Heartwork – Surah Kahf #13

Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh who this is Abdul Nasir Jenga, and you're listening to the kalam podcast, the kalam podcast has become an important part of people's lives. All around the world. There are millions of people benefiting from the podcast every single day 1000s of hours of content, dozens of different series from all the different teachers and scholars here at column. All of this is delivered to the community free of charge. We are excited and actively working to grow and increase our efforts to deliver more and more benefit to the community. We ask you to support our efforts and become part of the alum family, please go to column family.com and sign up to

contribute to this sadaqa Giardia on a monthly basis. May Allah subhanaw taala accept from all of us. Does that come Allah who haven was salam Wa alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh who

was heavy rain Welcome, everybody. It's good to see everyone here. Back for our Monday night session. We're gonna continue in Charlotte tonight, our conversation on source of data. The 18th chapter in

this chapter, as we've been mentioning each week is one of those critical, super valuable chapters in the Quran. There are rewards associated with reciting this chapter, right? We talked about the Friday. The Friday recitation of sorts of catnip is something that the prophets also and then explicitly told us about and beyond the fact that there is obviously benefit in doing so, from a perspective of reward, there's also the impact of the reminders that are contained within the SUTA they're truly timeless. And the reminder that we are going to go over tonight and shot a lot. We don't have too long, because nobody is becoming earlier earlier in the in the time. So we're gonna

be wrapping up tonight shortly after about 4045 minutes inshallah. But I hope to get through tonight's session because tonight's session, I believe, personally, for the age group that roots most pertains to, which is the professionals.

I believe that this lesson in the story of Musa and so there is our is the most critical lesson that you know, out of all the lessons are obviously all very important. But what we take from tonight, in terms of living here in America as Muslims trying to negotiate big questions of morality, faith, and trying to sort of find our way that this story illustrates that challenge and the solution the best. And this is why when I teach, whether it's, you know, the seminary upstairs, whether it's here with our travel, the lessons that we talked about from this conversation that we're going to witness tonight, Charlaine the passage is one that I bring up almost constantly, right, whether it's direct

or indirect. But let's go ahead and start where we left off last week. So if you remember, last week that the scene was given, the image was being drawn for us of the fate of certain people on the day of judgment. And these were the people that basically lived life without thinking about the danger that was going to happen. And their actions reflected that. And so what happened was when they passed away, as we all will, they came upon the reality of the day when their deeds will be shown to them. And Allah subhanaw taala he says to us that this day is a day that will shock everybody, but in particular those people that thought it would never happen, right? Remember the statement of the

man with the two gardens, he thought that this is never going to happen. But Allah Tada he says that, you know, the books will be presented with the on the job. And a person will find exactly what they did every single deed, every single word, every single letter and statement that they uttered, will be contained in that record. And they will be shocked at how meticulous and how detailed how perfect that record will be. And they'll say that this record did not leave out anything. Like Allah didn't miss a single thing. It's shocking to them. Okay, so from that continuation, Allah subhanaw taala continues, and he tells them that when these people see the fire, they will be at the height

of their regret. You know, it's one thing when a person is going through the process of conviction, right, there's like, they know that they're guilty, then the evidence is shown to them. And then they're being they're hearing the verdict. But now they're coming face to face for the first time with the punishment, right things become real. And this is just an example a lot.

Todd is taking a step by step through this because why? Because he wants us to appreciate that this is actually a reality for some people. And for us the levers when the believers hear this, their heart should feel obviously a little bit constricted, concerned, wanting to make sure that they're not from this group doing whatever you can to not belong here. So he says that the wicked are the criminals and Moshe moon, they will see the fire and they will realize that this is it. Right everything that I've been denying everything that I have been rejecting him to this point, it's here. And this is my eventual reality. And Allah Tada says, There is no way for them to change their

condition to change and that moment, which means that everything up until that moment that in judgment, change is possible. You see how even in the punishment there's a reminder of mercy. Because Allah says at that moment, what I'm yet to do on behalf must be thought, you won't find any alteration at that moment, you can't change a single thing, there's no on off switch. But up until that moment, if a person is reading this and they feel concerned, then you have the privilege and luxury of change right now. And that's Allah's mercy. Even Allah so merciful, even at his description of punishment, there's like threads of mercy that are there for people who are paying

attention, okay? That's why Allah Tada says, following that, that will knock on Serafina if you had the Quran, the nasty McWeeny method that the Quran has something for everybody, Allah Tada says that we have placed inside of this book, examples for every single person from humanity. Everybody can engage with the Quran, there is no person that can say that the Quran has nothing beneficial for them. We talked about the story about my barber, right last week, and how there are universal timeless you know, we English we say classic, like there are classic virtues that the Quran speaks about things like taking care of the downtrodden and the needy, like these are things that no one

