Help with Abdur-Raheem Green script

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
Salam Alleykum brothers and sisters!

Alhamdullilah there are such devout Muslims among us as our brother Abdur-Raheem Green. His lectures made me reconsider many vital things in my life! His way of life coincides with my idea of what a true Muslim must do.

I've got a very big request for you. I'm off - insha Allah - to another city (2000 km from where I live) to get Islamic education next month and I'm not sure I'll have internet access there. I would very much appreciate if any English-speaking Muslim brother or sister writes down the script of "coca-cola muslims" by Abdur-Raheem Green (http://muslimtv.magnify.net/video/Coca-Cola-Muslim-Generation-b) so that I'll translate it into Russian & make subtitled video out of this lecture. The lecture is more than enough to completely turn Muslims into the right direction. I mean I don't think any Muslim can stay indifferent to what he says there. So please post here (or send it to *removed*) & insha Allah I'll translate it into Russian & post at Russian sites.

I've got Abdur-Raheem email but I'm not sure it's decent to ask the scholar to write down scripts of his own lectures, don't you think?

It hasn't been translated into Russian yet & people here are very skeptical to whatever comes out from the West. I hope insha Allah to start with this first video & once Muslims in Russia have seen it there will be others who'll do translation, promotion, etc.

I would gladly write down the script myself but I've got lots of work & I'm afraid I won't be able to make it within coming two weeks. I mean writing down the script from listening to it takes a lot of time...

And please let me know if somebody has started doing it :)

Salam Alleykum,

Omar
 

IslamIsLight

Islam is my life
Staff member
salam aleikum brother
So you speak Russian? mashAllah !!
I hope you noticed our Russian corner on this site :)
Please contirbute to it .I'm russian convert also and moderator of Russian section .If you need any help let me know...

waaleikum salam
 

loveislam1

Junior Member
asalam alikoum
I am about 20 minutes in inshallah if we can break it up amongst one another it will go quicker? i will try somemore when i get back from the masjid inshallah
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
Sorry couldn't wait myself - I've done 30 minutes: here's the text :) there's one place I find impossible to get the exact words, I've underlined them - please recheck it (especially British brothers and sisters). Arabic is transliterated by my friend who is from Jordan.

Alhamdu llilah nahmaduhu w nastaa’inuhu wa nastag’firuhu w naa’uth bilahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayi’ati aa’malina, mai yahdihi Alahu fala modila lah wa man yudlel fala hadiya la wa a’ashhadu ana la ilaha ila Allah wa a’ashhadu anna muhamadan a’abduhu wa rasuluho bad. Khairo alhadithi kitabo Alah w khairo alhadi hadyu Muhamad sala Alahu Alaihi wa salam wa sharu alo’omori mohdathatuha wa kula muhdathaen bida’a wa kula bida’atin dalala wa kula dalalatin fi alnar

We begin by praising Allah, we prase Him, we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to miguide & whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray there is none to guide. And I testify and bear witness that Allah alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him is the servant of Allah and his final messenger. After that the best speech is the book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of all the affairs are those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion. And every matter that is newly introduced into the religion of Islam is termed as a Bidaa or an innovation and all of the innovation are misguidance all of the misguidance is going astray and all the going astray is in the fire.

Here it is - cocacola. What is this drink cocacola. Lets read it. What does it say? Prepared and bottled by cocacola. Untill there's given us the address that's nice.And it tells us the contents of this fantastic drink. the dynamic ribbon device and the contour bottle contains carbonated water. carbonated water means fizzy water, water with gas in it. Gas. Sugar. Colour 1.50, food acid, flavourings and of course the modern replacemeny for the original ingredient which was cocain is now cafein. I mean it's very interesting because of course today's talk is not about coca-cola itself but it is about what coca-cola symbolises and what coca-cola stands for. Of course coca-cola symbolises and stands for the American culture. The American culture. If there is one symbol we could say that identifies American culture it is coca-cola. And really it's increadibly appropriate that this drink symbolises that culture. Because the coca-cola culture is a culture of materialism, it's a culture of consumerism, it's a culture that tells us that in order to enjoy life, in order to get the best out of life you should feed your passions and your desires and your appetites. That the way to be successful and the way to be happy is by surrounding yourself with the material posessions of the world. Buy this. Buy that. Have this. Have that. What you feel like - do it. What you feel like eating - eat it. The way you feel like behaving - behave like that. the things you feel like doing in life - do it. The God that is worshipped, the thing that is submit, the thing that the human being is to submit to and surrender to and obbey are the passions and the desires. The "Nafs" what we call. The "Nafs". Al howa. The passions, the self, the desire. And this coca-cola symbolises that pretty well. It symbolises not only this attitude and this mentality and this philosophy of life it also gives us a pretty good idea of what is the real effect of living your life in that way. Because what does coca-cola do for you? You drink it, it gives you an immediate almost immideate response. The immediate response is a feeling of satisfaction, gratification and a boost of energy. This is what coca-cola does - you drink it, satisfaction, you get a boost of sugar from that, and a boost from the caffein and probably a burp soon afterwards from the gas. But the reality is that very soon you follow a downward spiral.You follow a downward spiral. And soon after as you felt high you soon feel a low. And in order to try and reach that high again then you gonna take some more of this drink or some similar drink in order to reboost yourself. So in order to tru and maintain yourself on this constant high then you are drinking more and more and taking more and more. And this is the reality of the person and the people who worship their desires and worship their passioons and worship themselves. In fact it is illustraative of the whole manner in which Western society exists. Exactly that. there is no long lasting satisfaction. Satisfaction is temporarily, it is a temporary boost, a temporary moment of joy, it is followed by an equaly low moment and in order to try and bring back that moment of happiness we consume more. We find more avenues in order to satisfy our desires but the reality is the passion and the desire can never be sattisfied. This is a statement of fact about the human being. The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, said that if the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. If the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. Nothing will satisfy the desires of the sons and the daughters of Adam except the dust of the grave. Nothing is gonna satisfy our desires, the only time that our desires will end is when we are dead. So you see, a civilisation if we can call it a civilisation or a philosophy or ideology that teaches us that the way to be happy in life is by satisfying your passions and your desires by following your cravings, physical and emotional and ideological, that success in life is by surrounding yourself to material posessions. The reality is we know that this brings no long lasting satisfaction. We buy something nice we buy some new clothes, we get a new house, we get a new car, but how long does the joy and the pleasure of that last? A few hours, a few days, maybe a few years but before long we are craving for something more expensive, more beautiful, more fast. Faster. If our, we get our kicks from adrenalin that we try this sport and that sport but always we are looking for something that is gonna give us more of the adrenalin kick. Similarly some people satisfy their passions and their desires through sexual encounters - promiscuity, but there is no satisfaction because once you have tried everything then you need something else to excite you, you need something else to stimulate you so people go further and further down the road. Fetishes, orgies, same sex relationships, or it's not enough anymore that you have your own wife, you have to go and you have to enjoy yourself with another man's wife. That's how you have to get your kicks. Because this is the reality - you're never satisfied. It doesn't matter how much money you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how much fame and success you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how beautiful you are - you want to be more beautiful. This is the reality. So when we look at Western society what do we find? We find something pretty horrifying! We find the whole culture completely obsessed with consumerism. And what is the result and what is the consequence of that? What is the result and the consequence? The consequence is that we ahve a very minute portion of the world's population consuming a huge portion of its resourses. 17%! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resourses. 1/7! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resourses. We know that the rain forests are being destroyed, we know that our environment is being polluted, we know that there is starvation, that people are dying, people do not have basic sanitation. People do not have basic access to clean water, to food, to basic medical care. But wher is this taking place? these things are taking place in the so-called third world. But if you look to this so-called third world you'll find something very strange. You'll find that these people are actually exporting food, the are exporting, although the people are dying they are exporting food, although they don't have sufficient medicines they are exporting the ingredients to make the medicines. They don't have sufficient resorses to clothe themselves the people do not have clothes yet they are making clothes for other people. Where is this food being exported to? Where are these ingridients and these resorses and these ninerals being exported to? Whare're thse clothes, these fashions - where are they being exported to? Who is consuming all of these things? The West, America, Australia, Europe. That's small percentage of the world's population. Controlling, consuming and exploiting the resourses of the world. Why? Because of the way of life the coca-cola culture that teaches you that the way to enjoy your life is by following your passions and your desires and satisfying your base animalistic instincts. This is the reality. And in order for this society, this culture to continue to exist it is necessary that large portion of the world's population lives in poverty and is subjegated politically, economically and ideologically. Because the Western capitalist materialistic system depends on being able to exploit people. It depends on being able to aquire food and minerals and resourses and labour at the most minimal cost and to be able to repackige it and resell it at the maximum cost. This is the reality of the coca-cola culture. This is the reality of materialistic philosophy that is now dominating the world in which we live. And the reality is that the Western world will stop ultimately at nothing. Wars, instigating wars, inventing wars, murdering people, bombing them, killing them - this is not really important in order to achieve the ultimate goal of dominating the world economially and politically and militarily. Why? As they say "to guard our precious way of life." That's what they say. That's what George Bush told us: "to guard our precious way of life." The precious way of life means that we are free to follow our passions and our desires, that the way to be happy is to have as many material goods as you can, and it doesn't really matter if the rest of the world suffers as long as we have "our precious way of life." that's the reality. So what has this got to do wi the Muslims? Why therefore do we choose this title "the coca-cola Muslim generation." What is taking place here of course is a war. A conflict. Not a conflict mind you necessarily of arms and weapons. But it is an ideological conflict. It is a war of ideologies. It is a war of world views. It is a war, a battle concerning what is the nature of the human being. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here and what is the reason of our existance? And what is the means for the human being to achieve true succes and true happiness? This is the war, this is the conflict that is taking place. So what we find is another world view. Another ideology. Another concept. And that is Islam. Islam teaches something quite different. Islam teaches that the way to success and happiness is not by aquiring material posessions. It is not through seeking to satisfy your passions and your desires and your lusts and following your whims and your inclinations. Rather the needs of the human being are quite different to that. Islam teaches that those who follow this path, who worship this God, because it is a type of God it is a type of deity when you worhip your passions and your desires. it is a type of religion in reality, it's a type of worship, it's a type of deity. But this is a false God it's a false diety. Islam teaches that this is not the way through which human beings acn achieve the real success because that is not the nature of a human being. Rather Islam teaches that there is the Creator, one God, who has brought this universe and everything into, and everything in it, he has brought it into exiistance for a reason and for a purpose. Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason. And this begs the question. This begs the question. What is our purpose? What is the reason for our existance? Why are we here? What is the purpose of the existance of the human being? We have now discussed already something about the idea of the coca-cola culture. The materialistic viewpoint. But what does Islam say, what does the Quran say? The Quran teaches us that God has created us for a noble purpose. The Quran says: "Wama khalaqtu aljinna wal-insa illa liyaAAbudoon." this means that God is telling us in the Quran that he has created us to worship him. Some people say: "Is that it? I mean the purpose of my existance is just to worship God?" And that's because they have a very narrow concept of what worship means. They think of worship in the seqular materialistic term that has been defined by the Western society. Worship means, may be you know you go to the Mosque fiove times a day or you go to the church once a week, you perform some rituals, you perform some acts - that is considered to be worship. However the term Ibada in Islam which we translate as worship has a very very deep rich meaning. It is something much more than some mere formal actions that you perform. Worship in Islam is a total way of living. It is something that is supposed to occupy the human being throughout all of their life. From the moment they wake up till they go to sleep and in fact even whilst they are sleeping. Worship is supposed to occupy all of your life and how does it do that? How does worship occupy all of your life? If we'd if we look to the definition of the term Ibada and thit is what God has created us for Ibada, what does it actually mean? The, the word Ibada can be, we can explain it as meaning everything which God loves and is pleased with. Everything which God loves, everything which God is pleased with is Ibada. Everything which God loves and everything which God is pleased with is worship Ibada or we don't need to use the word worship whilst just say "Ibada". Whether it is from the actions of the heart or the actions of the limbs. What are the actions of the heart, people think what is the action of the heart. Actions of the heart are things like love, hope, fear, reverencial awe, trust, relience, intension, cincerity. These are examples of actions of the heart. So you have to try to make every action of the heart an action that God loves and is pleased with. And actions of the limbs are things like, it well it like everything you perform with your limbs. It could be prayer, it could be fasting, it could be the relationship between a husband and his wife, it could be how you walk, how you talk, all of these things are actions of the limbs. So you try to make every action that you do an action that God loves and that God is pleased with. And it is in doing this that the human being, and it only in doing this that the human being finds real peace, tranquility, happiness and satisfaction. Only in this. Everything else is like the coca-cola. You drink it it will give you a quick buzz it will make you feel good for a short time but that is not gonna last long. In fact just as it made you fell good ssoon it will ma ke you feel bad. And in reality it will never ever satisfy you. It gives you the illusion temperarily of happiness. Anyone who has been addicted to drinking alcohol or has been addicted to smoking marihuanna or taking drugs they will experience this on a more severe level. This is something that anyone who's been down that path knows. When you drink alcohol or when you smoke marihuanna or whatever other thing it is you get a moment it may be in the case of heroin for example it may last 24 hours, in the case of smoking marihuanna it may last it depends you know a few hours. You have a moment you have that time when you feel a sense of peace, you feel a sense of happiness, but the problem is - is it wears out. And the other problem is that in order to get back that feeling you have to take more and more and more, in fact it gets to a stage that it doesn't even affect you anymore. But you are now addicted, you are addicted to the habbit and you continue even when you know that this is no longer bringing you any benefit at all but you are upon this path of almost self-destruction, you have riched, you have become an addict. And the fact that it doesn't seem to do anything for you in fact now even the feeling of happiness is gone, but you are down that psth and it is almost impossible sometimes to leave it. This is the reality. So it may seem that people who do not worship God who do not follow that path of righteoussness, who do not try to do everything that is pleasing to Allah, it may seem that they are happy. It may seem that they experience moments of happiness and you may see those moments of happiness. And you may think: "Oh! These are happy people, these people have a good life, they have a good quality of life. But this is only a temporariry outward appereance. In fact that if you observe the situation for long enough, and you observe it deeply enough, and you observe it critically enough you will see that that is not the case. you'll see that they do not stay happy for very long. An example of this that came to light recently in England is was that the minister for health made an announcement that many young women were beginning to drink excessively. It's a problem in England. Many young women were beginning to drink excessively especially what they call binge drinking. And they were worried because of one of the major effect so they could notice is that this was causing a great deal of liver damage. It was causing a great deal of liver damage. And interestingly enough I came acoss an article in a newspaper written by two young professional girls, well-off, good jobs, and they confessed that they were binge-drinkers. But the interesting thing was why, why they were binge drinking, what caused them to binge drink? They said that our life is so empty and boring. "Our life is so empty and boring. And we feel a state of depression. And the only thing that seems to bring a moment of release is unabated hedonism." Meaning just indulging in our passions and our desires and doing whatever we feel like and then for a moment we get a relief. It's what she said. It's what they were writing.

30:50
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
salam aleikum brother
So you speak Russian? mashAllah !!
I hope you noticed our Russian corner on this site :)
Please contirbute to it .I'm russian convert also and moderator of Russian section .If you need any help let me know...

waaleikum salam

Salam Alleykum, sister! Great to hear this :):salah:

Insha Allah I'll get the script soon & then translate it into Russian. And insha Allah convert the text (both English and Russian) into subtitles & attach them to the video. But that's in the future, and as for now it takes me in average 10-15 minutes for a minute of speech (including re-checking) and I've got some spare time during this weekend. It's high time to give the world the truth!!! :salah:

P.S.: Brothers and sisters, should I email Abdur-Rahim Green & ask for his permission? It's his lecture, not mine...
 

loveislam1

Junior Member
SALAM ALIKOUM HERE IS UP TO THE 47TH MINUTE INSHALLAH I WILL HAVE TO STOP FOR TODAY AND INSHALLAH TRY TO RESUME SOME OTHER TIME THIS WEEKEND.

