Transcript of Sheikh Alauddin's speech at CAIR SV dinner

November 29, 10:40 AMSF Muslim ExaminerDavi Barker

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On Saturday, the 4th of Thul-Hijjah 1430 (November 21, 2009 G.) the Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations held their 7th Annual Fundraising Banquet. This is a transcript of the speech given by guest speaker Sheikh Alauddin El-Bakri.

"Bismillahi rahmani rahim, alhamdullilah, wa salatu wa salam 'ala Rasulilah, wa 'Ala Alihi Wa Sahbihi Wa Man Wala

I start in the name of God, most Gracious most Merciful, and I thank God for this opportunity for tonight for putting us together. For the heath that we enjoy and money that we make. For the status that we live in. I thank Allah for the peace and tranquility that we enjoy on a daily basis. And from the bottom of my heart I ask Allah, as He has bestowed His blessings upon us, in this time and this place, may Allah bestow peace and security on the rest of the world. Amin. Ya Rabil allimin.

Brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, if you ask a fire-year-old young Muslim who goes to Sunday school, or Saturday school or full time school, "Who is a Muslim? What is Islam?" he will answer you what he has been learning in the Islamic schools, and at home from his parents, that Islam is established on believing in the oneness of God. And the oneness of God reflects on his creation. So, the creation is also one, because it comes from one God. That a Muslim believes in the five pillars of Islam. Praying five times a day. Fasting in the month of Ramadan. Paying charity... and taking a journey to Mecca. Taking the pilgrimage.

A Muslim believes in six articles of faith, to believe in God, to believe in angels, to believe in the prophets and messengers as role models, to believe in the divine destiny, to believe in the revelation that God has sent to mankind and to believe in the day of judgement, as a day of accountability. That whatever you do here, whatever you say, whatever your actions are, you will be asked about them and you will be judged. So, you better be careful.

These are the things that we teach our children in school. This is what we teach our children at home. We don't have any secrets. We don't teach our children another pillar that says kill all the infidels. We don't have any thing else. This is what we teach our children and this is what we have. But the question is not who a Muslim is. The question is what a Muslim does. What does a Muslim stand for? What are the values? What are the core principles of a Muslim?

Now that we have a good Muslims that prays to God, and fasts. Which means he has good self control. Not attached to money. He pays charity. Not selfish but selfless. Now that we have someone who believes in responsibility and accountability, and believes in the day of judgement, what are we going to do with this person? What is his role in the world? What is the role of a Muslim in this world when you can count 1.5 billion people out of 6 billions or more that exist in this world? What is our role?

To answer that question we have to go back to the sources. Our Holy Book, which we are distributing right and left. One of the programs of CAIR is to distribute a copy of the Quran. We don't have secrets. Whatever we believe in is between your hands. Read it and you be the judge.

What a Muslim does is not only in the Quran but in the person of prophet Muhammad himself. When God says in the Quran, summing up the mission of this prophet, He said, "We have sent you not except as a mercy to the worlds." So, a Muslim is someone who carries the banner of mercy. Not lip service. But actual actions on the ground. Because you see that program of feeding those who are hungry. Now that's what you call faith in action. Not faith in words. That's what you call to have mercy towards mankind and to spend your lifetime in service to others in the name of God.

What does a Muslim stand for? A Muslim stands for education. The prophet summed up his mission by saying, "God has only sent me as a teacher." He didn't say as a terrorizer, he said a teacher. So what a Muslim stands for in this world is eduction. And you ask any Muslim he will take pride that the first revelation that came to prophet Muhammad was, "read," in a society that was known not to read or write, and not to be too much fond of knowledge and reading and research. Islam came to that society and flipped it. And with the golden age of Islam, it was also the golden age of science. So, what a Muslim stands for is education, but what else?


Another statement of prophet Muhammad, he said, "I have only been sent to complete and perfect noble manners." So morals and manners, when sometimes it gets made fun of, morals and manners in general, and challenged by some, a Muslim stands for morals and manners. But not only as morals and manners, but as principles. Whether he is under pressure or not under pressure. Whether it's the ease time, or the hardship time, whether it is the ups or the downs, he will always stick to his principles and he will always stick to what he or she believes in.


What does a Muslim stand for? One of the major things that a Muslim stands for. A Muslim stands for justice. Because as they say, "What charity is trying to remedy today, justice could have prevented yesterday." A Muslim stands for justice, and so I am not speaking in general. I will read for you a translation of a verse in the Quran. Chapter four and verse one hundred and thirty five. "Oh you who believe, stand out firmly for justice as witnesses to God..." As if when you want to be a witness for God the first thing you want to do is stand firmly for justice. And here's the statement, "...even as it is against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin and whether it be against the rich or poor for God can best protect both. Follow not the desires of your heart lest you will swerve from the Truth and decline justice and distort justice verily Allah is acquainted with all that you do."

You know when a human doesn't want justice? A human doesn't want justice when justice is against himself. We always cry we want justice until justice comes against you. That's when you don't want it. But as a person of faith, and as a person of principle, that's what you stand for. Otherwise where is your credibility? If justice is for you I want it, but if justice is against you because you did something wrong, I don't want it. I don't want justice. That's not a person of faith.


