Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Sri Lanka Tour 2015 Ability vs. Acceptance
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My dear respected friends, Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi
wa barakat.
The hardest job is for the imam
on a Friday prayer
to stand here and to say something that
is relevant to the people,
to not put you to sleep.
That is one of the most difficult things
to do for the imam.
To be able to speak so that the
young people insha'Allah can understand, the elders can
understand,
and the middle age who are young can
understand as well, insha'Allah.
Sometimes
I've spoken, tried to be very comprehensive.
1 convert brother came to me and he
said, I did not feel included.
SubhanAllah.
So the imams job is very difficult.
I pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
Allah give me the truth to speak about
something that's relevant inshallah.
Allah
has given
every single individual
an ability,
a potential to do something with.
Most people, majority of people recognize that ability,
that potential
and
by this ability,
by this
they earn their living.
They make their money,
they fulfill the dreams of their life,
and they make their world
prosperous.
Some people unfortunately, they don't discover their potential.
They have a potential,
but they don't discover. They go from one
place to the next, one place to the
next. They feel they are a failure
but they don't sit down and ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, O Allah, give me
my calling.
Give me my ability. What is my ability?
Guide me to the right thing.
So
every single one of us has an
ability. Some of you may be
good businessmen.
Some of you may be good lawyers.
Some of you may be a good accountant.
Some
people may just be good at speaking
and some people
may be good
at giving power to others.
Some people may be good at 1 or
2 things.
Every single one of us has an ability
and we have to thank Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala for that ability.
Some people
they can make money like my father says
about
1 individual we know.
He's not very intelligent
but my father says that
if he rolls the dice, he always gets
a 6,
not literally,
but Mashallah, Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala gives him money.
He makes money wherever, he has ability.
Now the question for all of us,
myself, everybody included,
is that what are we going to do
with this ability? This ability,
we generally use for this dunya
for the next 20, 50, 70 years, however
long our life is.
What happens after that?
Where will this ability take us?
Are we planning something for our hereafter with
disability?
I'll give you an example.
Several years ago, I went to Egypt.
I went to the pharaonic museum,
which is in Cairo.
This big structure,
several made by the British about a 100
years
ago. I'm sure you can relate to the
British building things in Sri Lanka as well.
So
all of
you'd be amazed that the things that are
included
and that are on display in this museum.
It's totally amazing.
I had to pay £40
Egyptian to get entry into the museum
at that time. This was in the
era.
Not literally
but the era
of the king,
the the the ruler, the prime minister, whatever,
the president, whatever he was.
On the 2nd floor or the 3rd floor,
I can't remember, there's
a special place where you have to buy
another ticket if you wanna go inside that
chamber.
Who's been to the museum in Egypt?
Does anybody mean?
Here, instead of 40, I had to pay
additionally 90 at the time, £90
Egyptian to get access to this room.
What was in this room? 9 mumis, human
remains,
ajeeb, a main thing.
Before you say, is it halal to look
at mommies or not?
I'm not here to give fat words. This
is all about Abraham.
Ramses the second is there and also Meremptah.
These
are the pharaohs of the time.
There's 9 Mameez there. Ramesses the second or
Merintha,
one of the 2 was the pharaoh of
Musa 'alaihi wa sallam.
I will send you your ticket money. You
can look at this online. You don't have
to go there.
If you Google Ramesses the second, you should
be able to see him.
The reason I went in there because Allah
Allah said something in the Quran.
Pharaoh,
whoever, whichever was it was, was a man
of amazing ability.
The way he was able to control a
whole tribe of people, the Bani Israel
to make the pyramids,
to do everything and in that museum
in that museum you've got everything. Are you
Egyptian, brother? Okay.
You've got everything
from the chariot,
the Bentley,
the Rolls Royce of the pharaoh to his
needle. I am not joking. You've got everything
in there.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Quran,
About pharaoh, you must have read the story.
Allah says to pharaoh when he was about
to drown,
Today, I'm going to give you respite with
your body. I'm gonna give you your body
will not be harmed
so that you can be a lesson
for the people that will come after you.
When Allah
made him a lesson, he did not only
have his body protected, but he has everything
with him protected as well. Now, you know
how long ago pharaoh lived? Just to give
you an idea of how long ago we're
speaking about. Who knows how long ago pharaoh
lived?
Any ideas?
Mashallah, the Egyptians are making lots of money
through the tourism from pharaoh. Pharaoh left them
a legacy.
The Egyptians will make money with this, inshallah.
4000 years ago, 2000 years before
everything is preserved. Amazing. Totally amazing.
My point of going in there was for
the Ibrahim to see the Quran first
come true.
Can you imagine before a 150 years approximately,
before the mummies were discovered in Egypt,
How the Muslims used to look at this
verse and their iman in the verse?
The verse said, Today I give you protection
of your body. Where was the body?
Nobody knew at the time.
The iman on the day was amazing.
