Action points going forward

Fajr Reminders - Mahmood Habib Masjid and Islamic Center

A dear friend told me, ‘You have given us an analysis of our situation. I agree. Now give us action points going forward. What must we do?’ So, here is what I believe we must do to take back the reins of our destiny from the hands of those we have given them to. Believe me, we are all in the Game. If you are not playing your own game, you are a player in someone else's game. In the first case, you make the rules, you call the shots, and you win. In the second, you are a pawn and will be sacrificed for the benefit of the owner of the game. You are dispensable, to be used and discarded. Looking at our, Muslim, situation today globally, tell me which scenario looks familiar. Having said that, let me assure you that things are far from hopeless. There is great hope, even certainty of success, but provided we make the right choices. Like any game, it needs preparation, understanding of the situation, a play strategy, flexibility to change, and commitment to the goal at all costs. With that we can win. Without it, get ready for slavery. If you read history, you will realize that there are forks in the road of destiny of nations. What happens after that fork depends on which branch you choose to walk on. I can give you examples from the history of different nations, but we don’t have time for that here today, so I will suffice to point out that we are standing at a fork in our destiny as the Ummah of Muhammad and our choice will affect our future generations, who will bless us or not for what we did. In the life of every person, man or woman, opens a window when they have the opportunity to make a difference. Once the window shuts our life is over, even if we remain alive because to live is not merely to draw breath. Our window is open now. What we choose to do will be our legacy. Choose wisely because we will be judged by our choice. The best guidance is the life of Muhammad in which you can clearly see the sense of destiny that he lived with. He took decisions that colored centuries and never allowed exigencies to force him to take short-term or short-sighted decisions. He never sacrificed the principle for immediate gain at the cost of long-term results. For example, he didn’t accept the conversion of the people of Ta’aif when they put the condition that they would pray but not pay Zakat. He ruled that the one who separated Salah from Zakat was not Muslim. This ruling guided Abu Bakr Siddique (R) years later, when he faced the crisis after Rasoolullahﷺ passed away and Abu Bakr (R) was his Khalifa. When Rasoolullahﷺ came to Madina, there were three things he did first. He started construction of his masjid, he formed the Ummah of Faith, and he formalized the Covenant which laid down the rules of interaction between the different groups who lived in Yathrib. Each of these was a generational project. The masjid was not simply a place to pray but was the epicenter of the community. A place where everything that was a collective need was addressed. Starting with Salah (prayer), which is the most important of all needs; our connection with Allahﷻ. But all collective matters where addressed in the masjid. Al-Masjid An-Nabawi Ash-Shareef was the place for Salah, the ‘Office’ of Rasoolullahﷺ, the Court of Law, the Madrassa, the communication center, the Command Center, even on occasion, a temporary prison. It was the nerve center of the community. If anyone wanted to know what was happening in Madina, they would know if they came to the masjid. The masjid was alive, open, populated and buzzing with activity all day long. The masjid was the place where the Ummah collected as one Ummah and you could feel the Brotherhood of Faith. Today we build Masaajid and give them sectarian names. The second thing Rasoolullahﷺ did was to form the Ummah Muslima – the Brotherhood of Muslims, where he paired one Muhajir with one Ansari creating bonds that transcended all traditional boundaries of tribe, color, race, ethnicity,