Adnan Rajeh – Quranic Reflections – Surat Al-Shoura 24 – End of Surat Al-Ahqaf
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Today,
we,
will recite
until the end of Surah Al Haqaf, which
is the end of the,
the costar of surahs that we were talking
about yesterday,
the haamim. So we actually will will complete
the haamim. Won't do anything more. And tomorrow
I get to talk about a new group
of Suraj. It's always nice if I can,
limit my,
my talks on on a small group of
Suraj. So I'll try and do next year
in terms of the breakdown. I didn't do
a very we didn't do a very good
job in in watching out for that piece
when we broke it down this year. Next
year we'll try to try to, stick to
end of clusters if possible.
So the I mean, from, ghafir to the
end of akhab, which is basically ghafir, fosurat,
shura, zukhufadukhan, jafir, lakha, to the 7 surahs.
And they are
all advice and warnings on the way of
dawah, like, on the way of of of
spreading the message to people
different than the cluster earlier from israelat to
a number that talked about taking the message
on a societal level. Like, actually taking it
as in establishing a civilization for it and
and stabilizing it and what that requires, which
is a different, discussion of when those sort
of talked about things are a bit more
operational, a little bit more higher,
higher higher level,
thought processes. Here is
And al Hawamim, that's all that's really what
they do. They just offer you some pieces
some important pieces of advice, to follow. And
so the prophet talks about, the first piece,
which is taking it taking it to those
who who, to argue against it. Like, don't
don't take it only to those who are
asking for it or looking for it, but
also take it to those who don't want
it. Yeah, you take it
and and and have the arguments with them
or the discussions or the conversations and do
that while you're connected to Allah. I mean,
you have to do do that parallel with
your own dua.
And that's why this surah emphasizes ladinu shaddiloon
and dua. Like, these two concepts of
you doing your job but keeping that connection
alive with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And Surah
al Fulsilah talks about the fact that dawah
is best done with behavior. It's just best
better done in behave with behaviors,
because people who are who refuse to listen,
they bring upon themselves punishment. If they won't
even listen to what you have to say,
then you actually put them out you jeopardize
them and you put yourself but if you
don't necessarily push that that agenda and you
and you focus on achievements and
accomplishments and character and ethics, you actually do
a better job and it and it affects
people more. And not to say that you
shouldn't do it verbally, but that's what that's
what's going to make an argument
for it, for behaviour. And then the final
one is what the shura talks about having
reference points,
having
originality
in terms of your values,
and one of those being shura. One of
the central ones being working as a group,
working as a as a as a community,
consultation
and not really moving in a direction without
making sure the community is actually, in agreement
with that movement. That's very important. If you
want to perform dawah, this is going to
be needed. And those are the 3 pieces
of advice that these surahs offer. So the
other 3 that we're going to recite today,
they offer some warnings. Zukhref warns you from
the mentality of materialism. And I talked about
this maybe 2 years ago after Fajr,
during weekends. We did tafsir through to Zukruf
and I went through the whole surah. It
talks about the pitfall of materialistic thinking and
how that causes a lot like, if you're
if you're materialistic in the way that you
look at things zukruv. Zukruv is adornments or,
you know, how things are
made flashy or they look good.
They look pretty, even though they may not
have substance to them. If you go materialistic
in how you judge things, you run masajid
like businesses. If you run, you know, daw
like businesses, you look at communities as if
you're running a
it it it doesn't work out. Like, it
doesn't that's not gonna that's not that's not
gonna work. In your in your path of
dua, you have to be able to see
beyond beyond the the materialistic
aspect of it all.
And and the surah talks about that in
many ways, and it gives a lot of
examples. And if we do a few verses,
though, it'll become clear to you, inshallah.
Surat,
Duqan talks about the illusion.
The illusion. Thinking having delusional thinking. Thinking in
a way where you're not you're not realistic,
you're not logical.
You're not preparing yourself for what is to
come, like you're not you're not reading the
signs
of what's happening around you, and you're and
you're, you know, engaging in delusional thinking, which
is a big problem.
Again,
all these things that these sort of talk
about, I mean,
it's exactly what we have to take time
and really contemplate.
