The core theme is that the breakdown of family structures, particularly the absence of involved fathers, is a primary driver of societal issues like youth violence and crime, and rebuilding strong, loving homes and communities is essential for spiritual and societal well-being.
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Alhamdulillah in the name of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala the most gracious
the most merciful. Peace and blessings
be upon our beloved prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam. My beloved
brothers and sisters ask yourselves a
heavy question tonight. What was the
very first crime committed in the
history of humanity? It was not a war
between nations and it was not a dispute
over borders. It was a tragedy between
two brothers,
two blood brothers who shared a mother
and a father. It is a story so profound
that Allah Almighty commands us to
listen to it. He says in surah Maha,
"Recite to them the truth of the story
of the two sons of Adam. Behold, they
each presented a sacrifice to Allah. It
was accepted from one but not from the
other, said the latter. Be sure I will
slay thee. Just pause and feel the
weight of those words. A spark of
jealousy erupted in the heart of one
brother until it became a burning flame.
It led him to brandish a weapon and take
the life of his own sibling. You might
ask why I am starting with this ancient
story. I am telling you this because
nothing has changed. Look at our streets
today. Look at the news. We see the
formation of gangs. We see young people
stabbing one another. We see lives ended
before they have even truly begun. We
ask ourselves, what is the cause? Is it
because of their ethnicity? Is it
because of their religion? Is it purely
because of poverty?
Sociologists and psychologists tell us
it comes down to two main things. Yes,
poverty plays a role. When a young man
has no hope for the future, he turns to
anger. But there is a second cause that
is even more critical. It is the
stability of the home. We must
understand that a child who comes from a
home where their cup is full does not
seek to fill it with poison. If a young
boy or girl is truly looked after, they
are safe. If their emotional needs are
tended to, they are secure. But when the
home is empty, the heart is empty. And
an empty heart is a dangerous thing. The
prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be
upon him warned us about the power of
influence and environment. He said in a
famous hadith found in Sah Albkari that
every child is born on al fitra which is
the natural inclination to goodness. But
then he added his parents make him a Jew
or a Christian or imagine.
This means the environment shapes the
soul. If the parents are absent or the
home is broken, the child drifts away
from their pure nature. We have a crisis
in our community. My brothers and
sisters, we are so busy trying to build
a future for our children that we are
losing our children in the present. We
think that providing a house is the same
as building a home. They are not the
same. One is made of bricks and the
other is made of love. If we want to
stop the violence on the streets, we
have to stop the silence in our homes.
We have to look at the environment we
are creating. Is it a place of peace? Is
it a place where our children can speak
to us? Or is it a place where they feel
invisible? We must be the ones to give
them belonging so they do not seek it
from the gangs that will destroy them.
My beloved brothers and sisters,
especially the fathers among us, need to
have an honest and difficult
conversation. One of the deep wounds in
our society is the absence of the father
figure in the home. Scientists and
scholars alike agree that this is a root
cause of young men getting lost in the
darkness of crime and drugs. But here is
the tragedy. The father is usually not a
bad man. He is not a criminal. He is a
hardworking man. He believes with all
his heart that his job is simply to put
food on the table. He thinks his duty is
to work 12 or 15 hours a day to save
money for the future. He says to
himself, "I will provide the cash and my
wife will provide the care." But this is
a fatal mistake. Your child does not
just need your money. Your child needs
you. The prophet Muhammad peace and
blessings be upon him gave us a heavy
responsibility in a hadith found in Sah
Bkari where he said all of you are
guardians and are responsible for your
subjects. The man is a guardian of his
family and is responsible for his
subjects. A guardian is not just an ATM
machine. A guardian is a protector, a
shepherd, a guide. If you are physically
present but emotionally absent, you are
not fulfilling this trust. If you take
long business trips for months at a time
and become a stranger to your own
children, you are risking their
destruction. Every child needs a father
to look up to. This is the balance Allah created.
created.
Male and female complement each other in
the household. If that male figure is
missing, the boy will go out and find a
replacement on the street and the
replacement will not love him. The
replacement will use him. We have to
swallow this bitter pill. We must
realize that protecting our children is
not just about buying them clothes. It
is about saving their souls.
Allah Almighty commands us clearly in
surahim saying, "Oh you who have
believed, protect yourselves and your
families from a fire whose fuel is
people and stones. How can you protect
them from the fire of the hereafter or
the fire of the streets if you are never
there? Any home where the parents are
present is a fortress. In a home where
the father knows where his son is going
and who his daughter is speaking to,
there is safety. We need to be on the
ball. We cannot just leave them to the
internet or leave them to their friends.
We have to monitor with love. We have to
be involved because if we are not
involved, the world will take them from
us. And by the time we realize it, all
the money we earned will not be enough
to buy back their innocence. And before
we move to the next reminder, I ask you
kindly if this touched your heart even a
little, take a moment to like this
video, subscribe to this channel and
write a comment below. Tell me where in
the world you are listening from. My
beloved brothers and sisters, let us
look at the ultimate example of social
reform. When the prophet Muhammad peace
and blessings be upon him wanted to
remove the toxins of revenge and
tribalism from the early society, what
was his solution? He did not build a
prison. He did not build a fortress.
