Quranic Reflections – Surat Al-Zumar 62 – Surat Al-Shoura 23
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Channel: Adnan Rajeh
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AI Generated Summary ©
The transcript describes the importance of carrying Islam to others, balancing it out, and constantly making events. It emphasizes the need for personal connections with Allah and the importance of having a reference to one's actions and behavior to avoid damaging their reputation. The importance of consultation among all leaders and the importance of knowing one's needs and finding ways to address their needs is also emphasized. The speaker discusses the dangerous of following rules and acknowledges the need for community efforts to stop the spread of false statements. The importance of following Islam's teachings and not arguing for their actions is also emphasized.AI Generated Transcript ©
So tonight is the 23rd night of Ramadan.
This is a wittry night.
This could be little Qadr.
Allah grant us the ability to witness it
and grant us the barakah and the and
And
today is what? Monday?
Maybe a week from today, and we'll be
we'll be,
we'll we'll be wrapping it up. We'll be
praying the last,
We'll be done
the final night of, of of,
or when we complete the Quran, it'll be
Sunday.
So it'll be Sunday night, so, less than
a week away. Then if it's 30 days,
which it seems like it's going to be,
I I don't know yet. I'm waiting for
the council of imams to kinda come up
with their decision of what they wanna do.
But if they most likely, it'll be 30
days, then we'll have a 3rd the 30th
night, they'll be.
It's not called anymore.
Technically, what we're doing is not fully called
tarawih either because it's not 20 or more.
But the qiyam Ramadan kinda is, is is,
clumped up or it's finalized when you finish
the. We do on the 30th night. We
we pray, like, a a short PM. So
it'll be, like, maybe a half an hour
PM where we just recite a little bit
of the Quran and we do a dua.
But
but, no, the fine the finale will be
on on Sunday, Sunday at night.
Today, we will,
recite from from the towards the end of
Surat Al Zumr, which I think Surat Al
Zumr, this piece of it will be concluded
within Surat Al Isha as far as I'm
I I think Surat Al Isha will conclude
it. And then we will read, down to
Surah Surah.
So the cluster from Al Harab to Zumr
talking about submission and obedience, I talked about
over the last 2 days. I'm not gonna
repeat all that again. But the Zumr is
the final one. It talks about sincerity. It
talks about the halal, which is the mental
or spiritual form of obedience and and submission
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. The cluster afterwards,
I think it's the 7th. I lose I
I lose track. There are 12 clusters altogether
in the Quran.
I think it's the 7th. I lose track
sometimes of of the numbers. But from
Ghavir
to basically,
Alakaf.
And they're this is an easy one to
remember because they're called Al Hawamim.
They all start with hamim. All of them.
From
to to and they have a similar,
theme. They all offer
positive advice
and negative advice. I mean, they positive and
negative, what I mean is they tell you
things you should do
as you carry this dua
and things that you should for sure not
do, like you should watch out for as
you carry Islam,
to others. It's different than the cluster of
Surah from Isra'at to, to Anamil. That's talking
about carrying the message.
The message as in Islam, as a as
an entity, as a nation building
way of life, that's that's what that cluster
talks about. This one here talks about carrying
Islam to others, to individuals, in terms of,
like, what you you're going to need to
to make sure that Islam functions for you
and functions for people that you will speak
to. And all and these surahs have a
lot in common. They all,
have the story of Bani Israel or Musa
somewhere, in them.
They
all, are very they're all Makki Surahs
for
a first, at the beginning.
They they all point out
the positive and negative behaviors, and they compare
them, all these surahs. Even the short ones
like, like, like, Dukhan, for example, is only
3 pages of the same thing. And each
one looks at it a little bit differently.
Surat Ghafir
talks about carrying this message
requiring 2 things carrying this dawah to people
requiring 2 things. Requiring,
taking it to those who argue against it.
That's why you find in the Surah
Meaning, those who argue against it. So taking
the dawah to those who argue against it
and and making sure that you perform a
lot of dua on you the way there.
Meaning, when you carry this dua to those
who don't accept it, that's that's what you
should be doing. That's what we're required to
do. But in the midst parallel to that,
you should be making a lot of du'a.
So it's gonna teach us how to balance
it out a little bit.
The the the mechanical piece or the physical
one where you actually take this and you
offer it to others and you discuss and
you converse.
But parallel to that, you should be someone
who is constantly making dua. I mean, you
have to have a personal connection with Allah.
It doesn't really mean anything.
If you're calling people to Allah and you
don't know him, you're calling people to Allah
and you're not in connection with Allah, then
it kinda looks a little bit, yeah, I
mean, it's counterproductive,
and it and it doesn't make there's no
sensibility in it. Now if you want people
to to love Allah or to know Allah,
then you should know him too. So it
doesn't mean that you have to do it
in sequentially where you have to, first of
all, know Allah and then take it to
dua. Or you do them in parallel, which
is what Surat Al Akhir talks about.