WE BEGIN BY PRAISING ALLAH. WE PRAISE HIM, WE SEEK HIS HELP AND WE ASK FOR HIS FORGIVENESS. WE SEEK REFUGE WITH ALLAH FROM THE EVIL OF OURSELVES AND THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF OUR EVIL ACTIONS. WHOMSOEVER ALLAH GUIDES THERE IS NONE TO MISGUIDE. AND WHOMSOEVER ALLAH LEAVES TO GO ASTRAY THERE IS NONE TO GUIDE AND I TESTIFY THERE THAT ALLAH ALONE IS WORTHY OF WORSHIP AND MUHAMMED PBUH IS THE SERVANT OF ALLAH HIS FINAL MESSENGER.AFTER THAT THE BEST SPEACH IS THE BOOK OF ALLAH AND THE BEST GUIDANCE IS THE GUIDANCE OF MUHAMMED AND THE WORST OF ALL THE AFFAIRS ARE THOSE MATTERS THAT HAVE BEEN NEWLY INTRODUICED INTO THE RELIGION AND EVERY MATTER THAT IS NEWLY INTODUCED TO THE RELIGION OF ISLAM IS TERMED AS A BIDAH OR INNOVATION AND ALL THE INNOVATIONS ARE MISGUIDANCE ALL MISGUIDANCE LEADS TOGOING ASTRAY AND ALL THE GOING ASTRAY ARE IN THE FIRE.

