Jumuah Khutbah 05-01-2024

hamdulillah hamdulillah De Anza Allah Allah Abdullah Al Kitab O Allah major Allah Who

but hamdulillah Allah de la Mia is one of you that's what I'm here for local coupon as well from the Rila. National who wanna stir in wholeness who want to stay the winner or the Billa human surely and fusina women say RTR Molina may get the level Philomel the learner. When we have delivered I had yellow eyeshadow Allah, Allah Allah Allah Allahu la sharika eyeshadow, Anna Mohammed and Abu Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa Salam on I think about the long haul a lot of times with Kitabi moving rather other bIllahi min ash shaytaan regime, or in NACADA, Allah who can Alvin about

one of the gifts that Islam gives us innumerable gifts that we get from our religion is the gift of consistency. I think sometimes when we think of excitement, or we think of novelty, we become enthralled by the idea of change, you know, what will this new year bring for me? What will this new position bring for me? What will this new job or this new phase of my life and my family bring for me. And while there is a human reality, in celebrating newness, and moments of change, it's important to realize that anchors never change. And things that keep you anchored are just as important, if not more important than the things that change. And so when we look at our religion,

we see that no matter what era of life we are in, whether we are young and energetic, whether we are getting to our middle years and we have aspirations professionally, whether we're gracefully aging into the senior years of our lives, where we carry the most good deeds, no matter what era we find ourselves in good times or bad, Allah subhanaw taala gives us the gift of consistency in the Quran. And the prophet is also salam. He reminds us this, and he regimens this for us. You know, sometimes when you have to give a child medicine, you have to sneak it into their food. And so sometimes you can't tell your kid like, oh, take this medicine. You have to say, okay, maybe after you take your

medicine, you can have dessert. Or if you're really desperate, you put the medicine in the cupcake. And they say what this tastes weird, you say just keep eating. Right, but either way the medicine has to get there. So the profit I sort of set on gives us a hadith in which it's narrated, that he says about sort of calf, in specific which we know sorts of gaff is a sutra, the name of which is synonymous with the day of Friday the day of Jamar. It's a sutra that is absolutely filled to the brim with lessons and there's no way in one Juma hook that a person can go through all of the different lessons from sort of gap with adequacy. But the prophet ISIS of Sudan he says Men SCADA

assorted Cathy for Yama Juma it Allah Allah Who mean Inuit Medina Juma attain,

that whoever takes the time to read this chapter, on the days of Friday, that they will be given a divine light, maybe physical, but definitely spiritual, that will be wisdom, and that will illuminate them in between the days of Friday. So their entire life from Friday to Friday, I know that we live people live Friday to Friday, for recreational purposes, but we live Friday to Friday, spiritually. And if a person takes the time 1015 minutes to read sorts of data, not just read to recite, but to think about and to reflect and to ponder upon it. That light that they receive will not just be something that's coincidental, but it'll be practical. And the reason why we know that

is because source of care, for the most part is filled with stories, four of them to be exact. And these are four stories that all share a similar theme, even though the characters are different. The theme is Pfitzner. How do people deal with trials? How do they deal with moments that are difficult and the first story, there's the story of these young, pious individuals who are struck with the fitna of persecution? They're the only religious people in their town. In the second story, there's the fitna of how we deal with wealth, whether or not you have it or don't have it. What's your perspective in the third story? We have the fitna of knowledge Musa alayhis salam is being given a

teacher by ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada. And in that relationship, the prophet who is the one who was chosen by Allah is being taught by Allah through hither that he doesn't know everything and in the fourth story, you have the fitna or the challenge of power, and how a person handles

power when they are given power, because we know that power can be a very dangerous thing to have, or it can be very beneficial depending on the person and how they handle it for today's clip, but I wanted to go over the second story. And the reason why I wanted to go over the second story is because when we start the new year, without realizing it, whether it's because we consciously do it, or whether we just are a product of our environment, we step into the new year with aspirations and goals. And it's not wrong, it's not haram to have a New Year's resolution. It's not a festival, I'm just telling you. Maybe somebody else can give that festival Mufti commodities here, but it's just