This is exactly what our problems are. We're
not reading the science. When you're not reading
the science of what's what's actually occurring within
your society or or coming towards your community
or what what you're at jeopardy
for,
then you can't protect yourself. And if you
engage in delusional thinking, where you just tell
yourself lies, so that you feel better about
where you are, then you're dooming yourself. And
that's why I complain a lot about things,
And so I keep on, you know, pushing
and pointing out problems because I find it
to be
problematic or scary if we, you know, if
we're going to ignore what's occurring around us,
ignoring all the signs, and we ignore the
fact that we're seeing problems and we're seeing
deficits and we're seeing gaps and we're not
trying to fix them, and that we are
engaging in a lot of this, kind of,
you know, cloud optimism, where you just yeah,
everything is good. Everything is doing great. We're
all it's not. And it doesn't mean that
it can't be. It just means that it's
not right now. And
and being able to see the signs of
that and think logically about it, I think,
is
I think is important. And then Surat Al
Jati talks about it it, warns so Surat
Zukh warns from materialistic
mentality. Surat Al Dukhaim warns from delusional thinking
and lack of reading signs and seeing things
for what they are.
So the Zazakih warns
from arrogance when you have knowledge,
because as Muslims, you'll see yourself to be
a little bit more knowledgeable, because when you
learn the Quran, you learn the the the
values and the principles the Quran teaches.
It's it's very profound.
It opens your mind and you end up,
you know, understanding things that maybe a lot
of people don't fully understand. And you appreciate
things that maybe not everyone appreciates. So you
have a bit more knowledge.
But if that if that leaves somehow to
arrogance, which is what Suttl Jaffee warns of,
then it's
downfall from there. Like, you don't you you
can't recover from it.
You cannot allow the elm that you have
or the dawah that you're carrying to make
you feel arrogant or to for for it
to guide you or take you in a
direction where you start looking down at those
who don't have that which you have or
those who refuse
what you have. That's not that's not appropriate
and it doesn't work that way. That's what
the jatiya basically explains. And those are the
3 warnings in these 3 surahs. And the
last last surah on this cluster which is
Rudl Haqaf,
it tell you that the outcomes, it doesn't
like, it it it states a fact. Like,
3 Surah give peace, positive things to do.
You do this, this, this.
The other 3 surahs don't do this, don't
do this, don't do this, and then the
last one says, at the end, the outcome
is in the hands of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. You can't you can't control it. Even
if you follow all of the recommendations, even
if you take the recommendations of suhudraafirashurwazukh
wwafussilat,
and even if you avoid the warnings of
his zukh of dukhan al jafiyah,
still the outcome is not in your hands.
You can't control who is going to respond,
who's not going to respond, who's going to
listen, who's not going to listen. That is
purely in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. Sometimes you do the best job and
no one will listen. And sometimes you do
no job at all and others and people
will listen. You can't control that piece. That
piece is the hands of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. You do your best. You you follow
these rulings. You follow these laws. You follow
these recommendations and you avoid the warnings.
But then
you have to accept that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala the outcome is purely in his hands
subhanahu wa ta'ala. He he completely took control
of the outcome. That's what Surah Al Akhav
teaches and it's and it's obvious in the
stories that it tells the story of of,
Andhra
It
talks a story it's a story of the
people of Hud,
when they were in a place called Balakaf.
And Hud did everything right, and they didn't
listen. And then the prophet
had the had the jinn within the story
after it, except to me and every talk
to them.
You can't control that piece. So take the
recommendation, the warnings, seriously follow them, and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will will decree whatever he
wants to decree. I love that fact that
the surahs at the end of this clause
are just to kinda tell you. By the
way, these recommendations and warnings, they're not bulletproof.
They don't always work but you have to
do them. You have to actually follow that.
You have to take your dua
to those who do not want to argue
against it and you have to have those
discussions with them so that the the idea
is crystallized and it's clear that the argument
is superior. You have to do that while
your heart is connected to it. You have
to do with dua. You have to do
it with dua. You can't be disconnected from
God when you're doing it because then it
becomes an issue of I'm right and you're
wrong, which is not. It's Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala bestowed a blessing upon me. I want
to see if I can get it to
you, if I if possible. So it was
to remind us that character is the best
form of dawah and it sure reminds us
that you have to have a reference and
that you
need to have consultation within your community for
it to work. So those are the recommendations.
Those are the 3 things you have to
make sure you do. You have to make
sure that you take it to those who
don't want it, You'll do it with connection
with Allah. You do it with your character,
and you have a proper setup within your
community so that the consultation occurs and you
actually have a proper reference point. And you
have to avoid a materialistic approach to things.
You have to avoid delusional thinking and lacking
the the ability to read science. You have
to avoid arrogance with the knowledge that you're
given.
And they and they all have, like, aspects
of the story of Musa alaihis salaam because
he ran through all of it, alaihis salaam.