HERE IT IS ‘COCA COLA’. WHAT IS THIS DRINK COCA COLA? IT IS PREPARED AND BOTTLED BY COCA COLA AND IT GIVES US THE ADDRESS THAT IS NICE AND IT TELLS US THE CONTENT OF THIS FANTASTIC DRINK THE DYNAMIC DVOCE AND CONTOUR BOTTLE CONTAINS CARBONATED WATER CARBONATED WATER MEANS FIZZY WATER …..WATER WITH GAS GAS IN IT , SUGAR COLOR 150 FOOD ACID FLAVORINGS AND OF COURSE THE MODEL REPLACEMENT FOR THE ORIGINAL INGRIDENT WHICH WAS COCAINE IS NOW CAFFEINE. I THINK IT IS VERY INTERESTING BECAUSE OF COURSE TODAYS TOPIC IS NOT ABOUT COCA COLA ITSELF BUT IT IS ABOUT WHAT COCA COLA SYMOBLIZES AND WHAT COCA COLA STANDS FOR. COCA COLA STANDS FOR THE AMERICAN CULTURE. IF THERE IS ONE SYMBOL WE COULD SAY THAT IDENTIFIES AMERICAN CULTURE IT IS COCAL COLA. AND REALLY IT IS INCREDIBLY APPROPIATE THAT THIS DRINK SYMBOLIZES THIS CULTURE BECAUSE THE COCA COLA CULTURE IT IS A CULTURE OF MATERIALISM CONSUMMERISM IT IS A CULTURE THAT TELLS US THAT IN ORDER TO ENJOY LIFE AND IN ORDER TO GET THE BEST OUT OF LIFE YOU SHOULD FEED YOUR PASSIONS YOUR DESIRES AND YOUR APPITITES. THAT THE WAY TO BE SUCCESFUL AND HAPPY IS BY SURROUNDING YOURSELF WITH THE MATERIAL POSSEIONS OF THE WORLD BUY THIS BUY THIS HAVE THIS HAVE THAT WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE DOING……DO IT WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE EATING…….. EAT IT THE WAY YOU FEEL LIKE BEHAVING……. BEHAVE LIKE, THAT THE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO …….DO IT. THE GOD THAT IS WORSHIPPED THE THINGS THAT THE HUMAN BEING IS TO SUBMIT TO AND OBEY ARE THE PASSIONS AND THE DESIRES, THE NAFS WHAT WE CALL THE NAFS THE PASSION THE SELF THE DESIRE. AND THIS COCA COLA SYMBOLIZES THAT PRETTY WELL. IT SYMBOLIZES NOT ONLY THIS ATTITUDE AND THIS MENTAILITY AND PHILOPSOHY OF LIFE IT ALSO GIVES US A PRETTY GOOD IDEA OF THE EFFECT OF LIVING THIS LIFE THAT WAY. BECAUSE WHAT DOES CC DO TO YOU? YOU DRINK IT….. IT GIVES YOU AN ALMOST IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. THE IMMEDIATE RESPONSE IS A FEELLING OF SATISFACTION, GRATIFICATION AND A BOOST OF ENERGY THIS IS WHAT CC DOES YOU. DRINK SATFISFACTION YOU GET A BOOST OF SUGAR AND A BOOST FROM THE CAFFEINE AND PROBABLY A BURP SOON AFTER FORM THE GAS BUT THE REALITY OF THAT IS THAT YOU VERY SOON FOLLOW A DOWNWARD SPIRAL AND SOON AFTER AS YOU FELT HIGH YOU SOON FEEL A LOW AND IN ORDER TO TRY AND REACH THAT HIGH AGAIN THEN YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE SOME MORE OF THIS DRINK OR A SIMILAR DRINK TO REBOOST YOURSELF….. SO IN ORDER TO TRY AND KEEP YOURSELF ON THIS CONSTANT HIGH THEN YOU ARE DRINKING MORE AND MORE AND TAKING MORE AND MORE AND THIS IS THE REALITY OF THE PERSON AND THE PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP THEIR DESIRES THEIR PASSIONS AND THEIR SELVES. IN FACT IS ILLUSTRATIVE IN THE WHOLE MANNER IN WHICH THE WESTERN SOLCIETY EXIST THERE IS NO LONG LASTING SATISFACTION IT IS TEMPORARY MOMENT OF JOY IT IS FOLLOWD BY AND EQUALLY LOW MOMENT AND IN ORDER TO TRY A ND BRING BACK THE MOMENT OF HAPPINESS WE CONSUIME MORE WE FIND MORE AVENUES IN ORDER TO SATISY OUR DESIRE THE RELAITY IS THE PASSION AND DESIRE CAN NEVER BE SATISFIED THIS IS A STATEMTENT OF FACT ABOUT THE HUIMAN BEING PROPHET MUHAMMED SAID “IF THE SON OF ADAM WAS GIVEN A VALLEY OF GOLD HE WOULD DESIRE ANOTHER ONE IF THE SON OF ADAM WAS GIVEN A VALLEY OF GOLD HE WOULD DESIRE ANOTHER NE NOTHING WILL SATISFY THE DESIRES OF THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF ADAM EXCEPT THE DUST OF THE GRAVE,” NOTHING IS GOING TO SATISFY OUR DESIRE THE ONLY TIME OUR DESIRES WILL END IS WHEN WE ARE DEAD. SO YOU SEE A CVIVILIZATION (IF YOU CAN CALL IT THAT) OR A PHYLOSOPHY OR AN IDEOLOGY THAT TEACHES US THAT THE WAY TO BE HAPPY IN LIFE IS BY SATISFYING YOUR PASSIONS AND DESIRES BY FOLLOWUING YOUR CRAVINGS PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL AND IDEOLOGICAL THAT SUCCESS IN LIFE IS BY SURROUNDING YOURSELF BY MATERIAL POSSESIONS. THE REALITY IS WE KNOW THAT THIS BRINGS NO LONG LASTING SATISFACTION. WE BUY SOMETHING NICE….. WE BUY SOME NEW CLOTHES….. WE GET A NEW HOUSE A NEW CAR BUT HOW LONG DOES THE JOY AND PLEASURE OF THAT LAST? A FEW HOURS….. A FEW DAYD…… MAYBE A FEW YEARS…….. BUT BEFORE LONG WE ARE CRAVING FOR SOEMTHING MORE EXPENSIVE MORE BEAUTIFUL MORE FAST, FASTER!! IF WE GET OUR KICKS FROM ADRENINE WE TRY THIS SORT AND THAT SPORT BUT ALWAYS WE ARE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO GIVE US MORE OF AN ADRENINE KICK SIMILARLY SOME PEOPLE SATISFY THEIR PASSIONS AND DESIRES THROUHG SEXUIAL ENCOUNTERS PROMOISCUTY BUT THERE IS NO SATISFY BECAUSE ONCE YOU HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING THEN YOU NEED SOMETHING ELSE TO EXCITE YOU NEED SOMETHING ELSE TO STIMULATE YOU SO PEOPLE GO FUIRTHER AND FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD FETISHES ORGES SAME SEX REAKTIONSHIPS. OR….. IT IS NOT ENOUGH THAT YOU HAVE YOUR OWN WIFE YOU HAVE TO GO AND ENJOY YOURSELF WITH ANOTHER MANS WIFE. THAT IS HOW YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR KICKS. BECAUSE THIS IS THE REALITY YOU ARE NEVER SATISFIED IT DOESNT MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE YOU WANT MORE IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MUCH FAME OR SUCCESS YOU HAVE YOU WANT MORE. IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW BEAUTIFUL YOU ARE YOU WANT TO BE MORE BEAUTIFUL THIS IS THE REALTIY SO WHEN WE LOOK AT WESTERN SOCIETY WHAT DO WE FIND? WE FIND SOMETHING PRETTY HORRIFYING WE FIND A CULUTRE COMPLETEYL OBSESSED WITH CONSUMERISM. WHAT IS THE RESULT AND CONSEQUENCES OF THAT? THE CONSEQUENCE IS THAT WE HAVE A VERY MINUT PORTION OF THE WORLD POPULATION CONSUMING A HUGE PORTION OF ITS RESOURCES. 17% OF THE WORLDS POPULATIONS CONSUMES 70% OF ITS RESOURCES. (REPEATED). WE KNOW THAT THE RAIN FORESTS ARE BEING DESTROYED WE KNOW THAT OUR ENVIRONMENT BEING POLLUTED WE KNOW THAT THERE IS STARVATION, PEOPLE ARE DYING BPEOPLE DO NOT HAVE BASIC SANITATION PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE BASIC ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER TO FOOD, TO BASIC MEDICAL CARE, BUT WHERE IS THIS TAKING PLACE? THIS IS TAKING PLACE IN THE SO CALLED 3RD WORLD BUT IF YOU LOOK TO THESE SO CALLED 3RD WORLD YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING STRANGE. YOU WILL SEE THAT THESE PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY EXPORTING FOOD; ALTHOUGH THE PEOPLE ARE DYING THEY ARE EXPORTING FOOD. ALTHOUGH THEY DON’T HAVE SUFFECIENT MEDICINES THEY ARE EXPORTING THE INGREDIENTS TO MAKE THE MEDICINES……….. THEY DON’T HAVE SUFFICIENT RESOURCES TO CLOTH THEMSELVES THE PEOPLE DON’T EVEN HAVE CLOTHES YET THEY ARE MAKING CLOTHES FOR OTHER PEOPLE, WHERE IS THIS FOOD BEING EXPORTING TO? WHERE ARE THESE INGREDIENTS AND THESE RESOURCES AND MINERALS BEING EXPORTED TO, WHERE ARE THESE CLOTHES THESE FASHIONS BEING EXPORTING TO, WHO IS CONSUMING ALL OF THESE THINGS? THE WEST ………AMERICA ASUTRALIA EUROPE THAT SMALL PERCENTAGE OF THE WORLDS POPULATIONS CONTROLLING CONSUMING AND EXPOLITING THE RESOURCES OF THE WORLD WHY? BECAUSE OF A WAY OF LIFE THE COCA COLA CULTURE THAT TEACHES YOU THAT THE WAY TO ENJOY YOURLIFE IS BY FOLLOWUING YOUR PASSIONS AND DESURE AND FOLLOWING YOUR BASE ANIMALISTIC INSTINTS THIS IS THE REALITY AND IN ORDER FOR THIS SOCIETY THIS CULTURE TO CONTINUE TO EXIST IT IS NECESSARY THAT LARGE PORTIONS OF THE WORLD LIVE IN POVERTY AND IS SUBJEGATED POLITICALLY ECONOMICALLY AND IDEOLOGICALY BECAUSE THE WESTERN CAPITALIST MATERIALTISC SYSTEM DEPENDS ON BEING ABLE TO EXPLOIT PEOPLE. IT DEPENDS ON BEING ABLE TO AQUIRE FOOD AND MINERALS AND RESOURCES AND LABOR AT THE MOST MINIMAL COST AND TO BE ABLE TO REPACKAGE AND RESALE IT AT THE MAXIMUM COST. THIS IS THE REALITY OF THE CC CULTURE THIS IS THE REALITY OF THE MATERIALISTIC PHYLOSOHY THAT IS NOW DOMINATING THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE AND THE REALITY IS THAT THE WESTERN WORLD WILL STOP ULTIMATELY AT NOTHING, WARS! ISTIGATING WARS INVENTING WARS BOMBING THEM MURDERING PEOPLE KILLING THEM IT IS ALL NOT REALLY IMPORTANT IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF DOMINATING THE WORLD ECONIMCALLY AND POLITICALLY AND MILITARILY. WHY? AS THEY SAY“TO GUARD OUR PRECIOUS WAY OF LIFE.” THAT IS WHAT THEY SAY THAT IS WHAT G B TOLD US TO GUARD OUR PRECIOUS WAY OF LIFE THEIR PRECIOUS WAY OF LIFE IT MEANS THAT WE ARE FREE TO FOLLOW OUR PASSIONS AND DESIRES THAT THE WAY TO BE HAPPY IS TO HAVE AS MANY MATERIAL GOODS AS YOU CAN AND IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER IF THE REST OF THE WORLD SUFFERS AS LONG AS WE HAVE OUR PRECIOUS WAY OF LIFE THAT IS THE REALITY. SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE MUSLIMS? WHY THEREFORE DO WE CHOOS THIS TITLE THE CC MUSLIM GENERATION? WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE OF COURSE IS A WAR. A CONFLICT NOT A CONFLICT MIND YOU NECESSARILY OF ARMS AND WEAPONS BUT IT IS A IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT IT IS A WAR OF IDEOLOGIES IT IS A WAR OF WORLD VIEWS IT IS A WAR A BATTLE CONCERNING WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN BEING? WHAT IS THE PRURPOSE OF LIFE? WHY ARE WE HERE? AND WHAT IS THE REASON FOR OUR EXISTANCE AND WHAT IS THE MEANS THE HUMAN BEING TO ACHIEVE TRUE SUCES AND TRUE HAPOOPINESS THIS IS THE CONFLICT THAT IS TAKING PLACE. SO WHAT WE FIND IS ANTOHER WORLD VIEW ANOTHER IEOLOGY ANOTHER CONCEPT, AND THAT IS ISLAM. ISLAM TEACHES SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT ISLAM TEACHES THAT THE WAY TO SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS IS NOT BY AQUIRING MATERIAL POSSESION IT IS NOT THROUGH SEEKING TO SATISFY YOUR PASSIONS AND YOUR DESIRES AND YOUR LUSTS AND FOLLOWING YOUR WHIMS AND YOUR INCLINATIONS. RATHER THE NEEDS OF THE HUMAN BEING ARE QUITE DIFFERENT TO THAT. ISLAM TEACHES THAT THOSE WHO FOLLOW THIS PATH WHO WORSHIP THIS GOD BECAUSE IT IS A TYPE OF GOD ITS A TYPE OF DIETY WHEN YOU WOPSHIP YOUR PASSIONS AND DESIRES IT IS A TYPE OF RELIGION IN REALTIY IT IS A TYPE OF WORSHIP A TYPE OF DIETY THAT THIS IS A FAULSE GOD THIS IS A FLASE DIETY ISLAM TEACHES THAT THIS IS NOT THE WAY THROUGH WHICH HB CAN TEACH THE REAL SUCCESS BECAUSE THAT IS NOT THE NATURE OF THE HB RATHER ISLAM TEACHES THAT THERE IS A CREATOR ONE GOD WHO HAS BROUGHT THIE UNUIVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN IT HE HAS BROUGHT IT INTO EXISTANCE FOR A REASON AND PURPOSE EVERYTHING HAS A PURPOSE EVERYTHING HAS A REASON, AND THIS BEGS THE QUESTIONS, THIS BEGS THE QUESTION WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE? WHAT IS THE REASON FOR OUR EXISTANCE? WHY ARE WE HERE? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE EXISTANCE OF THE HUMAN BEING? WE HAVE NOW DISCUSSED ALREADY SOMETHING ABOUT THE IDEA OF THE COCA COLA CULTURE THE MATERIALISTIC VIEW POSINT BUT WHAT DOES ISLAM SAY WHAT DOES THE QURAN SAY THE QURANTEACHES US THAT GOD HAS CREATED US FOR A NOBLE PURPOSE THE QURAN SAYS WA MA KHALAKTO JENNA WA INSA ILLAH ABADO THIS MEANS THAT GOD IS TELLING US IN THE QURAN THAT HE HAS CREATED US TO WORSHIP HIM…… SOME PEOPLE SAY IS THAT IT? I MEAN THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY EXISTANCE IS JUST TO WORSHIP GOD? AND THAT IS BECAUSE THEY HAVE A VERY NARROW CONCEPT OF WHAT WORSHIP MEANS THEY THINK OF WORSHIP IN THE SECULAR MATERIALISTIC TERM THAT HAS BEEN DEFINED BY THE WESTERN SOCIETY. WORSHIP MEANS MAYBE YOU GO TO THE MOSQUE 5 TIMES A DAY OR YOU GO TO THE CHURCH ONCE A WEEK YOU PERFORM SOME RITULAS YOU PERFORM SOME ACTS THAT IS CONSIDERED TO BE WORSHIP HOWEVER THE TERM IBAADA IN ISLAM WHICH WE TRANSLATE AS WORSHIP HAS A VERY DEEP RICH MEANING IT IS SOMETHING MUCH MORE THAN SOME MERE FORM OR ACTIONS THAT YOU PERFORM WORSHIP IS ISLAM IS A TOTAL WAY OF LIVING IT IS SIOMTHING THAT IS SUPPOSE TO OCCUPY THE HUMAN BEING THROUGH OUT ALL OF THEIR LIFE FROM THE MOMENT THEY WAKE UP TO WHEN THEY GO TO ASLEEP AND IN FACT WHILE THEY ARE SLEEPING WORSHIP IS SUPPOSE TO CCUOPY ALL OF YOUR LIFE, HOW DOES IT DO THAT HOW DOES WIRSHIP OCCUPY ALL OF YORU LFIE, IF WE LOOK AT THE TERM IBBADA AND THIS IS WHAT GOD HAS CREATED US FOR IBBADA. WHAT DOES IT MEAN? THE WORD IBAADA CAN BE EXPLAINED AS MEANING EVERYTHIGN WHICH GOD LOVES AND IS PLEASED WITH EVERYTHING WHICH GOD LOVES AND IS PLEASED WITH IS IBBADA, WHETHER IT IS FORM THE ACTIONS OF THE HEART OR THE ACTIONS OF THE LIMBS WHAT ARE THE ACTIONS OF THE HEART? ACTIONS OF THE HEART ARE THINGS LIKE LOVE, HOPE ,FEAR REVERENTIAL AWE, TRUST, RELIANCE, INTENTIONS, SINCERITY, THERE ARE ALL EX OF ACTIONS OF THE HEART SO YOU HAVE TO TRY TO MAKE EVERY ACTION OF THE HEART AN ACTION THAT GOD LOVES AND IS PLEASED WITH AND THE ACTIONS OF THE LIMBS ARE THINGS LIKE EVERYTHING THAT YOU PERFORM WITH YOUR LIMBS IT COULD BE PRAYER IT COULD FASTING IT COULD BE THE REL BETWEEN A HUSBAND AND WIFE HOW YOU WALK HOW YOU TALK ALL FO THESE THINGS ARE ACTIONS OF THE LIMBS SO YOU TRY TO MAKE EVERYTHING THAT DO SOMETHING THAT GOD LOVES AND IS PLEASED WITH. AND IT IS IN DOING THIS THAT THE HUMAN BEING AND ONLY IN DOING THIS THAT HUMAN BEING CAN FIND TRUE PEACE TRANQUILITY HAPPINESS AND SATISFACTION ONLY IN THISEVERYTHING ELSE IS LIKE A COCA COLA IT WILL GIVE YOU A QUICK BUZZ MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD FOR A SHORT TIME BUT THAT IS NOT GOING TO LAST LONG. IN FACT JUST AS IT MADE YOU FEEL GOOD SOON IT WILL MAKE YOU FEEL BAD. AND IN REALITY YOU WILL NEVER EVER SATISFY YOU. IT GIVES YOU THE ILLUSION TEMPORARILY OF HAPPINESS ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN ADDICTED TO DRINKING ALCOHOL OR HAS BEEN ACDDICTED TO SMOKING MARAJUANA OR TAKING DRUGS THEY WILL EXPERIENCE THIS ON A MORE SEVERE LEVEL THIS IS SOMETHING THAT ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN DOWN THAT PATH KNOWS. WHEN YOU DRINK ALCOHOL OR WHEN YOU SMOKE MARAJUANA OR WHATEVER OTHER THING IT IS YOU GET A MOMENT IT MAY BE IN THE CASE OF HEROINE 24 HOURS IN CASE OF MARAJUANA MAYBE A FEW HOURS YOU HAVE A MOMENT YOU HAVE THAT TIME WHERE YOU FEEL A SENSE OF PEACE AND HAPPINESS BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT IT WEARS OUT AND THE OTHER PROBLEM IS THAT IN ORDER TO GET BACK THAT FEELING YOU HAVE TO TAKE MORE AND MORE AND MORE IN FACT IT GETS TO A STAGE WHERE IT DOESNST EVEN AFFECT YOU ANYMORE BUT YOU ARE NOW ADDICTED YOUR ADDICTED TO THE HABIT AND YOU CONTINUE EVEN WHEN YOU KNOW THAT THIS IS NO LONGER BRINGING YOU BENEFIT ANYMORE. BUT YOU ARE UPON THIS PATH OF ALMOST SELF DESTRUCTION YOU HAVE BECOME AN ADDICT. AND THE FACT THAT IS DOESN’T SEEM TO DO ANYTHING FOR YOU IN FACT NOW EVEN THE FEELING OF HAPPINESS IS GONE BUT YOU ARE DOWN THAT PATH AND IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SOMETHIMES TO LEAVE IT THIS IS THE REALITY. SO IT MAY SEEM THAT PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WORSHIP GOD WHO DO NOT FOLLOW THAT PATH OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TWHO TRY NOT TO DO EVERYTHING THAT IS PLEASEING TO ALLAH IT MAY SEEM THAT THEY ARE HAPPY IT MAY SEEM THAT THEY EXPERIENCE MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS AND YOU MAY SEE THOSE MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS AND YOU MAY THINK OH THESE ARE HAPPY PEOPLE THEY HAVE A GOOD LIFE THEY HAVE A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE BUT THIS IS ONLY THE TEMP OUTWARD APPEARANCE IN FACT ITF YOU OBSERVE THE SITAUTION FOR LONG EBNOUGH AND DEEPLY ENOUGH AND CRITICALLY ENOUGBH YOU WILL SEE THAT IS NOT THE CASE YOU WILL SEE THAT THEY DO NOT STAY HAPPY FOR VERY LONG AN EXAMPLE OF THIS THAT CAME TO LIGHT RECENTLY IN ENGLAND WAS THAT THE MINISTER FOR HEALTH MADE AND ANNOUCNEMNT THAT MANY YOUNG WOMEN WERE BEGINIGN TO DRINK EXCESSIVELY IT IS A PROBLEM IN ENGLAND MANY YOUNG WOMEN WRE BEG TO DRINK EXCESSIVELY ESPECIALLY BENGE DRINK DRINIKGIN AND THEY WERE WORRIED BECAUSE AND ONE OF THE IMMEDIATE EFFECTS THEY COULD NOTICE IT WAS CAUSING A GREAT DEAL OF LIVER DAMAGE (REPEATED) AND INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH I READ AN ARTICLE IN A NEWSPARE WRITTEN BY TWO YOUNG PROFESSIONAL GIRLS WELL OFF GOOD JOBS AND THEY CONFESSED THAT THEY WERE BINGE DRINKERS AND THE INTERESTING THING WAS WHY? WHY WERE THEY BINGE DRINKING? WHAT CAUSED THEM TO BINGE DRINK? THEY SAID THAT “OUR LIFE IS SO EMPTY AND BORING AND WE FEEL A STATE OF DEPRESSION AND THE ONLY THINGS THAT SEEMS TO BRING A MOMENT OF RELEASE IS UNABAITED HEEDANIDSM.” MEANING JUST INDULGING IN OUR PASSIONS AND OUR DEESIRES AND DOING WHATEVER WE FEEL LIKE AND FOR A MOMENT THEY GET A RELIEF THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID. THAT IS WHAT THEY WERE WRITING. HOW IS THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE GOOD JOBS, NICE INCOME, BEAUTIFUL FLAT HOUSE THINGS, THEY HAVE ALL THE FOOD THEY WANT TO EAT THEY ARE CLOTHE WITH WHAT THEY WANT TO CLOTHE THEMSEVES WITH WHAT HOW DO THESE PEOPLE FEEL EMPTY OR DEPRESSED? WHAT DO THEY HAVE TO FEEL EMPTY OR DEPRESSED ABOUT? SO IF YOU LOOK AT THIS AND THIS ONE CASE AND YOU WILL FIND MANY CASES LIKE THAT YOU WILL FIND THE SAME STORY AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN ONE HAS TO WONDER WHY? WHY DO SO MANY ROCK STARS GO ON THIS PATH OF SELF DESTRUCTION? DRUGS, DRINKING, COMMITING SUICIDE, KILLING THEMSELVES IN MANY DIFFERENT WAYS IF FAME, BEAUTY, MONEY, IS SUPPOSE TO BE THE MEANS TO ACHIEVE HAPPINESS THEN THESE SHOULD BE THE MOST HAPPY OF ALL PEOPLE BUT THAT IS NOT THE FACT THAT IS NOT THE WAY IT IS, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG. SO THAT IS WHY I AM SAYING WHEN YOU LOOK A THE ISSUE DEEPLY YOU WILL FIND THAT THOSE THESE PEOPLE APPEAR ON THE SURFACE TO BE HAPPY TO BE ENJOYING THEMSELVES THE REALITY IS SOMETHING DIFF THAT THIS WAY OF LIVING PRODUCES NO REAL SENSE OF SATISFACTION OR HAPPINESS AT ALL SOMETIMES SOME PEOPLE CAN STRING ENOUGH MOMENTS AND AQUIRE ENOUGH THINGS THAT CAN MAKE IT APPEAD THAT THEY HAVE AHPPINESS IN THEIR LVIES BUT THAT IS NOT THE REALITY OF THE SITUAITON ISLAM TEACHES THAT THE WAY TO BE HAPPY IS COMPELTEY DIFF IT IS AS WE HAVE ALREADY METNIONED THROUGH MAKING YOUR ACTIONS , ACTIONS THAT ARE BELOVED AND PLEASING TO GOD THIS PRODUCES WITHIN THE SOUL OF THE HUMAN BEING WITHIN THE DEPTH OF THE HUMAN BEING A DEEP SENSE OF WELL BEING AND HAPPINESS AND CONTEMENTMENT AND THE PERSON WHO HAS AQUIRED THIS COULDBE SUBJECTED TO THE MOST HORRIFIC TYPES OF PHYSICAL AND MENTAL DEPREIVATION THEY COULD LOVE IN EXTRMELY POOR CONDITIONS THATYCOULD BE DEPRIVED OF BASIC NECESSITIES BUT YOU WOULD FIND THESE PEOPLE IN A STATE OF BLISS AND HAPPINESS IN FACT SOME OF THE MUSLIMS AND THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE EMBARKED UPON THIS SPIRIITUAL PATH IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT HAVE PUT THEMSELVES IN SITUATIONS WHERE THEY ARE DEPRIVED OF MANY THE PHYSICAL NECESSITITIES BECAUSE THEY CONSIDER THEM AN IMPEDIMENT A BARRIER OF THEM REACHING THAT STAE OF TRUE BLISS AND HAPPINESS THAT COMES FROM BEING A COMPLETE AND TRUE WORSHIPPER OF GOD NOTW THE THING IS THIS . THIS WAY OF LIFE ISLAM ON AN IODELOGICAL LEVEL THEREFORE IS A COMPETITOR A THREAT A DANGER TO THE MATERIALTIS CONSUMER PHYSOLSOPHY THE CC CULTURE, WHY? BNECAUSE IN REALITY THERE IS SOMETHNG VERY SICK ABOUT THIS CULTURE AND THE SICK THING IS THAT IT ACTULLY DEPENDS AND RELYS ON YOU BEING MISERABLE ON ITS EXISTANCE. THE CC CULTURE ACTUALLY NEED PEOPLE TO BE UNAHAPPY, BECAUSE UNHAPPY PEOPLE CONSUME, UNHAPPY PEOPLE NEED TO FILL THEIR MISERABLE LIVES WITH FASHION MUSIC THE FANTASY OF HOLLYWOOD DRUGS ALCOHOL SPORTS THEY THE MISERABLE PEOPLE NEED TO FILL THEIR MISIERABLE LIVES WITH ALL THESE TRINKETS AND THESE THINGS GIVE THEM MOMENTS OF HAPPINESS SO MISERABLE PEOPLE CONSUME THAT IS THE REALITY IT IS NOT PEOPLE WHO ARE DEEPLY CONTENT AND FEEL A SENSE OF WELLBEING AND HAPPINESS INTERNALLY NO THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT GOOD CONSUMERS THESE PEOPLE DON’T CARE IF THEY DON’T HAVE THIS OR THEY DON’T HAVE THAT….. IF THEY HAVE IT, THEY ARE HAPPY…… IF THEY DON’T HAVE IT, THEY ARE HAPPY. IT’S THE SAME TO THEM. THIS IS ACTUALLY THE STATE THAT THE MUSLIMS SHOULD BE. IF WE HAVE MATERIAL POSSESSIONS WE THANK ALLAH AND WE ARE HAPPY. IF WE DON’T HAVE IT WE THANK ALLAH AND WE ARE STILL HAPPY. SO HOW DO YOU PERSUADE PEOPLE LIKE THAT TO CONSUME? THESE ARENT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE BUYING YOUR PRODUCTS, BUYING YOUR MAGAZINES LISTENING TO YOUR MUSIC GOING AND SEEING YOUR MOVIES THEY ARE NOT GOOD CONSUMERS. THEREFORE THESE PEOPLE IDEOLOGICALLY AND IN FACT EVEN ECONIMCALLY THEY ARE A THREAT, BECAUSE THEIR WHOLE CULTURE AND SOCIETY RELIES UPON PEOPLE BEING MISERABLE DEPRESSED AND DISCONTENTED. SO A WAY OF LIFE THA TIS GOING TO GIVE THEM PEACE AND TRANQUILITY AND HAPPINESS AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO DRINK A BOTTLE OF CC OR GO WACTH STEVEN SEGAL KILL 1000 MUSLIMS TO MAKE YOU HAPPY RIGHT? AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO SOME MUSIC OR GO TO SOME RAVE AND DANCE ALL NIGHT TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL GOOD. YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO AND BUY SOME GUCCI AND ARMANI, PIERE CARDINE, CHENEL #5 RIGHT? BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT IT DOESN’T BOTHER YOU. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT GOOD CONSUMERS IN FACT THAT IS A DIRECT IDEOLOGICAL THREAT. IT IS A DIRECT IDEOLOGICAL THREAT. SO WHAT WE HAVE TO REALIZE HERE IS THAT THERE IS AN IDEOLOGICAL BATTLE. MANY OF US AS MUSLIMS AND NON MUSLIMS AS WELL, NORMAL PEOPLE WE HAVENT REALIZED THAT. THIS IS SOMETHING HOWEVER I AM ABSOLUETELY SURE THE INTELLECTUAL ELITE OF THE WESTERN WORLD HAVE REALIZED THAT AND CERTAINLY THE MUTI NATIONAL CORPORATIONS THEY REALIZE THAT. THEY SEE THAT THREAT. AND THIS IS WHY ISLAM REALLY POSES A THREAT. IT DOESN’T POSE A THREAT TO THE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVING IN THE WORLD….NTO AT ALL. IN FACT QUITE THE OPPOSITE. IT IS THE MEANS FOR HUMAN BEINGS ACHIVING TRUE PEACE TRUE TRANQUILITY AND TRUE HAPPINESS. BUT IT IS A THREAT TO THE VESTED INTERESTS OF A FEW PEOPLE. NOT ONLY THAT, BUT BECAUSE ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION THAT IS BASED OR IS NOT A WAY OF LIFE OR AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS BASED IN THE MATERIAL THEN EVEN ON A POLITCALLY AND MILITARY LEVEL ISLAM BECOMES VERY DIFFICULT TO DEAL WITH. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A PEOPLE WHO DON’T REALLY CARE IF THEY LIVE OR DIE IN FACT THEY WILL BE HAPPY TO DIE IF DIEING IS SOMETHING PLEASING TO GOD. AND THEN THEY ARE HAPPY TO DO IT, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A PEOPLE LIKE THAT? WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A PEOPLE WHO YOU CANT REALLY BRIBE THEM BECAUSE WEALTH IS NOT THEIR CONCERN. YOU CANT THREATEN THEM WITH ECONOMIC SANTIONS AND SO ON AND SO FORTH BECAUSE WEALTH IS NOT THEIR CONCERN THEN YOU CAN SEE THAT THEREFORE THESE PEOPLE MAY NOTHAVE THE LATEST MILITARY HARDWARE, THEY MAY NOT HAVE THE LATEST EQUIPMENT BUT THEY ARE THEREFORE MILITARILY AND POITICALLY ALSO A GREAT THREAT. THIS IDEOLOGY AND MENTALITY IS A VERY LIBERATING ONE. IT IS SOMETHING THAT GIVES PEOPLE THE COURAGE AND CONVICTION TO STAND UP AGAINST WESTERN POLITICAL ECONOMICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL DOMINATION. IT GIVES PEOPLE THE COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES AND NOT TO WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES, BECAUSE WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO THESE INDIVIDUALS IS NOT THE PLEASURES OF THEIR DESIRES AND THEIR PASSIONS, BUT THE PLEASURE OF THEIR LORD.

