the Importance of Perception; Theirs and Ours

Should we be concerned about how we are perceived in Western media? How we I mean, I guess, the Muslim world. I used to be, but now I feel indifferent about what they say about us, be it negative or positive.

I'm more concerned with how we perceive them.

I am.

I'm more concerned about that. That's that's more important than how they can perceive us. Who cares? I honestly don't care Yeah. How they perceive us.

I understand all of the arguments about why we should care. And Rasulullah didn't completely dismiss Yeah. The public image of Muslims and and the perception of Muslims, obviously. So I'm not saying be completely dismissive of it. Yeah.

But

Don't put that on a pedestal.

It's it's more important how we perceive them and that we perceive them accurately. And then it should go further than that, which is they should care how we perceive them. Yeah. That's what needs to happen.

Yeah.

We re reverse it.

Yeah.

I don't care what you think about me, but you better care about what I think about you.

Yeah. We're not talking about a people with a track record of civilization.

Yeah. That's what I'm saying.

You know?

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. We have to because, you know, they're lying about us, yes. They lie about us all the time. Uh-huh.

But they don't do anything but lie about themselves. Yes.

Please, you know.

And it's very dangerous when we believe their lies.

Yeah.

The lies that they tell about us is actually just so that they can justify being hateful and violent against us, which is something that they are going to be anyway. They are creating a justification by making up lies about us. They create a justification that enables them to make it look like they're doing something good and right and just by being oppressive and violent towards us, but they're gonna be violent and oppressive towards us anyway. Mhmm. They they come up with these stories and these slanders against us so that they can make themselves feel better about what they're doing.

Because like I've said before, they want to is it very important to them to look good without actually needing to be good?

Yeah.

But the problem when we believe their lies about them, this is devastating for us. That's a catastrophe if we believe their lies about themselves. Yeah. Don't tell yourself that the way they perceive us Mhmm. Is why they do what they do to us.

Yeah. It's not why. Yeah. That's not why at all they're gonna do it anyway. Mhmm.

That's and Allah already told you. It's that he he Allah didn't say that they that they are enemies to you because they don't understand you.

Yeah. Yeah.

You know? They didn't say that that's why. They hate you. They hate the truth. They wanna extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths.

It's very rational.

That's the meaning of that ayah explains to you all of the slanders and the lies that they tell about us. Mhmm. They're trying to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths. Mhmm. So that's that's we don't have to be concerned about trying to correct that Mhmm.

Because it's lies, and they know that it's lies. And it doesn't that's not why they do what they do.

Yeah. Because they they yeah.

They they they say that because that's what they're going to do anyway. And so we need to make sure that our perception of them is based upon our own standpoint and our own understanding and our own belief and upon our deen and upon our actual historical experience with them and objective reality. That's how we have to make our judgment about them. So we have to make sure that our perception of them is accurate and not worry so much about their perception of us. Rather, they should be worried about what our perception is of them because that needs to also come with consequences.

In other words, we're not necessarily gonna have anything to do with you.

Yeah. Once you see the West for what it is, you can never unsee it.

That's right. That's right. And they need to see it. Yeah.

They need

to This is what you owe them. Bring the This is what you owe them. Yeah. You need to show them who they are. Yeah.

Because this is the only thing that can maybe, maybe help them. And that's really what that to me, that's the best form of Dawah. That's the big obstacle to them coming to Islam because they think that they're just so great already, and they and they're they're they're so lied to about themselves. They're so delusional about themselves. And the worst the worst approach to dawah that I've ever seen in my life is the one that was has been advocated for the for the longest time.

And when I was young, I don't know how it's still there. Mhmm. Is this idea of we need to deemphasize the differences between us.

Oh, wow.

Why would they come to Islam then if it's the same as what they've got?

Yeah. We're all the same.

You don't because the people who come up with that, they are not people who were saved from Kufr and came to Islam. Mhmm. So you don't know how miserable it actually is to be a kafir. Yeah. It's actually a miserable state of affairs.

You're in a miserable it's a miserable way of life Mhmm. To be a kafir. So if you if if a Muslim comes to you and says, what what I'm offering you is the same as what you've already got Mhmm. Well, you, but no thank you. Yeah.