not wrong for a person to set a time for them to have a new resolution for themselves. And a lot of times, the resolution revolves around health and prosperity. And it revolves around all of these material things. But I challenge everyone to think about on this first GEMA 2024 I challenge everyone to ponder and think about the resolution of your soul, and your spirit. And as much as you have goals that are financial or professional, or personal or health related. Ask yourself what goal do I have for my relationship with Allah. And this story is so particularly stunning because you see, and you can put yourself in the shoes of these characters you see the challenge that the dunya

can be, or the obstacle the Djinn, the dunya can provide in a person's relationship with Allah subhanho wa Taala and so the ayat that cover this story if you want to look later it's chapter 18, verses 32 through 45. We're gonna go over today and we'll go over them relatively quickly. So stay with me in sha Allah, but Allah subhana wa Tada introduces the story. And he says to the Prophet SAW Salem, while the Riblah who methanol Raju Laney, Gianna the de Hema Jen attain,

Allah Tala tells the Prophet so Salam, O Messenger of Allah, give them the story. And there's a context to the prophets all sudden, he was asked rather, he was challenged to provide the stories that were found within South Africa as a means of proving his prophethood that's a different color for a different time. But this is why Allah is telling him tell them the story. The story is about a man who had to Gardens, which is a sign of wealth by told you, for example, I own two houses or two properties or to this or to that you would see it as a sign of wealth. So Allah subhanaw taala says, give them the example of the two men who had gardens. And one of the men, as we come to learn later,

is spiritually not as good as the other man. They are actually brothers or cousins per the narrations, but one of them is distinctly closer to Allah, and the other one is distinctly distant from Allah and just goes further and further away from Allah. Now, if you and I were to do the math, which one of these people did Allah give more blessing to, and we knew one of them was religious, and one of them was not religious, we would think in our head, Allah surely gave the religious person more. And Allah punished the irreligious person, the rejecter, by taking away their provision, but we know that that's actually not the case. And in life, you actually see that that's

not the case. Allah subhanaw taala does not tie your material wealth, your prosperity in this dunya is not contingent upon the man and the relationship that you have with Allah subhanaw taala. And it's a blessing that that's the case. Some of the companions, for example, would be given wealth, and they would cry. And when they were asked, Why are you crying, they would say, I hope that this is not Allah giving me my reward for my good deeds here in lieu of my reward there for the aka. They were so cognizant that this dunya is separate. It's a separate deal from the Africa that they were worried that maybe if I'm not sincere, Allah is giving me all of my reward here instead of there, oh

Allah don't deprive me and my reward there for my reward here. So the companions were aware of this and in the story, Allah subhanaw taala. He describes the garden. He doesn't just say that they had a garden he says that this garden we gave one of them two gardens, which had great vines, and was surrounded by palm trees, and had crops and each garden Allah subhanaw taala says, kill tell Jenna Taney ad Tet Akula ha, well, I'm totally mean who che ah, that these gardens they were, you know, sometimes if you're into farming and gardening, as many of us found out in 2020. Sometimes it goes well, and sometimes it doesn't. You plant something and it blooms at harvest. Sometimes you get

nothing. Allah says that this garden was so amazing, so miraculous, that he uses the word loom that it never oppressed the guard.

gardener all the work that you do you plant the seed you water you check the soil, you maintain it, you do everything. Sometimes you feel like I did all that work and I got nothing out of it. Now that's the story of the dunya, isn't it? You do all this work and you don't get everything back. And you wonder to yourself, is that a sign is that Allah displeased with me know, it's up to Allah and the chances not the decision about the chances not yours. But with this particular example, Allah wants to illustrate what how blessed one of these people were, this person was so distant from Allah so far from Allah, yet in his garden, in his palatial beautiful garden, which you can imagine would

be like Southern California, I know it's kind of cold. So I'm not trying to trigger us but nice and warm and beautiful.

