 We praise Allah, and we thank Him, and we seek His aid in His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Him from any bad within ourselves, and from any inconsistency in our deeds. Any bad in our deeds, I bear witness openly that there is no God but Allah, that nothing is worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness openly without hesitation that our beloved Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is His servant and His messenger. Whom we pray that Allah infinitely and eternally bless, along with His noble family, His rightly guided companions, all of the people who follow Him and us with them, Ya'ala bin Alameen. O believers, I advise myself and all of you to have taqwa of Allah. And I bear, I also advise myself and you to be mindful of Allah, wherever we may be and whatever we are doing. And I pray that Allah bless us and make us from the people of taqwa. Some years ago, on a Friday just like this, I was walking out of a Juma khutbah in a, at a masjid where I had been asked to give the khutbah. And I met a gentleman at the door, and he asked me a question that many of us are asked by nature of the makeup of our community. And he said to me, brother, where are you from? And having been asked that question so many times as an American convert to Islam, I was prepared for what was likely going to be an interesting conversation because I had been asked that question so many times by so many different people, both here and abroad. So he said, where are you from? And I said to him, I'm an American. He said, no, but where are you from? And I said, I'm an American. He said, I know, but where are you from? And I said, I'm an American. He said, but where is your father from? And then I knew it was going to be interesting because I didn't think he knew where Shawnee, Oklahoma was, but I told him he's from Oklahoma. He said, where is his father from? I said, he's from Tyler, Texas. I didn't know how far he wanted to go. But he said to me, oh, so you're an American. And I said to him, yes, I'm an American. He said, no, brother, you're Muslim now. And he didn't mean bad. He didn't mean to hurt my feelings. He didn't mean, and frankly, he didn't really hurt my feelings. He did bring up a lot for me. He did not mean bad. He was speaking from his own experience and from his place of perspective. And so he said, no, you're Muslim now. And we have all, every one of us here have had to wrestle with the idea of identity. We have all had to wrestle with how our faith informs our identity. We have all had to wrestle with the difficult questions of how we balance between condemning bad that is done, whether it's by America or by other than America, and reconciling that with the reality that we live here. Many of us here today have probably experienced feeling somewhere between here and there, not really feeling at home here in America and not really feeling at home from the countries that we may hail from. But I share the story that I share with you today to highlight something that is very, very important for us all to think about. As we sit here and observe our Juma service, a local leader who needs no introduction by the name of Imam Zaid Shaker is facilitating the memorial service for none other than Muhammad Ali. And some may say, and frankly, I don't typically mention names of any person other than the people who are mentioned in the scripture or in the hadith in Juma. I just have a commitment to not do that because I don't feel like it's really appropriate for the pulpit. But today is an exception. Imam Zaid is facilitating the memorial service for Muhammad Ali. And he is introducing reverence and introducing senators and probably as we speak or soon or not long ago, we'll be introducing President Clinton along with many, many other notable people who are commemorating the life and celebrating the life of Muhammad Ali. And some may say, why would we even care about a boxer? Why would we even be mentioning in the context of this situation, in the context of everything happening in the world, the suffering happening for our brothers and sisters globally in the Muslim majority worlds, the suffering happening here in many corners of this country, for our brothers and sisters in this country? Why would we be talking about the life and legacy of a boxer? And the answer to that is because he is a Muslim and we are Muslims. And in his life and legacy, there's a lot that we can learn and there's many lessons, most of which time will not provide the opportunity to reflect on. But the fact that Imam Zaid is facilitating the memorial service for Muhammad Ali and led the janazah yesterday, means just in quantitative terms, that millions and millions and millions of people are thinking about, listening to and are forced to see Islam center stage and to think about and to reflect upon and wrestle with whatever they may need to wrestle with, what that means for them. And the reason that is happening is because of an individual who was good at a particular sport, that was a gross understatement, who was the greatest of all time in a particular sport. And because of his excellence in that sport, put him in a position to share with the world his own struggles around identity, his