Adnan Rajeh – Quranic Reflections #19 Surat Al-Naml 45 – Surat Al-Ankaboot 45
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the cluster of surahs and the importance of building healthy relationships, particularly in difficult relationships with people. They stress the need to be strong and not let down, and emphasize the importance of not being reminded of difficult experiences and not being a victim of fear. They also touch on the importance of strong relationships and the need for people to be strong and not let down, as well as the importance of proving the value of a concept and providing evidence to support it. The speakers stress the importance of strong values and evidence to support one's argument.
AI: Summary ©
Okay.
Tonight is the 19th night. We're 2 more
nights, and then, the
seriousness begins. We start with the with the
real stuff.
Enter that last, 10:10 nights, the last,
last third of Ramadan
where, you know, everything is possible and where
even even if you didn't do well in
the first,
2 thirds, you still haven't a chance to
make up for it in the last 3rd.
So,
yeah, bring your bring your a game to
the next couple of nights.
And with this long weekend or I don't
even I don't even know it's a long
weekend. I just say short week because this
the weekend is longer than the week itself.
If people have opportunity to,
pray their in full and maybe even come
and pray with and
try and
and attend and do some afterwards
and try to push yourself a little bit
in terms of your but I'll make catch
up on some sleep. If you are if
you are like me and, you're running on,
4 hours a night for the last,
18 days, then, we pick up on some
sleep over these a few nights as well.
Tonight
we we will conclude Surat Al Namin and
you will recite Surat Al Qasas and up
to the 45th verse of Surat Al An
Kabut.
So the namid is the is the final
one in the cluster of surahs that I
I shared with you in-depth yesterday. We talked
yesterday a little bit about what the 4th
cluster of surahs talks about,
from Isla to Anamid. I summarized it for
you. I'm not gonna repeat it again, but
if you want to hear the, the Surah
in the Quran tell a story. In their
own themes, they tell a story. I find
I find that fascinating. I remember Yani figuring
this piece out when I was younger, and
it's just it's just so beautiful. Like, aside
from the Surah itself versus telling you a
story, teaching you something, even the Surah in
terms of what they talk about, they tell
a story. Like, they they give you they
give you info. They get they they help
you understand what the faith is actually about.
And that's just,
another level, another,
just another degree of profoundness within the Quran,
another level of understanding the the the book
of Allah that I just I adore and
I love it.
The 5th cluster will begin from Surah and
will end with Surah It's not as long.
It's short. It's
only 5 Surahs.
It talks about relationships
talks about relationships, the different types of relationships
that we have in our lives.
Is your relationship with people and their stories
and what that means.
Is it the story is the is amazing.
Every story
is gives you a misconception.
Like, allows you to see it shows you
how people see something and they see it
wrong. Like, they see something and they have
the wrong understanding of what they're seeing. Every
story go back and look at it. Every
story has within it. Some of someone doing
something, others observing it and misunderstanding what they're
seeing. Or something that could be completely misunderstood.
You start with Umam Musa throwing her son
into the river. What a horrible mother. No.
Al alaihi salam alaihi salam. She did this
because Allah gave her why. That's how she
saved her son. Musa Alaihi Salam is beating
someone. What a horrible no. He is defending
and so on and so forth. Qarun, wow.
He must be lucky. He ain't. The whole
the whole, you know, the whole story is
just our relationship with people.
That
people's lives are like our own, are simple.
They're just based on basic
whims and desires. Yet, we don't have the
ability to judge others. We don't have the
ability to understand and break down someone else
and break down their story. So stop doing
it and and accept their relationship with their
simplicity
and have good assumptions and move on. And
that's what's
it's stories. It's called stories. Stories of people
and and how you understand them and what
you do with them, and and that's the
first relation. The relationship you have with people
and their stories
and how to manage that and navigate that.
The second surah which will we won't conclude
today, but we will get through parts of
it.
It talks about your relationship
with difficulties or with
the tests that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala puts
here on earth. Right? The the
and the requirement of
which is,
striving against them. And the requirement of sometimes
hijra, immigration to move from one state to
the other, one place to the other to
deal with the difficulties that you are facing
in your life. And
this is very relevant to us. And is
for sure one of the is the one
is is a meki surah, something the Sahaba
had to learn early on in their lives
that you're, you know, you're going to deal.
