Adnan Rajeh – Quranic Reflections – Surat Al-Ahzab 35 – Surat Yaseen 54
AI: Summary ©
The Surah Al Ahab cluster is holding a virtual reminded-you event where students are preparing to receive awards. The cluster talks about submission, obedience, adherence, and the importance of obeying Allah's command. The speakers emphasize the importance of understanding the Surah's teachings and learning to interpret it to achieve life. The cluster will run out of time, but students will participate in the next cluster. The importance of obeying Allah's command is emphasized, and personal and internalization of one's actions are emphasized. Pranksters are encouraged to pray during the last 10 nights of the year, and the importance of forgiveness is emphasized. The speakers also suggest bringing food and cleaning out relationships, and creating a booth for book readers and sharing videos on their website.
AI: Summary ©
So I am aware that we're quite a
bit earlier than we usually are in 7
minutes. The purpose of being a bit early
today is that we're going to have a,
a quick,
short ceremony just before
to give out the awards,
to the students who, participated in the Quran
program in Ramadan. So not just the competition,
but the program. They were here for 20
days coming and doing their and preparing themselves.
And then they, today, they competed, and they,
recited and we they did very well. You
wanna give them some some,
prizes and do some recognition. So I will
cut this,
a bit earlier than I usually do. So
by 8:50, I'll stop. So it'll be a
shorter it'll be a shorter, session session today.
So we'll try and get 4 verses, like,
from each, one from each,
if possible. So that's what the that's gonna
be the goal. I'll go I'll go over
quickly
the, you know, the theme of these Surah.
So so we're in Surah Al Ahzab and
this cluster, the 6th from Al Ahab to
a Zumr is the, is a longer one
in the towards the end of the Quran.
And,
it's something that I did to see Rav
in Arabic over the last 2 years. It
took 2 years to go through the the
all these Surah. It was
a lot of work for those who attended
it. And this, this cluster talks about submission
or or obedience or adherence.
It looks at the concept of submission and
obedience,
from Islam from, from different angles. Each Surah
very unique,
and very different than the other.
So Ghazab looks at when
it's hard, when it's difficult. And it talks
about all these different types of difficulties. It
gives you examples of of of physical difficulty,
spiritual difficulty, psychological difficulty, social difficulty, reputational difficulty.
It just talks about yeah, honey. But adhering
to Allah's teachings when it's when it's specifically
and especially hard. And that's where your true
colors show, and that's where you either shine
or you don't. And that's where Allah subhanahu
grants you enlightenment if you are capable
of,
of of holding your standing your ground and
and and obeying Allah when it's really hard
to do so.
Surah Surah after it is going to be
Surah, Saba, which talks about communal,
adherence or obedience. Meaning the of a community
to Allah is different. That's different. Yeah. All
the other Surah in this whole cluster talk
about the individual experience of
specifically, which is unique in the Quran, talks
about the communal obligation of, obedience. And how
does a commune
the way in an an individual submits to
Allah's will is one way is one thing.
How does a community submit? How does a
community obey Allah
It looks different. It comes in a different
form and that's what
discusses. It's very important. It's very interesting. It's
a beautiful surah. I I often quote it.
Surah's father talks about obeying Allah
through knowledge, not through,
not through ignorance. We we obey Allah the
way Allah
wants to be obeyed, not the way we
want to do it. It's how he wants
to be done. That requires us to have
knowledge and clarity and certainty that allows us
to be much more decisive when we when
we, when we obey him because
we're doing it based on knowledge. And that
allows us to to to live a life
of dignity because we are obeying Allah
based on a proper and appropriate understanding of
Allah's
command. So that was so it's fault that
explains. And so what the has seen, it
points out that obeying Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and submitting to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
the method or is the way to achieve
true life.
Life as in not just the life of,
of the, of of the,
of the bio the the biological life, not
just the life of the body, but the
life of the spirit. And spreading Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's message and submitting to it and
and obeying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the
way we attain obtain that life in in
dunya before akhiva. Which is why if you
think about it, you you when people pass
away,
the cultural,
norm is that you go and recite Surah
Yassin, right, on the. And because because the
early Muslims,
realized that Surah Yassine talks about life, talks
about how obeying Allah grants you true and
actual life, and and they were able to
pick that up and and that's why we
do this.
There may not be a clear
or an authentic,
piece of evidence for it. But understanding the
Surah allows you to to comprehend why it
is that, that that they recite
upon people who pass away. Because real death,
real life is not the life of the
body, but the life of the spirit. You
can live beyond your years if you leave
a legacy that is worthy of, of of
of contemplation and worthy of recognition,
which is what Surah Yaseen tells us. And
that's where we're gonna be we're gonna start
somewhere, in the middle of Surah Yaseen, and
then we'll continue this cluster,
throughout, tomorrow.