NOW, I WANT TO GO BACK IN HISTORY A LITTLE BIT. AND I HAVE TO SAY THAT THIS PART OF THE LECTURE IS A LITTLE BIT MORE OREINTATED TOWARDS THE MUSLIMS. IF WE GO BACK IN HISTORY A BIT WE WILL FIND SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING. WE WILL FIND MANY THINGS VERY INTERESTING IN FACT IT IS SAD THAT MSULIMS DO NOT STUDY HISTORY AND STUDY THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. THE PARTICULAR THING THAT I WANT TO FOCUS TODAY IS ON THE SPREAD OF CHRISTANITY. CHRISTINIATY STARTED AS A SMALL WE COULD SAY SECT., INSHALLAH AS WE MUSLIMS BELIEVE IT AS A TRUE SECT. A SMALL SECT IN THE JUDAHA OR WHAT IS NOW ISRAEL OR PALESTINE, BUT AT THE TIME IT WAS JUDAHA AND WAS OCCUPIED AT THAT TIME BY THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THERE WAS A MAN A PROPHET AS WE BELIEVE HE IS A PROPHET AND A MAN AND HE IS NOT GOD OR THE SON OF GOD. HIS NAME IS JESUS OR ISSA IBN MARYAM. JESUS THE SON OF MARY. WHO WAS THE MESSIAH TO THE JEWS. THE MESSIAH MEANING THE ANNOINTED ONE. HE CAME TO CALL THEM BACK TO THE TRUE PURE RELIGION OF GOD, THAT THEY SHOULD WORSHIP GOD ALONE AND SUBMIT TO HIS COMMANDS. TODAY WE HAVE A RELGION CALLED CHRISTIANITY. WHICH ACCORDING TO MANY WESTERN SCHOLARS AND THIS IS CERTAINLY AFFIRMED BY THE QURAN. DOES NOT RESEMBLE ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM WHAT JESUS OR ISSA IBN MARYAM TAUGHT. IT IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RELGIION. IT DOESN’T TEACH THAT WE SHOULD WORSHIP GOD AND SUBMIT TO HIS COMMANDMENTS RATHER IT TEACHES WE SHOULD WORSHIP JESUS THAT WE SHOULD BELIEVE THAT HE IS GOD AND THAT SALVATION COMES BY BELIEVING THAT HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS. ANYWAY IT IS NOT MY PROPOSAL TODAY OR MY INTENTION TODAY TO GO INTO A LONG THEOLOGICAL OR HISTORICAL DISCUSSION ABOUT THAT BUT ANYONE WHO HAS THE TIME AND TAKES THE INTEREST WILL FIND SOMETHING VERY REMARKABLE. YOU WILL KNOW THAT IN THE 345 YEAR A PAGAN ROMAN EMPEROR CALLED CONSTATINE HELD A COUNCIL IN A CITY CALLED NICEA WHICH IS IN PRESENT DAY TURKEY, IT’S THE FAMOUS COUNCIL OF NICEA WHICH TOOK PLACE IN ABOUT 345 AFTER THE TIME OF JESUS. IN THIS COUNCIL, CONVEINED BY A PAGAN ROMAN EMPEROR THE BISHOPS OR SOME SELECTED BISHOPS OF CHRISTIANITY WERE FORCED AND COMPELLED TO COME TO A DECISION ABOUT WHAT IS THE CREED AND WHAT IS THE AND WHAT IS THE BELIEF AND WHAT IS THE SCRIPTURE UPON WHICH THE WHOLE OF THE CHRSTIANS SHOULD UNITE UPON. WHY WOULD A PAGAN ROMAN EMPEROR LIVING IN THAT TIME NEARLY 2000 YEARS AGO, A PAGAN ROMAN EMPEROR WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? WHY, BECAUSE CHRISTIANITY WAS A VERY VERY POWERFUL FORCE IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE TIME CONSTATINE REEALIZED THAT AS LONG AS THE CHRSITANS WERE DISUNITED AND ARGUING AND BICKERING AMONGST THEMSELVES THEN THE STRENGHT AND THE POWER OF HIS EMPIRE WAS GOING TO BE SNAPPED.. SO HIS IDEA WAS TO NOW TO UNITE THE CHRISTIANS UPON A SINGLE DOCTRINE. WHAT HAPPENED TO COME OUT OF THAT COUNCIL WAS FOR THE FIRST TIME CHRISTIANS WERE ACTUALLY FORCED TO BELIEVE A PARTICULAR DOCTRINE. THIS BECAME KNOWN AS THE ATHANASIUS CREED.
 

Optimist

قل هو الله أحد
50 minutes

……… but, when I stood back and I analyzed, and I looked at what is going on, and I looked at the statements of many Muslims … Muslim leaders and Muslim scholars. And I looked also at the position and attitudes of many Muslim leaders and many Muslim countries, then a thought came to me: are we actually seeing the people of the West coming to Islam, or are we actually observing the westernization of Islam? Is it that the people are becoming Muslims? Or is it that Islam is becoming westernized? Is it really that we have growing up amongst us Muslims? Upon Islam or is it as we call it: the Coca-Cola Muslim generation. In other words: they say that they are Muslims. They outwardly profess Islam. They say they believe in the Qura’an. They pray maybe even 5 times a day. They fast the month of Ramadhan. They give the Zakah. But, and this is the BUT: when you start to examine their attitudes, their beliefs, their motivations. You will find what has taken place is a mixture: they have taken some of this, and they have taken some of that. Are they really now motivated by seeking pleasure of Allah? That to make every actions and action that Allah loves and pleased with? Or are they trying to make a compromise? Trying to find a compromise? How can we say we are Muslims and then still be consumers? How can we still run after the things of this world? And this I believe -brother and sisters- is exactly the disease that has taken place amongst the Muslims now. And it is a disease that the ideological competitors are very, very happy to propagate it and to spread it. And that is why they have now divided us into two groups: you have the moderate Muslim, and the fundamentalist Muslim. You see, we (the competitors) don’t have a problem with the moderate Muslims; they’re OK because, the moderate Muslims are the Coca-Cola Muslims. The Coca-Cola Muslims, they say we’re Muslims, we pray, but we are happy to accept the concepts of democracy. We’re happy to accept the concepts of the unity of the religions. We’re happy to say polygamy is an outdated thing and it is not for these days, we happy to follow all these ideas and now we are going to liberate women –according to what they say is to “liberate women”. We’re happy to take interest and mortgages and buy insurance. We’re happy to listen to music and watch movies ... you know, the Coca-cola Muslims. And the others are: fundamentalists. What do you mean the fundamentalists? If you really look at it and examine it, those so called fundamentalists –and there is no doubt there are extremists amongst them-. There are people who go beyond the bound that Islam allows. There are people who commit acts in the name of Islam, and it is not from Islam. I’m not trying to justify any of that so you to understand what I’m saying here. But this group that is termed the fundamentalists, what is the real objection? If you go down and you look and you examine, what is really taking place, what is the problem with these fundamentalists? What do they say? They say (the fundamentalists): Islam is a whole way of life. We have to be real Muslims. We have to establish Islam in our family life, our personal life, our political life, our economic life. Being a Muslim is not only about praying five times a day. But it is about accepting everything in the Qura’an. That we have to try make everything we do, we say and we think something that Allah loves and is pleased with. And that includes the laws and the rules by which we live: criminal laws, family law, international law, all of these things are covered in Islam. The Qura’an teaches all of these things because Islam is a whole way of life. Now these are the ones now considered dangerous. Now they realize that these fundamentalists are the real ideological competitors. The so called fundamentalist Islam. Because the reality is that Coca-Cola Muslims have not brought Islam to the West, rather the West has westernized them, and now you find a new version of westernized Islam coming out. And this is something you find very wide spread, even some people who say I’m a fundamentalist Muslim, you find often they are very deeply affected by the ideas of the Western society. I dare say, and to be completely honest, if you ask me, I personally might have a bit of Coca-Cola Muslim in me as well! I’m serious and I’ll be honest about myself. I actually thought when I’m giving this talk: is it fair? Many of the things I criticized people for, maybe I have same faults within myself. Maybe there are things that I enjoy. In fact and to be quite frank there are many things that I enjoy about the western life. And maybe that is not entirely good, not that these things you cannot enjoy them. In Islam - Alhamdulillah - ... it is a beautiful balanced religion; you can enjoy the beautiful things in life. You can enjoy the goods of this world since you are permitted to do that. You can have a nice car. You can drink Coca-Cola. It is not forbidden to drink Coca-Cola. Can you wear Nike shows or Wrangler jeans if you want to. It is not forbidden. But the point is this, and it goes back to what I mentioned. It is that we don’t believe this is the source of our happiness in this life. In other words: if I have it (the material goods) that’s fine, if I don’t have it, that’s fine. If I have a nice car, I thank Allah, and if I don’t have it I praise Allah and I’m content. But the reality is, with most of the Muslims today that is not our condition. If we don’t have the nice car, the nice house we own, the good income ... then we are not happy. And this is a real sign that we have been overtaken ideologically. And this is the condition – brothers and sisters- in which we find ourselves. And this is something Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) prophesized and warned about. He said the thing he feared most for this nation is that Allah will open up the doors of material possessions, and that because of we will vie with one another and compete with one another, not for the pleasure of Allah, but in order to acquire those things. In fact the prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) prophesized something we find that is taking place today: soon the nations will invite each other to you (the Muslim nation) in a way that people will call each other to a feast. So the companions said: O’ messenger of Allah, is that because we are few in numbers? Because they –the companions- imagined that this is the only way an enemy can come to take our possessions and we cannot defend ourselves. This is how the companions imagined. But the prophet (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: No, you will be many, like the foam of the sea. But will be like the rubbish that is carried by the flood (foam) i.e. you will be of low quality. And then he said: and Allah will take the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies (your enemy won’t be afraid of you any more), and into your hearts He (Allah) will cast “wahn” (weakness). So the companions said: O’ messenger of Allah, what is wahn? And the prophet (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) said: love of the world, and fear of death. As for today we are 1.6 billion Muslims on the face of the earth. One of the largest religions. One in five people is a Muslim. Like the foam on the sea. Yet what we find? We find that our enemies had made a feast of our land. They help themselves to our oil and resources. They control us politically and economically. Perhaps we can even say, now they are starting to control us ideologically as well. Why? Because in reality we have become like them. We have given in and started to follow their way of life. We now love life and look forward to it. We now think that this life is be all and end all. We now think that this life is all the pleasure and all the happiness. This is exactly the condition we find ourselves in. The reality is of course is that this world is a very temporary dwelling. Our stay on this planet and in this life is very, very short. The life to come is the one to be enjoyed and is the one which is long (permanent). So I wrote down few things that I thought are symptomatic. Some of the things that you can see. Some of the qualities that can be found in what you can call the Coca-Cola Muslim. One of the things that I was going to do –but I won’t- is to shake this bottle of Coca-cola and then open it. And we all know what happens when you do that. The foam start coming out and the coca-cola overflow from the bottle and all you cloth become sticky and horrible and a little bit of revolting fluid remain at the bottom of the bottle. We Muslims are like that. Someone comes around. He gives a nice lecture. He gives a nice talk that is very inspirational. And then every gets excited. And then three days or months later what is left? Nothing. Nothing of any benefit. Nothing that even tastes nice. And this is how we become, like the people in the West. You know how they become all emotional: live 8, band 8, Simpson songs, and they get all emotional and then three weeks later they have forgotten all about it. They start to think: what’s the next thing? What’s the next piece of news? They have forgotten. Nothing permanent. You know, we get all emotional and all excited. We say we are going to change the environment and make everything green again and then we put few cans in the recycling bin and then that’s it man we give up. Yeah, this is how it is. We get all active with these campaigns, like the coca-cola you shake it, it wshhhh (spills) and then very little is left. The Muslims have become like that: emotional. We react to everything emotionally. And unfortunately, sometimes these emotional reactions are extremely violent, but this is not the way of Islam. The Muslim is not supposed to be emotional. The Muslim is supposed to be guided by the book of Allah and the sayings of the prophet (may peace and blessing of Allah be upon him). Emotions don’t really come into it. We are only seeking the pleasure of Allah which maybe means we will be subjected to many tests, trials and tribulations. If we are supposed to be patient –and this is what Allah wants- then we should be patient. If we are supposed to resist then we resist. And this is according to what Allah teaches and the way by which Allah teaches it. But this is not how we are brothers and sisters. We have become emotional people. When they Bosnia in the news everyone gets emotional and starts collecting money. People drove trucks to Bosnia. Now, they still have lots of problems in Bosnia but no one cares any more. And then it was Kosovo, and then it is Chechenia, and then and then ... and we just react to what is in front of us. This is just emotions and this is not how the Muslim is supposed to be. This really has to do with lack of knowledge and insight into our great religion. This is one of the worst problems. I’m really just picking on few things here. Another thing, I’m sure you all know is marriage. Our idea of marriage, what do we thing marriage is? ..

