Abdurraheem Green – Prophet Ibrahim – Friend of Allah
AI: Summary ©
The importance of the life ofiteration in the early days of Islam is discussed, including the direct influence of the founder, the use of words like "has" and "has" to describe actions and emotions, the challenges of doubt and submission to Islam, and the importance of the dower ofiteration, the role of the prophets, and the importance of the dower ofiteration in bringing people to Islam. The responsibility of not being a scholar is emphasized, and the importance of understanding the people and context to avoid confusion. The speakers stress the importance of learning about Islam and finding the blessing of Islam, building a positive mindset, and being a full circle in life.AI: Transcript ©
Welcome to this live stream.
I'm delighted to be with sheikh Greene again
discussing a very interesting topic.
Sheikh Ibrahim alaihis salaam is someone that we
cannot separate from Duhija because of the sacrifice
because
of his life. But, also,
you know,
we know that in his life, he was
involved in dua when he was a young
boy.
He was involved in, say,
dua, which was more direct. And when he's
older, he's arguing with a king.
So his dua improved over time from a
strategic perspective, from a local
society to speaking to a king. But nonetheless,
it was still very direct.
And, Ibrahim alaihis salaam is seen as
a role model for
not just Muslims,
but for other faiths as well. So
how did he become the friend of Allah?
Let's let's begin off there.
I think just let me backtrack here for
one second. Right?
Because the thing the stages of the life
of Ibrahim,
yeah,
is the first stage is, like you said,
the stage of direct dua as a young
man. He's talking to his people. He's inviting
them to Islam
very clearly and with with a beautiful methodology.
He's talking to his people using very clear,
rational arguments that really, you know, no one
could really argue with.
And, you know, it's not that he's he's
using all all the tools of rhetoric,
all the arguments that he can muster,
whether they're emotional ones, whether they are rational
ones,
you know,
whether he's,
you know, using,
appealing to whatever he can to to for
his people to be guided, and, obviously, amongst
them is his father.
And, you know, with the we're you can
see the type of energy of the youth
in these
early,
these early
days of Ibrahim alaihis salaam.
And, obviously, you can also see
the result, the end of that. And then
as you said,
he's then he's traveling.
You know, he's going from place to place,
giving dua to kings and, you know, engaging
on, you could say, a higher level
and, arguably, not anymore really successfully,
in in the sense that,
we don't really see people accepting Islam. Lut,
of course, his cousin
has, accepted Islam, and he has given he's
also a prophet, and he's given the miss
the mission of
calling the people
calling his people to Islam.
But the final stage
is nation building.
Actually, that civilization
building because Ibrahim
ultimately is the,
the founder of not just 1,
but 2
civilizations.
The
the the civilization
based around B'nai Israel and,
the the Torah that was given to Musa
and also
the the the you could they call it
the Ishmael the Ishmaelite
the Ishmaelite
civilization,
about,
based around the Quran that was given to
the prophet
and that they all
connect to Ibrahim
So he's,
you know, in his later life,
he's laying down the basis
of great civilizations.
So this
he
Ibrahim is truly
an amazing
inspirational
figure,
And I think these 10 days,
are are are they are a time for
us to remember
this great prophet of Allah.
And not just to remember, but to take
inspiration, Subur. It's all about
being inspired, being motivated,
and and and, also, maybe we have to
think about
where are we in our lives in, you
know, in respect to those,
you know, those stages you could see at
the Dower of Ibrahim.
So but back to your,
you know, your question.
I wanna I wanna mention something beautiful that
was said by Hasan al Basri,
and he was commenting,
about the verse of the Quran.
Yeah.
Who is better than the one who calls
to Allah?
And
does righteous deeds. And
says, Verily,
I am from the Muslims.
So there's this this beautiful eye of the
Quran.
Who is it's a rhetorical
device.
It's the you know, like, when you're asking
a question
that is you know, the answer is clear,
meaning there is no one better
than that there is no one better in
speech. Who is better
in? Who is better in speech than the
one who is inviting to Allah
and does righteous deeds?
Yeah? So,
subhanAllah,
that no one's speech is better than that
speech. And Hassan al Basri, he said about
this ayah, that these people,
he said that they are the friends of
Allah. They are the oliya of Allah.
And they are the most beloved
from amongst his creation.
Because
they heard the call. They themselves heard the
call to Islam.
Yeah.
They heard it. They responded to it. They
accepted it.
And they did righteous actions,
and then they invited others to it.
So this is what Hassan al Basri, he
said about this ayah,
that they are that that he he said
that that that they are the friends of
Allah,
and the most beloved to Allah from amongst
his creation. And that is why, Subur, my
dear brother,
that and everyone listening,
is that this is the dower is the
task of the prophets. It's the job of
the prophets.
All the prophets were give that's what they
were about. That's what distinguished
them from
scholars and rabbis and just, you know, you
holy when I say just, I don't mean
it in a
I you know, but but holy you know,
you could say holy men and saints and,
you know, the other oliya.
What distinguishes the prophets? What distinguishes
the ambiya?
What makes them stand out is this particular
quality of doubt. They have been tasked
with something
that is very difficult, very challenging,
that not really everybody
totally
is absolutely
capable of it,
and that is to actually invite people to
Islam.
Because of the great hardships and difficulties that
come with it, Allah has chosen those people
very carefully, and we could we Ibrahim is
a perfect example, bro,
of, the hardships and the challenges of doubt.
Yeah. Absolutely.
And I think
what's important here to keep in mind
is whenever we think about any prophet, the
primary role with which they came is that
of conveying the message of Islam, of conveying
tawheed, of conveying
submission to Allah. So while the act of
sacrifice is that of submission,
it embodies a greater submission of man that
mankind should have towards,
its creator.
And, you know, there's a reason why Allah
says that we've made him into a, you
know, leader for all of mankind. Right?
While he was alive, he may not have
had that many followers. But if you imagine
today, right, if you if you add up
the figures, you add the Muslims, the Christians,
and the Jews Yeah. And you add all
those,
cults and sects that break off from them.
Mhmm. We're talking about maybe 2 thirds of
humanity here.
Yeah. I mean and and that's the thing.
And you know what, Subodh? That's the other
thing that is of
the life of Ibrahim
has many messages for the,
many messages for the callers to Islam. And
by the way, you know, I just wanna
say brothers and sisters, you don't need to
be a scholar. You don't need there are,
of course, no more prophets. There are no
more messengers.
The prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he's khatimin
nabeel. He's the seal of the messengers. There's
no more prophets coming after Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam.
So it is the distinguishing
characteristic of this ummah, the ummah of Muhammad
that we are supposed to be the carriers
and the bearers and the callers
to this deen. That is our responsibility,
and that is why Allah
called us the best of nations.
Yeah? That we are the best of nations
raised up for mankind. Why?
Because we enjoying what is right. We forbid
what is wrong. We call to Allah. We
invite to Allah.
This is the of the prophet
Say
this is my way, Mohammed. Mohammed is told
by
Allah. Say, Mohammed, this is my way.
Invite to Allah
on certain knowledge. Me and those who follow
me. Meaning, if we are following the prophet,
we should be part of this dua work
even if we are not,
you know, on the street calling people,
like Ibrahim alaihis salaam, going to his people,
giving them the logical explanations, calling them as
the prophets you will see, oh my you
know, all of them text telling their people,
repent to Allah. Return to Allah. He will
forgive your sins.
The punishment of Allah is severe. His forgiveness
is great. Worship him alone. Abandon this falsehood
on which you are upon. That's the message.
It's a very and you the beautiful thing,
sir, bro, is the message of the prophets
is very simple. It's not really complicated.
It's not, like, hard to understand.
It's not super deeply philosophical.
I mean, to be honest, Ibrahim is about
the most deeply philosophical
discussions we get from the prophets.
If you look at, you know, his argumentation,
or you could say argumentation, but his, yeah,
his
method of inviting is is relatively complex compared
to to other messengers.
And perhaps because his people were highly sophisticated,
I don't know enough, about them, to be
honest. Yeah.
But, yeah, I mean so the point being
is that this is the this responsibility
support falls upon us. This responsibility
of
but you don't need to be,
you know, a scholar.
As
the prophet said, convey from me even if
it is 1 ayah. But you do you
should know what you're talking about. That's the
one thing. Just don't.
Is not you see, Suburb, a lot of
people, bro, think that
is just saying anything that comes to your
head about Islam.
Yeah. You know? You
know? We halal meat. You know? We don't
take,
you know, riba on our and maybe who
knows? That one thing you say may be
something that,
you know, interests that person,
but that's not really the way to give
dua. I mean, the dua is to Allah,
to worship Allah Allah. The key is the
concept of tawhid.
And, again,
this is
the defining characteristic of, of Ibrahim, alayhis salam,
and this is why Allah is constantly
referring to Ibrahim and referring the pagan Arabs
to Ibrahim alaihi salam, Hanifan.
He was a monotheist. He was not someone
who made shirk. He was not someone who
worshiped idols because
the pagan Arabs recognized
Ibrahim
as their forefather. They recognized that they were
descended from Ibrahim alaihis salam.
As of course to the Bani Israel,
even
before Israel, there is you know? So Yaqub
is the grand the grandson
of Ibrahim
through,
Ishaq.
Ishaq,
his son was Yaqub.
Yaqub was called Israel Israel.
Yeah. That's his was another name that he
was known by. So the Yabini Israel means
Yabini Yaqub is the same
person that Allah is referring to.
Is the same person. Right?
And similarly,
Allah in the Quran is
also talking to the Jews and to the
Christians
and pointing out to the fact that Ibrahim
was not a Jew,
and he was not a Christian.
He was not a Jew, and he was
not a Christian because there was no Christianity
at the time of Ibrahim. There was no
Judaism
at the time of Ibrahim. So what was
his religion? What was his deen? What was
his way of life? He was Hanifan.
He was
a Muwahid.
He was a person who was worshiping Allah
alone, and that is the dua.
Bro, this is what everyone needs to understand.
We need to really comprehend. And in the
life of Ibrahim
is this good example. We see how he
is inviting his people. What is he the
thing that he's concentrating
on is showing them and giving them these
rational proofs.
Well, look at the stars. Oh, they go.
Look at the moon. That's brighter. That goes.
Oh, there's the sun. That's the brightest of
all, and then the sun sets.
So how can we worship these things? They're
all obviously clearly controlled by something else. They
come. They go.
They have
rules that they follow. They have the laws
that they abide by. There must be some.
This is what is implied in everything that
Ibrahim is saying is that, no. These things
have a creator. They can't be god themself,
and that's the key message that we have
to focus on.
Absolutely. And, Sheikh, you said something which I
wanna key off. You spoke about the simplicity
of the Dua. Right?
You don't just talk about anything. You stick
to, but you
you take the person's context whether they are
pagan or whatever they are.
I was thinking about,
while you're speaking the the mass
immigration
of Indians all over the world now. Right?
So this is large number of immigrants coming
to,
the UK
and large to Canada and America.
They
come from sometimes villages in India or sometimes
towns and not necessarily big cities,
and they come full force with
total, you know, idol worship. And here in
certain parts of London, you start seeing that.
And it got me thinking,
look, the the story of Ibrahim alayhis salaam
is not abstract. Right? The arguments that he's
making against idol worship,
people today still do idol worship. We forget
this. Yep. There are
so many people, 100 of millions, if not,
over a 1000000000 people on this planet who
actually
worship idols. And it also got me thinking
about the fact that
sometimes
they are
very intelligent
analytically. They are very good at getting education,
educated.
They pay their taxes. They,
you know, well mannered. They have all those
things. If you walk into the office be
there might even be prime ministers.
You know, you know, I was gonna say
I was gonna say about this. Somebody made
a joke on Twitter, and I thought it
was pretty funny. I said,
the,
you know, this is the first pagan leader
we've had since a 1000 years ago.
Yeah. I know. Yeah. So, you know, Sheikh,
I wanted I wanted this thing to be
highlighted because sometimes what we do is
because of our
inferiority complex, because of our lack of focus
on the,
we start thinking things like, oh, there's all
these people coming from India. They're coming with
Hindutva ideology.
Oh, no. We're gonna have problems in communities.
Oh, no. There's loads of them. And they
don't look at it as an opportunity.
Like, the way I'm thinking about it, it's
an opportunity. And, Sheikh, just next to us
in the Air Office, you know, there's a,
cafeteria.