It won't it won't be finished, I think,
tomorrow. I think we'll still be in it
tomorrow.
So without further further ado, I'm going to
try and and and get a Surah, an
ayah from each surah before, we run out
of time, if if that's possible. So
I'm gonna see if just maybe maybe
maybe someone has voted. If not, I'll just
kinda, you know, do my own thing.
Let's see what we got here.
Oh, if you do have 14, that's better
than yesterday.
36. Let's do 36. You're probably the beginning
of this, yeah. So the first ayah that
Sheikh Mustafa will recite today in in in
in Isha.
So this is the critical or,
central
within sort of is, in my opinion, the
central within this cluster, within this whole group.
And this is very descriptive and it's very,
it's very important.
And it was never permissible
for a believer, female male or female.
If Allah
gave a decree,
either
and his prophet give a decree, meaning they
make a ruling of some sort.
It's not permissible for them. If Allah
and his prophet make a decree, it's not
permissible for them to have options.
If they are truly believers, it's not permissible
for them to to have is
choices.
Whether they do it or they don't they
don't do it.
A true believer does not behave that way.
If Allah
gives a decree of any sort, if Allah
and his prophet, they say this is, wajib
or this is fardur, this is halal, this
is haram, it is not optional from that
moment forward. This is what Allah taught, and
this is what we're going to do. Whether
that suits you or not, whether it's easy
or not, whether it's extremely difficult or not,
if Allah his prophet decrees something, then a
Muslim obeys.
And a true a true believer does not
feel
that they have options. This is a big
this is important.
I feel like there's a little bit of
a misunderstanding here when especially when some of
the younger generation
talk about, Yanni, it's my choice and it's
Yanni, to to do certain things. It's my
choice and it's not my yes. It is
your choice, but what do you mean by
that?
What do you what do you mean? We
need I need this area here empty, and
I need the, wherever the, that 3rd row
for the, the the Quran competition students to
be able to sit there. Just so we
can do the ceremony quickly. So maybe keep
this area
open for me. Thank
you. So when people use the term that
I, it's it's my choice. Yes. If if
you're if what if what you're referring to
is that people should not force you to
do something, I agree, if that's what you're
referring to. Yeah. No one has the right
to force you to do something. But if
you're a believer, if you're a true mumin,
then the moment Allah says this is wajib,
it's really not a choice anymore for you.
You're going to do it because he said
it is it is that's what he said.
So it should just happen automatically that you're
going to follow whatever he is he taught.
For that for you not to see it
that way is a little bit of a
problem.
For it to be seen differently, the problem
is still
there is nowhere in Islam is a person,
is a human being allowed to force another
human being upon a religion. Islam Islam is
is completely anti that concept. Your the freedom
of religion is there.
But
where I feel there's a little bit of
misunderstanding
or there's there's a playing with words here
from younger from my younger brothers and younger
sisters where they where they emphasize it's my
choice, it's my yeah. I know it's your
choice. But if Allah
said that this is what you're going to
do, then what are you referring what do
you mean by it's your choice?
Do you mean that it's everything
is optional? Whatever. Yeah. You got if if
you are if you believe in Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, he said this is what you
have to do, then it's kind of a
automatic yes. That's what that's what you're going
to do. If you're a true believer,
True believers don't feel they have options. Here's
what he said. That's what I'm going to
do. Done. I don't there's no there's no
process.
There's no process of of, you know, of
a of maturing a decision. I've heard I've
heard really weird phrases over the last couple
of really, yeah, just very mind boggling phrases
I don't understand. I'm maturing my decision. I
what what does this mean? Are you you
believe in Allah? He said do this.
It's very it's it's, Aristotle logic. Just you
just go it's very it's linear. It's very
linear. It doesn't require anything. So the usage
of the word, of choice here has to
be, better refrain. It can use a bit
better. Okay? Because as if if you believe
in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, whatever whatever the
prophet
commands you, you will say
And those who disobey Allah and his prophet,
they have they have gone astray very clearly
and very far. If you decide to do
disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala his prophet after
after you it was clear to you that
this is what was taught and this is
what is required and this is what you
believe in Allah, you don't feel like there's
an option. No. He said this. I'm it's
a it's done deal. It's a done deal.
He explained what he wants. Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
there's really no reason for me to to
to continue to argue this.
On the other hand, as a person who's
watching from afar, it's not my my my
role to force people or to judge them
for it. I'm just talking about how you
should feel about as a Muslim who's hearing,
who's listening to these commands. That's what I'm
pointing out here. I'm pointing out as a
person who is listening to these commands, that's
how you should internalize them. I have no
right to force you to do anything. But
Allah Subhanahu wa'am is saying if you're a
truly believer, you don't feel like you have
an option the moment you hear what my
command is. And that's the hallmark of a
true believer. That is the that that's how
we differentiate them. They the moment they hear
they expect they accept immediately and they and
they follow whatever it is the teachings are.