own embrace of his beautiful identity and his transition toward Islam and his sharing that process with the world in unapologetic terms. And because of that, millions and millions of people are thinking about and talking about Islam and millions and millions of people, whether they like it or not, are mentioning the name of our beloved Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sahbihi wa salamah. I was in a grocery store some years ago and it wasn't Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's, you're kind of expected to kind of like help them back. I don't know if you know that, but you're kind of expected to help them fill the grocery bag. It's part of like shopping at Trader Joe's. But it was at a regular grocery store and the lady was packing the groceries and my older son was with me who happens to be named Muhammad. And I said to him, help the lady pack the groceries. So he wouldn't help the lady pack the groceries. And she said, oh, you're a nice boy. She said, what's your name? He said, Muhammad. She said, oh, like Muhammad Ali. It was just immediate. Her visceral response was to identify that name with that individual. And in that moment, I thought about verse four from chapter 94 of the Quran where Allah SWT says to the Prophet, what a fa'ana leka zikrak. We elevated for you, oh, Muhammad. We esteem for you, oh, Muhammad, your remembrance. We have risen. We have, we have esteemed your very mention. And I thought about that because there are a lot of ways how the Prophet's name will be esteemed and be elevated. And Muhammad Ali was someone who Allah used to raise the name of our Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, so that it was in the conscious of the people in a positive light so that my son identifying as Muhammad can identify not in a way that many people will unfortunately associate that most beautiful name with negativity, but will associate it with something that is beautiful and something that they see as part and parcel of their very selves and their own identity. And I thought to myself, Subhanallah, Allah uses person to elevate the mention of the Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And to the degree that when they wanted to put his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he refused to have them put the star on the ground because he said, I don't want anybody putting their feet on the name of my beloved Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And it's the only star that's in the wall out of his respect for the name of our beloved Prophet, Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, alayhi wa sallam. So we find ourselves in this very, very significant moment historically where people from our own local community are on center stage and Islam is being talked about and this individual is being celebrated and his life is being reflected upon and there are a multitude of lessons we can take from that. One of them is this, Allah and his infinite wisdom guides people and uses people to guide other people not necessarily on the basis of their knowledge or piety. Allah and his infinite wisdom uses people to guide other people not necessarily on the basis of their knowledge or their piety because of people's social capital and because of people's social influence, Allah will choose them to be the means of other people embracing Islam. Muhammad Ali is arguably the most famous American Muslim ever and will probably go on to be the most famous American Muslim ever and one of the most famous Muslims in the world ever but that's because he was a boxer and how many people know about Islam because of that? I myself came to Islam, people say to me all the time, brother, how did you convert? How did you embrace Islam? And sometimes you think that people want you to tell some miraculous story, how you had some dream and then you walked outside and then the person who you saw in the dream was standing at the door at the pamphlet and said, repeat after me a Shadr, Allah Shadr, or they want to hear some miraculous story how you were alone in the library and opened up a book and there was the answer. The reality is I like many of the people who embraced Islam in America embraced Islam through the legacy of the nation of Islam and through the legacy of people like Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X, any Muhammad and many other people and specifically through hip hop music. I can't tell you how many times I've had these interesting conversations like the one that I started telling you about with my beloved uncles who say to me, brother, how did you embrace Islam? I say through hip hop. They say through what? And then I have to give an explanation of what hip hop is before they think of some type of dance we're about to start doing the first time I heard the name of Allah was in hip hop music. The first time I heard the name of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wasn't hip hop music. The thing that turned us on to looking into the nation of Islam and ultimately led us to embrace and Islam was hip hop music and was social resistance and authentic beautiful black protest against white supremacy in this country. And this is another lesson that we have to think