EP28 - Moving Forward with Purpose Pt1

In this episode, co-hosts Frank Abdul Shaheed & Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown delve into the complexities of modern society, discussing the importance of maintaining moral integrity and disciplined behavior amidst confusion and progress. They highlight the impact of environments, such as Senegal, on personal peace and societal contributions. The episode examines the concept of freedom as obedience to divine guidance, the role of family, and the challenges of prevailing cultural influences like hookup culture. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation on achieving destination excellence.

00:00 Welcome to The Family Ties
00:37 Efforts and Aspirations
01:59 Life in Medina Baye
03:18 The Quest for Peace
05:51 Historical Reflections
08:07 Universal Challenges
10:45 Responsibilities of Freedom
12:52 The Role of Family
16:18 Leadership and Society
19:07 The Nature of Man
23:16 Freedom and Obedience
34:05 Conclusion and Next Steps

This podcast is about family life as a means to address current problems in American society. A scripture based African American perspective. 

Welcome to The Family Ties, a Prescription for Society.
 Through this experience we invite you to join us in an exploration of the concept of family ties as a prescription for society.
 
 YOUR HOSTS:  Frank Abdul Shaheed &
 Faridah Abdul-Tawwab Brown
 
 This episode was edited by Darryl D Anderson of AMG - Ambassador Media Group visit https://www.ambassador-mediagroup.com/
__________________________________
Music Credit
Back Home by Ghostrifter Official | https://soundcloud.com/ghostrifter-official
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Copyright 2024

Transcript

Frank: 0:16

Peace be upon the family as we welcome you to another experience of The Family Ties, a prescription for society. I am your co host, Frank Abdul Shahid.

Faridah: 0:27

And I am your co host, Farida Abdul Tawab Brown. Before we get started, don't forget to subscribe so you can stay up to date and get all the latest episodes.

Frank: 0:37

Once again, we're back. On this wonderful podcast that I might say is wonderful. We put a lot of effort and energy into this introduction and this presentation, because we want to make a mark in the world. You know, we are wanting to be of the people who stand at a time in which there are good people. Is confusion and yet at the same time, there is progression. So welcome back to this wonderful podcast. If I may say, Sister Florida, how are you today?

Faridah: 1:09

I am well. Thank you so much for asking. I pray you and your family are well. You know, I join you. I know that we, we do work hard. We put in a lot of time behind the scenes, you know, really discussing and working toward making this podcast have an impact and an influence, like you said, in a time of confusion, there's great promise in this time, but there. There are great stressors on the human being and the human family. And so working very diligently to remake our sensibilities, remake our sensitivities, and remake the world in which we live.

Frank: 1:47

Yes. And the very thing that we can do The very first step we can do is influence those around us. So having said that, how are you and your family?

Faridah: 1:59

We are well, as you know, we are joining you from the the, the sunny and balmy, I should say 97 degrees day here in Medina Bay. in Senegal, you know, so my family and I are still here. My dear husband, of course, is back in the States. We miss you dearly. But you know, two of our daughters are here with us and my sister and her children and our daughter's friend uh, here as well. They're here studying five young women here studying at the African American Institute of Knowledge of Islamic Studies here in Medina Baye, and they're studying the Quran. So I am here as a help for them. I'm doing work here, but I am, I'm mainly serving as a source of support and guidance for them while they're here. And I hope to be back in the States you know, within the month. So you'll hear the sounds of of the the Qur'an. You'll hear the sounds of the call to prayer for those in our listening audience who may not be familiar with that. You may hear melodic tunes, you know, joining us at any point during our conversations. And so you'll know that that is is part of the the the blessing of being here in a space where there is a focus, you know, in some ways. In some manner on the word of God. So that's what you will, you will be hearing.

Frank: 3:18

If, if I may add for the audience you know, you're speaking about being in a place that's a little different than where we are in America, and it may be very unfamiliar to anyone who may not have left. The shores of North America to go to another place in the world. You know, what is what is your immediate environment look like? Does it does it suggest to you levels of peace or does it suggest to you that there is some identification that Something has to change or the environment needs to be influenced in a way to be able to bring about a level of peace for you to have your, your space, your sanity and your input into the influence of society, you know, what does that look like for you?