Alright. Very good. So let's go to Surat,
Saba and do aya number 37
because that's the highest voted one.
So this ayat in Surat Saba and as
I explained, Surat Saba talks about communal law
communal pa. So every surah in the Quran,
in this cluster specifically, will talk about, obedience
and adherence on and looks at it from
a at least an individual perspective, like, what
what the individual has to do. Talks
about the obedience and the adherence and the
submission of of communities, of societies, which is
different. And this
And it's not your wealth, nor your children,
nor your offspring that brings you closer to
us, That draws you is when something is
brought closer.
This word is used a few times in
the Quran means is to is to draw
something closer to something else. So he's saying
it's not your wealth, it's not the money
that you put, and it's not your,
your children or the number of your children
what they do that brings you closer.
It is your personal intentions.
It is the beliefs that you have, it's
the intentions that you have behind them, and
it's the deed that you actually do.
Those those people, the people who have iman
and are the ones who will have the
reward of meaning the the the the the
the,
the times the word or the or the
the the the the the, the multiple fold
award. Is when something is times 2, 3,
4, or 5 times in a row.
Yeah. And they are in the, the rooms
are of of Jannah. We're gonna need that
space where they need to show. And and
they are in the rooms of Jannah where
they they feel nice and and safe. Now
why is this important? He says
It's not the, the
blood or the meats of the of the
livestock that you slaughtered that's going to reach
What I can get out of, what reaches
Allah
It's
the it's the that you have in your
heart. That's what will reach him. And this
is saying the same thing. This is explaining
the same thing. It's not really the wealth.
It's not
the children. It's not your status or your
strength or
your power, your authority, how wealthy you are.
None of these things matter. That's not that
does not bring you closer to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. What brings you closer to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is your iman, is the
internalization that you have a you you you
have a practice or you performed of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's, of who Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is into your heart. And then that
resulting in actual deeds that Allah has commanded
us to do. That is what will bring
you closer to Allah. It's not it's not
how wealthy you are. It's not how many
children you have. See wealth and children in
the Quran symbolize
the financial strength and the social strength.
Right? Just like Mesquite and your team, they
symbolize those who are at a financial disadvantage
and a social disadvantage.
They're just symbols for certain concepts that we
understand. Because someone who's may have a lot
of relatives. Socially, they have a lot of
people who who back know. They just have
no money. And Yateem could be the opposite.
Someone who has a lot of money. Their
inheritance is they have a lot. They just
have no one to love them or no
one to take care of them or raise
them. So they're used as symbols of people
who have certain types of struggles.
And when he talks about Amwal and Ulaad,
he's talking about 2 advantages.
1 of wealth,
so so financial strength, and one of society.
You have a lot of people, you know,
to support you.
Means you have children.
Back in the day, if you had 10,
15 children that may meant you're going to
be well protected.
You had a lot of people who could
vouch for you, people to to, to
to speak on your behalf, to stand by
you, to give so you are socially well
supported. So Allah subhanahu wa'ala is saying is
is none of that matters to me. I
don't care how much money you have. I
don't care how many children you have. It
doesn't matter how strong you are financially or
socially. They don't those things do not bring
you closer to me.
They don't bring you closer to me. Except
except those who believe and then
then
they start to do it. So the way
this is phrase in Arabic is that once
you have iman and
then your wealth and your children, meaning your
financial strength and your social strength will actually
start bringing closer to Allah
Without them, they do nothing.
Without them, they mean nothing.
Sometimes we we misunderstand,
the signs from Allah And
if he gives us a lot of wealth
or a lot of, social strength, a lot
of status,
we think that is a sign of Allah's,
rilbah. I mean, his satisfaction or his, his
it doesn't necessarily mean that.
Quran tells you that I I I give
Allah
Some servants are given a lot, Some are
given little. It doesn't make a difference. It's
not about how much Allah loves them or
doesn't love them. So it's an explains it
very clearly. It's all It's all It's just
a test. He tests you with a lot,
and he tests you with little. He tests
you with ease. He tests you with difficulty.
That's all it is. That's all it is.
So if he does give you a lot,
it doesn't mean that you have an advantage
of any sort.
However,
if you have iman and then they become
an advantage.
And the had to learn this from the
prophet
and for some of them it stung.
Because they would come to the prophet alaihis
salatu wa sallam and say,
Duthur mean the people have a lot of
wealth.
It's a it's a it's a symbolic it
has a different meaning, but that's what it
means symbolically.
It's figuratively speaking.
The people have a lot of wealth, they're
taking all the
because they do a lot of nafakaqa. They
give a lot of their wealth for the
sake of Allah They use their strength to
support Muslims, defend people. Right? So they get
a lot of and we are weak and
we are poor.
