Rise and Fall of the Islamic Civilization-Sh.Zaid Shakir

(RIS Retreat)
-notes by Br.Firas

As Muslims we should always be positive and optimistic, having رجاء, having smart optimism.

Imam Nawawi says in his commentary about Saheeh Al Bokhari, that Qadi 'Iyad (Morocco) mentions
That Ibn Abd Al Barr says there might be from these who come after the companions some people who
Are better than them (regarding the Hadeeth of "my brothers to come").

Allah promises these who work for Him that He will establish them on earth as He established these who preceded them.

The Hadeeth of the every 100 years reviver.

"What Went Wrong" by Bernard Lewis (a much quoted and relied on by American policy makers).

American are 5% of the world's population and they use 1/3 of the earth's resources.

Before 1968, because Cleveland river was so polluted, it caught fire!

It wasn’t until 1919 until women had their suffrage.

Allah has brought us to these Western lands and we should make use and learn from it intellects in the service of our Ummah.

We are blessed to have so much equally varied backgrounds in our community that never existed in anywhere else on earth at a time!

A lot of Muslims in NA do not see their presence as a legitimate presence in "The West", with no sense of belonging.

Islam was in America before America was America!

20% and some area 50% of the slaves like in some parts of Virginia are Muslim.

There has to be legitimacy in the eyes of others and that has to be earned.

Its our problem if they don’t see us as we really are, we need to work on that as they control us here.

Power revolves around intangibles.

A lot of the intangibles that one can change revolve around him himself.

The Sahabah didn’t have a lot of numbers but they had great intangibles and the greatest intangible is being in touch with Allah.

Another one is Will coupled with Ability.

In order for Islam to be viewed as legitimate for the universe it has to be viewed as legitimate in the eyes of others and in order for that we cant be a self-serving nation we have to serve others.

There has to be an agenda to define us as servants of others سيد القوم خادمهم

Building a youth centre is phase one before building a mosque and a school, as in a generation or two people (who didn’t have a youth center) will not send their children to Islamic schools and may not go to mosques, or maybe their sons wont.

Difference of Opinions-Sh.Hamza Yusuf

(RIS Retreat)
-notes by Br.Firas

The Craft of Fatwa - Bin Bayyah

Many of these things in this religion come from the work of scholars.

To know that you do not know is a knowledge.

Compounded ignorance is to not know that you don’t know.

If you have more numbers of intellectuals to acknowledge something they become stronger than the elite group.

Inclusive has to include exclusivists.

Fiqh is a human enterprise (from man)

Shari'ah is from Allah.

Calamities are to clean all the draws of man.

The majority of people are considered to be in the hell fire, except that there are so many reasons for them not to enter it, such as Allah's mercy.

Marriage in the West- Sh.Bin Bayyah

(RIS Retreat)
-notes by Br.Firas

Do I have the financial capacity to get married?
Where will we live?
The mate?

The compatibility is very important, however, the compatibility of religion is the most consideration, in the West, supporting a family comes to importance as well.
Green Card is not an excuse for temporary marriage, not only is it not how Muslims act but also it gives a bad impression about Muslims and Islam, in fact the European Assembly declares that as a false marriage.

No harm in getting married for the sake of residence, yet, he should have in mind other causes.

Muslims in the West should have babysitting facilities (nurseries) supervised by good sisters.

Muslims in the West should have problem-solvers to maintain relationships between mates.

Renew your marriage by affinity, physical beauty do not last whilst spiritual and character beauty last.

A Vision for NA Muslims- Dr.Abdul Hakim Jackson

(RIS Retreat)
-notes by Br.Firas

Our vision has to be concrete and pluralistic.

We have to study our case of NA separately than any other parts of the world (unlike what the شافعي says).

We have to be specific about what we talk about, Canada is not the US.

We need a central articulation of Islam that unites all of the ethnicities of Muslims in NA.

We can not keep looking to the Muslim world for answers, we need to be an independent authenticated community.

We have to get out of the "little brother" state.

We can not mistake uniformity for unity!

Uniformity (different parts)
Unit (same parts)

In a state one law can exist and all efforts should be directed to understanding this law.

How we see pluralism is: you have the right to do it my ways.

We should not only accept other opinions in the levels of our minds, but we should practice them from time to time so that we gain acceptance in our hearts.

We have to engage in what is called "Build it and they will come."