Another verse from the Quran. Chapter five and verse eight. "Oh you who believe, stand out for Allah as witnesses to justice, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve away from justice." And listen to this, let not your hatred to others, that is even less. "Let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve away from Justice. Be just! For that is closers to righteousness, and be God fearing for God is well acquainted with all that you do. "


The same statement is repeated. This is when a human doesn't want justice, when justice is against him, or when justice is in favor of someone that he doesn't like, or someone who doesn't like him. That's when they don't want justice.


Now brothers and sisters, I want to tell you that we, as Muslims, we don't lose when we lose a lawsuit. We don't lose when we lost our land. We don't lose when we lose a life or an opportunity. We lose when we lose our values and our principles. That's when we lose. And that's why as believers we have to always stand up for our values. This issue of justice is a very important issue. That's why I am here tonight. Brothers and sisters, we have to get used to this new reality and we have to stand up high and tall in this reality. That when injustice is done against us we have to stand up, and when injustice is done by us we also have to stand up. So that we gain credibility in the community.

Muslims cannot say there are no bad Muslims and there's no terrorists. And there's no extremists. And if there is they are a conspiracy. And they don't exist. This will not change reality. That's what an ostrich does. It digs its head in the sand pretending that danger is gone. But we Muslims, we have to stand up when it is for us or when it is against us, we have to stand up. Yes, I'm excited that CAIR stands up for Muslims and for Muslim rights, but I am more excited and more happy that when something is done by a Muslim individual they stand up and they say, that's not Islam and this is not our faith. We need people like that in our community. So that our community becomes a credibly community. So that we stand up for God and we stand up for justice as He has commanded us in the Quran.


But we as a Muslim society are sandwiched in the middle. We are sandwiched by a handful of few who are extremists or terrorists or whatever they are. And they are loud, and the media loves them and they love to cover them. And we are here. And we have to be louder than them if we don't like what they do. That's why I am here tonight. Because CAIR enables us to be louder than those who does things that are wrong in the name of our faith, and in the name of our God. That's why I am here tonight. Because we have to say these things when they happen, by people who carry the name of our faith. They hijack Islam itself. They hijack the beautiful name of Islam. And this is something that we have to be aware of, and we have to stand up.


If there's some people that they want to die in the name of God, I want to live in the name of Allah! ((applause))
If there are people who want to destroy in the name of Allah, I want to build in the name of Allah!
If there are people who want to take life, I want to save life in the name of Allah!


I am very dedicated to that. And I am going to be louder. I can't control people, but I can control myself. Before I complain about anything, I have to have done my utmost on this planet, in my life, in standing up for what I believe.

The second half of the sandwich that we are sandwiched in, and we have no control of is the extremists on the other side who want to keep on poisoning the minds of Americans about Muslims in America. You know these talk shows. I don't need to talk about it. But these people, if it's up to them they want to round up all Muslims and put them in concentration camps. This is what they wish to do. But they don't realize that in turning against Muslims in America they are turning against the very fabric and the very structure of the American society.


America is a community of immigrants. These immigrants came to this country looking for a beautiful brighter future. And America has ended up like a rosary, like our Catholic brothers and sisters call it, or the glorifying beads, or tasbih as we call it in Arabic. See, America is like a tasbih, like a rosary beads. Each bead is part of the whole but they all are connected in one thread. Try to take one of these beads out of the rosary and it will break the whole rosary apart, and it will all fall apart. This is what happens. We are a community of immigrants. If you make these laws to target Muslims today, you don't know who it's going to be used against tomorrow. It's not going to be Muslims. It's going to be someone else.

Another thing regarding the immigrant community. Muslims in America are not new. You turn against Muslims in America and your going to find yourself in trouble, because our ancestors came to this country, they were the only minority, the only immigrant community that came against their will. They were the African American community. ((applause))


Out of every four slaves that were brought to this country there was one Muslim amongst them. And they built this country, willingly or unwillingly, in their sweat, and in their blood, and in the restless effort. They were Muslims. And to this day the largest component of the Muslims in America are the African American component. May God bless them. ((applause))


May God bless them for what they have brought. You came to this country unwillingly but you helped. This is what makes America beautiful, that from that minority, after almost 100 years from the emancipation we got a president that comes from that very same minority. ((applause))


Probably, ten or twenty years from now, one of the presidents of the United States will be a Muslim president. ((applause))

You know, brothers and sisters, we are at this crossroads and we're standing in this all together. America. and they say, America is a theory and it's calling upon it's people for practice. America is an ideal and it's calling upon it's citizens to make that ideal a reality. America is a dream and it's calling upon it's people to make that dream come true. Just like Martin Luther King cried.

Brothers and sisters, as we stand on this crossroads, as Muslims are sandwiched between these two things, we have to stand up because this is who you are. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? I take the issue of CAIR as a personal issue, as part of the service of my faith, as part of my service to my country, as part of my service to my people, as part of my service to this larger community here today. We look today and many of the attendance are from our African American community. They are our friends. They are not Muslims. They come from many denominations whether they are Catholics or Christians or Baptists. We see our Asian brothers and sisters, who came here from different communities. We see our brothers who are Korean and Japanese who came to support us here. We see representatives. We see lawmakers. We see normal citizens. That's what makes America America. Thank you very much for coming with us tonight, and helping us, and standing with us. ((applause)) Takbir!"