Faridah: 4:02

Wow. That's an excellent question. You know, there's, there is a level of peace, you know, there's, there's a level of peace on one level that I feel very safe, you know, walking the streets. There's the exchange of the greetings of peace between believers and even those who, you know, practice other faiths, you know, who are Christian or may not practice any religion at all. They, they still exchange a greeting of peace. The, the greeting here in Wolof is Basically, something's akin to how are you? And the response to that. There are a few responses that I've learned thus far, but one is money fee, meaning I am here. One is my new T jam, meaning I am here and I have peace. And so that's, it calls to mind being very present in one's surroundings. And so the word of God is heard many times throughout the day. There's the call to prayer, and then there will be a recitation of the Qur'an which is the scripture revealed to Muhammad, the prophet, prayers and peace be upon him. And, and that brings a sense of, of wellbeing and peace. But, In the material surroundings I think there is much that lends one, or at least myself and I know my children when, when we arrived, it there, there is a sense of dis ease. There's a sense of that there is work to be done, that there is assistance needed from those who are witnessed and testify to the power of, of the creator to change circumstances and bring life out of death. And when I say that, that's, that resurrection story is available and is witnessed for all of mankind in, in scripture. And the scriptures that came before the Quran and in the Quran itself, but it is manifested in the people in the African American people in particular, and the experience that we had coming from the shores of this land and in places like the Senegambian region, you know, where I am currently now living for, for the present time, you know, this very region supplied many of our ancestors who came across the Atlantic or brought across the Atlantic and experienced chattel slavery. And out of that process, a new people was born whose very existence is a testimony to God's promise to a people who are forgotten, who are abused, who are oppressed, and who are denied their human their human, rights and their right to develop their human potential, that God himself intervened and created a new people and made a covenant with them. So I think coming out of that experience, a people up from slavery, a people witnessing God's ability to resurrect mankind to resurrect ideas, to resurrect society and civilizations, that that impetus has, I carry that with me on the airplane over the Atlantic returning. If you will, from America back to the continent or the motherland as, as we sometimes call it. And in this space, I believe that our understanding of the, the Quran and of scripture that came through this very experience is necessary. In order to bring a wholesome and a balanced picture, there's a term in our, our faith that it's a Salihin. It's, it's, it's a descriptor of the believers, the righteous ones. And that's a description that is not limited to the the Muslim. It's the, the Christian, the, the Jew, the people of faith, the believers who believe in God and believe in the last day, that they're the people who are, who are, are working righteously. And in that space, in this space that I witness around me, there is much room. for the righteous people to bring about a just order that does not currently exist anywhere in the world, including where I am today. So yeah, so much work to be done. I guess that's my answer to your question.