Everything in life is Allah testing you one
way or the other. Sometimes he'll test you
with ease and sometimes he'll test you with
difficulty. Is
more or less
it it it talks about both, but it
focuses a little bit more on the difficult
ones because those are the ones that stick
with us. Those those are the ones that
we are afraid of. Those are the ones
that
don't make us as happy as as we
want to be or as as,
you don't put us as ease at ease.
If you're if you're tested with a lot
of wealth, you'll find that to be, you
know, you're you're happier with that even though
it's not better. Even though by any and
by no mean is that better for us
because
used to say,
and others used to say,
And we were we were tested with difficulty
during the prophet
the good old days because we persevered and
was fine. And then we were tested with
wealth and with ease, and I don't know
if we've been, grateful or not. So
Surah Al Ankabu talks about your relationship with
the difficulties that come.
And then that requirement of perseverance and mujahide,
the striving,
and immigration and and hijrah, and moving from
one place to the other, moving from one
state to the other, and and what that
means for you as a person. Sometimes you'll
have to leave your city. Sometimes you'll have
to leave your environment, your group, your I
mean, the
the friends around you. Like, there's all these
immigration is not just going from one country
to the other, from Mecca to Medina. It's
also just leaving a state or a place
or something that you,
grew have grown
familiar with and you're comfortable. You have to
go somewhere where it's not as comfortable because
you're dealing with difficulties that are, you know,
basically,
throwing your life in into into some degree
of of chaos.
And that's but that's what we're we're we're
told. That's what we're promised, basically. So what
the Ankemut promises is that's what's going to
be the case, so make sure you understand.
And that and the reason I this this
this cluster talks about relationships
because that's the that's the actually the idea
here. You have an ongoing relationship with difficulties.
There's no such thing as I I thought
I had my difficulty.
It happened to me when I was 18,
and I'm done. I don't have any more
difficulties.
That's not how life works. You have an
ongoing relationship with ups and downs in this
world. It's an on it never stops. It
never stops. You have to build a healthy
one. You have to have a healthy relationship.
It's it's always there. There's no smooth sailing.
Right?
The the saddest piece of my job is
when
is when I'm diagnosing someone who just retired.
Just retired. Like, they just finished.
Right?
I don't know if you know how people
here and I'm not saying that Muslims are
any better, Annie, by the way. But how
people have function here is that they work
they work they work they work they work
until they retire,
then
they wear flip flops and cargo shorts, then
they start traveling the world. Right? And that's
and that's their good friend. They don't want
to see their children or they don't see
anyone. They just wanna go, and they wanna
travel, and they wanna enjoy their lives. So
once you, Yani, when I when I when
I had to sit with someone who has,
terminal cancer,
who just retired, it's really difficult. Like, I
I I feel really bad for them because,
you know, the all all their life, all
they were hoping they're they're waiting for that
they they went through all, you know, the
difficulties of life and holding on to a
job and persevering to keep and raise their
they they were hoping for a smooth sailing
for the last maybe 20 15, 20 years
of their lives. They don't get it.
In my opinion, that comes from the ill
relationship you had with with with with difficulties
and with life itself. That's not the relationship.
It's not like, okay. Like, can we get
all the difficulties out of the way early
on so I can have a smooth sailing?
Or can I have a smooth sailing now
and then I'll deal with them later on?
No. It's an ongoing relationship. It never stops.
You're always gonna have to deal with with
hardship. So learn how to do it. Learn
how to get rid learn how to get
used to with all
with with these difficulties and what to do
about them and how to take take them
in great in in stride and also what
that's going to require of you. Perseverance and
striving and and movement. You have to move.
You have to be flexible. You have to
have that ability to kind of deal with
stuff. It's a relationship. It's a relationship. It
really
is. That's why I always find this this
Surah specifically gave me trouble when I put
when this cluster was obvious because it's relationships.
Kosos, It's clear. It's your relationship with people
and their stories. Is also a relationship that's
clear.
Even clearer.
It's it's I struggle with a little bit
to understand why is it there? You know,
what and it's just a relate then then
it kinda dawned on me that the Allah
is pointing out to us that this is
also a relationship
with the world around you. You have a
relationship. It's gonna give you good and give
you bad. And it's gonna keep on giving
you good and bad until the day you
die. It'll never stop. There's no there's no
guarantee that it stops at no. No. It's
just gonna keep on happening. You have to
develop that proper understanding of it, and it
becomes a relationship with the world around you
and with the difficulties of life. That's what
Svoblankar would basically talks about. So that's where
we are. We're going to con conclude,
the cluster of, the 4th cluster from salat
to annamil today with Surah Al Nammil, and
then we open a new one and we
talk and and
talks about 2 types of relationships that we
have. Tomorrow, we'll conclude that and start another
cluster.