So we're not getting as much So the
prophet
said,
I'll tell you something that you can make
it you you can, compete with them. So
what is it? So he gave them
to do after salah and before you go
to sleep. So they did.
Then after a while, the the the rich
people, they got in onto the action. They
got into the action. They were like, what
are you doing? Nothing. Not nothing. No. You
were saying to them. What are you saying?
No. Not nothing. And they go instead of
the what are you saying? Who told you
to do
this?
So they sat down and did the same
thing. So they went to the now they're
doing the same thing. Now we we lost
our advantage.
That is the bounty of Allah. He grants
it to whomever he wants. Wealth
and status,
it's a double edged sword.
It can work in either direction.
It's either a reason or a mean for
you to be held heavily accountable, Yo, Mulriyana.
To carry a responsibility that is difficult and
then maybe crumble under it.
And then the punishment is is is severe.
Or it could be means for you to
make it to the highest points in Jannah.
With a great
with great strength comes comes great responsibility, not
to quote Spider Man, Yani. But that's but
that's but that's kinda the, isn't that the
idea? That's the idea here. Same thing. So
they don't bring you closer to us except
Now it works out. Now your
and your will take you high. They
get the the reward that is doubled doubled
because not only they get their reward of
iman and
but everyone is going to get. They get
the the reward for the amwal and the
awlad, for the wealth and the status that
they use for the sake of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And they'll be in the in
the,
in the rooms of Jannah in a state
of of complete and full, you know, safety
and security. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant
us to be amongst those people inshallah ta'ala.
Alright. So let's do, Fadir 10.
Allah
tells us that obedience of
Allah must occur
according to Allah
will. So you have to do it through
knowledge. You cannot do it through
through lack of, through ignorance. Allah
is not
is never obeyed through ignorance. No? You cannot
obey Allah
via ignorance. That's that's an absolute no. It's
only going to be you're only going to
obey Allah through knowledge and understanding.
So Surat Fatr, his focus is on
correcting and rectifying misconceptions.
That's what Surat Fathir does. So that you
have the proper knowledge so that you can
obey Allah according to what his will is
instead of according to your own will. It's
not alakif. It's not how I want to
obey him. No. That's not it's not up
to me. It's to whatever he wants. He
is the one who's going to be obeyed,
so he chooses how he's going to be
obeyed. I can't make things up and say,
well, I wanna obey you this way.
Did he did he ask you to do
that? No. Well, then that doesn't count.
It's not that's not permissible.
I can't,
for example, a man a man, his name
was Abu Israel, at the time of the
prophet alaihi sallam, hadith Muslim. He went and
he stood, under the sun.
So they saw him. Why are you standing
in the sun?
This is how I'm I'm worshiping you all.
I'm standing under the sun. I won't stand
in the fit in in the shade, and
I'm going to fast, and I don't speak
to anyone. I'm not gonna speak, so don't
speak to me. So he told the prophet
go tell him.
Tell him to get out of the, sun,
to sit down, to speak to people, and
continue your fasting.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala likes to be he
he he loves to be worshiped through fasting.
Fast. The rest of them, he doesn't want
that. You don't get to just make things
up as you go along. So that's what
Sufadu teaches. And here he's teaching us a
very important point
If you want if it's integrity and dignity
that you want, if that's what you're looking
for, well, then make sure you look for
it in the correct source. The source of
it is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. All dignity
and all integrity
and all status
belongs exclusively
to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Jamiyah, all of
it. Not a portion of it. Not all
of it belongs to Allah.
You want dignity and integrity? Then you have
to go to the source of the Izzah,
which is Al Aziz
himself, and he is the one who grants
that. No one else does. If you look
for integrity and status and dignity through people
or through other
means, then you'll be very disappointed at the
end.
You may be granted something
very temporary in this life, but very soon
it will it will it will wear off
and won't exist. There is no dignity in
someone who
was worshipped by his people.
Firaun enslaved
complete full races.
Is
Firaun dignified today?
Yeah?
You say you say
And
you can do that. You can't do that
for a lot of people, by the way.
When you say for if if you say
the words, you can say
No problem. May Allah grant him
ongoing damnation. No problem. Where is the dignity
in that? Where is the dignity in every
time your name is spoken, every time your
your name is is said publicly, people damn
you. People say that negative. That's that's where
they don't understand. That's why he thought was
through through autonomy, through authority, through coercion,
through
controlling people, enforcing it doesn't. It lasts for
a short period of time. He stood
there. He stood there. He said,
Look at the, the rivers as they run
under my feet. So Allah had the the
the sea run over his head.
And until this day, we we we curse
his name.
To him, all good and and and beneficial
words
escalate or or ascend.