Musa alaihis salaam followed all did all the
right things, ran into all the wrong things,
like, he he he ran it with he
avoided all the wrong things with and still
he didn't get what he wanted. Like, he
still they still didn't all, you know, respond
the way they they they should have. And
that's that's just how things are. That's just
the reality of, of life. So what we're
gonna do is we're gonna
start with some of the verses. I don't
think anyone's has voted at all. Oh, we
do? Oh, what you do? Oh, we have
a lot. Oh, nice. Okay.
I stand corrected. So let's do, number 47
of Surah Yeshua.
So towards the end of Surah Al Shura,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
after he gave the characteristics of the believers
and how they work together and how they
perform their Dawah and what references they have
as they do it. The end of it,
Allah subhanahu wa'ala gives us these beautiful verses.
End of Surah Surah is really, really nice.
It's really, really nice.
Respond to your lord.
Is respond. Respond to your lord. Respond to
the teachings. Respond to the commands, respond to
the rulings, respond to the laws, respond
to the recommendations that he's offering you.
Respond to your Lord. Miqabli before
yet and yet. Before the day comes where
there is no way back from Allah I
mean, you have no way you have no
way to to to leave his presence and
go and do it right again and then
come back.
There's no there's no second chance. There's no
return. You're standing in prayer time subhanahu wa
ta'ala and your mind is like, just send
me back for a moment. Oh, oh, you
know, it was a test. I get it
now. Let me go back and I'll do
it better. I'll respond the way I was
doing and I'll come back.
And I'll come back. There is no there
is no going back. There's no way for
you to to retreat from the position that
you're in to go back and do things
correctly anymore. It's a one time deal.
You
have to respond now. You have to respond
to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling
you now before you come to a position
where there's no there's no way back. You
can't go back and try things again.
Allah subhanahu will not give you that that
that that chance.
You don't have a place to hide that
day and you don't have anyone who will
just chastise you and move along.
You won't have you don't that's not an
option where you can just be, you know,
slapped on the wrist and then it's gone.
No. At that moment, it's it's it's terminal.
The judgment that is given that day is
that it's it's the bottom line. There's nothing,
there's no appeal after after this happens.
And this area just, you know, in my
opinion the way I see it,
it it summarizes really this what this whole
story is going to be about. You have
to respond now. Respond does not necessarily mean
that you're gonna do everything right. Right? He
didn't say
obey or no. He said it's tajibu, didn't
respond.
Meaning when he asks you to do something,
try your best. Do what you can to
respond positively to what it is that he
asked you to do because subhanahu ta'ala knows
that we don't have the capacity to do
the to to do anything perfectly. We just
don't.
And we're very, you know, very fortunate that
Allah
acknowledges that all throughout the Quran and in
the sunnah and the prophet that we we
are not flaw we can't do things in
a flawless manner.
There's there's always going to be deficits and
mistakes and problems.
And since that's the case, what he asked
for as a in in a in a
summarizing verse, in a verse that is concise
and very very,
short and and simple, he said
He responds to you when you make dua.
He will respond to you. What you're required
to do is You're
required
to respond to him
Respond as in you hear what he it
is that he's asking you to do, that
you prioritize and you try your absolute best
to do that to whatever to whatever extent
that that's how to whatever extent you're capable
or however that's going to end up looking
like at the end. Because every one of
us is going to be a little bit
different and the to to which degree we're
going to be able to follow Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala's, commands and teachings in the Quran.
Because why it's important for us as per
as people to
lessen the amount of time you spend maybe
looking at how others are doing things and
focus a little bit more on our own
responses
and whether what I'm doing right now is
the best response I have to what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is explaining and teaching and
commanding in terms of my relationship with him
And I have to do and and there's
a sense of urgency in this ayah.
Do it before
the day comes where you have no way
back,
where you cannot return right now. See this
is the this is the advantage of the
moment that you and I are living.
You can you can repent right now and
you can change things immediately. And you have
you can go back. Like, you can go
back and fix things. You can you can
I
this opportunity is is priceless, really? It's priceless.
It's priceless when you know that very soon
in the future, you're not going to have
it anymore. You don't have the the capacity
or the ability to go back and fix
things And the and the one that asks
you to respond to him will decline will
deprive you your your your ability to go
back and try again. You have no way
to hide for him.
You have no way to hide from.
And there's no one who's going to
chastise you and kinda move along. It's going
to be it's going to be a terminal
choice.
That's something that for all of us, yeah,
I need to, to reflect upon and contemplate.
Let's do,
a shura 52.
Yeah. We got a time today. Let's see
if we can get them all.
The end of the story is just
like that.
We reveal to you
Yeah.
That's how he describes it subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Is a spirit.
We reveal to you a spirit from our
matter.
When Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the
Quran in this ayah, He describes the Quran
as a ruh, as a spirit, as something
that is that it that grants life. Something
that is alive that grants life.
We gave you We gave you a spirit.
We gave you life.
You do nothing about books, revelation,
and iman. You didn't know about any of
this stuff.
No?
But indeed we made it a source of
light.
That we use to guide whomever we choose
from our servants.
And because you have this spirit with you
and because you have this light with you.
Indeed, you guide towards a straight and righteous
path.
The path of
Allah.
Of the one who
to him belongs everything in the cosmos and
the earth.
To Allah
all matters
end up.
All matters end. All matters destinations are with
him
And that's how he describes the Quran.
It's a beautiful description.
The Quran is is a spirit. It's life.
It's like it's like
the peep people were were dead on the
inside and Allah
granted and and revealed to the prophet alaihis
salatu wa sallam a ruh from his matter
a ruh something that will grant you life.
You didn't know. He's telling him he's telling
him, you don't know. You didn't know anything
about the kitab or the iman. This was
not something you understood,
but we granted it to you and we
made it for you as a beacon of
light that you would use to
to guide yourself and that we use to
guide others. And indeed,
the path that you guide people to is
that of righteousness that is straight because you
carry that beacon with you, because you carry
that spirit.
And it's a beautiful description of the of
the book of Allah. Alright.
So do,
Zukhruf,
67.
You may have to come back later, but
67 for now.
So when when you talk about
companionship, and this is not the first time
throughout this month that I I you know,
we've talked about an ayah that that points
out,
some some aspect of companionship,
for sure. It won't be the last probably
either.
But this aya is quite scary.
And lakhila is a plural of of of
khalil,
of of a close friend, a best friend,
someone that you you spend the majority of
your time with, someone that you consider to
be, within your very close and inner circle.
These best friends,
on the day of judgment,
will be enemies of one another.
Except those who shared piety with one another,
except those who shared mindfulness of Allah together.
Aside from that,
friends on the day of judgment will be
enemies,
meaning they will hate one another. They will
not want to be in each other's vicinity.
They don't wanna see each other. They wanna
talk to each other. They wanna be as
far away from one another as possible, except
those who were sharing mindfulness of Allah or
taqwa during their lives.
Because what people who are close to you
remind you of Yom Al Qiyamah
is where you spent what you spent your
time doing. That's what they want to remind
you of. You're gonna see someone and what
they're going to remind you of is the
time, is the things you did with them
because that's the focus. The focus changes.
And the focus of your what you're what
you're thinking about is a little bit different
than what you think about in dunya. Unless,
of course, you
you mature
spiritually, and then you start thinking in dunya
about the same things, you're gonna be thinking
about Yomukiyam, and that's the way to make
sure you make it.
Because Yomul Qiyam, you're not interested about any,
any
interpersonal interests that you have with them, like,
in terms of what benefits you can have
from them or the benefit they can have
with you. You're not focused on good times
you spent with them or good times you're
going to you're going to spend with them.
You're not you're not looking at that. You're
just wondering
what were the interactions I had with this
person and
which side of the scale are those interactions
going to be? Like Like the time I
spent with this person and which side of
the scale?
And
if the time you spent with this person
was not
invested in taqwa, in doing kayr, in doing
good deeds together, in helping each other being
closer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, then that
person is going to in your heart turn
to someone that you you despise.
So the best of friends,
they ain't best of friends yomul qiyab.
Unless they made the choice of making sure
that they supported one another in terms of
their, yeah, their their their journey towards Allah
If they supported one another on that journey,
that's a different story. The prophet
tells us in the Hadith,
The people who love one another in dunya,
for the sake of Allah
for the sake of yanib,
of service of Allah
They find themselves on the day of judgment
on. They're on
a
pedestal.
That are made of of light.
Everyone can see them. The prophets are envious
of them.
Prophets,
who did for
will see them and and and are be
envious of them until they're granted that which
is similar to it or better. When they
see them, they're envious
because of how dignified they are to how,
you know, what high esteem Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala holds them at.
It's a very valuable thing to love someone
in dunya. It's probably the one of the
most valuable things you'll ever do. 1 of
the most precious things you have is a
is a good friend, someone that you truly
love, forsake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You
don't want anything else. You're not looking for,
you know, any form of, of of worldly
benefit.
You're not, you know, you're not
banking on anything working out later on in
the future where you can cash in and
the on that friendship that working out. No.
