Heartwork – Surah Kahf #03

Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah everybody and welcome home. For the past few years we've always started our programs with this statement and we mean it. Because community is a place that we all should call home. A place that gives us peace, a place that gives us tranquility, and a place that we know is going to be there. When Allah Spano Tala describes faith in the Quran, he mentioned stability as being a requirement for faith to grow, a slow, healthy habit will follow or half a summit, that its roots are firm, and its branches grow to the sky. If we don't have stability, if we don't have permanence, if we don't know that something is going to be there for us, then our faith won't be

able to grow. This is why when the Prophet SAW Selim came to Medina and made the migration, the Hijra with his companions, at that moment, when they arrived at their new permanent home, he said, the beautiful phrase of Shiv Sena spread peace, why, because peace can be attained now that we have a place that we can call home. For the past five years roots has been able to be a part of so many people's lives and hamdulillah by the Grace of Allah. And we're so honored to have that be a part of our legacy. But we've been doing it in temporary spaces. We've been doing it in hotel banquet halls and measured side rooms, in people's living rooms at home. And then temporary lease spaces were when

we were signing the lease, we knew that this was not going to be there forever. But that can change. By the favor of Allah with our foundational organization column, we've been able to find this beautiful property here in Carrollton, Texas. That will be the permanent location and facility for the roots community space, a place where everybody can feel that tranquility, and have that growth of faith that Allah Tada tells us about, we need your help. To close on this property. We need you to generously donate and contribute whatever you can, adding your name to this list of people that will help build and construct a permanent home for us to build the model community following the

example the Prophet Muhammad SAW Salman Medina, help us make this dream a reality. Visit routes dfw.org/home

Welcome home, everybody. How's everyone?

Listen,

I know that if you're a mouse fan last night was tough.

It's not going to get easier. Alright, just you don't sometimes you just have to accept reality as it is. And just makes the end easier.

So if you're a madman hate them, it'll be okay. I'll always we're gonna hug you and show that to begin. Okay.

Welcome back to HEartwork. We're we're going through one of the milestone chapters in the bronze age gap. It's the 18th chapter in the Quran. And it's one of the milestone chapters because there's a set of virtues, about sorts of concepts that are specific to the SUTA. It is one of those chapters that the Muslim, the individual, the believers should be very familiar with,

even if not to the level of like memorization, or, you know, rote memorization, but the stories and the themes within the soda are so full of just absolute, you know, substance, for the heart of the believer that these stories are necessary, the necessary literature for everybody to have spiritually for the heart to be in a good place. And this is why the Muslim is recommended to recite sorts of calf every Friday, not just for the botica of it, not for the blessing of reciting it, but because of what it contains. Okay, so we did the introduction, then we did a little bit, we're going to finish today, the kind of like the preface that Allah subhanaw taala gives in sorts of God. And

then we're going to start into the first story, which are the companions of the cave and kind of give a background that story a little bit before we jump into the actual passage in the Quran. So where we left off last week, was we started talking about this idea that ALLAH SubhanA wa, tada has a purpose for this book, that the Quran is driven by something, it's meant to deliver something to every reader, all right, it's not just a book of, you know, that's left up to the reader know that the Quran has a directive, it actually has an intention. What is the directive of the Koran? What's the intention of the Quran?

Why was the Quran set?

Yeah, very good as a guidance, so all the other things in the Quran that you see, and as much as people might talk about different elements of like science being in the Quran or history, or if there's like a numerical miracle like and all these other miracles. I don't necessarily want to sit here and like confirm or go through or deny any of them. But that's not the function of Gopuram. Right? Whether or not the phoron you know, delivers scientifically impossible information that there's no way to profit so some could have no

Oh, that's a separate conversation, right. And I'm not saying that it's pointless, I'm just saying that it's secondary, primary, the goal of the phoron is to deliver guidance to deliver a guidance in the way that is best suited. So what that means is that when you look at the four out and you're reading through it, it's not going to read like a history. But even when you're going over a story of history, a history book is going to have names, dates, places, it's going to be a you know, oriented chronologically, you're going to be looking through the Quran might skip around here and there why, because going through chronologically would distract from the function of guidance. If

the point of guidance in that moment is to talk about one of the stories of Musa Sudan, it's not going to go through the whole thing over and over again, it's just going to pick that one part Allah Tala is going to deliver that one part. Why because that's the essential piece for that point of guidance. So we have something similar here. Allah has promised to Allah is going to introduce a few pieces oopsie Sorry, I keep forgetting that one loves

Allah, Allah is going to introduce a few pieces of guidance. However, they're not going to be you know, fully detailed, and not everything is going to be disclosed. But that's not any indication of weakness on behalf of the message. It's an indication of focus and direction of purpose. So we have here verse number five, which we ended on last time, which is the idea of speaking without guidance. So what were the things that were being said, without guidance? Well, one of the things we want to let you know part of the tougher the love whether this idea that Allah Spano Tata has a child or that he, you know, gave birth or he had offspring of some sort. These are claims that were made by

different people in the past. Now we know that this sort of was makin. So this isn't talking even necessarily about the people of the book. This is talking about the pagan religions that believe that God, all the idols they worshipped were God's daughters or that God, some of them believe that angels were God's daughters, they had these theories, right speculations that were not accurate. They weren't based in anything factual. They were just conjecture, people just kind of came up with them. And the reason why Allah Spano Tata takes a moment here, couple of verses to address this is because he wants us to walk away, one of the reasons why is because he wants us to walk away with a

deeper appreciation for what knowledge is, and why knowledge is so important that in any scenario, if someone doesn't have knowledge, we don't take anything from what they say, if someone does not know what they're talking about, we don't put any stock in whatever it is that that person says. And it shouldn't be the same when it comes to religion, when it comes to faith. If a person doesn't have the requisite knowledge, or training within the Religious Sciences, right, or on tafsir, Hadith, etc, then when a person speaks on behalf of Allah, it's very, very important for us to realize and connect that you know what, while even the intention might be good, it's not necessarily something

