Abdul Nasir Jangda – Stories of the Prophets #24 Wisdom
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of wisdom and humility in managing conflict and relationships, as well as the importance of humility in the context of the Bible. They emphasize the need for flexibility and humility in managing relationships, as well as the importance of learning the Arabic language and finding a place to study the language. The success of the campus program and learning the language of Islam are also highlighted.
AI: Summary ©
Continuing
with our series
on the stories of the prophets from the
Quran
and where we visit these stories every night
extracting practical lessons that we can live by.
Today, inshallah, we're going to be talking about
the 2 prophets of Allah, father and son,
Dawud and Suleiman alayhim as salam, David and
Solomon.
And
while the emphasis of the lesson might lean
a little more towards Dawood alayhis salam,
But nonetheless,
we'll be talking about both of them.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about them
in Surah Al Namal, Surah number 27, ayah
15.
We had granted knowledge to both Dawud and
Suleyman
Waqala, and they both proclaimed and declared
That all praise belongs to Allah
who granted us this virtue
in favor
over all the other believing people and believing
servants of God.
And Allah
tells us a particular story. And the lesson
that we are extracting today is the lesson
of wisdom.
And exactly
we talk about wisdom all the time,
and Allah tells us about wisdom.
Allah grants wisdom to whomsoever He wills.
And who has and whoever has been granted
wisdom has indeed been granted a great good
and a great favor from Allah.
And so we talk about wisdom.
We
aspire
to this status and this level of wisdom.
But what does it practically
look like in action
on a everyday basis?
Well,
Allah tells us a story that illustrates this.
In Surah number 21, Surah Al Anbiya.
In I number 78, Allah tells us
Allah
tells us about this incident that occurred
at the time when the prophet Dawud, alayhis
salam,
was the father. So, of course, obviously, he
was the more senior prophet.
He was the one in charge. He had
the authority. He was also the ruler of
his people. He was the king of his
people, the prophet for his people, the leader
of his people.
And
Allah tells us that
there was a situation
in which there were 2 neighbors.
1 of them
was a farmer by trade.
And he had a huge farm,
agricultural land,
where he grew,
you know,
food.
And it was very close to the time
of the harvest
where he would go and he would pick
the crop
and then that would be his livelihood,
how he would support himself and his family.
His neighbour
was a rancher.
He raised animals.
So he had a huge flock of livestock.
Goats, sheep, maybe even cattle.
And that was his business. And he raised
these animals and took care of these animals
and that was his means of livelihood.
And what ends up happening is,
at some time or some point when maybe
nobody was watching, nobody was paying attention,
the animals somehow
got into the neighbor's
farm,
and they ravaged his farm.
They grazed up and down the farm. They
ate up a lot of the harvest and
the crop.
They trampled everything.
They're animals. They did what animals do.
And they ended up ravaging his farm. His
farm was destroyed.
And they came
to Dawud alaihis salam,
and they said that
we need you to settle this matter between
us.
They were handling it in a mature way.
1 did not go over to the other
and try to settle things himself.
They came to the judge, the leader, the
king, the ruler, the prophet of God, Dawud
alayhis salam. And they said, settle this matter
for us.
And so Dawud alayhis salam,
he said, okay. Let's get an evaluation
of what your harvest would have fetched you
had it made it to the marketplace.
And they got that number.
Then he said, okay. Now let's get an
evaluation
of
what the animals are worth,
the flock.
And when they looked at both of the
numbers and they were very similar,
then Dawud alaihis salaam
did the very obvious thing.
He said that your
your animals have caused this amount of damage
to his crop,
and your assets are worth the amount of
damage that was done. So, therefore, now your
animals will belong to him.
That way, we're
settled.
And Allah says,
Allah says, we were watching over this entire
scenario. And so that is to say, no
injustice was
done. Again, to reiterate, there is no injustice
in this
decision.
They meet with Soleiman
as they are leaving the court.
And Soleiman
more so in the in the sense of
trying to
learn, he asks them, what did father decide?
What did the prophet of God, Dawud Alayhi
Salaam, decide?
And so they told him what he had
decided.
And Soleiman alaihis salam could see
that they were distressed. Both parties were distressed.
The rancher was obviously distressed because he said,
everything I own
these animals are everything I own. This is
all of it.
And now I have nothing left.
And Soleiman
starts processing.
Well, that means him and his family now
will fall into abject poverty,
and that's going to create a lot more
damage to the society, to the community.
And on the other side, he sees the
distress with the farmer,
that the farmer's distressed
because he says that, I've been a farmer
my whole life.
And a lot of times, people that you
know, in in in those times,
whatever their trade was was inherited.
So my entire family, my father, my grandfather
before him, and his father before him, we're
farmers. That's what we do.