When he arrived in Medina, he invested
in two specific things that built a new civilization.
civilization.
The first thing he did was lay the
foundation of the masjid with his own
blessed hands. But please understand
this, his masjid was not just a place
for prayer. It was the youth club. It
was the university. It was the hospital.
It was the shelter for the homeless. It
was the beating heart of the community.
He used the masjid to transform the
lives of everyone. The second thing he
did was equally powerful. He created a
bond of brotherhood between the migrants
from Mecca and the residents of Medina.
He paired them up and said, "Become
family." He knew a profound
psychological truth.
These migrants had left everything behind.
behind.
If you leave people without a family and
without a support system, they will lose
themselves. They will go back to their
old habits. They will return to
tribalism and revenge. They might even
go back to the days of burying their
daughters alive. They needed a strong
family to hold them steady in the storm.
We need to revive this spirit today.
Allah Almighty reminds us of this unity
in the Quran in surah to Almran where he
says and hold firmly to the rope of
Allah all together and do not become
divided and remember the favor of Allah
upon you when you were enemies and he
brought your hearts together and you
became by his favor brothers. We were on
the brink of a pit of fire and he saved
us through this brotherhood. If we do
not create this rope of Allah in our
communities, our youth will grab onto
the ropes of the gangs instead. The
prophet peace and blessings be upon him
described this connection beautifully in
a hadith found in Sah Muslim. He said
the parable of the believers in their
affection, mercy and compassion for each
other is that of a body. When any limb
aches, the whole body reacts with
sleeplessness and fever. If a young boy
in our community is stabbed, we should
all feel the pain. If a young girl is
lost to drugs, we should all lose sleep.
We cannot say it is not my child. In the
eyes of the prophet, they are all our
children. We must create alternative
families within our masjids. We must be
the brothers and fathers for those who
have none. If we fail to build these
bonds of love, we are leaving the door
wide open for the Shayan to adopt them.
My beloved brothers and sisters, there
is a painful reality we must address.
Often many people devalue the importance
of building strong families. They just
teach us the texts, teach us the teach.
But what is the purpose of memorizing
the Quran if it does not create a stable
home? What is the benefit if the person
teaching the text has been through four
divorces and cannot see their own
children? If the knowledge does not
create proactive parents and loving
spouses, then something is missing.
Nothing learned from a black and white
piece of paper can help a child if they
cannot find peace in their own living
room. We need to look at the Sierra not
just as history but as a manual for survival.
survival.
Imagine the moment when the revelation
began. The prophet Muhammad peace and
blessings be upon him is standing in a
dark cave. He hears the first powerful
words of the Quran. He's terrified.
He is shaking with the weight of the
divine. He runs down the mountain. And
where does he go? He does not run to a
friend. He does not run to the library.
He runs straight into the arms of his
wife Khadijah. May Allah be pleased with
her. He cries out, "Cover me. Cover me."
He asks her if he has lost his mind. He
is confused and vulnerable. This moment
saved history. Khadijah did not turn him
away. She did not say she was too busy.
She did not say she had a headache. She
wrapped him in a warm embrace. She held
him close. She spoke words of validation
that we should write in gold. She said,
"By Allah, Allah will never disgrace
you. You unite utterine relations and
you bear the burden of the weak." She
reminded him of his goodness. She was
his refuge in the storm. Allah Almighty
describes this function of marriage and
family perfectly in surah tum where he
says and of his signs is that he created
for you from yourselves mates that you
may find tranquility in them and he
placed between you affection and mercy.
That tranquility is what saved the heart
of the prophet in his most difficult
moment. Now ask yourself a question.
What if Khadijah was not there? What if
she was at work all the time? What if
the house was empty? What if they were
arguing and she refused to listen? Where
would the prophet have gone? My brothers
and sisters, apply this to our youth
today. Think of that young boy on the
street corner. Think of that young girl
looking for attention online. If they
had that warm loving embrace at home,
would they be out there? If they had a
mother or father who listened to their
fears and said, "Allah will not disgrace
you." Would they join a gang? The
prophet peace and blessings be upon him
set the standard for us. He said in a
hadith found in the best of you is the
one who is best to his family and I am
the best of you to my family. The one
brandishing the knife and the one
receiving the wound are often both
victims of the same tragedy. They are
victims of a broken home that offered
them no warmth. We must rebuild that
warmth if we want to save them. My
beloved brothers and sisters, we arrive
now at the destination of this journey.
We have diagnosed the sickness and felt
the pain of our community. Now we must
swallow the medicine. It might taste
bitter to our egos, but it is the only
cure for our families. I want to speak
directly to the fathers among us. There
is a myth that we need to break today.
The myth is that being a good father
means working 15 hours a day to buy the
latest gadgets and the biggest house.
This is not what your children need. I
beg you to reduce your working hours if
you are able. If you are working double
shifts just to buy luxuries, stop it.
Work a normal shift and buy peace of
mind. Do not be a guest in your own
house who only comes home to eat and
sleep. Be a father who knows the names
of your child's friends.