that I should put, invest my entire belief into. Because why because training is necessary it's requisite. So a lot of times I hear he addresses this point, he says, Man, don't be human. And these people are making this claim religiously, but they don't have knowledge. And this is something that's very destructive, we kind of alluded to at last time, I didn't want to get into the religion versus culture debate, but now I do know, I don't. All right. A lot of times claims made on behalf of religion that are founded and their origin is coming from culture, right? Anyone here have any

are too scared to talk about them? Like your therapy session? Okay. There are some where there is like a tangential relationship to religion, like very brief, and even then it's manipulated and twisted, and again, to kind of fit the cultural imperative, right, whatever that that culture wants. But the point that I'm trying to make is that it's very damaging. When people grew up for, you know, two, three decades, and then they go and sit with a scholar, or they attend a class or something. And that shaker shaker says, Yeah, you know, this point, or this belief, or this, whatever, is not actually accurate. Islamically it's not, it's not actually what Islam says. If you look at the

sources, if you look at what the scholars have said for 1400 years, not accurate, and that person, it's almost like a revelation like a rebirth. Like are you serious? Well, my grandma told me wasn't true. You know, all those years. There's a few men what are some of them? I forgot? There's a few that I thought here we go.

festivities. Oh, yeah. Okay, that was easy one. Thank you. I was scared that you're gonna bring on something that actually was true. And I had to, you know, it hurt everyone's feelings. Okay. Yeah. So sometimes, like some of the wedding festivities stuff is derived from other cultural practices, which in and of themselves are not evil, some maybe, but in and of themselves, some of them are not, but still to use that and say, Well, you know, in Islam, it's better this way. Actually, there's a really funny story that I can share with you. So many of you are aware of this. What the difference between like Nika and

engagement is right. You guys aware of this? Okay kneecap means what? Marriage very good, excellent. Okay, good. All right. Engagement is Bucky, you know, like there's many different forms of engagement. Okay, sadly Ha, this and this and this. That's another one that has anyways. So all of these are not kneecap. Okay, Nick Yeah, is a shutter a term. It's a term that's brought up in the shin er, that indicates that these two people are married. And being married, it means that between them there are responsibilities, there are rights and there are privileges that are now given to these two individuals as a unit as a couple. Okay, that's what the calf means. So, what happens is,

you know, there is traditionally when there comes to Nikka the requirement is very vague when it when the requirement for Nika is specific, but the requirement for what happens after is very vague, in that there should be something called a walima which literally just means a party to feed people. And there should be in the majority of scholars, they say, Allah Allah, which means announcement. So no, Nick ash should be done like in secret, like people should not not No, you shouldn't just you know, if someone says let's get married, but don't tell anybody. That's unfortunately not part of the requirement of what we would consider to be traditionally in the gap. And then also, there

should be some form of feeding, like a party a festivity. Now, it doesn't have to be 1000 people, it doesn't have to be 500 it can literally be, hey, I'm gonna take it could be like roots like literally, Hey, show up chicken salad sandwiches, welcome to my walima like, you know, I mean, no one should take claim a visit. There were Lima though, right beside to being super broke. But point being is that there there is no Islamic imperative to have this much money spent or this many people fed, it's left open. Why? Because this is something that's going to fall in different, you know, shoulders across time, and people are have to figure it out based on their circumstances. So if the

prophet says I'm saying you must feed 500 people, like that might be very difficult for certain people, okay. To do and so he was left open, right. Now, the question or the issue that arises, which is funny, it's a funny story, is that when someone gets into calf, but they have not yet done the walima, this is actually talked about in in fifth, right, that is the pre walima phase of marriage. And there's really very little difference. They're very, it's extremely, like basic, and it's just one nuance that we want to talk about, but essentially, they're still married they're still a married couple, meaning that all those privileges all those rights in response are many

people that you may have heard of who have their Nika and then are waiting for their Will you guys ever heard of this? Okay, like Nico, Nico, Nico, Nico cama de right when Nick? Okay, so all of us, we are married, but we don't live together for whatever reason yet. Okay, and there's, you know, these stages that we're gonna go through. So one of the things traditionally that you find is that it's encouraged for these two people that as they're married, not living together, right to not have any children, because that can be very difficult. Building a family when you don't live in the same house is a challenge, especially when you're not able to even provide. So that's one of the things

that's mentioned. And obviously, what leads to children is also something that parents and you know, elders and stuff are like, be careful, don't do that, etc. So I was once in a gathering where there was this couple that had just gotten nicot Okay, Mashallah. It was awesome. I pray that if anyone here is going to cut me Allah to give you with best Inshallah, okay, so they just got the Nikka done. It was it was great. Everyone's happy. We're celebrating, you know, we're sitting down having some nice dinner. And one of the aunties walks in the room, and she's like, you know, I have some advice for you.

So I'm like, okay, not me for them. So I'm listening. I'm like, Michael Jackson.

I'm just saying that like, doesn't be good. So she says, you know, like, you know, I love you both so much. And you're like, you're like my own children. And I would only tell you this because I love to eat. And when someone starts like that, you know, it's gonna get really serious. Because it is not serious. It's just very, like, vague. This is like, the she's setting it up. She's like, you know, I would I would never tell you this unless you were like, my, I'm like your mother. Right? I'm like your mother. I'm gonna give the guy's eyes and he's just like waiting.

And the girl is just like, kind of like already in bed. I think it was the girls out. I think it was the girls aren't and the guy was

it wasn't not the guys aren't. So

although it could have been honestly.

The explanation just ask a friend. So she says, You know, I know that you got your Nikka Mashallah. And I know we're also happy for you and blah, blah, blah, but don't spend time alone.

And then they everyone automatically, what are they do they look right at me? They're like, Huh?

And I'm like, I just like, and they're like, and she's like, No, no, because, you know, you love each other. You have so much love and your heart for each other. But if you spend time alone, then shame on.

You might whisper to you to do things that you shouldn't do.

So then, then they look at me to like,

like phone a friend.

I look and I'm like,

is that true? And I'm like, I looked at it and she's like,

gonna say yes.

And I'm like,

auntie, technically, that's not a fun.