Mhmm. And I met a young Indian
student who came to the UK, and he
was an idol worshiper.
He was given dua to by the people
at the cafe who you know.
And, he accepted Islam some years back, and
then he'd come back to meet the brothers.
And he was telling me
that
just like Ibrahim al Islam was threatened by
his own family, he was threatened by his
own family as well. And his cousin who
accepted Islam disappeared,
and he feared that she was killed by
the family.
And he told me something which I just
found really shocking.
He said that his family directly
threatened him that, look. If you if you
come if you don't reconvert to Hinduism, you
don't do this, we're gonna kill you or
whatever.
And then he basically said bring it on.
Just like like he said, look. Do your
worst. And and what happens
when we see these real life examples, Sheikh,
is we realize
when Nuh alaihi salaam is talking to his
nation, Ibrahim alaihi salaam is talking to his
nation, they're talking to pagan pagan,
people.
Those people exist today, and those arguments are
just as valid today as they were 5
years ago, 1000 of years ago. And in
fact,
because we don't look at those things as
opportunities,
we miss out on those opportunities. It's it's
like, you know, the the red car theory.
If you imagine,
if you if you want to look for
the color red in cars, you'll see a
red car everywhere. So if you have a
Dauer mindset, you will see a Dauer opportunity.
Opportunity, I really yep. Yeah. For sure.
That's definitely true, bro. Definitely true. And I
I think,
again, it's it's just one of those things
that once you are immersed in something, once
you make that thing,
you commit yourself to it, then you are
gonna find those opportunities. You'll pray. Actually, you
start making dua for those opportunities. That's what
you start
doing. Because you realize that Allah doesn't need
you to give dua, actually.
If Allah wants to guide someone to Islam,
Allah will guide them to Islam.
Now, I mean, unfortunately, some people will might
may take that, you know, may have a
very,
you know, just say, oh, well, what do
I need to do? If I look they're
gonna be guided. They're gonna be guided.
But this is a very, very
wrong approach. First of all,
we have to understand that
we are gonna be asked just as you're
gonna be asked about, did you pray? Just
as you're gonna be asked
about, did you
fast Ramadan? Just as you're gonna be asked
about, did you give zakah?
Just as you're gonna be asked about, did
you make Hajj if you were
able to afford it? We will be asked
about
what did we do to
to pass on this message of Islam. We
shouldn't imagine that we're, you know, that we're
not gonna be asked about this. This is
something that we have an obligation to do.
And if we fail to do it, either
individually or collectively,
we're sinful. We're in a state of disobedience
to Allah. That is the first thing.
Okay? The sec the second thing is that
it's an opportunity.
Why do you look at it? That's the
difference. You see, once you embrace and you
go upon this path of giving dua,
you see it as an opportunity. You realize
that this is beneficial for you.
Just as when you start to pray, Allah
doesn't need you to pray. Does Allah need
you to pray? No. He doesn't.
He has no need. He's free from all
needs. Allah told us to pray because it's
for us, for our spiritual betterment and upliftment.
And it is the same with dua. When
you involve yourself in dua, you will see
how it uplifts you
spiritually,
how it increases your confidence,
how it increases your iman.
It has so many positive
benefits.
Unfortunately,
many Muslims don't really take
full
opportunity of it. And until today, bro, we
live in a country where we are
super free.
Like you like you mentioned that brother, a
Hindu
who could be threatened.
In fact,
dower is difficult in India. We had do
art in India that we we really couldn't
support them anymore because of their safety.
This is the problem, brothers and sisters. Like,
you know,
generally, our du'a go onto the street and
invite people to Islam that way, but
that wasn't a it's not an opportunity in
India at the moment. Right?
So we're so free in this country still.
We still so we have so many opportunities.
Alhamdulillah.
It's not difficult to do dua. It's just
more about a mindset.
And like you said, Sabour, it's like
once you get into it,
then you start seeing opportunities
everywhere. And you look at things you like
I remember, bro, it's like when this cartoon
came out,
you know, these cartoons that were not it's
just more than one time they've done it
so many times. For me, it's like, guys,
let's look at this as a DAO opportunity.