Do them at the same time. Take the
dawah to those who don't want it, those
who argue against it, and and bring the
the conversation to them and do that in
parallel with, you know, making du'a and being
connected to Allah
I did, the tafsir, so it's I think
last year. I think it was last year
that we did it in Ramadan after Fajr,
during the weekends.
Was it the other way before that?
No. No. You're that's the other way around.
Yeah. Yeah. That's the other way around. No.
I'm sure Zukhruv is the is the farther
away, memory for me. So, Fostel is closer.
But Fostel is that it talks about
the fact that
dawah with words
and dawah with actions and its actions, it
works better.
People, if they are taught and they hear
and they don't listen, they refuse to listen,
they are punished. If I try to talk
to you about Islam and you refuse to
listen time and time again, then you'll be
punished.
So that's dangerous for you. Right? And it's
not very productive for me if you're not
gonna listen. However, Dahua with behavior, with actions,
it works better. It works better. First of
all, you know, you're not forced to listen
because you don't have to I'm not talking
to you. In other way, it actually,
impacts people more, so which was which is
what for to what it talks about. The
the impact of Dawah through behavior rather than
Dawah through,
through, through words, which both of them are
important, but it just works better. And that's
what we kinda talked about last year, within
that,
those tafsir sessions.
Surah al Surah, it
talks about the the values.
The values,
that as Muslims, we should always
refer back to when we're performing dawah. You
have to have a You have to have
a reference.
You have to have a,
some form of reference. You can't as a
Muslim,
you know that when you're trying to talk
to people about Islam or taking to Islam.
If you there'll be questions you don't have
an answer for. If you don't have a
reference of where to send people to listen
or to learn stuff, then you get lost
really quickly. Because you either you will seem
that you don't have a response to the
question that was asked or,
worse, you'll make something up.
You'll try to answer it on your own,
and you don't have the the toolkit yet.
You haven't haven't built that knowledge that allows
you to answer this question appropriately, so you'll
answer it and it'll be wrong. And and
you'll actually cause more harm than than benefit.
So you have to have a reference. And
Muslims in general, they function through Surah, which
is the name of the Surah. Surah is,
is consultation.
It is the best
word that you can use to, you know,
understand the concept of democracy basically in in
in a modern context from a political perspective.
Democracy,
to a certain degree, is making sure that
people
have
a say in how they're they are governed,
how the how how things work for their
for them as a group. That's what it
means. Now now
today, it is is governance by the people,
for the people, by the people, which is
fine. But what really the the key point
of it is that as an individual who
is living as as an individual who's a
part of a country or part of a
group,
even if you're not the head, you still
have a say in what's going to happen,
meaning your voice matters and is going to
impact or influence, the decisions that are gonna
be made, which is what the prophet
preached, which is what the Surah talks about.
They are people who consult amongst each other,
and that's how they make their decisions. And
that is it's taking us back the fact
that that's how we function as Muslims. This
is what these are the surahs that give
the positive advice.
These are the few surahs that give the
positive advice. And then tomorrow, we'll we'll we'll
be talking about, surah and the the the
zukruf and dukhan al jahiyah. I give advice,
but it's it's beware. Beware of the these
three pitfalls you can have. So the 3
piece of advice is you take this dua
to those who argue against it, and you
do that parallel with your own connection with
Allah with his dua. Like, you do it
in your with your own you have to
have a connection or else it's not gonna
mean anything. You must perform dawah through your
behaviors. If you're doing it through your words,
great. Make sure you do it through your
behavior as well. It's actually more impactful. The
third one is that we all always have
to have a reference. And the way that
you function as your group that you have
to have shura amongst you. If you don't
have that, then this dawah won't be carried
very far. Meaning, if everyone's working alone in
silos, compartmentalized as groups and there's no actual
unity, there's no actual shurah amongst people, then
things won't work. And I find this to
be this surah and we're not gonna conclude
it today. We'll just start at the beginning
of it. It's really worth the time to,
to to to to to learn.
We don't do this very well, if at
all, if at all. If we if we
do it at all, we don't do it
well. And I'm assuming that we're trying to
do it. I'm assuming that, Muslims in in
in in Western communities or as minorities
because I'm not gonna speak for people who
are living in in majority countries because that
they have a different,
struggle altogether that I that these these sessions
are really not,
directed towards. But as Muslims living as minorities
in in in in the western countries, I
don't know if we're actually trying to do.
But if we are, we're not doing a
very good job at it. We're just making
sure that we we function through consultation. Like,
we function through making sure that we have
everyone on board of of what we're doing,
or at least the majority on board when
we make decisions, especially big decisions, especially decisions
that are gonna cripple the community financially or
decisions that are going to be, yeah, I
need central in the direction of where the
community is going to go and where the
resources are going to be depleted, and how
they're where they're going to be used, and
what the principles are, and what the priorities
are. That has to be discussed appropriately. It
has to be done through consultation.