can disagree with. If a person genuinely disagrees with me, there's serious serious issues that essentially within that person, but then Allah says the reason why people don't agree on this book that contains guidance for everybody is what what kind of insanity? Accela che in Jeddah that instead of being right, people are more upset instead of being correct. People are more obsessed with being right, that makes sense. You guys get the difference. They don't actually cuz they're actually concerned you and I, a lot of times, we're not concerned about being factually correct or following the truth. We want to win an argument. So Allah here is saying that if everybody can just

put down their argumentative, you know, metaphorical guns, I know in Texas, it'd be careful with that, if everyone could just put down their metaphorical weapons, and actually ask themselves, what is the truth? Why am I here? What is my existence? That's the first point of departure to finding reality. Up until then, it's all in different, you know, it's all everyone's going to have a different answer what makes me happy? What are my goals in life? What am I pursuing? These are things that change from person to person, but the moment you start asking like deep questions, value questions, what is the purpose of my existence? These questions will start to bring about a pursuit

of truth within people, regardless of their background or where they find themselves. Okay, now Allah Tala says because obviously he just presented it as something very simple. He says the Quran has guidance for everybody. If people just listened to it, then it would be you know, case closed, that's it open shut. But then why are there so many people both of you know, from the community of Muslims, and also from people who aren't Muslim? Why are there so many people that refuse to acknowledge that this book has what they need? This book is not just an organic chemistry textbook. Sorry, if I triggered you, right? All of our pre med students here, pre med, but now you're working

in tech, right? We all know how that went. Okay, so

why? Someone just got it. She's like, I'm not a doctor, like Yeah, exactly. Right. Okay. So Allah says, Woman, the nurse, and you may know, what prevents people from believing is Jadwiga. What stops somebody like, if there are people who hear the same verses that I hear and you hear? And we are inspired? Right? We hear stories and we are inspired, then how is it the case? And this is a question how many of you have ever had the question? How do we know Islam is right?

Like how do I know there's so many religions out there? How can I be certain? You know what I love about the Quran? The Quran doesn't run away from these questions. Do you know what I mean? When someone asks a tough question, and then it to me, and then I say, oh, you know, the Quran talks about that. They're genuinely shocked. Oh, no way. I'm like, Yeah, because why when a tough question is asked to us we try to avoid it. We feel we feel scared like, oh, no, they got me cornered. I can't answer this. They found my one weakness. Now the Quran answers it. The Quran tells us directly. Yes, there are many different belief systems out there ideologies out there. We believe as

Muslims that

at all, potentially all religious traditions ultimately stemmed from Allah and then just deviated. So for us the question is not a very difficult one. But he says, Well, why then are some people unable to recognize the guidance in this while others can? Why? He says, because these people are the ones who when guidance comes to them, they don't seek forgiveness from Allah. Why do they have this issue? He says, because they refuse to acknowledge that this book is for them. They refuse to acknowledge that it has guidance for them. Does a person who think there's a person who thinks they are a great chef, ever need a cookbook?

Yes or no? We have ever seen a group of young men trying to build Ikea furniture.

You know, they give you an instruction guide, right? No, it reminds me of Musa, you know, like, kind of you bring him up, right? In building Legos, Legos, they send you an instruction guide, but he just looks at the box emotionally, he's actually pretty good at it, he's able to just look at it and, you know, deduce use logical deduction to like build the thing that he's looking at. But the point being is that following instructions, if a person thinks they already know it seems redundant, okay? So if the Quran is a book that says, hey, this is a book of guidance is a book of instructions on how to live life and achieve everlasting Felicity in the next life, a person who thinks they have

everything figured out is going to see that as being redundant, or pointless or useless. And that's why when we have different priorities and goals in life, then the Quran is no longer valuable. How is the Quran going to change my life? If my life is only about achieving worldly success? If I want to get more money, or status or whatever, then how is the Quran going to engage with me. But if I align my goal, that my goal is ultimately to become a better person, closer to God, doing the right thing, being able to make the right choice in a tough situation. This is why the Prophet says was so profound. What did he say? He said, the strong person is not the one who could wrestle the other

person to the ground. If many of us would like we describe, like, what's, what's a strong person, you know, people will start pulling up like, tick tock, you know, like influencers bar, you know, people who like go like bodybuilding and all that. That's not strength. The prophets also said no strength is not about somebody who could wrestle somebody else to the ground. Strength is somebody that can be

insulted, who knows what is the strong person,

the person who can control, not that they're not getting mad, because that's not human. He said that in a time of anger, they can control themselves. Right, the provinces have never prescribed angelic features to us. He allowed us to get to get angry, be upset to cry, but he told us that these emotions have appropriate responses. Every human action has a spiritual response. We can be sad, but we don't curse God. We can be angry, but we what? Hold it together. We can be scared but we have trust. Right? We're allowed to experience the human side, but we have a spiritual response. Okay. So when the Prophet SAW said and tells us these things, he's completely shifting our paradigm