You just want, you just love them because
they help you be closer to Allah and
you help them to them to be closer
to Allah and this this relationship where you
guys are making each other better human beings
is is beneficial for the both of you
and you love them because of that. That's
what love for the sake of Allah means
that it's a it's a mutual it's a
mutual relationship where we're both helping each other
be closer to God and to be better
people and to make sure yomukriam are in
better status. That is a very valuable thing
because not only does it is it is
it extremely precious in dunya, but it's it's
also extremely beautiful
It's extremely beautiful. You're on you're on a
you're on a mimba
made of light that people look at and
they envy because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
you had you had someone who you truly
loved for the sake of Allah. And again,
I've talked about this before. Love is not
just an emotion. In Islam, it never is.
Right? There has to be there has to
be a haqqiqah for it. There has to
be evidence, proof of it. So you love
someone for the sake of Allah, but then
you don't participate in doing khair with them
or they don't participate in doing khair with
you. You don't encourage them to do better
and they don't encourage you to do better
and there's no discouragement of bad things and
the the process is not based on that.
So the love itself is meaningless, really. It's
just a feeling. It doesn't do anything for
you, you know, Mirkasyama. The the actual love
is going to be something that has that
has actual proof to it. There's some evidence
to support it.
So this ayah, as scary as it is,
it also gives a glimmer of real hope.
There is light at the end of the
tunnel here.
And If you're building a relationship with people
around you on taqwa, then you're gonna be
fine. And that person, not only will you
enjoy their company here in Duniya. It's very
valuable, by the way. It doesn't happen very
often.
If you are, as for fortunate enough to
have people in your life who draw you
closer to Allah and whom you do the
same for and you have that ability to
help you guys help each other on your
way to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and you
hold on to them because they don't come
very often in life and then they're not
easy to there's not an easy, catch.
If you're able to hold because that not
only will they help you in this life,
but you guys will also be looking for
one another because you know what you're going
to get out of this. This relationship is
going to take you even farther than you
ever thought. But without
that,
Aside from that, friends on the day of
judgment, best friends are enemies of one another.
I do. They're enemies of one another. It's
a scary, so so so an intimate relationship
can go either way. This is what the
is saying. An intimate relationship, a strong relationship
can mean 1 of 2 things, yom al
qiyama. Either a mimbar of noor that people
are envious of or animosity.
So you have to choose.
Choose your relationships. Who are who are the
people that are around you? What do you
do with them?
How do you guys what what what is
the basis of the relationship?
What is it based on? And be picky
a little bit. It's okay. This is where
you'd be picky. This is where you can
be a little bit, you know,
meticulous.
Yeah. Maybe when it comes to your time,
when it comes to your and when it
comes to where you're gonna be, yeah, yeah,
choose your friends wisely,
very wisely. That's the most that that this
is the most important decision, in my opinion,
in your life. The most important one is
is who you spend your time with. Forget
about all the other stuff.
Well, I mean, we spend a lot of
time thinking about, like, where we're gonna live
in the house and the what type of
car and well, I see people spend, like,
months trying to figure out what type of
car to buy. Actually, I just I mean,
buy whatever.
It's all the same. Who cares? Like, buy
an old car. So it doesn't matter if
it gets bumped up and so. Don't buy
something you're gonna you're gonna be preoccupied before
you buy and then be even more preoccupied
after you buy and
think about the people that you're gonna That's
what you should really think about. Who am
I spending my time with? Who who am
I surrounding myself with? That's what you that's
where you have to be be very careful
because that's going to dictate what happens to
you on the day of judgment
as this ayah explains.
Alright. Let's do number 52 actually in Surat
Zukhuf.
52. Let's go back 1. Yeah. Go back
1. We have enough time. Yeah.
I don't know why they're not putting these
things in. Go
So it's a different Zukul that talks about
this mentality of materialism, right, and that's why
this ayah that I talked about a moment
ago is in Surat Zukhru because friendships that
are based literally
merely
on materialistic benefit of dunya, it doesn't it
doesn't pan out very nicely, Yom al Qiyam.
Within the so the zohif you have a
story of a Firaun and
Firaoun and Musa and the story of Firaoun
and Musa ends with the zukhara is a
little bit different than the way it's told
in other
parts of the Quran because we have a
piece of it where Firaoun makes an argument
of why people should not listen to Musa
and listen to him. We don't have that
elsewhere in the Quran. It's only there. So
he stands up.
So he stood up and said, oh, my
people,
do I not have the sovereignty of Egypt?
And do the rivers of Egypt not run
under my feet? Do you not see? Am
I not better than the one?