Don't there's no such thing as bad publicity.
Make the best of it. Use it as
an opportunity to explain to people what Islam
is about. That's what we should do.
So yes. Yeah.
And I like I like what you said
there about, you know, just having that mindset,
and so you start making those opportunities.
But this will also make us
not only look for the opportunities, but make
us reread history from a different perspective.
So on the time
that, you know, we were children,
we were told
the Islamic golden era and so on and
so forth. And, you know, it only took
me
a few decades to realize it's all nonsense.
Like, how can you call an error
of of Islam being golden when all they've
done
is make scientific advancements? So we've we've accepted
that is the criteria
for when you've made the greatest advancements. Yeah.
When when I actually look back at certain
times where the greatest advancements
were made, the golden era,
there were multiple times where Du'at
traveled from certain regions to other regions and
conveyed the message of Islam.
The
the sheikh who gave dawah to Burk Khan,
the 1st Mongol leader to accept Islam. He
didn't accept Islam for political reasons.
He
told his horde, because they used to have
these hordes, to accept Islam. Then he fought
his own cousin.
And what we find is that we have
these figures in Africa. Islam
cannot
Islam. Because the golden age of Islam cannot
be measured by
scientific progress, economic might, political
strength, or whatever it is. Those are all
add ons.
What the criteria needs to be is the
implementation of Islam
and how could it be implemented
when you have Muslim leaders building massive mausoleums
for their wives and and later on,
you know, not wanting
people to accept Islam because they're not going
to give jizya. Right? How are those eras
called golden eras of Islam?
So, you know, the power
of looking at it looking at the world
from this perspective is
even today, even with what's happening in Gaza
and even all of, these terrible things are
happening around the world to Muslims,
it is all an opportunity.
And, you know, the we went out,
Sheikh, you remember in, that during the,
Palestine protest, we were out there handing handing
out Qurans.
You know, there was a Russian journalist that
bumped into us. She took Shahada and, you
know, we we were we were explaining to
her about the whole situation.
And interestingly,
her entire story is linked to Gaza.
So, you know, whatever we look at okay.
So many people have died. This has happened.
That's happened. Okay.
Yes. We make dua for them. Yes. We
try and, you know, give aid. But why
not at the same time when there's a
heightened sense of alertness
when it comes to the message of Islam,
we are not, you know, making hay when
the sun's out. Right?
Making making hay when the sun shines. Sun
shines. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes. I know. You're right, brother. You know,
you're right, Subodh. And,
we have to take advantage of these opportunities.
Like you said, whether it whatever opportunity it
is,
if you have that mindset,
you're always looking, oh, here's an opportunity. Oh,
there's an opportunity. This is an opportunity to
let people
know about Islam. And like you said, exactly,
because there is a heightened sense of interest,
the likelihood that people are gonna be more
receptive to what you are saying
is also
much higher as well. So that that you
know, I always think there's always a blessing
in disguise. There's always a silver lining on
the cloud. There's always you know?
And that's what we have to think. I
think if you truly
you you have a good opinion about Allah,
if
you have a good opinion about Allah,
and you believe that
if you wrote a life for yourself imagine
you wrote a life what you imagine you
wanna write a life for yourself.
You would not have written as good of
a life yourself as Allah has written for
you. The life that Allah has decreed for
you is the best for you, and that's
having a good opinion of Allah.
So if you come with that mindset,
then you're gonna be thinking whatever is happening
is a blessing.
It may not seem like a blessing,
but there is a blessing. I just need
to look for the blessing. I need to
look for the barakah. I need to look
for the benefit. I need to see where
is the blessing here that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. What does Allah
what is Allah trying to show me?
What gift is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala trying
to give me in in whatever it may
be that is happening? You see? And that's
I think that's how we have to look
at it. And if we have that mindset
and we have that approach,
especially if you, again, if you have a
Dower mindset, you'll always be looking
at things like that. With the mindset of
with with that,
it's all an opportunity. There's all an opportunity.
We just need to think about what it
is.
That's right.
That's right.
And, you know, I like the fact that
you pointed out it's good for us. There's
something in it for us
because
it's so hard
to not be affected by the words that
you utter and by the environment that you
surround yourself in. It's actually very, very difficult.