So that all I know how to do
is farm. I am not a rancher. I
don't know the first thing about having animals.
And so while I've been compensated
in
an interesting way, I've been burdened.
And so they're both distressed.
And so
Allah
says,
We gave Suleyman
an understanding.
And he goes
to his father, Dawud alaihis salaam, and very
respectfully,
while honoring his father,
says, father if I may
offer a different perspective.
Dawud alayhis salam says, of course.
And so Soleiman alayhis salam says
that
the animals
provide some kind of a revenue stream through
the milk and things like that.
So how about for the time
all the revenue from the animals
will support the farmer and his family.
So the rancher will take the responsibility
of supporting the farmer and his family, while
the rancher and the farmer, they work together
to restore the farm.
And they will work together,
and the rancher will support the farmer's family
while they work together to restore the farm.
And as soon as that the farm is
restored,
where the farmer and his family can continue
to live off of their farm as they
have for generations,
then everything will go back to the original
scenario.
Now the farmer and his family have a
farm that they live off of and that
they work on, And the rancher and his
family will go back to ranching and raising
these animals.
And when Dawud alaihis salam hears this
more,
you know,
communal kind of solution,
a solution that doesn't,
you know, let anyone fall through the cracks.
Dawud
affirms
the solution presented by Soleiman
and he says, I
change my decision and the decision will now
be as Soleiman Alaihi Salam has suggested.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us,
Each of them We had granted them wisdom
and We granted them knowledge.
And so this is the lesson of wisdom
and wisdom is on display here in so
many different ways.
1st and foremost,
when Dawud alaihis salam gave his original decision
that was not contradicting wisdom because Allah says,
We were witnessing that decision and
we did not object to it. We did
not correct Dawud
because it was not unjust.
Wisdom has a prerequisite
and a requirement and that is justice.
We cannot
engage in, we cannot operate in injustices
with the excuse of wisdom.
The wisdom cannot be the excuse for injustice.
Never ever.
That's number 1.
Number 2,
we see that
Soleiman
having this
idea
that was wise
and that's why it was affirmed by his
father and approved by Allah
But we see how Suleyman
goes to his father Dawud
and presents himself
humbly and respectfully.
And once again,
it is it is it is actually
quite unwise
to be disrespectful
and dishonorable.
And we cannot be disrespectful in our behavior,
in our conduct,
and violate the code of conduct
with once again the excuse of wisdom,
but I know better.
That is never an excuse. And we see
that with Soleiman alaihis salam here.
Number 3,
we see that even the judgment that is
passed
is one that focuses on
how to not let anyone fall through the
cracks
and how to take care of all relevant
parties and how do you manage this is
wisdom.
How do you manage you know, we often
use that expression make lemonade out of lemons.
Right?
How do you take a situation that is
a dispute,
a conflict? Think about how many ways this
could have gone bad. Then the farmer could
have gone over to the rancher's house and
taken matters into his own hands.
But how do you come up with a
solution that actually brings them closer together?
That after a year working together, eating together,
living together,
these two families probably became like one family.
So you turned those lemons into lemonade.
You turned that fight
into something that brought them together.
That's wisdom.
So a lot of times when we're even
when we have conflict with one another,
and then how we dig our heels in
and we try to, you know,
we try to
exert our power over someone,
and we try to
put somebody down. And
the
justification
is, but I'm right.
The justification is wisdom,
but I'm right. I know better.
My behavior in that moment shows that I
actually don't know better.
And
I said in the very beginning that the
lesson would lean a little more towards Dawud
alaihis salam and he would be the focal
point.
And that is because
look at Dawud
He's a prophet of God. He's the king.
He's the ruler and he is Suleyman
father.
But what is wisdom?
You can't have wisdom if you don't have
humility.
We all chase after wisdom
and we all crave
that status of being wise
and respected and listened to.
But are we willing to humble ourselves?
And we see here that even though his
son
That's why the Quran is so powerful.
It's not just giving us the example which
it would have been powerful in of itself
of a Prophet listening to one of his
people. Like the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam did
When Khabab ibn Mundir came to him in
the battlefield of Badrin and say, You Rasulullah,
I think putting the camp here is a
better idea and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam
took it.
That's powerful enough.
But a father to listen to his son
this way, in front of the whole community,
in front of his congregation.
Right? Those of us who are parents,
we understand
how difficult and challenging that can be.
Right? A lot of us operate with this
general rule
that if I've changed your diapers,
you can't tell me what to do.
Right?
Okay. A dad somewhere grunted
because he couldn't he couldn't even agree.
So he grunted.
Right? So,
but subhanallah look at this. This the Quran
teaching us wisdom. True wisdom.
That here's a father listening.
Then he says you're right.
Calls him back in. Says no. No. No.