If we want to bring change to NA, we have to build something for the fruits to come in the future.

We do not make use of our intellectuals because we have failed to produce a religious system that provides an environment for them to evolve.

A convert speaks differently because he knows the power of his religion.

There is no other community than the Muslims that are trying to approach their problems through their religion.

Once Muslims could go to Hajj in Mecca, Islam was being recognized as an Arabian religion.

Giving non-Muslims a sense of ownership (indigenizing them) pushes them to defend Islam as a religion of their own.

Indigenization is not assimilation.

Assimilation: (society treats you as an subject)
Indigenization: (society treats you as an object)

As Muslims we should avoid becoming a domesticated community and we have to prudent about it.

We give up the category "The West" too quickly, to the extent that when we become "Western" we become "Less Muslim".

If we don’t get rid of our Utopias we will become prisoners of these Utopias.

We have some hard days ahead of us and they will require courage and civility.

If we believe in something we will find a way to make it work out.

We as Muslims need to know what piety means, we do not question what Allah oblige us to do and so should we not question how Allah wants us to be with our brothers, sister and fellow Muslims.

One of the things that we need to work on is the literacy of Muslims.


Many Muslims do not read Quran because they are afraid of it, either because they are afraid not to understand it or getting lost in it.

We need to read Quran not to be big Sheikhs, but as an exercise of opening myself up to the values and meaning that we face the society with.

We have to understand that Quran is not only about information but its also about transformation, that’s why we need to constantly expose ourselves to Allah.

To read Quran we need to know Seerah.

Many of the differences that exist are plausible.

What Sufism has produced in regards of intellect is still incomparable to any other traditions.

We need to take the literacy Sufism in with discrimination in a positive way.

Sometimes we misinterpret just because we forget that Allah is in charge.

When we forget that Allah is in charge we get horrified and lost, we forget the source of our energy and purpose in life.

Validation <> Lack of Identity

We need to know when do we care about the image of Islam for the sake of Allah and when do we care about Islam for our own validation.

We have to be much more engaged in the enterprise of knowing the history's social, communal,…. Of the countries so that we understand how to engage.

Where can we position ourselves and how can we affect the country that we live in.

We are people of mission and we need to have self-understanding and why have we come to Canada.

We have to be constantly aware of who we are and be intelligent and literate.

BEING IN THIS CAMP MEANS THAT ATTENDEES ARE THE CREAM OF THE CROP, MEANING THAT GIVEN THE KNOWLEDGES OF IT SHOULD COME OUT WITH DRASTIC CHANGES ON A ROUND OF TIME.

One of the reasons why the prophet was successful with his people is because he cared about his people and if you care about people you agonize about their problems and if you don’t care about some people you cant guide them.

Muhammad was born in Mecca and died in Medina, Muhajireen got sick when they came to Medina!

There can be no success for us unless we follow our model.

The Literacy Project

ابن كثير - السيرة النبوية

Montgomery Watt (Muhammad of Mecca / Muhammad of Medina)

One Major lesson from the life of the prophet that Allah's promise is true and if I fulfill my mission I am going to win inshaAllah.

Division in Religion By Riyadh Al-Haq

-notes by Sr.Hanin

-the word civilization is about being civilized. Civilization of the heart, and the spirit are what’s important for Muslims

-today we are being affected by the material civilization and are being driven away from the civilization of Islam, a spiritual one

-one of the main problems of Muslims today is although we believe and observe Islam we don’t follow all the obstacles. We are muslims partially-the ones before us were Muslims completely-the prophets, companions, and their families. They established an Islamic civiliazation that isn’t divided

-Allah says in the Quran “ Do you believe in parts of the book and disbelieve in the rest. Those who do deserve humiliation and negligence. The punishment is humiliation and disgrace In this life and worse in the hereafter”

-we should embrace Islam completely-we shouldn’t follow the footsteps of the shaitan
-we only partial islam is followed, the shaitan will lead the people to disillusion and wrong thinking
-what does is mean to embrace Islam completely?
-we reduced islam only to prayer, pilgrimage, fasting, and zakat. Beyond these, everything else is forgotten. But these are all rights of Allah, so by observing onle these, we believe we are pious-this is wrong