I remember,
reading
some article years ago about a person that
was studying a really rare disease, and somehow
they developed that same disease.
And, you know, obviously,
you know, from a materialistic perspective, they'll just
be like, yeah, whatever. Coincidence. But I'm a
big believer that, you know, this what the
non Muslim
positive,
psychology gurus call the law of attraction
is something which is not because of the
universe, because of Allah.
Whatever you want, Allah hastens that thing for
you. Right? Yeah. So, you know, I do
not accept this idea that I wanna get
involved in Dawah, but I don't know how.
I don't know where to start.
Mhmm. I have seen
many, many times, Sheikh, people who want to
sincerely get involved in Dawah, and it's almost
like a filter. Allah's testing you. Are you
just gonna, you know, get frustrated easily and
just give up at the first hurdle? Are
you gonna try?
Because if people and this is a real
story, which is is confirmed because I was
speaking to this brother.
If there can be someone in a place
like Brazil who lives in a village.
K? So this is the brother I was
talking to.
He accepted
Islam
through the Internet.
Mhmm. Once he accepted Islam through the Internet,
there was no Muslims in his village. There
was no Muslims in in the entire area.
He has no Muslim friends. He knows nobody
that's Muslim.
He accepted Islam. He learned Islam, and he
was making YouTube videos and Facebook posts and
this type of stuff for his for the
purpose of Dawah.
Now I messaged him because I was, like,
interested in Brazil at the time and he
told me and he'd been Muslim for at
least a year by then and he was
practicing, praying. He was watching, I think, the
Deen show and learned how to pray and
everything.
So he's practicing Muslim.
He told me, Sheikh, he has never physically
seen a Muslim
with his eyes.
Wow.
If that brother can give dua, then you
have no excuse.
1 of the du'at
that,
was in speaker's corner, and he came and
then he left. I didn't see him again.
This brother,
he converted to Islam
because
his neighbor, who is a elderly Pakistani lady,
gave him a copy of the Quran and
said, why don't you just read it? That
is it. That's all she did. That's all
she could do. And he just thought,
okay.
Okay. And that's it. He accepted Islam and
then he was out there giving dua and
so the fact is I don't accept this
idea of
I
I don't have an opportunity.
How do you not have this opportunity? We
don't live in the Middle Ages. Right? Where
you you're in the Muslim era. There's no
way you can communicate with non Muslims. Our
own people in our era like Rafael
from Mexico,
he became Muslim because he was playing online
video games with other Muslims in other parts
of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
My,
14 year old
nephew,
right,
gave dua
to one of his friends at school, and
he accepted his son.
The fact is if you wanna give dua,
there's opportunities
everywhere. Yeah. But having that I love what
you said there. It's about having that good
opinion of Allah fundamentally.
Absolutely,
bro. And, you know, again, I mean, I
think this month, we obviously
we look at Ibrahim alaihis salaam in these
special 10 days. We're gonna be
thinking about Hajj and,
you know, everything that happened around it. And,
obviously, all of these rights are connected to
this huge test, massive test that Ibrahim,
went through of sacrificing
being told to sacrifice his own son.
You know, what
a what a test.
But it you know, to be honest, bro,
when you read it, it doesn't come across
like it was anything for either him or
for,
you know, Ismael. It's like, Allah told you
know, I saw in a dream that I
should do this. And
Ismail says, yeah. Do you
if you had a dream,
if Allah's told you that we'll do what
Allah says. You know?
And and,
you know,
but the point being at the end of
the day
is this is in a sense the culmination
of,
in a sense, was it a huge test
for Ibrahim?
Of course, it was.
But at the same time,
he was well prepared.
His iman was well prepared. He had been
through a lot already.
His years years of dua and dedication
and striving in the path of Allah
had prepared him. And this is what we
have to realize, brothers and sisters. Life is
a test, and as the prophet said, you
know, temptations will be presented to the heart
one after the other.
And and,
you know, there are some hearts that will
absorb them. Some hearts will give in. Some
hearts will
accept these temptations,
and their hearts will become darker and darker
until, as the prophet said, it would be
they will become like upturned vessels.
Nothing, no goodness can enter into it.
You know, like a cup. You turn the
cup upside down, you pour it, nothing's gonna
get in. Or the other type of heart
is the one that will resist it. It
will resist these temptations. It will,
you know, it will pass these tests, and
then
they will these hearts will be pure.
And the prophet said, and nothing will touch
these hearts as long as the heavens and
the earth endure. And all of us have
to think which path do we wanna be
on. What sort of heart do we wanna
have?
Do where do we wanna be in the
scheme of things, brothers and sisters, because we
have one short little life? We're all gonna
be tested.
You know? We're all gonna be have some
test and some trials and tribulations.
You know? We may not go through
what our brothers and sisters in the Gaza
are going through, but everyone has their test.
Everyone has their different tests.
But this is life.
But one thing for sure is that when
you
are upon the path of dua,
it is something that will build your iman.
It will bring you closer to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
It will strengthen your faith. It will strength
strengthen your
yakeem,
Yeah.
Your certainty,
your conviction.
What is better than that? Nothing. There's not
much better than that. No need is. Yep.
We know that,
you know, one of the obligations
of Tawhid
is having a good opinion of Allah. This
is something,
you you can go to my Twitter and
you can see one of the he,
explained it better than I did. But
for you to be involved in Dawa, you
will actually put that into action.
Just like when, Ibin Tamia was,
you know, he was
promoting trade by saying that trade will increase
your
because you are now physically involved in an
activity which has lots of, you know, unknowns.
In the same way,
when you are involved in the world in
the work of Dawah,
you have to have that opinion of Allah
that, look, Allah is gonna help me. And
I need you to also think good of
people that maybe this person will accept Islam.
Maybe that person will accept Islam. Yes. This
thing looks difficult. And, you know,
thinking good of Allah, I I just want
everybody to
just imagine the state of Ibrahim alaihis salaam
when he's a young man.
And when you are young, you want social
validation. You want everybody
to like you, which is why young people
shave their eyebrows and act You do it.
Yeah.
Yeah. All of that because they want social
approval.
Right?
So here you have a young man
who independently
uses his rebellion, his inner rebellion, to rebel
against the pagans of his society, not to
rebel against Allah,
against
that society,
and then he is threatened
with the fire. Now the question I want
everybody to ask is, didn't he really know
the consequences?
I'm sure he knew the consequences of going
against society
before he took the axe and he smashed
all the items because of the big one.
I am dead sure he did know there
was something that was gonna happen.
He had this opinion of Allah that Allah
will help me. Allah will save me. You
know, Musa alayhi salam did not know when
he's going to be taking
this route that the sea will pop.
So what we know is that when you
are involved in the work of the hour,
you will come across incredible
incredible barriers,
incredible issues. You know
you know, many years ago,
I remember,
Saqib,
said to me
before,
you know, you, Saqib and, Chambers went around
with the launch tour and, started Ira,
Some people were saying, oh, no one's gonna
support
a charity that will focus on non Muslim
dua. That was one of the feedbacks.
Yeah. Where are those people today?
Or somebody would've from what I was told,
say, oh, there's already so and so charity,
which is just doing some local work, and
you don't need more. But you have to
have that conviction.
And you know what I find really strange,
Sheikh? I find this really strange. I watch
a lot of motivational videos, you know, of
all these people talking about
entrepreneurship
and business and grinding and exercise and all
this. And I think when it comes
to being ambitious and audacious and brave and
courageous for the sake of duniya,
Muslims
are willing to put their neck on the
chopping line. But when it comes to the
sake of Allah,
they wanna have plans
which are, you know, just
as great as a mouse would have thought
of. Just these little tiny little plans. When
it comes to something as great as Al
Islam,
the grit is not there. The energy is
not there. The determination is not there. The
vision is not there. The drive is not
there. The because look, you know, these things
that are called moonshots. Right? Yeah. When Kennedy
said we're gonna put a man on whether
you believe he landed on the moon or
not, let's forget that. Yeah? But when Kennedy
said we're gonna put a man on the
moon before the end of the decade, that
was a moonshot.
They didn't have the technology to go that
far, but that was a moonshot. They said,
we're gonna do this. But when it comes
for the sake of Allah, we don't wanna
be brave.