I’ve made s mall questionnaire to see if you can measure how much of a coca-cola Muslim you are. Let’s go through it. It is few questions and you can score yourself on it. Question number one: does your iman (faith) goes up and down like this (moves hand)? If it is, then that’s one point for being a coca-cola Muslim. Number two –and this is not in an order of priority by the way- do you think a man should have only one wife? If you think a man should have only one wife put a tick for coca-cola Muslim. Do you think of marriage as a match held together by love, or a working relationship trying to build a better Muslim nation? If you think that marriage is a lovy dovy, Hollywood, Bolywood affair, then put a big tick for being a coca-cola Muslim. Number three, are you planning to have three kids at most and give them the best, or are you hoping for a football team? If you are planning to have three at the most and give them the best you are definitely in the coca-cola league. Absolutely, this is a big sign of being a coca-cola Muslim conquered by the west ideologically. When you hear a speaker and you like what he says, do you want to get his autograph? If it is yes then another point for being a coca-cola Muslim. Do you prefer to get your knowledge from audio and video tapes, or do you sit with a scholar and try to memorize and study? If the only way you get your knowledge from videos and tapes then definitely another point for coca-cola Muslim. Are you a member of Blockbuster, Movie land or any other video store? If you are, then a tick this is another point for being a coca-cola Muslim. Do you wait for the latest J Lo, M&M, or any other music CD? Or do you wait for the latest Islamic books or both? If both then one point for coca-cola Muslim. If you only wait for J Lo and the like then not good, you get two points for being a coca-cola Muslim. Do you spend more time reading car & sport magazines, watching footie and pursuing your hobbies or do you spend more time reading the Qura’an and studying Islamic books? If you give more time to your hobbies then a tick for being a coca-cola Muslim. And the other one is, do you prefer to take a mortgage or be content with rent? If you prefer to take a mortgage then –brothers & sisters- give yourself 5 .. 10 ticks for being a coca-cola Muslim. So anyway … that was my brief guide for being a coca-cola Muslim Insha’Allah. I hope all of us did not score too many points in that regard. I won’t tell you what my score was! I hope Allah will guide all of us to what is best for us. Although we left it on a light hearted note, of course –brothers and sisters- the talk has a very serious tone to it. So this is brothers and sisters something we really should think and reflect about because at the end of the day this is about our a’akhirah (hereafter). This is about whether our final destination is the place of joy or the place of torment. The place of bliss or the place of misery. This is also about the real conditions of our hearts in this life. Are we going to be of those people who are really content, peaceful and happy or are we going to be of those people who are experiencing fleeting moments of joy while the reality is that our life is a downward spiral of misery where we consume more and more and self destruct ourselves, our societies and our world. We seek refuge to Allah from that. May peace and blessing of Allah be upon the prophet, his family and his companions. Assalamu aleekom wa rahmatu allahi wa barakatoho.
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
up to 49 minutes - insha Allah I'll unite this with the previous post & it will be done!

Alhamdu llilah nahmaduhu w nastaa’inuhu wa nastag’firuhu w naa’uth bilahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayi’ati aa’malina, mai yahdihi Alahu fala modila lah wa man yudlel fala hadiya la wa a’ashhadu ana la ilaha ila Allah wa a’ashhadu anna muhamadan a’abduhu wa rasuluho bad. Khairo alhadithi kitabo Alah w khairo alhadi hadyu Muhamad sala Alahu Alaihi wa salam wa sharu alo’omori mohdathatuha wa kula muhdathaen bida’a wa kula bida’atin dalala wa kula dalalatin fi alnar
We begin by praising Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to misguide & whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray there is none to guide. And I testify and bear witness that Allah alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him is the servant of Allah and his final messenger. After that the best speech is the book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of all the affairs are those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion. And every matter that is newly introduced into the religion of Islam is termed as a Bidaa or an innovation and all of the innovation are misguidance all of the misguidance is going astray and all the going astray is in the fire.
Here it is - Coca-Cola. What is this drink Coca-Cola. Lets read it. What does it say? Prepared and bottled by Coca-Cola. Untill there's given us the address that's nice. And it tells us the contents of this fantastic drink. the dynamic ribbon device and the contour bottle contains carbonated water. Carbonated water means fizzy water, water with gas in it. Gas. Sugar. Colour 1.50, food acid, flavorings and of course the modern replacement for the original ingredient which was cocaine is now caffeine. I mean it's very interesting because of course today's talk is not about coca-cola itself but it is about what Coca-cola symbolizes and what coca-cola stands for. Of course coca-cola symbolizes and stands for the American culture. The American culture. If there is one symbol we could say that identifies American culture it is coca-cola. And really it's increadibly appropriate that this drink symbolizes that culture. Because the coca-cola culture is a culture of materialism, it's a culture of consumerism, it's a culture that tells us that in order to enjoy life, in order to get the best out of life you should feed your passions and your desires and your appetites. That the way to be successful and the way to be happy is by surrounding yourself with the material possessions of the world. Buy this. Buy that. Have this. Have that. What you feel like - do it. What you feel like eating - eat it. The way you feel like behaving - behave like that. the things you feel like doing in life - do it. The God that is worshipped, the thing that is submit, the thing that the human being is to submit to and surrender to and obey are the passions and the desires. The "Nafs" what we call. The "Nafs". Al howa. The passions, the self, the desire. And this coca-cola symbolizes that pretty well. It symbolizes not only this attitude and this mentality and this philosophy of life it also gives us a pretty good idea of what is the real effect of living your life in that way. Because what does coca-cola do for you? You drink it, it gives you an immediate almost immediate response. The immediate response is a feeling of satisfaction, gratification and a boost of energy. This is what coca-cola does - you drink it, satisfaction, you get a boost of sugar from that, and a boost from the caffeine and probably a burp soon afterwards from the gas. But the reality is that very soon you follow a downward spiral. You follow a downward spiral. And soon after as you felt high you soon feel a low. And in order to try and reach that high again then you gonna take some more of this drink or some similar drink in order to reboost yourself. So in order to try and maintain yourself on this constant high then you are drinking more and more and taking more and more. And this is the reality of the person and the people who worship their desires and worship their passions and worship themselves. In fact it is illustrative of the whole manner in which Western society exists. Exactly that. there is no long lasting satisfaction. Satisfaction is temporarily, it is a temporary boost, a temporary moment of joy, it is followed by an equally low moment and in order to try and bring back that moment of happiness we consume more. We find more avenues in order to satisfy our desires but the reality is the passion and the desire can never be satisfied. This is a statement of fact about the human being. The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, said that if the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. If the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. Nothing will satisfy the desires of the sons and the daughters of Adam except the dust of the grave. Nothing is gonna satisfy our desires, the only time that our desires will end is when we are dead. So you see, a civilization if we can call it a civilization or a philosophy or ideology that teaches us that the way to be happy in life is by satisfying your passions and your desires by following your cravings, physical and emotional and ideological, that success in life is by surrounding yourself to material possessions. The reality is we know that this brings no long lasting satisfaction. We buy something nice we buy some new clothes, we get a new house, we get a new car, but how long does the joy and the pleasure of that last? A few hours, a few days, maybe a few years but before long we are craving for something more expensive, more beautiful, more fast. Faster. If our, we get our kicks from adrenalin that we try this sport and that sport but always we are looking for something that is gonna give us more of the adrenalin kick. Similarly some people satisfy their passions and their desires through sexual encounters - promiscuity, but there is no satisfaction because once you have tried everything then you need something else to excite you, you need something else to stimulate you so people go further and further down the road. Fetishes, orgies, same sex relationships, or it's not enough anymore that you have your own wife, you have to go and you have to enjoy yourself with another man's wife. That's how you have to get your kicks. Because this is the reality - you're never satisfied. It doesn't matter how much money you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how much fame and success you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how beautiful you are - you want to be more beautiful. This is the reality. So when we look at Western society what do we find? We find something pretty horrifying! We find the whole culture completely obsessed with consumerism. And what is the result and what is the consequence of that? What is the result and the consequence? The consequence is that we have a very minute portion of the world's population consuming a huge portion of its resources. 17%! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resources. 1/7! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resources. We know that the rain forests are being destroyed; we know that our environment is being polluted; we know that there is starvation, that people are dying, people do not have basic sanitation. People do not have basic access to clean water, to food, to basic medical care. But where is this taking place? these things are taking place in the so-called third world. But if you look to this so-called third world you'll find something very strange. You'll find that these people are actually exporting food, the are exporting, although the people are dying they are exporting food, although they don't have sufficient medicines they are exporting the ingredients to make the medicines. They don't have sufficient resources to clothe themselves the people do not have clothes yet they are making clothes for other people. Where is this food being exported to? Where are these ingredients and these resources and these minerals being exported to? Where’re these clothes, these fashions - where are they being exported to? Who is consuming all of these things? The West, America, Australia, Europe. That's small percentage of the world's population. Controlling, consuming and exploiting the resources of the world. Why? Because of the way of life the coca-cola culture that teaches you that the way to enjoy your life is by following your passions and your desires and satisfying your base animalistic instincts. This is the reality. And in order for this society, this culture to continue to exist it is necessary that large portion of the world's population lives in poverty and is subjugated politically, economically and ideologically. Because the Western capitalist materialistic system depends on being able to exploit people. It depends on being able to acquire food and minerals and resources and labour at the most minimal cost and to be able to repackage it and resell it at the maximum cost. This is the reality of the coca-cola culture. This is the reality of materialistic philosophy that is now dominating the world in which we live. And the reality is that the Western world will stop ultimately at nothing. Wars, instigating wars, inventing wars, murdering people, bombing them, killing them - this is not really important in order to achieve the ultimate goal of dominating the world economically and politically and militarily. Why? As they say "to guard our precious way of life." That's what they say. That's what George Bush told us: "to guard our precious way of life." The precious way of life means that we are free to follow our passions and our desires, that the way to be happy is to have as many material goods as you can, and it doesn't really matter if the rest of the world suffers as long as we have "our precious way of life." that's the reality. So what has this got to do with the Muslims? Why therefore do we choose this title "the coca-cola Muslim generation." What is taking place here of course is a war. A conflict. Not a conflict mind you necessarily of arms and weapons. But it is an ideological conflict. It is a war of ideologies. It is a war of world views. It is a war, a battle concerning what is the nature of the human being. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here and what is the reason of our existence? And what is the means for the human being to achieve true success and true happiness? This is the war, this is the conflict that is taking place. So what we find is another world view. Another ideology. Another concept. And that is Islam. Islam teaches something quite different. Islam teaches that the way to success and happiness is not by acquiring material possessions. It is not through seeking to satisfy your passions and your desires and your lusts and following your whims and your inclinations. Rather the needs of the human being are quite different to that. Islam teaches that those who follow this path, who worship this God, because it is a type of God it is a type of deity when you worship your passions and your desires. it is a type of religion in reality, it's a type of worship, it's a type of deity. But this is a false God it's a false deity. Islam teaches that this is not the way through which human beings can achieve the real success because that is not the nature of a human being. Rather Islam teaches that there is the Creator, one God, who has brought this universe and everything into, and everything in it, he has brought it into existence for a reason and for a purpose. Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason. And this begs the question. This begs the question. What is our purpose? What is the reason for our existence? Why are we here? What is the purpose of the existence of the human being? We have now discussed already something about the idea of the coca-cola culture. The materialistic viewpoint. But what does Islam say, what does the Quran say? The Quran teaches us that God has created us for a noble purpose. The Quran says: "Wama khalaqtu aljinna wal-insa illa liyaAAbudoon." this means that God is telling us in the Quran that he has created us to worship him. Some people say: "Is that it? I mean the purpose of my existence is just to worship God?" And that's because they have a very narrow concept of what worship means. They think of worship in the secular materialistic term that has been defined by the Western society. Worship means, may be you know you go to the Mosque five times a day or you go to the church once a week, you perform some rituals, you perform some acts - that is considered to be worship. However the term Ibada in Islam which we translate as worship has a very-very deep rich meaning. It is something much more than some mere formal actions that you perform. Worship in Islam is a total way of living. It is something that is supposed to occupy the human being throughout all of their life. From the moment they wake up till they go to sleep and in fact even whilst they are sleeping. Worship is supposed to occupy all of your life and how does it do that? How does worship occupy all of your life? If we'd if we look to the definition of the term Ibada and that is what God has created us for Ibada, what does it actually mean? The, the word Ibada can be, we can explain it as meaning everything which God loves and is pleased with. Everything which God loves, everything which God is pleased with is Ibada. Everything which God loves and everything which God is pleased with is worship Ibada or we don't need to use the word worship whilst just say "Ibada". Whether it is from the actions of the heart or the actions of the limbs. What are the actions of the heart, people think what is the action of the heart. Actions of the heart are things like love, hope, fear, reverential awe, trust, reliance, intension, sincerity. These are examples of actions of the heart. So you have to try to make every action of the heart an action that God loves and is pleased with. And actions of the limbs are things like, it well it like everything you perform with your limbs. It could be prayer, it could be fasting, it could be the relationship between a husband and his wife, it could be how you walk, how you talk, all of these things are actions of the limbs. So you try to make every action that you do an action that God loves and that God is pleased with. And it is in doing this that the human being, and it only in doing this that the human being finds real peace, tranquility, happiness and satisfaction. Only in this. Everything else is like the coca-cola. You drink it it will give you a quick buzz it will make you feel good for a short time but that is not gonna last long. In fact just as it made you feel good, soon it will make you feel bad. And in reality it will never ever satisfy you. It gives you the illusion temporarily of happiness. Anyone who has been addicted to drinking alcohol or has been addicted to smoking marihuana or taking drugs they will experience this on a more severe level. This is something that anyone who's been down that path knows. When you drink alcohol or when you smoke marihuana or whatever other thing it is you get a moment it may be in the case of heroin for example it may last 24 hours, in the case of smoking marihuana it may last it depends you know a few hours. You have a moment you have that time when you feel a sense of peace, you feel a sense of happiness, but the problem is - is it wears out. And the other problem is that in order to get back that feeling you have to take more and more and more, in fact it gets to a stage that it doesn't even affect you anymore. But you are now addicted, you are addicted to the habit and you continue even when you know that this is no longer bringing you any benefit at all but you are upon this path of almost self-destruction, you have reached, you have become an addict. And the fact that it doesn't seem to do anything for you in fact now even the feeling of happiness is gone, but you are down that path and it is almost impossible sometimes to leave it. This is the reality. So it may seem that people who do not worship God who do not follow that path of righteousness, who do not try to do everything that is pleasing to Allah, it may seem that they are happy. It may seem that they experience moments of happiness and you may see those moments of happiness. And you may think: "Oh! These are happy people, these people have a good life, they have a good quality of life. But this is only a temporarily outward appearance. In fact that if you observe the situation for long enough, and you observe it deeply enough, and you observe it critically enough you will see that that is not the case. you'll see that they do not stay happy for very long. An example of this that came to light recently in England is was that the minister for health made an announcement that many young women were beginning to drink excessively. It's a problem in England. Many young women were beginning to drink excessively especially what they call binge drinking. And they were worried because of one of the major effect so they could notice is that this was causing a great deal of liver damage. It was causing a great deal of liver damage. And interestingly enough I came across an article in a newspaper written by two young professional girls, well-off, good jobs, and they confessed that they were binge-drinkers. But the interesting thing was why, why they were binge drinking, what caused them to binge drink? They said that our life is so empty and boring. "Our life is so empty and boring. And we feel a state of depression. And the only thing that seems to bring a moment of release is unabated hedonism." Meaning just indulging in our passions and our desires and doing whatever we feel like and then for a moment we get a relief. It's what she said. It's what they were writing.