You can't have a small group of people
making these decisions completely on their own, and
everyone just kinda try to keep up. That's
not that's not how that's not how Muslim
societies function. It's very dangerous when when we
do.
I I don't have the right to just
steer,
the community or steer the the the congregation
that I'm talking to in whatever direction I
want
in, you know, dissociation
of the other centers or the other, Muslim,
Yani, institutions or or or leaders. It's not
it's not fair for me to do that
nor for them. It's not fair for us
to make decisions that will heavily impact
the community Muslim community at large without making
sure that there's some degree of consultation occurring
amongst people. Whether it's asking people their opinion
to see if this is actually something they
want or is what their where their needs
lie
or speaking to those who are in positions
of leadership to make sure that there's some
degree of coordination amongst them. The concept of
shur'a is is huge. The prophet
did it many, many times, like the examples
are are abundant in him using that that,
that phrase,
give me your advice. What is it that
you think I should do? And
would go with with the with the majority
opinion even if it did not mean that
he even if he didn't agree with it.
He didn't sway people, which I thought was
fascinating.
They didn't sway people didn't tell them what
he thought first because if the prophet
tells you what he thinks, you're gonna say,
oh, that's what I'm gonna vote. Vote.
Whatever you think, that's what I wanna do.
So he would actually hold his his opinion
to himself. Keep it to himself. Let you
vote and then go with what you want.
And he would tell you later on that's
what I thought it was gonna be. I
I I that's what I wanted or that's
not what I wanted. But he would refuse
to give his opinion like the Yeboja. He
didn't want to leave Medina. He didn't tell
them that. He didn't tell them that. They
voted to leave Madina, so he left with
them. They found out later that, oh, he
want to stay, so they came back and
said, we don't wanna go anymore. Like, let's
do what you want. He said, no. No.
We voted. We agreed. That's what we're going
to do. I'm I'm dressed. I'm wearing my.
I have my, my sudan. We're leaving out.
And they went and they lost and they
came back and they were told.
You keep on doing this. You keep on
this is how you do it. This is
how you continue to do it. So we
have to function that way. As a Muslim
community, we have to function that way, and
we don't. I'm not sure we're trying, though.
This is a I'm not sure that we're
trying. Like, I'm actually not sure that Muslim
institutions around the city or around the country
or within North America actually care to try
and do this. Like, I'm not sure that
they care about the opinion of the people
they're speaking to or if they care about
the opinion of the other institutions that exist
with them the same in the same vicinity.
I don't know that they do.
And if they do, well, it's one heck
of a bad job that they're doing. I
I I proving it. Because this has to
be more any
this has to be more central in understanding
of our deen. So it's a part of
our values. If you wanna take this dawah
to our own people and to others, then
that has to be a part of our
our,
our core principles. That we are an that
are based on. We're based on consultation.
The consultation does not mean that I ask
your opinion about a matter that I'm going
to give you a ruling on. No. That's.
That's. That's. That's my job. That's why I
studied. You wanna do that? You can study.
You can do the same thing. Spend your
life, spend the next 15 years studying Islam
and start studying the law and saying the
Quran and the hadith and the sunnah and
studying the and
then you can go ahead and sit and
talk about these things and you can offer
opinions that that help people. I don't have
to consult people on that because that's not
an issue of consultation.
But in terms of direction, in terms of
the use of resources, in terms of the
priority priorities within a society, there has to
be you have to ask people what they
think. You have to see where their problems
lie, which is why our survey group is
social innovation lab is an important,
step in our society towards some degree of,
of of of shura. Because that's what it
does. It offers shura because we ask people,
okay, what who are you? And what are
you doing? What are your fears? And what
are your needs? And what are your struggles?
And when we hear that, then we steer
the community in the direction that will meet
those needs. That's shura, basically. That's that's the
the modern way of my opinion of doing
it. What's left is institutions actually communicating on,
you know, on with one another in terms
of what the next steps should be so
that we're not, you know,
putting all of our hands in everyone's pockets
at all all the time.
It's it's not it's not the appropriate way
of Allahu ala. Okay. So let's start. Let
me see here. Very no. No. There's yeah.
No one's voting. Okay. I'll just do whatever
I want. It's
so we have 1, 2, 3, 4. So
what else do we can probably okay. Let's
do let's do 71 of Zumo. Let's do
the first one.
It's a it's a beautiful I like to
comment
on
it
for
a
moment.
So at the end of Suraj Zomor Allah,
he tells us the story of how it
all ends.
Or if you're, you know, look at it
differently, how it all begins.
It's how it begins as well.