Allah Tada says that not only was this garden belonging to this man, but this garden was perfect. It was exactly everything that you could imagine, in the middle of a region that is surrounded by desert and stone and mountains, this man has the perfect garden. And Allah to Allah gives us that scenario. And our jaws they drop, because we find out in the next idea that this man goes to his friend or his brother or cousin based on the narration. And he says to who says to him, and exome income Allah, or Arizona follow, he says that I am better than you. I'm better than you, because I have more wealth than you do. And also, I'm a more superior powerful person. Seems to be an

interesting way for the story. To begin, imagine that you see two people walking together, and you walk by them, and you only catch one line of their conversation. And that line is I'm better than you. You would look at them. And you would say, that's such a strange interaction. What would possess this person? What kind of person who has a relationship with somebody, whether it's family or social? What kind of person would feel courageous enough to look at a person in the eye and say, I'm better than you? And then not only do you hear that, right? Maybe they are better than them? Maybe they pray 200? Maybe they give sadaqa? Maybe they fast, although a person who does that

shouldn't even say those words. But and then you hear the reason I'm better than you because I'm richer than you are.

And I have more power as a result of that wealth. All of us hopefully would look at that interaction as so strange. May Allah protect us. But here's the thing. Although we would never utter such a thing, I hope the question has to be asked, because the Quran asks questions. How many of us, even though we wouldn't say it, we might feel that way.

How many of us even though we would never utter that, when we look at somebody under a bridge, asking for food, we say what an extra Minko matter. I'm better than you. I'm in this warm car. And you have to ask for food and clothes. See, this is one of the ways in which the knifes and chiffon also illustrates this right? And I don't mean I'm better than him. One of the ways in which the neffs opens the door into this irrevocable in this horrible disease, of denial of Allah is to start to place yourself in the seat of Allah, which is what the judge between people, you cannot say that I'm better than somebody. In fact, one of the most beautiful things about Islam is that we learn in

an economical manner in the law he at Arkham. The most honorable amongst everybody in this room, according to Allah is what the one with most taqwa and whereas Taqwa there is no visual indication of your taqwa there is no way that I can rank your tongue what no scale that we can stand on and measure taqwa, taqwa. Hona, as the Prophet SAW said, him said, is in the heart. And if something's in the heart, and it's invisible, our only assumption is that I don't know what you have, and you don't know what I have. And we're going to leave that to the creator of both of us. May Allah to either give us a good end. And so this statement that I'm better than you, and I have more wealth

and more power than you is a clear indication Allah is peeling back, right, peeling back the layers so we can see what the heart of this person looks like. And we're already uncomfortable. We already don't like this, we already don't feel like this person is the person that we want to emulate, or be after. But the second part of this is what wealth can do to the heart of a person, what status, power and wealth can do. And this is a very important topic right now. Because especially as we enter into now, 90 plus days of an assault on our brothers and sisters in Gaza, or as we see the result of poverty being inflicted upon for the sake of stealing resources, Muslim majority

countries, che Athan can enter into the consciousness of a person and say, why are all these Muslim

The country's poor. And I heard this I was sitting in Oxford University with a young Muslim man. And he said to me these exact words, if Islam were true, why does Allah make muslims so poor? And I told him this is your Oxford degree speaking not your email. I said ever since day one. Allah has taught us Ibis that what's our well law, and

that when Abdullah ibn Al Maktoum, who was invisible to the Mexican society, came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and asked him a question. As the Prophet SAW Selim was making Dawa to the leaders of forage. Even though they couldn't see him, Allah saw him even though he was invisible to everybody. Allah subhanaw taala he was very visible to Allah, Allah. And Allah use that moment as a teachable lesson for all of us. That what you have in your bank account, or how many followers you have, or who cares about all this stuff, none of that matters in Allah lay on the ruler of Saudi Kampala. So welcome, welcome. Yondu Illa glooby kumara Maliko the Prophet SAW sent him said Allah

has no interest in looking at what your body looks like and what clothing you wear, and the brand is on your clothes. None of that matters. The zip code does not matter. The label on your car does not matter. None of that matters. All that matters is the heart of the person wearing the clothes. May Allah give us good hearts. And so this disease is a pathway it's an opening for future problems. And this is why Allah tells us what this person said next. What definitely Jannetty Hua Hua volumen NFC he noticed, by the way, interesting, Allah said the garden never oppresses. But because he got such a perfect garden, he became an oppressor himself. Right, the same word is used, this person walked

