Adnan Rajeh – Quranic Reflections – Surat Al-Qamar 9 – End of Surat Al-Hashr
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The UK Council of Imams confirms the new moon will be visible on Monday, but the UK will have a different date for the 30th night. The importance of memorizing the numbers of 30 and 32 is emphasized, as it is a combination of spiritual and physical elements. Organized behavior and community are also emphasized, and the importance of practicing and not letting anyone know of one's true lie is emphasized. The speaker emphasizes the need for personal development and avoiding thoughts of success, and encourages attendees to advocate for their cause and donate.
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They were running running out of nights
and very close. The aid has already been
announced on Wednesday.
The the London Council of Imams had met,
and they,
looked at the, the whole eclipse issue and
the visibility,
and, it is impossible for the moon to
be visible on Monday night. Like, there is
absolutely no way that it can be visible
anywhere, almost in the world. Even though the
eclipse is occurring on a new moon, this
is impossible for it to be visible. The
even the, you know, the the,
councils that go strictly by by calculation are
going by Wednesday being the, the first day
of Eid. And those who go by visibility
will end up with the same conclusion because
it's impossible to to visualize. We,
it would I think the the group,
Yani had had confirmed that with not only,
you know, local astronomers but,
elsewhere.
So Ramadan this year will be 30:30 days
30 nights. So we we conclude the Quran
on the 29th night, but we will have
on the 30th night as well. It'll it'll
be much shorter and much less, and we'll
be starting on we're gonna do on
the 30th night. It'll just be a few
verses. Now we also have to Hajjud the
30th night as well. And we'll have a
dalas after Fajr on the 30th morning. And
I might have to sit the 30th morning.
After Fajr and give a dalas, you have
to sit and listen to it. So
everyone's gonna show up and they're gonna listen
and they're gonna be there. If I have
to do 30, then you have to do
32. It's not I do 30 and you
go home. I do 29th. Nope. If I'm
doing 30, you're all gonna show up and
sit here and do 30 as well just
like me. But Alhamdulillah. Yeah. He said barakah.
I want extra day for those who,
want to catch up and and and try
and put in their their full effort, then
it's 3rd 30 days and 30 nights. And
I'd inshallah be inshallah on Wednesday.
Tonight inshallah ta'ala, we're psyched from, Surat Al
Umar until the end of Surat Al Hashr.
And yesterday, I went over,
the, the basic idea of of al Mufasal
from qaf to, these last four digits of
the Quran for a little bit. And my
advice is to people who aren't great at
memorization and find this to be difficult, this
is what you should know. Memorize. Try to
do qaf to. Do it nice and slow.
I do tafsir of these surahs every Sunday.
We'd recite maybe half a page or so
every time we sit down. You can take
that half a page, memorize it over the
week. Do that over a couple of years.
You'll have, like, the last 4 juz. They
summarize,
literally everything that the Quran has talked about
in the 1st 26th
juz.
In the first 26th
was explained there is is basically summarized in
in the in these last 4. And
they're divided into 4 clusters of surahs, And
then
is
divided into 4 separate groups.
Is a is a of comparisons. It
it runs options for us, and it allows
us to contemplate
2 separate values that are different than one
another.
Righteousness versus versus
aimlessness or
sorry. Purposefulness.
Having an objective, having a goal versus aimlessness
and
Guidance versus no guidance. Living seeking guidance versus
living based on whatever it is you make
up for yourself.
So taking making decisions based on authentic information,
on knowledge versus making decisions on
on assumptions and desires and and whims.
Talk about bounties.
Talks about the fact that if the bounty
is not utilized,
then then it backfires.
It backfires. It becomes it becomes a reason
for you for your demise, which is why
we have in the surah time and time
again
It's a bounty. It's given to you. If
you don't use the Quran well, it's taken
away, and you're punished for not doing it
properly. And that's why we have all these
stories and sort of all the of,
the the the nations
that were punished. Not all nations were punished,
but the ones that were were talked about
in Surat Al Qamar because they were given
the blessing of a a prophecy
and and of signs and of knowledge and
of guidance, and they and they refused to
take it and that backfired, you know, backfired
against them. Surat Al Rahman talks about the
fact that in order for you to hold
on to a blessing, you must show gratitude,
which is why time and time again this
Surah,
It's a question. In which of the,
in in which of Allah's bounties do the
2 of you disbelieve? 2 of you as
in either
or as in believers, disbelievers. It, both approaches
are very reasonable in tafsir of the of
the Surah,
and both exist within authentic
Tafsir books. So the gives us the option
of the type of person you want to
be. Al Qiyam. In duniya,
you what you're doing in life is just
preparing you for who which category you're going
to fall into.
