Abdul Nasir Jangda – Stories of the Prophets #26
AI: Summary ©
The historical significance of Zdownia Alay dedication to his children and community is emphasized, along with the importance of acknowledging Allah's blessings and learning to be humble before talking to him. The blueprint of Islam is discussed, including gratitude for previous experiences, setting boundaries, and learning to be vulnerable. The importance of hedging one's actions and intention when speaking to Allah Subhanahu wa dissling is emphasized, along with the importance of asking for God's blessing and begging for it. The speaker concludes by reminding people to not be forgotten to ask for God's blessing and to pray for their health and well-being.
AI: Summary ©
Inshallah, continuing
with our series here in the month of
Ramadan, the stories of the prophets from the
Quran.
And
we try to extract different practical
lessons that we can live by
from these various stories of the prophets that
Allah has given to us in the Quran.
Today, we're going to be talking about another
pair of prophets,
father and son once again.
And that is
the prophets Zakaria
and Yahya alayhim as salam.
And once again, while we will talk about
both Zakariyah and Yahya alayhim as salam,
The lesson and the moral of the story
will be
more
inclined towards
and speaking about
Zakariyah alaihis salam.
The prophets Zakariyah and Yahia alaihimas salam
are from the prophets of Bani Israel.
They are again from that same lineage of
prophets that came from the progeny of the
prophet Yaqub alayhi wasalam.
And
specifically,
Zakariyah and Yahia alaihim as salam,
they were both residents
of
Baytul Maqdis,
Al Quds, Jerusalem,
Al Masjid Al Aqsa.
And Zakariyah alaihis salam
was, of course, the prophet of Allah,
the leader of his people, the leader of
his community, and the imam
of the believers at Al Masjid Al Aqsa.
And Zakariyah alaihi salam had served
the deen. He had served the community. He
had served
the masjid Al Masjid Al Aqsa Al Quds
his entire life.
And
he had built this entire community there
at Baytul Maqdis.
And
as he reached into his twilight,
his old age,
he
was very concerned about
the community
that he would leave behind.
He was worried about the state of affairs
of the community
and who would lead
the community going forward.
And
while he personally
had also longed
for a child for
his entire life,
him and his wife both
had prayed for children and longed for a
child.
And he accepted that this was not from
the will and the decree of Allah
that they would have children.
But now
it wasn't just a personal thing
that he wanted children,
but he was also worried about
who would be there for the community after
he was gone.
Because the kind of tarbia, the kind of
upbringing and the tutelage and the mentoring and
the educating
that one can provide for their own child,
it is extremely difficult
and sometimes
very,
you know, it's borderline
improbable
to be able to do that with someone
else.
Because obviously,
if you are trying to teach and mentor
and train someone else, that is somebody else's
child.
And there are those conflicting
priorities that are there.
But if it is someone's own child, then
you are able
to raise them and train them
and mentor them
for a very specific purpose and mission.
So in light of that, Zakariya alaihis salam
had his own personal longing for the child.
He was also worried about who will lead
this community going forward
and who will take care of Al Masud
Al Aqsa in the community of the believers.
And so as he is in his
final,
you know, years of his life,
He's elderly at this point. He has spent
an entire lifetime
serving Allah, serving the deen, serving the masjid,
serving the community.
Allah
tells
us his story.
And Allah
tells us his story
in a few different places in the Quran.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has mentioned it in
Surat Ali Imran.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also tells us
a story in Surat Maryam.
And I'll be
sharing the verses from Surat Maryam.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala begins
in that very powerful captivating way.
The
which only Allah knows the meaning of, but
it is captivating nonetheless.
And then Allah tells
us
This is the story
of your lord's mercy
upon his beloved servant,
Zakaria.
That he was sitting at night
in the Masjid
by himself.
And he called out to his Lord.
There's a place actually in
in in the Aqsa compound.
There's a little corner that has that commemorates
this place of the Quran
where it's called the of Zakari alaihi salaam.
So it talks about Zakari alaihi salaam making
this dua. So he's sitting there
in the Masjid,
in the night time,
by himself.
And he calls out to Allah, he calls
out to his Lord.
Just as only him and Allah.
This is not for anybody else.
No one else is a part of this
conversation.
And what does he say to Allah?
He says, my lord.
And he acknowledges, oh Allah, you're my You
created me. You provide for me. You sustain
me. You nourish me. You have guided me.
You take care of me.
This appeal that I'm about, I am about
to make
is in no way
in gratitude.
So he acknowledges all of Allah's blessings upon
him.
My
Lord.
He says, my lord
my bones
are crumbling.
