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Finding Resilience Beyond the Illusion of Power | Lecture by Dr. Omar Suleiman
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Finding Resilience Beyond the Illusion of Power | Lecture by Dr. Omar Suleiman
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Finding Resilience Beyond the Illusion of Power | Lecture by Dr. Omar Suleiman

Preparing for Ramadan - Making the most in Shaban | Lecture by Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy

Preparing for Ramadan - Making the most in Shaban | Lecture by Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy

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How to Reinvent Yourself This Ramadan | Dr. Omar Suleiman

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Khatm al-Quran Du’a 2026 by Dr. Omar Suleiman

Khatm al-Quran Du’a 2026 by Dr. Omar Suleiman

SeriesPolitics & Practical TheologySocial Justice

Lecture

Finding Resilience Beyond the Illusion of Power | Lecture by Dr. Omar Suleiman

What does it mean to choose faith over worldly power? In this inspiring lecture, Dr. Omar Suleiman uncovers how true strength and resilience emerge amidst deviant mindsets and flawed systems. Reflect on the powerful journeys of Prophet Musa (AS) and Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who found unparalleled resilience by turning away from worldly power and relying on Allah alone.

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
00:01Dear brothers and sisters, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns not just about sins in the Qur'an,
00:10but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala often speaks to the vulnerabilities that create opportunities for that sin to find room in the heart in the first place.
00:22Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us in the Qur'an not just about deviant ways of thinking in the Qur'an,
00:31but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us about the mindset that precedes a deviant way of thinking in the nations that came before us.
00:44I want to begin, before interrogating the systems of the world that have led to the oppression of our brothers and sisters far and near,
00:57before I speak about how our community demonstrates resilience with the uncertainty that is in the air,
01:05I want to speak about the very simple reminders that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us in the Qur'an to not succumb to certain mindsets of defeat.
01:17In Surah Al-Baqarah, as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks to Bani Israel, and then speaks to the community immediately following Bani Israel,
01:28which is our community, the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions,
01:35وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لَا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَن نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلَا تَنْفَعُهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ
01:47That beware of a day when no human being will be able to benefit another human being. And no intercession will be worth anything.
02:01And no ransom will be paid. And a person will not be helped.
02:07Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks to the mindset of a loser who doesn't just embrace their own failure, but actually in the process of embracing their own failure,
02:23relies upon failed mechanisms of power to get them out of the holes that they dig themselves into. What do I mean by that? When a person is not accountable for their own sins,
02:37they tend to fall deep into those sins and then call upon the same people that warned them about falling into those sins to save them and pull them out.
02:48When a person fails to hold themselves accountable in terms of building a sense of independence from the creation,
02:59in terms of putting forth the efforts that are required for success, they tend to always rely upon who they know to get them out of their situations
03:14instead of coming to know what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has put within them of potential, of strength.
03:22Weak-minded people seek power from other weak-minded people who pose as being powerful.
03:31I want you to take for example those that were the magicians of Fir'aun. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions to us the conversation that preceded the momentous occasion
03:45where they stood before Musa alayhi salam and they carried out the orders of the pharaoh. And there is deep wisdom in every single word that is said to represent the mindset that preceded the moment.
04:00Where Fir'aun knows that this group of people seeks access to power as the greatest threshold, the greatest measure of their success.
04:13And so when they ask him, will there be ajr, will there be compensation, should they carry out these orders? He responds to them and says, not only will there be compensation, but he will say,
04:27وَإِنَّكُمْ لَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ You will be amongst those who are brought near to me. I will give you access to power. Cast that into what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us of,
04:42of becoming too dependent on the idea of someone else saving you, of someone else being able to ransom you, and of someone else being able to intercede for you, access, compensation.
04:54We always fall back on these things until we learn to fall back into our sujood, into our prostration to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and into the source of all power, al-Qadir al-Qadir al-Muqtadir subhanah.
05:09And so he promises them that I'll bring you close, I'll give you access to me, you'll be brought near to me. And in the moments that they realize that the sorcery that they were under,
05:25the sorcery that they would practice, the lie that they used to sell to people, was now laid bare in the staff of Musa alayhi salam.
05:36In that moment, not only did they realize that the structure of power that they were deriving their purpose and their meaning from was actually meaningless,
05:48but that their truest sense of self-fulfillment was going to be found in submission to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who they were just introduced to in those moments with the staff of Musa alayhi salam.
06:02And suddenly these magicians, whose eyes lit up at the idea of being muqarrabin, being brought near to the pharaoh,