But for this chapter of our lives, how
it all ends. And he talks about 2
groups of people.
The surah is called Zumr. Even though it
talks about a khalas, which is that sincerity,
it's between you and Allah, so it's 1
v 1, right, or one towards 1, and
the surah is called Zumr. So it's always
surah in the Quran are very studying the
names of the surahs is a whole different,
realm of study. It's very interesting, but it
takes a while to to break them down.
Maybe I'll do that next year.
But,
Khalaf, the concept of sincerity is one one
person
being sincere to 1. Right? So one to
1. And then the name of the surah
is a group. That's the name of the
surah are groups. Zum'ar are groups or or,
silos. Right? Meaning that it doesn't take for
you to be sincere doesn't mean you have
to live alone. Doesn't mean that you can
live alone. Like, to be sincere does not
mean that you have to be alone. It
just means that in your heart, you have
to not care about anyone else aside from
Allah in terms of who you're pleasing by
what you're doing. That's what is.
That you're doing it for his sake not
for anyone else's sake.
That's what is. You can do that within
a group.
Actually, what this ayah and the ayah after
it tells is that there is no way
for you to make it to Jannah without
a group.
It only happens via Zumarah.
Both of them to their final destination, Zumarah,
in groups.
There's no person there's no, like you're not
gonna find a dude on the day of
judge judgment just walking towards Jannah on his
own
and just by himself. Hey. Where where are
you going?
Jannah, where where are your friends? Oh, they're
all in Jannah.
I I turn around and
your seat is is is nice and warm
right beside them.
Doesn't work that way. Aside unless you're a
prophet,
unless you're a messenger that was sent to
a peep a group of people and you
spent literally every breath of your life
trying to call them to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala and and they didn't listen to you
and you're coming to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
with this long argument of why it is
that you're walking alone,
it doesn't exist that way. It just doesn't.
You have you have a Zumarah. You have
a group of people.
And, you know, one of the disbelievers will
be walked towards Jahannam Zumarah in a group
just like the believers will be walked towards
Jannah in a group. Find your group.
Find the group
with whom you'll be walking towards Jannah on
the day of judgement
or else a group of Jannah will find
you.
If you don't find a group that will
walk you towards jannah,
a group of jahannam will find you and
they'll make sure that they walk you down
that route. You have to choose and it
has to be a conscious choice that you
make.
You're going to be resurrected on the day
of judgment and standing by those whom you
love most.
And love, as I explained them, is not
just an emotion. You break it down. If
you if you reduce it to an emotion,
it doesn't mean it's not really it's more
than that. The people that you spent time
with, the people that you cared for, the
people that were your priority in terms of
your,
of your wealth and your health and your
investment of of
of time and emotion and compassion. That's those
whom you love, and you'll come with them.
Once they come to the gates of Jahannam,
The gates aren't open, they're closed.
They are walking towards closed doors.
Why? To make it more humiliating.
If I'm coming to visit you, an act
an aspect of hospitality is that if I
if I before I even come to the
door, the door is open to welcome me.
That's more hospitable than having to knock on
the door and stand outside in the cold
for a couple of minutes until you get
your affairs in order and open the door
a couple of minutes later. Sometimes you get,
well, I I went I went I went
I I visited a friend years ago. I
knocked on his door. It took him 7
minutes to open the door. I'd already gone
home. I went home, got in my car,
left, and he he he he texted me,
like, 7 minutes later saying, where are you?
Like, you open the door now. I'm not
home. I'm I'm gone. I'm gonna wait 7
minutes for you for the door. It's freezing
outside.
There's a lack of hospitality when that's the
case. Right? So the the people of Jahannam,
they don't want to go to Jahannam, and
Jahannam doesn't even want them. The doors are
are closed. They have to come and knock
on the door. They They don't wanna go
in, but they have to knock on the
door. And then they they have to ask
who they are, and then the door is
open for them.
On their way to Jannah, as they're walking,
the doors open up as their way on
their way. Before they get there, they don't
have to knock on the door. The prophet
alaihis salaam is the only person who moves
the
to initiate Jannah. Everyone else as they walk,
the door is open for them as a
as a, a symbol of hospitality for them.
They have to go and knock on the
door.
The doors have to be moved for them
to go in. They don't wanna go in,
but they have to do it anyway.
And then the, the the the the the
the the the the the the the the
the responsible for it, they'll say,
what are you doing here?
Did did you not receive prophets and messengers
amongst you?
They
tell you the signs of your Lord, and
they warn you of a day such such
as this one.
Why are you here? It makes no sense.
Why are you here? Did no one tell
you about this? I mean, no one who
heard about this would be here. That's what
they're saying. Will run Jahannam. They're looking at
people like, why are you here? How could
you be here?
The only the only way they can understand
of someone being there is that no one
no one must have told you of this.