And he takes to him and he accepts
to his to his highness
good deeds. He accepts to his highness the
good deeds.
This is new.
So it's the last and nights of Ramadan.
I am running
on maybe a 15% battery.
So we need the the the noise level
to come down a bit.
It's a very small space and when people
talk, we hear we hear I I can
hear it here. It's hard for me to
focus.
When I was younger, it didn't bother me
by the way. I feel like I'm getting
older. When I was when I was younger,
I would sit and give Daruss and kids
will be running back and forth and screaming
yelling. I couldn't care less. I would just
now I'm I'm I'm on the and a
kid yells and he completely throws me off.
And I can't think remember what my next
my next thing is going to be. I'm
not sure what it is, but I feel
like it's maybe,
twenties are different than thirties. If you're in
your twenties, enjoy. Habibi, enjoy. They're going to
end very soon, and then you enter thirties,
it's a whole different lifestyle. So, yeah, just
watch out for yourself.
Your body does not stay the exact same
way it was when you were younger.
He says,
and those who plot evil,
thinking that when they plot evil, they get
status or they get dignity or they get
integrity.
They will have
severe punishment,
and their plotting will add up to nothing,
will amount to
nothing.
Their plotting will amount to nothing at the
end. This is what he's saying
You want dignity? Turn towards the source of
it.
All of dignity comes from Allah
All
to him, all good deeds and all good
words are ascended and accepted by him, and
no one else accepts good deeds. And all
of the people who are in the power
struggle,
plotting evil to try to get themselves ahead,
they'll be punished and
all of their plotting will mount to nothing.
All of their plotting will lead to nothing
at the end, and they won't get the
that they were hoping to get.
That is temporary is not worth it.
That only lasts for yeah. In a couple
of years when you're alive doesn't mean that
lasts forever for for eternity. The prophet
did not own a lot of wealth. He
did not have,
a lot of children. Didn't have but the
isa that he got, he was persecuted for
the majority of his life. He was oppressed
with the majority of his existence on this
planet aside maybe from the last maybe 4
or 5 years.
But till this day
people all day because of the because the
source of dignity is Allah
He is the one who grants it and
he is the one who takes it away.
Alright. Let's do one more.
Let's do aya number,
47, if you have seen. 47.
So this
aya, it talks about the fact that
adherence to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's law is
what grants true life, not just the biological
life, but the long term living. The life
of the spirit, the life of the the
life of that continues after you after you
after your body stops functioning. That's real life.
That's what you want. We're all gonna be
around breathing and and eating and drinking for
a while. But it's true life, the life
of the spirit, the long term life is
that you look for. And and within this
surah that talks about that, we have this
verse
which is talking about the disbelievers. And then
when they are told,
give from that which you have.
This is the argument that they make. Listen
to this argument because you've heard it before
and it's important that you hear it in
the Surah so that you never make it
in your life ever again.
This is what the argument that they made.
When they're told give from your well,
These believers tell the believers.
Why do we feed
whomever Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, if he wanted
would have fed?
Why would I feed? Why would I give
my wealth to someone whom if Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala wanted, he would have given him
wealth on his own. Then he just given
it to him himself. Why why do I
why are you asking me to give for
my wealth? If Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wanted
this person to be fed, he would have
fed him. Isn't he
isn't he the provider? Why why are you
asking me to do
it?
The people the you, the ones who are
asking us to give our wealth, you are
in a state of complete loss and and
deviation.
This is a an extremely
evil argument.
And not only the evil is misguided and
is misled and it's in the Quran to
point out a problem.
People starve not because Allah subhanahu wa'ala does
not provide for them. They starve because Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala put a portion of the
risk in the hands of other human beings
who were
obligated
to take from that wealth and give them.
That's what they were supposed to do. They
were supposed to take from their wealth and
give the people who needed it, but they
didn't.
So others starved.
And Allah
watches that. So that
the person who starved can be can find
justice for himself.
And the person who withheld,
withheld their wealth.
Those who withheld aid will be held accountable
for what they did.
People starving is not evidence that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is not
People starving is evidence that people are not
using their wealth away
commanded them to use it. That's what that
is.
That is what starvation is. It is the
it's evidence that people are not using their
wealth the way Allah intended them to to
to use their wealth.
So saying if he wanted to feed them,
he would no. No. No. He wants to
feed them. He gave you a little bit
more so you could give.
He is
testing them with this difficulty and testing you
with this ease.
So this concept of why why would I
why do I have to give? Why do
you have to give? Because Allah
gave you that's why. Or do you actually
believe that the provision that you have in
your hand is
It's exclusively because you are just more intelligent
and and and just better than everyone. That's
actually what you believe.
If you believe that, then you're you're delusional.
I'm not saying people don't work hard. Not
saying there are people who don't put in
the effort to make their wealth and no.