Because it get
a little bit, shorter, as we go along.
The one from Azzab to, Zumr will be
a bit long, but everything else after that
will be much shorter. We are coming towards
the Andiyan. It's,
it's always sad when you kinda feel that
the Quran is
ending.
As much as you want the shirk to
be quick in his salah, you you just
feel bad when when you come closer to,
to the end of it all. Alright. So
let's, let's start, inshallah, with some of the
verses that we have up there. Let me
see what, the if anyone voted or do
I just go ahead and do whatever I
want? Yeah.
Yes. I see a bunch here. So let's
start with the Namil 62. Can we do
Namil
62? Yeah.
This is very relevant to the situation that
we are in right now as an, and
many of our brothers and sisters across the
globe are in as well.
These ayat,
they give
an argument of why it is that we
believe in Allah because Allah is the most
powerful. So it never talks about the effect
power has on our message. That's the last
surah in this cluster. The effect that power
has on this message and this message has
on power and the importance of having strength
and and and and power in order for
you to get the message out because the
weak never the the the strong never follow
the weak. They just never do historically. That's
where the prophet had to build something that
was that was strong that people would listen
to what he had to say
It was much quicker, the acceptance of Islam
in the last 3 years of his life
life verse
his prophecy versus the first twenty.
There's no there's no there's no comparison at
all. Yeah. It's not it's it's it's funny.
The 1st 20 years, it was, yeah, the
graph was just grumbling along, grumbling along, something
plateauing sometimes for a few years and then
grumbling along. And then the last day
just went like almost a straight line. The
the velocity of the people accepting Islam was
huge because he he had gained
power They had a they had a city,
and they had an army that proved itself
capable of defending. And he had established any
real any, relationships between people and proper proper
set and proper system. So that's what this
Neville talks about. So it tells tell us
about Allah,
the powerful. That's why we should follow and
learn from him and and take his teachings.
And amongst these verses where he talks about
Tiyani himself
at the end of each saying,
Allah. Yeah. What? A god with Allah did
this? A day there's someone else aside from
Allah who did all of this? And the
answer is it's rhetorical and the answer is
obviously no. And in this ayah, amman
am
or else men, who is it? That's what
amman means. Right? It's 2 words that are
put together. It's written as 1 in the
in the, most of it is actually 2.
Is or else what? If they if this
is not the reason that you don't believe,
is it this? That it's not this or
else is it this? So that's what
and men is who is
it?
Who is the one who responds
to the person in dire need?
Is when you are you are in dire
need. You are forced, your hands forced, you
have no choice. You have you have you
have to get this something done. You're in
a you're in a you're in a you're
in real difficulty.
And this happens a lot in in life
where you come to a moment where you
just you're struggling.
Who will respond,
to the one who's entire need
when when they supplicate him.
Mujiba, as of the
prophet would make dua. Yeah. Mujiba
The one who responds to the dua of
the person who is in dire need.
Who does it aside from Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala?
And the one who will remove will remove
difficulty
or remove
harm. And will make you the caregivers or
the or the or the stewards of the
earth. You see, the 3 that he talks
about here in this verse
are almost in sequence.
They're almost in sequence.
Meaning, you'll be in a situation
where you are in where you are
in dire need. You are everything is going
wrong. You are suffering and struggling in every
sense of the word.
And then he'll remove that for you. You'll
you'll listen to you and that you won't
be in dire need anymore. And then you'll
be in but you'll you'll still be in
difficulty. So
the second one. He'll remove your difficulty for
you.
And now you're neutral. And then
and then he'll give you strength and now
you have
stewardship over the earth. Who moves you from
what a to b to c?
Allah. Our God with Allah does this.
Very little it is that you reflect on
these things.
Because in your life, you go through everyone
does. Everyone goes through these ups and downs
and everyone transitions from one state to the
other. The problem is once you're on top
of the hill, you forget what it was
like to be young at the bottom of
it. You forget. You don't remember anymore or
you act like you don't or you prefer
that you don't. You don't want people to
remind you of your humble beginnings.
You don't want to be reminded of how
difficult it was at the beginning.
People saw for some reason, they feel ashamed
of it.
You're standing there when you're in front of
your nice car and your good suits. When?
When?
This is this is how you were? I
I I know your father. I
I
I I when you were a kid running
around in a in a cloth diaper.