You have you must have missed the memo.
Like, you just you you you received the
email, went to your email, went to the
spam, you didn't look at it. You don't
know that there was if you knew this
was going to be the case, then you
would probably take it much more seriously. You
wouldn't be here. So did you not receive
prophets that told you about this but I
know we did.
The word of punishment is is is the
truth upon those who disbelieve or refuse it.
They're told, enter. Enter. Shame on you.
And it's shameful for you to be here.
You thought about it that way.
Think about it that way. It's shameful
to to make it to to for someone
to be making it to jannah. How could
you?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did he did not
make it difficult to love him or to
obey him or to be close to him.
It didn't make it hard. Why are you
here?
You must have really messed up to make
it here.
And the medic always assume that this person
must have a good excuse or
maybe they're I need the the they're
they weren't treated fairly or something.
And they say, no. No. We received it.
We just didn't listen.
So it's a mixed the miraculous disappointment.
We wanted to advocate for you. Maybe we
get you out of here, but apparently,
you didn't care for it yourself.
Alright. Let's do,
56.
Or maybe no. We do one with 28
because, you know, there there's no votes so
it's not worth it. 28.
Gives us an example of how dawah is
done, and it talks about dua, meaning keeping
the connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as
you do it. And the example that we're
given or one of the examples that we
are given is the example of, Mu'min Al
Firaun,
the believer that is from the family of
Firaun.
And what he did
when they started talking about killing Musa alaihis
salam,
This is the piece that I
who he is is hiding his iman. He
hid it throughout his life because he couldn't
he was not in a position that he
had the ability to to to express it.
He finally did in his life, but for
a long time he didn't. And this talks
about a, a scenario that is acceptable Islamically.
There are people in this world who will
lack the ability to express their deen due
to different reasons.
For to do for different, any considerations, they
may not be able to go public or
or to announce the fact that they're Muslim.
And Allah
will accept from them, especially if their reasoning
for it or the or the the the
cause of that lack of ability to express
it was valid in their lives. And was
a good example of that.
But he said,
He established
one of the, the arguments for the freedom
of of religion or freedom of speech. They're
going to murder someone because he says because
he does not believe in whatever it is
you believe in. They used to say,
our lord is He He is saying,
my my lord is not. It's it's a
it's a it's a freedom of of belief,
freedom of faith. You're gonna kill him because
he has a different belief.
You're going to respond to a thought with
the sword.
That's that's the that's the, that's evidence that
you're you're you're bankrupt.
If you respond to words with a fist,
that means you're just bankrupt.
Like, you don't have a better idea,
or you're you you you don't have control
over yourself. Like, if you allow words to
result in the usage of of of of
violence, of physical violence, then you don't know
how to.
Musa alayhi salam said,
and here's the evidence and here's the argument
and here's where you're wrong. So they want
to respond by murdering him. Right? This is
how it is everywhere in in the world
where there are dictatorships.
It's changing in this part of the world
as well, which is why everyone here should
be concerned.
It should be concerned because it's changing here
too.
It's not happening in the same, fashion that
it happens in our countries where you just
don't make it home that night,
and you just never never make it home
again. And no one has any idea where
you are or who you are. You you
may emerge 35 years later before you die
and you may not, and that's the end
of it. That's one way.
Here, it's different. Here, it's
it's we're going to cancel you.
I thought we could only cancel, like, applications
on a computer, but apparently, we can cancel
human beings. We'll make sure that you lose
your job, you lose your
reputation, that you'll never be able to work
again, that you'll never be able to walk
in in in the hold your head high.
That's what we're gonna do to you. We're
gonna make sure that we ruin your reputation
company. We're going to spread false information
about you and take away everything that you
worked for in your life. I don't see
that to be any different. Like, I don't
see it to be that different. It's it's
they
say in in Arabic proverb.
Chop off the head and don't take away
the provision.
And take a person's life and don't take
away their their their ability to make a
living for themselves and for their families.
And and that's what we're we're we're coming
towards that now. We're living in a at
a time where, Yani, the, the the the
spectrum or the range of acceptable opinion has
been limited
by, many by certain groups. It's not just
the government. It's other groups as well. They're
limiting the range of acceptable opinion. And, yeah,
we can't discuss certain things. We can't talk
about certain topics. We can't carry us an
opinion in public space anymore. And if you
do carry it, then you can't talk about
it. If you talk about it, you have
to be very careful.
Because if you talk about it and someone
listens to it or hears it, then you
have to go through, like, months of remediation.
I I've seen this happen to, you know,
to physicians and to people. I've watched it
happen to people who just had happened to
say the wrong thing and someone was listening.
Someone heard overheard them and they had to
so this
this type of oppression or persecution is no
different.