Because whatever you're alluding to, and I don't want to go into details, whatever you're alluding to, is not haram any longer, right? Like, what would have been had on pre marriage? Now it's not so shaitan doesn't encourage people to do like permissible things. It's kind of not his MO, right. Like, you're not gonna be like, hey, drink that milk. And you're like, really? Sorry. Like, that's not what it sounds like, shutdown is not going to show up and try to convince these two people to like it. So that she's like, No, no, no, I know. I know. I know. It's not haram, but still shape on my come. And I'm like,

What are you saying? Right?

It just got really awkward. So

two sides point, right? Again, the cultural expectation of pre shot the pre will Lima, no time together, was being manipulated right through religious language, instead of her saying, like, you guys don't want to, like have a kid before you move in, which is a valid concern. Okay. And I understand there's like, birth control, whatnot. But the point being is, that's what she said, she could have just said that, and not use the religion to try to justify whatever her fear was. But again, when a person doesn't have knowledge, then it's kind of like the world is their playground, you know, they can justify or they can make impermissible or permissible, anything based off of

whatever their hearts feeling, and then just throw like a little Shaitan in there, you know, Oh, I thought we'll do this, or Allah doesn't want this. And Islam says this. And without knowledge on both sides, the person can say what they want, and the other person doesn't know how to sort of take it. They don't know whether or not it's accurate or inaccurate. So knowledge is very important. Now, what Allah Spano Tata is talking about here is a lot more important and critical than a Nikka couple getting advice from auntie, right? He's saying that when these people, they're so distant from knowledge of Allah, that they start to make claims about Allah. Okay, they start to speak

authoritative ly about Allah. And this is, again, when you study the science of theology or theta, this is a really, really dangerous territory. Because no one wants to speak authoritative ly about Allah without knowing anything, right? So it's best when a person doesn't know to just say, look, Allah knows best. That's really the safest answer. You know, if you were in my Sunday school, and you wrote that on your exam, I would give you 100% Because that is the safest answer in 99% of situations saying, I don't know is fine. I told you guys a story about my mother who was a scholar of great refuge. And, you know, a person comes and travels, ask him all these questions. And to half

of them he said, I don't know. Right? And this is somebody that definitely should know. And he's saying gladly gladly. Because it's way more important for a person not to get in trouble by their time than it is for them to appear to be correct. And if you feel the pressure to appear to be right, that's the best time to say no, then I don't know. If like you're feeling this pressure inside, like, Okay, this person's waiting, they need an answer. That's probably the best time for a person say You know what, I really don't know exactly. Let me let me go back let me ask some teachers or scholars that I know and I can get an answer for you. Because remember, when the Prophet

SAW Selim was put in the same situation, right? It through his lesson we learned that that pressure can sometimes lead you to make false promises or things that are not going to be delivered upon. So Allah Tada says, Here, mandolin behemoth

Weatherly about em. Neither did their forefathers had, Kevin would have Kenema Tentacruel MINDEF wa Yoku Luna Illa Canada that what a horrible thing that was said or that was uttered from their their mouths or lips. They said nothing but that which was a lie. So this is again the importance of knowledge. Now, switching gears, Allah has promised to changes the topic or the theme and he introduces to us again, something very emotional, something very critical. And that is the emotional intelligence of the profit souls. Um, how would you guys describe the Profit System in one word, if you had one word? If someone came to you and said, Tell me about your profit? ISOs are set up in one

word, what would you say?

Passive is who's the pessimists? He's the pessimists. Okay, what else?

Merciful, okay.

Kind, humble, beautiful, honest, caring, compassionate,

understanding, patient of hearing,

trustworthy and

empathetic very much Allah. These are solid. There was a conference once, back in the 90s. It was a sealer conference, and they asked all these scholars the same question. It was kinda like what I just did, but everyone in the crowd was like a PhD in Islam.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad. Oh,

I think you're very successful in your own right. But I want you to understand just like the caliber of of a religious mind that was there. They asked everybody like, how would you describe the prophets. And everyone there was just like a shake a shake, I'm sure you like big time. And the characteristic, everything that you guys said to some degree or or completely was true. Okay. But the characteristic that they landed on as a group of scholars, this is an international conference was empathy.

His ability to emotionally connect with other people was unparalleled. Absolutely, I used to sign up to the point where when you read some of these stories, when you hear these stories, you can't help but think of your own shortcomings. Like the first thing you think of when you hear about how the Prophet saw some treated people, especially those who treated him poorly. The first thing you think about is how you and I would never be able to do the same thing. And it's not a bad thought, right. It's not the self deprecation that I'm alluding to. But it's the it's just the sheer reverence of how perfect his character was, I sort of said, So what's something that he had, that might we might

find difficult in our lives? Well, the Prophet SAW sort of had this incredible ability to feel for other people, even for those people that perpetually consistently made mistakes and rejected him.

So Allah here is talking about this moment. And he says Fernanda, baffi, or Neff, Sakala, 30 him, in LEM Umina, we had a hadith Yasaka, that Allah is addressing this pain that he's feeling. And he uses this, this description, this language, that you will kill yourself through your grief, your grief will become so great that you'll just die over what not over the fact that you lost both of your parents before birth, and even at a young age, not over the fact that your uncle died as a non Muslim while you were sitting at his deathbed begging him to say Shahada now with the fact that your wife passed away now with the fact that your children will pass away, not those, but you one of the

things that will cause you to have such heartbreak, that you will feel tightness in your chest you can breathe, is that you're going to be sitting here talking to people, and you're going to be trying to make sense to them, of why this religious scripture should be something that they read and be a part of, and they're not going to listen to you at all.

And it's not like how we are if someone disagrees with you, what do you do?

Very good. You just might show like this, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. Like if someone disagrees with you, what do you do? You just shrug your shoulders? You're just like, I don't care. Right? And maybe that's a defense mechanism. Maybe it's your masking your hurt. I don't care what you really do. You're crying a little bit, right? I don't care, right? But in reality, we have so many different reactions to when people don't agree with us. Right? So we might shrug it off. We might, you know, make excuses for them. We might say that, Oh, well. They're not even intelligent enough to understand what I'm saying anyways, so you know, we might, you know, lump them into a

category of people that we don't like, anyways, there's so many different responses to when people don't agree with us. How many of us when people don't agree with us, right? So you have something you're very passionate about. This isn't talking about the slam over the water cooler at work with one of your co workers. This is like a life or death thing. This is you trying to convince somebody of something that you hold very near and dear to your heart existentially. Okay, so something you really believe in. I had this conversation the other day with a rabbi friend of mine talking about the Palestinian cause. And I just could not get him to say the words that I was trying to get him to

say, right, he kept saying it was complicated, and he wanted to me wanted to punch myself, right? It's really complicated. I was like, I'm gonna make things complicated.