-Allah has given us tremendous laws on how to live- covers all aspects of life
-there are sins of the mind, heart, and tongue
-there are duties of the mind, tongue, heart and people not just prayer, pilgrimage, fasting, and zakat.
-Islam has been reduced to a meter ritual with no spiritualness in it.
-Allah warns against this to all Muslims, Jews, and Christians
-righteousness is not praying in the right qiblah only, but includes many other rights and actions
-righteousness includes observing all these things together
-patience, perceverance, rights of our neighbours, rights of pur collegues, rights of our parents, etc.
-we are concenrned about our Muslim brothers and sisters’ physical homes and being in other parts of the world. We forget about those who live around us in mischief, our families, our fulfilling of promises

-Allah warns against 3 consequences of not fulfilling a promise

1. a foot will slip from the path of Allah
2. you have prevented others from the path of Allah-lead to great punishment
3.punishment in the hereafter

-Islam includes rights that are Allah’s and individual rights. Religion is also about avoiding the sins of the mind, heart and tongue-we need to make our religion a thriving and thrilling one. Not just a mere ritual-keep away from such sins are cheating, gossip, and stealing-Prophet was asked what was responsible for admiting people to paradise

-he said “taqwa and good manners”
-he was then asked “what was responsible for admitting people to hell fire?”
-he said “mouth and the private parts”

-we need to think, speak, and feel as Muslims

Islamic Civilization Part 1- Sheikh Tariq Suwaidan

-notes by Sr.Hanin

There are different types of laws that govern us Muslims

1. Quran Laws
-we have to read the Quran to discover the laws that govern us

-these include:
-civilization laws
-sunnah-laws that govern the universe
-laws that govern human interaction
-laws that govern the heart-laws that govern the tongue
-There’s never an end to civilization because civilization is governed by laws
-Quran says “look for the laws and history” (missing the verse and chapter)
-if it was not for the struggle, the people on earth would be spoiled
-Law: “surely Allah does not change the status of the people until they change themselves”

2. Historical Laws

a. Civilizaiton fall and rise according to laws not coincidently
-there are always laws that govern them

b. Great products don’t make great civilizations-ex. Dubai- nice, beautiful, and with amazing architecture, but doesn’t bring any civilization

-its products won’t bring great civilizations

-compare Umar’s products vs. Andalus- Andalus had much greater products, but Umar’s civilization was much greater

-we can’t looks at products as civilization- if we do, it will cause failure

c. Civilizations can become sick. If not treated they will die

-muslim civilization today is sick, but not dead. We need to treat it with the right medicine for it to become better

-the western civilization has great products but it is still sick. We need to treat it, but first we need to treat ourselves

-we to have mana3ah- immunity

-muslims today don’t have immunity. This is causing us to dissolve into the western society. This happening by only following their products, not civilization since both the West and the Muslims don’t have it.

-We can increase Immunity by two sources:

1. the quality of the intellectual system you bring into the world

-ex. Moguls didn’t have a great intellectual system, so they adopted the religion of Islam to gain more.

2. the percentage of people who inderstand it, and adhere to it

-through all the events and tapes we listen to we should gain intellectualization and apply it and spread it

-its not products that change the world, it’s words

-ex. During the years of the Khulafaa “Al-7arb Tabda2 be Al-Kalam”- War begins with words

-we need to bring words and intellectual systems

Principles of Islamic Civilization

1. Harmony between faith and logic-there’s no contradiction between Islam and logic. They both work together and are always together.

2. Harmony between worship and Life

-There’s no separation between life and worship. Worship is everywhere

-If someone, took food and put it in the mouth of his wife, he will be rewarded- Prophet (PBUH)

-Christianity created a system in which life is separated from worship

-secularization- church is separated from everything else

3. Our faith pushes us to produce

-if you are truly faithful, then you produce and build

-Umar (Radia Allahu Anhu) saw a man praying in the masjid all the time. This is a man who spends all his life in the mosque. Umar once asked “who brings food for him?” His companions answered “his brother”. Umar said “His brother is better than him”

4. Harmony between this life and hereafter

-you goal shouldn’t be just to DO for the sake of Allah, but we should also LIVE for the sake of Allah. We should first live and build for the sake of Allah. Dying for the sake of Allah comes second

5. Harmony between science and faith

-you can’t separate science from faith, but that what the Western civilization did. It separated education from church-thought they could build a civilization that way.

The Prophet's Leader- Muhammad Al Shareef

-If you apply 20% of what the Khulafaah did, you'll get an 80% result.