into their garden and Allah make sure to tell us and this person was oppressing himself. You think that all of these moments are satisfying ingratiate into your soul? No, this is oppression of the soul on the Day of Judgment, the soul will look back, and the heart and the soul and the body will be debating Why did you do this to me? Why did you make me feel this way, the heart will be yelling at the consciousness saying I reminded you I made you feel guilt and remorse. I told you not to do this. I told you not to hit the snooze button for Fudger. You felt me for a short while before you covered me and buried me in dirt.

And so on that day, the day of judgment, the heart will have its due. And even if everything gets punished, the parts of your body that tried to stand up and give you actually a fighting chance for the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala they will have their time in court to be able to testify against May Allah Allah give us a good day on that day. And so he says a lot of man of the new and to be to have the evidence. He's so impressed by what Allah has given him. And if and I love the story, because gardening is like a microcosm of being out of control. Like if you've ever garden let me remind you 2020 If you've ever tried to plant anything, or garden, anything, you know, at some

point, you're not in control. And then you Google it, and it says humidity, you're like what? Have to buy a humidifier, you buy a humidifier and then doesn't work again, you say soil with sand density? Hmm. And you are reminded that this very simple when you look at a farmer, nobody's impressed. No one said, Did you go to Harvard? Did you go to Yale? Did you get no, when you look at a farmer, you're like, these are simple people. But is it simple, really, it's not. And Allah uses the parable to remind us that there are some things that people understand better than others. And farmers understand more than all of us educated people that you are not in control Allah is. So he

walks in his garden, and he sees everything that Allah has given him.

And he says, what, I don't think this is ever going to disappear. As if he's in control. So final.

So stage one is that people, when wealth effects them, they can start to think that they're better than others, and they can start to actually lose touch with reality. They can start to think that there's something that they're not, there's a narration that had been confirmed mentions in the diet and the higher. He says that

fell down, at one point was trying to demonstrate His power with people. And so he would call all these people who had sick cows and tell them bring your cows and I'll cure them. And out of booking with Allah, I'm God, I'll cure them. So the way that this worked was that they had a stable of healthy cows, the farmer would bring their sick cow, they would bring them into the chamber, the healing chamber, fit on would do his performance, and then all of a sudden, they would find a cow that similarly looked like that cow and bring them out. The farmer would go, Oh my God, He is God. So this happened and obviously word spread and all these sick cows came and they gave away all the

healthy cows. And one morning as they made this call, bring your sick cows

The ministers want to fit out. And

maybe today we should take a day off because we don't have any more healthy cows. But I was What do you mean healthy cows? They said, We don't have any more cows. We can't heal any more cows. He goes, What do you mean? They said for around? We can't switch out people sick cows anymore. We're out of our stock. He goes, What do you mean switch? I've been healing them.

He became convinced why drunk with power.

This person was experiencing a very similar effect drunk with power.

I don't think this is ever gonna go away. And then he says, Well, Matt oven no Assata ka Imogen. And even if let's say that this this hour shows up, this Day of Judgment shows up.

He says, What are included to eat our rugby, that and I am returned to my Lord, that I didn't know how you don't mean

when Carla that I will actually show up on that day. And as good as this is I'm gonna get much better than that.