Frank: 8:03

I greatly appreciate that. And the audience appreciates it as well. So as you leave, as you have laid out, About the terrain, the environment, the sensitivities of the people that you are currently witnessing there in Africa and Senegal we, we, we tend to look at the world and when we want to do a comparison analysis of what the world looks like, and often we'll draw this conclusion that what has plagued man in Senegal. Is the same thing that has played man in South America, which has played man in Europe, Asia and all of the continents of the world that this is a universal war against man's innocent and man's ability that these things are universal. So how is it that we now can draw from these pictures to determine, you know, going forward, you know, how should we address these things and not only how do we address it? How do we handle the responsibilities of them? You know, what's where? What are signs for us to let us know that there is a pathway? Through this to take us to the destiny. And we often mentioned destination excellence here on this podcast. What, what are the pathways that take us to the conclusion? So often we look at confusion in the world and there was a a historian, I would say, who used to comment about. A time when newspapers, physical newspapers were the main influence of information, specifically worldly information. So this particular historian would say, when I received my newspaper, the first section that I would go to is the sports section. And someone said, well, why is it that you go to the sports section? His response was because I wanted to celebrate man's achievements. Before I look at the other part of the paper and, and have to reflect back on man's destruction and man's influence that has taken us away from the victory that the sports would tend to lead us to and he was referencing, you know, just world events and, and how man has interacted and primarily man's interest in handling and his responsibility of material. in the world, his management of material in the world. And that is our, that is our call as humans. That's called, that's our call as people. That is our call from our creator to engage the physical world, to be able to manage these resources. So what we would like to do in this particular discussion is to just, just look at those, look at that theme in man and man's existence in the arc of man's existence. On earth, how in his efforts to manage these resources, he creates an environment that sometimes looks very confused. Looks very challenging and how man works himself, how man sets themselves and, and orients himself to be able to go in and manage these resources to bring us to destination excellence. Now, part of that resource is the human resource. And I think That that is the most important resource. And I think that's the primary or the priority resource. How do we handle the human resource? Because with that, we're able to handle every other resource in the world, because then we would know it's true purpose and its role in our lives. So we want to look at the human disposition towards these resources and look at some of the things that may have affected our disposition towards them. Some of the things that have influenced us to move away from its true purpose. And while we're dealing with such a confused circumstance in 2024, as we see today I'm looking out of my window now and you talk about a balmy 97 degrees I'm looking out of my window and I'm seeing jackets and scarves and, and hats and, you know, knitted hats and, you know, people wearing outerwear to try to protect themselves from the elements of the, of the environment. So although it may look a little different out of my window, as far as the climate is concerned, weather wise, the climate of the, of the world currently is one of confusion and one of anxieties and one of not having good leadership to refocus or reorient us on handling these material resources. So we want to talk about reaffirming our purpose as a people, as a family. to, to access these resources and manage them properly.

Faridah: 12:52

You know, that's a, I love how you give the description of this, the varying climates in which we are currently situated and how they reflect this moment in human history. Interestingly enough, in the country of Senegal, they recently held elections, as we did, this past Sunday, November 17th, I believe was the date, and they had legislated, held legislative elections and essentially there was a They have a new president and a younger gentleman. He came in on promises of fighting corruption and really establishing a greater sense of self determination for the Senegalese, Senegalese people, particularly the young, those who are looking for you know, ways to support themselves economically to manage the resources as you referenced earlier. And his party was able to, they had a victory. in the past election. So God willing, he and his team will be able to implement some of the changes that they believe will be beneficial, most beneficial to the people of Senegal. We as an American, you know, I am currently in Senegal, but as an American who did vote absentee ballot you know, during this, this past recent presidential election and in the congressional elections as well. I understand that in our country, we are facing a moment of great anxiety and confusion particularly in the wake of the, the election results. And. This manifests itself in a number of ways, and of course, the election is just a sign of what was what was already existing in the body, the body of the people. So there, there were people who were so frustrated that they decided to vote for a felon. They were so frustrated with what they believed to be you know, some of the challenges to family life with regards to rewriting and re understanding and policymaking that does not respect the, the picture of human life that God has created in terms of, of, of the male and female and that the complementary and beautifully excellent natures of both and the necessity of both to, to be able to live the, the, the, Excellent human life and reach the destiny. Some of them were so frustrated with that. Element within our, our popular culture. And that has reached the halls of, of the legislative offices and the legislative bodies that they decided to forego. You know, a lot of the interest that we think we all have in common in terms of establishing a free society that they that they decided to vote for a felon, someone who does not have the interest of of the of the body of the country of the nation. And so because elements on, on the other side, we're not able to answer or speak in an, any meaningful way to that concern. Also, some of the concerns about you know, what is happening in Palestine and Sudan and the Congo and other places in the world where human suffering and human oppression has reached epic levels. You know, we haven't found any meaningful way to, to move forward on that. There have been consequences. Some of us, you know, may or may not agree with the decisions of our, our fellow Americans, but we are where we are. And as a result You know, that we are in a place where people are feeling afraid, they're feeling anxious, and they're confused about their role in a society where you know, the leadership is what it is, it's poor leadership, it's defunct leadership, it's morally corrupt leadership, and we are all going to have to move forward within that space. So I think the question is, the question that you've asked in terms of reaffirming the purpose of a people, the purpose of humanity, and putting into focus. in particular you know, African American community are, are we fit to handle the responsibilities of freedom? You know, we, we, as a purpose, like you said, we speak a lot about destination excellence. And really what we're referring to is the destiny of mankind, that there is a purpose for mankind that involves serving the creator. And realizing the potential that the Creator gave us to go into the material world and to be able to establish a just order and a just society based on that service to the Creator and the management of resources in the natural world. And so based on that, that's what our, our, our, our purpose is. So if we understand that to be the purpose of mankind, then we have to ask ourselves, are we fit to handle those responsibilities? One, to fulfill the purpose of serving God, which means bringing about a just society a society that affords everyone the opportunity to develop his or her full potentials and abilities. Required for that, a requirement for that is freedom. And when we understand freedom from a scriptural perspective, we're talking about the declaration of a new mind that is free of the troubles of the prevailing thinking in the world. Yes. And so what we have to do is step back when we ask ourselves, are we as as Americans? Are we as an African American community? Are we as humanity around the world? Are we prepared? Are we fit to handle the responsibilities of freedom and to manage those resources? So I throw that question at you. If, if that freedom requires being free from the troubles of the prevailing thinking, we have to ask ourselves, what, what is the prevailing thinking? In our community, in our culture, in our society, and how may that be affecting or influencing our fitness for the responsibilities of freedom and self determination?