-Imagine this: take out your toy box and ever notice babies love to play with simple things more like string rather than other high tech toys

1) String of shura
2) String of lending a hand
3) String of buisness mind

-Rasuallah (saw) made the most shura and he's the last person the needs to make shura. Which is a lesson to the Ummah.

-Those who don't do shura, don't want to hear feedback

-Shura body should come together based on who the issue is on. Ex: Women

-Umar did shura with the youth.

-Before you ask for a hand, you have to lend a hand.

-Umar at one time during a famine. His son had bought a watermelon with his own money and was eating it. When he saw this he grabbed it away from his son and said how would he let his son eat when the Ummat of Muhammad had nothing to eat.

-Money is magnifier of who we really are inside. If you are an evil person, then the money will be used for evil purposes. If you are a generous person then the money will be used for good.

-Rasuallah (saw), Umar and many others were all business men with a buisness mind.

-2 things left behind for us is the Book of Allah and the Sunnah.

-The major ingredient of ALL ingredients: IMAN, Iman in Allah (Swt), Iman in the Prophets etc.

Islam the Solution not the Problem for Humanity- Zakir Naik

-Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist... given Nobel prize later on

-Whoever is in power... labels people with whatever they want

-There are many strategies use by

e.g quote things about Islam which are not true: Islam is illogical. Also, quote verses in Qur'an out of context,

e.g. "wherever you find a kaafir, kill him" (9:5)

-Verses before this aayah speak about a peace treat broken by Mushriks in Makkah. Therefore, in battlefields, Muslims are told to not be scared and kill the enemy wherever they find them

-After quoting verse 5, they jump to verse 7, but skip verse 6 that talks about 'if they seek sanctuary'

-Even Surah Anfal, 8:16, whenever Qur'an speaks about war, it talks about peace right after it

-Another strategy: pick up the black sheep of community and portray them as examplary Muslims

-If you want to analyze a car, put a lousy driver at front. If the driver is bad, you can't blame the car

-Therefore, in order to know the car, you have to put the best driver behind it. And the best 'driver' of Islam is Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon Him)

-Twist the teachings of Islam, e.g. Muslims are terrorists/fundamentalists

-Qur'an is very different from what the media portrays it to be. For example, if any Muslim kills another human being, it's as though you have killed the whole humanity, and if a Muslim saved another human being, it's as if he saved the entire humanity!

-After 9/11 and 7th of July, we find that many Muslim organizations condemn the actions on both these days. We accept that these acts are wrong, but we have to also condemn the 1000s killed in Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq, etc, killing any human being is wrong.

-The media portrays Islam is intolerant. Yes! we are intolerant towards injustice, corruption and discrimination

-To all evils of society, Islam is intolerant to it

-Islam shows solutions to any problems

-The system of Zakat- if every rich human being gives zakat, there will be no poverty in this world!

-Thief- chop off his/her hands. So, people say Islam is a barbaric religion. Comparing to U.S.A., that has the highest robbery rate, if Islamic Shariah law were to be implemented, the robbery rate would have decreased

-Another example, rape. We all know it's wrong. Laws of most countries say so. But, Islam shows way to achieve the state where women won't be raped. Surah Nur, verse 13 [Men lower gaze]

-Once a boy was looking at a girl, and he kept staring at her. When asked, he said that it's told not to look at them for the second time. What is really meant by the aayah is that if you have unintentionally looked at a woman, do not look at her again to feast on her body

Criteria of Hijab:
1) Men = navel to knee.
Women= all but face and hands
2) Not tight
3) Not transparent4
4) Does not resemble the opposite sex
5) Does not resemble the non-Muslims

Reviving the Spirit of Al-Andalus- Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

-notes by Sr.Affifa

Muslims ruled over Spain for 900 years. The Northern Spaniards were not from the South, but they eventually over took the Muslims. The Ummayids controlled Spain from 711-156.

Intolerant Islamic dynasties don’t last long. They either eventually disappear or they learn to become more tolerant. The Ottomans were the longest lived and were very tolerant.

The Persian were into wine making, and that is where today’s “Cherry” (a high quality wine) came from.

There were 600,000 people, over 92,000 and several hundred shops, over 50 hospitals, one university with 27,000 students attending, 300 colleges, 300 public baths, and 72 libraries. The lights of the city of Qurtaba were seen from far distances. They even had running water with faucets.