completely. Society respects the wealthy, right? Those people will have a lot. The Prophet SAW, Selim says, well, wealth actually is not a primary indicator of whether somebody is noble. It's not a person's nobility is proven through different things, not their bank account, not the car, they drive, none of that. But we still find ourselves drooling over the things that are shiny in this dunya we still find ourselves doing that. TV shows that just hype up and illustrate and make us feel so far away from gratitude. Because our priorities are offset, may Allah Allah help us. So these examples if a person thinks they don't need the Quran, guess what? The book might as well be

completely empty the pages nothing written on them. Okay. The first step for a person to benefit from the Quran is what admitting they need help. You have to admit you need help, right? In America. If a person doesn't admit that they need help, then institutionally, they cannot be made to do certain things. You cannot take someone to a hospital, they don't check themselves in. You can't have someone seek mental health treatment if they don't, if they don't prove themselves to be a harm to themselves or others if they don't check themselves in. Right? First, you can't force someone to go achieve higher education and they don't do it themselves. Right. You have to admit that you need

certain things in order for you to be able to benefit from those things. So Allah Tada says, nothing prevents people from believing when guidance comes to them and from seeking their Lord's forgiveness, except that these people have no problem meeting the same fate as the earlier people that we tell the stories of. So every story that we read the Quran about these like villains and these tyrants and these people that made mistakes,

there's no benefit to us sit here and say, You know what, these people were so misguided. There were so this so that without asking our

sells the very difficult question of what

are we very good? Am I the man with the two gardens? Am I the people who ran to the cave? Or am I the people partying in the city? Which one do I belong to? Right, and the next story is even more personal, the one with Musa clynder Because Musa was a prophet. So we have no doubt about his character, his belief, right? But he still has in his mission, some things to learn. And Allah Tada shows us this and it's really remarkable. Subhan Allah, Allah continues I in number 56 We do not send the messengers except for delivers of good news and Warner's, by the way in the Quran. When Allah describes the job of Prophets, I love this. It is almost always in this sequence, that Allah

Tada says, What Sheena, woman reading? Number one they're supposed to give good news number two, is that they're supposed to warn many of us our experience learning about Islam was the opposite. Yes, it was like, learn about how, by the way heaven exists to

when the Quran tells us that the right psychological approach is to teach about heaven. And then when a person persists in actions and behavior and statements that are countered to heaven, then you have to say, look, there is a consequence, there is a reality, right? What happens to for example, a student in class?

My son again, right? I always ask him about school. And it's really funny, because he went from being in pre K, which is not really school, I apologize if you think it is

to kindergarten, which is like they actually have standardized testing now, which is crazy recipe. Nuts as a teacher, I'm like, why don't we even test them.

They're testing them on iPads to that's how they administer the tests on iPads, my kid is definitely going to swipe up, go to YouTube.

I hope they have locks on those things. So when I asked him about certain teachers at his school, I always listen to the first description he gives, right? Because they can have a long list, but I always listen to the first why because the first is typically gonna be the one that's the most visceral, like it's the one that he thinks of immediately. So if I told you like, what do you think about this teacher? He always says, For this teacher.

And he needs it. He goes, she's so strict. He goes, I Oh, do you like or he goes, Yeah, kind of. She's very strict. Right? And I go, What do you mean by that? He goes, she just, she's very strict. When I do something wrong, she says my name. And she's strict. That's, that's literally how he knows her. He loves her right as a teacher, but at the same time, like that's, that's how you knows her forever. And many of you probably have similar examples. You think of certain teachers and you remember them by an adjective that's maybe a little bit less cold than strict. Maybe you have a teacher that was very loving and funny and humorous. And what maybe you did have a teacher that was

strict, right? And it's really shut up around teachers everywhere. And, but and it's really difficult. No, it's really, really difficult to reframe that. So think about I want you to think about how a student in a school experiences this subconscious anxiety every time they walk in into the classroom, the teacher strict, right? And how many of us and this is kind of like, you know, a little bit of a taboo topic, but that's okay. People have maybe a certain parent, or maybe both parents, that when they were coming home from work, all the fun in the house had to stop. Right? So you're watching TV after school, or you're hanging out and all of a sudden, you hear the garage

door, open the cars pulling it and it's like, quick, shut everything down. Put away the snacks, right? Get your books out equity, we're studying. Why? Because there's like a fear. There's like a cloud of fear that's being ushered in with this person's presence. Okay, you guys agree? Does that exist? Have you felt that before? speaking the same language? Okay, good. Yes or no? Yes. Okay.