Frank: 18:53

Big, lifelong question. And this question has been the question of man throughout his age, ages. As I said, the arc of man's existence. This has been the prevailing question. Are we fit so let me, let me just draw a picture if I, if I can, and we'll look at the, the lifespan of man himself just, just as an, an individual man, not, not man as a concept, just an individual, physical, mortal man. So man is brought into this world. Is birth into this world and birthing in a sense is an awakening to something. It's a new wreck is a recognition of something is, it's being able to is registering something. And from that, something comes from that. So the birthing of a child into the world is a sign of Innocence in the world that man's beginning began in innocence and man is designed to engage the very thing that he comes from is his mate. That's his mate. The earth is man's mate. So he comes from that mate. So naturally he has the disposition, the that's built in his soul, built in his nature to for that. Introduction to his mate to influence him. So as man in his innocence is presented to his mate, a man engages in it and comes across situations sometimes that may be overwhelming to him. But as a help to him comes guidance to help man manage. His disposition and the influence of the mate, because the mate is really only designed to strengthen man for the role of being the one who can manage these responsibilities and these resources. So man grows, child grows into adulthood to be able to be one who can now what manage resources. That that's what an adult's job is. You're an adult because you can manage these resources. So man goes through life and he manages these resources. He reconciles the things that given him trouble in the past. He puts things in motions. He opens up pathways to secure that level of management for that, to carry on through the life of this particular individual. So when he gets to the point where his, his life comes to an end, that whole picture has been taken care of because of his responsibilities. So now when man now leaves this particular physical. Existence, the material stays here. It just goes back to the source that it came from the material. And then now someone else can use that material, but there's another constitution of man that doesn't stay here. It goes into another reality. And that's, that's man's soul. That's his nature. That's his soul. So our life doesn't just mean material resources. It doesn't just mean that doesn't begin there and it doesn't end there. It doesn't end there within the material resources is a component that's designed to handle it. And the picture is that it goes in with an innocent disposition and it gets trouble, but yet it gets complimented and it gets helped to be able to manage it. So when it comes to its conclusion, it is now sitting upon these resources as a person who can handle these levels of responsibility. So yes, we are fit to handle it by our very creation. We are fit to handle these, these responsibilities, but the disconnect is the nature and the soul and its recognition that it has been introduced to a mate called revelation or revealed knowledge of revealed scripture to be able to have man to handle. This level of responsibility in the world is confused now, because we're looking at things wholly as a resource of material versus the spiritual and scriptural influence of the material to take us to the proper destiny. So we see confusion. We see lack of good leadership. We see, and you talked about freedom and a free, how can freedom come from a felon? That's, that's a contradiction. Felony means that you have been locked. You've been, you've been put in a situation because of guilt, because of a, of a misstep or a miss, you know appropriation your disposition wasn't correct that you put yourself in a situation where now you are have to be confined because of guilt because of guilt upon yourself. But yet you're the one who's going to introduce to me what freedom looks like. So that level of contradiction is what causes confusion in the minds of the people. So we looking for material existence in this world, but we don't have a real connection to spiritually. What that looks like for us to be able to manage these, these resources. So we just look at man to, to, to summarize this. If we just look at man's life, we see that his life itself is a, is a description on our confidence in us to be able to handle these levels of responsibility. So for those who are in a situation where they can't understand what the next move is, they have to adjust their. Disposition and then from that adjustment, the nature gets revealed upon with guidance to show you what leadership looks like for us to handle and manage these responsibilities. So, yes. We are fit.