There are 3 categories on day of judgment.
Either
or
or or The odds are in your favor.
It's 2 out of 3 that make it.
11 out of 3 doesn't. But what you
do in life now just
dictates in which category you're going to be.
You have to choose where do you want
to be. Are you are you are you
going to try your your absolute best? Are
you gonna just barely get it through, or
you're going to be on the wrong on
the wrong side of the equation altogether? And
that's what I need instead of giving us
options to choose from, it gives us 2
opposites. So the whole suit on all the
soldiers, it was opposites.
Yeah. It's aimlessness,
aimfulness, or purposefulness.
Guidance, misguidance,
knowledge, assumptions.
Opposites. They have to choose from. So the
hadith are opposites that you need to balance.
That's the the last surah. Every cluster of
the last surah is always a little bit,
more interesting or has has a little bit
of a a twist to it. So instead
of saying, oh, choose between spirituality and physicality,
appearances or essence, they're saying, no. No. You
need both. You need to have a a
healthy mix of both. And if you don't
have the healthy balance of both, then it
doesn't work. Islam does not function appropriately. And
this is this problem that we've seen,
that the our Muslim Ummah has been struggling
with for for for many generations.
Now those are very, very good at the
mechanics.
Very, very good at, you know,
depicting all of the exact movements and the
the stats, the way you stand and the
way you you have it down down down
to a it's very, very well understood. But
then you have
you have this lack of of of any
essence to it. Like, there's there's lack of
of of connection. You have group that are
actually very spiritual, but they don't know how
to follow the sunnah in terms of its
actual,
you know, any,
mechanics or or appearances. So you have these
2 groups, and they we can't seem to
figure out I don't know why. Like, I
honestly don't understand why you can't just merge,
like, these two approaches and bring this nice
balance where you you follow the sunnah of
the prophet, alayhis salam, appearance wise, and you
follow his sunnah spiritually because his sunnah is
also spiritual. Like, his sunnah is also that
connection. It's it's it's bizarre to to, you
know, to to talk about his
sun and and and, ignore his connection with
Allah That's his real legacy. It was how
close he was to Allah
in all at all times in every in
a sense of the word
with a specific mechanical system and an appearance
that he held on to. So it's bringing
in both, and that's what Surah Al Hadid
talks about. So it's called Hadid iron, yet
the it's the most spiritual surah in the
Quran.
So it's a very spiritual surah, but it's
called iron. And it it talks about this
this balance this balance. The second the cluster
after that again, we're talking about the last
4, which is a little is from the
And this
or this cluster, we're doing the tafsir of
it in,
on Sundays after
the evenings, every Sunday, we do tafsir of
we've we've completed the Kaft to Al Hadid
over the last maybe 2 years, and now
we're doing Mujadilah. We were up to Surah
Al
You finish actually.
And this juzah is is strictly.
The whole juzah is. All that was revealed
in Madinah, all of it,
in comparison to the rest of the Juz'ah.
So the one before it, from Qafatul Hadid
is Al Makki. And from Mulk basically to
Al Musalat, Al Makki as well, even Surat
Al Islam, also Makki. And then most of
the aside maybe from a Bayinah and a
Nasr, it's all Makki Surahs. It's all Surahs
revealed early on, which which is, you know,
understandable because this final piece in the Mufasal
is going to talk a lot about values.
It's going to summarize the Quran. It's and
it's to summarize what the Quran talked about
in in a shape of talking about principles
and values, But there is fiqh in Islam
as well. So you had to have a
jizzar at least that will talk that that
would talk about the organizational piece. You see
fiqh is here to organize
lifestyle. So they give us like without fiqh,
then how would we know when to pray
or how to pray or how to line
up and how We wouldn't know what to
do. It would be to improvise every time
and then everyone come up with their own
idea and then we have a complete chaos.
So fiqh is there to help organize. Organize
in terms of this is what this is
how much zakah you give. Without that, it
becomes chaotic as well. If someone gives like
less than 1%, someone will give way more.
So you need you need things organized. Fiqh
is there to help organize human behavior and
communal life. So you need at least 1
juzah within this last 4 within the summary
of the Quran, the mufasa, the comprehensive to
talk about that. What is what
does? That's what this cluster of surahs,
does.
And each surah talks upon
or or takes upon itself an aspect of
organization that's different than the other. So the
talks about organizing the relationships between Muslims within
the community.