Imagine and many of us unfortunately don't have to imagine if religion had the same experience.

Isn't that such a tragedy, that when a person thinks of Islam, they think of nervousness, anxiety, punishment, fear first, no one's denying that these things exist, they have to, they have to, otherwise society is going to be chaotic. People will do whatever they want no consequences, people do whatever they want. But this should not be the first thing that is brought into the consciousness of a person. So ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada in instructing the messengers tells us one man no student Musa Nina Elavil, Rashid ina OBD. We never sent a messenger except their first job was to get good news. Hey, guys, guess what? I'm a messenger of God. And I'm here to tell you that if you live your life

according to ABC, believing in him doing this doing that, staying away from this, that you will have everlasting life

Rest and relaxation and pleasure in paradise, the likes of which you have never seen, right what motivator and positive motivation tends to last longer than fear, right? Hope is harder to Stoke, it's like a wood fire oven. Hope is harder to get going. But it tends to last longer and carry on missions further than fear. Fear is like a quick gas grill, right? You can ignite it, but the heat only gets to so high. And then if a person denies allowing the hope to be their inspiration, then Allah tells movie, you have to be a person that keeps it real. Otherwise what otherwise it's gonna be chaotic. Okay, so he says, but the disbelievers when they reject the argue in falsehood, hoping

to discredit the truth, not unnoticed by to his power, discredit the truth. Allah doesn't say to like, find the real answer. No, they know that it's the truth, but they don't want to abide by it. Because we don't like as human beings. We don't like being told what to do. That's the hardest part. Right? And some people naturally, part of our Fitts Law is you tell me, I will do the opposite. I was having a conversation with a colleague. And I said, Hey, I think this is the project we should do. He said, Absolutely not. Source are so offended. I said we should do this project. He was absolutely not yours. I'm gonna fight it.

Right. We love each other, by the way, okay. I don't know if you can tell.

Because I'm gonna fight it. I'm not we shouldn't do this. So no, I'm telling you, we need to do this. This project has to happen. No, no, we need to fight it. And I said, Why do you think that he goes, Well, we could do it. But he goes, it's just so difficult. How are we going to how are we gonna pull it off? And I said, You know what? I think you can pull it off.

You're right. It's hard. But I think you can't he goes, You're right. I'll leave it.

Right. Little mental jujitsu, right.

He was like, just to show you how hard it is. I'm going to do it another Oh, no. Right. Like, don't do it. Please. You're right. We should separate you like no, now you've got my fire gone. I'm going to do this. It's exactly right. Right. Some people are simply inspired. You know, they say people love to chase. So some people are simply inspired by the prospect of winning an argument. Right? Sometimes two people that are arguing, even switch positions, minute argument. But they keep fighting now, right? Because it's not about establishing truth. It's about winning. So he says, if a person is having trouble connecting with God, the first question that everyone has to ask is, do I

really want God or do I want myself? Do I want to win? Or do I want to submit because winning and submitting are like two different experiences? Right? submission is truly winning. It's a true victory over yourself. But winning the argument, right? As they say, by hell or high water, like by any means necessary. That's not victory. You played yourself as outcome ofada. Right. DJ Khaled, right. Okay. I'm gonna plot it means or as it was said, but so he says that they just they try to discredit the truth. And as a result, this is the next step. They make a mockery. They start to mock and make fun of ingest. Is there any topic in the world now that universally, fair game more than

religion? Yes or no? Like, as far as I can remember, being a kid even. And it was interesting, because again, as a kid, you don't realize the long standing implications of these things. But I remember the Simpsons. Like, who was the weird neighbor? Right? That was so strange. And the highlight of his awkwardness was his religion. It was Ned Flanders, right? I mean, every, every character that I can, and my mom used to be really uncomfortable. She's been comfortable with watching The Simpsons anyway. But she would just make comments like Why aren't you know, why are they doing this? Why are they making fun of that? Or that character, this and that. And I remember

being like, what's the big deal? And now that I'm a parent, and I have kids, and they're watching stuff and videos and whatnot? I'm like, why are they making the religious kid look dumb, you know? And I realized that how to love that there is a certain culture, right that we Western American individuals born and raised, or whatever moved here, were part of the soil, we got to admit it, right. You know what, when you're part of the earth, you know, the Earth grows different things better in certain places. Yes, you guys agree? So my California, different vegetation, the fruits grow, basically everything in Texas. Scorpions and snakes grow, right? I think bell peppers and

stuff grow here. Lots of salsa onions, every right and tomatoes. And then different parts of the country grow to be you know, Florida, you have like oranges, and like, you know, Republicans grow. Right. So this is what you have in different parts of the country. Right? So spiritually, we have to acknowledge that like, where you were brought up where you were raised, whether it's conscious or subconscious, you're going to kind of carry some of those traits, right. So what is the natural trait