Remember yourself. They don't like being reminded of
these things.
Remember when we used to go in
loom,
pick up change from the ground and go
back. It's it's tough.
Difficult beginnings. Everyone had these,
some people are ashamed of them. They're ashamed
of the fact that at one point they
were in dire need, that they
they didn't they weren't doing well.
They had humble beginnings and simple
simple startings.
And they look at that as something what's
that that's the norm.
You're in a moment of of dire need
and then you move up, he moves you
up Forgetting that first piece is almost denying
his bounty.
It's denying what he did for you which
is inappropriate.
And
in these these days,
there are people who are in dire need,
and we should feel that dire need with
them.
Even though ourselves may not feel that dire
need. Maybe personally, we're not in that position.
But if we are truly 1, then we
feel the dire need not only of the
people of Gaza or Sudan or Kashmir, but
we feel it for the people,
all Muslims around the world, and all people
who are oppressed around the world, regardless of
what faith they they they are part of,
people who are oppressed or persecuted or treated
in a way that is inhumane, Muslims feel
this is something that we we refuse. This
is something that we
have empathy towards or we're compassionate towards.
And we we we call upon,
We call upon the one who responds to
the supplication of the person who is in
dire need. May Allah grant us his response.
Let's do ayat number,
23 of Surat Al Qasr. It seems to
have the most.
So this,
part of the story
in, Surah Al Qasas and I I was
telling before Surah Al Qasas talks about our
relationships with others and their stories.
And they're simple. People's stories are simple just
as as mine is and yours are. Like,
we think sometimes that it's complicated. It's not.
It's just the basic whims and desires and
needs and fears and hopes and that's the
same thing. However, even though they're simple, you
don't have the capacity or the ability or
the right to judge people,
based on what you see of their stories,
even though it's really tempting to do that.
It's very tempting when you see something, you
know, to to to jump to conclusions, fill
in the gaps yourself, and decide for yourself
what what's actually going on here.
I am sure that if someone watched Musa
at the beginning of this surah, throwing her
son into the river, they would not have
a very high, you know, opinion of her.
Little did they know. Right? I'm pretty sure
that someone who saw Musa alayhis salaam wailing
at some gentleman in the middle of would
have a low opinion of him. Yeah. Little
did he know.
And
Musa alayhis salaam, he didn't do that, but
he had a question because he saw 2
young ladies
standing in an area where there's a lot
of men.
So it seems like
so what are you doing here?
When Musa left Egypt and he fled
and he went
to,
to where we believe Shoaib alaihi salaam was
in Madyan. It's unclear to us if it's
Shoaib or not, but that's what the majority
of scholars seem to think.
He came to the means the, gathering of
water. And that's out of people in the
in the Middle East, that's where they would
gather because that's the resource that is scarce
and that is needed.
He came to the water to drink himself.
He found upon it a large group of
people.
They are they're they're giving water to their
livestock. They had their animals standing and they're
drinking from this water.
And he saw 2 ladies,
keeping their,
their their livestock or their sheep away
from the water.
So he has questions,
in his mind immediately. Why are you there's
2 women here.
Where are the men in their family?
Why are they, you know, depriving their
I mean, they he had these questions.
He doesn't know the story.
But Musa Alaihi Salam, unlike maybe many of
us, before he made judgment of anything, he
asked,
what's what's going on?
We don't bring our livestock, our sheep to
the water until all of the other shepherds
leave. Because we before leaving our sheep, they
get lost amongst the other sheep, and then
we have to go and we have we
end up mingling with a lot of men,
and then we can be mistreated and then
we lose our sheep, but we don't wanna
do this. Maybe we this is not something
that's not safe for us. So we have
to keep our sheep back. They're they're thirsty,
but we keep them back until every all
the shepherds are done, then we take them
at the end to the body of water
to actually drink.
Well,
and they explained that why because they could
see why he was asking a question as
in why why are you doing
this? Why why are you doing this? This
is something that, Yani, a a a male
in your family should be doing. This is
a this is a rough job. So they
explained
that he didn't he asked what's what's the
what's the story.
He didn't make any he didn't pass any
judgment, alayhis salam. And they were intelligent enough
to answer in a way that they knew
what he was looking for. So they explained,
we don't want to mingle because it's not.
And our father is an elderly man. He
can't come and do this, so we're doing
it instead.
So he said he said, oh, it's fine.
I I'll do it. I'm I've I've I'm
I'm a shepherd before, and I do this.
