Yaqeen Podcast

Six months after 9/11, 25% of Americans said Islam encourages violence more than other religions. 25 years later, that number is 51%.

The hostility did not fade with time. It grew. And it grew in a country where Muslims buried their own dead from that day, where Muslim first responders ran toward the towers, and where a generation has now spent its entire life answering for a crime committed by 19 strangers.

On the 25th anniversary of September 11th, Sh. Omar Suleiman takes the question America asked in 2001 and turns it in the other direction. Why do they hate us? Who taught you to hate?

This khutbah sits with collective blame and what the Qur'an says about it. Allah tells us that no soul carries the burden of another (Surah al-An'am, 6:164). He commands justice even toward people who despise us: “Do not let the hatred of a people lead you away from justice. Be just. That is closer to taqwa.” (Surah al-Ma'idah, 5:8).

For Muslims who have never known an America before the Patriot Act, the watchlist, and the secondary screening line at the airport, this is a khutbah about where the hate actually came from, who has profited from keeping it alive, and why the enemy you were handed may not be your enemy at all.

Should you seek Islamic knowledge? Work for Big Tech? Get involved in politics? Make hijrah? Use AI? 

These are some of the complicated questions that shape the decisions Muslims have to make every day, as students, professionals, parents, community members, and even in their personal worship. 

And answering them starts with reflecting on the foundation of everything we do in life: intention (niyyah). 

After introducing us to the great scholar Imam an-Nawawi (rh), Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy explains what every Muslim must know about intention.

What does it take to really fix a broken heart, relationship, and community? 

Are we making du’a to Allah to fix our lives, while neglecting the actions He wants us to take because they are uncomfortable? 

It’s easy to skip to the conclusion that your situation isn’t fixable. It’s more difficult, but honest, to remember that nothing fixes itself. 

Dr. Omar Suleiman explains the power Allah has given us to work to fix our problems, while always trusting Him with the best outcome. And he reminds us of the true cost of leaving our relationships broken. 

0:00 - The Strangers: Those who fix what others corrupted
3:40 - A powerful statement of Shu’ayb (as) on islah (fixing things)
5:20 - Marriage: If they both want it fixed, Allah gives tawfiq
10:15 - Do you think Allah can free Palestine but can’t change your spouse?
12:30 - Al-Hadi and Al-Jabbar: Allah mends what you can’t 
14:05 - What Umar (ra) on making du’a for rizq
16:30 - The Prophet ﷺ’s 3 du’as and our responsibility
19:30 - Turning to Allah with broken pieces
21:45 - The cost of leaving things broken
24:40 - Closing du’a

He mocked the Prophet ﷺ publicly for years, shouted him down at his dying uncle's bedside, and died a martyr fighting for him. Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah (ra) believed long before he ever came forward, certain he was beyond forgiving. He was turned away once. Find out what his sister said that changed it.

Watch a previous episode of The Firsts to learn more about Abu Sufyan ibn al-Harith (ra): https://yqn.io/52wq

00:00 - Why the redemption stories get harder from here
02:10 - Who Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah (ra) was
05:33 - The mockery that has an ayah about it
07:08 - The deathbed of Abu Talib
11:21 - "I don't think Muhammad ﷺ will accept me"
14:13 - Umm Salama (ra) intercedes for her brother
17:10 - How Abdullah ibn Abi Umayyah (ra) died
17:55 - The son Umm Salama (ra) raised

The Prophet ﷺ said he did not fear poverty for this ummah. He feared wealth, and he feared what abundance without barakah does to a community. A man would be handed a hundred dinars and still not be satisfied. People would stop asking where their money came from. One companion walked away from wealth that was even 10% doubtful. Find out why.

Dr. Omar Suleiman traces the hadith of the end times about wealth in Signs of the Hour Ep. 15: greed placed in the hearts, the collapse of the question of halal income, and the narration that no one will be left untouched by riba.

0:00 - Why the Prophet ﷺ feared wealth more than poverty
5:04 - Wealth was never condemned
7:03 -  A man with 100 dinars is unsatisfied
8:11 - Why gratitude increases wealth and ingratitude shrinks it
10:02 - Stinginess isn’t only with money
12:38 - Two kinds of haram wealth
15:16 - How haram income starves the soul
18:52 - Zakat as purification, and the spiritual question it raises
20:17 - When no one will escape the dust of riba
21:24 - Fear Allah as much as you can