This person who has no status? Mahin means
someone who cannot protect themselves, someone who's not
from Ihana, from humility. From this person
who is humble, who is weak, who has
no protection, does not have an army, does
not.
Who is better? Am I not better than
this person who is
who can barely who can barely even articulate
or speak properly? Musa alaihis salam had a,
speech impediment.
Musa alayhis salam had a speech impediment.
He he he had a lisp of some
sort. He couldn't he couldn't speak properly. He
wasn't good at public speaking at all, and
when he was told by Allah Subhanahu to
do it, he said,
haroun.
Can you can you add him to the
package?
Was much more articulate. Send him with me
as a prophet so he can help me
along because I'm not good at this piece.
He knew what he was good at. Well,
he wasn't good
at
one of the most highly revered and respected
prophets of all time
He's beloved to us. He must be. He
should. You should love Musa He's all in
the Quran. So if you love the Quran,
you love Musa a 100%. But he had
that speech impediment. He didn't speak properly. There's
something always there's a lisp when he when
he spoke. So
Farall mocks him for it.
Am I not better than this person who
lacks, protection, does not have a strong
army to protect him, and he had a
speech impediment. So so what what is what
is what is a speech impediment have to
do with the message that Musa alaihis salam?
But that's the that's the logic of materialism.
Yeah. He's judging he's judging based on, well,
I'm stronger. I have more wealth, I don't
have a lisp.
Well, let us let him show us let
him show us the wealth that he has,
the aswira, the bracelets of gold. Let him
show us the Malayika that come and support
him.
So he treated his people stupidly.
That's what staghfah means.
He treated them idiotically
in a stupid manner,
and they followed him.
Indeed, there are people who were deviant
because his argument is is is
is hollow. It's empty. It's actually very offensive.
And for you to judge someone's idea based
on well, you know, to mock speech impediments.
Right?
Be be careful. Be careful in your life
what you make fun of.
Be careful. I mean, mockery and satire is
a very dangerous thing to use. It's very
dangerous. Even amongst friends, be careful. Be careful
what you're, you know, what you joke about,
especially when something is is, you can't control
it. You know, someone with something that has
nothing to do with him. Musa is not
nothing to Musa is not accountable for being
Mahin, for not having a lot of people
to support him and having an army and
having wealth. He's not accountable for being
He has issues with
the with with with articulation. It's not his
fault. Just how he is.
Why? To mock people for that or to
make fun of them. It's very low.
It's under the belt, Wallahi.
Be careful.
People will do it to you in your
life. Don't stoop to that,
don't go into Don't fall into
Don't get down into the mud with them.
People who are empty, they'll make they'll they'll
stop talking about the idea and they'll mock
the person. Right? It's a known political, political,
taxing.
When they when they have a strong argument,
you stop going out because the arc you're
gonna lose the argument. So you're talking about
you you you pick something out of their
past. You look for maybe some picture that
they Where they weren't at their best behavior
or something. And then you focus on that.
You try to try to steer the attention,
the public opinion towards like a character flaw
or something that
And even when it's character, it's at least
it's at least something that you can choose,
but when you when you steer it towards
something they can't influence at all, it's just
very it's very, it's it's it's wobbly. Slow.
It's very low,
and and and and Faram was so scared
of Musa alayhis salam. Think about this. This
is this is this is the value of
a strong idea
that someone who literally runs he rules Egypt.
He's scared of Musa, so he has to
make this argument. Am I not better? Do
I not have more? Am I not stronger?
He can't even speak properly.
He's trying to get people to he
spoke to them stupidly and they listened to
him and they followed him because that's what
they wanted to do. That's what Arif Faran
wanted to do.
When they did that, we we we punish
them for it. Because, you know, what what
is this argument?
How is this acceptable? Be careful of what
you make fun of and and what you
how you look at people for things.
So let's do, 38 and 39 from Duqan.
38, 39.
So the Dukhan
is warning us from being
delusional in the way that we think and
missing the signs. In the midst of the
surah, he had this beautiful ayat.
We did not create the cosmos of the
earth with the intention of play.
He says this subhanahu wa ta'ala,
We didn't do this. We're playing around. We're
just wasting time. We're just doing something for
the sake of doing something. No.
We only created them This is the royal
We of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I only
created them with
the purpose of pursuing and achieving righteousness, that's
why I created them. It was not a
game. It was not a joke. We were
not playing around. This was hap. So do
not miss that.
Do not look around and assume that this
the story of existence is humorous somehow,
that it that's
something to be taken lightly because it's not,
it's very serious.