Is our iman weaker? That's why the pharaoh
has to be now displaced.
Allah knows
best. The main point here that I wanna
mention is that pharaoh has
He has ability.
That's why he was able to do what
he did.
Question is,
the word
in Arabic
comes from the root letters of
There's another word in Arabic which also comes
from
which
is
and pharaoh had all the
in the world
to make his world prosperous,
but he did not have
So he becomes notorious
for who he was.
Allah makes him a lesson for the people
after. He did not have
he was not
We have this idea of
The question we need to ask to our
service,
we have lots of
do we have
Give you another example,
1400 years ago, it's the beginning of the
Prophet
He makes the dua to Allah
in Maktamu Kar Rama.
O Allah,
strengthen this faith with 1 of the 2
Amr ibn Hisham,
Omar ibn Khattar.
These were both non Muslim leaders, both known
for their boldness,
get up and go attitude, Umar
ibn
Khattab. He got up with his sword that
morning to go and kill the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
He
of Umar ibn Khattab. He got up with
his sword that morning to go and kill
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Prophet sallahu
alaihi wa sallam's dua had been made
for one of these 2, Amr
ibn Bisham. Do you know who he is?
He was called at that time Abu Hakam,
the father of judicial understanding,
intelligent individual.
Unfortunately, today nobody knows him by that name.
Even the orientalist in the universities when they
discuss
Amal El Nusiam, they call him Abu Jahl.
He goes down in history as Abu Jahal,
the father of ignorance.
From such a great title to the father
of ignorance.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala given both of them
both of them ability, but only one was
given
and that was
That's what you call
The that Allah has given every single one
of us has to become
and it's not difficult.
We have to ask Allah for it. We
have to have it in our minds.
It is something in the heart
that has to be there to say that.
What better investments
than for us today
to take the name
of great scholars of the past, great individuals
of the past and say,
May Allah have mercy on him. What bigger
investment is there than that? For us to
be remembered, for them to be remembered.
For us to remember these individuals.
Several years ago, when I was imam in
the US, in America,
in Santa Barbara, it's hot there. Not as
hot as this, but it's hot there.
I would go into a local
store, a local shop.
Our masjid covered 40
miles of the coast.
100 people used to come to Jumor.
So I knew everybody.
A 100 people is easy to keep tabs
on people to know your congregation.
I knew when somebody was missing and I
knew if somebody was new.
I went into the local shop that I
would shop in and
this brother came.
Assalamu alaikum, how are you? Assalamu alaikum brother,
how are you?
I don't know this brother.
Clearly he was here, he doesn't come for
the salah.
I did not say to a brother, where
are you in the Masjid? Why don't I
see you in the Masjid? The first time
you meet somebody, you say to them, where
are you? Why don't you come to the
Masjid? They won't come back again. They won't
meet you again.
Our youth sometimes they get a bit lost.
They stay away from the Masjid for a
while. When they come back, everybody jumps on
them. Where have you been? Now you've come
back. Now you've understood. Don't ever say that.
Let the Masjid be a private place for
people to be with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Let's not if they come back, Alhamdulillah, I'll
make du'a
So I kept meeting him. I never saw
him in the Masjid. I never saw him
in the Masjid. But every time I would
go to the store, sometimes I would meet
him and he would meet me.
One day,
one day I came, I did my Jumuah,
I did the Funtah,
I did Jumuah, I came outside.
Now outside
today or any day, if somebody is there
giving out bottles of cool water,
I came out that day and somebody is
offering everybody water.
Said, What happened?
It wasn't a tradition to do this.
Who do I see? I see the same
brother, Ahmed.
He's a Turkish brother, same brother.
He comes for the first time for Jumuah
and he has taken 2 crests of, bottled
water, taken them home,
chilled them, cooled them and He brought them
and He was lovingly handing them out.
One is that you tell me to make
dua for you, I tell you to make
dua for me and you say, oh Allah
bless him and give him Barakat.
When is that dua? The other dua is
nobody says anything and the dua comes from
the house.
Cool water is such a name of Allah.
You're gonna give dua to the person. May
Allah bless this man. I am giving him
dua in Sri Lanka.
He doesn't even know that
But that amal of his may have been
so accepted.
Small amal, small amal, small word. But his
must be so accepted that I am being
forced to make to offer him today. Insha'Allah,
you are saying Ameen.
You know, this is the kind of thing.
You know, the worst part of this was
I thought to myself,
I am the imam.
I am telling people about
I'm
telling people about feeding people. I'm telling about,
you know, concern for people but he gets
this idea, a simple idea and I didn't
get this idea. The other wealthy people will
did not get the idea.
I said to brother Ahmed, I went to
mister brother, you're here.
He said yes. Now
I am working at a petrol station as
well. I'm doing 2 jobs.
In the daytime, I work at the petrol
station. My partner who works with me is
a Muslim as well. We have
decided, SubhanAllah. We have decided that 1 week
he will go for Jumuah, 1 week I
will go for Jumuah.
