Auto-generated transcript:As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Faqala ta'ala inna allaha wa malaikatahu yusalluna ala nabi ya ayyuhal ladhina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallimu taslima.
Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama sallita ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid.
Allahumma barika ala Muhammadin wa ala ahli Muhammad kama barikta ala Ibrahim wa ala al Ibrahim innaka hamidun majid.
I remind you and myself that leaders come from the people.
The leader is not sent from heaven.
Leaders come from the people.
If you have good people, you get good leaders.
If you have a gang of bandits, you will not get Omar bin Abdulaziz as the leader of that band.
Right?
You will get the biggest.
Bandit who will be the leader of that bandit of that gang of bandits.
So when we look at leaders and we criticize leaders that of course our leader, our leader, mashallah, are worthy of all criticism.
But the point is that before we criticize them, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and say, this is my leader because I am who I am.
And I did not say this.
Sayyidina Ali bin Abi Talib said this.
A man came to him and he said, how is it that in your time?
There is so much fitna when there was no fitna in the time of Abu Bakr and Umar.
Radhi Allah anhu ma.
Sayyidina Ali radhi Allah anhu said.
The reason there was no fitna in the time of Abu Bakr and Umar.
Radhi Allah anhu ma.
Was because the followers were like me.
And the fitna in my time is because followers are like you.
Huh?
So let us think about this.
As any Muslim today, what is the biggest problem of the Ummah today?
And they will say the biggest problem of the Ummah is lack of leadership.
Right?
Anybody.
Lack of leadership.
We don't have good leaders.
My submission to you is that, yes, that is a problem.
I agree with you.
But equal.
If not equal.
But bigger problem is lack of followership.
Not only leadership.
Lack of followership.
And I will tell you what that means.
It is not only lack of leadership.
Let me explain to you what is the meaning of followership.
By two examples.
Now take yourself back.
Take yourself back.
To the 13th year of prophethood of Risala.
622 CE.
It is in the Ayam-u-Tashriq.
Days after Hajj.
Dark night.
And some people are gathering.
In groups.
Twos and threes and fours.
And moving very quietly.
They are collecting in one place.
And Kaab-in-Malik Radhialanu narrates this whole story.
And he said that in the night we slept in our camps.
And then when the third of the night had elapsed.
So roughly middle of the night.
We began to leave quietly.
And we came to this Hilak.
Which today we call this place Aqaba.
And there were 73 men and two women.
And the two women were Umm Ammara Radhialana.
And Umm Muni Radhialana.
And we waited there.
And the reason they did that was because quite literally their lives were in danger.
The Quraysh were looking out for people who were.
Ready to support Muhammad and they would have attacked them.
So they gathered there.
With their lives at risk.
Just think about that.
This Deen began.
With people ready to put their lives on the line.
For the Deen of Allah.
This Deen began.
With people ready to put their lives on the line.
For the Deen of Allah.
By supporting Muhammad .
Just reflect on this fact.
They did not hesitate.
They didn't say hold on a second.
I mean I'm not going in there.
This is a dangerous meeting.
What happens if I get caught?
So they gathered.
They gathered.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
They were all in the same place.
And Rasool came with his uncle.
Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib.
And we don't know at that point whether he was Muslim or not.
Because he had become Muslim and he was hiding it.
We don't know whether it was before this or after this.
But anyway he was the supporter of Rasool .