I'm not saying that. Of course, they do.
But to think or look at the world
as if this is me, I did all
of this. That there was no one else
involved in it. That this your your whole
project could not have failed a 1000000 times
over every step of the way, but it
didn't. They could have been in a very
different situation right now very easily. Very easily.
You could you could have been in a
different situation that than the one that you're
in right now, but you're not.
For the response to be
I'm going to give my wealth to someone
whom Allah didn't give wealth to. If Allah
is not giving them wealth, I'm gonna give
them
wealth.
This is this is, you know, this is
the epitome of evil in my opinion.
And it's the and it's and and the
the degree of misconception, misunderstanding, and delusional thinking
is is scary
for for you to see your life that
way.
What do you have extra? That extra that
you got is there so that you can
give it to the people who don't have
enough of it. That's why you got it.
That's why you have it. Whatever extra you
have, whatever you have that you have more
than what you need is in your hands
because Allah
gave it to you so that you could
use it for those who don't have enough
of it. Not for you to make this
horrible argument.
And that's why this is in this Surah
because that's how the well, that's when the
spirit dies. When the spirit dies, that's what
the mouth says. When the the spirit dies,
the mouth says something like that.
Be careful. Be careful of withholding something Allah
gave you that you could help others with.
Be careful.
There's responsibility there that you may not be
fully aware of. You'll be asked about it.
Whether it's your time, your expertise, your compassion,
your wealth, whatever it is. You have extra
of it and others don't.
You have extra for a reason. There's enough
to go around if people just gave from
what they had. I'm going to end with
that.
Tonight,
you have a special
occasion
over the last,
20 20 days. We have students who came,
and participate in the Ramadan. You can pick
these up and put them in the Ramadan
Quran program. The students came from the first,
day of Ramadan and have been continuing to
do so every single day after,
and sitting for, like, 2 hours and doing
the
and revising. And we performed for them. We
did a small competition,
light spirited with the intention of celebrating their
efforts and celebrating the fact that they came
here and encourage me
to love the Quran and to continue to
memorize the Quran and a community that is
gathered around the book of Allah Subhanahu wa'ala
is a community that was strong. It'll be
a community that will find its way, through
its difficulties. It will succeed. We just have
to make sure that our youth understand the
value of carrying the Quran. Not just in
their yeah. Not just memorizing it, but also
understanding it and practicing it. Then you start
when you're young with memorizing because your brain
is a sponge and you are able to
do it. Just ask people in their thirties
and forties how easy it is to memorize
the Quran when when you start at that
point. It's very it's much more difficult. So
today, we're going to Yani, but celebrate them.
Do I have the names or am I
standing here
with nothing to offer?
Where's the,
Shurk?
Apparently, I started earlier than I should have.
So I'll do this. No. No. I'll do
this inshallah because, today we have, we have
a we have a brother from Yaqeen,
Yaqeen Institute. I'm I'm very well, I'm very
very proud and happy to always support them
and have them here to talk about. So
I'll be right before after after
he will share a few words with us.
Today tonight will be a little bit, the
first night of the last 10. So I'll
be sharing a few words with you, Inshallah,
until they're ready about the last 10. And
Nabi alaihi sallallahu alaihi sallam, would say or
or or they would describe him by saying,
He would stay awake most of the night
if not all the night, and he would
wake up his family. He wouldn't let Aisha
sleep anymore.
He he will allow her all Ramadan to
sleep after but not in the last 10
nights he would wake her up. Up. Get
up. Get up. You can't you can't you
miss these nights. You have to get up
and pray.
He
would go in with a a higher degree
of enthusiasm and energy than he had, all
throughout Ramadan. And I know that towards the
end, you get start getting tired. Like, physically,
you start getting tired and, sometimes even mentally.
But this is the time to renew your
intention and prepare yourself
for the the, you know, the the blessing
of these, nights that are that are coming
ahead of us. Say, Ibad Abbas would would,
describe the prophet
The prophet would put an effort extra effort
in the last 10 nights of Ramadan that
which he would not put outside of Ramadan.
Like, you would never see him working as
hard as you would see him in those
last 10 nights of Ramadan in terms of
his of
his of his of his intention of of
of of citing the Quran, of praying, of
making dua. They you'd never see him
as focused as you would see in those
last 10 nights, of Ramadan.
And the reason being is that, yeah, the
last 10 nights of Ramadan within them, we
have.
We don't know what it is. I know
that, yeah,
we we all I love the 27th night
too, by the way. Culturally, it's a big
part of my upbringing. It's something celebrated all
across the but we don't know when it's
going to be. We really don't. There's just
no way. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he
hid it as he hides a lot of
things. He constantly will hide some the the
like, you don't know which of your deeds
has the most. You don't. He hides which
where where the most exist in your deeds.