Like, for me, it's a win win. I'm just so perfect. I'm so blessed. But this was clearly a delusion that had infected the person's heart and had just like the heart pumps blood to the rest of the body, the spiritual kind of pumps whatever's inside of it to the rest of the person's consciousness. And so we asked Allah to purify our hearts, because whatever's in there it goes everywhere else. I don't have a lot of time left. So I'm gonna go through quickly. So Subhanallah stage two sets in. Now the person is no longer settled on, I'm better than creation. But now they think that they're better than Allah. And this is a dialogue to show us two pathways. And another source in the Quran

Allah Tala mentions can Allah in Santa Lietuva, a Rahu Sakineh. One of the diseases of human beings is that they see themselves as self sufficient. So when we reject Allah, it's actually a sign that we've completely accepted the material world. Because you either accept one or the other, the more that I reject the material world, the more I leave room to accept Allah. And the more that I've invested in, attended in attach myself to this dunya, the less space I have in my heart to find Allah. And that's why according to all of Islamic history, from the time of the Prophet SAW Salem, to all the great scholars, the set up the Debian and all of them up until this day, you find that

some of the people that were the closest to Allah, they were given the Headstart of being tested with wealth, not in the way that we hope, which is more wealth, but they didn't have enough of it.

But that opened up a door for them, and that gave them access. And if you want to ask anybody about access to Allah when you're being deprived, write a letter to our brothers and sisters in the prison system, the unjust prison system, but write a letter and see how many people you know my brother used to call prisons, Muslim factories, because everything else is taken away and deprived and all your heart can do is find guidance. And I will tell you firsthand that Khuddam we receive stacks of letters every week, from brothers and sisters saying and humbler ly converted to Islam as a result of the podcast, for example, and they said I had nothing else to do but listen, I finished up the

Nasr 200 series sera podcast in three days. That's the kind of Netflix binge I can get behind. Right. But why? Because deprivation, little by men, aka foul talker. Sometimes you're deprived, but you're given in your deprivation. And we see that happen next, we see that Allah subhanaw taala says in the Hadith, he says, What? Now that truly I bet the salah Aina Malla rain rot, he says, if you can get past this dunya there will be something waiting for you that I have prepared to my righteous servant. And in order for us to get it you almost have to disconnect.

Disconnect from what from what you expect here because he says what is waiting for you there because you gave it up here is something your eyes have never seen. Way better than that one hallway in North Park Mall.

Way better than the Ferrari dealership down the road. Something that I've never seen. I want you to imagine everything the eyes have seen is limited with what Allah has is unlimited.

And he says what are also known semi eyes, and you will hear beautiful sounds that ears have never heard. What are hot rod Appleby ambassador, or you will experience things that the heart was never even able to fathom.

That's what's waiting for you and I, but only for those people that are so disconnected from their dunya we indulgences that they can be sought to email us how to make us amongst them.

And so his friend upon hearing this says to him, do you disbelieve in the

One who created you? Are you serious? you disbelieve in the one that gave you this and then developed you from stages, right? You were just a drop. And then you graduated and grew and then you eventually became this big man. And now you're walking around forgetting where you came from. You know, one of the greatest tragedies that we see is when someone was poor and they become rich, and they forget what it was like to be poor. Right? And all of us do this. We forgot what it was like to be helpless. Allah to Allah created us in a stage of helplessness, to strength, and we forget when we're strong, how weak we were. And that's why Allah makes us weak again, to remind us that just

like you were back, then don't get it twisted. You're gonna become that way once more. It's Oh Allah, Allah give us a good ending. And then this man, he says, But as for me, Allah is my Lord, and I will never I will never do what you have done. I'll never associate anything with Him, not even myself. And then he gives him this advice, and he says to him, Well, hola defaulter. genetica Kuta, masha Allah La Quwata illa biLlah. He says, If only everyone who is blessed is not a problem, but the ones who forget Allah because of their blessings or a problem. May Allah protect us if only walked in? And instead of saying, Look at my garden, you said look at what Allah has given me.

There's nothing wrong with having things that are nice, unless you forget the one who gave you the nice things. So he advises his brother and says, You should have walked into your garden and said what Masha Allah Allah Quwata illa. And then he says, Even though I am lesser than you, in terms of offspring in terms of wealth, he said, even I know this, and this is Subhanallah a lesson that only tests can teach you. When Allah gives you prosperity, sometimes you forget him when Allah gives you depravity, Allah to Allah forces you to remember him. And that's one of the reasons the scholars say tests exist. So his brother then says to him, maybe my Lord will give me something better than your

garden.

