Adnan Rajeh – Sunday Tafseer Halaqah – Surat Al-Taghabun #02

Adnan Rajeh
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: Transcript ©
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The night's hadith is from the collection of

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Anissa'i

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and it's a sound chain of narration narrated

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to us

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by Tariq,

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Ibn Shehab

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where he says that there was a man

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who came to the prophet

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and asked him a question.

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And what's interesting in this hadith it's added

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before the question it added a small detail

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that this man was putting his foot

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into the,

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with,

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the the there's a foot,

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a footstep that that's tied to a saddle

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of the horse.

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I I forgot what the name is, in

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English, but he was putting his foot into

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it while he was asking the prophet, alaihis

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salatu, and I'll come back to this in

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a moment. And he asked him, what is

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the best form of jihad? What is the

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best form of struggle, of perseverance?

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And the prophet

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said, saying

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the truth

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to to,

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leaders who are oppressive

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or unjust.

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Saying

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speaking the truth to power essentially,

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speaking the truth to power. And

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what's interesting here is the man who was

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putting his foot in the description

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on into the into the,

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into the footstool

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of the horse,

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is indicating to us that this person was

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likely going on to jihad, physical jihad.

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And so he was asking the prophet

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as he was climbing,

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what is the best form?

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And most people think, you know, it's the

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physical perseverance struggle.

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But the prophet told them saying

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truth to power is even more power.

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It's more powerful.

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And so what we see today,

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and why is it more powerful by the

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way before we see go into obviously Gaza,

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it's when you go for a physical, you

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know, physical struggle of perseverance,

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there may not be a imbalance of power.

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There may be two sides that have equal

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or, you know, similar powers.

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But when you are saying truth to power,

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a,

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you are at a there there's no balance

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of power. You're You're certainly lower.

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And b, it's they're unjust.

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And so the equation here is not in

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your favor. Most likely, if not a 100%

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certainty that this is going to impact somebody

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in their life, in their career, in their

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job, whatever it is, speaking truth to power.

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This is almost a guarantee because the equation

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is not on your side.

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What we see in Gaza and many of

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us have felt that you know, I wish

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I was in Gaza to go and volunteer

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and help out humanitarian efforts

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and I feel like I'm just here and

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I can't help them.

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This hadith is teaching us otherwise.

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This is teaching us that we have an

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opportunity

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and an obligation to speak truth to power.

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We all know that this

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oppression is spearheaded by power that is equipping

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the oppressor,

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that is supporting the oppressor, that is funding

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the oppressor, that is stacking weapons in the

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inventory of the oppressor, that is defending the

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oppressor, that is censoring the oppressor, that is

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funding propaganda

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for the oppressor.

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And all of this is happening where?

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In this very country and in down south.

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So that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala put us

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here for a reason not in Gaza

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because

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our struggle, our perseverance

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is here,

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and it's significant, and it's not little.

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And

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what we see today

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is our brothers and sisters, our younger brothers

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and sisters

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have put this Hadith to practice.

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Many of them in the US across

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many universities and now in Canada, including Western

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are sacrificing

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their education.

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They're sacrificing potential their parents' investment,

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saving for a child to go to university,

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sacrificing that, sacrificing their employment afterwards,

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sacrificing their career.

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For what?

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To say truth to power.

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This power that we're talking about, it could

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be in the form of government,

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media,

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private companies,

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military,

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or institutions that are academic.

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And our younger brothers and sisters have done

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that

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and they've held their ground.

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And across the US, it's been

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over a month

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and across the world, in Japan, in Mexico,

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students are standing up to power

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because that's what's in their capability. Their power

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is their education and who governs their education.

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Our brothers and sisters in Western have been

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there almost for 2 weeks,

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and they put everything on the line. And

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they've given me personally a new understanding of

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the

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All you who believe,

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be bearers of justice, witnesses to Allah even

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if it's against yourself.

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What they're doing is against themselves. There is

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no good that could potentially come good in

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in in in in quotes,

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in terms of what could happen to them.

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Everything points towards

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something that's negative, but yet they still remain

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firm.

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So we have a duty

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to speak truth to power. And what I

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ask myself and everybody Insha'Allah is at least

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we go to campus

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and spend some time there throughout

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our day. Try to go for an hour.

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If you're planning to meet somebody to talk

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or to hang out with your family, go

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hang out at Western. Bring the, you know,

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the brothers and sisters food. Bring them something

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to drink,

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make your presence felt. This weekend was a

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long weekend. The numbers were really low and

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that brings down morale. And they're sacrificing for

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us. They are.

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We need to sacrifice

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and support

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them because all of the risk is their

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shouldering.

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So let's try to take our families, take

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some time throughout the day to go visit

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them, spend some time with them. If you

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can't even camp out with them for a

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night, go for it. But let's let's support

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our brothers and sisters and let's speak truth

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to power because this is our duty. Allah

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subhanahu wa ta'ala put us in this country

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for a reason. This is not Abath. He

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picked

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the place and the time for us to

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be alive is here.

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So you don't look at Gaza and say,

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what? I I and I'd love to go

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help in Gaza, but we have a duty

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here and this needs to be fulfilled. I

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hope that was beneficial Insha'Allah. May Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala make us bearers of justice and

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witnesses to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

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and grant victory to our brothers and sisters.

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