By T’Neil Gooden
On March 13, Brooklyn College (BC) students gathered in the Bedford Room of the Student Center to listen to speeches about activism and self-reflection from Sheikh Mohammad Badawy, alumni of BC and resident Sheikh, at the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center. To be called a Sheikh is to be known as an arab leader or chief of an arab tribe, village, or family.
Students of Justice in Palestine (SJP) at BC invited Badawy to speak to students about the importance of spreading justice for the Palestinian cause as activists, especially Muslim activists. Badawy graduated from the College of Shariah at Umm AI Qura University in Makkah and has a BA in Health Science and Nutrition Science from BC.
“I want us to challenge ourselves. We’re going to get uncomfortable right now. Because that’s what it takes,” Badawy told the audience.
Badawy started his speech with an Arabic prayer and explained the five main points that challenge the concept of justice that students should live by if they choose to spread the word about what is happening to the people of Palestine.
“Be someone who stands up for justice all the time; let it be something that you always do. Even be witnesses for the sake of Allah,” Badawy said. “Even if it means it’s against yourselves or your parents or your close relatives and whether a person is rich or poor, Allah has priority over both their status.”
Badawy followed this first declaration by explaining that desires should not be the only thing that makes you act justly.
“It’s not a one-time thing. It’s not a one-off. It is not something that I do when it’s convenient. It is not something that I do when there is a full crowd. I don’t come in here and I don’t get daunted by the lack of a crowd,” Badawy told the audience. Students listened intently as Badawy continued to explain that activism should be continuous.
Before continuing the declarations, Badawy spoke about attending the Mahmoud Khalil rally on March 12 and being emotionally shocked by this protest.
“It was very difficult to see no Muslims. I’m not gonna lie. I left almost in tears. It was very difficult to drive back home. But I just recalibrated. I had to recalibrate […] it’s very disturbing to see the people whose tradition, whose scripture, whose supposed conviction down to their core are absent. That bothered me; I can’t pretend that it didn’t. But it didn’t derail me,” Badawy said.
After explaining the feelings experienced at the rally, Badawy explained the second declaration that went as follows: Get uncomfortable, even if it’s against yourself.
“That’s what it means to be Qawwam (قَوَّام), someone who stands up for justice all the time. And that takes looking in the mirror and saying, this is not something that I’m doing; this is an identity that I have,” Baway told the audience.
Badawy continued to explain that being an activist with values for the Palestinian Cause is more than just a feeling.
“This is my job here on earth. This is my purpose. To worship my Creator, which is the ultimate establishing of justice, to allocate the rights of the Creator to the one, the only one who truly deserves it. That’s on a personal spiritual level. And then on a societal level, everything that he called out as injustice, as evil, I’m an opponent of, I’m an enemy of. I exhaust all the means that are at my disposal to stand against.”
Badawy gave students a moment to reflect and think about the secular items they own, such as Amazon accounts, clothing from certain companies, etc, and how those impact them. He asked them to give thought to items like clothing and instructed them to be conscious of what their belongings may represent.
“I am an oppressor sometimes or all the time. I am entwined into this fabric, and I need to remove it. It might be painful, it might be difficult, but that’s fine, cause that’s what it takes. That’s what it means to stand for justice. That’s what it means to be an advocate,” Badawy said.
Badawy reiterated to students the importance of being able to get uncomfortable when it comes to pursuing an opinion that people can oppose.
“Getting uncomfortable, that’s important, and then getting to work. Analyzing every morsel of food, every item of clothing, every accessory, every service that I sign up for, everything that I engage in and my money goes to, my attention and my emotion and my support, can I justify it in front of my creator?”
The final three declarations are as follows: “Even if it’s against friends and family, they’re gonna need special attention, and they are the starting point of any movement. You can’t be focusing on the outside while those on the inside are your opponents or making your journey more difficult,” Badawy told the audience. “Number four is to take wealth, status, and personal preference out of the equation. And then number five, finally, is don’t forget the personal justice that’ll be established on you on the day of judgment, that this is where it’s all headed, and that is the bigger picture.”
Badawy made a significant impact on students and their reasons for becoming advocates.
“I feel like Sheikh Badawy covered topics that people are too ignorant to hear when it comes to Palestine, and I feel like everyone should learn more about this Holy Land and about what is currently happening there,” Mariam Hassan, a junior at BC, told The Vanguard. “Something that resonated with me when it came to this talk was when Badawy talked about what the definition of victory is when it comes to Muslim students. For example, he said “halal lunches” aren’t really a victory when other issues are happening with Muslim students on campus. BC should be exposed to these conversations because I believe this is knowledgeable information.”
Badawy finished his speech by reiterating that students should challenge themselves to be activists all the time, not only when their desire for change is strong enough to create advocacy.
“Be people who stand up for justice all the time. There are no conditions. There are no ifs, ands, or buts. You can go to somebody and speak to them and you can pour your heart out, and they spit in your face and your mission doesn’t change,” Badawy said.