I'm gonna make you complicated, right? Physically, intense games complicated. And I was like, surely we can agree that it is wrong to kill journalists or children or bomb hospitals or schools or anything else. All right, I'm going to stop because I'm gonna pass out later this year. But you get my point.

Surely we can agree, like just say the word to say yes. But everything had a pretext, everything. And you might have the same experience when you're talking about racism, right? In an American in the American experience as a Muslim, or sexism. Or you might you might be trying to convince somebody of like a very basic, foundational fact. And they're just not believing you they're not catching on. They're not admitting it. Right now, the prophets also done when he experienced this from the religious perspective. It caused him so much grief and this is something that is a skill that really cannot be cannot be, you know,

it cannot be faked. It's not something that you can just you know, add

Oh man, I wish this empathy is something that has to be felt sharpened home. And let me tell you something

the job of the Prophet SAW sent him was to deliver the message to all people. The job of the Prophet saw someone was to have compassion and mercy for everybody. The job the Prophet SAW Saddam was to try to be there. For everybody. Yes. Okay. Does that sound pretty good? Would the world be a good place? If everybody had mercy for each other? Compassion? Have you failed? In that regard? Yes or no?

Anybody? We all stop nodding at once. Julian, I like to admit failure. Yeah, for sure. Have you been mean to people before? Had he been hurt? Maybe rightfully so maybe they hurt you. And you responded in kind. But the prophetic response, the prophetic response is that when somebody does something that goes against what you are hoping for, whether it's in conversation, or an action behavior, is to have empathy for that person. And it's a really tough place to get to that's like, the height, it's the height. Imagine somebody saying something so mean, hurting you so badly. And instead of responding with anger, the thought you have is, I wonder what it is,

in that person's life or heart that's allowing them to feel that way.

This was who the Prophet saw something was, people would literally tell him, I want you to die. I want you this, I want you that you're, you're You're crazy. You're this, you're that. And the puppet says, I'm gonna come back and meet them the next day, how can I help you?

How can I get away get away, they would laugh at and mock him. Only later, years, sometimes months, or maybe years later, to be shaking his hand saying, I believe you're the messenger of God. There's no way that the conversion of so many of those companions would have happened. If he responded the way that you and I respond to people. There's simply no way. One of the proofs of Prophethood if you want to, like if people want say, Well, what do you know? How are you sure that the Prophet Mohammed system was a prophet? One of the proofs of prophethood is his character. It's simply beyond human capability. When you read these stories, and they're all vetted, I mean, these are his enemies

telling the stories. They're not even all in his companion. Some of them are like, Yeah, I just became Muslim. Let me tell you what happened. This, this, this, this, this, but he never said this to me, or he never did this to me, he always made me feel this way. Again, it's beyond capacity. So Allah Tala here is describing it. But Allah subhanaw taala here is drawing a line. And he's saying that as much as you have this capacity for empathy, and for emotion to connect, he said, that when a person rejects or denies, you can only let it bother you to a certain degree.

You cannot let it consume you. If something does not go the way you want it to in your life. You're allowed to feel disappointment. You're allowed to feel pain, you're allowed to feel, you know, you're allowed to experience the depression that you experience with the anxiety extreme. We're all allowed that. But there is a limit, there is a point at which Allah subhanaw taala informs us and tells us that we're not supposed to lose our lives over the disappointment that we feel even if it's the disappointment of the prophets all sudden trying to convert people or accept people or bring people to an example of this. If you get into a fight with somebody, how long do you have before you

have to talk to them again? Everyone knows this means we all have parents.

How long can people be quiet with you for three days? Alright, so generally the Hadith says

hello, a Abdullah afar who focus on Africa. Yeah, the Hadith says it is not permissible for a person to make Hendra which is the metaphorical term for what

goes somebody's right to migrate away from somebody literally is what it means as well. You have to migrate. Okay? You can't go somebody for more than three days. After that. You have to at least respond with setup. And then you can do another three days.

So you're reset every three days.

That's really bad. I shouldn't I shouldn't do that. Okay, so scholarship as the minimum Okay, so the point being is what does that what does that teach us? Good nonprofits awesome have just told us Hey, suck it up. If somebody hurts your feelings Be nice. Be like me. Right? What what is what expectation does so

if the profit is awesome, says someone's means you hurt your feelings, makes you upset makes you angry. You better not to go home you better not go quiet on them. You better treat them exactly as normal. What expectation does that create?

It's unrealistic. Very good. It's unrealistic. Like you would look at me like yeah, so Allah I'm a

Human, I'm not an angel. I feel the things that I'm feeling when the person said that it creates like, it makes me upset. I feel like angry, like, I feel hot inside, my eyes are twitching. Like, I'm having a physical response to what they said, I can't just ignore it, yada Sobat right. So the prophets, Allah was saying, Okay, you get three days, because the other side of it is you can ignore them for as long as you need. Take care of yourself. Treat yourself. Love yourself, right. One of the prophets also said, You know what, you know what? You get an unlimited amount of time. You know, what, if that person's bad for you just cut them out? If that person says to me, just kind of just

cut them, not physically just cut them?

What expectation is that created? What does that do to us?

No one is friends with anybody anymore. Right? How many friends do you have in your circle that you once kind of had something an issue with? Yeah, it happens. And then you have to repair you have to rebuild. And when you repair and rebuild, it's like my orthopedic surgeon said, when I had ACL surgery, I asked him, I said, Doctor, can I play? Can I ever play sports again? He said, why? I said, I'm gonna go to the league and try all right.

And after he got the laughing, he's looked at me. And he said, he goes, you know, what's crazy about the surgery that I'm going to do? I said, what he goes, you are going to be stronger in that leg than you were before you tore it. So how does that make sense? He goes, sometimes the way that we repair something artificially, we put in different things. And he wasn't actually makes that leg stronger. So he said, typically ends up happening is people come back tearing the other leg.

