Abdul Nasir Jangda – Stories of the Prophets #25
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The speaker discusses the negative impact of human interaction and the importance of focusing on personal health and well-being. They emphasize the need for everyone to live a healthy life, including physical and mental health. They also highlight the negative impact of socializing and the importance of healthy behavior in protecting oneself. The speaker emphasizes the need for everyone to live a healthy life, regardless of one's situation.
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Inshallah, continuing
with our series here in the month of
Ramadan,
the stories of the prophets from the Quran.
And we try to extract
a practical lesson every day from these different
stories that we can live by.
Today, inshallah, we're going to continue talking about
Dawud and Suleyman alayhim as salam.
We started talking about them in the previous
session
that Dawud and Suleyman
are 2 prophets of Allah who are father
and son.
And
while they are prophets of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and so there's
so much that we can take from them
and learn from them and benefit from them
as Allah says in the Quran,
That these are the people whom Allah gave
guidance to.
So follow them
and look at their example and learn from
them. So there's so much we can take
from them but different prophets
represent
some different unique lessons.
And the lesson
A lot of the lessons from the life
of Dawud and Soleiman Alaihi Salam
is related to the fact that along with
being prophets
that they were
kings and rulers.
And
so the lesson that we're going to explore
today
is
the lesson and the understanding
of power.
Power is
a very
it's something that everyone thinks about. It's something
that everyone talks
about. It's something that's
on our minds. It's something that occupies our
conversations and discussions and thoughts.
Power is something that human beings have always
struggled with.
So when talking about power,
we need to understand exactly
what the Quran teaches us about the nature
of power.
And what the Quran
tells us about
what power is and what its reality is.
And how do we view it? How do
we perceive it? And how do we interact
with it?
The very first thing Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
tells us as a foundation
is that And I commented on this, I
think it was during when the qiyam talks
but the first thing the Quran tells us
is that
human beings do not possess any power,
not real power at least.
Human beings,
when it comes to power,
what they possess is the delusion of power,
the intoxication
of power.
But they don't actually possess power.
Why?
Power belongs to Allah.
And then it is given by Allah to
the messenger of Allah.
And then
the benefits of that power are enjoyed by
the believers.
But power belongs
to Allah.
Allah is the king of the kings over
the kings.
And so Allah is the one who is
Al Aziz,
wal Jabbar,
wal Qahar.
Allah
is the only one who is truly mighty,
dominant, and powerful.
So power only and solely belongs to Allah.
Now if that's the case,
then what do human beings,
you know, transact in? What are human beings
dealing with? What are human beings operating with
if it's not power?
Then what human beings are dealing with or
interacting with is essentially responsibility.
Responsibility.
That's really the gist of it. Now,
if somebody
succeeds in that, it's a blessing. If somebody
fails in that responsibility,
then it is their doom and their destruction.
May Allah protect us all.
A person will be questioned about this on
the day of judgment.
The feet of the human being will not
be allowed to move from their place.
He'll be glued to a spot
in front of Allah until the person is
questioned
That what did you do with what I
gave you?
And if that was responsibility
over the other servants of Allah,
that is a very, very scary responsibility.
And so if someone ever does now,
now that we've reframed it hopefully for ourselves
internally,
it's not about power.
It's about responsibility.
The prophet
said, Each one of you is responsible, not
powerful,
responsible.
Allah is the only one who's powerful
and we're all in need. We're all
peasants.
We're all desperate.
None of us have power.
But the prophet did say,
Every one of you has different levels of
responsibilities.
So if we are given responsibility
now how do we interact with it?
How do we behave with it?
So this is where now we will invoke
the example of the Prophet Saud
and today, more particularly the Prophet Soleiman
Alayhi Musallam.
And so first of all, when we talk
about responsibility
and authority
and privilege,
What we have
deludes us so quickly, so easily.
Let's look at what it really looks like
in their in their hands, in their lives.
Allah says in Suratul Saba, surah number 34,
Dawud alaihis salam could mold iron with his
bare hands.
He could basically
create armor
and weaponry
out of iron,
pure iron with his bare hands.
He controlled the wind.
