Assalamu Alaikum.
Prophet Muhammad who we love so much, would get all sorts of questions, God’s peace and blessings be upon him. One day someone asked him, “Should I tie my camel and trust in God or trust in God without tying my camel?”
The camel was the primary mode of transportation at the time in Arabia.
The Prophet’s answer: Tie your camel, then put your trust in God.
That principle does many things for us.
As Muslims, we have become political footballs, first in Europe, and now in America. We are the number one victims of war and terror. Yet, all of us are blamed for the whole set.
We had two main choices in this election: One who was attacking us and other minorities. Then there was the other presidential candidate who swung right back, defending Muslims and the diversity of this country.
Most Muslims supported the one who defended us but lost the elections.
Now is the time to trust God while we reflect, think and plan. He controls the world. We do not. He sees the whole picture and truly knows the best. He is the Creator of us all. He created you and I, as well as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. We love Him. We trust Him. God plans. And God is the best of planners (Quran 8:30).
Muslims call this trust in God, Tawakkul: Doing your best and leaving results to God.
Houston Rockets NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon illustrated this beautifully. Here is what he told me about trusting God (Tawakkul).
"Before I started practicing my faith, I used to completely rely on myself,” he said. “When I had done my best, I would be extremely frustrated if I didn't win. It would irritate and anger me. And that was causing me to be bad to others by fighting and swearing.
"But when I started practicing my faith, I learned that results are not my property. I started doing my best but then I left success and failure to my Creator. Now I was not irritated by failure and was not overinflated by success. That caused me to calm down and improve my behavior towards others on my team and we became a team."
So trust God. Don’t despair (Quran 39:53), and don’t give up. That is not Sabr (patience). Sabr is to do your utmost and endure whatever it takes to achieve that goal.
I have a goal. And, may be, we can work together in achieving this goal:
To liberate America from the fear, hate, and anger which was there before Trump, and will not end with this election cycle.
We must engage with America to end the cycle of war, terror, and hate which has caused us to lose trillions, kill millions, and dehumanize each other, despite all of us being God’s creation, Who created us from the same man and woman.
God has asked us to strengthen ourselves with Sabr and Salat (Quran 2:45). That increases trust in God. Open your hearts and minds for your neighbor, white, blacks, and all of the shades in between.
And pray that God opens the hearts of our neighbors toward us.
It is time for reflection as well. It will take many Sajdas, many Duas and many calm and silent spaces to achieve balanced, thoughtful conclusions to guide our future actions.
But for now, I will say this: American Muslims are achievers. They achieve what they set their mind to with the blessings of God.
- We wanted to build mosques and we have doubled the number of mosques since 9/11;
- We wanted to build Muslim schools and we have tripled the number of Muslim schools since 9/11;
- We wanted to respond to disasters, so we multiplying our relief organizations.
And now these mosques, schools, and relief organizations have thousands of full time staff doing their job professionally.
But what we have not done is devote resources to take America forward. We have not invested even .01 percent in our political empowerment and civic engagement as compared to our investment in mosques, schools, and relief organizations.
So for now, I would just say, let’s do a personal audit: An audit of our personal time and money. What percentage are you committing to your empowerment to take this country forward? That is the camel that still needs to be tied before we expect God to do miracles for us.
Peace,
Abdul Malik Mujahid
p.s. We will be issuing talking and thinking points soon insha Allah.
p.p.s. Please keep hugging your children, listen to them, they will listen to you. Share with them the story of Tawakkul and Hakeem Olajuwon. Children know what is going on. Many parents are sharing that their children are scared and crying. One mother reported that in one school many children were crying thinking that their Latino and Muslim class fellows will be deported.
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Abdul Malik Mujahid, President, Dr. Ahmed Murad, Vice President; Dr. Muhammad Siddiqi, Executive Director; Taha Ghayyur, Director Communications; Imam Musa Azam, Director Development; Khaled Al-Sadi, Director Finance; Olivia Richardson, Producer Radio Islam; Samana Siddiqui, Content Manager
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Dr. Khalid Riaz, Secretary; Taufiq Ahmed, Treasurer; Janaan Hashim; Hannah ElAmeen; Dr. Khursheed Mallick; Fuad Lashkarwala.
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