But when it comes to the sake of
the for our pockets,
we really do do anything.
Yeah. Instead of doing 198
countries, you just do 1 you wanna do
116.
That that that was a good counter. I
like that.
This is recorded, and I'm gonna play it
back to everybody in the office. And so
it doesn't work.
I can, I can assume you're gonna forget
this while?
Delete the.
So, Sheikh, you know, this is this is
something else I want you to mention that,
say
somebody is
in a city,
right, and Eid's coming up. Right? Yep. A
lot of,
new Muslims are alone on Eid. So if
you wanna be part of the Dawah, right,
simply
tell yourself, okay, on Eid, at so and
so time, I'm gonna invite a bunch of
new Muslims, right, to come over to my
house. Yep. Anybody that wants to get involved,
there's always a door. You know? I I
heard a quote today, which I thought was
really interesting.
It was like,
you know, if the door's closed, go through
the
expletive window.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that
was funny. And there's also another one, which
was,
just about, you know, a a horse and
a boy in a forest, and the boy
is confused about where do I go. And
the horse says, well, can you see your
first step? Can you see your next step?
Just take that next step. So sometimes what
you have to do is when it comes
to the dawah, just take one step.
Mhmm. You know,
some people, Sheikh,
their
ability
to give dua
is simply
the small actions that they can take that
nobody else can take. So I remember years
ago,
I,
I met this brother in High Wycombe. And
what he used to do this is really
interesting. Right? Back in those days, this is
like 2,010, 14 years ago.
Back in those days, Sheikh, we were still
using CDs.
Right? So you take a CD and you'd
have Khaledi Asin's lecture on it or whatever.
Right? You see, Festo.
And then this brother, what he would do
is he would go
and he would have this,
PC with, you know, multiple,
CD slots. And then he'd burn these CDs,
and then he'd write on them like so
and so. So, anyway, I remember meeting him
near High Wycombe station. It is really funny
because he's sitting in his car, and he
looked like a proper introvert. You don't like
those hermits. Yeah.
And,
he said, look. These are the CDs I
want you to give. You know, you guys
do the Dawah and stuff. I said, okay.
Fine. I took it. I said, why don't
you join us? He said, no. No. No.
This is this is how far I can
go. Mhmm.
I found a further than this. And that
I thought was really honorable.
Yeah. You do not have for whatever reason,
you're an introvert.
You do not have the ability to stand
on the street.
You don't have the ability to
do any of those things, fine.
Do something at all. Do something. Yeah. Yeah.
Although, I I do believe people
are way more capable than they often give
themselves credit for.
It's like a you know, on one hand,
it is good to know your limitations,
but also on the other hand, it is
also
very often that we limit ourselves unnecessarily.
And we think we're not capable of things
when we're actually way more capable
than we actually give ourselves any credit for.
But, you know, but the I mean, I
think the ultimate point is, to add to
what you were saying,
is that do whatever you can. Whatever little
bit that you can, that's important.
And even if you're you you don't wanna
step out of your comfort zone, that's what
you feel comfortable doing. At least you're doing
something. At least you are making some effort,
and that is the main thing.
And and by doing that, you know, to
come full circle,
in some way, shape, or form, you're connecting
yourself to Ibrahim alaihis salam. You're connecting yourself
to what
not only he alaihis salam, but all of
the prophets.
They spent their lives doing they dedicated their
time and their energy
to calling to people to.
Absolutely.
Anyway, Broaddison, it's been an absolute pleasure,
talking to you.
Any final words? I that's what you're supposed
to say at the end, but I'm just
my it's my cue to say I need
to go now.
Yeah.
Well,
join us
on live,
on the Aira channel. We're gonna be live
and listening for the Dawah
because this is the noble work of the
prophets. Yes. It's So, yeah, we've got a
few live appeals. So brothers and sisters, any
of you listening,
sharing is caring. Spread the word. Join our
live appeals. They're usually a combination of super
interesting, super fun
banter,
stories of the Dua,
real life stories of people in the field,
what's been happening. They're usually
great fun to listen to and also great
fun to participate in. So
I look forward to joining
the Ira team for that. Tomorrow is the
first one tomorrow. We're waiting to see.
That's right.
Yeah.
Alright.
Take care.
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