In one morning, he could travel the distance
that it would take a person on the
back of an animal to a month to
travel.
How far a person would get on the
back of an animal. He could do that
in a month on the back of an
animal. Soleiman Alaihi Salam could do that in
one morning.
And then how long it would take a
person on the back of an animal to
travel for an entire month? He could do
that in a single evening
because the wind would carry him.
Allah made the natural minerals of the earth
pour out of the earth for him. And
he could mold them into whatever he wanted
to on command.
Imagine that.
Stay with me. Alright? Don't go down the
rabbit hole here.
Okay?
And the gin.
Yes. I said the j word. Okay?
Stay with me. Focus.
My one of my my my sheikh actually,
may Allah grant him paradise.
He always used to joke about this. He
said, don't use that word.
Because everyone will forget everything you were talking
about. They'll be like, Jin?
Right?
So but this is the Quran saying, alright?
Stay on focus.
And the jinn, this powerful creation, what I
was at his disposal
and at his command,
he could make them do whatever he wanted.
That he could make them build palaces,
statues,
you know, entire like like bowls or containers
that were the size of entire craters,
pots that were the size of an entire
ditch like a crater.
He had that kind of command.
Think about that.
Dawud alaihis salam,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us about him.
That Dawud alaihis salam
he could communicate with animals.
With all the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, he could communicate with them. He could
talk to them.
He could
control like we talked about
That the wind
in all of its ferocity, like entire tornadoes,
hurricanes, he could summon them on command.
He could command those same jinn
to die down to the floor of the
ocean and bring up
different precious stones from the floor of the
ocean for him.
Think about that kind of power,
that kind of control.
However,
here's the lesson.
What was their attitude
in the midst of all of this?
The attitude
that they had,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us about it.
When Allah talks about Dawud alaihis salam,
Allah says, Dawud Adal Aidid, he was powerful
but
but he was humble
before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when he tells us
about the prophet Dawud alaihis salam,
He tells us that Dawud alaihis salam
He would seek forgiveness before his Lord.
He would fall down in sujood and prostration
in front of his Lord.
He would seek forgiveness
from his Lord.
When Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us about
Dawud All day long, He would make the
zikr and the praise and the glorification of
Allah.
So beautifully
that the mountains would move with him.
The birds would start to chirp with him
as he made the dhikr of Allah
morning evening.
When Allah
tells us about the prophet
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us about Suleymana
alayhi salam
that he would say
that
That famous statement,
we have those frames on top of the
doors of our houses.
That's from the statement of Soleiman
He would say this is all from the
blessing of my Lord.
I don't own any of this.
Allah granted me all of this
and he would say
If you are grateful, you are only benefiting
yourself.
And if somebody is ungrateful to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
then they should know that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala does not need any of us.
That Sulaiman
he makes dua.
Look how humble before Allah he is.
Oh Allah, guide me, inspire me.
And
Will I inspire me that I always be
grateful for your blessings
that you have showered upon me and showered
upon my parents.
And that I always do righteous deeds.
That are pleasing to you, oh my Lord.
And, oh Allah, enter me into your mercy.
Amongst
your righteous devout servants.
That is
the lesson
of power
that while we talked about reframing and re
understanding that power
as more
responsibility
than power.
But even when we look at
the people
who had what we would describe as power,
they were powerful,
really truly powerful,
unlike anything we've ever seen or witnessed.
But what made them so remarkable?
Look at how humble they are before Allah.
The more dominant you are,
the more control you
seem to have,
the more powerful you seem to be,
the more humble you have to be in
front of your Lord.
The more humble you have to be before
Allah
That's the lesson of power from the Quran
Where it says about Dawood Alaihi Salam.
He
was always turning back to Allah, making dua.
Says about
He was always humble turning back to Allah,
sincerely asking for forgiveness
and repenting to Allah.
That's the real lesson.
So first of all, we ask Allah to
protect us from the delusions of power.
We ask Allah
to protect us
from responsibility
that we are not ready for.
And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that
if he's given us responsibility
that he give us the ability to fulfill
that responsibility properly.
And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to
always keep us humble.
And the more Allah increases us in responsibility
to make us more and more humble.