Whether it's between,
Muslim brothers or sisters, people who are, you
know, just living together or between spouses or
between Muslim individuals and their leadership or between
Muslims and people who are not necessarily,
Yani, but committed to the same cause that
they're committed to. So organizing these types of
relationships within the Muslim ummah and making sure
that it's based on empathy, it's based on
compassion, it's based on justice,
and it's based on equality, it's based on,
on equal opportunity and equal value for everyone
in it. That's what the talks about it,
and it's called
the or
You can you can call it either or.
Means the lady who argued, and it talks
a story, tells a story of,
of Sayidullah,
Hajib.
What was it?
Anyways,
so you're very famous, Muslim lady who who,
Quran was revealed to talk about it. If
we're lucky and we end up taking the
choosing that, that story, then I'll talk to
you about it. If not, then maybe I'll
just I'll slip it in at some point
to what before before the end of the,
of the lecture. And then after that, Surud
al Hashir. Surud al Hashir talks about citizenship.
It's different. Surah Al Hajjar. Yes.
That that's
So, Surah Al Hajjar talks about citizenship. This
is a little bit different.
Meaning Surah Al Hajar organizes relationship between people
who are living in the same country that
may not be the same. So it talks
about relationship between Muslims and non Muslims, Muslims
and
Muslims who are Muslims amongst each other, those
who are early, those who came late, because
it's not the same thing.
The same problem in every country. Yeah? The
natives and the immigrants. Had the same problem
in Madinah. They're the natives and that the
immigrants you had the they were immigrants. They
didn't belong. They didn't belong in Madinah. So
this problem was bound to to cause some
some issue. So Surat Al Hashil talked about
the nature of the relationship that have to
exist and the nature of how this citizenship
would
present itself in terms of a financial system
and a social system, which is why we
have that talked about in Surat Hashal. And
you're gonna find within this juzal, these small,
very concentrated doses of spirituality.
You'll find at 10 Surat Hashr, for example,
You'll find Surat Tarabun,
is that within these surahs, Allah
every time he explains
technicalities because suit this whole juzah, this whole
cluster, just technicalities.
Here's what you do. Here's what you don't
do. Here's how you deal with people. Here's
how you don't. Here are the rules. Here
are the laws. It can become very mechanical.
So Allah
every maybe, 2 or 3 pages, he will
put a very high dose of spirituality,
and the purpose of it is to remind
you of why you're doing it.
See, this is a big problem. If you
forget why you're doing what you're doing, then
the what you're doing stops becoming a mean
and becomes a purpose, and that basically collapses
the whole system.
The reason that we behave the way we
behave the way the reason that we follow
the rules of fiqh is not because, well,
that's what we do, and that's our system,
and that's our group. And it's not an
issue of ego. It's not an issue of,
of of group mentalities because Allah
commanded us to do so because this is
his will, because these are his teachings, because
this is what he's going to reward us
for and punish us based upon. You always
have to keep that connection in your mind
to Allah when you do stuff, especially when
you get really technical, especially when we go
into organizational aspects of of large community gatherings,
a lot of large community functions.
Because if you don't do that, after a
while, it becomes us against them. It becomes
that mentality of the group. It's us against
them, and there's no reasoning for it, and
there's no basis to it. It just becomes
this is us. This is you, and we're
we're in clash all the time and we
lose we lose this loose sense that we
lose
we we we no longer see the long
term goal. We don't know why we're doing
it anymore. We forget why it is that
we are in this discussion or why are
we in this disagreement or why are we
going through all this to begin with. And
the reason is because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
told us to. And if you remember that,
then you always connect what you do, what
you say, and how you behave to Allah.
And when you do that, you have no
choice but to hold these behaviors and these
words and these, the actions
to Allah standard. And when you do that,
there's more sincerity in it and it works
better.
Brutality and and discrimination and loss of of
empathy and loss of compassion. It comes from
the fact that you stop connecting what you
do to the almighty Subhanahu wa ta'ala because
he's arrahman al raheem. There's no way for
you to do something knowing that it's in
the name of the
and then do it in a way that
is that that lacks ethicality. There's no there's
no morality and it's impossible.
It doesn't work that, but because we we're
we're good at as human beings, we're good
at doing that. We're separating
the original purpose of it all and just
focusing on what's self serving, which is the
the personal integrity that I feel or the
thing of the strength or the power that
I want for myself and for those who
identify as being similar to me. And that's
a real pitfall, which is why you'll find
some of the most spiritual and beautiful and
most moving verses in the Quran in just
Even though that you wouldn't think that because
the whole just it's just very technical. It
just talks about all these different,
do's and don'ts and how to organize stuff.
And then in the midst of it, you
find these these verses.
You don't find in anyone in the Quran
this ongoing this you just,
you know, counting his names subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Just one after the other just kinda always
just throwing at you. Remember who he is.
