Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Qur’anic Reflections 3 Pillars For a Healthy Community
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Salam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Welcome to the Ramadan
reflections that we'll start with our verse for today are all
there'll be la humanists shaytani R rajim Bismillah Al Rahman Al
Rahim, La Jolla Vika theory mein Najwa, whom Allah and Arabi sada
cotton Oh ma roof in O s la him been in.
So that is a part of verse 114 of Surah Nisa, verse 114 of certain
Nisa, Allah subhanho wa Taala says that there is no good in most of
their secret talks, most of their private meetings, most of their
whisperings and intimate discourses with one another,
except in Him who commands charity.
So
whatever you do, whatever you think is good, there's nothing
good in that, except that you're commanding in charity.
amount to be sadaqa you're commanding somebody to do a
charity, okay? You're either doing charity yourself, or you come up
with somebody else to do charity enjoins good. Oh, my roof, you do
that which is decent. And that which is good that most people in
the world most decent people in the world would consider to be
decent and upright, a matter of common decency and chivalry. And
of course, everything that is considered to be that is also
considered to be decent in Islam generally, right? So my roof that
which can be recognized as a good, so ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada says,
except the one who commands to those good things. And then number
three is and who brings about reconciliation among mankind is
law, him being a nurse who reforms, the matters, and the
affairs of the people who goes and helps to sort things out who goes
and tries to reconcile the issues between people you can is only
worth us, going and reforming the matters between other people if
you've reformed the matters between yourself and others. So
that would be definitely included. So that is verse 114, of certain
Nyssa. So let us do this. There are basically three pillars that
are being mentioned here for a healthy social life. So I would
say that this particular verse is to do with our social life, and
how a good society is born, how a good society is nurtured and how a
good society endures, which is through these three properties
through these three pillars, charity, goodness, in general, and
reconciliation and peace. SubhanAllah. Right. Can you just
imagine aren't our biggest issues today? Because there's no charity,
there's poverty going on. And there's no goodness to this evil,
and there is no piece. So that's why there's conflicts. Can you see
how comprehensive this is in terms of its principles. So unless
people demonstrate sympathy for others in the form of giving
charity, I mean, at the end of the day, giving charity is sympathy,
right? There is a sympathy aspect to it, where you think about
somebody else. And what you do in charity is that you're sacrificing
self interests. Because charity is where,
where you're giving something and you don't necessarily expect
anything in return from your fellow human being, you may expect
return from Allah subhanaw taala, which is sadaqa, that's fine.
Even if it's zakat, even as an obligation that you have to take
out 2.5% of your wealth. At the end of the day, you're giving it
for the sake of Allah, you're decreasing your wealth from a
scientific perspective, that just seems like hey, I'm giving money
for nothing. Right? That's against the concept of investment in a
worldly investment, capitalism, right, that goes against all of
those things. However, we believe in this for the sake of Allah,
that Allah will give us back, it's an obligation for us. And we do
this so that we can help others. Right. That's the purpose of it.
That's what you called charity. And without that, if humans did
not do that, you could not have good relationships, you could not
have a balanced human society.
The second one is that is an equally significant Quranic
concept is that of enjoying good, you know, to do any good in the
world to assist others in doing good to correct people and help
them assist them in doing good promoting something which is in
instinctively acceptable for all decent human beings. So it goes
much beyond just telling somebody to pray, Salat, and do
obligations. It's about all good things in the world, encouraging
people to pick up litter, even though that's an Islamic concept
as well, but every good thing is an Islamic concept.
So for example,
you see, generally burglaries and robbers in different areas. You
know what the police will tell you that they watch your house first.
They kind of have an understanding that you might have something
there a certain profile that they look for. They
not going to go into a home where they don't expect to get in is not
worth their time. Likewise, shaytaan is always after the pious
and the noble people, because there's something that he wants
them from them. They see they're practicing. So he wants them to
stop practicing, he wants them to do wrong, those people who are
already doing wrong, then there's not much that he has to worry
about with them. So that's why this is a really interesting
point, there was a chef Ilyas, who mentioned this right, that you
generally see that the pious and noble people, right, who have
righteousness and a good standing of the community, you will see
that there's quite a common sight sometimes even people from there
that they have a lot of hostility.