So you do a lot of good deeds
so that you hopefully, you you do one
that means. So they say, he does this
for everything.
His name his name we don't know which
one it is. So you speak to Allah
using all of his names. You don't know
which one is his album. You don't know
which one Allah respond to you through.
Is the same thing. He eat it so
that you actually put in the effort for
the last 10 nights. You focus all 10
of them, hoping that if you do that,
then you're for sure we're there. Yeah. Even
if you don't it does you don't necessarily,
I know that there are signs for it,
but really the sign for it some scholars,
by the way, some scholars, as you see,
they look at it to be personal.
Meaning, they look at it upon you maybe
different than on someone else. That's an opinion
that exists within Islamic law and it's old.
It's like a 1000 years old or more.
But the concept here is that if you
dedicate yourself the last and nights of Ramadan,
then you will get you will sure for
sure be there, Inshallah, through
through and you'll get through
and that's what we hope for Inshallah.
The plan for us here in this masjid
is going to be that we will,
pray and we'll do.
We'll pray
during
and that's totally fine. Even if you're going
to pray, you can still do with us.
So do with with us normally, and then
we'll come back at 3 o'clock or 3:30.
Yes.
There's no 5:10 minutes. Yeah. It's a
okay. Then bad it, Okay. That's fine. Then
I'll do this now. Is the brother from
around? He can come and he can he
can talk now. That way, we we don't
yeah. He can he can come inshallah.
So you can perform,
and still pray afterwards. Like, that's totally permissible.
So and that's what we're going to do
here. To make it easier for people, we're
going to pray after
after
and then we'll come back at 3:30, and
we will, pray 6
from 3:30 basically to maybe 45 minutes before
suhoor.
The way that we do it, and I've
been doing this for the same the same
system for many years now. We pay 2
raka. We give a small khalifa. We pay
another 2 raka. We give a small khalifa.
We pay 2 raka. Then we make dua.
Mostly mostly in Arabic. Sometimes we'll have a
guest who can do it in English. I
can't do it in English. I'm not gonna
try at this age, so I'm just gonna
leave it to the people who know how
to do it. And that's what we're going
to have every single night
And you're welcome to come and have suhoor
in the Masjid, but you have to bring
food with you. And you have to bring
maybe for whoever you're bringing with. If there's
3 of you, bring enough food for 4.
If there's 5 of you, bring enough food
for 6 so that there's enough food for
everyone to eat inshallah. And then make sure
when you're done, take the food with you.
We don't have enough storage. We have one
small yaneeb, fridge. We can't put all the
food in it. So that's the plan. That's
what we've been doing here for the last
number of years. So I encourage you inshallah,
if you want to,
attend or with us, especially this year, we
have a tent outside, so we have a
bit way more space than we ever had
before. So you're welcome to do that. Just
bring some with you. From the end of
or from the moment that
we're done
basically 5, 10 minutes afterwards, we'll be able
to socialize and then we close the message
until 2 o'clock. So we won't have an
all nighter except maybe the 27th night or
29th night. We may have a few 1
or 2 all nighters. Aside from that, we
are closed from 11 basically to 2 o'clock.
2 o'clock, Sheikh Haman and his group start
their khatma. They have another khatma that is
running. You're welcome to come and pray with
them if you like. And then the official
Tahajjud program starts an hour and a half
later at 3:30.
And then we go until basically right before,
we have
and then right after that, we go we
there's a and that and that's and we
we close the Masjid basically afterwards. So after
after the we ask people to go home
so we can close the masjid,
and because it needs to be clean and
we need to keep, to maintain it throughout
these last 10 nights. So that is the
plan that we have inshallah
for,
for the end of, of Ramadan
and for these last, last 10 nights. My
advice,
for you is that within these last 10
nights,
a really good practice is for you
to take a moment
and review
your relationships.
Review if you carry in your heart any
degree of,
if there's anything in your heart against someone
else. Or if maybe someone else has in
their heart something against you. It's a very
good time this first night. It's very good
for you to try and get rid of
that, for you to forgive others and and
for Allah subhanahu and for you to to
seek forgiveness
from others. This is an extremely, extremely important,
practice that most Muslims and historically would do
at the beginning of the last day I
said, many of them would do at the
beginning of Ramadan. But if you have not
done that, then this is a good time
for you to take a moment and reflect
on that. And think about maybe if there
are if there's bad blood between you and
people in your life and between you and
your relatives or maybe friends and try to
remove whatever is in the heart. Because the
reason the prophet, alayhis salatu wa sallam, forgot
the timing of his al Qadr. This is
symbolic. The story obviously is symbolic because he
forgot when his al Qadr was. He could
have just come back to Jibril and told
him later. Like, it's,
Jibril saw him many times afterwards. So there
was a reason for why he did not.