And I was like, thanks. All right. Thanks for putting that right there. All right. Point being is that sometimes through repair and renovation, things become better. So you go through something with a friend, right? There's, there's a time where you're hurt, you don't feel good about it. It makes you feel uneasy, you kind of you know, and then you come to terms with it, you kind of address one another. And it's awkward, but you put everything out on the table, you say what needs to be said, right? They respond, you talk it out, it's awkward for a few days. And then things kind of start to pick up again. And your relationship because both of you had transcended that difficult moment, your

relationship becomes better. It happens with parents. It happens with spouses, it happens with friends, it happens a lot. Right? And this is the Prophetic wisdom, that you are allowed to feel what humans feel. You are allowed to sadness, happiness, excitement, anger, grief, all of that's mobile permissible, but you cannot let it take over who you are. You cannot the Prophet SAW sent him said what when the when the compassion

the Prophet saw seven said Don't get angry.

Right? This is an interesting thing to say Don't get angry. Well, the scholarship What did the prophets also mean by this? Because surely it's possible for people to get angry. I mean, it's impossible for someone not to get angry about something. The Scholars say what the Prophet saw someone told him was not don't ever feel anger, but do not become a manifestation of your anger. Do not become so grumpy. so upset. So discontent all the time that when people think of you they think of anger.

That's not a lot. Right? Many of us think to your own life. There are people for better or for worse, that when you think of them you think of a trait.

Right? So when you think of them, you think of generosity. You think of hospitality. You think of mercy, forgiveness, love, then there are those May Allah protect us. That when we are thought of people think of stinginess backbiting,

lack of trust, anger, to see procrastination. We're not reliable, right? No one wants to have that. So while you're allowed to experience your human self, don't let it become who you are. May Allah Tada protect us, okay. Then Allah taught us which is again

kind of alluding to why the people may not follow what does Allah Tala say verse number seven who can read English right here

in green,

like a TED talk, good.

Anybody from the five people that are sitting close to TV as possible?

We have indeed made whatever is on earth as an adornment for it in order to test which of them is best. And now this one, the next one

and we will certainly reduce whatever is on it to barren ground. This is amazing. Ha this is like one of my I mean, this is one of my favorite little couplets in the Quran. Allah Tada. It says in that Jana, Malin, Aldi, Zenith and Lucha Lena beluga home au X anomala. We talked about this very briefly and last time so I'm gonna bring it up quickly. Allah Tada here is talking about tests tests.

In life, we always hear what tests. Why does God test me? Right? This is just a test. But the interesting thing is that if you read the verse backwards, you will assume that Allah subhanaw taala is going to bring out what? Something good or bad in your life bad because we always associate tests with tragedies or calamities or trials. We never associate that trial as being something that we wanted something favorable. So Allah here is saying, no, not everything that's a test is something that you don't like. In fact, some of the greatest tests that we experience are the things that we want. Like we want that Allah gives it to us. And it fundamentally changes our spiritual makeup, who

we are. If it makes us someone better, or we stay the same, then the test was passed. But if it makes us worse, meaning if we develop some sort of spiritual disease, because of that, let's say that Allah Tada gives somebody wealth, and as a result they become Aryan. Okay, then is that wealth, really a blessing? Is it a blessing that it turned that person from being otherwise very normal and agreeable, and socially, you know, beneficial to others. Now, whenever that person looks at others, the first thing they look at, is the brand of clothing that they wear, the car that they drive, and the neighborhood that they live in. Those are the things that that person didn't care about, until

they attained or achieved that level of wealth. So the person thinks that Allah favored them and gave them right but in reality, that person is being tested and is failing that test. May Allah protect us. So Allah Tada gives people things, right degrees, education, spouses, children. And as a result of these gifts, sometimes we turn into like a monster.

Allah gives you money, and all of a sudden, you look at everybody else that's struggling financially, and you're like, they're just not working hard. What does that mean? What does that mean? Subhanallah that they're just not working hard. You think people enjoy being in difficult situations financially? You think it's easy? You think it's like, no, but the reason why a person loses that empathy is because they've been blessed immensely. I like to think of this word. Instead of being blessed. I think I say being blessed it because it's like being tested with a blessing. Right? And it's not a lot. And you have to really, you have to be careful, because people, the way

that we talk about things that society wants for us, is almost absolutely definitively that it's good.

You know what I'm talking, you know what I mean? Like something good happens to you. And people say, mashallah, you get your degree, or you get a job, or you get this or that, and people start celebrating? Wow, that's amazing. And all it is a bunch of hype coming through. And in your mind, like when you start to believe the hype, you start to forget that you know what, like, I've got to be careful. Because the thing that Allah has given me, everything that is given comes with the responsibility, yes or no. Everything that is given, comes with a responsibility. And everything that is given, Allah will ask about every single thing. That's why we believe as Muslims, the first

people to enter Paradise will be the poor, not because I mean, there's a lot of reasons why but not because everybody who's poor is necessarily automatically better than anyone who has wealth or riches or what No, but because they have less to answer about the person who has more money, right? You look at people across the world with such a, you know, pity, oh, Subhan Allah, like, look at how poor the OMA is the kind of poor the rest of the world is, you know, the companions. They used to cry. When they got well, don't take this too seriously. But I want you to have it just when you need it. Don't live this statement every day because it could it could hurt, but I want you to have it

just when you need it.