I'll take them and bring them back to
you. No problem. And then he went in
and made dua. And the story kinda, trickles
after that. Reason I like this or the
all all the eyes are beautiful. The reason
I chose this for, for tonight or, I
put it up there.
That not only did Musa Al Isidam not
assume something negative. And not only did the
sisters who answered him reply to him
in a in a way that showed that
they understood
where he was coming from, what the concern
was. But really, it was the fact that
Musa, alaihis salaam, actually approached them to begin
with.
That piece he didn't notice. Why did he
approach them?
Does he know them?
Does he know them? Was he commanded by
Allah to
to approach them?
What business does he have going talking to
2 sisters he's never met before?
See, this is the mentality a lot of
us care think Islam is about.
A lot of us think that Islam is
based on that mentality.
No. Musa alaihi salaam went and approached them.
He saw something and he go and asked,
what's what's the issue? Something wrong here. It
doesn't mean Musa alaihi salaam had a bad
intention. He didn't be misbehave.
He didn't behave inappropriately.
He didn't say anything that he shouldn't have
said. He didn't look at them in a
way he shouldn't have looked, nor did they
respond in a way that they shouldn't have
responded. They stayed very professional.
But the the the initial
discussion occurred.
Yamuz said, approached them and spoke to them.
They didn't say, who are you? We don't
know you. Get away. We don't speak to
foreign men. No. They they they they talked
to him.
They talk to him. This is in the
Quran. The Quran to
a young man and women
talk to each other.
They can they can converse respectfully
and appropriately with the boundaries of Haya and
Ishma and of Islam. It's in the Quran.
Musa alayhi wasalam wasn't a prophet yet. He
became prophet 10 years later on the way
back.
Again, this is read the story. He became
a prophet 10 years later on the way
back.
But look listen to the dialogue. The dialogue
is very respectful.
When you look at how she one of
the sisters came back to him, then she
had a.
I heard someone once explain this verse in
a way that made it seem as if
she
came giggling and
for no.
Means she came in a in a in
a in a in a form of extreme
modesty
and self respect and sensitivity to who she's
dealing with. She wasn't coming back giggling and
laughing. But no. I I actually heard this
happen. I'm like, are you insane? That's that's
coming in flirtatious. That's not what she did.
She didn't come like, is not that. Is
not being bashful.
Is being sensitive to Allah's commands. It's showing
modesty. That's what is. Knowing where the boundaries
are and being sensitive where those boundaries are
and not crossing them. Being very respectful when
she spoke.
Relationships between genders are very much
appropriate,
and they're possible
when they have the proper boundaries and when
people understand what it means to be respectful
and what the boundaries of Haya actually are.
And there's nothing wrong with with people conversing
and talking when there's need. And there's nothing
wrong with Musa Alaihi Salam offering his help.
He did his job and he walked away.
And he took the the the sheep. He
he felt bad. These sheep want to drink.
And because of the situation, they're being held
back and it's an animal. He felt this
is not appropriate. These are 2 ladies and
there's all these men. So he took the
sheep,
set them back, walked away.
Walked to a place where there's shade, had
nothing. Didn't speak to them again.
He knew the boundaries and so did they.
There was clarity on boundaries. Actually, they went
to their father and said and he said
because they hadn't seen someone of that nobility.
Like, this is a noble person, Hadam Mochtaram.
This is a person who was Muhtaram.
She didn't say I want to marry him.
He just said he's Muhtaram. He's he's
he's strong. He can take care, and he's
very and he's and and he's trustworthy. Like,
he didn't try anything. He didn't make a
take a jab. He didn't say something. He
didn't look at us at some a certain
way. He didn't behave in a way that
made us feel uncomfortable at all. So the
father is like, that's the guy I need?
He calls him Tal. Here,
let let let you marry to one of
my daughters.
You have the right ethics. It's very possible
for there to be interaction between man and
woman
with the proper boundaries,
with the proper mentality of having the having
that respect.
It's not difficult. I don't know why.
Yeah. Hey. We struggle with that in our
Muslim community. I I don't understand it. Most
of you work in in
are in workplaces and you stay professional.
You you you you you're a professional in
your workplaces and and for some reason, then
we come to massage it or, you know,
Muslim gatherings and I I it's
I don't know what it is. Well, I
don't know what it is.
I don't under I it's it's very it's
very difficult for me to understand sometimes.
And men look at every woman's a target
for marriage and women's every man's a target.