Created
Most people don't know this but that's what
it is, it's through Haqq, and only through
Haqq
things will prevail. And when you go against
Haqq, things will crumble and and fail. On
the day of judgment, we'll be held to
the to the criteria that is that's what
we're gonna be held to. We're gonna be
asked about that. And if you live your
life in a way where you thought it
was fun and games, then is going to
be very painful.
It's gonna be very very painful because those
who take everything
Those who look at everything in a light
manner. It's okay to take yourself lightly. So
Prophet alaihis salam will always smiley.
He joked a lot alaihis salam, actually. If
you study his life, he was he was
constant. But he didn't take serious things lightly,
and he knew where the line was drawn,
and he knew where where he had to
focus and he had to be
he had to be someone who was capable
of making
actual decisions and and
We did not create them playing. Just in
case yeah. Any as I said, you guys
seem to be playing a lot. By the
way, we didn't create these, create all this,
with the intention of play. We created them
with the intention of haqq. So so so
hold yourself to that standard. Hold yourself to
the standard of haqqah and see where you
are from it because
that's what you're gonna be held to. So
you come with a book that is filled
with just play.
When the book is just play, which is
ongoing play,
nothing was taken seriously. There were no decisions
that had any substance to them. There was
no commitment, no grit, there was no perseverance.
It was just ongoing play every time you
had the the opportunity.
Yeah. I don't know how how well that
will will pan out.
I don't know how well the outcome would
be because he did not create them playing,
subhanahu wa ta'ala, and that's what it serves
as a warning for all of us to
to contemplate. Let's do ayah number 23 of
Jafiah.
Surat Al Jafiyyah, the warning in it is
beware of arrogance
when you have knowledge. Beware
when you're knowledgeable, when you know you understand
your deen, beware of allowing arrogance to to
misguide you. So this ayah towards the end
of it, it says
Have you seen or have you observed? The
one who takes their Lord, their deity, their
their worshiped one. And Ilah is the worshiped
one. That's kind of the bottom line of
the translation. And Ilah is the worshiped one,
the one worthy of worship. That's that's what
Ilah means. So the one who's who chose
the one that's worthy of worship, the person
who chose the one worthy of worship in
their lives to be Hawa. Person who chose
the one worthy of worship in their lives
to be Hawa,
to be his desires or his whims. And
whatever whatever he wants. Whatever his nafs wants,
that's his worshiped one, which means, obviously, there's
no there's really no religion, and I looked
this up because I wanted to make sure.
There's no religion in the world that where
you worship your desires. Like, it's a there's
no there's no creed that has that in
it. So
and the and the people of Quraysh did
not believe that either. So this is a
figure of speech. And the figure of speech
is very revealing of what how Allah sees
the concept
of when he talks about an ilah, how
he understands it He understands it as in
the one whom you worship in in terms
who you fully obey.
The the thing that you obey all the
time, the thing that you listen to immediately
that you don't question, that's your ilah. That's
the worship one for you. Yeah. Now you
may state it, you may not state it,
it doesn't make that much of a difference
because at the end is is actions that
will prove whether something was correct or true
or versus not.
So the prophet, Alaihi Wasallam, is being told,
you see the one who chose his worshiped
one, you know, the person who chose his
worshiped one to be his own whims and
desires
and that type of person is the one
who
anytime there is a dilemma in their mind
or in their lives and the scales of
reason kind of are set up in your
brain it's like a part it comes with
a toolkit of life you have these skills
and you put things that have weight in
them and you try to win. Every time
the nefs want something, you always go with
it. If the nefs want something, you go
with it. It's always whatever the nefs wants.
It's always whatever the desires of the nefs
are
and that's that's your, that's your that's your
worship one.
You can say that
but then
your actions are gonna disprove it and it's
gonna prove
that
to make this a bit more scarier because
there's an a similar to this
with
no with no extras, just just that concept.
But in Surat Al Jafi insul Al Jafi
adds something.
And this person was misguided to do that
with knowledge.
They had knowledge.
Like, they actually they knew stuff, like, they
had studied the Quran, they studied the sun,
they knew. But they were misguided even though
they had knowledge. Because what's the value of
knowledge if it does not teach you how
to control your whims, and control your desires,
and control your urges?
What's the point of knowledge if it does
not allow you to distinguish between that which
is coming from Allah, and that which is
from shaytan, and that which is originating from
the selfishness of the nafs that is inside
of you. If you don't If the knowledge
that you have does not allow you to
distinguish between these things, to make decisions based
on it, then what was the point of
that knowledge? This knowledge will only make you
more arrogant, and more vain, and more envious,
and more ostentatious, and it'll take you farther
away from Allah. As
the the code is,
right?