This is who he is. This is why
you're doing all of this. There's no other
reason. There's no other
purpose. There's no value
to our group if you are not serving
Allah. There's no value to our Islam if
it's not to serve Allah There's no value
to our Masjid. If it's not trying to
serve Allah and the people who come to
him, there's no value to any of this
stuff. There's no value in it. There's no
innate value in in Muslim institutions if they're
not serving Allah and the people that that
that want to be closer to Allah or
those whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants us
to serve.
And that's hard sometimes for us to, to
wrap our hisra, but that's what this juicer
is gonna talk about. So
I covered a little bit of that now,
that and this is what the hasher we're
going to enjoy all of that today. And
then tomorrow we'll go through, the rest of
the surahs of the shudan. I'll explain what
they what they talk about as well.
And these surahs, in my opinion, for for,
you know, for people who are living in
the west, have a lot of,
important pieces for us to to contemplate. So
I'll end with that, and we'll start with,
with, I guess, what are we gonna do
here.
Let's do a number 17 of.
We're not gonna get too much today.
Repeated time and time again, this ayah in
Surat Al Qamar. After each story, you find
the same ayah. Indeed, we have made the
Quran, we have eased the Quran for dhikr.
Dhikr
can mean remembrance, can mean comprehension, can mean
memorization. Can mean all of these stuff together
or or either of them.
Then he says and the origin of this
in Arabic is
meaning is there someone who is going to
take is going to
be moved by this, is someone who's going
to take upon themselves to be reminded or
or taught or is going to be learned
or comprehend or understand or memorize that which
is being given. So
Arab, when you have a
behind each other that way, it becomes a
little bit of a of a of a
linguistic burden. It's a little bit heavy to
say.
So what they would do is they would
they would combine them together, and they would
basically the dal would lose a piece of
its, identity, and so is the ta, and
you end it with a dal. So it's
mudtakir, but the asal is mudtakir
from its takara,
which is not dakirah, which is to remember.
His dakirah is to is to memorize or
to internalize or to comprehend.
So he says here, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in
this verse that he repeats time and time
again in Surat Al Qamar after every major
story that ends with punishment.
All the stories of Al Qamar end end
badly. None of them end well for the
people. None of them. Nuh
then then Hud then Salih then Lut then
Firaun then Musa. None
of these stories end well.
The end of each of these stories, he
says,
By the way, we have made the Quran
easy
for you to comprehend and understand and learn
from.
Is any are any of you going to
take the time to learn it and understand?
No? Alright. But read this read this next
story then.
You read the next story. We've made it
easy for you to learn and comprehend the
Quran. It's not complicated. Any of you gonna
learn? No. How may I listen to this
next story then?
Here's a blessing. You don't wanna take it?
It it backfires. It backfires.
It not only religiously does it do that.
Even just
naturally it does. If you're given something, you
don't use it well, it backfires against you
in life. Like,
the way even your your image in front
of others doesn't look as well. The way
you feel about yourself doesn't feel. Because if
you're given an advantage, an opportunity, you don't
take advantage, you don't you don't actually
utilize or capitalize on it, then you're stuck
for the rest of your life thinking about
why didn't I? What was because others are
are are are getting along
so much better with so much less, and
I was given more. I didn't use it
properly. So even it weighs on you even
as a person. And in your image also
is affected by it. But but aside from
all that, which doesn't matter in my opinion,
is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying,
I gave you something, use it. If you
don't use it, then then it then it
turns into something different. See nothing comes from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala labeled really. Really. No.
It all just it's it's whatever you're given.
Here. Here's something. And then you choose. Do
you want it to be a blessing? You
want it to be a, not want it
to be a reason for
for your own punishment. It's up to you.
You call it a blessing or harm. You
you lay the label gun is in your
hand. You get to label it whatever you
want.
And he's using subhanahu wa ta'ala, interestingly enough,
an example that doesn't even come to mind.
The Quran. In the Quran, what's more yeah.
The Quran is definitely going to be a
blessing,
not not for everyone.
Not for everyone.
We know many people whom the prophet, alayhis
salatu, wasalam, brought the Quran to.
They fell face first into jahannam in their
lives, and they heard the Quran way before
you and I did and probably had a
better comprehension of it because they spoke the
language a bit more purely and the language
made more sense. And for us, had to
sit down and break things down and try
and talk about it from different angles so
it you can get it so we can
grasp it. But for them, this was their
language. They understood exactly what it was saying
and they didn't so this this ultimate the
ultimate truth, the most beautiful thing that we
have, the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
it it can also be you have to
choose if you wanted to be a blessing
in your life or not. May Allah grant
us the ability to make the Quran a
blessing in our life. Let's
do aya number,
60 of
This is question
What is the, proper reward
for excellence?