How is it that people who have good jobs, nice income, beautiful flat, house, things, they have all the food they want to eat, they are clothed with what they want to clothe themselves with. How do these people feel therefore empty and depressed? What is there? What is there for them to feel empty and depressed about? So if you look at this and this one case and you will find many cases like that you will find the same story again and again and again. One has to wonder why? Why do so many rock stars go on this path of self destruction? Drugs, drink, committing suicide, killing themselves in many different ways - if fame, beauty, money, is supposed to be the means to achieve happiness then these should be the most happy of all people. But that’s not the fact, that’s not the way it is, there’s something wrong. So that’s what I am saying. When you look at the issue deeply you’ll find that although these people appear on the outward surface to be happy to be enjoying themselves the reality is something quite different. That this way of living produces no real sense of satisfaction or happiness at all, it is very temporary. Sometimes some people can string enough moments and acquire enough things to make it appear as if they have happiness in their life but that is not the reality of that situation. Islam teaches that the way to be happy is completely different. It is as we have already mentioned through making your actions , actions that are beloved and pleasing to God this produces within the soul of the human being, within the depth of the human being a deep sense of well being and happiness and contentment and the person who has acquired this could be subjected to the most horrific types of physical and mental deprivation they could live in extremely poor conditions, they could be deprived of what we might think are basic necessities, yet you would find these people experience a state of bliss and happiness. In fact some of the, some of those Muslims and some of those people who have embarked upon this spiritual path if you want to call it have put themselves in a situations where they are deprived of many of the so-called physical necessities because they consider them to be in some respect an impediment, a barrier between them reaching that state of true bliss and true happiness that comes from being a complete and true worshipper of God. Now the thing is this. This way of life Islam on an ideological level therefore is a competitor, a threat, a danger to the materialistic consumer philosophy the Coca-Cola culture, why? Because in reality there is something very sick about this culture and the sick thing is that it actually depends and relies upon you being miserable for its existence. The Coca-Cola culture actually needs people to be unhappy, because unhappy people consume, unhappy people need to fill their miserable lives with fashion, music, the fantasy of Hollywood, drugs alcohol, sports. They, the miserable people, need to fill their miserable lives with all these trinkets and these things give them these moments of happiness so miserable people consume. That is the reality. It is not people who are deeply content and feel a deep sense of wellbeing and happiness internally. No. These people are not good consumers. These people don’t care whether they have this or they don’t have that, if they have it, they are happy, if they don’t have it, they are happy. It’s the same to them. This is actually the state that the Muslims should be. If we have material possessions we thank Allah and we are happy. If we don’t have it we still thank Allah and we are still happy. So how do you persuade people like that to consume? These are not the people who will be buying your products, buying your magazines, listening to your music, going and seeing your movies. They are not good consumers. Therefore the reality is that these people ideologically and in fact even economically they are a threat, because their whole culture and society relies upon people being miserable, depressed and discontented. So a way of life that is gonna give them peace and tranquillity and happiness and you don’t have to drink a bottle of Coca-Cola or go and watch Steven Segal kill a thousand Muslims to make you happy right? Ok? You don’t have to listen to some music or go to some rave and dance all night to make yourself feel good. You don’t have to go and buy some Gucci and Armani, you know, Pierre Cardin, Chanel #5, whatever, right? Because, you know, it doesn’t bother you. These people are not good consumers, in fact that is a direct ideological threat. It is a direct ideological threat. So what we have to realize here is that there is an ideological battle. Many of us we have, we haven’t as Muslims and non-Muslims as well, normal people we haven’t realized that. This is something however I am absolutely sure the intellectual elite of the western world have realized that and certainly the multinational corporations they realize that. They see that threat. And this is why Islam really poses a threat. It doesn’t pose a threat to the normal people living in the world, not at all. In fact quite the opposite. It is the means to human beings achieving true peace, true tranquillity and true happiness. But it is a threat to the vested interests of a few people. Not only that, but because Islam is not a religion that is based or is not a way of life or an ideology that is based in the material. Then even on a political and military level Islam becomes very difficult to deal with. What do you do with a people who don’t really care whether they live or die in fact they will be happy to die if dying is something that is pleasing to God. And then they are happy to do it, what do you do with a people like that? What do you do with a people who you can’t really bribe them because wealth is not their concern. You can’t threaten them with economic sanctions and so on and so forth because wealth is not their concern. Then you can see therefore that even though these people may not have the latest military hardware, they may not have the latest equipment but they are therefore militarily and politically also a great threat. And this ideology also, this mentality is a very liberating one. It is a very liberating one. It is something that gives people the courage and the conviction to stand up against Western political economical and ideological domination. It gives people the courage to stand up for themselves, not to worry so much about the consequences, because what is important to these individuals is not the pleasure of their desires and their passions, but the pleasure of their Lord.

Now, I want to go back in history a little bit. And I suppose this part of the lecture I have to say may be a little bit more orientated towards the Muslims. If we go back in history a bit we will find something very interesting. We’ll fine many things actually very interesting that took place, in fact it’s a sad thing that Muslims do not study history and do not learn the lessons of history. But the particular thing that I want to focus today is on the spread of Christianity. Christianity started as a small we could say sect, insha Allah as we Muslims believe anyway it as a true sect, a small sect in Judea or what is now known Israel or Palestine, but at the time it was Judea occupied at that time by the Roman empire. There was a man, a prophet as we believe, he is a prophet and a man and he is not God or the son of God. His name is Jesus or Isa ibn Miriam, Jesus the son of Mary who was the messiah to the Jews, “the messiah” meaning the anointed one. He came to call them back to the true pure religion of God, that they should worship God alone and submit to his commands. Today we have a religion called Christianity which according to many western scholars and certainly this is affirmed by the Quran, does not resemble in any way, shape or form what Jesus or Isa ibn Miriam taught. It is a completely different religion. It doesn’t teach that we should worship God and submit to his commandments rather it teaches that we should worship Jesus that we should believe that he is God and that salvation comes by believing that he died on the cross for our sins. Anyway it’s not my proposal today or my intention today to go into a long theological and historical discussion about that, but anyone who has the time and takes the interest will find something very remarkable. You will know that in the year 345 a pagan Roman emperor called Constantine held a council in a city called Nicea which is in present day Turkey, it’s the famous council of Nicea which took place in about 345 years after the time of Jesus. In this council, convened by a pagan Roman emperor the bishops or some selected bishops of Christianity were forced and compelled to come to a decision about what is the creed and what is the belief and what is the scripture upon which the whole of the Christians should unite upon. Why would a pagan Roman emperor living 1400 years, living in that time nearly 2000 years ago, why would he do that, a pagan Roman emperor? Why, because Christianity was a very-very-very powerful force in the Roman Empire at the time. Constantine realized that as long as the Christians were disunited and arguing and bickering with one another, then the strength and the power of his empire was going to be sacked. So his idea was to now to unite the Christians upon a single doctrine. What happened to come out of that council was for the first time Christians were actually forced to believe a particular doctrine. This became known as the Athanasius creed and that is what we know today as the concept of the trinity, that Jesus is God and that he is of one essence with God, and from this council also the so-called four canonical Gospels were chosen. But what actually happened? Rome became the centre of Christianity, in fact it became known as the Holly Roman Empire. But what really took place? And this is the interesting thing. Is it really that Christianity took over the Roman Empire or is it that Roman Empire Romanized Christianity? In other words – was it Christianity that took over or was it really the Roman Empire that took over Christianity? If you look at it you’ll find it is that the Roman Empire had more of the influence on Christianity than the original teachings that Jesus had over Roman Empire. In fact I remember when I was being brought up a Catholic, and I was studying Roman and Greek mythology, I remember thinking as I was studying it. This is amazingly similar to what I believe as a catholic. The Romans had a trinity of Gods. Sertanilias, Sol Inviticus and Mithra. Mithra was the son of God, and he was God and he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and he was born on the 25th of December. It was belived that by Mithra or by being a devotee of Mithra that your sins would be forgiven. And this is the way to achieve salvation. The Romans also had a pantheon of Gods which they worshiped and they called upon for different needs so if you needed something you call upon this God and if you needed something you called upon that God. Just as the Catholics if you lose something you pray to St Anthony, when you’re going travelling you pray to St Christopher, if you’re gonna do some art you pray to St Luke the patron saint of arts just as the Romans had their different Gods with different things. I say this is very similar. What my religion teaches me Catholicism is so similar to that. And it is only later when I began to study the issue I realized that in fact what happened was that Christianity had become paganised. That in fact there was no difference. The theology is exactly the same. That basic fundamental teachings that if you boil them down to what they are saying the paganism of the Romans and the Christianity of the Christians was very-very similar. Hardly different at all.
And that leads me now to the Coca-Cola Muslim generation.

48:50
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
Here is the whole text - I've done & corrected it all. Thanx everyone contributing to it! Alhamdullilah! It goes in two parts because of the site page size format:

Alhamdu llilah nahmaduhu w nastaa’inuhu wa nastag’firuhu w naa’uth bilahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayi’ati aa’malina, mai yahdihi Alahu fala modila lah wa man yudlel fala hadiya la wa a’ashhadu ana la ilaha ila Allah wa a’ashhadu anna muhamadan a’abduhu wa rasuluho bad. Khairo alhadithi kitabo Alah w khairo alhadi hadyu Muhamad sala Alahu Alaihi wa salam wa sharu alo’omori mohdathatuha wa kula muhdathaen bida’a wa kula bida’atin dalala wa kula dalalatin fi alnar
We begin by praising Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for his forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides there is none to misguide & whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray there is none to guide. And I testify and bear witness that Allah alone is worthy of worship and that Muhammad may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him is the servant of Allah and his final messenger. After that the best speech is the book of Allah and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of all the affairs are those matters that have been newly introduced into the religion. And every matter that is newly introduced into the religion of Islam is termed as a Bidaa or an innovation and all of the innovation are misguidance all of the misguidance is going astray and all the going astray is in the fire.
Here it is - Coca-Cola. What is this drink Coca-Cola. Lets read it. What does it say? Prepared and bottled by Coca-Cola. Untill there's given us the address that's nice. And it tells us the contents of this fantastic drink. the dynamic ribbon device and the contour bottle contains carbonated water. Carbonated water means fizzy water, water with gas in it. Gas. Sugar. Colour 1.50, food acid, flavorings and of course the modern replacement for the original ingredient which was cocaine is now caffeine. I mean it's very interesting because of course today's talk is not about coca-cola itself but it is about what Coca-cola symbolizes and what coca-cola stands for. Of course coca-cola symbolizes and stands for the American culture. The American culture. If there is one symbol we could say that identifies American culture it is coca-cola. And really it's increadibly appropriate that this drink symbolizes that culture. Because the coca-cola culture is a culture of materialism, it's a culture of consumerism, it's a culture that tells us that in order to enjoy life, in order to get the best out of life you should feed your passions and your desires and your appetites. That the way to be successful and the way to be happy is by surrounding yourself with the material possessions of the world. Buy this. Buy that. Have this. Have that. What you feel like - do it. What you feel like eating - eat it. The way you feel like behaving - behave like that. the things you feel like doing in life - do it. The God that is worshipped, the thing that is submit, the thing that the human being is to submit to and surrender to and obey are the passions and the desires. The "Nafs" what we call. The "Nafs". Al howa. The passions, the self, the desire. And this coca-cola symbolizes that pretty well. It symbolizes not only this attitude and this mentality and this philosophy of life it also gives us a pretty good idea of what is the real effect of living your life in that way. Because what does coca-cola do for you? You drink it, it gives you an immediate almost immediate response. The immediate response is a feeling of satisfaction, gratification and a boost of energy. This is what coca-cola does - you drink it, satisfaction, you get a boost of sugar from that, and a boost from the caffeine and probably a burp soon afterwards from the gas. But the reality is that very soon you follow a downward spiral. You follow a downward spiral. And soon after as you felt high you soon feel a low. And in order to try and reach that high again then you gonna take some more of this drink or some similar drink in order to reboost yourself. So in order to try and maintain yourself on this constant high then you are drinking more and more and taking more and more. And this is the reality of the person and the people who worship their desires and worship their passions and worship themselves. In fact it is illustrative of the whole manner in which Western society exists. Exactly that. there is no long lasting satisfaction. Satisfaction is temporarily, it is a temporary boost, a temporary moment of joy, it is followed by an equally low moment and in order to try and bring back that moment of happiness we consume more. We find more avenues in order to satisfy our desires but the reality is the passion and the desire can never be satisfied. This is a statement of fact about the human being. The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, said that if the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. If the son of Adam was give a valley of gold he would desire another one. Nothing will satisfy the desires of the sons and the daughters of Adam except the dust of the grave. Nothing is gonna satisfy our desires, the only time that our desires will end is when we are dead. So you see, a civilization if we can call it a civilization or a philosophy or ideology that teaches us that the way to be happy in life is by satisfying your passions and your desires by following your cravings, physical and emotional and ideological, that success in life is by surrounding yourself to material possessions. The reality is we know that this brings no long lasting satisfaction. We buy something nice we buy some new clothes, we get a new house, we get a new car, but how long does the joy and the pleasure of that last? A few hours, a few days, maybe a few years but before long we are craving for something more expensive, more beautiful, more fast. Faster. If our, we get our kicks from adrenalin that we try this sport and that sport but always we are looking for something that is gonna give us more of the adrenalin kick. Similarly some people satisfy their passions and their desires through sexual encounters - promiscuity, but there is no satisfaction because once you have tried everything then you need something else to excite you, you need something else to stimulate you so people go further and further down the road. Fetishes, orgies, same sex relationships, or it's not enough anymore that you have your own wife, you have to go and you have to enjoy yourself with another man's wife. That's how you have to get your kicks. Because this is the reality - you're never satisfied. It doesn't matter how much money you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how much fame and success you have - you want more, it doesn't matter how beautiful you are - you want to be more beautiful. This is the reality. So when we look at Western society what do we find? We find something pretty horrifying! We find the whole culture completely obsessed with consumerism. And what is the result and what is the consequence of that? What is the result and the consequence? The consequence is that we have a very minute portion of the world's population consuming a huge portion of its resources. 17%! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resources. 1/7! 17% of the world's population consumes 70% of its resources. We know that the rain forests are being destroyed; we know that our environment is being polluted; we know that there is starvation, that people are dying, people do not have basic sanitation. People do not have basic access to clean water, to food, to basic medical care. But where is this taking place? these things are taking place in the so-called third world. But if you look to this so-called third world you'll find something very strange. You'll find that these people are actually exporting food, the are exporting, although the people are dying they are exporting food, although they don't have sufficient medicines they are exporting the ingredients to make the medicines. They don't have sufficient resources to clothe themselves the people do not have clothes yet they are making clothes for other people. Where is this food being exported to? Where are these ingredients and these resources and these minerals being exported to? Where’re these clothes, these fashions - where are they being exported to? Who is consuming all of these things? The West, America, Australia, Europe. That's small percentage of the world's population. Controlling, consuming and exploiting the resources of the world. Why? Because of the way of life the coca-cola culture that teaches you that the way to enjoy your life is by following your passions and your desires and satisfying your base animalistic instincts. This is the reality. And in order for this society, this culture to continue to exist it is necessary that large portion of the world's population lives in poverty and is subjugated politically, economically and ideologically. Because the Western capitalist materialistic system depends on being able to exploit people. It depends on being able to acquire food and minerals and resources and labour at the most minimal cost and to be able to repackage it and resell it at the maximum cost. This is the reality of the coca-cola culture. This is the reality of materialistic philosophy that is now dominating the world in which we live. And the reality is that the Western world will stop ultimately at nothing. Wars, instigating wars, inventing wars, murdering people, bombing them, killing them - this is not really important in order to achieve the ultimate goal of dominating the world economically and politically and militarily. Why? As they say "to guard our precious way of life." That's what they say. That's what George Bush told us: "to guard our precious way of life." The precious way of life means that we are free to follow our passions and our desires, that the way to be happy is to have as many material goods as you can, and it doesn't really matter if the rest of the world suffers as long as we have "our precious way of life." that's the reality. So what has this got to do with the Muslims? Why therefore do we choose this title "the coca-cola Muslim generation." What is taking place here of course is a war. A conflict. Not a conflict mind you necessarily of arms and weapons. But it is an ideological conflict. It is a war of ideologies. It is a war of world views. It is a war, a battle concerning what is the nature of the human being. What is the purpose of life? Why are we here and what is the reason of our existence? And what is the means for the human being to achieve true success and true happiness? This is the war, this is the conflict that is taking place. So what we find is another world view. Another ideology. Another concept. And that is Islam. Islam teaches something quite different. Islam teaches that the way to success and happiness is not by acquiring material possessions. It is not through seeking to satisfy your passions and your desires and your lusts and following your whims and your inclinations. Rather the needs of the human being are quite different to that. Islam teaches that those who follow this path, who worship this God, because it is a type of God it is a type of deity when you worship your passions and your desires. it is a type of religion in reality, it's a type of worship, it's a type of deity. But this is a false God it's a false deity. Islam teaches that this is not the way through which human beings can achieve the real success because that is not the nature of a human being. Rather Islam teaches that there is the Creator, one God, who has brought this universe and everything into, and everything in it, he has brought it into existence for a reason and for a purpose. Everything has a purpose. Everything has a reason. And this begs the question. This begs the question. What is our purpose? What is the reason for our existence? Why are we here? What is the purpose of the existence of the human being? We have now discussed already something about the idea of the coca-cola culture. The materialistic viewpoint. But what does Islam say, what does the Quran say? The Quran teaches us that God has created us for a noble purpose. The Quran says: "Wama khalaqtu aljinna wal-insa illa liyaAAbudoon." this means that God is telling us in the Quran that he has created us to worship him. Some people say: "Is that it? I mean the purpose of my existence is just to worship God?" And that's because they have a very narrow concept of what worship means. They think of worship in the secular materialistic term that has been defined by the Western society. Worship means, may be you know you go to the Mosque five times a day or you go to the church once a week, you perform some rituals, you perform some acts - that is considered to be worship. However the term Ibada in Islam which we translate as worship has a very-very deep rich meaning. It is something much more than some mere formal actions that you perform. Worship in Islam is a total way of living. It is something that is supposed to occupy the human being throughout all of their life. From the moment they wake up till they go to sleep and in fact even whilst they are sleeping. Worship is supposed to occupy all of your life and how does it do that? How does worship occupy all of your life? If we'd if we look to the definition of the term Ibada and that is what God has created us for Ibada, what does it actually mean? The, the word Ibada can be, we can explain it as meaning everything which God loves and is pleased with. Everything which God loves, everything which God is pleased with is Ibada. Everything which God loves and everything which God is pleased with is worship Ibada or we don't need to use the word worship whilst just say "Ibada". Whether it is from the actions of the heart or the actions of the limbs. What are the actions of the heart, people think what is the action of the heart. Actions of the heart are things like love, hope, fear, reverential awe, trust, reliance, intension, sincerity. These are examples of actions of the heart. So you have to try to make every action of the heart an action that God loves and is pleased with. And actions of the limbs are things like, it well it like everything you perform with your limbs. It could be prayer, it could be fasting, it could be the relationship between a husband and his wife, it could be how you walk, how you talk, all of these things are actions of the limbs. So you try to make every action that you do an action that God loves and that God is pleased with. And it is in doing this that the human being, and it only in doing this that the human being finds real peace, tranquility, happiness and satisfaction. Only in this. Everything else is like the coca-cola. You drink it it will give you a quick buzz it will make you feel good for a short time but that is not gonna last long. In fact just as it made you feel good, soon it will make you feel bad. And in reality it will never ever satisfy you. It gives you the illusion temporarily of happiness. Anyone who has been addicted to drinking alcohol or has been addicted to smoking marihuana or taking drugs they will experience this on a more severe level. This is something that anyone who's been down that path knows. When you drink alcohol or when you smoke marihuana or whatever other thing it is you get a moment it may be in the case of heroin for example it may last 24 hours, in the case of smoking marihuana it may last it depends you know a few hours. You have a moment you have that time when you feel a sense of peace, you feel a sense of happiness, but the problem is - is it wears out. And the other problem is that in order to get back that feeling you have to take more and more and more, in fact it gets to a stage that it doesn't even affect you anymore. But you are now addicted, you are addicted to the habit and you continue even when you know that this is no longer bringing you any benefit at all but you are upon this path of almost self-destruction, you have reached, you have become an addict. And the fact that it doesn't seem to do anything for you in fact now even the feeling of happiness is gone, but you are down that path and it is almost impossible sometimes to leave it. This is the reality. So it may seem that people who do not worship God who do not follow that path of righteousness, who do not try to do everything that is pleasing to Allah, it may seem that they are happy. It may seem that they experience moments of happiness and you may see those moments of happiness. And you may think: "Oh! These are happy people, these people have a good life, they have a good quality of life. But this is only a temporarily outward appearance. In fact that if you observe the situation for long enough, and you observe it deeply enough, and you observe it critically enough you will see that that is not the case. you'll see that they do not stay happy for very long. An example of this that came to light recently in England is was that the minister for health made an announcement that many young women were beginning to drink excessively. It's a problem in England. Many young women were beginning to drink excessively especially what they call binge drinking. And they were worried because of one of the major effect so they could notice is that this was causing a great deal of liver damage. It was causing a great deal of liver damage. And interestingly enough I came across an article in a newspaper written by two young professional girls, well-off, good jobs, and they confessed that they were binge-drinkers. But the interesting thing was why, why they were binge drinking, what caused them to binge drink? They said that our life is so empty and boring. "Our life is so empty and boring. And we feel a state of depression. And the only thing that seems to bring a moment of release is unabated hedonism." Meaning just indulging in our passions and our desires and doing whatever we feel like and then for a moment we get a relief. It's what she said. It's what they were writing.

