Panel Discussion: Glad Tidings to the Strangers | SirahConference2026

[praying] Respected guest, assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Alhamdulillah, I'm honored to have, uh, my colleagues here with me today. And as Maulana Suleiman, uh, the our MC for the program for, uh, introduce each of our panelists. They come from different backgrounds. They're serving in different communities. And the purpose of that, uh, diversity inshallah in our panel will help us hear different perspectives to these important questions that are being discussed. So since this is a retreat or a Seerah conference based on, uh, the theme of Bisharah and glad tidings of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to various groups of people, and we've been hearing from last night or rather even yesterday afternoon from Jumu'ah, the different, uh, sections of the community and the Ummah that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave promises of Jannah and various other, um, promises. This specific session that we have is called Glad Tidings to the Strangers. And this is of course in connection with the Hadith where Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, "Innad-dina bada'a ghareeba wa sa-ya'udu ghareeba fatuba lil-ghurabaa wa humul ladheena Yuslihun ma afsadan nasu min sunnati or min ba'di min sunnati." That indeed Deen began as a strange entity and once again it will become a strange entity. Fatuba lil-ghurabaa, so glad tidings, so this is the, um, clear aspect of the Hadith why we're linking up this topic to the theme. Fatuba lil-ghurabaa, glad tidings to the strangers. And they are those, the strangers, this is beautiful, uh, addition in this riwayah. Wa humul ladheena Yuslihun, they are those individuals who rectify what the people have corrupted from my way of life after my passing, after my demise, after my leaving the Ummah. When the humanity begins to change up the Deen that I left with, there are certain people who will stay firm and will bring the Deen back to where it needs to be, the Sunnah back to where it needs to be. So it's not an easy job. It's very difficult. You have the whole community, not only non-Muslims, because you have Muslims and non-Muslims at each other at times. But when it comes to this, you're gonna have... Who's gonna be against you? Your own fellow Muslims, because they made the corruption, and now you're trying to bring it back, and no one's gonna like that. So it's not easy that you have outsiders who are, who are not for you, and you have insiders who are not for you. So now where do you run? Where do you turn? Where do you get respite? Where do you get, uh... Where do you hide? Where do you get strength from? You definitely can't get it from the people because the people are not supporting you. Well, you have to look towards Allah Azawajal for your support, and you have to be, um, focused on the promises that Allah and his Rasul have given us to say, "You know what? It's worth it. The battle is worth it." A lot of times when we are in conflict, many times the brothers will say, "I'm just tired. I'm done. I can't take this anymore in this marriage or in this relationship or this business," et cetera. But what we're being taught here is that no, it is worth it. It is worth it to remain steadfast