Is there any reward appropriate for excellence aside
from excellence?
The answer is no.
There is no
better lassan who is a lassan.
The proper response to excellence is excellence. This
ayah can be understood in 2 different ways.
Allah
is showing you all of his blessings, Yom
Bilqiyam, and Jannah. The Surat Al Rahman, the
majority of it, it talks about a little
bit of punishment to hold, but the rest
of it is talking about
all these all these blessings and all these
all these reward in Jannah. And he
says, Now that you've heard all of this,
now you've heard of all of these bounties
and all that you're going to get in
Jannah. This excellence that I that I have
in store for you. What is the proper
response for that? What is the right way
to go by that aside from showing excellence
yourself?
That's one way of understanding it. Another way
is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, you
showed excellence in your life. You came to
me with a story of
in repentance. You just you just never gave
up. Your resilience and your grit was was
noticed. You came to Allah
with this with this excellence that you showed.
So he's telling to you. Now what do
you think the proper reward for your excellence
is aside from my excellence?
Show me your excellence, and I will show
you mine,
And there is no comparison
between
mine and Allah's
excellent. There's no comparison at all. My excellence
is mediocre at best at best. That's if
I'm on a good day. But all of
the time is well below average. It's not
worth anything. You look at it as just
a mess
as if you're actually, you know, self aware
and have some to be of self accountability.
You look up what you're doing. There's so
many problems in all of this. There's it's
lacking in sincerity. It's lacking in in compassion
and and empathy. It's lacking with it's lacking
in emotion. It's lacking in in in punctuality.
It's lacking in grit and resilience and perseverance
and love. It's lacking in so many ways.
It's the best I can do right now,
but it's slack. It's really not that good.
But he's telling you, if you show me
excellence, then what do you think I'm gonna
show you?
I'm gonna show you my excellence, subhanahu wa
ta'ala. It's a beautiful beautiful area. It's very
it's very uplifting. I'm gonna try my best
and then you're gonna give me your best.
Oh,
there's no there's no comparison here at all.
Your best and my best, that's not even
it's not even worth talking about the 2
in the same sentence.
And one of you bring bringing in the
same sentence is almost rude. Had he not
done it himself, subhanahu wa ta'ala, I wouldn't
have the the the audacity to do it.
I wouldn't dare do it, but he did
it. He said,
there is nothing else. You show me excellence,
I'll show you mine.
May Allah grant us the ability to experience
that. Let's do
what do we have here?
So they don't want.
Alright. That's fine. Everyone knows that's all forgiven.
Let's do Hadid 23.
The most votes. Let's do that.
Towards the end of Surat
Know that all all is
is just
an ongoing,
a continuous form of of play and distraction
and try possessing more and and trying to
compete with others to be better and try
to have more than other people, and it's
it's all it is. It's you're just it's
it's it's a doesn't mean that's what it's
supposed to be. It's just
the low living, that's what the low living
if you live just based on your instincts,
that's all you do. You play, you're distracted,
you try, you compete with others, try to
be stronger, you try to gain power, you
try to gain possessions, that's all you try
to do.
So he's trying to teach us subhanahu wa
ta'ala that that's not how we're supposed to
live.
So he teaches us something important here that
whenever a calamity occurs on earth or in
your life,
it was decreed way before life ever existed.
I mean, before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created
life, before life was a thing for the
concept of life existed, it was already decreed
that whatever difficulty you're
facing right now, you're going to face. So
that takes away What does that do help
you with? How does that help? So this
is how he,
explains
it.
So that you don't end up in a
state of ongoing sorrow.
So you don't end up in a state
where you're physically and clinically depressed, so you're
upset to the point where you're non functional
anymore because of that which you missed out
on in your in your life.
If you don't have the ability to look
at your past and accept it for what
it was,
learn the lessons from it. Whatever the lessons
are, accept what it is that you that
you how you grew from it.
If you dwell on it to the point
where I I was able to I wish
I I I had the I I just
made that choice. Or if I just didn't
make that choice, then you get stuck in
that moment, then you'll never ever be able
to get out of it And it will
eat you alive in that low, that if
piece will just will just
hung over you for the rest of your
life, and and you're not supposed to live
like that. Even when you made a bad
choice, even you made a horrible choice that
cost you and the people you love,
it happened now.
It's done. You can't go back. So don't
don't do that.
Don't let that ruin you. Don't let the,
the ongoing
sorrow and agony bring you down or ruin
you because it's gone now. It's it's done.