I'm gonna hand it out. When Musab the new mayor died in the battle, when he was martyred in the battle. Musab was the equivalent of like someone who grew up in Hollywood. Okay, when he was in Makkah, he was so wealthy, he was so famous, so well taken care of that he was everyone wanted to be most Okay. In terms of his fashion, his you know, hygiene his pedigree, he was like that everyone was jealous of him. When he when they described him in Mecca. They said that he had so much cloth you know cloth is expensive if you guys ever gotten close like made like Taylor, they measure by the yard right? So or so right here. Okay. So no, but anyways, it's cheaper sometimes. So

he had so much cloth that already LeBron that when he walked in Mecca as a young person as a wealth

You met his clothes with drag behind him for like yards and yards and yards. Now for you and I were like, doesn't seem very productive. Sounds like a waste. Exactly. It is a waste. Because you know what? He had another garment to wear the next day and the next day and the next day. And the next day, he was so wealthy he didn't have to wear the same garment twice. I remember actually is Palau is one of the I was watching one of the documentaries or biographies on one of the NBA players I forgot who was and they said they never wore the same pair of socks twice. Ever. And I thought to myself, me either, but that's because my dryer keeps eating one of them

to buy new ones right now because I'm wealthy. In fact, I got to start a GoFundMe for my son. No, this guy literally, they had it he was on the way game. And you know, they went to his hotel room and they their cameras falling in. And you see this bag, this footlocker bag because it knows old because it wasn't Amazon footlocker bag, and in the bag was just like brand new three or four packs of these Nike socks. And he says, I get hundreds and hundreds of packs of these socks every season. And never wear the same socks twice. And I remember again, this isn't me judging, I'm not like, Wow, what a senator. But what I'm saying is, it's a sign of opulence, isn't it? It's a sign of wealth.

Right? They used to say the same thing about other athletes that they would never wear the shape, same shoes twice or whatever. Okay. The point being is that that was Mossad. He had so much wealthier he wouldn't wear the same garment twice. He could drag his clothes get so much he could drag him behind him. Fast forward now, two decades, decade and a half. When Mossad is fighting in the battle, Lord, and he sees that the profits also learned is vulnerable that the attack is to front now. And he sees it the Prophet saw some is basically they've identified him the army is close to him and they're coming to him with their swords. And they've they've struck him over the head

with that, you know, they've hit him on the helmet, the prophets awesome is not looking good. His areas not looking good. Mossad one thing that was interesting, I don't know if people know this. They say that, apart from the family of the Prophet SAW Salem, he looked like him the most that he looked like in the most. So if people like looked quickly, and they didn't know what the Prophet SAW doesn't look like exactly they would, they would think they were like brothers, right? Even though obviously, we know that that's not the case of the problem. But the point being is that it looks similar. So Musa, when he sees that the Prophet Solomon is being attacked, he picks up the flag, and

he went and he rides his horse towards that area. And then He peels away.

And what happens is you have these hundreds of soldiers rushing toward the area to attack the Prophet, Arthur to Sudan. And they see most often they think, what, that's him, because you can't communicate that quickly. So some of them are going to the actual place, and then some say, Oh, he's getting away. So they start chasing him.

And as a result of that, he's being chased by hundreds of soldiers.

This isn't a video game. This isn't some area where it's like he can get out of this, when you're doing this, he knows this means is that he's fully aware.

And he gets cut and hit by sword after sort after sort until his life eventually ends

when they came after the battle,

and that action single handedly saved the Prophet souls on his life amongst many. There were many actions that they have bravery that saved the Prophet someone's life. That was one of them. The scholar said that I had most I've not done that, who knows what could have happened.

When they came to his body,

the Companions

they tried to cover his body with what he was wearing as a sign of respect for the recently deceased.

And they so they they straightened out what he was wearing as a piece of cloth.

And they covered his head, but they noticed that when they covered his head, his feet would show.

So then some of the companions went to his feet, and they pulled the cloth down to cover his feet. And when they did that, they noticed that the cloth would expose his face. And they did this one or two times because they realized that this wasn't some sort of error where the cloth was not folded or folded. They said he doesn't have enough cloth.

He doesn't have enough cloth.

And they started crying.

Not because they were sad that he died. That was a different kind of sadness. They were crying because in all of their minds, 10 years prior, they remembered the young man walking in the streets of America with more cloth and he needed

and now he laid there lifeless in the battlefield with not enough cloth to cover his body

and other amendment out who was also very wealthy. When when the when the death of Mossad was reported to him and Medina, he started crying and he said, I'm so afraid look at his trajectory. Many of us would say what, oh man, he went from wealth to

to poverty, I'm gonna mentor look at where he went from he went from who he was. And his trajectory was not downward, it was up.

Allah gave him his reward. And I'm gonna Command said, I hope, I hope that my wealth here with me is not a sign that Allah is giving me everything now is saying nothing will come to you and

why am I telling you this story? Again, if you think about it too hard, it can kind of mess with you. If Allah gives you something nice in this life, it's not a sign that Allah is upset with you. It's not a sign that you're in a bad spot. Know, if you get a nice house or a car or a job. It's not that. But what it does to you is a sign of who you are.

You know, they say that wealth doesn't change you. It just shows you who you really are right?

This is what the companions were worried about. They didn't want their wealth to distract them and help them with the Catholic Hotez. Ultimately my father, the Quran says what? You were distracted by your obsession with acquiring more, and how can with the Catholic at the Catholic means what?

To get more more, more, more more. Allah saying all of you are so focused on acquiring more, you're you're gonna live your life getting more and more and more hat, tessuto and Mojave, it's like you're gonna constantly be getting more and more and more until you just fall into your grave and you're dead.

Without any time to thank Allah for what he's given you to look up and enjoy the day. Right to smile in the face of your mother or father, your spouse to have you heard of whatever, like spend time with your friend, you just so constantly focused on getting more and more. So Allah Tada here says, What? All of this desire that you have for more, it is not simply without value. It's not just a random thing. It's a test. And then he says, this very thing that you chase constantly non stop. What in legit I Luna Elena sorry, Dan Joseph.

One day, this earth that you see, you look out and you see like the beauty of you know, the landscape and the architecture. Today I was at somewhere. I was buying some stuff and I heard overheard this conversation. And someone was Where do you live? And the lady goes, I live in legacy West. And she paused for applause

she's like, I live in legacy West. And she looked around, right? And I was like, Oh, wow. Right. They started talking about oh, you got the good restaurants and this and that's great. You know, you tell people where you live. Where do you live? You know? Oh, do you live in Carrollton northern Castle hills.

Do you have an Irving Valley Ranch

or something ridiculous.

Plano Frisco like those 9090 Come on.

We talked about now it's taxi prosper eventually Oklahoma, right. DFW will eventually just be Tulsa like

Tulsa.

How long have you had the routes four hours.

But it's still DFW?

