The Houston Chronicle reported that speakers at Texas Faith Fest discussed blocking public vouchers for Islamic schools, removing halal food from public institutions, and restricting broadcasts of the adhan. Texas Representative Keresa Richardson said, “The more uncomfortable they are, the better.” These were proposals being discussed, and that distinction matters. But so does hearing a lawmaker speak that way about Muslims. (houstonchronicle.com)
Read that, understand it, and take a lesson from it. There will always be people willing to work against us. Waiting for them to become reasonable is a poor foundation for your family’s future. They can spend their time deciding how to make our lives difficult. We need to spend ours becoming capable of handling difficulty. Getting angry at an article takes a few seconds. Preparing yourself takes years, and every year you keep putting it off is a year you could have spent getting stronger.
This is why the Stronghold exists. I want Muslim men to have somewhere to prepare together, learn from each other, and build the kind of brotherhood that means something when life gets hard. We have responsibilities to our families and our community. Those responsibilities require more from us than sharing a headline and arguing underneath it.
Physically, take care of yourself. Build strength, improve your conditioning, and learn how to defend yourself and protect your family. Learn how to keep your head when somebody else is losing theirs. A man who can control himself, recognize danger, and get his family to safety has done something useful with his training. Your temper needs as much work as your body. Being easy to provoke makes you easier to control.
Intellectually, know your religion well enough to explain what you believe. Read beyond the headline. Learn how the institutions around you work, who makes decisions, and how to challenge a claim with evidence. If someone lies about Islam, you should be able to identify the lie and answer it clearly. We also need men who can write, organize, teach, and speak with enough knowledge that other people have a reason to listen.
Spiritually, strengthen your connection with Allah. Give your salah the attention it deserves. Read the Quran and examine your own conduct. When pressure comes, you need something stronger inside you than whatever mood the news put you in that morning. Our faith should show in how we carry ourselves, how we treat people, and whether we keep doing what is right when it becomes uncomfortable.
Financially, get your affairs in order. Work on your skills, reduce the debt you can, and build something you can rely on. A community needs resources to support families, maintain institutions, and respond when one of its members is in trouble. Financial preparation gives you more room to act. It also gives you the ability to help someone besides yourself.
That is the lesson I want us to take from this. We have work to do whether these people approve of us or not. Attend the sessions. Bring what you know. Ask for help where you need it, and become useful to the men around you. The Stronghold becomes stronger through the effort each of us puts into it.
They have made their intentions clear. Let us be just as clear about our responsibilities, and start carrying them.