Learn the lesson from it. What did you
learn from it? How did you grow from
that? What can you take away with you
moving forward? What calling of life did that
give you? And that's what you do and
you and you because you can't, wallahi, it'll
it'll ruin. Yeah. I see people sometimes who
come and talk
to me and they bring up like a
problem
or a missed opportunity or a decision they
made at some point in their lives that
cost them so much and and they just
can't get out of it. They just can't
remove themselves from that. Now most of the
time, some you need you need some degree
of help, and it's it's important to, you
know, to access, no mental health,
you need
services when you're when you're stuck with that.
But the Quran gives you a religious reason
for you not to be stuck in that
moment in time. There was a moment in
your past that didn't work out. Don't let
it.
Oh, 4 more 4 more nights. That's it.
Just a spoon of 4 more nights in
the.
Now I'm getting older. I I never bothered
me. I'll tell you this. It never bothered
me. I also in my twenties, I could
I could speak with I did with children
running back and forth and screaming and I
had kids sitting on my back. It didn't
bother me at all. I could focus. Now
I'm on the minbar and someone coughs twice.
I'm ready to stop the hook and ask
them to be removed from the mess altogether
so I can focus. They just say your
subhanAllah, your your your ability to to to
focus kinda changes as you get a little
bit older. And I and I can't do
it anymore. So so I need a little
bit less less noise to be able to
function.
Or I lose my my my train of
thought completely. I I can't remember what I'm
talking about anymore. So that's the first thing.
The first thing you don't end up stuck
in this in a moment of time in
your past that was painful.
Now at this point, you should be aware
of what means. Like you shouldn't say, oh,
be happy because we've we've explained this maybe
3 times so far, this is the 4th.
Where Quran does not mean happiness. It means
vanity.
That's what it means. It's talking about vanity.
So
you don't allow that which he gave you
make you vain. You don't let it go
to your head. What what it is that
you achieve, what you accomplished, what you have
right now, your status, your wealth, your name,
what what you
everything that defines you, that you're proud of,
you don't allow it to make you vain.
Allah
does not love all the each vain and
an arrogant person. He doesn't like the vain
and the arrogant.
This is a very
wise
way to live life. And if we listen
to Allah, there's something in this stuff we
can for sure walk away tonight with.
Live life where you're not dwelling on a
moment in your past where you could have
something done done something different. Learn from it.
Learn from it. Make a if you made
a mistake at some point, but then don't
don't dwell. Don't let it continuously ruin you.
Don't let it take away your ability to
live optimistically and well moving forward. Learn from
your past. Don't let it bring you down
to the point where you can't function anymore.
And that which you have, that's for the
stuff that you lost or you missed or
you messed up. Right?
One of the three things. Either you you
lost it or you missed the opportunity or
messed it up when it was given to
you, whatever it is. And then that which
you are given, like the stuff that you
have, the valuable things, the valuable stuff, don't
let them go to your head. Don't let
them make you everything dervein.
Let them make you grateful
and humble
and someone who see and appreciates the the
bounty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala upon themselves
and uses them use them for the sake
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a beautified
manner. This is how we're supposed to live.
We're supposed to look at our present and
past and that's what we see. We see
the good and we're thankful and grateful. We
don't let
it cause
or fakhr. It doesn't cause vanity or arrogance
or we I look at our past and
it was there's something negative and dark. We
don't dwell on it. We learn something from
it and then we try and we move
on. We take that lesson and we move
forward with our lives and I find that
to be extremely
insightful.
So let's do ayah number,
what is this? 8 18 of
So I told you each surah within this
organizational
cluster from to
has
some
dose of spirituality in it. So it focuses
and and and that's the verses that I
put up there because most people are interested
in hearing about the fiqhah this. You wanna
learn learn the fiqh, you wanna learn the
the rules and the lies, you come to
the halakat, and you listen and I'll I'll
explain them to you so you know how
it is you're going to actually, you know,
follow the deen and and practice according to
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's will. So I put
the that have the the verses that have
a little bit of spirituality. And this one
is in my book, like, it's it's ranked
amongst the 10 most scary verses that I
that that I have in the Quran in
in my in my heart and my mind.
He says,
and the day where he resurrects them all,
And they make oaths to him, subhanahu wa
ta'ala, as they stand there being held accountable,
as they stand there to be judged,
they'll swear to god, to god himself.
I swear I didn't do this. As they
used to swear to you, as they used
to make oath to you.
And this is the scary piece, and they
feel that they're onto something.
They feel that they're right.
There's indeed, they are the liars. It's one
thing to lie. It's one thing to lie
to others. It's one thing to lie to
yourself. It's one thing it's another thing to
believe your own lie.