about if Muhammad Ali was a contemporary of the times that we live in, if his popularity as a boxer and his popularity as a person of resistance was today, how many of us would want to disassociate ourselves with him? How many of us would say to him, brother, you just need to keep it calm, brother, you don't want to ruffle any feathers, brother, you don't want to say anything too upsetting. They're going to put us all in Guantanamo Bay or they're going to ship us away. They're going to take away our Green Carter citizenship. They're going to build walls and keep us out of this country. How many of us would shy away from that very struggle, not realizing that the very ability for us to congregate here today as Muslims with the beautiful diversity that we represent only came on the back of those people who struggled and spoke truth to the very evil power of white supremacy in that time, not realizing that America and membership in America, citizenship in America and having a place at the table in America has always been a negotiation and it has never been a negotiation where the meek hearted, the weak hearted, the apologetic are successful. It has always been a negotiation where people who know themselves and understand themselves and no one understand God and no one understand the context of the reality that they live in. Those are the people who are successful in that in no way shape or form makes you radical. And if that makes you radical, then I guess it makes you radical. It doesn't mean that you're some type of jihadist. It means that you're somebody who knows himself and realizes that we, like all people, have a right to be in this country. And I say that to you as a descendant of European, Native American and Black people. That struggle that is America lives in a very center of my chest. I feel it very real and very present. So when people say you Muslims need to go back to Islam, we say to them, you're right. We do need to go back to Islam, but it's not a place. It's not a place that Islam is a path. It's a reality. It's a practice that we believe in and we practice, but as Muslims, we're not going anywhere. We are not going anywhere. And this is the second lesson. Many people on their day to day and in the depths of their soul, think about and have an attachment to and invest in the places where their grandparents are buried. And in that is a natural, instinctual connectivity to one's heritage and one's lineage. Then we think about where our grandparents are buried or perhaps our parents are buried and we have a connection to that place. And frankly, if I ever moved out of America again, I would have that same thing with America because my grandparents are buried here and my parents are likely to be buried here. But as Muslims in America, the questions that we've got to begin asking are actually around where we and our children and their children are likely to be buried. Are we going to go home to a different place or is there a myth of return that we must challenge as a community that we still love and care about and pray for and invest in and hope for the development of and work toward the betterment of the societies from which we hail. But as Muslims in America, we recognize and understand that we are here. They were going to be here for a very long time. They were probably going to be buried here and our children are probably going to be buried here and their children are probably going to be buried here. And when we begin thinking about that, then we've got to ask a really big question. Are we practicing an Islam and are we sharing an Islam and are we building an articulation of Islam that the people who we're surrounded by and dare I say our people, are we practicing in Islam? Are we sharing in Islam that our people might actually embrace and are we practicing in Islam? Are we working toward an Islam? Are we investing in an Islam that our children and their children might actually practice in this place? And I'm here to tell you that there are many things in the way that we teach Islam in the way that we practice Islam that if we are not careful, they're not going to work. They're not going to be sustainable. I'm thankful to Allah for this center and the spirit of this center and the people who run the center because I feel safe and feel at home here. But we have to be honest that the bay area is an anomaly and that even the center is an anomaly and that so often our youth when they hear about Islam, they don't hear in Islam that is telling them you're beautiful, that you're good, that you have potential. They're hearing a voice on behalf of Islam that is telling them you're condemned for any number of things for not being religious enough for not looking religious enough for not being good enough and it's something that the Reverend Cosby said at the beginning of the memorial service today that I was attempting to listen to on my way here. He talked about the Kentucky Derby and how you and pardon the metaphor. It's just an analogy. I'm not encouraging anybody bet nor am I saying it's halal. It's just what he mentioned that in the Kentucky Derby, you can't bet on the horses when they're already winning. Then when you bet, you've got to bet why they're in the mud. So