I have like a postmodern American citizen when it comes to spirituality and faith, if they're not gung ho religious is skepticism. But we're naturally very skeptical, right? We're like a skeptical group of people. Americans tend to be more skeptical than others. Okay, we tend to see the eastern side of the world from here as being a little bit more simple. Oh, wow, they still do that. That's very traditional. Interesting, don't they realize how inefficient that is? Blah, blah, blah, right. And now we have documentaries about different ways that the world purifies water. And we're like, how strange they use that. That's no good. Why don't they just use machines? We tend to think that

we are

better Yeah, exactly like this. That's part of the American experience, right? American exceptionalism, they call it, we tend to think that we are exceptional, that we're better. Okay? What happens when a person is raised in that soil and they breathed that oxygen as part of their knifes? Is that naturally, anything that comes to them? Their first response to it is, prove it.

Prove it. There's no sense of like, okay, you know what, let me sit back and see how this goes. Let me wait, let me let me, let me hold judgment. Let me figure things out. The first thing is, I have to make a choice, yes or no, I'm either all in or no, this is foolish. Prove it. Okay. So Allah subhanaw taala says that as a result of that, again, as a way of sort of demonstrating our displeasure, what do we do we make fun of things, we mark things, to show that we don't think that this is actually the way and Allah Allah says that this is one of the lowest of the lows. So as a Muslim, we should not feel comfortable witnessing the mockery of religion or faith in general. We

should not in fact, guess what, in the Quran, Allah even tells us Don't mock other people's religions. It's a command to Muslims. Just because you believe in the truth doesn't mean that you can go and point at other people's religions and say things that are hurtful and condescending and demeaning. Why, because the Prophet says, or because the last prophet says, they will turn around and they will start mocking your religion, and they will start cursing your God. And now you've unleashed just this absolute disrespect towards all belief in anything that is beyond the material world. So as believers, we have a sense of respect, reverence, towards belief in general, obviously,

we believe that it's not is accurate, the accurate religion and the correct religion, but we have respect for all faiths systems. We don't allow people to poke fun at others because as they say, one day you're with them the next day, you are the one being made fun of okay,

so Allah subhanaw taala says, and who is the most wrong? Who is the one who is more oppressive, more incorrect than the one who when reminded of their Lauren's verses and revelations, turn away from them, forgetting what their own hands have done? He says, as a result of this in that job, now I'd have to Looby him. Kennington, he says that we have placed as a result of their actions turning away, they have now been their hearts had been covered with a veil. What's the effect of when you veil something? If I were to turn off the light in this room, what happens? Everybody

can see, right? Everything that you could perceive is no longer there anymore. You can't tell where things are. You don't know what the person was next to you. Right? You saw them briefly. Now you don't. Being covered in something being covered in darkness takes away your ability to recognize things. So Allah Tada says, when a person turns away, when they make that choice, they hear the verses of God the reminders of Allah, they turn away, their heart is covered. And he says, leaving them unable to comprehend the Quran, that they're no longer able to comprehend the Quran that the message is recited to them, they're like, What is this a bunch of gibberish? Does it make sense to

me, okay. And in their ears, they can't even bother to hear it. And Allah subhanaw taala says, oh, Prophet, even if you continue to call upon them, if they have made their choice, they will never be rightly guided. This is a very, very scary but deeply profound impact of turning away. This is why we always say, especially here, but also I know Sheikh Maga illustrate, you know, everyone says, If you can't do something correct,

there is honor in still acknowledging that it is the right way.

When you turn away from something and dismiss it, then now you are psychologically you're dismissing it all together, you're saying this isn't actually correct. But if you say no, this is correct. I believe that this is right. I'm just not there. There's still a level of hope. There's still a level of connection and respect that's being given there. Then Allah Tada says, And your Lord is all forgiving and full of mercy. If he were to cease people immediately for the sins that they committed, that he would have hasten their punishment immediately, but he saved for them and appointed time, from which they will find no refuge meaning what Allah