Not not better. So

the point being is that we have all these badges that we were based on these things. Now Allah says these things one day will all disappear.

And that's why hij is like the great rehearsal for the Day of Judgment. Because overnight, when everyone gets into fram you know what happens when everyone gets into prom and everyone steps out of their hotels, and they take their bus to Mina or was Debbie Farah or wherever they're going? The next stage? You know what's crazy about Hajj? You can't tell the millionaire from the person who's unemployed.

You can't tell the student who just graduated from the person who's got a trust fund right for all of their kids. You can't tell you look at the crowd in your life. Right? Because guess what, like even the people who groom themselves night can't You can't room for a few days. We'll all start looking a little bit Shaggy. Right. And everybody kind of starts and they and they're dusty and disheveled and it's difficult. Why? Because these are all the signs of a person begging a lot. Like if you really needed something would you take time to like line yourself up?

No, you'd be like Allah please. Right so the idea for a person who isn't from for the judge is like Oh ALLAH I've come here let's bake along them a little bit I've come here yet Allah I didn't even I didn't even pack like my my nice stuff. I got on the next flight. I got out here I came I'm in the middle of the desert. I'm wearing nothing but simple clothing. I'm not anymore my jewelry. I don't know what time it is. My watch isn't working my phone's up all I'm just here to thank you for your agenda.

That's it. Right? That's the power of heritage. And so on that day, the day of judgment when everything is razed to the ground, right. Everything is destroyed. You think we're all gonna care who got the Model X or the you know, you think everyone's gonna care like about

We live in what zip code do you think people in Irving are gonna look at people in Valley match to be like?

Lucky, right?

No, no

no one will care. And we we thrive we live we're marketed to we are convinced that you are better because of something platinum status VIP was a support thing called again

attach see all of you know what I'm talking about?

VIP thing right? Whenever he gets all this stuff all the time right It's okay. We're convinced we're convinced that were somehow more special. Even right now I'm not trying to shame people who's playing tonight what teams Celtics in the heat right? Oregon last night was the you know the Mavs in the orange. It was painful. I can't remember it right. I'm not a mass fan, but it just hurts so many friends.

I had a bunch of friends, Mashallah. They're like, Yeah, you know, I got playoff tickets. How? Well I'm a season ticket holder. So, you know,

tickets, you know, that means it's not seasoning. season tickets. I get tickets for every game. You want to come next year? Let me know. Sure. All right. I'm gonna and I'm like, Yeah, that's fine. I'll watch it on TV, right.

I don't like $20 Nachos. Anyways, as I'm sitting there jealous. Now,

we are convinced that we are different because of some category that was artificially made. Allah taught us on the Day of Judgment, there will be no categories, there will only be two. Those are the books in the right hand. And those are the books on the left. That's it.

And guess what, there's no attachment to socioeconomic status. There's no attachment to what car you drove what zip code you had nothing.

When another job, or even entire of B flat destroyed, you won't be able to tell one part from the next. And similar to endless habit Kaffee where Rotimi can Omen Aya Tina Agia. Allah to audit Now begins the story. We have a few minutes left, so I'll get started. Allah Tada says, oh, messenger jasola Have you heard of Have you thought that the story of the people in the cave, whatever afine, which means like the tablet or the plaque? Because there was a

there was a there's a narration or a legend that says that their names were inscribed on a plaque. So this is kind of like their title. We're wonders of our sign. is Emily Fitz here to ill Cathy, for call Robina Tina and Bill Lydon, karaf. Martin, why, hey, Lana and Marina Rashida that, remember when those young people specifically fit you, when those young people took refuge ran into the cave and said, Oh, our Lord, grant us mercy from yourself and guide us correctly, rightly, through the situation that we are in. What's the story? Who are the people of the cave? The people or the cave are a group of young men that existed in ancient times. Okay, this is like pre prophetic times. And

their society was one that was immersed and steeped in immorality, multiple levels, right in morality in terms of virtue ethics. But also of course, there was a disconnect from like Abrahamic faith tradition, they were no longer believing in one God, there was like idol worshipping people taking advantage of each other spiritually, etcetera, etcetera. So, there was an entire society that was like Gotham City, okay. But in the desert. And these young people in them live, this candle of consciousness, like they were not taken by the distraction. They had something that stood out. And so what they did was every year, in this society, in this culture, there were festivals, and there

were parties and gatherings

in which all these kinds of like immoralities would take place, right, the idols would be worshipped there, and all kinds of partying type things, drinking whatever would happen.

During this time, these young people, they took it upon themselves to not engage and not participate in this kind of behavior. This was something that they decided to do. Now, what's interesting is that in the beginning, many of them just kind of stayed internally. Separate from it. They didn't participate in it, but they just kind of separated from the gathering itself. But the first thing that we hear about in some of these narrations is that it wasn't a group of them at once. In fact, some of the assault Yeah, they tell us that it was one person. It was a single person. Right, that when they saw this happening, they became so concerned about the health of their faith, that they

stepped away and instead of participating in the carnival, or the festival, whatever they went, and they just found a tree and they sat under the tree by themselves

and then asked

For that, another person who had that same quality of consciousness, they looked over conscious, they looked at me looked at the guy sitting on the train, they walked over, they said, What are you doing here?

And the person said, Nothing. I'm just relaxing, just taking a rest. Because it was actually a crime not to participate in this festival. And so the second person looks at the first guy, as he says,

Are you are you also uncomfortable?

Do you also not want to be here?

And the first guy goes, Yeah, this is that, like, I don't want to be here at all. So the second person sits there.

And then there's a third guy and the party looks nice. These two guys. He's like, what's going on? Right? He's a party and we go, so he walks over. He says, What are y'all doing? Nothing. Nothing doesn't know I'm just taking a break from the dancing. Because again, you don't want to get busted. The third guy goes, Yeah, I need to turn the rest from that dancing, right? Sits down. He goes, dancing around, right? They go Yeah.

This isn't accurate. This is a summary. He goes, we don't want to be here, right? Yeah, we want to be here. And eventually the group grows in this manner. 1234 so many lessons to panel. We're not gonna have time until next week to get to and we're gonna have Oregon free because morally but the week after Inshallah, right? Number one, Allah describes them not as people. He describes them as young people. Very interesting. When Allah talks about their virtue, the first characteristic that's praiseworthy about them is that they're young.

