Adnan Rajeh – Sunday Tafseer Halaqah – Surat Al-Taghabun #02
AI: Summary ©
The transcript discusses the use of a hadith from the collection of AnissaGeneration, which adds to the understanding that the man who asked for the best form of force is the physical perseverance struggle. The speaker emphasizes the importance of speaking the truth to power and not letting words like "just say" or "just do" convince people of one's power. The speaker also mentions the importance of supporting and supporting families in community, particularly those who are in a difficult situation.
AI: Summary ©
The night's hadith is from the collection of
Anissa'i
and it's a sound chain of narration narrated
to us
by Tariq,
Ibn Shehab
where he says that there was a man
who came to the prophet
and asked him a question.
And what's interesting in this hadith it's added
before the question it added a small detail
that this man was putting his foot
into the,
with,
the the there's a foot,
a footstep that that's tied to a saddle
of the horse.
I I forgot what the name is, in
English, but he was putting his foot into
it while he was asking the prophet, alaihis
salatu, and I'll come back to this in
a moment. And he asked him, what is
the best form of jihad? What is the
best form of struggle, of perseverance?
And the prophet
said, saying
the truth
to to,
leaders who are oppressive
or unjust.
Saying
speaking the truth to power essentially,
speaking the truth to power. And
what's interesting here is the man who was
putting his foot in the description
on into the into the,
into the footstool
of the horse,
is indicating to us that this person was
likely going on to jihad, physical jihad.
And so he was asking the prophet
as he was climbing,
what is the best form?
And most people think, you know, it's the
physical perseverance struggle.
But the prophet told them saying
truth to power is even more power.
It's more powerful.
And so what we see today,
and why is it more powerful by the
way before we see go into obviously Gaza,
it's when you go for a physical, you
know, physical struggle of perseverance,
there may not be a imbalance of power.
There may be two sides that have equal
or, you know, similar powers.
But when you are saying truth to power,
a,
you are at a there there's no balance
of power. You're You're certainly lower.
And b, it's they're unjust.
And so the equation here is not in
your favor. Most likely, if not a 100%
certainty that this is going to impact somebody
in their life, in their career, in their
job, whatever it is, speaking truth to power.
This is almost a guarantee because the equation
is not on your side.
What we see in Gaza and many of
us have felt that you know, I wish
I was in Gaza to go and volunteer
and help out humanitarian efforts
and I feel like I'm just here and
I can't help them.
This hadith is teaching us otherwise.
This is teaching us that we have an
opportunity
and an obligation to speak truth to power.
We all know that this
oppression is spearheaded by power that is equipping
the oppressor,
that is supporting the oppressor, that is funding
the oppressor, that is stacking weapons in the
inventory of the oppressor, that is defending the
oppressor, that is censoring the oppressor, that is
funding propaganda
for the oppressor.
And all of this is happening where?
In this very country and in down south.
So that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put us
here for a reason not in Gaza
because
our struggle, our perseverance
is here,
and it's significant, and it's not little.
And
what we see today
is our brothers and sisters, our younger brothers
and sisters
have put this Hadith to practice.
Many of them in the US across
many universities and now in Canada, including Western
are sacrificing
their education.
They're sacrificing potential their parents' investment,
saving for a child to go to university,
sacrificing that, sacrificing their employment afterwards,
sacrificing their career.
For what?
To say truth to power.
This power that we're talking about, it could
be in the form of government,
media,
private companies,
military,
or institutions that are academic.
And our younger brothers and sisters have done
that
and they've held their ground.
And across the US, it's been
over a month
and across the world, in Japan, in Mexico,
students are standing up to power
because that's what's in their capability. Their power
is their education and who governs their education.
Our brothers and sisters in Western have been
there almost for 2 weeks,
and they put everything on the line. And
they've given me personally a new understanding of
the
All you who believe,
be bearers of justice, witnesses to Allah even
if it's against yourself.
What they're doing is against themselves. There is
no good that could potentially come good in
in in in in quotes,
in terms of what could happen to them.
Everything points towards
something that's negative, but yet they still remain
firm.
So we have a duty
to speak truth to power. And what I
ask myself and everybody Insha'Allah is at least
we go to campus
and spend some time there throughout
our day. Try to go for an hour.
If you're planning to meet somebody to talk
or to hang out with your family, go
hang out at Western. Bring the, you know,
the brothers and sisters food. Bring them something
to drink,
make your presence felt. This weekend was a
long weekend. The numbers were really low and
that brings down morale. And they're sacrificing for
us. They are.
We need to sacrifice
and support
them because all of the risk is their
shouldering.
So let's try to take our families, take
some time throughout the day to go visit
them, spend some time with them. If you
can't even camp out with them for a
night, go for it. But let's let's support
our brothers and sisters and let's speak truth
to power because this is our duty. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala put us in this country
for a reason. This is not Abath. He
picked
the place and the time for us to
be alive is here.
So you don't look at Gaza and say,
what? I I and I'd love to go
help in Gaza, but we have a duty
here and this needs to be fulfilled. I
hope that was beneficial Insha'Allah. May Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala make us bearers of justice and
witnesses to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and grant victory to our brothers and sisters.