Mercy is so great that the likes of Mohammed bin hotdog was the one who's torturing and killing Muslims. The likes of Apple Sofiane, who fought in battles against the province also the likes of Air Canada, the son of Abu gentle, the likes of Hynde who assassinated the uncle, or paid for it, the likes of washy with the assassin himself, so many stories of companions that were standing on the opposite side of the battlefield. Now, Allah's Mercy is so great that he allows them to exist, many of us were like, Why does Allah allow people to deny and exist? Well, it's part of their reality, they get a chance everyone gets a chance. And these people that we now say, may Allah be

pleased with them, all of them at one point on their minds wanted to kill the prophets also, every single one of them, right. Some of them were a little bit more, you know, committed to that than others, but all of them wanted to, and at the end of his life, I used to sit on all of them excited. And then well, either I'm gonna last, et cetera, et cetera, all of them came to him and took his hand and said, I accept you as the messenger of Allah. Imagine is the prophet. So Saddam had said, These people denied me at the first go off with their heads. That's not the kind of person he was. So if ALLAH is forgiving enough to be this way with people, then who are we to shut people out so

quickly? Who are we to make judgments? Who we miss? Who are we to say that people are not trying to go off on Kancil culture or not? All right, a lot of people like is he going to do it? Right? No, okay. But what I am saying is, forget all this new age, symbolism and weird stuff and whatnot. What I'm saying is as our religion teaches us, that if Allah can forgive then we can forgive. It's part of our deen. Okay.

Allah Tala, he says and these are how we destroyed the societies that persisted in wrong we had set for them at time for destruction. Now I want to begin very briefly we have five minutes left in childbirth remote inshallah. So I want to begin the story of Musa the story of Musa here is very interesting. I didn't read 60 Allah Tada, begins, he jumps you right into it. You have ever seen the dark night Chris Nolan, great movie. Okay, now they're down to the bank robbery scene. This happens a lot of fun, he jumps you right into the scene. So what's the scene? The scene is that most is that, um, is sailing on a boat with his servant. Okay, so he says with Claudia Musa. The first time

when Musa said to his young assistant has a connotation of being young. By the way, there's a specific meaning there.

Your youth is meant to be spent in.

In service, right? Youth is a time where you learn through an apprenticeship. Okay, a lot of times, we tend to think that youth is where we are designated as leaders. But young people, by definition, don't have the wisdom because we don't have the experience to be truly like a bonafide leader. Right? The best we can be as like a servant leader, right? Think of the decisions you would have made at like 16.

Many of you are still regretting those decisions, okay, or 18 or whatever. Think of those, think of the decisions that you would have made then versus now. Right? Part of what is so important a learning opportunity that can never be replicated. Really, like once you lose your teenage years, once you lose your college experience. Like can you ever replicate it? Don't you guys look back sometimes and you're like, Man, I wish I took better offer better advantage of that opportunity. I always tell young people man, you know, my greatest regret as a high school student in college student eating food with friends. And not trusting my mom that she said what we have. We have food

at home. You know how not one you know how many cars I could have bought?

If I just switched the Taco Bell budget to like a Toyota budget, you know? I mean, I'm joking. I couldn't get them to be cars, maybe like one door. But the point being is the advice I give to young people, my Hey, I know that your friends are going out to eat and I know that in order to be there. You have to kind of like vibe with that. But I'm telling you, it may not seem cool or bring the Tupperware it's fine. It tastes it tastes better anyways, no, no, my God, it's gonna be so weird. I'm like, trust me, you know, it's not weird driving when all your friends are bonding rides off their parents, right? Like there are decisions that you make, at a certain point in your life where

you are proving to yourself that you're not fit to be a leader. So Young, the younger part of your life and many of us are still in that stage. Look for opportunities to serve, you will learn way more than you will if you're put in a position of leadership. Right? Like that's why people do internships. That's why they make you the last semester of your college or whatever they you do a rotation, you do internships, you do some sort, you go into an environment and your job is just to soak things up like a sponge. Because being there and being quiet and opening your ears and closing your mouth is the best

As a way to quickly take in information on how to succeed. But many of us have been taught again from the soil of the country we live in, that sharing our opinions, making our thoughts known, is more important than learning. And that's simply never been true in the history of the world. Up until today, right? They've never even been challenged. So Allah said to His servant was a young man. He said to him, I will never give up until I reached the junction of the two seas even five travel for ages. So Musa was making a promise He's telling his young son and his that we have a mission, we have a journey. What was his journey? In the bass? He quotes a narration explain to us

what his journey was. He said that Musa asked Allah because Musa was known as the one who could speak to Allah Karim ALLAH, that Musa said, Oh, Allah, who of your servants is the most beloved to you? And Allah responded by saying, the one who always remembers me and never forgets me. That's my most beloved. Isn't that the definition of like best friends? But you never forget somebody. Imagine having Allah be your best friend. You know, the prophets also know, he obviously loves his wife, Aisha, we know that right? We loved her so much. I mean, he used to call her out ish, right? He used to have a nickname fescue, right, he's got a nickname for her.

You know, he when asked by all of his male friends, who's your favorite? Who's your favorite, bro? Who's your favorite person? Right? That was they don't talk like that. That was my rendition. Right? They said Yeah, to Allah. You know, have them in an escalator. Like, who is the most beloved to all for all people to you? He said, Aisha for all his friends. Now, all the guys would assume Right? Like, stuff a lot. The prophets Olson says I Isha. And then check this out. Right? Are you haters?