We're changing the decision on the books. Scratch
that out.
Write down what Suleiman says. Subhanallah.
Wisdom.
Humility
is necessary for wisdom.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us
in this ayah,
Wisdom comes from Allah
So if I think I can be self
sufficient
where I will read and I will study
and I will work
and I will earn wisdom
and I have no connection to Allah,
I will never achieve wisdom.
There have been plenty of well read people.
There have been plenty of educated people
who did not possess an ounce of wisdom.
And there have been very there have been
many, many, many
very simple, humble people
who
had so much wisdom
in everything that they did.
And so we remember at the end of
the day that wisdom
only and solely comes from Allah. Allah is
Al Hakim.
Allah is the possessor of all wisdom and
only from Allah comes wisdom.
So we should constantly as we have more
and more responsibility,
we should constantly be turning to Allah and
asking Allah. Oh Allah, grant me wisdom.
Grant us all wisdom.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us wisdom
in all of our affairs. May Allah
allow us to be humble and fair and
just and allow us to always operate with
wisdom. Ameen Arabilalameen.
I had
first of all, I wanted to, welcome Sheikh
Saad for joining us here.
And I also
wanted to
mention to everyone a couple of nights ago.
I made dua here
for our dear brother doctor. Amir Shaqeel.
And
I mentioned many of his accolades and his,
you know, beautiful work.
You know, the the Carrollton Masjid, Mazur Rahman,
NTIC, North Texas Climate Council,
the MMA,
and so much other remarkable work.
This
earlier today,
doctor Amir Shakil passed away.
May Allah grant him Janat al Firdosul Allah.
And may Allah
grant him the highest stations in paradise. May
Allah grant him the companionship of the prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam. And may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala make all of the work that
he did as sadaqa jariyah on his behalf.
And I wanted to real quickly,
if you'll indulge me, I wanted to also
share
that everyone who
comes here
to this campus
and benefits from all the work that Kalam
does, all the different aspects of Kalam's work,
I wanted to
talk very briefly about the role that he
played in that.
In
2011,
when
we were our efforts were still in their
infancy.
And one of the first major undertakings before
the seminary existed,
one of the first major undertakings was that
we wanted to
have these programs that we came to call
the intensives.
Where we weren't quite at the capacity where
we could have an entire seminary and full
time scholars and full time students.
But we figured if we can't do all
of it, might why not do some of
it?
So then we had this idea that in
the summers
we'll have a month long intensive or we'll
study the Arabic language and learn the tafsir
of the Quran
and we'll have the teachers there full time
And we'll have students come from all over
the country and eventually they came from all
over the world. And they'll spend a whole
month together, living together, eating together, praying together,
studying together.
And then in the winter time for 2
weeks, we'll bring everyone together again like that
and then learn the Sirah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And we didn't have a place to conduct
it. Now alhamdulillah Allah has blessed us with
this beautiful campus where we conduct those kinds
of programs but we didn't have a place
to do that.
And I was trying to figure out
how we could do that, where we could
do that. I lived in Arlington at the
time.
I
we
we calculated every scenario
and none of the scenarios worked.
And so,
I then
went to the Carrollton Masjid
and I met with doctor Amar Shaquille and
I presented the idea to him.
And before I could even get to explaining
how it would work and why they should
also
host this or anything like that. I just
told him what we were thinking about doing.
And he said, Alan was Alan.
He said, our doors are open to you.
And for some of the folks who've been
around long enough or attended the intensives who
remember,
it wasn't
very nice and neat and tidy always.
The Musalla was the classroom. There were tables
and chairs packed throughout the Musalla. And when
the local people would come to pray including
doctor Amr himself, they would pray like in
a side room and they would fold up
tables and chairs so they could pray. And
then they would help us unfold them and
set them back up so that we could
continue class afterwards.
And we hosted these intensives
at that masjid
through his support and the rest of the
community, but he was really the linchpin. He
was the leader there.
We did that for a decade.
And something that a lot of people don't
know,
it was the first Jumu'ah of Ramadan in
2021.
And after Jumu'ah,
my phone rang.
And I when I saw the number,
I picked up because,
you know, it was doctor Amir. So I
picked up the phone.
And when I picked up the phone and
he said,
there's a building
that I think would be perfect for Qalam
and it was this location.
And
we make du'a once again that may Allah
make this
in his scale of good deeds. And then
may Allah grant him Jannatul Firdausalala.
He was a pioneer of our community.
And
it's important to always remember
that a lot of these remarkable people
that
came before us, they did amazing work and
made amazing efforts.
And they left us with these gifts,
these blessings.
And it's our responsibility
to do right by it and to continue
that work.
So let's, inshallah, remain dedicated and remain focused.
May Allah
accept from him. May accept from all of
us.