Independence Day
Published by Haseeb July 4th, 2005 in Islam
The Zaytuna Institute has been putting up alot of great information recently. Just this weekend, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf gave a talk on Independence Day, and it is already available on the web here.
Inshallah here are some notes from the talk:
Freedom/Liberty is not really definited, just explained with vague terms. Islam, however, is clear on what freedom is.
Types of Freedom:
1. Political (the most insignificant)
2. Circumstantial (Need to have money, etc.)
3. Moral (The Real Independence - has yet to come!) - Freedom to be a moral agent in the world; not a slave to the lowest aspects of your self America (as well as the rest of the world) lacks this freedom.
We have muslim sisters today dressed like prostitutes, muslim brothers in gangs. What have we done for them today in America to develop this youth? Muslims dont have a clue on what their ancestors were about from. (Shaykh Hamza goes on for a bit against Afghans not knowing about their great culture and heritage. He gets very upset about people joking about Afghani women’s modesty nowadays in contrast to the immodest way many women dress today.)
If we arent morally free to act as moral agents according to Islam, were not slaves of Allah 
, were slaves of our egos/hawa/caprice/dunya - the beastial qualities of humanity.
Shaykh Hamza feels sorry for these women. We need people to speak with them (not in a judgemental way filled with anger/resentment) but with compassion! He talks about his own experience in a store where he comes across a couple of Afghani girls dressed very inappropriately (tight clothing, etc) and he approached them as his sisters in Islam, and how he didnt like the way they dressed and that people are looking out there at you like wolves look at sheep. He asked them to think about who they were and to dress a little more modestly. He came back to the store a few days later, and he found one of those girls wearing hijab! Subhanallah!
How many girls are out there waiting for a reminder of who they are? Our community needs to wake up. Many of us are successful, and well off financialy. However, if you have lost your religion - what really have you gained? How is it that we have so many Muslims here today in America and so few people are affected by us?
There needs to be alot of work in our communities, and if people dont expend their energy, their wealth and time - not just volunteers - we need professionals to support these institutions - otherwise, how can we stand before Allah on the last day when we have been given so much, and we have done so little with it?? We need to wake up! We have to stop patting ourselves on the back - we dont have ANYTHING unless we spread the message out to the people who need it. We see too many of the same people at all of our Muslim gatherings. Where are all the other Muslims?
“Wake up before you are forced to wake up” - Prophet Muhammad 
If you are thriving economically without spiritual and social flourishment, then what has a man gained if he has gained the whole world but has lost his soul?
i see no reason in posting up these summaries, no offense to you but its much more beneficial to just encourage ppl to listen to the lecture themselves, spending 20 minutes listening to shaykh hamza is better use of time than reading this for 2 minutes
also it’s strange how you didn’t mention shaykh’s hamza experience with the incorrigle saint and his description of them, though it had a lot to do with his transformation and serves as a really blatant sign …. maybe its cuz your man bingham can’t explain incorrigible people =D
by “these summaries” i am suggesting short audio that is readily available for all, extraction of useful information from long cd lectures like Shaykh Hamza’s Attributes of God series, would be cool, as is obviously your notes from the ICNA conf.
Lol
no reason in posting these summaries? ouch
well actually this blog isnt only for my loyal readers (like urself) but it is also for me. From my own personal experience I believe I benefit most from lectures and talks (both islamic and school/other) when i take notes. By blogging these summaries I feel that I get more from the lectures and my ability to retain information from them also increases. I also believe that SOME people may benefit from these summaries, if so, then Alhamdulillah. If not, u have the right to NOT read whatever blog entries I write. Most people actually prefer reading and studying written text over a lecture or a talk.
And stop bad mouthing my man Bingham. He is a great professor, and I have learned alot from him.
I love the way you just flip it around and claim im bad mouthing your prof when all i said was
“maybe its cuz your man bingham can’t explain incorrigible people =D ”
how is that bad mouthing him? just cuz he got a phd doesn’t mean he has to know the answer to everything, you’re the one who seems to be insecure about what he knows and what you learned from him
well anyway, please address the question
“also it’s strange how you didn’t mention shaykh’s hamza experience with the incorrigle saint and his description of them, though it had a lot to do with his transformation and serves as a really blatant sign …. maybe its cuz your man bingham can’t explain incorrigible people =D “
alhamdulillah the, its cool if some ppl wanna read your incomplete summaries on important and fruitful lectures.
and yes i nkow i have the “right” to read and not read whichever entries, i didn’t read up on this one until AFTER i listened to the lecture myself =)
Ive learned alot from him, and he does know alot (obviously not everything)
i didnt mention it because i got lazy during part of the talk and didnt take notes then.
hmm you seem to be avoiding the question ….. can professor bingham or any other professor of science explain the incorrigible-ness of certain (pious) human beings?
No, he and they cannot.
read my previous entries/papers (in the written work section) on science and religion/islam for more on my thoughts of scientists and scientism and its inherently limited outlook on reality.
I have the right to not do so =)
u also have the right to have ur comments deleted… lol jk