It's another thing for you to lose to
lose sight of of the truth. You lose
that connection that you have with yourself that
you don't even know what's real and what's
not anymore. You've been lying you've been telling
yourself a lie for so long and now
you believe it. And they come to Allah,
and you swear, no. I swear to God.
I didn't do it for that reason. I
did it for another reason. Just like you
swore to people. And Allah,
you're gonna lie you can't lie to him.
You can lie to me, no problem, and
anyone else by the for that matter. And
you can probably even beat a polygraph if
if you're if you're if you're trained well
enough. But but you can't lie to Allah
because he sees right through it. Right through
it. He knew exactly why you do what
you did, and he knows what you did
as well. He know whether you did it
well or not,
and whether you did it for the right
reason or not.
There's a lot of little details in life
that, you know, make make, disputes difficult to,
to to solve because they're small little details
that only you know that we can't prove.
I can't no one can prove. But you
know that that the the reason that this
case is is is the way it is
because of that detail that you're holding on
to, that you're not gonna disclose to anyone
and you're gonna act like it's not there,
and you're gonna you convince yourself that even
though this detail is there, I don't I'm
not gonna tell tell anyone about it, and
I still have the up. You know that
details changes everything, but you convince yourself that
it doesn't change anything. And now you believe
that and now you stand by it and
you defend it and then you come to
your and say I I wasn't at fault
and you swear it to God.
Just like they swore, and they took made
oaths to you.
And they feel that they that they have
the right, that they're that they're correct. They
feel that they're on the right side of
the equation, and Allah
has to replay the whole thing for them.
He'll replay the whole
whole story for you.
I I can't use the word 4 k
because it's even beyond that. It's within the,
like, he's gonna replay what happened with
the intentions that existed on the inside that
no one saw. Like with an with an
element with a dimension of the layer of
the replay that you didn't even think was
even possible. You're gonna replay it for you
and show you at which point you started
the first lie and then you told yourself
the second time the lie and then you
started you you convince yourself more and it
shows you how you came to a point
where you weren't if there are people who
don't have the ability at there. There are
people who come to a point in their
lives they don't have the ability anymore. They
have literally lost the ability to see
the fault. They can't see it. They can't
they've they're so far down that road that
they do not have the ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala to protect you from that.
Well, I seek refuge in Allah from that.
That is that is a
that's just there's no redemption from that almost.
The redemption from that is so hard,
almost impossible. Once you're to the point where
you are convinced of your lie,
people are gonna be so convinced of their
own lies. They will lie to God.
It's such a ironic thing to do. Alavai,
everyone. Yeah. Why? Why would you do that?
But no. They believe.
They don't think they're lying at that moment.
At that moment, they think they're
right. The lie happened long time ago. They
allowed it to happen and brew and grow
and they transform it in something long time
ago. At this point, they didn't think it
was a lie. It will be exposed to
them by Allah
It'll be extremely, extremely,
upsetting when it when when it does.
Alright. Let's do Hashav 19.
And don't be like the people
forgot Allah,
so he made them forget themselves.
What a night of profound profound pieces of,
of wisdom. Here's your night.
Nassula Allah, it doesn't necessarily mean that they
forgot him in totality, meaning they don't know
who he is at all. No. It just
means that they lived a life where they
weren't really focused on Allah
He was a side thought or an afterthought.
Allah the concept of God and the concept
of religion, the concept of of following the
prophet alaihi sallamal learning was something that took
yeah. It was on the bench. It was
benched for the majority of your life. It
wasn't really an act an active player on
your team. It wasn't something that you cared
for too much.
Yeah. You would hear about it every once
in a while. Maybe you showed up for
the 27th night in aid, and that's pretty
much it. And for the rest of the
year, you weren't really a part of things.
Scary.
We should all be scared of this.
When you forget Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, you
you may even be practicing. This ayah is
not just for people who who lack practice.
No. You could be practicing, but your practice
is so focused
on something that is self serving
that you don't see how your practice is
connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala anymore.
This is this is a real problem too
where you get caught up within the technicalities
and the details and the work that you've
thought you stop seeing how what you're doing
and why you're doing it is to please
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and you're not revising
that enough,
which can lead to the whole thing that
you're doing, whatever whatever project you're trying to
get off the ground or whatever you're trying
to achieve or accomplish to lose the balaka
and for it not to actually achieve its
purpose because it's not connected to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. So he's saying don't be like
the people who forgot Allah.
So what's the consequence of doing that?
It's a very it's a very interesting
he made them forget themselves.
He made them forget who they were.
He made them forget what they were here
to do, what their lives were were for.