How is it that people who have good jobs, nice income, beautiful flat, house, things, they have all the food they want to eat, they are clothed with what they want to clothe themselves with. How do these people feel therefore empty and depressed? What is there? What is there for them to feel empty and depressed about? So if you look at this and this one case and you will find many cases like that you will find the same story again and again and again. One has to wonder why? Why do so many rock stars go on this path of self destruction? Drugs, drink, committing suicide, killing themselves in many different ways - if fame, beauty, money, is supposed to be the means to achieve happiness then these should be the most happy of all people. But that’s not the fact, that’s not the way it is, there’s something wrong. So that’s what I am saying. When you look at the issue deeply you’ll find that although these people appear on the outward surface to be happy to be enjoying themselves the reality is something quite different. That this way of living produces no real sense of satisfaction or happiness at all, it is very temporary. Sometimes some people can string enough moments and acquire enough things to make it appear as if they have happiness in their life but that is not the reality of that situation. Islam teaches that the way to be happy is completely different. It is as we have already mentioned through making your actions , actions that are beloved and pleasing to God this produces within the soul of the human being, within the depth of the human being a deep sense of well being and happiness and contentment and the person who has acquired this could be subjected to the most horrific types of physical and mental deprivation they could live in extremely poor conditions, they could be deprived of what we might think are basic necessities, yet you would find these people experience a state of bliss and happiness. In fact some of the, some of those Muslims and some of those people who have embarked upon this spiritual path if you want to call it have put themselves in a situations where they are deprived of many of the so-called physical necessities because they consider them to be in some respect an impediment, a barrier between them reaching that state of true bliss and true happiness that comes from being a complete and true worshipper of God. Now the thing is this. This way of life Islam on an ideological level therefore is a competitor, a threat, a danger to the materialistic consumer philosophy the Coca-Cola culture, why? Because in reality there is something very sick about this culture and the sick thing is that it actually depends and relies upon you being miserable for its existence. The Coca-Cola culture actually needs people to be unhappy, because unhappy people consume, unhappy people need to fill their miserable lives with fashion, music, the fantasy of Hollywood, drugs alcohol, sports. They, the miserable people, need to fill their miserable lives with all these trinkets and these things give them these moments of happiness so miserable people consume. That is the reality. It is not people who are deeply content and feel a deep sense of wellbeing and happiness internally. No. These people are not good consumers. These people don’t care whether they have this or they don’t have that, if they have it, they are happy, if they don’t have it, they are happy. It’s the same to them. This is actually the state that the Muslims should be. If we have material possessions we thank Allah and we are happy. If we don’t have it we still thank Allah and we are still happy. So how do you persuade people like that to consume? These are not the people who will be buying your products, buying your magazines, listening to your music, going and seeing your movies. They are not good consumers. Therefore the reality is that these people ideologically and in fact even economically they are a threat, because their whole culture and society relies upon people being miserable, depressed and discontented. So a way of life that is gonna give them peace and tranquillity and happiness and you don’t have to drink a bottle of Coca-Cola or go and watch Steven Segal kill a thousand Muslims to make you happy right? Ok? You don’t have to listen to some music or go to some rave and dance all night to make yourself feel good. You don’t have to go and buy some Gucci and Armani, you know, Pierre Cardin, Chanel #5, whatever, right? Because, you know, it doesn’t bother you. These people are not good consumers, in fact that is a direct ideological threat. It is a direct ideological threat. So what we have to realize here is that there is an ideological battle. Many of us we have, we haven’t as Muslims and non-Muslims as well, normal people we haven’t realized that. This is something however I am absolutely sure the intellectual elite of the western world have realized that and certainly the multinational corporations they realize that. They see that threat. And this is why Islam really poses a threat. It doesn’t pose a threat to the normal people living in the world, not at all. In fact quite the opposite. It is the means to human beings achieving true peace, true tranquillity and true happiness. But it is a threat to the vested interests of a few people. Not only that, but because Islam is not a religion that is based or is not a way of life or an ideology that is based in the material. Then even on a political and military level Islam becomes very difficult to deal with. What do you do with a people who don’t really care whether they live or die in fact they will be happy to die if dying is something that is pleasing to God. And then they are happy to do it, what do you do with a people like that? What do you do with a people who you can’t really bribe them because wealth is not their concern. You can’t threaten them with economic sanctions and so on and so forth because wealth is not their concern. Then you can see therefore that even though these people may not have the latest military hardware, they may not have the latest equipment but they are therefore militarily and politically also a great threat. And this ideology also, this mentality is a very liberating one. It is a very liberating one. It is something that gives people the courage and the conviction to stand up against Western political economical and ideological domination. It gives people the courage to stand up for themselves, not to worry so much about the consequences, because what is important to these individuals is not the pleasure of their desires and their passions, but the pleasure of their Lord.
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
Now, I want to go back in history a little bit. And I suppose this part of the lecture I have to say may be a little bit more orientated towards the Muslims. If we go back in history a bit we will find something very interesting. We’ll fine many things actually very interesting that took place, in fact it’s a sad thing that Muslims do not study history and do not learn the lessons of history. But the particular thing that I want to focus today is on the spread of Christianity. Christianity started as a small we could say sect, insha Allah as we Muslims believe anyway it as a true sect, a small sect in Judea or what is now known Israel or Palestine, but at the time it was Judea occupied at that time by the Roman empire. There was a man, a prophet as we believe, he is a prophet and a man and he is not God or the son of God. His name is Jesus or Isa ibn Miriam, Jesus the son of Mary who was the messiah to the Jews, “the messiah” meaning the anointed one. He came to call them back to the true pure religion of God, that they should worship God alone and submit to his commands. Today we have a religion called Christianity which according to many western scholars and certainly this is affirmed by the Quran, does not resemble in any way, shape or form what Jesus or Isa ibn Miriam taught. It is a completely different religion. It doesn’t teach that we should worship God and submit to his commandments rather it teaches that we should worship Jesus that we should believe that he is God and that salvation comes by believing that he died on the cross for our sins. Anyway it’s not my proposal today or my intention today to go into a long theological and historical discussion about that, but anyone who has the time and takes the interest will find something very remarkable. You will know that in the year 345 a pagan Roman emperor called Constantine held a council in a city called Nicea which is in present day Turkey, it’s the famous council of Nicea which took place in about 345 years after the time of Jesus. In this council, convened by a pagan Roman emperor the bishops or some selected bishops of Christianity were forced and compelled to come to a decision about what is the creed and what is the belief and what is the scripture upon which the whole of the Christians should unite upon. Why would a pagan Roman emperor living 1400 years, living in that time nearly 2000 years ago, why would he do that, a pagan Roman emperor? Why, because Christianity was a very-very-very powerful force in the Roman Empire at the time. Constantine realized that as long as the Christians were disunited and arguing and bickering with one another, then the strength and the power of his empire was going to be sacked. So his idea was to now to unite the Christians upon a single doctrine. What happened to come out of that council was for the first time Christians were actually forced to believe a particular doctrine. This became known as the Athanasius creed and that is what we know today as the concept of the trinity, that Jesus is God and that he is of one essence with God, and from this council also the so-called four canonical Gospels were chosen. But what actually happened? Rome became the centre of Christianity, in fact it became known as the Holly Roman Empire. But what really took place? And this is the interesting thing. Is it really that Christianity took over the Roman Empire or is it that Roman Empire Romanized Christianity? In other words – was it Christianity that took over or was it really the Roman Empire that took over Christianity? If you look at it you’ll find it is that the Roman Empire had more of the influence on Christianity than the original teachings that Jesus had over Roman Empire. In fact I remember when I was being brought up a Catholic, and I was studying Roman and Greek mythology, I remember thinking as I was studying it. This is amazingly similar to what I believe as a catholic. The Romans had a trinity of Gods. Sertanilias, Sol Inviticus and Mithra. Mithra was the son of God, and he was God and he was the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world and he was born on the 25th of December. It was belived that by Mithra or by being a devotee of Mithra that your sins would be forgiven. And this is the way to achieve salvation. The Romans also had a pantheon of Gods which they worshiped and they called upon for different needs so if you needed something you call upon this God and if you needed something you called upon that God. Just as the Catholics if you lose something you pray to St Anthony, when you’re going travelling you pray to St Christopher, if you’re gonna do some art you pray to St Luke the patron saint of arts just as the Romans had their different Gods with different things. I say this is very similar. What my religion teaches me Catholicism is so similar to that. And it is only later when I began to study the issue I realized that in fact what happened was that Christianity had become paganised. That in fact there was no difference. The theology is exactly the same. That basic fundamental teachings that if you boil them down to what they are saying the paganism of the Romans and the Christianity of the Christians was very-very similar. Hardly different at all.
And that leads me now to the Coca-Cola Muslim generation. Because we have heard people say Mash Allah! It’s difficult to translate I wouldn’t bother to translate Mash Allah! Mash Allah! You see even though what happened on the eleventh of September was very bad but you see many people now have become Muslim. It’s true! There has been an incredible number of conversions and I’ve seen this myself in England and I’ve heard it reported from America that many people have come to Islam after the eleventh of September. Why? Because it, it led them to research into Islam, to read the Quran, to look about to what Islam is teaching. And then they realized: “This is not what these people are saying it is. This is not the religion of terror and war.” People realized that this is the truth. This is from God. So they embraced Islam. But when I stood back and I analyzed and I looked at what is going on and I looked at the statements of many Muslim, Muslim leaders and Muslim scholars. And I looked also at the position and attitudes of many Muslim leaders and many Muslim countries, then a thought came to me: are we actually seeing the people of the West coming to Islam, or are we actually observing the westernization of Islam? Is it that the people are becoming Muslim? Or is it that Islam is becoming westernized? Is it really that we have growing up amongst us Muslims? Upon Islam or is it as we call it: the Coca-Cola Muslim generation. In other words: they say they are Muslims. They outwardly profess Islam. They say they believe in the Qura’an. They pray maybe even 5 times a day. They fast the month of Ramadan. They give the Zakah. But, and this is the BUT: when you start to examine their attitudes, their beliefs, their motivations. You will find what has taken place is a mixture: they have taken some of this, and they have taken some of that. Are they really now motivated by seeking the pleasure of Allah? That to make every action and action that Allah loves and is pleased with? Or are they now trying to make a compromise? Trying to find a compromise? How can we say we are Muslims and then still be consumers? How can we still now run after the things of this world? And this I believe -brother and sisters- is exactly the disease that is taking place amongst the Muslims now. And it is a disease that the ideological competitors are very, very happy to propagate it and to spread it. And that is why they have now divided us into two groups: you have the moderate Muslim, and the fundamentalist Muslim. You see, we don’t have a problem with the moderate Muslim; they’re OK because, the moderate Muslims are the Coca-Cola Muslims. The Coca-Cola Muslims, they say we’re Muslim, we pray, but we are happy to accept the concepts of democracy. We’re happy to accept the concepts of the unity of the religions. We’re happy to say that polygamy is an outdated thing and it is not for these days, we’re happy to follow all these ideas and now we are going to liberate women – and we are now going to according to what they say is “liberation of women” that’s another topic anyway. We’re happy to take interest and take mortgages and get insurance and enjoy music and movies and you know, Coca-Cola Muslims. And the others are: the fundamentalists. What do you mean the fundamentalists? If you really look at it and examine it, these so-called fundamentalists –and there is no doubt there are people who are extremists amongst them-. There are people who go beyond the bounds of what Islam allows. There are people who commit acts in the name of Islam, and it is not from Islam. I’m not trying to justify any of that so you have to understand what I’m saying here. But this group that is termed the fundamentalists, what is the real objection? If you go down and you look and you examine, what is really taking place, what is the problem with these fundamentalists? What do they say? They say: Islam is a whole way of life. We have to be real Muslims. We have to establish Islam in our family life, our personal life, our family life, our political life, our economic life. Being a Muslim is not only about praying five times a day. But it is about accepting everything in the Qur’an. That we have to try make everything we do, and everything we think and everything we say something that Allah loves and is pleased with. And that includes the laws and the rules by which we live: criminal law, family law, international law, all of these things are covered in Islam. The Qur’an teaches all of these things because Islam is a whole way of life. Now these are the ones now that are considered now to be dangerous. The fundamentalists. These are the ones that they realize are the real ideological competitors. The so-called fundamentalist Islam. Because the reality is the Coca-Cola Muslims are the ones they have really, it’s not so much that they have brought Islam to the West that Islam has that the West has westernized them, and now you find a new westernized version of Islam coming out. And this is something you find very wide spread, even people who might say I’m a fundamentalist Muslim, you’ll find often they are very deeply affected by the ideas of the Western society. In fact I dare say, to be completely honest, if you ask me, I probably I have a bit of Coca-Cola Muslim in me as well! No, I’m serious. I’ll be honest about myself. I actually thought when I’m giving this talk: is it fair? Many of the things I might criticize people for, maybe I have some faults myself. Maybe there are some things I enjoy. In fact I’ll be quite frank there are many things that I enjoy about the Western life. And maybe that’s not entirely good, not that those things you can’t enjoy them. In Islam - Alhamdulillah - it is a beautiful religion, it’s a balanced religion; you can enjoy the beautiful things of life. You can enjoy the beautiful things. You can enjoy the goods and the things of this world, you are permitted to do that. You can have a nice car. You can drink Coca-Cola. It is not actually haram, forbidden to drink Coca-Cola. You can wear Nike shoes, you can do it. You can wear Wrangler jeans if you want to. It is not forbidden. It’s not forbidden. But the point is this, and it goes back to what I mentioned. Is that this is not that we believe is the source of our happiness in life. In other words: if I have it that’s fine, if I don’t have it, that’s also fine. If I have the nice car, well - Alhamdulillah - I thank Allah and I praise him, and if I don’t have it I still thank Allah and I praise him and I’m content. But the reality is brothers and sisters, with most of the Muslims today that is not our condition. That is not our condition. If we don’t have that nice car we are not happy, if we don’t have our house that we own it we are not happy, if we don’t have that good income coming in we are not happy, if we don’t have those nice clothes we are not happy and this is the real sign that we have been overtaken ideologically. And this is the condition – brothers and sisters- in which we find ourselves. And this is something actually that the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, he prophesized, he warned about it, he mentioned. He said that the thing that he feared most for this nation for this umma was that Allah would open up the doors of material possessions and open up the doors of goodness meaning the material thing and that because of it we would vie with one another, compete with one another, not for the pleasure of Allah, but in order to acquire those things. In fact the prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) said and he prophesized something that we find taking place today, he said: soon the nations will gather together to take from you in the same way that you invite people to come and share in a feast. So the companions said: Oh messenger of God, is that because we are small in number, is that ‘cause we are few? ‘cause they imagined that the only way the enemies couldn’t come to take our lands and take our possessions and take our things ‘cause we are too few to defend ourselves. This is how the companions imagined. We must be so few and our numbers must be so small we couldn’t defend ourselves. But the prophet s.a.a.s said: No. he said: you will be many, like the foam on the sea. Like this foam you will be so many. But you will be like the rubbish that is carried down by the flood meaning your numbers will be many but you will be rubbish, you’ll be really of low quality. And then he said: and Allah will take the fear of you from the hearts of your enemies meaning your enemies won’t be afraid of you anymore, and into your hearts He will cast wahn. So the companions said: O’ messenger of Allah, what is wahn? And the prophet s.a.a.s said: hubba dunya wo cariatemout - love of the world, love of life and fear of death. Meaning as we can see as today we are 1.6 billion Muslims on the face of the earth. It is now the largest religion in the world. One in five people on the earth surface is now a Muslim. Like the foam on the sea. Yet what do we find? What do we find? We find that our enemies have made our lands a feast for themselves. They help themselves to our oil, to our resources. They control us politically, they control us economically. In fact probably we could even say they are now very beginning to control us ideologically as well. Why? Why? Because in reality we have become like them. We have given in and we have begun to follow their way of life. We now begin to love the life and we look forward to the life, and we enjoy the life and we now begin to think that this life is the be all and the end all and this is where the pleasure lies and this is where the happiness lies. This is the condition exactly in which we find ourselves. Whereas the reality is of course hat this world is a very temporary abode. Our stay upon this planet, our stay in this life is very, very short. And the life to come in reality is the one that is enduring and the one that is long. So I wrote down a few things that I thought was symptomatic. Some of the things that we can see. Some of the qualities that we have, that are a whole mark of what we call a Coca-Cola Muslim. One of the things I thought I wanted to do right. I shall not gonna do it. I was gonna shake this bottle of coca really, oh yes, now I was gonna open it and I think you all know what happens when you shake up the bottle of Coke and you open it, right? You know what happens, pshh, it goes everywhere. All the coke spills out and you have about this much left. And it’s all over your clothes and it’s very sticky and it’s pretty horrible. And then all you have is a little bit of flat really pretty revolting liquid left at the bottom. That’s the first problem. We Muslims are like that. Someone comes along. He gives a nice talk, he gives a lecture. He gives a soul-stirring inspirational, you know, lecture and everyone gets all excited and they get all excited and they get all excited and then pshhh like that. And then three days later, three months later or whatever what’s left? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing of any benefit. Nothing that even tastes nice. And that’s how we’ve become, just like the people in the West. That’s how they get. You know they get all emotional: live 8, band 8, you know, help to this help to that get them all emotional, Simpson songs, this and that - oooh – like that you know whatever three weeks later they’ve forgotten it. What’s the next thing, what’s the next piece of news, what’s the next thing. They Forgot. Nothing permanent. You know, we get all emotional we get I’m gonna change environment, we gotta do something we gotta you know we gotta make world green again. And we get excited for a few days and we put a few cans in the recycling bin and that’s it man we give up. Yeah, this is how it is. So we always now have to bring new adverts and new campaigns, the new things and it’s just like that coke - you shake it, shake it, shake it wshhh!!! But what’s left? The Muslims have become just like that: emotional. We react to everything emotionally. We react to everything emotionally. And unfortunately, sometimes that emotional reaction is extremely violent, but this is not the way of Islam. This is not the way of Islam. The Muslim is not supposed to be emotional. The Muslim is supposed to be guided by the book of Allah, by the sayings of the prophet Muhammad s.a.a.s. Emotion does not really come into it. We are only seeking what is pleasing to Allah. Maybe we have to be subjected to many trials and many tests and many tribulations. But if we are supposed to be patient –and that’s what Allah wants- we will be patient. If we are supposed to resist then we resist. But it’s according to what Allah teaches and the way that Allah teaches it. But that’s not how we are, brothers and sisters. We are people become emotional people. And that’s the fact I’m sure all of you know. When they put, when they put Bosnia in the news – oh, we all raise up money for Bosnia and we drove I don’t know in Europe people drove trucks and convoys in Bosnia. They still are having lots of problems in Bosnia but no one cares any more. Because now, and then it was Kosovo, and then Kosovo is on the news and we all react to that and then it was Chechnya and so we reacted to that and then it was and then, and that’s how whatever they put then in front of us we react. This is emotion. This is not the way a Muslim is supposed to be. And this is to do with our great lack of knowledge and our deep insight. We have really become so ignorant even about our religion. That’s one of the first problems. And I must add I’m just picking some things here. Another thing, I’m sure you all relate to this is marriage. Our idea of marriage, what do we think marriage is? I put a little quiz at the back I’m gonna mention it quickly, right, are you a Coca-Cola Muslim? So I mention that at the end are you a Coca-Cola Muslim? In fact let’s, let’s, let’s go through the, let’s go through the questionnaire so you can all like see now whether you are a Coca-Cola Muslim, right? Number one, question number one, to see if you are a Coca-Cola Muslim, right, number one question: does your iman, your iman means, again that would be another lecture, I’m not gonna say well, the Muslims anyway know what Iman is, we loosely translate it as faith. Does your iman go very high and very low and very high and very low? That’s the first question. Does your iman go up and down up and down a lot like that. Is that what you find? Does your faith go up and down? If it is yes, then it is one point for being a Coca-Cola Muslim, right? Number two. Number two. This is not in order of priority by the way. Do you think a man should only have one wife? Not in order of priority. If you think a man should have only one wife put a tick for being a Coca-Cola Muslim. Do you think of marriage as a match held together by love, or a working relationship trying to build a better Muslim nation? If you think that marriage is a lovey-dovey, you know Hollywood-Bolywood affair, then put a big tick for you being a Hollywood, a Hollywood Muslim, a Coca-Cola Muslim. Number three, number three. Are you planning to have two or three kids at the most and give them the best, or are you hoping for a football team? If you are hoping to have, if you are planning to have one or two kids and give them the best you are definitely in the Coca-Cola Muslim league. Absolutely, that’s a big sign of being a Coca-Cola Muslim conquered by the west ideologically. When you hear a speaker, when you hear a speaker, a lecturer and you like what he says, do you want to get his autograph? If it is yes – a Coca-Cola Muslim, another point for being a coca-cola Muslim. Do you prefer to get your knowledge from audio tapes and videos, or do you think that or do you try to sit with a scholar and memorize and study? If the only way you get your knowledge is by videos and tapes then definitely another point for coca-cola Muslim. Are you a member of Blockbuster, Movie land or any other video store? If, if you are, a tick that’s another point for being a coca-cola Muslim. Do you wait for the latest J Lo, M&M, or whatever other music CD? Or do you wait for the Islamic, latest Islamic books or both? If you wait for the latest J Lo, M&M and music CDs forget it, you are not even in the Muslim league right now insha Allah you’re still a Muslim anyway, you are still a Muslim but that’s not good you have to get two points for being a coca-cola Muslim there. If, if the latest Islamic books then ok no problem, if it’s both, definitely one point to being a Coca-Cola Muslim ‘cause that’s the Coca-Cola Muslim they take a bit of this and they take a bit of that. So if it’s both then you get to give yourself a tick. Do you spend more time reading Vogue, Hot 4, did you say it that’s the fast car magazine they told me; Cleo, Dolly or any other hobby or theme that interests you, so do you spend more time reading that or do you spend, or watching I can’t say it Footie, I have to say it Foodie, yeah? Yeah, that’s right, Foodie. We’d say in English footy. So what do you spend more time doing? Do you spend more time reading those magazines and pursuing your hobbies or watching Foodie, or do you spend more time reading the Qur’an and studying books of Islamic knowledge? If you spend more time with the hobbies, more time I’m not saying hobbies are haram, maybe you spend more time then you have to put a tick the Coca-Cola Muslim. And the other one is, would you prefer to take a mortgage or be content with rent? If you wonna take a mortgage definitely brothers & sisters you have to give yourself 5, 10, 15 ticks for being a Coca-Cola Muslim. So anyway insha Allah that was my brief guide to whether you are a coca-cola Muslim or not Insha Allah. I hope all of us did not score too many points in that regard. I won’t tell you what my score was! But insha Allah we hope Allah subhana wata alla guides all of us to what is best for us. Although we left it on a light hearted note, of course –brothers and sisters- the talk has a very serious note to it and a very serious tone to it. So brothers and sisters this is something although we made it ligh-hearted at the end, please, something that we should really think about and we should really reflect about because at the end of the day this is about our akhirah. It’s not only about our akhirahm about whether our destination is the place of joy or the place of torment. The place of bliss or the place of misery. But it is also about the real condition of our hearts and our souls in this life. Will we be from those people who are really happy, really content, really peaceful or are we just gonna be those people who experience some fleeting moments of joy, but in reality our life is just a downward spiral of misery where we consume more and more and self destruct ourselves, and self-destruct our societies and self-destruct our world. And we seek refuge with Allah from that. May peace and blessing of Allah be upon the prophet, his family and his companions.
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Assalamu aleekom wa rahmatu allahi wa barakatoho.
 

Omar (ex Andrey)

toLive&DieForAllah!
The subtitle programme

Salam Alleykum brothers and sisters!

I've found the programme that is very handy in applying subtitles to a video

Subtitle Workshop 4.0 Beta 4

go & download it at http://www.softpedia.com/progDownload/Subtitle-Workshop-Download-5315.html

But it doesn't work with flv formats. You need to convert it into avi or mpeg. go & download the convertor programme at http://www.onlyfreewares.com/Audio-Video/Video-Converters/Free-FLV-to-AVI-Converter.php

Oh, and the last thing - how are you going to get the original video into your computer? Go to http://www.sgrab.ru & place into the central window this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-lZ7BDrqAs&feature=related

There will appear a window with the file to download, once it's done rename it into cocacola_muslims.flv (or any other name you wish) & convert it into avi or mpeg with the programme mentioned above.

Salam Alleykum,

Omar

P.S.: To system administrators of this site: How many posts do I need to have to be able to attach files here - I mean it would be much more convenient if our brothers and sisters could download all these files (including the lecture) from here without going to these addresses...
 
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