Kuwait is forced to spend tens of billions of dollars to America for protection. Muslims were much cheaper, for example the Syrians could not pay so they did not have to. If the Muslims did not fulfill their duty of protection, they would return their wealth; this was documented. The minorities had to pay allegiance to the Muslims. When the Muslims took over vast amounts of land, people did not become Muslims right away, it took years. It took 50 years for 50% of the population to become Muslims, in Syria it took 500 years.

Martyrs of Qurtaba were fanatic Christians. They would go to mosques to give insulting remarks so that they could be martyred.

The Islamic society was in contradiction to the hostile feudal society in the Christian world. The Jewish people in Qurtabah were middle and in high classes of society, there were NOT ghettoized because they were a minority!

There was a magician who wore fancy clothes, a funky hairstyle, and was in charge of the Conservatory of Music. He played the Moorish Guitar and used music to treat illnesses which comes from a Greek theory of Pythagoras. Music has a sound effect on the body and the soul, just as the Quran does when it is read by an excellent reciter. To this day, they use music therapy to heal in Turkey. The Sicilians of Southern Italy had gotten their vision of classical music from the Muslims.

The Troubadours (One of a class of 12th-century and 13th-century lyric poets in Southern France, northern Italy, and northern Spain, who composed songs in langue d'oc often about courtly love) derived their Celtic music from the Moroccans. The African blues sang by the underground African slaves has the same rhythm as the Athan! Rock and Roll should be called Moroccan Roll!

In Spain, the city Qurtaba was a place of learning and the city Seville was a place for partying, sort of like the United States of America, where some states are known to be prestigious and other states to be the complete opposite. To this day, the city of Qurtabah is known to be the place of learning and the city Seville a place for “partying”.

The Arabic numerals came up by the Muslims. The secret of Western Civilization is to measure everything! It the Weapons of Math Instruction for the Weapons of Mass Destruction! The math, Calculus, was directly from the Pope who got it from the Muslims to bring to the western civilization. Muslims introduced pomegranates to Spain; this fruit has several benefits for health.

Muslims invented the crystals and there were movements of western music that came directly from the Muslims. The piano and the violin is the highest form of instruments for classical music. It came from the east, ie. The kanoon is the modern day percussion that is to be struck by the finger.

There was a man who spoke 70 languages and he played an instrument called the “ood”. When he played the ood, he was able to make his audience laugh, cry, or even fall asleep.

There are two Hallmarks of Civilization in the United States:
1)Law and Jurisprudence (look at what most of their TV shows are based on)
2)(NASA) because it spends on astronomy, that is what the American flag represents “stars” and “bars”, bars because if they do not like you they put you in jail.

Spain was a testimony of the great Islamic civilization that flourished. Christianity failed for society and knowledge was only shared by the elite Priests. They actually believed that taking baths were “ungodly”.

The West learned how to be tolerant by the Ottomans and by the Muslim rule in Spain. Hobbs (European philosopher) was troubled by religious wars and John Locke made a treatise of toleranism; Edward Pocoke was influenced by him.

Condruin society was based on politics, science, and technology.

What Would Malcolm Say?- Zaid Shakir

-notes by Sr.Affifa

Malcolm spoke the truth
He advocated for self-defence

The first generation of Europeans did not even master the English language, but they are considered better than the Africans whose ancestors are Muslims?

Malcolm lived the chastity and the truth.
For 12 years he never touched a woman.

He lived exactly as he talked ie. He had very good family values and he talked about it as well.

Nation of Islam was built by Malcolm X, yes it was founded by Elijah Mohammad etc. but he built it. In the beginning there were only like 400 people part of the Nation of Islam, that though they were scattered everywhere. By the time Malcolm X left, the Nation of Islam became internationally recognized and very popular across the United States of America.

This was the effort of ONE sincere man. He started an African newspaper that has now become widely read and there are several intellectuals who write for the paper.

When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, he had built institutions and teachers for the people to learn. Advice from Zaid Shakir: “BUILD your own media”, this was exactly what Malcolm X did, when the mainstream media was hostile against them.

Don’t let circumstances define you. Malcolm X had gotten into thuggery because he was living in foster care and his parents had died, etc. Malcolm X did not allow his situation to define him, he defined himself.

Tap into your potential. The post 9/11 world was man-made! Malcolm forced America to come into grips. He put the MIRROR in front of America. The United States are pointing at real and imagined terrorists; let us put the mirror in front of them!