The person who increases in knowledge and does
not increase in guidance
only increases himself in distance away from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The person who took his worshiped one as
his own whims and his nafs, his whims
and the the desires of his nafs and
Allah misguided him even though he was a
person of knowledge.
And that person
sealed their ears and sealed their heart and
there is a seal in front of their
eyes. There's a curtain down in front of
them.
Who is going to guide him if not
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Do you not do
you not contemplate these things?
It's very easy. It's very easy to go
down a route where
you lose you lose
control and you lose lose contact with yourself,
with who you are and what you're doing
and why you're doing things. And you lead
yourself to believe that you're doing really well
when the the the actuality of it is
that you're not. The reality is that you're
not really doing that well.
It doesn't mean that if you're not doing
well that you should feel bad about yourself,
but acknowledging that is important, like knowing that
I'm not actually close. I'm far from where
I need to be. I'm far. Because if
you don't, then
then there's nothing to There's no fight. There's
no fight. If you're not acknowledging that the
nafs has desires and it wants you to
do things and you have to be fight,
then you're not There's no fight. You're not
putting up a fight. Even if you're losing
the fight, but at least you put it
up. If you stop putting up a fight
and you actually think that what you want
is the right thing and you and you
and you shape it in that manner. You
shape it so that it seems that what
you want is right and you defend what
you want at all times because you believe
that you're right. And then your desires becomes
your worshipped one and you'll be misguided even
though you have knowledge. You'll actually make
like knowledgeable arguments to defend what it is
that you're doing. But there's a seal on
your ears, on your heart, in your eye.
You don't you can't see it. You have
no insight anymore. You don't you don't know.
It's very dangerous, oh Allah.
May Allah preserve us, oh, Allah, and protect
us. To have knowledge and use that knowledge
to just to self serve.
To have knowledge and use the knowledge you
have to self serve just to get what
you want,
some hidden underlying struggle of power that you're
engaging in, trying to get yourself into a
position, and you're using knowledge and you're using
you're acting like you're alpha.
This ayah is there to to to scare
you. You could be knowledgeable and still use
that knowledge in a way where it just
serves your self desires and end up far
from where you need to be.
Let's do one more. Let's do aya number,
19.
Like I said, Surat Al Akkaf tells you
that, the outcomes are in the hands of
Allah Subhanahu Wa'ala. You can do everything right
and things don't work out. You can do
it wrong at work you don't you don't
know. You can't control it. It's just the
outcomes are in his hands, Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And these verses, these very beautiful ayatul wasayil
insanabhiwala
These beautiful Ayat that talk about the importance
of being, you know, pious to your parents
and when you get older, that you take
care of them, take care of your offspring.
And then he talks about
2 groups of people, those who are that
that first be the person who is takes
care of his parents, loves them, takes care
of his his children, loves
Allah Those are the ones who we accept
their good deeds and we forgive their bad
deeds. And then you have
a person who tells his parents does not
believe in Allah subhanahu altogether, someone who is
just on the wrong path.
Those are the people who are going to
be punished as Allah subhanahu wa'anhu promised that
they will be punished in jahannam with jinn
and ins.
The end of these verses. He says,
And each group
will
be given
certain degree of reward for that which they
did in their lives.
Walikullim.
Walikullim is for both, meaning the person who
was pious and
good son or a good,
a good child and a good And a
good parent and a good Muslim
versus the, not a good child, not a
good parent, not a good Muslim.
Yeah. For both of
them, Certain degrees, they're in from what they
did in their lives.
And Allah will deliver to them
the the full due diligence of what they
deserved and they will not be oppressed. This
ayah is saying that you'd not only do
you not control the outcome of who is
is going to believe and who's not, you
don't even control the outcome of who's going
to be rewarded or not. You don't know
what they're going to get. Everyone's going to
be treated fairly, oh, Mirkiyama.
No one's going to be oppressed. You think
that this person is going to Jahanam. You
don't
know where they're going. They don't know what
they're going to get.
Everyone's going to get a certain degree of
reward for what they did in their lives.
When and how is not my business. I
don't know. So I don't get to say
where they're going. I don't control the outcomes
of who accepts Islam and who doesn't. I
don't control the outcomes of where the people
who accepted and didn't accept go Yom Kiyama
either. And that just takes away a lot
of burden or just focus on here's the
recommendations, here are the warnings, do it well
and then leave everything else. Leave leave Allah
subhanahu take care of the rest of it.
It's not it's not your thing. You don't
have control over it. And I find that
point to be extremely helpful.