Yeah. I mean,
are you on the market? Like, are you
able to get married? I'm 20 years old.
Really? How much money do you have? I
am broke. Where do you live? In my
parents' basement. And you're on what markets are
you on? What what that's a garbage market
to be on. Yeah. Yeah. That's not a
that's not a very good market. That's
not a very good one to be on.
You're not on the market. Why are you
looking around? Why Why are you looking for
a for why are you looking for a
sister? You have no how are you going
to get married? You can't get married. You
need 3 years to get married. What are
you gonna do? What are the sisters gonna
do for 3 years? Wait for you.
Wait for your broke what what why?
No. You have nothing. You have you have
nothing to offer. Yeah. I mean, don't look.
If you're not ready when you're ready, put
your you're on the market. Play. You're ready?
Yeah. You're you're you're finished your study. You
have a little you have a job. You
can you can take care of someone. Alright.
Start looking around. We'll go knock on the
door. Well, no.
Why are you looking? Why are you speaking
to people if you're not sister, the same
thing.
Sister, just say no.
If he's if he knows what he's doing
and he's capable,
just give him go talk to your father.
Just go talk to my dad. If he
doesn't if he can't talk to your dad,
he ain't a man yet. He's not ready
yet. If he doesn't if he's not ready
to go and knock on the door and
sit with your father and speak to him
and and establish you see that in Islam,
the reason you have a is because you
need a man to size up another man.
You need a man to size him up.
You don't know sisters, they don't know. It's
not your fault. You're not a man. You
don't know. You need another man to size
him up. Let him come and sit in
front of your father. Let him take a
look at him. You see if he's worthy
of of, of you and of taking if
he if he's going to treat you appropriately,
if he's going to be fair to you,
if he's going to be compassionate towards you,
if he'll if he's in it with you
for the good and the bad, if he
will stick with you even when things get
get get difficult or is he only in
it for
if if we just did that as young
Muslims, if you're a young man and you're
not ready to get married, don't be looking.
Don't start searching. You're you're not ready. Musa
said that he walked away.
He walked away because he's not ready at
all. He has he just came walking from
Egypt.
He just he just came walking from Egypt.
He has nothing. He has no home. He
has no job. He didn't even speak. He
just gave it, went. He did a good
deed because he felt bad. He went and
started. Didn't say another word.
But he was a gentleman and and Shoa
his Shoaib wanted to, you know, give him
a chance. His was the 10 years of
work that he did.
And sisters, don't do not do not accept
some don't
don't don't even someone messages you, Yani. If
it's not pro, professional, just block just block
them. Don't don't give don't don't give anything.
If someone is serious about you, then they
will do it the right way. Yeah. This
whole thing, yes, but my dad and but
no. No. No. Don't even listen to that.
That garbage don't even no. No. Either you
do this right or we don't do this
at all.
The number of Yani.
Alright.
That's fine.
A lot of those time. I I I
I very deeply,
Yani, would love to see a better system
for marriage in our society. Like, I very
deeply want to. Not just because it will
mean less of a headache for me in
my life, but also because I think it's
the right of people who are living, in
the society to access halal. Like, I think
it's important. I think we should make it
easier for young men and young women to
get married. We should we should take away
boundaries and take and and pull down some
of these obstacles and get rid of some
of this, Yani, the Yani, some of the
taboo,
Yani surrounding it. Not too early to the
point where you're not ready yet. Yanni, in
your teens, you're still you still don't know
exactly what who you are and what you
wanna do. By your early twenties, it sounds
like a good time to me. I think
this should be I I find it difficult
to understand men in their thirties and women
in their thirties without I know. That that's
not that's not fair to them. It's it's
difficult that way. Yeah. How do you how
do you survive? I don't know. Like, I
I didn't grow up here, but I don't
understand how people grow up here and and
wait until they're 30. It's it's the Haram
is way too easy. It's it's it's it's
abundant and available. So
I don't understand. Like, I lived in a
in a village and most guys at 23,
24, I was like I got married 26.
I have all my friends have, like, kids
when I yeah. They all came to my
or else with their walking with their toddler.
Yeah. They all came to my wedding with
their 4 4 5 year olds. I was
like a late bloomer.
I came here. It's yeah. Halam is everywhere,
and most people are 30, 31.
What are you doing for 15 years? Yeah.