Then the men were like, oh, yeah, like our wife? For sure. Yeah, all of our wives. Our videos have a lot. Right, like learning but they don't want to prove that they weren't gay. Yeah. Mentally, mentally jadie from the men who was the fader from the men. And then he says, who knows the answer a bucket, but he doesn't say what bucket he says. Her father? Because he wants to even tie his favorite man to his favorite person. And boo Ha, her dad. Right. So this is the Prophet saw some. This is his example. Okay. So when in our bass Italia is his narration. Musa Moses asks God, who's your favorite? Allah says the one who remembers the most. So why don't I tell the whole story on

promises on because even at the moment of when they were the closest going to sleep at night, laying down next to each other.

I used to describe that when we lay down next to each other, our feet used to touch. Right? That's how close they were. But you want us something amazing is how a lot. And again, when you're younger, you don't get this. When you get older. You're like, wow, he used to tap her on the shoulder after spending time with her, and she's kind of dozing off and used to say, Is it okay, if I go spend time with my Lord.

That's love. He loves his wife. He's not saying By the way, I love God more than you always don't forget that.

He's saying, like, I have a need that only a law can fulfill. And this is true.

You think you have friends you think you have companions, spouses, everything and you think you can fill your heart up with those people I'm telling you, it's not mean it's not hurtful, but you have to admit to yourself, don't go around your friends saying you can't fulfill me, right?

You have a vessel in you that can only be fulfilled by your relationship with your Creator. Right? Your friends are important. Your family very important. Your spouse and your children, your parents, everyone has their place. But no one can take the spotlight off.

So he taps his wife on the shoulder and says okay, if I go spend time with my lord, no trying to pray. And she says of course, you would stand up and you would pray. And every time he would go into subdued, he would move her feet. And he would he would put his head down and when he went up, he would move her feet back and she was sleeping. She would pretend to be asleep. She was awake. Right?

Now what have you please with her? Okay, so he says who's the most beloved use of the servant that never forgets me? Okay. May Allah make us a monster. He says which of your servants is the most just and Allah responded the one who judges always by the truth and doesn't let their desires trick them. So you always stay you always do the right thing. It's not about who you know, you don't pick on the side you don't you don't go on the side of the person that you like more. You don't try to, you know, find loopholes to facilitate you or yourself or no, you always follow what you know to be true. Regardless if your desire is with you or against you. Then most Iceman asked the question he

says, Which of your servants is the most knowledgeable?

Which of your servants is the most what knowledgeable? A lot is that the one who learns knowledge even though they already have knowledge?

He's the one who learns even adding it to what they already have. They already have it so they add more. But Allah says perhaps as a result of that, they will receive some new words meaning new pieces of information, new knowledge that will ward destruction off from them, will save them. Right? Musa Islam says, Oh Allah, this is where he was, he was intrigued, right? Because he's obviously a prophet. So he remembered a lot. He's obviously a prophet. So he's not unjust. What is he really in search of knowledge, because knowledge connects you to God. The more you know of Allah, the closer you are, when you learn about Allah is the Most Merciful. You can't help but feel

connected to him. When you learn that Allah is Most Generous, you can't help but love him more. So he says, Oh Allah, is there anyone on Earth was more knowledgeable than me? Well, he's a prophet. It's a fair question. It's not arrogant. Is there anyone who's more knowledgeable than me? Allah subhanaw taala says, yes.

There is one person.

Musa says, God, Allah, where should I look for him? Where should I find him? Allah says, an ocean where two waters meet near a large island near a large stone.

Musa them says, How can I recognize him?

Allah says, Take with you in your basket for food, a fish where it leaves you, you will find him.

And this is why in dream interpretation, sometimes the fish is interpreted as wisdom. So almost I said, I'm took with him a fish and placed it in a basket. Then he said to his servant, when this fish leaves, tell me inform me, and they set up and this is where the story starts. So the Hadith in the Quran, you see how they, they fill in each other's like the context. So then he tells his servant, I will never give up, they've been sailing for ages. They keep looking for work as good as they can't find. So he says, I'm never going to give up. Even if I have to travel for all of time, work about even after they go for all of time. It's just Finally they reached a point where the seas

met. And then they forgot about their fish. And when they checked on it, it made its way back into the sea, and came back to life and made its way back into the sea. When they had passed further. So they got to the point the fish left, what does that mean? where it's been?

Where,

where, what, where the fish left? Are you with me? Okay? cleanser is where Allah told them where the fish leaves. Okay, listen to this. I'm gonna give you one profound moment and then we're gonna go from Montreal.