Now he should play Jumar every week, but
you can see where his journey is coming
from. May Allah give you great
little I show him much more often.
But the thoughts in the mind,
the thoughts in the mind.
There was another individual,
a young man of 21.
He would be there for every salah. We
used to 5, 7 people for salah. Everybody
was working.
Right? This was not a big town at
all. Small town, beach town.
5, 7 people to salah. But this young
man, 21 years old, was always salah. He
lived 10 miles from the masjid. Motorway, 15
minutes, he would be in the masjid. Sometimes
he would not be there. I didn't know
why. Sometimes he would not be there.
I didn't know why. Later I found out
the reason why he did not come for
some salah is because he had no petrol
money.
He will earn his living by looking after
children, babysitting
children.
Before Ramadan, like around this time, around this
time, the Masjid community gets together and decides
we need to buy this many boxes of
Tajjur and dates for Ramadan for Istar.
We were still deciding that we hadn't had
our meeting.
One day, I came into the masjid and
I see 3 boxes of California made jewelry
on the bridge.
Said, who brought these?
Somebody said, maybe it was brother Omar who
brought it. I think it was brother Omar.
When Omar came the next time, this young
man, 21. I said, Omar, did you bring
those things? He said, don't worry about it.
Don't worry. He didn't wanna tell me. I
said, Omar, did you benefit?
He says, look, I knew he broke. Now
I knew. I said, Omar, let me give
you the money.
He said, Sheikh,
don't steal this from
me. Don't steal this from me.
I'm feeling that I'm the imam. I'm waiting
for a committee meeting. How much should these
days cost? Maybe $40, $50.
You know, it's not much. He had in
his mind. He heard the Hadith that whoever
feeds the fasting person, he gets the reward
of the fast of that fasting person.
I said, Omer, you got your reward.
Let me give you your money. He said,
no.
He said, no.
Allah reward them. Allah reward them. These are
small acts that we do when you got
that desire in the heart
to do something.
This is what this whole talk is for.
I'm gonna finish in a few minutes. This
is what the talk today is about. What
are we gonna do for ourselves
ourselves with the ability that Allah has given
us? If you're a lawyer, do a few
cases a year for free. If you're a
painter, do a bit of painting for somebody
for free.
If you're a businessman,
help a few people here and there. Whatever
Allah has given us,
do something with it. If you don't know
what to do with it, if you don't
know how to be accepted by Allah, ask
Allah. Allah is willing to tell us. Allah
is willing to use us. There's a hadith
of Rasulullah
The prophet
said,
Anybody Allah intends
good with, He will use them for His
service.
He will enjoy them in His service. He
will make them do some khidnah of the
deen.
There's another version of that hadith. For those
who understand Arabic, they'll understand.
He said,
Anybody Allah intends good with
comes from honey.
That my
translation of it is, whoever Allah intends good
with, He will sweeten the deal for them.
What does that mean You Rasulullah? What do
you mean? The Prophet said, Allah will give
them
divine enablement
to do something before they die by which
their surrounding people will be happy with them,
that they will remember them fondly, nicely make
dua for them. This is what we want.
This is what we want. Enjoy the dunya
but insha'Allah enjoy the hereafter.
We're not telling ourselves to give up the
dunya. The dunya is here.
The dunya is fine as long as the
heart is connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
That's the question we need to ask ourselves.
How are we gonna be accepted before our
death?
And for Allah nothing is impossible. (QS.
3) Allah reminds us over and over again
that Allah has ability to do all things.
And if you think
that you're too old or you're too simple
or you're too far gone, believe me, you
are underestimating
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's kudr
Allah has the ability to change the worst
person to the greatest person,
to the laziest person, to the most vigorous
and active person.
Sit down. Do we have a few moments
with Allah?
The Hajj time, Isra time,
whatever
time. Just 5 minutes where you can just
ask Allah, talk to Him, O Allah, accept
me for the service of your deen. O
Allah accept me for the service of your
deen. And regardless of who you are, Allah
will accept you. Don't think
don't think that it's only
who will be accepted.
Don't think it's only
who will be accepted.
Have
more potential because they know more of the
deen and how to be. But the door
of
the door of friendship with Allah is open
to everybody.
And don't let anybody steal that from you.
It's yours. It's every single one of ours.
It's open.
We have to make the action. Nothing is
beyond Allah. Is it impossible for Allah to
make us those who make the Hajj every
day? Is it impossible for Allah to make
us
1 whose every dua is expensive? Is it
impossible
whether we're 50 or 70 years old that
Allah made us copies of the Quran? Is
that an impossibility?
Only in our minds
We can ask Allah
and we can get somewhere with it. May
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala give us all that
He can accept every single one of us,
the young and the old to do something
to be accepted for the service of His
deen so that insha Allah we can leave
a good memory behind and inshaAllah we can
reap the benefit to the gladness of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.