Right. And one of the reasons that noble people have a lot of
hypersensitivity about their honor and prestige. That's why they,
they feel very vulnerable to any small lapses, any small issues
that may come up, that's why they get offended very quickly or
insulted very quickly. Right. And then they will nurse a grudge for
No, you know, for, for on small, small issues for trivial reasons.
And it just creates a big issue. People who are sensitive, need to
be very careful about this, right need to be very cautious about
this. So this verse is saying that charity, goodness, and good
relationships are needed by everybody at all the time, you
know, for this world to be prosperous. Without charity,
mutual love is all going to be dried up if you got no love for
others. That's why you weren't given charity. Now remember,
though, that charity is not just about giving money. That's not
what Allah subhanaw taala says sadaqa is not just about giving
money, that's a big aspect of it. That's why most people think
sadaqa is just giving money. But no, there are numerous Hadith to
explain that for us, is verses in the Quran that explain it's not
about that talking gently to somebody. Right is a charity,
sharing their joy and sorrows.
You know, being with them. And so like, you've got a neighbor,
you've got a friend, you've got somebody, anybody in the
community.
And you know that somebody of theirs has died, or they've had
some kind of shortcoming than going there and just basically
holding their hand, you know, giving them a an embrace, embrace,
giving them good words, that is a charity as well. And I think we
need to do this more generally, what we've seen in you know,
because I've just recently moved to another community, and you
know, when you've lived in your own community, you don't
understand this, because it's just normal for you, you go to a new
community.
And mashallah, what I recognize is that the new community, one of the
several messages around me, one of the messages Subhanallah, you
know, they, the people kind of really try to welcome you. And I
think people need to do this in different communities. If you're,
if you're in a community where you've got many relatives living
around you, and many friends, because you know, you've been
there forever. So generally, when you come out the masjid, for
example, you're going to meet those people that, you know, you
will generally ignore people you don't know, because you've got so
many people that you do know that you don't have time for people you
don't know, literally. And this is something that's just occurred to
me that we need to actually make an effort, the men every Friday,
and the women, you know, whenever they have gatherings that try to
meet at least one person a week, right that you don't know, just
introduce yourself, just ask who they are, just see if they, you
know, if they need anything, or whatever the case, just building
that kind of relationship. And I'm not saying you need to get really,
really involved, because you know, you have to be careful about
getting really involved with everybody, because that gets
complicated. Now, not you know, you can avoid that. But you can
still, at least, you know, help to foster a more friendly a community
and not just be talking to those people and making salam to those
people and saying how you are, how they are to people who you just
know, right? That's the sign of the day of judgment that you don't
make salaam to people that you know, that you do know and you
don't know, you, those who don't know, you won't mix it up to them.
So make this an effort to try to say salam say hi to somebody else,
right?
And inshallah that will really, really help. Because that's our
human community that we need to be with. So that's why charity
doesn't always have to be you know, it's a sharing somebody's
sorrow as well. giving a helping hand to somebody, right? Even
helping them you know, do whatever it is, you know, pick up the
shopping, right? Your neighbor, pick up their shopping, bring
something in, you know, moving something that's heavy from from
the roadside, clearing road obstacles, all is part of the
spirit of charity. Right? The Quran implies the this very
comprehensive term here sadaqa. Right, which comes from the
concept of sidc and truthfulness. So anybody who's truthful to Allah
subhanho wa Taala anybody who's got sincerity towards Allah
subhanaw taala
He's going to be a lot more compassionate in that regard. Some
people by nature, they're more compassionate. Some people by
nature, they're much more giving. They find this more easily, to do
this much more easily. Whereas people who are more self centered
they find this more difficult to do. They have to learn to do it,
but we're doing it not because it's somebody's nature, I they can
be praised for that. But we need to do it because it's Allah's
command. And that's, it fosters a good human society, good human
community, and good relationship. And that's very good for us.
So what is really important here, right through these verses, we
understand is a feeling of the important aspect here is that it's
not just a physical giving, that is then followed up by harm which
Allah subhanaw taala actually condemns.