Be a father who picks them up and drops
them off. be a companion on their
journey because if you are not their
friend, the drug dealer on the corner is
waiting to be their friend. I want to
share with you a beautiful example that
touched my heart deeply. In my local
community, there were two young boys who
were always in the front row of the
masid. They were bright, they were
polite, they were always on time for the prayer.
prayer.
I wondered what secret formula their
parents used. One day I asked their
father. He was not a millionaire. He was
not a scholar. He was a simple man who
drove a taxi for a living. I asked uncle
to tell me the secret. He smiled and
said, "It is very simple. I drop them at
school at 9:00 in the morning. I drive
my taxi until 3:00 in the afternoon and
then I put away my keys. From 3:00
onwards, I am with my boys. I play
football with them. I go to the masid
with them. If they watch TV, I sit next
to them. He said, "Maybe my income is
less than others. Maybe I cannot build a
mansion back home. But I am investing my
time in these boys because one day they
will move on. And I want them to carry
my legacy." This simple taxi driver
understood the investment of the
hereafter better than many of us. He
understood the promise of the prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him
found in Sunan Maja where he said that a
man's status will be raised in paradise
and he will ask how did I get this? He
will be told by your child asking
forgiveness for you. That taxi driver
was not building a bank balance. He was
building a ladder to Jenna. He knew that
the prayers of his righteous sons would
be worth more than all the gold in the
world. We need to adopt this mindset. We
need to realize that our time is the
currency of love. If we are absent, we
are telling our children that money
matters more than they do. And that is a
scar that never heals. Finally, we must
look at our community. If the home is
the first line of defense, the masid is
the final fortress. We need young men
and women to step up as volunteers.
We need role models who can go out to
the street corners and bring these lost
souls back inside.
We need to tell the youth that if you do
not have a home, we will create one for
you here. If you do not have a family,
we will be your family. We have no other alternative.
alternative.
We must make the masjid a place of
belonging and warmth. We must make it a
place where they feel the tranquility of
faith. Let us close by making the dua
that Allah Almighty taught us in the
Quran in surah.
It is the dua of the true believers who
say, "Our Lord, grant us from among our
wives and offspring comfort to our eyes
and make us an example for the
righteous." We ask Allah to make our
children the coolness of our eyes. We
ask him to protect them from the fitna
of this age. We ask him to make our
homes filled with tranquility and love.
We ask him to guide the youth of this
ummah and to make us the parents they
deserve. May Allah gather us and our
families in the highest levels of ja for
da. I love you all for the sake of
Allah. My beloved brothers and sisters,
we now come to the end of our gathering.
We have spoken about the dangers of the
streets and the solutions in our homes.
But I want to leave you with a vision
that transcends this temporary world.
Look at your children tonight when they
are sleeping. Look at their innocent
faces. Realize that they are not your
property. They do not belong to you.
They are a trust. They are an ama from
Allah Almighty. He placed them in your
hands to test you. He wants to see if
you will polish their hearts with faith
or if you will let the dust of the world
bury their light. One day you will
return this trust to its owner. How do
you want to return it? Broken and lost
or shining and righteous. We often
stress about their grades in school. We
stress about their careers. We want them
to be doctors and engineers. This is
good. But the real success is not what
they become in this world. The real
success is where they stand in the next.
Imagine the day of judgment. The sun is
low. The sweat is pouring. Everyone is terrified.
terrified.
In that moment of absolute fear, imagine
seeing your son or your daughter coming
towards you. They are not coming to
complain. They are coming with mountains
of good deeds. They are coming with the
Quran in their hearts. The prophet
Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him
promised in a hadith in Musnet Ahmed
that the parents of the one who lived by
the Quran will be clothed in two
garments of light. Garments so valuable
that the people of the world could not
afford them. You will ask why am I being
honored like this? And you will be told
it is because your child took hold of
the Quran. This is the legacy we are
fighting for. All the sleepless nights,
all the sacrifices, all the patience you
show when they are difficult, it is all
for that moment. Allah Almighty gives us
the most beautiful promise in surah.
He says, "And those who believed and
whose descendants followed them in
faith, we will join with them their
descendants." This is the family reunion
of Jenna. Allah knows that you loved
them in this life. He knows you worked
hard for them. So out of his infinite
mercy, he will not separate you in the
hereafter. Even if your deeds are lower
than theirs or theirs are lower than
yours, he will elevate the family to be
together in the highest levels of bliss.
So my dear fathers and mothers, do not
give up. Do not let the society defeat
you. Go home today and hug your
children. Tell them you love them. Tell
them that you want to be with them
forever in the gardens of bliss. Build
that home of tranquility. Build that
connection with the masjid. Be the
shepherd who guards his flock. The
journey is hard but the destination is
beautiful. We ask Allah to accept our
efforts. We ask him to forgive our
shortcomings in parenting. We ask him to
guide our hearts and the hearts of our
youth. Anything good I have said is from
Allah alone and anything wrong I have
said is from me and the shan and Allah
My Lord, make me an establisher of
prayer and many from my descendants, our
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