Did you hit puberty at 30? If you
hit puberty at 15, what are you doing
for 15 years? Or do we not want
to talk about that? Let's just not talk
about that. Let's just, you know, draw a
blind eye towards something that is staring us
in our face that is ruining the fabric
of our own community. That's making it difficult
for people to be good. It's hard to
be a good Muslim when you're when you're
breaking a fundamental
cardinal law of Islam, which is which is
the the the Fahisha.
Someone who who falls into Fahisha because of
lack of availability of halal, it's It's hard
for that person to actually be a good
Muslim in their lives because of the guilt
they carry from that, because of the shame
that they carry inside. Even if no one
knows, they just carry it on the inside.
It hurts them. It bothers them. It makes
it difficult for them to be a good
Muslim.
I think we can do better, and I
know we can. It's just I I don't
know how, but, I mean, we have to
figure something out.
Alright. Let's do Kusas 59. We're running out
of time.
Every every nation of people
that were punished by Allah generic
in a general manner, Allah sent to them
prophets.
He said,
meaning in their origin, in their
original group. Meaning, not every single city will
receive a profit,
but the original group will receive a profit.
What will break out from them in terms
of other smaller tribes or groups, they may
not get profits,
necessarily, but the original one will. And there
will be no
punishment from Allah
towards people.
Now this means punishment in dunya, and
is different. In we don't have the capacity
to say what's going to happen. This is
an important piece. You and I don't have
the ability to say what's going to happen
to people
whether they were believers or not because the
breakdown
is is the variety is very wide. In
Dunia, there's it's very simple. There's a Muslim.
There's a. That's it. Either you believe in
Islam or you don't.
Easy peasy. There's no there's no requirement for
anything more than that.
That's something that is internal. There's no, yeah,
any specific, record for them. And we don't
get to,
call people. We don't get to start a
page and write down names and these are.
That's not our capacity.
Is not actually a curse word. It's just
you don't believe in this.
And for someone who is a a different
faith, I'm a kafir to them. I don't
believe in what they what they come up
with. It's just a differentiation. And dunya is
very simple.
Is different.
There's a lot of breakdowns.
There's all these different types of people that
only Allah
knows about. But in dunya, he's saying that
I Allah, your lord would never punish people
generically or
publicly,
until he sent in the origin of their,
of their tribes or their cities,
Rasulah, a messenger to teach them.
And he states very clear that we would
never
punish a group of people except if they
were
oppressive.
Oppression.
This this theme is all throughout the Quran.
The problem of oppression, of persecution, of mistreatment
of others. This is what causes demise.
Any nation that is oppressive
will end in an ugly way. It's just
a matter of time. It's just that, you
know, it's just that the the clock is
ticking. Any nation that's oppressive, that lacks justice,
is going to fall. Whether it's a Muslim
or it's another one. It's a Muslim country,
non Muslim country. It makes no difference. If
it's based on
if there is clear and open injustice,
if there's oppression, then they will fall. And
they are heading towards their own demise, whether
they, you know, pay attention to it or
not, which is why Muslim countries go through
all this turmoil. We have too much
There's too many
There's too much oppression going on. The Muslim
countries are filled with too much oppression. So
they'll never stand until that is rebuked. Until
we remove oppression, which requires the removal of
hatred and the removal of of, of racism
and the removal of arrogance. We have to
start seeing each other as valuable human beings.
Even if we don't agree on everything, even
if we don't stand for the exact same
causes, even if there are differences that are
palpable between us, we still have to see
our value. Because the moment you accept oppression
on someone else, you've accepted it on all
people, and that means the nation that you
lead is an oppressive one. And that means
that it's heading towards its demise. It's just
a matter of time.
That's something worthy
of our contemplation.
Let's do a number,
25 of Surat Al Ankabut. And if you
have time, we'll go back for to one
for Qasos. 25 of Al Ankabut.
Just because we're running out of time.
These are the words of our father Ibrahim
alayhis salamu Sultan kabut. That's explaining to us
the relationships we have with difficulties and
this is an ongoing relationship. We continue to
have these relationship with life itself. It's not
there's no smooth sailing in life. There just
isn't.
And the quicker you come to that conclusion,
the better you live. Live now. Live now.
Because, there's no
promised timing in your life when you're retired
or something. That's all. It's all it's not
just live. Live. And if you're not living
right now, figure out what living means to
you. It should it should be something that
is fulfilling and meaningful. If it isn't, then
that's, you know, that's that's unfortunate. But live
as you live now because that's all you
got. Live well and do well with your
life and make sure that you feel fulfilled
with what you're living.