And if we don't want to end up
in the same situation that most of us
here
were in when we were in the Middle
East or in our our our home countries
and we had to leave, then we have
to start figuring out a a path or
a method or a way to deal with
this because it's getting worse.
And we need to start being we we
saw it at the beginning of the hadith
when the when 6 months ago when
when October 7th occurred and it started to
happen in trickle,
the
the range of acceptable opinion was very clearly,
limited. Like, we it was very obvious that
we couldn't say certain things, that we were
struggling. And the questions were always
directed towards, you condemn them, you condemn them,
like a stupid question that now we see
how how ridiculous it was. But that's what
how they played this the to play this
game.
Taking us away from the taking away from
us the ability to talk about that which
was, yeah, and he's staring us in the
face, the elephant in the room, that which
was occurring on a daily basis. Until this
moment, we still don't have that ability. We
still don't have the ability to speak out
against Zionism
and pointed out as not being anti Semitism
or not being anti
Judaism or anti Jew. We don't have that
ability. Even though as Muslims, we are very
clear that, we take pride in the fact
that.
Now the the the Jews are people who
are to us. So people who were responsible
for their protection wherever they were. They they
have they're the most similar group to us
in terms of faith. They are related to
us in terms of blood. We don't hate
them. There's no reason to. We never did.
Historically, they always lived wherever we lived. They
still do. They still do. Until this day,
they live in Muslim countries. And there and
when they live there, it's not like how
they live in Europe or in in Palestine
where they just arrived a couple of 100
years. They've been there for 1000 of years.
They've been living up a Muslim. No problem.
Never changed.
But we can't we don't have that, spectrum.
We don't have that spectrum to speak. No.
No. No. We Zionism is not a faith.
It's not a race, and it's not a
a religion. It's not this is this is
not discrimination. It's a it's a it's an
ideology.
It's an ideology that is very, very dangerous
that is that takes away the rights of
other people to exist in their lands over
their forefathers and but we don't have that
space. You talk about that. You
go it lands in the wrong,
and you lose your job.
Then you're discriminated against and you're persecuted and
you're you're removed. You if you if if
that's going to change, brothers and sisters, something
has to change internally for us.
The the the level of our advocacy,
the the degree of our organization within our
communities has to be different than it is
right now. We have to be we have
to have more pull. We have to have
more say. We have to be able to
protect We have to be able to protect.
The a question was I I was told
something like 6 years ago or 7 years
ago, something like that. So why don't you
say something about Yani blah blah blah? Some
some problem that Yanni exists within our code.
It was more,
you know, the colorful letters. Why don't you
say something about that? Like, well well,
I don't I I why mean where? I
can say it out with the Masjid all
the time. No. No. Go on radio and
say it publicly.
Like, sure.
Sure. We can do that.
Who will protect me once I do?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala hami. But tell me,
which Muslim institution organization or will have my
back?
If you follow how the world if you
listen to what the,
the the the church,
some some of the clergy in in church
here in the say, it's way more aggressive
than anything we say in our messaged, like
in terms of what we actually believe. And
yet they're not canceled. They lose why? Because
they have the power of their churches behind
them. They have the wealth and the weight
of the people in the community to back
them up. So they say what they want,
and they are backed up. Imams, no. No.
No. No. No. No. I say something wrong,
you let me dry alone.
You leave me out in the sun to
dry it completely alone. I'll lose everything alone.
Of my teachers once was sitting and he
was answering questions. If someone and they would
they would they would get questions back then
in papers,
scrunched up little pieces of paper. He picked
it up. He read it. He looked at
the paper, and said, oh, who said this
question?
Whoever said this question, stand up. If you
stand up, I will answer it for you.
So then when they come and take me
to you go with me.
I'm fine with that. I don't need the
I'm just just you. That's the person who
asked the question. Just be brave enough to
stand up and say that you asked and
I'll answer it for you. Imams who don't
have support of their communities won't say a
word.
Don't get into the well if you truly
believe that if you truly believe in Allah,
you will say something on the radio too.
Why am I responsible for this? I don't
remember being I I didn't receive anything special
from God. You didn't tell me that I'm
responsible to say this stuff. I wasn't put
in that position. Why are you putting me
in position that I I was not put
in? If you think something should be said
publicly, say it yourself
or work communally to find a way for
it to be said publicly, so that the
person who's gonna say it has some degree
of protection or backup so doesn't lose everything
when the moment they open their mouth and
say something. There's no wisdom in that. There's
no wisdom in that.
Everyone seems to be very, very generous
and brave when it's someone else's life.
When it's someone else's life yeah. Sure. They
should be brave and jed and speak and
they should. What are you what what should
you do? I just wanna know what you
should do. Just interested.
Anything risky that you're going to do? No.
Subhanallah. It seems like you're very aggressive when
it comes to the life of an imam.
Seems like you're you're yeah. You're very you're
willing to put of course. Of course. It's
not your life.
