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| Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| Noera |
| 03/11/02 at 00:25:48 |
| [slm] Zaid Shakir’s lecture entitled “What Would Malcolm Say?” was delivered on March 1, 2002 in Manhattan, just a few blocks from Malcolm X’s own neighborhood. These are not really notes because I was not as diligent about writing things down as I should have been, but they are a few points that Imam Zaid made which caused me to reflect. Imam Zaid spoke a lot about Malcolm, but he also talked about Muslims in America and what we should be doing after September 11th. Malcolm was influential because he knew what was needed at different times. He knew what changes he had to make, whether in himself or in his speech according to the situation he was in. He was a man of positive action. He believed that an obsession with blaming others leads to inaction. (note from me: this is too true in Muslim communities today. We are eager to believe conspiracy theories and blame other groups for our condition, but are rarely willing to be self-critical and self-improving.) Two things Muslims must remember are our shari’i objectives: 1. obtaining benefit. 2. repulsing evil. (note from me: this concept is linked to the next quote from Imam Zaid.) “Now is not a time for martyrs, it is a time for mentors.” What we need today is not for people to go killing themselves supposedly for Islam but rather we need people to be alive to pass on their knowledge of Islam to the younger generations. Here, Imam Zaid gave an example of a chain email he received from a brother. The email went something like this: It is time for salah at a masjid. The jamat is getting ready to start praying. Suddenly, a group of masked men with guns enter the masjid. They say, “whoever is willing to take a bullet for Allah stay here and the rest of you are free to leave.” Everyone leaves except for a handful of brothers. The masked men remove their masks and reveal themselves to be Muslims who are out to test their fellow brothers and to see who are the hypocrites. They say that the people who have fled are the hypocrites and the ones who stayed are the real Muslims. WRONG! Imam Zaid said that he would have been the first to have fled the masjid! There is absolutely NO benefit in what this email was supporting. As Muslims, we have to be smart and in this situation it would be smart to leave. There is no benefit in dying for nothing and that’s exactly what was being asked. (Had the gunmen said, who will stay to defend the other Muslims in the masjid, that would be a different story.) Imam Zaid wrote back to the person who sent him the email and told to refrain from passing around such nonsense. “Knowledge is power.” – a quote from Malcolm X. Imam Zaid emphasized the need for young Muslims to educate themselves about Islam and their professions and for elders to mentor them. That’s all. If anyone out there was also at this lecture and would like to correct my mistakes and/or add things, please do so! Wasalaam, Noera :) |
| 03/11/02 at 02:12:00 |
| jannah |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| jannah |
| 03/11/02 at 02:14:11 |
| wlm, hey chica... i edited your post to try to take out the ?'s i think it worked!! jazaki Allah khair for posting the summary. I wish i could have been there... inshaAllah next time :) and btw Imam Zaid is awesome, I LOVE Chain-letter BASHERS... i can't stand chain letters... alhamdulillah one more bites the dust ;) wsalaam wrt |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| ahmer |
| 03/11/02 at 02:53:48 |
| [slm] btw... the act by the other speaker of imitating malcolm x's murder didn't look good at all. The shaykh sitting next to my friend was like, "We have hollywood here"..lol ... He did the same thing when he came to our school for a speech on malcolm x, but this time he took it to a different level by actually playing a 'bullet' sound and falling down as if he was gunned down..!! didn't look impressive at all.. jazaka'Allah for the transcript.. i hav almost the same notes. except that he said, we should reach out to people who want to learn about Islam and there are a lot of such people on campuses. [wlm] ahmer |
| 03/11/02 at 02:55:01 |
| ahmer |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| se7en |
| 03/12/02 at 02:47:02 |
as salaamu alaykum, wish I coulda been there :( jazaki Allahu khayran for posting that though! Imam Zaid is the man. wasalaam |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| sofia |
| 03/12/02 at 09:54:02 |
| [slm] Well look who decided to finally join. It's Noera!!! :-/ Did I miss your intro? My bad, and jazaak Allahu khairun for posting these notes, I was waaaaiiiting for 'em. I would embarrass you with one of the many things you're famous for, but I think modesty is a good thing. Masha'Allah, this sister is one modest grrl. ;) |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| alzinjibar |
| 03/12/02 at 12:02:53 |
| [color=Blue][/color]Bismillah wa salatu wa salam ala'a Rasul Karim Salam alaykum beloved bro and sisters, Jazak'Allah khayr wa barak'Allah feek for the transcript, i think it's a great great thing to post transcripts of lectures, for many are not as lucky as our bro's and sisters in the western hemisphere who are blessed with people to enlighten and guide them. Many a times we miss those lectures and crave for them. I think i would be a great thing to have more of them insh'Allah, again jazak'Allah sis, May He(swt) ever increase you in His (swt) good pleasure. Amin |
| Re: Notes on a lecture by Zaid Shakir |
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| Noera |
| 03/14/02 at 21:54:45 |
| As salaamu alaikum, Thanks for the kind words everyone. :) Sofia, yes, I guess you did miss my intro. And you could have gone ahead and mentioned things I'm famous for... like never remembering how to get from Troy to Cohoes ;D and always running yellow/red traffic signals. :o Anyways, insha'Allah, I can live up to what you say. :) And next time I'll try to post notes sooner and I'll keep you all posted about events in the big city. By the way, Imam Zaid is speaking at the MSA EZ conference in Philly in about 2 weeks. Wasalaamu alaikum, Noera |
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