I feel
my age in my bones now.
My hair
has gone white.
However,
you have never disappointed me.
The moral that we're extracting today, the lesson
for today's story
is dua. Simply put,
dua can be translated as supplication,
invocation,
talking to Allah,
asking Allah, begging Allah.
Dua,
how do we do it?
What does it look like?
What is the optimal way of making this
dua to Allah?
Because we talk about it all the time.
We request each other for duas.
We talk about it all the time. We
think about it all the time.
We're trying to figure it out constantly. So
Allah gives us
the the,
blueprint
of how
to talk to Allah
And what does true supplication, invocation before Allah
look like?
Number 1,
acknowledge Allah's blessings.
Always.
And again, this is something I've said numerous
times in the various
lectures and talks.
Nothing compares to Allah.
Nothing compares to Allah. But yet Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran,
Allah gives you different examples.
Why?
Allah gives examples to facilitate understanding for people.
So examples can be helpful because it helps
unlock our understanding.
But the example should never be understood to
be a direct equivalent of what we are
talking about.
So nothing compares to Allah.
But as an example,
if this brother has done a favor upon
me previously
and I
need to go and ask this brother for
a favor
again.
What makes it more likely
and at the very least, what shows good
character
on my part
is that when I go, when I sit
with him, when I approach him, when I
talk to him, I will begin by first
enumerating,
by first
stating
that
I remember
and I appreciate and I am grateful
for the favor he did upon me previously.
That will put me that that that just
shows exactly who I am,
and that demonstrates what my character, my quality
is as a person.
So
here, the blueprint of dua is always begin
by first thanking Allah for his blessings.
You have blessed me. Everything I am, everything
I have
is only and solely from you, O Allah.
Then number 2,
we need to learn to be humble,
vulnerable
before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We spend so
much of our time
having our guard up. We spend so much
of our time
in the egotistical
kind of, dealings and interactions and transactions
and confrontations
that we have with people all around
us. That sometimes even when we go to
talk to Allah, we forget who we're talking
to.
We have trouble turning that off.
But Allah says,
grovel
before your lord.
Beg
before your lord.
Cry, beg, grovel.
Humble yourself.
And so look what he says,
My bones are falling apart.
I'm old.
My hair has gone all white.
But number 3,
again,
then come back
to stating Allah's favor upon you.
So to make sure that it doesn't get
to the point where now I'm just complaining
for the sake of complaining.
The purpose was to share my desperation before
Allah.
But then come back to saying, oh Allah,
you
I have never regretted making dua to you.
You have never disappointed me. You have never
let me down.
And then present the need before Allah.
He says,
I built this entire community
of believers to worship you O Allah
but I'm afraid of the people that I
will leave in charge after me.
I'm not confident in them.
And my wife was unable to bear
children.
But please grant me
a son, an inheritor as a gift.
As a gift.
The next part of making dua is
understand
nothing is outside the power of Allah Subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Stop hedging your duas.
Stop.
We do that too often.
Oh, but, you know,
I don't wanna be crazy.
I don't wanna be outlandish,
outrageous.
That hedging of our duas when we're talking
to Allah,
that is what is outrageous and outlandish.
Because you're talking to the creator of the
heavens and the earth.
You're talking to the one who created us
from nothing.
You were nothing Allah
says.
He says be and it is.
And then you're hedging?
You hedge when you talk to a person.
But here with Allah
so he says, oh Allah, I am
old,
and my wife
was unable to bear children even when we
were young.
But I'm still asking you for a child.
There's one more step that is kinda tough,
and this requires putting in a little bit
of work before the dua.
Spend a little time, reflect on
what I'm asking,
and why I'm asking for what I'm asking.
Like why am I asking for this thing?
Even though Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says ask,
ask me.
I'll give it to you, but you gotta
ask.
But it behooves us.
It's good for us
to put a little bit of thought and
exercise into
why am I asking for this?
What do I want? Why do I want
it?
And look what Zakari al Islam teaches us.
It's sometimes just
switching of the intention.
It really is that easy. It's
in the heart. It doesn't even have to
get to the tongue. It's just inside the
heart.
But Zakari alaihis salam says, this son, of
course, I will love
him, and I will cherish him, and I
will raise him. I will love him with
all my heart. I will enjoy him.
Of course.
But, oh Allah, I'm
switching my intention.
I
intend
my Niya, my intention is that he will
follow in my footsteps in terms of prophethood
and that he will inherit from the great
prophets
that I come from.
That my primary intention
will be that he will be a devout
servant to you.
He will be pleasing to you. He will
serve you. He will obey you. He will
implement your will upon this earth.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is so
kind
that you get all the other tertiary benefits
anyways.
You get all the other benefits anyways.
Of course, you're gonna love this child and
you're gonna hug him and kiss him and
raise him and play with him and enjoy
him and watch him and
all of those things.
You're gonna get all those benefits out of
it, but you just switch the intention.
And that makes all the difference in the
world. That's what the prophet
taught us to do. You're about to eat
food
That this is the blessing of Allah and
I will eat this so that I can
strengthen myself and worship my Lord.
I'm about to go to sleep
In the name of Allah, oh Allah I
go to sleep.
That I will get rest and I will
wake up and I will worship my Lord.
And I'll get all the benefits out of
it. But now think about how profound this
act becomes.
So he makes his dua to Allah and
he leaves it in the hands of Allah.
And what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say?
Allah talks
Congratulations, you're going to have a son. Ibn
Kathir rahumullahahu ta'ala shares one narration that says,
Zakri alayhi salam was 70 years old. He
shares another narration that says that he was
90 years old. He shares another narration that
says he was a 100 years old at
this time.
You're going to have a son.
And you know that that sense of honor
like if someone
very respected,
beloved, esteemed
names your child.
Allah
named Zakariya's child.
Allah named his child. Allah told them
his name will
be
Yahya. The world will never have seen anyone
like him before.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala likes in another place
in the Quran,
He will be a leader of his people.
He will be so dignified and honorable
and modest in his behavior.
And he will be a righteous prophet of
God.
When you're talking to Allah,
you can talk openly.
He doesn't doubt,
but he wants to understand
the magnitude of Allah's blessing.
My Lord, how can I have a son?
My wife couldn't bear children when she was
young.
And now we're so old, elderly.
How can we have a child?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
just like that.
It's done.
How can you? It's done.
This is
we don't even say it's easy for Allah
because for something to be easy, something else
has to be difficult.
It's all
everything
is just a command away from existing.
Simple.
Where did you come from?
When you didn't exist previously.
So
this is the lesson of Dua,
how to talk to Allah
and the outcome,
the results,
those are in the hands of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says
in authentic narration,
Every single believer that makes dua to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala properly, sincerely, Allah answers their
prayer.
How? 1 of 3 ways. Number 1,
that Allah
gives to that person whatever they're asking for.
Number 2,
and yet
Or Allah says, you know what? It's not
good for you here. I'm going to forward
it for you to the akhirah. Al Hasan
al Basir
said, when a person will get to the
hereafter, when a person will get to paradise,
and they will see all their duas that
were forwarded
from the dunya to the akhirah. In that
moment, he says the only thing a person
will regret in paradise is I wish all
of my duas would have been forwarded to
the akhirah.
And number 3,
or
we're foolish creatures.
We're hasty. We're ignorant.
We're foolish. Allah tells us.
So sometimes we're not asking for what we
should be asking for. Allah is so kind
and so generous. We make a dua. I'm
sitting here. I should be praying for the
health of my children.
But random example,
let's say I'm sitting here making dua for
a Corvette. Random example.
Completely random. Alright? Now wait years. Look at
this guy.
Tempting me. Right? So I'm sitting here making
for some car
when I should be praying for the health
and the well-being and the amount of my
children. Right? I'm a father. That's my job.
That's my responsibility. I should be making du'a
for my children. I'm sitting here making du'a
for a car.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is so kind, Allah
will convert my silly dua for a car
into the health and the well-being of my
children.
And that is the promise of Allah but
Allah says
every dua will be answered.
But we have to ask.
We have to ask. We have to beg.
And I'll conclude with this Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala in the Quran says,
Whenever my servants
ask you about me,
Then Allah responds himself and he says,
You don't have to ask about me. I'm
right here.
And he says,
it's a noun. In the Arabic language, a
noun has permanence.
I've always been here.
I am here and I will always be
here.
The next part of the ayah, Allah says,
I always answer.
You can hear it in the Arabic,
the repetition.
The call of the caller whenever he or
she calls me.
And that kind of repetition gives emphasis.
Allah is saying,
call. Call out to me. Allah is saying,
The delay is not on the part of
Allah. The delay is on our part.
We forget to call.
We forget to raise our hands. We forget
to make dua. We forget to talk to
Allah. But Allah
is saying call out to me, pray to
me, make dua to me,
and I will always take care of you.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala open our hearts
and allow us to make dua. May Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala accept all of our duas
during these blessed nights of Ramadan And may
Allah allow us to never be deprived of
talking to Allah