Faridah: 24:42

So I think I'm going to push back on you a little bit here. So this might be you know, we might have room for discussion because I agree with you that we are, we possess the nature to to accept responsibility. and to assert our self determination and to bring about change for ourselves individually, our families, establish them in such excellence that they are living models for how we function in the greater family of man and to begin to address those, those issues that are as, as large as genocide and as particular as you know, what is happening on the streets of our neighborhood,

Frank: 25:34

but

Faridah: 25:34

when we say fit it, if you think about Fit in terms of the word fitness, you know, that there is a one of the meanings of fit as an adjective, you know, one is what you addressed, you have a suitable quality, a standard or type to meet the required purpose. So the structure, the design as the creator has given it, the design is fit for this responsibility. But what happens when we let that design go, when we abuse that design, when we neglect that design to develop it? So you know, we come into the world fit, but sometime between there and our adulthood, we have to work on maintaining fitness. Right. We have to eat properly. We have to rest properly. We have to address our psychological and our emotional cells. We have to address the, the, the physical needs of our bodies. in order to maintain that state of fitness. So I guess what I would say is I, I think in our journey up from slavery as a people, and this is only in the context of our, our primary identity as human beings. So everything that I'm saying about the African American people is true for humanity. In general, because that's the first picture. But what I would say is on our journey up from slavery, we have been influenced. I would say up from slave life, we've been influenced and affected by the spirit of the time. And as a result, I believe we're suffering from a corruption of that spirit. Right. And, and I think that's because we have neglected. the moral picture of our community life. And so when I look at fitness, I think, yes, in, in our inherent nature, we are fit as human beings, but have we maintained that fitness? Have we done what is necessary to maintain the optimal state of the human body both in its material sense and its spiritual sense that you address? And I'm going to go on record as saying, no I believe that the discipline that's required as someone, you know, I, I'm on a health journey right now, myself, you know, trying to bring myself back into balance and, and my, my physical body into the best shape that it can be so that I am fit for the tasks that are at hand that God has given me. So that requires being disciplined in my eating. It requires being disciplined in how I move my body and making the choices that are going to strengthen. myself as opposed to weakening it.

Frank: 28:12

And

Faridah: 28:12

I believe that our collective community spirit, because we have abandoned or neglected the moral picture of our life, we've invited in influences that have weakened us and weakened our capacity for disciplined action. And so going back to the basics of family life, which is the foundational concept on which this podcast rests as, as a, as a prescription. for all of the other issues in society that we want to address. If we go back to the basics of family life, we're looking at fundamentally the union, the responsible union of man and woman. And so when I say that when I understand that freedom requires a mind. that is free of the troubles of the prevailing thinking in the world, then I have to ask myself, am I living my life according to the prevailing thinking? And what is the prevailing thinking? And so if we go to the most basic level of the human family, which, which tells us a lot about what's wrong in our economy, in our education, in our cultural life in, in our political life. I'm looking at a fundamental breakdown of the, the, the responsible understanding of the, the, the coming together of man and woman. One of the prevailing thinking is that freedom means licentiousness. Freedom means permissiveness. And in that fundamental relationship, we're looking at something that I think might be referenced as hookup culture that has Invited us to a a looseness and a permissiveness, a lack of disciplined behavior when it comes to the responsibilities and the beauty of, of man and woman coming together. So you know, I, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on that.