Don't just look at the future as I
at some point, I'm going to not have
to do all of this and it's not
that's not healthy.
And here, Ibrahim alayhi salam is discussing with,
he's talking to his people,
and he is arguing with them the Usman.
And this and what he says here, alayhi
salam, proves the point I've been trying to
make over the last number of, of years
even in trying to explain Usman.
This is what he said, said exclusively you
have chosen
idols,
as in things that you're going to worship
aside from Allah There is a little bit
of a difference between and, but I'll talk
about that maybe in a few days once
we hit there'll be a Surah specifically for
that. I'll explain what the difference is. But
let's stick to idols right now.
He said you exclusively you chose
idols to worship aside from Allah. What's the
reason?
You're doing it because you're using it to
build relationships
amongst you. To for there to be love
amongst you.
That's what
idols are good for. They're good for people
being able to come together on things.
Because it's a way for them to make
money or for way for them to establish
their power.
Believe in Allah
alone requires full equality amongst us. Requires the
same value assigned to each and every one
of us. Requires that we all will be
responsible equally and we'll all be valuable equally
And that means it's only based on merit.
It's not based on blood. It's not based
on race. It's not based on wealth. It's
based on the hard work and dedication that
we put forward to things. That is what
people usually don't like, especially this the the
ones who are
advantage.
Those who are advantage, they don't like that
because that requires them to do more, and
they don't wanna do more. They're already up
at the top. They want to suppress everyone
under them and just hold on to the
to the power or the wealth that they
have. So why do they have oaths? So
he explained to them
Ibrahim was telling them why you're doing you
do this
You're trying to build relationships amongst yourselves. You're
trying to use them to suppress people and
strengthen your own relationships amongst one another.
Within this life.
And then on the day of judgment,
you will all turn your backs on each
other.
And you will curse out each other.
No one will stand by you. Meaning, you
use these you use these idols in this
life
to establish
relationships,
to establish alliances
so that you can have power. That's That's
why you come up with these ideas. And
that's that's pretty much the
the the basis for all of the concepts
of idols historically. The reason why why polytheism
exists because it was lucrative,
because it allowed people to control the masses
and allowed them to to dictate whatever rules
or laws they wanted to. And it took
away the sanctity of Allah
law and rule.
They gave flexibility so that if you pay,
if you offer a little bit more, the
the the clergy will speak to the idol
and the idol will offer you their blessing,
or they will give you whatever it is.
Superstition works really well.
Self interest is is needed when I need,
like, to allow me to do something if
I it's just it's just very it works
really nicely.
So Ibrahim, when he brought down the idols
and they and they, and they doomed him
to be thrown into the fire, he would
argue with
them.
This is self serving. You guys are doing
this. You're building these chummy
alliances because it's self serving for you. You
know what the they they they mean nothing.
You know that these that I took the
axe to and brought them down and nothing
happened.
That they're worth nothing, but it it it
helps you. It keeps you on your feet.
It allows you to continue to control people
and to say whatever it is that you
want to say.
And then
all of you will turn your backs on
on on one another. But by that point,
it's a little bit too late.
Let's do let's go back and do number
75. If
you're if you're okay with that. We have
a couple more minutes. 75.
Right before the story of Qarun,
Allah has these beautiful, beautiful verses.
He talks, what would you have done if
Allah put made it night, no day or
day, no night. It's through his mercy that
you have these differences and it allows you
to function and live well.
At the end of these
and on the day of judgment, we will
extract from every nation. And I talked about
shahida before. It's an example.
A witness or an example. Someone who proves
the concept.
The proof of concept, basically.
Someone who can prove that what was taught
was applicable. It was pragmatic. It could be
practiced. It wasn't something that was impossible. So
from every nation, Allah will extract an example
to show that this would work.
And then we tell people,
give us evidence that what we thought was
impossible and that what you did was correct.
We extracted for them
their example, which is usually their prophet or
someone who will saw it amongst them.
Give us give us your your evidence that
what we what you did was better.
And at that moment, they will come with
full clarity that righteousness was always on the
side of whatever Allah
was teaching.
And they feel all of their lies slowly,
fall throughout their fingers and go into nothingness,
and they're left with no argument whatsoever. It's
a hard moment for people. It's difficult and
it's painful. Make sure on that day, you
don't have an argument that you will
lose. Make sure on that day, is with
you know you knew the was with Allah
and you stood by that all of your
life or else he will bring evidence and
he will bring examples and you will fail
to argue your way out of it. I'll
end with
that.