06:12threw themselves into sajda, threw themselves into prostration, and said, amanna bi rabbi Musa. We believe in the Lord of Moses. We believe in the Lord of the pharaoh.
06:25We believe in Rabb al-Alamin. We believe in the Lord of the worlds. And I want you to think about the image, think about the change, not just of the spiritual state, but think of the change of the mindset.
06:36If you were to see these cronies in a palace the day before with pharaoh, when he says, wa innakum lamina al-muqarrabin, what a pathetic state they were in. Their eyes lit up, we're in.
06:50If they could take selfies with the pharaoh, they would have taken selfies with the pharaoh. We're in. Did you hear that guys? We're close to him. We're good now. We have power, we have purpose.
07:01And anyone that actually has a brain, that actually has a conscience, would look at them from the outside. If you were watching them in a movie, and you watch reenactments of the pharaoh and those that are around him,
07:13not connecting the dots to the modern day pharaohs and those that are around them, the cronies that are around them.
07:21You watch them and you say, how pathetic their glazed eyes at a human being that is just as lowly as them.
07:31And then the next day, that moment where they're on the ground, their faces in prostration to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
07:39Knowing that not only have they disqualified themselves in the process, from nearness to power, but they have earned themselves death.
07:49These were the same people that used to watch pharaoh, tear his opponents apart, burn them and carry out the cruelest forms of punishment against them.
07:59These were the same people that gave pharaoh a certain level of credibility to be able to carry out those types of crimes. But now look at them, with their faces on the ground in prostration.
08:13And you tell me if you're watching that movie, where power really is. Pharaoh said, The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said,
08:33The closest that a person is to his Lord is when he's in a state of prostration.
08:40Do you understand that in a moment, these people who found their greatest joy and pleasure in being brought near to a tyrant,
08:51found their greatest sense of meaning and purpose in being brought near to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in that state of sajda, and they went from being magicians to martyrs in a day. What happens?
09:05A spiritual state changed, and in the process of that spiritual state changing, a mindset changed as well. Because you can't claim, just like you can't say that iman only changes the hearts.
09:20And it doesn't manifest in the deeds. You can't say that you've spiritually been transformed if your mindset hasn't been transformed as well.
09:31Let's bring it back to the seerah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and to our own lives, the moments in history that we are living right now.
09:40The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam had access to power before prophethood.
09:48The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, at the age of 39 years old, could walk up to any door in Makkah. Listen very carefully. Could walk to the door of Abu al-Hakam, who we know as Abu Jahl.
10:01Could walk to the door of his uncle Abu Lahab, who loved him so much that he had two of his sons engaged to two of his daughters. He could walk to the door of Umayyah.
10:13He could walk to the door of the most powerful people in Makkah. And he would be welcomed with open arms. He would be given red carpet treatment.
10:23Not because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam sold his soul to spiritually diseased Makkah, but because he won them over with his character sallallahu alayhi wasallam,
10:35before he was even known as the Prophet of Allah. He could have knocked on any door. He had access to that power. He would have been welcomed. And the moment that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made him a Prophet,
10:48Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala divorced him from that power. Those doors were shut. And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had to learn a lesson,
10:59that was first expressed to him through Waraqah ibn Nawfal (رضي الله عنه), who's read the script before, because he knew the scripture before,
11:11that no one has come with this type of a message before you, except that their people ran them out. Except that the same doors of power that were given to them would run them out. And there's a parallel to Musa alayhi salam.
11:24Musa was raised in the palace of Fir'aun. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was raised in part by the same people that were trying to kill him after he said that, I am the Prophet of Allah.
11:37He had to learn how to be divorced from power. He had to learn sallallahu alayhi wasallam how to be divorced from comfort. He lost the emotional support in Khadijah (رضي الله عنها),
11:51and there is no way to overestimate what that emotional support meant to him sallallahu alayhi wasallam, from our blessed beloved mother Khadijah. May Allah be pleased with her.
12:03We cannot, we cannot say enough about what that emotional support meant to him. But he had to learn sallallahu alayhi wasallam how to find his emotional resilience in something other than Khadijah (رضي الله عنها).
12:17He had to learn sallallahu alayhi wasallam how to find his protection in something other than Abu Talib. The process of prophethood, of the greatest human being sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the greatest of Allah's creation,
12:31was one of growth and greatness. And the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam found his strength in his prayer,
12:44learned to find his strength in the revelation that once caused him trepidation. He found his strength sallallahu alayhi wasallam in these things,
12:55and his community also found that strength. You see, if you're watching the beginning of the film, who wouldn't wish that when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
13:08stood on Safa the first time, his uncle wouldn't have cursed him, that the people would have said, we know you're a sadiq al-amin, we will support you with our power, we are with you.
13:22Who wouldn't wish if you're watching the opening scene, that the opening scene plays out differently. But when it's all said and done,
13:31the divorce from power that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam had to undergo, the embrace of being an oppressed group of people,
