Reflection on Sharia Law Ban and History

Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Sayyidina Muhammad

wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.

About events that I remember

because I was an adult when they happened.

And that was question 755.

When the state of Oklahoma voted in a referendum

to amend the constitution to ban Sharia law.

What does that mean? I don't know.

And yet the voters banned it anyway.

What I offer today is just a reflection

on the American history that runs through this state.

You all sitting in this room,

in this town.

We're sitting in a space,

in a time when I don't have to

tell you that the same exact forces

that drove native peoples from their land two centuries ago,

destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago,

bombed a building decades ago,

and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago,

that those forces are alive and well today.

We see it in conversations across our country.

People who fear what offering basic access to the ballot,

a democratic tradition in this country,

might mean for their sense of power.

And so have turned their backs on democracy to begin with.

We see it in discussions that tell us that

we cannot talk about the history of racism

that I just mentioned.

We can't mention those things, they're too divisive.

Let alone the attitudes that created them in the first place.

They tell us that we can't look back,

we just have to look forward.

Because they want us to forget everything that came before.

It's tempting in a moment like this to

believe that the worst is behind us.

But it's tempting to believe that those things are in the past.

But they say those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.

Tonight we're here to support an organization

dedicated to the civil liberties and civil rights of Muslim Americans.

But I don't want to press you,

I want to press us.

Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells us in the Qur'an Kareem,

He tells us,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا O you who believe!

كُونُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِاللَّهِ شُهَدَاءِ لِلْقِسْطِ

وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآءَنُ قَوْمٍ عَلَىٰ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا

إِعْدِلُوا هُوَ أَقْرَبُ لِلتَّقْوَى O you who believe!

Stand firm with God!

Be witnesses to justice.

And do not allow the hatred that other people

have for you to keep you from doing justice.

Do justice!

That is closest to consciousness of God.

It's easy when we reflect on our own history

as a small community

brought together across ethnic backgrounds,

racial backgrounds to assume that justice is just us.

And the reason I wanted to go all the way

back to the 1830s

is because you can't understand a Sharia ban without

understanding the Trail of Tears.

You can't understand the efforts to uproot Muslim-Americans

without understanding the Tulsa Massacre.

You cannot understand the challenges we face today

without understanding the Tulsa Massacre. Without understanding white supremacy

We have to set it in the context of our history

Here's the thing

The beautiful thing about our

Opportunity today is that we have a choice in

front of us about what we do next

Ask yourself what is

The change that I can make

what is the step that I can take

to acknowledge the consequences of history to bend a future

So that we and I and our community

Can be witnesses for justice

We live in a society where the consequences of racism

the consequences of xenophobia have left their mark on people

But I want to reflect just for a second

on the other parts of that aya

Well, I agree mannequim Shannon Shannon O'Connor

I love that I do do not allow

The hatred that other people may have for you

or the hatred you may feel to keep you from doing justice

There's a story we tell ourselves

sometimes That the consequences of racism are limited to the people against whom racism is worst.

I Want to tell you something?

I Want to finish on a note.

We have a critical election coming up

You've already heard that you got to register to vote

Twice already, so I'm gonna be the third

Y'all were voting on November 8th

As someone who ran for office

I can tell you every vote matters

Especially in deep red communities like this one

because I'll tell you something

the investment that is made in our democracy

by anyone engaging is a reflection of the

degree to which an Election is competitive now.

I'm not telling you what degree to vote

because I know that care is a 501c3 organization Adam

But I am telling you that when we show up

we make sure people recognize that even Oklahoma can be a battleground

It encourages

People to step up and run maybe people in this room

So if you do not have a plan to vote,

please make your plan to vote right now

In Showing up here today.

You have made a commitment to the

civil rights and civil liberties of our community,

but that's not enough

Every day in the work that you do

Remember the shoulders on which you stand

the history that runs through this place

and decide that you won't be intentional

About leveraging your position out of your space

To make out of many one.

Hey, I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity

to join you Jazakumullah khair wasalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh