Abdul Nasir Jangda – Tafsir al-Quran – Class 10

AI: Summary ©
The holy Bible is the source of belief and action for practicing life. It is important to understand the meaning of the Bible and find a conclusion. The speaker emphasizes the importance of educating oneself and practicing to prove oneself and achieve success. The use of " AD" in Arabic means everything, including everything within the realm of the Prophet's teachings, and the importance of learning and practicing to improve one's understanding of the Prophet Muhammad and achieve success.
AI: Summary ©
Inshallah continuing with our series on Tafsir al
-Qur'an, the meaning and the explanation of
the book of Allah.
Inshallah, as always we will begin with the
recitation of the verse followed by a translation
of the meaning of the ayah, and then
inshallah we'll go deeper into the discussion about
the lessons that we can learn and extract
from the ayah inshallah.
Today we'll be covering ayah number 170 from
Surah Al-Baqarah.
A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem wa idha
qeela lahum uttabi'u maa anzala allahu qaalu
qaalu bal nattabi'u maa alfaynaa alayhi aabaa
'anaa aw lau kana aabaa'uhum laa yaAAqiloona
shay'an wa laa yahtadoon And when it
is said to them, follow that which Allah
has revealed, they say rather we follow that
which we found our forefathers upon.
What if their forefathers did not understand anything
and they were not rightly guided?
In the previous verses we've talked about the
commands from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the
commandments from Allah.
Of course, obviously earlier we talked about the
belief in the oneness of Allah and then
there was further discussion and conversation about well
once somebody has believed in Allah, believed in
the oneness of Allah, then what comes after
that, right?
What are some of the foundational commandments from
Allah and what constitutes this way of life
of belief and commitment to Allah?
We talked about, for instance, being mindful, particular,
deliberate, intentional about what someone eats and what
they consume, how they earn money and to
not follow in the footsteps of shaitan and
just simply succumb to one's desires and do
whatever feels, you know, enjoyable in the moment.
We talked about how following that path of
shaitan results in living a life of sinfulness
and debauchery and shamelessness and engaging in all
kinds of, you know, very detestable and very
evil behavior and ultimately it results in a
person even falsifying things and making things up
about Allah and completely corrupting not just their
own faith and abandoning their own religion, but
corrupting the faith of everyone that's around them.
Now, once that's been presented to us, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala summarizes it, okay?
What is the way out of that?
If someone finds themselves in drowning within the
evils that we've talked about in the last
few sessions, right, where they're consuming and they're
earning through any and all means just total
corruption and they are engaging in evil behavior,
misconduct, to the point where they are debasing
and degrading themselves because of the kind of
behavior that they're engaging in and they've even
gotten to the point where they make up
and they falsify things about Allah to justify
their evil behavior.
Well, what's the way out of that?
Number one, how does somebody climb out of
that?
Okay, and number two, when someone continues to
live within that, somebody continues that downward spiral,
what is the, you know, because at some
point a person feels miserable, they recognize and
realize at some level they can read all
the signs around them that this is not
going the way it's supposed to, there's something
wrong with the way I'm living my life,
but then how do they justify that?
And remain stuck and continue that downward spiral.
So both perspectives, how does somebody come out
of that and how does somebody get stuck
in that?
And what's the mentality behind it?
Right, because ultimately whenever we talk about, so
far we've talked a lot about behavior, okay,
Amal, behavior, conduct, but changing behavior and conduct
in the Amal of a person, it can
only be done by changing the attitude, the
mentality, the mindset of the person, which we
basically refer to the Iman, the spirituality.
Right, that change occurs from the inside out.
Right, so you have to change minds.
And what we say, the Quranic paradigm, is
you have to change the heart.
So what is that perspective?
What is that point of view that will
allow a person to realize that what's going
on is wrong and then better that situation?
And then similarly or contrary to that, what
is the mindset or the mentality that keeps
a person stuck in that and it continues
a downward decline?
That's what Allah subhana wa ta'ala talks
about here in this particular verse.
And there's an actual narration what's referred to
as Sabab-un-Nuzul.
Right, we haven't talked about that a lot
lately, but Sabab-un-Nuzul, very quickly, a
reminder, a refresher, is that a lot of
times what would occur, we know that the
Quran was revealed over a period of 23
years in the life of the Prophet, salallahu
alayhi wa sallam.
And a lot of times what would occur
is there was a particular situation or a
circumstance or an event or a conversation.
Something would occur at that time in the
life of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and a verse would be revealed subsequently.
And so that provides us with a lot
of insight and a framework to be able
to reflect upon the meaning of the verse
that this was a situation and then that
verse was revealed.
So now I can analyze that and understand
that and find greater relevance and significance of
that verse within my own practical life.
So the Sabab-un-Nuzul of this, Abdullah
ibn Abbas radiyallahu ta'ala anhuma, the great
companion of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
he says that when the Prophet, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, came to Medina and he presented
the message of Islam to the Jewish community
there in Medina, da'a Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi
wa sallam, al-Yahuda ila al-Islam, wa
raghabahum fihi.
And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, was
encouraging them to consider Islam.
Wa hazarahum a'zaballahi wa niqmatahu.
And he was warning them that, listen, if
you do not understand this, internalize this, realize
this, and change your ways, I'm warning you
about the punishment and the wrath of God.
Be mindful that there are consequences and that
you're subjecting yourself to the punishment and the
wrath of Allah.
Faqala rafi' bin Huraymalah wa Malik ibn Awfin,
two of the leaders of the Jewish community,
Rafi' bin Huraymalah and Malik bin Awf, they
responded to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
and they said, bal nattabi'u ma wajadna
alihi aba'ana.
They said, no, we don't need your input.
Give your advice to yourself.
We don't need your input.
We know what we're doing.
We have our own tradition.
We have our own way.
We have our own culture.
We have our own system.
And we follow the way of our forefathers.
We follow our traditions.
We follow our cultures.
We have our own systems.
We have our own ways of doing things.
We don't need your input.
Fahum kanu a'lama wa khayran minna.
They knew better than us.
And, you know, in other places in the
Qur'an, even they go as far as
saying, like, what, you think they were all
wrong?
And so then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
revealed this particular verse in response of that.
Specifically, the second part of the verse, right,
the first part of the verse basically relays
this conversation that when it is said to
them, follow what Allah is revealing, what Allah
is saying, what Allah is sending down, they
respond by saying, no, no, no, no.
We do things our own way.
We follow our way, our traditions, our culture,
right?
We follow our forefathers.
And then Allah responds to that, that rebuttal
that they came with, where Allah says, awalaw
kana aba'uhum la ya'qilun shay'ah.
Because they said, well, they knew better.
You think you're better than them?
You think they were all wrong?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responds so that
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam does not
have to say that, right, because then it
becomes kind of a back and forth, right?
So Allah responds by saying awalaw kana aba
'uhum la ya'qilun shay'ah.
That, well, consider this.
What if your forefathers had no idea what
they were doing?
What if they had no idea what they
were doing?
What if they didn't have guidance?
What if they didn't understand Allah's will?
What if they didn't know these things?
And then you are further, you know, you're
buying into that, and then you are ruining
yourself, even though they didn't know what they
were doing, and now you're following their lead
as if they knew, they had any idea,
and so you're ruining yourself.
Now, in this particular ayah, there's a couple
of very interesting words and concepts that we
should really think about and reflect on.
Allah says awalaw kana aba'uhum la ya
'qilun shay'ah.
La ya'qilun.
This comes from the word aql, okay?
And the word aql, aql shay'i, arfuhu
bidaleelihi wa fahmuhu biasbabihi wa nata'ijihi.
Right?
Aql refers to the reality of something, the
depth of something, the understanding of something, and
it means to understand the reality of something
based off of evidence, and it means to
understand the reality of something because of its
causes and its results.
Like looking at something and looking at what
comes before it and what comes after it
and then understanding its reality, and the conclusion
that you then reach is called the aql
shay'.
Now you've gotten to the essence of the
matter, the core of the matter.
What is the nucleus of this issue?
Right?
By looking at the evidences, by looking at
what comes before it, and we're looking at
what comes after it.
It basically, to put it into more simple
words, it's like a very thorough, elaborate investigation,
study on something, and then you arrive at
a conclusion that is represented by the word
aql.
And so whenever the Quran talks about this,
right, afala ta'qilun, like Allah presents this
challenge in the Quran to people, do you
not, we oftentimes translate it, and it's fine
as a summarized translation, don't you think?
Right?
What that actually means is use your God
-given intellect.
This remarkable intelligence, consciousness, that Allah has gifted
the human being with, right?
The human being part, you know, the part
of what makes the human being the centerpiece
of Allah's creation, right?
The centerpiece of this world is that intelligence
in that consciousness that Allah has granted this
human being.
So that supreme intelligence, otherwise you look at
so many of the creation of Allah, they're
bigger, they're faster, they're stronger than the human
being, right?
But the human being dominates all of their
creation because of that intelligence that Allah granted
the human being.
So what Allah is saying, afala ta'qilun,
He's not just saying don't you think, but
what it's saying is use this gift that
Allah gave you and think deeply and profoundly.
Consider all the different factors and all the
facts of the issue and arrive at a
very intelligent conclusion.
Now, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said
to them, follow, wa idha qeela lahum, when
it is said to them, follow that which
Allah has revealed.
What has Allah revealed?
The Qur'an.
Revealed upon whom?
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Right?
So follow this deen, this religion, the Qur
'an, the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
What they say is, bal nattabi'u ma
'a alfaina alayhi aba'na.
Rather, we would rather follow that which we
found our forefathers upon.
Right?
And there's something very interesting.
The word that they even use is alfa.
ma'a alfaina alayhi aba'na, alfa.
What that means is, it doesn't just mean
to find something, because there's another word that
the Qur'an uses as well, wajadana.
Another meaning that's built into the word alfa,
and this is very interesting.
This is the second word I wanted to
highlight from this ayah.
Ma'luf.
Ma'luf also comes from the same root.
And the ma'luf, it represents something that
is comfortable.
Something that's familiar, something that's comfortable.
And so what's really interesting, an ishara, kind
of an indication, a very subtle meaning that
is embedded within this verse, is talking about
the fact that true rectification and betterment of
a person and their soul requires coming out
of one's comfort zone.
Challenging oneself.
And so long as a person resigns themselves
to that which is familiar, that which is
comfortable, then a person cannot improve.
And that's something very interesting, because even insaan,
an-naas, the word for human being comes
from mu'anasa, uns, which refers to almost
kind of a sentimentality that the human being
has.
That the human being is a very sentimental
creature.
And a part of that sentimentality, there's good
parts of it.
The relationships that we have, a lot of
them are nourished by that kind of sentimentality
that we have.
But the downside of that sentimentality is that
we are also very prone to becoming extremely
comfortable.
Becoming very comfortable, and then being very reluctant
to let go of that which we are
extremely familiar with.
And so while they are saying, no, no,
no, we follow our ways, our traditions, somebody
can say that, you know, at some level,
at least they do follow some kind of
a tradition.
But Allah is actually exposing their lie.
Allah is saying, no, no, no, there's no
tradition that they're actually following, that they're really
committed to, an ideal that they've thought through.
There is no thought process here.
They're basically just saying, I want to keep
the status quo.
I am extremely comfortable in the way I
operate.
I do what I want.
I go where I want.
When I want, how I want, where I
want.
Think about the last couple of sessions that
we've talked about.
I eat what I want.
I drink what I want.
I party how I want.
I do whatever I want.
I keep the company that I want.
Think about the previous session that we talked
about.
I engage with whoever I choose to, however
I want to, and I don't want anybody,
not even God, telling me that I can't.
And that's that kind of, it's even beyond
the idea of comfort.
Comfort's even giving it too much credit.
It's the best word for it, it's spoiled.
Think about somebody who's become spoiled with something,
and now you're telling them that this is
bad.
They don't want to hear that.
They're spoiled.
Right?
And that's what it's describing, ما الفينا عليه
آباءنا.
They're actually just spoiled, spoiled rotten, and they
don't want to hear it at all.
Now, in this particular verse, there's a very
powerful idea and discussion and contrast and comparison
that is actually embedded here within this verse.
It's referred to, it's talked about in the
books of Tafsir, in the books of Usul,
right?
It's referred to as مسألة التقليد والاتباع.
مسألة التقليد والاتباع, right?
The issue of following, the issue of following
someone or something.
And this is a very foundational issue, right?
Because on one side, they're being criticized for
following what people older that came before them,
that are more experienced than them, what those
people did and said, they're just following that.
They're following somebody else's lead, and they're being
criticized for that.
Wait a second.
I thought that we are supposed to follow
someone's lead, right?
Even the Qur'an says, فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ
إِن كُنْتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ That go and ask
the people who know when you do not
know.
When you don't know something, you should go
and ask the people who do know.
So over there, it seems to be that
the Qur'an is presenting an imperative.
It's saying, follow those who know more than
you.
Okay, we obviously know that we're constantly, repeatedly
commanded to follow the Prophet ﷺ.
So to understand this particular issue of, you
know, do we follow?
Are we supposed to follow?
We're not supposed to follow?
Who do we follow?
How do we follow?
When do we follow, right?
It's a very kind of valid question.
So once again, the vocabulary of the verse
really unlocks a lot of this.
Because Allah says to them, وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ
What is being said to them, Allah is
saying to them, the Prophet ﷺ is saying
to them, اتَّبِعُوا اتَّبِعُوا And what's interesting is
that the word تقليد قَلَّدَ يُقَلِّدُ is also
used to describe putting like a rope around
the neck of the animal.
Okay, the animal doesn't have any understanding.
Like you don't tell the animal, you know,
where you're going, why you're going there, how
you're planning to go there, what your thought
process is.
No, you just lead the animal.
Right, we oftentimes in our language, in our
culture, it's a dumb animal.
It doesn't know anything.
You just lead the animal.
The animal just follows.
And if it stops following, you yank the
rope a little and it keeps on following.
Right?
So that's the word تقليد.
That's where it comes from.
It means to follow without any knowledge, understanding,
evidence, anything.
Okay?
اتِّبَعَ However, the word اتِّبَعَ in the Arabic
language, it actually means that when you follow
someone or something, فَهُوَ الْأَخْذُ بِقَوْلِ الْغَيْرِ بَعْدَ
مَعْرِفَةِ دَلِيلِهِ It is when you are willing
to now trust someone and follow in their
footsteps after understanding who they are, what they're
doing, and why they're doing what they're doing.
Like you have a level of understanding and
insight and therefore you have confidence.
Whereas تقليد is قَبُولُ قَوْلٍ بِلَا حُجَّةٍ You're
just doing whatever you're told and you have
no knowledge or understanding about this, but you're
just going with the flow.
And that issue is here.
So when do we do which one?
So first and foremost, the scholars have generally
stated that when it comes to our faith,
when it comes to what we believe in,
we do not just blindly follow that blind
following, that term blind following.
We do not blindly follow anyone.
But we must understand what we believe in
and why we believe what we believe.
That doesn't mean that we'll be able to
like in detail explain everything.
I don't want to kind of throw everyone
for a loop here, but for example, when
we talk about the issue of قَدْر, predestination,
the knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
Allah knowing everything.
That's something that we can't fully comprehend with
our brains, with our minds.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being unlimited and
infinite.
That's something we can't grasp.
That's not the idea here.
But the idea is when we believe in
the oneness of Allah, we talked about in
the verse, Allah was saying look at the
universe, look at the world around you, look
how miraculous the creation of Allah is, and
then recognize the fact that there is a
creator that is above and beyond everything.
See that right there, even that much process,
that's a level of understanding.
Then you put your faith in that.
The Prophet ﷺ, him bringing the Qur'an,
the revelation, bringing his teachings, the miracles of
the Prophet ﷺ, the miraculousness, the inimitability of
the Qur'an.
إِعْجَازُ الْقُرْآنِ That convinces us.
And then you say, you know what?
آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلُّ مِّنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّنَا I believe
in this, this is from Allah.
But that's based on something.
And so the idea of taqlid, which is
just you just completely are just following without
any idea that has no value, no significance,
and that's what they were doing.
What we've been commanded to do is follow
the Qur'an, follow the Prophet ﷺ.
And following is, there's not a rope around
my neck that is yanking me.
Right?
And I have my eyes closed and you
know, covers over my ears.
And now I'm just being yanked in different
directions and stumbling around in the dark.
That's not faith.
That's not iman.
That's why the analogy, the parable that Allah
gives for belief and faith and iman in
the Qur'an is light.
Allah constantly describes the believers as people who
see, who hear, who understand.
And He actually describes the disbelievers as people,
لَهُمْ أَعْيُنُوا لَا يُبْصِلُوا النَّبِيَةِ They're not looking.
وَلَهُمْ أَعْذَانُوا لَا يَسْمَعُوا النَّبِيَةِ They're not listening.
وَلَهُمْ قُلُوبُوا لَا يَفْقَوهُ النَّبِيَةِ They're not understanding.
And this is really fascinating, that this is
what the Qur'an says.
I've been quoting verse after verse after verse.
You can survey the Qur'an.
This is constantly being said throughout the Qur
'an.
And this is so fascinating because the rhetoric
that is used to justify a hedonistic, blind,
animal-like existence, where you're being yanked around
to just do what you want to do,
follow your desires, that spoiled kind of way
of living life, the way that people like
that justify it is by referring to people
who follow the Deen, people who believe in
Allah, people who follow the Prophets, people who
follow the Qur'an, they describe them as
being sheep.
That's the rhetoric, right?
In popular society, that's the rhetoric.
Oh, these people that follow religion, religion is
for dumb people.
Religion is for the simpletons.
Religious people are like sheep.
That's the rhetoric that's used.
And the truth, the fact that the matter
is, could not be further from the truth.
That in actuality, our belief, our iman, and
maybe for some of the other false religions
that people commit to, that could be the
case.
But for us, with the Qur'an, it's
the complete opposite.
The Qur'an keeps challenging.
Look, listen, think, read, question, engage.
And that's living in the light.
But closing yourself off from that, Allah describes
it as being buried under layers upon layers
upon layers of darkness.
And so, when we talk about this issue
of taqlid, when is it bad?
It's bad when you don't even know what
you believe.
Why you believe what you believe?
What are you committed to and why are
you committed to it?
And even the idea, in the realm of
fiqh, in the realm of the deeper tafsir
of the Qur'an, obviously you're sitting here
and I'm talking.
Even though this is not a good example
because I don't know much of what I'm
talking about.
But the idea is, if you're sitting and
listening to the meaning of the Qur'an,
you're sitting and listening to a lesson of
hadith and the scholar is narrating hadith and
explaining the hadith.
You have questions about the technicalities.
How do you fast?
How do you give your zakat?
And you don't have all those details that
requires years and years and years of study.
So then you go to somebody who does
know and you ask them.
But you know what though?
That's still not blind following.
Because do you just walk up to anybody
randomly on the street?
Right?
When you're leaving here tonight.
And then you are about to turn right
and you see somebody walking along the road
and then you pull over and you say
you roll your window down.
You're like, wait, wait, wait.
Can I ask you real quick?
Do I pay zakat on my 401k?
Is that what you're going to do?
Obviously not.
That'd be blind following.
Who do you go and ask the question
to?
You go and ask the question to somebody
who is knowledgeable.
And you know their credentials.
You find out, okay, who is this person?
Where are they from?
Where did they study?
Who did they study with?
What are their qualifications?
And then you now trust the word and
then you ask them the question, right?
That, oh, if I'm traveling, is it okay
if I don't fast?
Right?
Or I have this investment account, do I
have to pay zakat on it?
Then you ask that question.
But you understand how you actually did some
looking, digging, thinking, researching, investigating, right?
Even if it was very quick, right?
Even if you relied on somebody else being
like, hey, who do you ask about this
stuff?
I ask so and so.
Oh, he knows what he's talking about?
Yeah, he's a scholar, he's qualified.
Okay, khalas.
But you see what happened there?
There's something that that's predicated on.
You didn't ask a complete stranger.
You didn't ask somebody that you had no
idea whether they know what they're talking about
or not.
So even there, there's not blind following, right?
So even when people will bring up the
topic of, well, don't we engage in some
of that as well?
No.
Or if we do, we're wrong.
If we do, we're wrong, right?
Which is why a lot of times you'll
hear scholars and qualified people, what will they
say?
Don't just randomly Google your questions.
That's exactly why they're saying that.
Because you don't know who's answering the question
on the other side.
That's blind following.
Google AI is answering your question.
That's insane.
Or you Google it and you just end
up on some random blog, some random website.
I don't know who made that website.
I don't know what their qualifications are.
Anybody can make a website.
And so that's why we have that emphasis
on going to people of knowledge properly and
getting the answers to your questions from knowledgeable,
qualified people, properly.
And finally, to conclude on this particular topic,
it's talking about even faith and belief, like
what you believe in, something as essential as
what we believe.
Somebody in this conversation might have felt at
a particular point that I actually don't know
if I could even in just a sentence
or two substantiate why I believe in the
Prophet ﷺ.
And if that's a realization that you had,
number one, hold your breath when I say
this.
Let me finish.
Don't freak out.
Number one, that is a problem.
But there's a very simple, easy solution to
that problem.
And the simple, easy solution to that problem
is what the Prophet ﷺ said in the
sermon of his farewell pilgrimage, Khutbatul Hajjatul Wida.
This was his bequest, right, to the ummah,
to his followers.
He said, تَرَكْتُ فِيكُمْ أَمْرَيْنَ I leave you
with two resources.
لَمْ تَضِلُّوا مَا تَمَسَّكْتُمْ بِهِمَا You will not
go astray.
