Notes

Allah uses the masculine tense to remove the concept of gender from him
Identities in other societies constructed institutionally and ours are constructed on our sense of self
We are being raised in a very selfish society, individualism is predicated on approval of other people, society tells u to be an individual and make yourself stand out
Our individualism tempered by other peoples approval of our individualism
Your individuality is not actually different, it’s designed and directed by other people’s approval
Other people allow you to be an individual, allow you to go after these things, so you’re not really an individual, no one is, we’re just a genre of the conformity
We are a generation thats horrible in touch with scripture
Imagined Communities- Benedict Anderson
Nationalism- Ellie Kedourie
What we actually are are not individuals, we are consumers
Pursuing islam based on what makes us happy.
Once a debate goes outside of the quran and sunnah, talking about muslims, not Islam
We have an our own internalized islamophobia.
We talk about religion all day but do we extend it to other people?
Haram is a very weighty term, please stop throwing it around lightly
Muslims were in power but they were minority
Ahmad Sirhindi & Shah Walilulah- two thinkers that influenced south asian islam
Idea of halal meat is a regional one.
Regional debates even if hanafi deobandi in india vs in turkey
Our understanding of islam is usually only influenced by the people immediately in front of us
You distance yourself from islam because your mosque was terrible or because your MSA was mean
The reason why this matters to you → because you don’t have a systematic identity from institutional learning of Islamic history and scripture
If you put your faith in islam, not disappointed, if you put your faith in muslims, disappointed
We love talking about being good as muslims but then don’t apply it to our social networks, drama at school, our actions.
We’re very good at asking other people to be good but not us
We have to see the good in Muslims, there’s so much good and we always ignore it (story about sheikh who repeated the whole khutba in English for Osama, the only person who was non-Yemeni at that mosque)
Silver bullet solutions don’t work because our islam is very regional
Stop connecting your islam to other people, stop it, stop it
If you have a strength of sense and identity, then mean aunty will just be a mean person to you, it won’t make you move further from Islam
People don’t need a reason to hate you, no matter what you do, you will never be accepted by everyone. Is this correct? No, but it is the reality.
There will always be someone to police u.
Theres nothing you can do that can make you beyond criticism. Even Osama as an imam is criticized.
Muslims aren’t leaving islam, they’re leaving other muslims.