Frank: 30:02

Yes, that's, that's very popular. So I, I agree with you but I'm gonna give you a little pushback. On the statements. So, so we both are seeing and perceiving these pictures that we both painted on this episode about the nature and whether or not we are able to manage these resources, our created selves. Are fit to manage it our conscious self that lacks the moral interest in what we want to do is not fit to manage it and we have to bring the two together. So we're talking about talking about situations that come in between. That good moral state of man and his design to have that as a compliment to the nature of himself, so he could be fit to manage these things. These are the influences that have come in. And you talked about the hookup culture. Yes. And I would say that this type of influence has come in and it weakens the ties of relationships by stripping the natural progressive, the natural progressions. In these interactions. So they are natural progressions that we have when we naturally interact with one another. Did they just naturally happen? But the hookup culture itself are designed to strip. Those natural progressions and now take away the morality of these interactions and take away the focus of the building of these particular interactions were designed to build something we're building, you know, building blocks. You're talking about Fitness. Once again, having a little, little bit of biology background. You know, proteins are building blocks for muscles. Everything builds. Something has to build upon something else in order for it to extend and establish itself. But when we have influences that are designed to take away the building blocks, then that is a hindrance to society. And it's also been presented to us As a good thing, because ultimately we are looking for freedom. We are looking for freedom. And if it is presented to us that this is a level of freedom, then we are naturally, we will be influenced by it. And it will take us to our own destruction. Now you set the table earlier about what freedom is. Freedom is obedience. It's obedience to, to our creator. He created us and he designed us. And in our obedience to him is the ultimate. Form of freedom, but the influence is challenged us to take us away from that moral stance. And now we thinking that these, this new thing that's called hookup culture, that's so pervasive in the world today, because we're fighting for expression and our expression is what expression of freedom. Freedom to be able to determine for ourselves what our life should be, the self determination, but even in the context of self determination, it is a pathway of a group who has, who has in their own constitution, self governance. Which means government, which means that you're able to manage your own determination and manage your own levels of resources, which means that it builds and it affects society in a way that it builds it to its best picture. Now, does the hookup culture build anything? I would say it doesn't. It takes away versus it building. So are we sensitive enough to know that this influence that has come in and we don't know where the influence came from. We just know it's pervasive. Does it actually build our life? And if it doesn't, then we need to immediately identify it as something that goes against the goodness of our determination to handle and manage these resources and be fit for this constitution that God has already created for us. I don't know if that was pushback. Was that pushback? Yeah.

Faridah: 34:01

Look, whatever it was, it was good. Let's put it like that because you know we grow by, by challenge, you know, and so I want to return in the short time that we have left. And I, I pray that we can continue this conversation, but in the short time that we have left, I'd like to return to the idea that you just shared when you, you went a little bit more deeply into the idea or concept of freedom.

Frank: 34:27

And

Faridah: 34:27

you said that freedom is obedience. And for many people that sounds oxymoronic, you know, freedom is obedience. No, freedom is my ability to determine for myself, what, what I will do and what I won't do, what direction my life will take and what it won't take, who I choose, what my, and so if this is your idea of freedom, then I think it's, it behooves us to to, to explore that definition that you gave a little bit more and of freedom being obedience. How do we find our freedom in obedience? And because we are short on time today, I'm hoping that we can continue this conversation in a next episode.

Frank: 35:10

I would certainly agree. And yes, freedom for us is the ability to, to look with a new mind. Absolutely. At what the design should be. Well, Farda, the praise is for God. We have moved one step closer to destination excellence.

Faridah: 35:29

Until next time, let us remain conscious of our creator, of the sacred relationship of parent and child, and of the family ties that bind us together. Find us, subscribe to the podcast and come back next time for a new episode of the family ties

Frank: 35:45

from Frank Abdul Shahid

Faridah: 35:47

and Farida Abdul Tawab Brown.

Frank: 35:51

Peace be upon the family.