It it it's the symbolism, the story. The
prophet alaihis salaam left his home after Jibreel
gave him the actual date, and he walked
out and he said,
that's the that's the wording that he used.
Then 2 people started yelling at each other
and fighting. Yep.
So people had a dispute and disagreement, so
he had to stand there and
stop the
the dispute and fix the problem. And by
the time he was done doing that, he
had completely forgotten.
Ramadan. Look for it in the last 10
nights of Ramadan and the winter late nights.
By the way, winter nights
doesn't always only mean so tonight's 21st. This
could be
And if it is, may Allah grant us
the barakah. If it's say I mean, we
don't know, but but this could be tomorrow
could be the day after. Any of these
nights starting tonight. I know we we hope
it's always towards the end so that we're
a bit more prepared, but it could be
the first night. Actually, the hadith
would say,
I witnessed the night of of Qadr with
the prophet
the night of the 21st
when Nabi
And the prophet at that time he was
making sujood and it was raining and there
was and there was mud on his forehead,
alayhis salatu wa sallam. A little bit of
mud because the the the the haram his
his masjid, alayhis salatu, at that time, didn't
have carpets and it was open. So if
it rained, it rained on him, alayhis salatu,
stood in the rain. So Abu Sa'id points
out the 21st being one of the times
he witnessed this night,
and you have, obviously, other Sahaba who witnessed
different So this could be the night. So
before we start, take a moment and maybe
reflect.
Reflect on your relationship. Reflect on people that
you know in your life and how you
feel about them, how they feel about you,
and try to forgive if if you have
not already. And seek forgiveness from them if
you have not already. So So that Allah
will grant you because what the scholars have
taken from this point
the
what the scholars have taken from this point
is that if the prophet alayhi salatu wa
sallam lost the timing of because
of dispute,
then,
Abid, a servant will lose the of
through the same means. I mean, you will
lose you won't be able to actually catch
if you do the same problem, if if
if if you fall into a dispute with
other people or you start fighting. So be
very careful. These last 10 nights
be
as tame as a sheep. Be someone who
has no have no to have no spike
to you. Just forgive people, move along. This
is not the time to fight or disagree
or get into an argument. Just let things
go.
Let go of your ego completely for the
sake of
granting you the, of of late. So that's
all that I have.
We could have be
we'll we'll help brother,
our our brother from share a few words
inshallah with us before Adan al Isha, and
then we'll give, the ceremony. It'll be maybe
5, 10 minutes right after Adan al Isha.
We'll give out the, awards, and then we'll
go for Talawi. So forgive us if we
take a little bit more time tonight, than
we usually do.
So I'll present to you, brother Amal Khan
from.
Yeah. Of course, please.
Mhmm. Masha'Allah. I'm really happy to be back
here.
I will only take 2 minutes because there's
so many beautiful announcements and I want you
to be able to focus on the beautiful
salah, inshallah. So we'll keep it short and
sweet.
Most of you already know about the Yaqeen
Institute Alhamdulillah.
It was founded over 7 years ago by
doctor Amr Solaiman Alhamdulillah,
And our work has really gone far into
Canada and the US. We're a registered charity
here in Canada, alhamdulillah.
And the major focus of the Yaqeen Institute
is being there for the community. We've been
there for the community when people have had
doubts and questions about Islam and they didn't
know who to ask. So millions of people
were able to go to Yaqeen and find
their answers.
We've been there for the community every Ramadan
in a lot of your households with the,
you know, Jannah series with Sheikh Omar Suleiman
or the why me why me series that's
going on right now, Alhamdulillah,
and a lot of other
series. And we've been there to try and
be a voice for our Palestinian brothers and
sisters
who after over a 150
days are still struggling whether they call it
a ceasefire for the time being or not.
They're still struggling and it's still an atrocity.
And in that time of a 150 days,
the Yaqeen Institute was able to produce over
a 125
videos, and I wanna say that number again.
Over a 125
videos
focusing and targeting, creating awareness, creating support, creating
action items for the community, so that we
can do our best and despite them trying
to shut down these videos, shadow banning, whatever
the media has been trying to spin away.
We've gotten over 20,000,000
views on our videos just on Palestine. Alhamdulillah.
And we've had over 600,000
people share these videos to create awareness.
So I'm here today asking 2 things inshallah.
One is to take a look at what
we're doing. You can go to the Yaqeen's
website, yaqeeninsudu.ca.
You can go to our YouTube page or
whatnot, and share this content, share these videos
so that more people can create We can
create more awareness and help our brothers and
sisters. And number 2, on this blessed night
Insha'Allah,
please come and see us. We have a
booth, we have card readers Masha'Allah. We're even
selling books, alhamdulillah. But don't leave without doing
something small even Insha'Allah if you can't to
help support us.