This is this is the ultimate loss. The
ultimate loss is when you don't know why
you're here and what you're here what you're
trying to achieve. You don't know anymore. Nasit
anafsaq. You forgot yourself.
And now you don't know who you are.
I I can't tell you the number of
people who wake up sometime
midlife,
in their forties or fifties, and have no
idea who they are anymore. Like, they cannot
they look in the mirror, and they don't
know who this person is because this is
not the person.
They were not forget about the physical aspect
and all the gray that they see on
their faces and all the lines that weren't
there before. It's also
what they're doing with their lives and where
they're going with their lives, and what they're
trying to achieve with their life, and their
priorities, and what they how they be they
can't record almost unrecognizable to themselves. That's what
happens. You forget a loss of power and
talent, so it lets you go. It lets
you go and you forget yourself. And then
you just get caught up in this in
this, in this downward spiral, this wheel hole
of of of an existence where you just
you don't have you don't have time to
stop and think and reflect and take
and renew intentions and ask questions, and you
can end up just completely lost.
And indeed, those are the ones who who
deviated.
Those who forgot Allah and then Allah let
them go and they forgot themselves. And they
lived life and they were never able to
find their way back to figure out who
they were.
I'm going to actually ask brother,
InshaAllah,
if we do it before, Isha? Would you
like to do it now? Yeah. Sure. So,
Alhamdulillah, it's it's always a pleasure, at least
here for us to invite some of the,
important,
community institutions that that are that support us
and that advocate for us. And I I
can't think of an institution that's more effective
on the advocacy advocacy front than in Hikma,
and I'm honored to actually have brother Sambur
Bhusaid come and share a few words before
before Adani Nifama about Hikma to support them
to to kind of figure out what to
know more about what they're doing and also
for us inshallah to support them appropriately. So
I offer him for a few minutes.
Brothers and sisters, this week marks,
6 months
since the beginning of the genocide that our
brothers and sisters are experiencing in Gaza, as
we're all aware.
And I don't need to spend time updating
you about atrocities that, are happening. We're all
watching it. We're all seeing it, and it's
getting worse and worse by the day.
May Allah elevate the suffering on our brothers
and sisters.
And I don't need to spend time sharing
with you the verses and the hadith
that encourage us to act and require us
to act. Alhamdulillah. You've heard them from our
imams from Sheikh Adnan and others
repeatedly.
So you've heard them repeatedly from them, and
inshallah, you're continuing to share them with your
friends and children and kids inshaAllah to educate
them on them.
But what I wanna do inshaAllah is just
talk about what we can do to help,
what we can do to support. InshaAllah there
are 4 things
at the minimum that we need to do.
Supplicate and donate.
So those blessed nights,
give your brothers and sisters a big portion
of your dua, and a big portion of
your sadaqah, charity, and zakah.
Is going for a good cause, and they're
very deserving of it.
The other two things are educate and advocate.
Start by educating yourself about what's going on.
As you all know, this thing did not
start on October 7th, it's been going on
for 75 years.
And do your best to advocate
for our brothers and sisters.
As we all know, wars these CDAs are
not just fought on the battlefield,
they're fought in the court of public opinion.
And when you look around,
what the occupying force is experiencing
is defeat across the world. Public opinion is
turning against them, they're getting a pressure to
stop acting the way that they're acting, and
Insha'Allah, over time this will make a difference.
Your local organization Hikma
has been working tirelessly for the last few
months and the last few years trying to
advocate for different Muslim causes
through campaigns,
letter writing campaigns to, prime minister and the
different MPs, meeting with
local MPs and MPPs to try to advocate
and push them and pressure them,
to, call for a ceasefire,
to reinstate funding for Anurag,
and to,
stop the arms embargo to, initiate arms embargo
with Israel to stop sending of arms to
Israel.
Our tax dollars are going to support such
things.
It is important for us to act and
to try to
enable our
collective, our organizations
to do what's right, Insha'Allah, and this is
the least that we can do.
The brochure for Hikma and what Hikma does
will be shared as part of the newsletter
tomorrow. InshaAllah, take a look at it and
see what you can do to help. Sign
up to the email campaign,
like the comments,
share them,
and also if you're able to donate,
the support will go a long way in
enabling more research
and more, letters and more advocacy that can
be done to try to switch the tide.
And if every country does that, what Hikma
is doing in London, Insha'Allah
victory will be upon us. We're confident that
will happen, but we have an opportunity to
be part of that
victory that will take place. Allah will not
measure us on the results, but He will
measure us on the effort. So may Allah
enable us to put in the effort to
try to bring victory to, this noble cause.