You shall not lose your way.
So long as you hold on to these
two things.
كِتَابُ اللَّهِ وَسُنَّةُ نَبِيِّهِ The Qur'an and
the life, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad
ﷺ.
And it's available.
It's accessible.
It's been preserved miraculously by Allah.
And it's open to us.
And that's why the Prophet ﷺ said, طَلِبُ
الْعِلْمِ فَرِيضًا Seeking knowledge is a mandate.
It's mandatory.
Right?
And we talked about this before as well,
that if you look at how gifted, how
talented, how knowledgeable, how intellectually gifted everybody is.
And you can take a quick survey of
that based off of your intelligence, your capacity,
your qualifications, what you've achieved in so many
different areas of life, how much information you're
able to keep in your head at all
times.
We have the capacity to learn.
But a lot of times what happens is
we look at the end result and it
intimidates us.
Right?
We look at the whole Qur'an, the
entirety of the Qur'an and the meaning
of all of this, and that's intimidating.
But that's exactly why in the narration it
said, إِنَّ مَا لَعِلْمُ بِالتَّعَلُّمِ Knowledge is acquired
by learning.
There's an actual system here.
You just have to start learning.
And that's what y'all are doing here.
So I understand I'm preaching to the choir,
but it's just an affirmation.
It's to reaffirm that commitment.
That if I feel like I don't know
if I would be able to substantiate why
I believe what I believe, it's just a
matter of learning.
It's a matter of inquiry.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it
very, very easy.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala facilitates it.
And it takes a commitment on our part,
making an intention, نِيَةُ الْمُؤْمِنَ خَيْرٌ مِنْ عَمْلِهِ
Right?
The intention of the believer is better than
even the action of the believer.
Right?
And furthermore, the Prophet ﷺ said, يُبْعَثُونَ عَلَى
نِيَاتِهِمْ Allah will resurrect people upon the intentions
that they had.
And then number two, it requires a genuine
effort.
Whatever somebody's capable of.
If what somebody's capable of is 30 minutes
a week, then put in the 30 minutes
a week consistently.
And show Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
you're sincere.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give
you the ability to do more.
وَيَزِيدُ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ اَحْتَدَوْهُ دَعْمٌ That those who
do what God gave them the capability to
do, God gives them the ability to do
more.
But if we stay stuck on, well, I
should do more, I should do more, and
I want to do more, and I want
to do more, but I don't do what's
in front of me right now, what I
have the ability to do right now, then
I will remain stuck there.
Forever.
But it's in our capacity to make that
change.
And so, the big takeaway here is that
we need to, number one, educate ourselves.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talked about this
also in another place in the Qur'an,
in Surah number 43, in Ayah number 23,
وَكَذَٰلِكَ مَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ قَبْلِكَ فِي قَرْيَةٍ مِّنْ
نَذِيرٍ Every single messenger and prophet, warner that
we sent to every single town, village, group
of people, they said when they went to
them, and they gave them the message of
Allah, إِلَّا قَالَ مُتْرَفُوهَا Again, that's another very
interesting word, ترف ترف also means like luxury,
comfort, spoiled, rotten.
The people that were spoiled, rotten amongst those
people, just doing what they want to do,
like we talked about previously, they would respond
by saying, إِنَّا وَجَدَنَا أَبَاءَنَا عَلَىٰ أُمَّةٍ We
found our forefathers living life a certain way,
doing things a certain way, this is our
philosophy in life, وَإِنَّا عَلَىٰ أَثَارِهِمْ مُقْتَدُونَ and
we're just going to keep on keeping on.
We're going to do what we found them
doing.
And we're not interested in what you're offering.
And so we have to break that cycle
by recognizing and realizing that we have to
educate ourselves.
Learn the book of Allah, learn the life
of the Prophet ﷺ, one step at a
time.
Don't overwhelm yourself, don't intimidate yourself, one step
at a time.
Number two, be consistent, be steadfast.
Number three, once you start to learn and
realize things that are maybe outside of, that
are contrary to the way we're living right
now, and it's going to be uncomfortable, it's
going to be discomforting, it's going to be
challenging, be willing to make that change.
And that change doesn't happen overnight.
It never has, never will.
But at least be willing to challenge yourself
and change yourself.
And if we keep doing that, then that
is where Allah ﷻ promises salvation.
May Allah ﷻ give us the ability to
practice everything we've said and heard.
سبحان الله و بحمده سبحانك اللهم و بحمدك