It's not your life. It's not your
not your Yeah.
I'm saying this because I I I
this narrative is is is is toxic and
the community is toxic.
You want something to change? Fine. Let's have
a discussion on how that's going to change.
You put put imams to the test in
terms of actually supporting them. And when they
don't and when they're actually supported and they
have a proper backing within their community, then
when they refuse to stand for then go
ahead Then go ahead and blame them for
being, you know, for selling out.
But I can tell you that any imam
who opens in his mouth and says anything
that goes against status quo, the institution they're
a part of will cut ties with them.
It has happened many, many times
here and all across the world, and it
still is. Just in case you think that
this is hypothetical, this is not hypothetical.
This continues to occur on an ongoing basis
on an ongoing basis. I don't think it's
the effort of an individual.
Think it's the effort of a community. If
you actually want to start pushing our opinion
out to the public, you need an effort
of a community, not of a couple of
people.
Well, everyone sits back and just walks. What
did this guy say?
He pointed out the problem that you're going
to murder someone because he said my lord
is Allah. He has brought you clarification clarification
from your lord.
If he is lying, then he his lies
will catch up with him. Let him lie.
His lies will catch up with him. And
if he is truthful, then you will be
afflicted by the truth that he is saying.
If it's truthful and because you don't know,
if you're not sure what he's saying is
right or wrong because you don't have information.
If it's wrong, it'll it'll burn out on
its own. It'll run its course and then
fail. And if it's truthful then it'll harm
you.
Does not guide the pathway of someone who
is extravagant
to someone who is a liar. But he
didn't listen to him. He continued to explain
to them. He didn't listen to him. He
didn't listen to him. He almost killed him,
but Allah got him out. He's one of
the few happy ending stories that we have
in the Quran. Muhammed Yaseem didn't get that.
Muhammed Yassim
was was trampled to death. Muhammed Ali Faraun
made it out. Allah
he
got out alive. It doesn't happen very often,
though. It doesn't happen very often.
Let's do,
56 of 56.
Just a Yeah. But 56. Yeah. It's okay.
You have time.
I'll I'll get through. Yeah.
Yeah. We'll do it. Oh, is it lemon
juice?
Stop that.
No. Then I'm wrong. Let's do a 34
upholstered. Sorry.
Thought we had more time.
Talks about Dawah with your behavior. And he
says
never has a good deed and a bad
deed equal
ever. They're never the same. They can never
be seen the same. They'll never have the
same weight or the same impact ever. They're
not the same.
Push back against the evil that people are
dishing out to you with that which is
the best you have.
Give back excellence.
Push back against evil with excellence. And if
you do that, it it takes character, by
the way. It's very hard. This is like
a simple thing to say. It's almost
not it's not impossible, but it's it's it's
borderline. It's up there with those things that
most people struggle to even
fathom doing. Yeah. Where you push back against
the evil that is that is that is
being dished out to you with something that
is good with with the best that you've
got actually, not even good. Just the best
that you have.
And if
you
do
that,
And if you do that, then suddenly the
person that once you had animosity with, they'll
become a close friend to you.
Someone who dishes out or
evil, most of the time, they're doing it
because they're struggling or they're they're weak or
they're upset
or
once they are
treated back with with kindness or with with
with goodness, with excellence,
the majority of the human race when that
happens, they calm down and they take a
step back and they reassess themselves.
And they decide that maybe they weren't right
to do that and to initially, and they'll
come and they'll rectify the situation, and they'll
seek out some degree of of of friendship
with you.
The majority of people there are some psychopaths
who won't, but, yeah, they're they're they're very
few very few. They're not don't worry. The
person you know is not like that. Most
likely the person that you're thinking about right
now is not like that. But it takes
courage, it takes strength,
it takes sincerity,
it takes grit,
it takes humbleness
for you to be able to push back
against evil that was dished out against you,
towards you with. It's very hard.
This is one of the
the
the most important, the most beautiful characteristics that
the Quran talks about. And you want to
perform dawah? That's your dawah.
If you don't have knowledge and you you
you find it difficult to articulate, just do
that.
Just whenever someone sends
towards you, send back towards them. Just push
back with something that is good. And see
and see how the majority of times when
you do that, the person was once your
enemy will
calm down, will mellow out and you'll find
them to be a close friend at some
point in your life. And this is and
this is this is
as they said. As they say, this has
been tried. It works. It works. I I
I testify it works. The 100% works. It's
just very hard. It can really it's it's
difficult. You have to swallow
it's a big
lump you have to swallow. Your ego is
pretty yeah. It's hard to take it down
and push back with something good even though
the person is maliciously harming and saying something
they shouldn't. You try that and you'll be
you'll be you'll be pleasantly surprised with the
with the results the majority of the time.
Let's do,
15 of Isura.