Like, we have a baby chanting a lot of

the youngest amongst us most pious mashallah, okay. Why is it important that they're young? Why is that something that Allah because remember, the Quran is not accidental. Suddenly, when you and I talk and something slips out, this is all strategic. This is by design. Why would Allah mentioned the first thing when he describes that, he says, is a well fit here to remember when those young people took to Africa, they then took refuge before we even talk about what they did. He says they're young, why?

More difficulty controlling their desires, okay? Younger people have more difficulty controlling their desires, or in general, more desires are presented to them. Right, like more opportunities are presented to them. And you know that like as you get older, like, you want to go out, you're like, I'm tired.

By go out, you mean like, out of my house? No.

So as you get older, like, hello, the Hello Life chooses you truly Right? Like, as you get older, you're just kind of like, okay, you know what I mean? Turon becomes harder. It's one of the mercies of Allah. Honestly, if you had the energy to do all the Haram, you do when you're older, when you're younger, like it'd be tough. Right? When you're younger, you're like, Yeah, I'm not you know, and you make that decisions and they get a lot of it comes from this youthful exuberance, this energy, this convincing, self convincing. When you're older, you're like, I'm just gonna stay in. Let me keep going. See if I can keep will do for a couple hours. That's exciting.

Gray. Tonight, I'll finish up before I fall asleep, or am I gonna wake up in the middle of the night startled?

Right, wondering what that is. Wake up, jump up mapledurham Pratyusha. And then try to fall asleep next few hours.

When you're young, the decisions you make about morality in general, are a lot more considerable to allow time. Because there's a lot more opportunity what else? What other hands? Why don't ya?

Like I guess maybe they may not have the wisdom that, like the youth may not have the wisdom that I'm older. Yeah. Interesting. It's harder for young people to make the right decision. Because we don't have wisdom, wisdom is just experienced turned into knowledge. So when a person does the right thing, wisdom is forming. When a person does the wrong thing, wisdom is forming. And then after you've committed enough mistakes, or done enough, right things, like you start to acquire this new thing called wisdom. It's no longer just knowledge now. It's like, oh, now I know why I shouldn't run late to this thing. I can run late to that. But I can't run late to the passport office. Or it's

my flight because running late to those things. It's not like running late to class. In class, they still let me in, I can still get away with it. Right for my flight. It's a big hassle. Okay, so now I'm learning now you're wise. And then you bump into like that first time traveler, not first time. First time, they're so scared second time, or somebody who just doesn't have that wisdom. And you're like, trust me. You don't want to make this mistake. Right. So you're right, young people, because of their lack of experience. Don't have that substance of wisdom, hikma that older people tend to have because they've been through more. The other reason why being young here is so notable. And

we'll finish with this is because when a young person chooses to do the right thing,

despite having an opportunity to do anything, it is the ultimate sign of gratitude.

within the heart of that person, if you can do anything, and you choose to do what Allah loves, it is one of the greatest manifestations of sugar, it's all of us power.

Because you could literally have utilize the time he gave you, the health he gave you, the wealthy gave you anything, you can utilize it for something else. And you decided that, Oh Allah, you gave me this. And even though I couldn't do this as a as a means of gratitude to you, Allah, I'm not going to dare you to think about using this in the way that I know that you're not going to be pleased with.

And that's going to change your entire perspective. So gratitude is achieved by young people when their actions more than their words. If you want to know if you're grateful to Allah, you don't have to check how much victory you make every day. You have to see how much they can you live every day, like, do I make the right choice? am I grateful for my health? Then I'll stop to pray. am I grateful for my wealth? Then I'll give charity? am I grateful for my family? Then I'll keep the ties of kinship. I'm not gonna make calling you know those memes in those tiktoks that talk about when your in laws or whatever your overseas relatives call you like fake death, or like run away. I know we

all laugh because we've been there. But think about how diametrically opposite that is to the tradition.

Think about that. In Islam, we're taught to keep the family ties. One of the things that Khadija Nabila Han has said to the Prophet salsa, when he first received revelation, showing him that she knew he was special to God was she said, in a world where nobody cared about their family, in Nikola Tesla,

you're good to your family. Being good to your family is like a divine gift. Not everybody has.

But Allah tells us the prophets also tells us that divine or that family ties are a way that we can show gratitude for those that He's given us in our life.

Right. So everyone talks about how much they love their grandparents, when it's fashionable, right, or their cousins or uncles and aunts when it's fashionable, or everyone posts on Mother's Day, or Father's Day. But what about like the phone calls in between? Are the gifts in between the text messages in between? You know, let me tell you something that's really, really important.

If your relatives start to thank you, because you called them there's a problem.

You don't I mean,

if you call your cousins or something, or you're an uncle or texts, and they're like, thanks, I really appreciate like, Thanks for reaching out. Not being sarcastic, like thanks. But like genuinely, if your grandma or grandpa was like I really appreciate that you call

it might mean that there's not enough communication.

Right? So whatever you have left in your life, in terms of relationships, like I don't have any grandparents left anymore, may Allah have mercy on them. Right?

Whatever relationships you have, don't make it the burden that we oftentimes joke about it being it's not it's an access point. It's an access point to Allah that's very, very unique and very rare. We'll stop here in sha Allah we'll go ahead and conclude May Allah Tada give us all the good that we've talked about this evening. May Allah Tala allow us to become people for and may allow us to become people that we have the empathy of the Prophet SAW Selim in our lives, that were able to understand you know the value of this life not being in brands or you know, wealth or any sort of acquisition but the value of this life is our closest to him. May Allah Tada allow us to have the

consciousness of spirituality and have faith even in our youth, that we are not distracted by the opportunities around us but rather we're focused on pleasing Allah Tada Subhan Allah when we come to La Isla Ella and Mr. Furukawa wanted to like Soleimani one Hello guys, we just a reminder to everybody we don't have a session next Monday in sha Allah just because there's a lot of traveling happening because the moral day the holiday weekend, but we will be resuming inshallah the following Monday, so the first Monday of June inshallah. Okay,