 In the Islamic tradition, a physical disability is not necessarily an impediment. We have examples of individuals who excelled and will speak about them, even though they had what was seen as a disability. What we have to do, my dear brothers and sisters, is that we have to change the language that we use. What do I mean by this? We have to shift, we have to move away from using language, language that is a disability first construction to language that is a person first construction. What do I mean by this? If I say there is a blind man who came into the masjid, what did I just do there? I gave primacy to the disability. I said a blind man, I made his primary identity what? His disability. But if I say a man who is blind, you might think it's not a big deal, but it makes the big deal to the person who is listening. When you say a blind man, you are emphasizing what? The disability. But when you say a man who was blind, what have you done? You have used a person first construction. You have made that person's humanity their primary identity. And you see that this was what the Ahlul Bayt A.S. used to do. You know Imam Jafar Al-Sadr and Imam Al-Baqr, Salawatullahi A.A. One of the greatest students of Imam Al-Baqr and Imam Al-Sadr A.S. was a man who was blind. And you notice when you look at the Ahadith, Imam Al-Baqr and Imam Al-Sadr never referred to him as the blind man. In fact, they used to call him Abu Basir. Do you know what Abu Basir means? The one who can see. Why were the Imams calling him the one who can see? It's because it's based on a tradition from the Holy Prophet where he says, where the Holy Prophet says, ليس الأعمى من يعمى بصره. The true blindness is not to lose your eyesight. True blindness is to lose your insight. It's to lose your insight. Imam Al-Baqr never made Abu Basir feel like, oh, you are someone that has a special need and, you know, you are less valuable than the other students. You are Abu Basir. You are the man of insight. They are emphasizing his, the eye of the spiritual heart. They're not making his blindness his primary identity. The Holy Prophet, Salawatullahi A.S., saw people with special needs as valuable members of the community. He emphasized the need to make them feel included. There was a man who came to the Holy Prophet, Salawatullahi A.S., he came to the Prophet. He says, يا رسول الله, إني ضرير والبصر وربما أسمع الندى. The man says to the Prophet, يا رسول الله, I'm blind and I live close enough to the Masjid where when the Adhan is called, I can hear the Adhan. ولا أجد من يقودني إلى الجماعة والصلاة معك but I don't have anyone who lives with me and I don't have anyone who can take me to the Masjid. I don't have access to the mosque. The Prophet, Salawatullahi A.S., could have told him that you're blind, it's not required of you. Pray at home. The Prophet, Salawatullahi A.S., could have told him pray at home but what does the Holy Prophet say to him? And the Prophet could have assigned someone to walk him but the Prophet doesn't even do that. What does the Prophet say? شد من منزلك إلى المسجد حبل وحضر الجماعة. The Prophet says I'll help you attach a rope from your house to the Masjid. Whenever you hear the Adhan, follow the rope and it will take you to the Masjid, meaning the Prophet emphasized that this man should be given access to the Masjid and I'm not even going to appoint someone to walk him because I want to make him feel independent. See how the Prophet dealt with those who had disabilities? He empowered them, he didn't make them feel like they were a burden to others because maybe Allah knows best, maybe if the Prophet appointed someone to take him by the hand, first day, second day, third day, maybe one day, the person who was helping would have made that man who was blind feel that this is becoming a burden on him. This is the Akhlaq of Rasulullah anticipating, avoiding possible scenarios where this man who has blindness will feel that he's becoming a burden. Follow the rope and join the Jama'at. This is the Holy Prophet. There is another incident where one of the companions of the Prophet reports the following. So this was someone who had a physical disability. There's a hadith about how the Prophet interacted with a woman who had severe mental illness. The hadith says, You know, they didn't have medical terms, the companion says, a woman who had a problem with her intellect, meaning that she had a mental illness. She was severely mentally ill. She saw the Prophet in the street, I need something from you. Now what do we usually do with people who might have severe mental illness? We dismiss them. They say, oh, you know, they have a mental, they don't know what they're saying. We ignore them or we hand this person off to someone else. We don't want to deal with the problem. Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa alaihi, approaches her. Now listen to what the Prophet says. He says to her, fa qala ya ummah fulan, oh mother of so and so. Number one, what does he do? He addresses her with dignity. He addresses her by calling her, oh mother of so and so. What does the Prophet say? Find a place where you feel comfortable talking. They're in the middle of the street. Rasulullah says, where do you feel comfortable talking? So the narration says, fa qala ma'aha fi ba'adu tureqi hatta fariqat min hajatya. The narration says that the Prophet followed her through the alleyways and through the roads. She had a mental illness. She was zigzagging through the roads, through the alleys. Rasulullah was following her. He didn't say, I don't have time. He has an entire ummah. And he follows her. He's patient with her until she finds a place that she feels is a safe space. And the Prophet only leaves when she feels that he has fulfilled her needs. This was how Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi dealt with those who had special needs.