So the fish leaves, they didn't notice Allah says to us, they didn't notice the fish left, but the fish that they passed by their fish is gone. Okay.

I'm holding back from a Bongo joke. Okay. So, right, if you know them, you know,

they we have one person.

So they kept going Allah to Allah says they kept moving on that path, password, and there was passed with the fish left. And finally most isolated, becomes tired and exhausted. He says to his, he says to His servant, he says, What attina vada is just give us dinner, bring us dinner, give us the fish. And he says why? He says, We are tired. We are exhausted, we need something to eat, we need to relax. So that's when the serving goes to the basket. And he looks and he see the fish was gone in the services. Oh my gosh, I thought I heard something when we stopped by the big rock. He was it was the fish. The fish left us at that moment. Okay. The fish left us at that moment. So then Musa

becomes excited at number 64. And he says, This is exactly what we were looking for. This is what I love told me. Allah told me to find clutter at the place where the fish what left us so they went and they retrace their footsteps. You guys want to hear something so profound? Potentially, you're mentioned. This is why this is important. Because you read this and you're like, okay, so far, like all I want from this. I'm kind of craving salmon. Right? And you're like, I'm trying to but let me tell you something amazing. Why does Musa stop and ask for the fish?

Because why? What's the reason he gets tired and hungry? He wants to he wants to rest right? He's hungry. So he's pushing himself pushing himself pushing himself. He's ignoring the pangs of hunger until finally what?

He can't Yeah, he can't. He can't do anywhere and I'm hungry. Bring out the fish. Grab the bread. Let's have dinner. Let's have some food. Okay. Then, when they notice the fish is gone. What happens? The prophecy kicks in. Oh, that's where we were supposed to go. That's supposed to go. So they rushed back. You know what's amazing. The Quran doesn't say oh, they found some other food and they quickly ate. They still had the bread by the way. The bread didn't jump in the water too. Okay, it was just a fish. Okay, the bread was there, but he didn't even feel the hunger anymore. You know what the text here says? Amazing. That's a seer said that your body has needs but when you remember

Allah your soul takes care of those needs.

It's so true, right? Anyone? You

Have you ever been hit with like a really big expense and it just sucks. It's something you don't want to pay for it. It's kind of nice. It's fun, but you have to fix your fence. This isn't cool. New cars, something's like you have to pay to fix your fence or like, I don't want a fence.

Fence, fence. Right? I have a lot, okay, I don't need a fence. You get upset. You look at the $5,000 for defense, right? This is done. Why am I doing this? Right? But you pay for a look at it. You're like, okay, whatever, and you just get angry every time you look at your dumb fence.

Fence. Fence, right?

But if you're at a fundraiser for orphans, and you feel the pinch,

and you write that 5000 Do you ever regret that moment? Do you feel Do you feel the same anger, the same pain, the same frustration that you feel for the dump? Fence?

No, you want to hide you have the triple A lifetime

10s of 1000s of dollars to save up all your PTO gone. You have to take some PTO time off for some jury duty or like what a dumb thing jury duty right $18 To come and sit and leave rally to use the religious excuse. I can't do this because this isn't a shutdown at all. So I can't be a part of this. I almost want to migrate. You know what I mean?

And you use a date, but use your vacation to go for like for example, like last time around or you go to Hajj. Do you ever regret that? It's so interesting. The things that irritate your body. When your soul is satisfied, those irritations go away.

You haven't eaten all day, you're so hungry, can't wait for lunch. In Ramadan. You don't even feel it. You're like, alright, it is what it is. I'm doing this for Allah. The moment you decide to do something for Allah and Allah is brought back into your consciousness. It seems like all the discomfort you felt went away. This is the power of remembering Allah. He was hungry. Then the fish disappeared. He said, Guess that's exactly what we had to do. Let's go back, they retrace their steps. Anytime you find yourself irritable, remember a lot. Remember a lot. And you will feel the flame of anger or frustration or impatience or doubt whatever it is, you'll start to feel that flame

being let extinguished. That's why we're told you feel upset. You feel upset, you feel hurt. You feel concerned? Remember Allah. Remember Allah? Isn't that profound. So time a lot of reading that I was like this book never ends. It's the gift that keeps on getting. We asked the last college audit to give us the lessons from this book. We asked Allah Allah to allow us to be like those people who sought wisdom from those who have more than them. They ask Allah to Allah to make us like our messenger Musa them, that our search for more knowledge is something that gives us satisfaction we asked the most powerful to allow us to be people that our hearts are never blocked.

And that our hearts are never shut off from Quran, but that our hearts are always yearning for more and that when we read the book of Allah, we are always given more nourishment than we did before we speak. I mean, I mean you have Atomy Subhan. Allah will be handing the show in La ilaha illa and we're going to be late