One of my teachers whenever he was asked
what's your favorite ayah in the Quran, he
would he would
point out this one. And and his argument
was that it was small little paragraph like
small little, pieces. It's it's cut down. If
you look at it, you find all these,
and
like all these little, signs of, it being
acceptable for you to stop.
It's just 1 it's just it's chopped up
into small little little pieces.
It's all these little pieces that each one
is a is is a way that we
carry our dua as Muslims. It's how we
take it. It's what we do. It's what
we say. And and and and and for
that, in the verses before, we're talking about
Allah
and the people who came before and the
punishments that that afflicted them.
And for that for that reason,
perform and take people you know, take Islam
to others and take this to others.
And watch that, that straight path as you
were told, as you were
commanded.
I don't follow the whims and the desires
of people around you.
Say this
I believe in every book that Allah has
ever descended upon people,
on earth. Like, I believe in
I believe in all of them. The ones
that I know, the ones I don't know,
I believe in all of them. Every word
that came from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, I
believe in.
And I was commanded to bring justice to
you, to bring fairness, to treat you with
fairness and treat you with equality.
Allah is my lord as much as he
is your your lord.
We have our deeds and you have your
deeds. It may be different.
Right now, there is no way for us
to figure out who is better than the
other one. In dunya, it's not it's not
clear. But
Allah of judgment, he will gather us and
he will judge. And
all goes back to him. He'll the one
who will judge whose behavior was better, mine,
or is it yours? Your amal or my
amal? I think they're mine. That's why I'm
doing them. If you don't believe that what
you're doing is correct, then why would you
do it? If you didn't have conviction that
the way you're living your life is the
correct way to live your life, then why
would you live it that way? You're living
it the way you live it because you
have good reason to believe that this is
the correct way to live it. And maybe
they have the same conviction.
It's hard to figure that out because we'll
argue a little bit and then we'll come
to a dead end and it may not
work out. So you do your thing, I'll
do mine.
This ayah is filled with with,
with strength,
with identity,
with tolerance,
with clarity. It's an eye that puts together
this this way of looking at things. I
am bringing to you. I'm gonna bring it
to you. I'm going to walk that straight
path. I this is what I believe in.
I would like to bring justice to you.
I will not persecute you.
I don't necessarily agree with you. I'm gonna
continue to do what I think is correct.
You do what you think is correct, and
Allah will be the judge between
us.
This is the the outlook of a Muslim.
I find it's a beautiful ayah to,
to to reflect upon. Let's do one more.
Let's go back a little bit, to, to
to 56 of Rafah as I wanted to.
You guys deprive me of what I wanted
to do.
Let's do a 56 and then we'll we'll
end with that inshallah.
Indeed, the ones,
those who can I I told you in
this
this, this phrase is repeated 3 or 4
times?
Those who who argue Allah signs, who argue
against the existence or against the sanctity or
the holiness of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
who Allah is and what he what he
sent. So indeed, the ones who argue against
the sanctity of what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has sent us in terms of verses or
his signs argue against his existence altogether.
And they don't have a a a solid
piece of evidence to support that. And they
don't have an argument that actually stands, can
hold a candle to the argument that is
being offered on the other side. But why
are they doing this? He says
one of the reasons he talks about this
a couple of times in the Surah. Here
he points out one of the reasons. In
their hearts, all that all that all all
all the all the, reason all that it
really is is that inside their heart, in
their chest, there is kibal, there's arrogance.
They will never reach what they think they
are.
Arrogance is when you think you're
you think yourself to be in a certain
status
that you're not.
You're you're not in that status.
But you think you are. And then you
treat people from the status that you think
you're in.
Or you look at things from the status
that you think you're in. So if you
see religious people and they seem to you
to be a little bit lost or their
behaviors aren't the best, so you end up
feeling arrogant. So you put yourself in a
position where you're above them and then you
argue against what it is that they have
to say just because you don't think that
you're equal to them and you don't want
to be seen as a part of them.
When you are. When you're no better than
them. You never were. You never will be.
We're all equal. We're all the same.
Anyone who is behaving a certain way in
a certain position is just because of whatever
hand was dealt to this person throughout their
lives.
These people just have arrogance in their chest.
They will never reach what it is that
they think they are.
So seek refuge in Allah. From what? From
ever being like that. Seek refuge in Allah
from ever allowing yourself to be in a
position where you feel arrogant, you look down
at others, and you think that they're ignorant
or think that they're weak or you think
that they're not worthy of compassion or not
worthy of having an opinion or not worthy
of your time.
Seek refuge in Allah from arrogance
because it's the worst thing that you could
ever carry in your heart. There's nothing worse
to exist inside this chest of yours than
arrogance.
If you ask and seek refuge in him,
indeed he is the all hearing and he
you that refuge.
you that refuge.