13:43allowed for a resilience to be born through the complete reliance upon revelation, that would lead to a different way of power
13:55when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam eventually assumes that type of power. That would lead to a certain humility, to a certain integrity by those same people that were once dragged through the streets of Mecca,
14:09when they now had the places of power in Mecca and beyond Mecca. It built character in them. It built faith in them. It taught them something else. It taught them that there was a different way.
14:23You see, in a tribal society, it's all about who you know. It's all about your connection. Bring it forward to where we are right now.
14:38There's something deeply profound about being known as the outsider. There's something deeply profound about being the usual scapegoat.
14:52There's something deeply profound about knowing that you are hated by the powers that be. There's something deeply profound
15:05about embracing the stranger status. About being told very openly that you're not welcome to the table. That you are in fact on the menu.
15:18Because Gaza is us. And any Muslim with an ounce of iman sees the people of Gaza being slaughtered as their own children, as their own people. We are on the menu. We are the outsider.
15:32We are being killed. We are being massacred in Gaza. Not somebody else. There's something deeply profound about the alienation that we have felt in this last year and a half.
15:45And you know what? Perhaps it will unlock a different type of power inside of us. I want you to pay attention, dear brothers and sisters.
15:59If in the effort to be welcomed by the power structures, we were told, don't say too much about Palestine, because it's too early
16:12and that's going to disqualify you. Don't worry. One day. If we were told, in an effort to be brought near, that don't say anything about your political prisoners
16:26that are being thrown into the dungeons in Georgia or Gitmo, the CIA prisons abroad or the intimidation of the FBI domestically. If we're being told, don't say too much
16:39because that's going to disqualify you. Don't say too much because that's going to divorce you from power. Then to hell with that power. Or that perception of power.
16:53If that's what power is supposed to be, we shouldn't want that power. If that's what dignity is supposed to be, we shouldn't want that dignity. If power means forsaking the powerless of your community,
17:07and subhanallah, what a moment. We're in the same moments that we saw people crawl out of the dungeons in Syria under a tyrant of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad.
17:21We saw Mufid Abdelkader, one of the neglected HLF-5, come out of a dungeon after 16 years, wearing a jumpsuit, a prison jumpsuit,
17:34with a smile on his face. The same smile that we knew him by. But definitely with trauma etched into his psyche. And I want you to know, because we know that the Islamophobes are here,
17:48we know that the Zionists are here, we know that they will report on this conference, we will not forsake the HLF. We will not forsake Aafia Siddiqui. We don't want your approval.
18:01We don't care about your hit pieces. We don't care what you say. Power is in the smile of resilience of Mufid when he walked out after 16 years of trying to break that man's spirit. Power is in the smile of Khalid Nabhan,
18:15ruh al-ruh, who could even smile after being martyred. Power is in finding that power in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Power is in that qurb, in that closeness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guarantees us.
18:29Power is in the character that's being built. That doesn't mean, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be strategic. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be smart. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try
18:42to build institutional power. That just means that we need to keep in perspective what actual power is. Because the pursuit of false power is the pursuit of a false god.
18:56The pursuit of false power is the pursuit of a false ideal. The pursuit of false power is in fact weakness. And if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
19:08teaches us through these moments of estrangement, these moments of alienation, to unlock something deep within ourselves, as an American Muslim community, to where it doesn't matter
19:20who's in the suit in the White House. We know who we are. It doesn't matter who's threatening us. We know who we are. It doesn't matter if they're smiling at us, while still killing our brothers and sisters,
19:34or telling us that they hate us while killing our brothers and sisters. We love ourselves enough, we love our religion enough, we see closeness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala enough, to where we still know where our source of power is,
19:47where our source of dignity is. Dear brothers and sisters, take the moment. I say this in conclusion and my time is up. Oftentimes when you look at the incidents of the seerah, you realize now in retrospect
20:02that those moments of devastation unlocked a different type of greatness. We grieve at Uhud, when we stand there, and we know that we are over the bodies
20:16of those that were mutilated, of the greatest people to ever walk the face of the earth, the greatest generation to ever walk. But you know what? Let's ask ourselves,
20:28how would Khandaq have played out if the Muslims won Uhud? If Uhud went like Badr, and then they came back for Khandaq, to try to finish off the job and carry out a genocide,
20:42would the Muslims have had the exact same mentality? Would the Muslims have been as resilient as they were in Khandaq, had they not suffered the defeat at Uhud?
20:54Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is teaching us. We just have to embrace the status that's been given to us, because that status is Muslim. Muslim in heart, Muslim in our mindset,
21:08Muslim in our actions individually and institutionally. No matter what the world around us looks like, we still enter and engage that world as Muslims. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us as such. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran.
21:22Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. For more information, visit www.fema.org

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