And then Allah Tada set down upon this garden, a tragedy, a thunderbolt from the sky, Allah Tada says, turning it to a wasteland. Or he says maybe water will come and sink the entire piece of land that you have and you will never be able to find it again.

So Allah Tada fast forward for us and says what all of this produce was totally ruined. The man who once walked in paraded through his garden, it was taken away from him in the blink of an eye.

And he started to wring his hands. He started to turn his hands over all that mountain coffee hot, because of all of his investment in it. Everything he put into it. And he says, what a waste that I did.

And then he says this beautiful line, where your voodoo yeah late honey, LEM Bush rugby rugby, a Haida?

Oh my God, I wish I had never

distracted myself from Allah and given to anyone else besides Allah what He only deserves. I wish I had never fallen short. Now, at this point, in the suta, I know it's easy to think of this person as just like the worst person on the world in the world. But at the end of the passage, he actually becomes a winner.

When Allah tested him, he became successful. Because why he had the realization that all of this was from Allah. Now do you think moving forward in his life, knowing what we know about this response? he's ever going to forget this moment? Do you think when Allah Tada gives him something else down the line? He will ever forget this moment? No. This test was given to him, his wealth and it being taken away so that he could make this statement. I wish I had never done shirk with Allah EBITDA. And that's why Kela in Santa Lai, Ottawa, Ottawa Apple stock now what's next? In Email, Rebecca Raja, the cure for this disease. When you look at something and you find it afflicting you, and you

find that your goals are to material and not spiritual. Remember that to every single person, they're returned to Allah is their eventuality, we ask Allah Tada to give us a beautiful year. We ask Allah to Allah to reconnect us with him. We ask Allah Tada to make this year a year of spiritual investment. We ask Allah to Allah to make us wealthy not just in our material wealth, but we ask Allah to give us wealth in our hearts. I mean, you're a bit odd. I mean, Subhan Allah who will be hunting question one La ilaha illa Anthony Mr. Critical to read.

hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam ala Ashraful MBI. We must have been saying that Muhammad Salah Southern Water early he was Hobbes rainy out of enlightenment.

This story is one story and I know I spent too much time on it today. Well and now insha Allah but I wanted to end with a reminder to everybody the Quran is filled with

With moments like this, to the brim, what we did together today in Juma is an example. But all of us had the capacity to open up the book of Allah, and to go and to read the stories and to connect. And I guarantee you that you had realizations during this whole thing that I did not have. And that's for you to share with Allah subhanaw taala. One of the biggest commitments we talked about resolutions, one of the biggest commitments we can make in this year is to commit to a meaningful relationship with the book of Allah subhanaw taala. You know, I saw the most incredible and tragic video the other day, and I'll end with this. I mean, it's all the bombing, and it's all of the

destruction. You know what I saw? I saw resilience but I saw the most beautiful form of it in a Koran School for Girls in Han Yunus.

Not one that was already there. One that was amongst the rubble and amidst the destruction, you had women that had memorized the Quran that had said, let's go ahead and learn from the book of Allah. No matter what we're going through, we're never going to find ourselves disconnected from our Lord. If brothers and sisters in Gaza can sit not knowing when their next meal will be, but they can have some time for Quran I'm not sure any of us will have a valid excuse to Allah about why we couldn't we asked God to give us a connection to his book. We asked Allah Tada to allow us to be inspired by his words, basketball Tada to guide us and to make us guided and to allow us to guide others. We ask

Allah Tada to bless everybody in this gathering, we ask Allah Tada that for those that have lost anybody that Allah Tada, forgive them. We asked Allah that if anyone is sick that he gives them shifa in the light of America to who you saw Lunarlon every year you will live in mo Salah Ali was sitting with us Nima Allahumma Salli ala Muhammad Anwar Ali Muhammad came out so late either Ibrahim Ibrahim for Alameen in natural Hamid Majeed Allahumma barik ala Muhammad Anwar Ali Mohammed come about after Eid Ebrahim are early Brahim for Alameen indica homeopathy in Allah yet moto will it will extend while at the quarterback we enhance Russia with monkey with velvet you're the commoner

Allah come to the current Dr. Masada