when we think about our youth, we can't invest in our youth once they're good enough, once they're practicing enough, once they turn out how we wanted them to turn out, once they behave the way we wanted them to behave. We've got to invest in them and love them and support them and encourage them and hold them and lift them up while they're in the mud and I'm here to tell you that many of our youth, many of the youth of the people in this own center, you may not know it. You may not realize it. You may not even see it. You may be so concerned with whatever you're concerned with that your own children are in the mud and you can't even feel it. How many times have Muslim youth come to me and told me I'm an atheist and my parents don't even know it? How many times have we talked to Muslim youth that are engaged in illicit relationships and of course their parents don't even know it, et cetera, et cetera. But for those very youth who may find themselves in the mud, what would Muhammad Ali tell them? Would he tell them, I'm sorry, it's too late. You're a bad Muslim. Or would he tell them, it's okay. There's potential. You're beautiful and we're here to support you. May Allah help us all. And the final lesson that I'll share today from Muhammad Ali's legacy is that he was a fearless person. One of the reasons we find ourselves not as successful as we could find ourselves socially, politically, economically and otherwise is because we're afraid of other than Allah. One time Sayyidina Abdullah bin Omar was leading a group of people into Mecca and the caravan stopped and he said to them, why did you stop? They said, there's a lion on the road. He said, take me to the lion. And he walked up to the lion and he said to him, lion, we're a group of companions of the Prophet Muhammad. So we want to enter the Meccan sanctuary. Zulmin at Tariq. Get out of the way. May Allah have mercy on you. And they said that the lion nodded his head and did a little lion noise and moved out of the way. That's an awkward moment. Someone's talking to a lion. He came back and they said, do you actually speak to a lion? He said, Semiqthu RasulAllahi sallallahu alayhi wa sallamah yakul. Innuho la yu sallatu alay ibn Adam ilna ma khafu hu ibn Adam. Waloh anna ibn Adam ma khafi ilAllah ma salat alayhi alayrah. Okay, Maqaulah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallamah. I heard the Messenger of Allah say, indeed, nothing will be given power over the son of Adam, except that which he or she fears. And if the human being feared no one other than Allah, he would never give anybody power over them except for him. In other words, the only thing that people will be made subject to are the things that they fear. And Muhammad Ali was fearless. And he was fearless in a time not when America was lobbying empty threats, not when America was attempting to shake the hearts of the people through meaningless political rhetoric. He was fearless in a time when America was unleashing dogs on the people, when America was spraying the people with water cannons in the street. He was fearless and unafraid to say that he was Muslim and to identify in a time when it cost him a lot of money and a lot of popularity, but he never gave up. So we pray to Allah in this very moment that he take fear of everyone except him out of our hearts. You see, you even afraid to say I mean, but we have to say I mean we pray that Allah take fear of everybody except him out of our hearts. And we don't fear Allah the way we fear a crooked cop. We don't fear Allah the way we fear a crooked boss. We don't fear Allah the way we fear an angry person. We fear Allah because we're in awe of Allah. And we fear a lot because Allah is great. We don't fear a lot because we think he's trying to get us on some technicality. We fear a lot because Allah is so great. And when you fear Allah, you will not have fear of other things. You won't have fear of poverty. You won't have fear of failure. You won't have fear that your children won't turn out the way that you want them to turn out when you have fear of Allah, all of Allah love of Allah. Everything will be all right. We have to know people that were in a very monumental moment historically and a very monument to the moment cosmically and that being Muslim in America has implications not only for the Muslim community in America and for the American people before the whole world. So let us invest in this opportunity. The institutions that we are to support that should be something that is a foregone conclusion. The obligation of sustaining and supporting the massage and sustaining and supporting the organizations that are doing important work in America. That should be a foregone conclusion. And in that we should see Haqqan Ma'loom a well-known right for Allah in our wealth and our time and in our person. I pray to Allah that he accept from us all and that he give us to rise to the occasion of serving him and following his prophet in this moment. Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam I'll say this Wa As-Saghfirullah Al-Azim Li Wa Lakum Wa Lisa'id Al-Mustafiru Fia Fawz Al-Mustafiri Alhamdulillahi Wa Kafa Wa Salamun Al-Ibadihi Al-Ladina As-Safa Wa Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Wa Barik Ala Sayyidina Rasulillah Wa Ala Ali Wa Sahbihi Wa Minwala Wa Salam Tasneeman Kateron Ya Ayyuh Al-Mu'minun Al-Haudilun Inni Usi Nafsi Wa Ya Kumi Taqwa Allah Fattapu Allah Ha Ta'alima Sataatun Wa Alamu Anna Allah Ha Ta'alima Al-Ladina Taqwa Al-Ladina Hum Muhsinun We began the sermon today with the story of walking out of a masjid and a beloved uncle asking me where I was from and us going through that process of having to explain to him that I am an American and reminded the reason actually that I share that story is because Dr. Sherman Jackson offered yesterday in his comments at the Janaza service that Muhammad Ali put to rest forever the question can someone be Muslim and be an American that he said he indeed he KO'd it he knocked it out and he said that we should let that idea be interned with his remains that might be brothers and sisters the most important important part of the legacy Muhammad Ali that he proved to the people that you can be a Muslim and you can be an American and let us be crystal clear that he did that while being completely independent and self authenticating in other words he didn't need permission from the dominant culture to be who he was it didn't mean that he had to let go of his culture and I say to you as my beloved community that you do not have to let go of your culture to be an American Muslim and let us also be crystal clear that he did that while unapologetically protesting against foreign policy that was not consistent with the best of America's values and he did that while willing to sacrifice his own wealth and his own prestige because he was against wars that were unjust so we as Muslims in America as we embrace the idea as we hold true the idea that we are both Muslim and we are American we do so while unapologetically believing in the law and following his prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and also unapologetically champion the good that America does and condemning the bad that she may do but we do that as citizens of this country loving this country and if nothing else remember that while some of us may have somewhere else to go people who embrace Islam in America they have no other home this is our only home we have nowhere to go trust me I try I traveled all throughout the Muslim world thought I was going to find a utopia thought it was going to be people that's making Sallallahu all day long came came to realize it is nowhere perfect there's nowhere perfect but we are where we are and the only perfect place is a place where Allah puts you and Allah puts you where He puts you for a wisdom He puts you where He puts you for a wisdom He puts you where He puts you for a reason there's a hikmah and why Allah has us here and nobody not any political candidate not any anybody else with an agenda is going to take away from us our permission and our obligation to be where we are and as we are where we are to glorify Allah and follow His Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam we pray that Allah blesses us in what remains of Ramadan and that He accept from us our fasting and our prayer and our standing and we pray that Allah accept from us our charity Yara Bilal Ameen and we pray to Allah that He continue to make this month a month of relief and a month of belief and a month of ease Yara Bilal Ameen O Allah we ask you that you help the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that you forgive the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and you show your mercy to the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that you be gentle with the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that you make us Allah a source of blessing for the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that you make us Allah the most merciful of the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to the ummah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Yara Bilal Ameen Inna Allah wa Mala Iqatuhu Yusalluna Al-Nabi Ya ayyuha ladzina aamanu salu alayhi wa salimu taslima Allahumma sali ala Muhammedin wa ala ala ali Muhammed kama al-salayta ala Ibrahim wa ala ala ala Ibrahim wa bariki lahumma ala Muhammedin wa ala ala ala Muhammedin kama barakta ala Ibrahim wa ala ala ala Ibrahim fil alameena inna ka hameedun majeed Allahumma ghfilil musnimeena wa al muslimat wa al mu'mineena wa al mu'minaat al ahya'i minhum wa al amwad inna ka samiyum qareebul mojibu daawad Allahumma inna nas'aluka ri da'aka wa jannah wa ma yuqareebu ilayhima min qawlin wa amal wa na'udu bika min sakhatika wa n'ar wa ma yuqareebu ilayhima min qawlin wa amal Allahumma inna nas'aluka min khilima asa'la ka minhu a'abduka wa rasuluka seydina muhammadun salallahu alayhi wa salim wa ibadaka salihun wa na'udu bika min sharrima asta'ada ka minhu salallahu alayhi wa salima wa ibadaka salihun wa anta al musta'an wa alayka al balagh wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa bilahi l-aliyyil azim rabbana aatina fi dunya hasana wa fir aakhirati hasana wa qina azaab al-naar Allahumma rabbana la tuziq quloobana ba'di ad-hadaitana wa hablana minna dunka rahmah inna ka anta al wahad Subhana rabbika rabbil izzati a'ama yisifun wa salamun ad-din mursaneen walhamdulillahi debil alameen Inna Allah yamur ber'adil