Where Allah subhanaw taala will, those who follow the sadaqa up
with men while other regular the UniFi Kumada Huria. Nurse, that's
wrong. What really is required when you give something to
somebody is the feeling of sympathy of goodwill, sincerity.
helpfulness is a genuine focus on helping somebody, right? Without
such noble feelings, no healthy social life is going to be
possible. It won't be a healthy social life, people will be just,
you know, doing their own things. The second point here is about
bringing about reconciliation. You know, the other point mentioned
here is about reconciliation among people, right? cordial
relationships are the keys to happiness, right. And today, both
of these values, charity Hamdulillah, people still do
charity, but peace and reconciliation, harmony and
friendliness that has been neglected and neglected in a major
way you've got, you know, both a Muslim country levels, non Muslim
country levels among individuals, families, internal families, you
know, between nuclear families and so on. divisive forces are just
basically dominant everywhere. And this is sad, I hate to paint a bad
picture but it's just, it's just too much. You know, husband wives,
you know, spouses.
But equally important in this is sincere intention.
Anybody who seeks Allah's pleasure in any of this, they're going to
be rewarded, a good deed can be performed. Remember, when it says
my roof, a good deed can be performed for purely selfish or
political motives, some ulterior motive, it could be what they call
like a bribe or something. And
one may have a material interest in doing something good.
But what Allah subhanaw taala is saying is that he declares that he
will reward lavishly, only those who intend to win his pleasure.
Right? So seeking Allah's pleasure and sincerity, we need to develop
that in our heart, slowly, slowly, if we don't feel that we need to
develop that in our heart, slowly, slowly, which may, and the way to
do that is to think of these verses, and then let them drive us
to do something. Right, let them drive us to do something. And then
what you will see eventually is that every time you do that thing,
you will remember Allah subhanaw taala, that you're doing this for
the sake of Allah, then after that, you're focused on the other
person of that, oh, he is going to say thanks to me, he is going to
give me something he is going to help me out, he's going to that
will inshallah start to diminishing, if that's a big
mountain in front of that, that's all we think about all the time.
Then slowly, slowly, we need to think of these verses that it's
Allah's pleasure that I want Allah subhanaw taala is greater than
anything else. And that's why it's better that we do it for him, for
Allah subhanho wa taala, then, of course, it's a double benefit,
because then you get reward from Allah. And we're still helping
somebody at the end of the day. So whatever comes from that, whatever
we earn from that we're going to get from that person anyway. It
makes no difference. Actually, it doesn't diminish in any way, when
you do something for Allah rather than from for another perspective,
because the act is the same, the physical activity that you're
going to do, of maybe assisting somebody saying a good word to
somebody,
helping them out, moving something from them, running an errand from
them, that work is gonna stay the same, that doesn't change at all.
But now we're just doing it for Allah subhanaw taala. So we're
getting huge benefits for what we're doing this for the reason
for which we're doing and then the person is going to be happy with
us as well, but we're not focusing on that. And in that case, the
benefit is is that sometimes if things go wrong, and they don't
appreciate it, right, because some people are ungrateful, you will do
something for them and they won't appreciate it. They won't even
acknowledge
manage it, that's fine. I've done it for Allah and I've got it.
May Allah subhanaw taala make that easy for us. May Allah make that
easy for us so that we can become more selfless beings, right more
selfless beings with sincerity for the sake of Allah subhanho wa
taala.
So again, the verse is talking about the pillars, the three
pillars of a very healthy social life, be it Muslim or non Muslim,
which is that you command for charity, enjoying good, and bring
about reconciliation about mankind you can see how much of a
how much of a focus there is on the other in this case, Jazak
Allahu Allah may Allah subhanaw taala bless us all during this
month, especially and after this month as well. And that was to
help prosper in terms of our societies help our societies
prosper in terms of all of these things, and allow us to resolve
any conflicts that we may have allow us to enjoin the good and
also allow us to be charitable in the broader sense of it in an
absolute sense of it. Please make a dua for us Allah subhanaw taala
bless you all, and inshallah we will see you again. I just want to
mention at the end here, that mashallah we do these Ramadan
reflections, don't leave your studies and you're listening to
good things just purely for the month of Ramadan and move beyond
just lectures to some serious learning, right to learn your
basic FIQ and Hadith and Tafseer and Sierra and Akita and so on.
That's why we have Rayyan institute.com Please go there and
sign up for the many courses down there at your own at your own pace
in sha Allah may Allah subhana wa Tada except the sinuata econ
warahmatullahi overcut Jazak Allah here for listening May Allah
subhanho wa Taala bless you. And if you're finding this useful, you
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Wabarakatuh