relationship with your community.

Watch Imam Suhaib Webb’s Talk 

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