Ahsan Hanif – Lessons From The Events In Syria
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the historical context of Islam, including its impact on people's lives and the historical significance of its impact on wealth and power. They also touch on the historical significance of Islam and its impact on people's lives, including its impact on treating people and its importance for shaping their behavior. The transcript provides insight into the historical context of shima and its impact on people's lives, as well as lessons learned from past events like the Syrian conflict and the globalist crisis. The speaker encourages people to ask Allah Azza wa Jal for guidance and guidance to achieve success, and emphasizes the importance of learning from past events and showing support for those affected by oppression.
AI: Summary ©
وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا
شريك له وأشهد أن محمدًا عبده ورسوله صلى
الله عليه وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليمًا كثيرًا
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ
وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ
اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ
مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا
اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالأَرْحَامِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ
عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا
from
the methodologies of the Qur'an is that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would often after
incidents and events that took place in the
lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, he would reveal
verses and passages and sometimes chapters that indicated
the lessons and the benefits that we could
take and extract from those events.
That was the methodology of the Qur'an.
Allah azzawajal after the Battle of Badr, the
Battle of Uhud, the conquest of Mecca, the
Treaty of Hudaybiyah, the slander of our mother
Aisha r.a., all of those and other
incidents, Allah azzawajal after they had finished and
been completed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent
down verses of the Qur'an so that
the believers would know benefits and lessons that
they could take from those incidents, principles that
they could learn, not only so that they
could reflect upon the errors that they made
and the things that they did right, but
also therefore to benefit from future similar events.
That is one of the methodologies of the
Qur'an.
And I want to take that methodology and
extrapolate from the Qur'an certain verses and
principles as it relates to the recent incidents
and events that have unfolded in Syria, a
conflict that began over 14, 13 years ago
back in 2011 when we spoke about some
of those issues that our brothers and sisters
were facing.
Thousands died, millions refugees displaced, and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala decreed in this week, in
these days that a change, a monumental change
would come.
And sometimes it is difficult when you're going
through an event or you're going through some
difficulty or challenge, whether you are close to
that issue or far away as many of
us were, sometimes it is difficult to understand
some of the wisdoms of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and the decrees of Allah azza
wa jal and the sunan of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in his universe.
But sometimes it is easier to reflect when
you look back in hindsight and when you
see now that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in everything that he does, everything that he
wills, everything that he decrees, there is ultimate
wisdom and knowledge from him subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Our Lord is latifum bi'ibadih, gentle to
his servants, hakeem or wise, al-alim or
knowing.
Does as he pleases subhanahu wa ta'ala
for a purpose and a will and a
decree that none of us can even begin
to imagine to understand, let alone fully comprehend.
And so from those lessons that I want
to share with you today, and from the
lessons that we take in the book of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that all
might and all power belong to Allah azza
wa jal alone.
True power, true majesty, true supremacy, they belong
only to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone.
Allah azza wa jal has decreed that in
this dunya and in this life, nothing shall
remain.
Nothing stays as it is.
No matter how strong you are, how powerful
you are, how wealthy you are, no matter
how strong you may think you are, none
of that remains.
Everyone that is young will become old and
weak, and everyone that is rich will soon
become poor, either because they will lose that
wealth or they will die.
And that wealth will therefore benefit them in
no way.
Every civilization that rises, every country that becomes
strong, becomes weak, and it falls into ruins.
Allah azza wa jal says in the Quran,
وَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَقِبَةُ
الَّذِينَ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ Have they not traveled
upon the earth and seen the end result
of all of those who came before them?
How many civilizations, how many nations does Allah
azza wa jal himself just mention in the
Quran of those past nations that today no
remnants of them remain?
We see their lands, we know their names,
sometimes you see the monuments that they built,
such as the pharaohs of Egypt and the
people of Salih, but there is no one
there to claim them home today.
كَانُوا أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ قُوَّةً وَآثَارًا فِي الْأَرْضِ
فَمَا أَغْنَى عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ Those people
of before were more than you in number,
stronger than you in might.
Their landmarks were grander than the ones that
you have, but it didn't benefit them when
the laws of Allah and when the decree
of Allah azza wa jal came upon them.
Nothing remains.
The people of Aad, Allah azza wa jal
tells us in the Quran, were from the
strongest of nations, mighty, a warrior nation, وَإِذَا
بَطَشْتُمْ بَطَشْتُمْ جَبَّارِينَ Allah says describing them that
when they would conquer and they would fight,
they were known for their harshness, for their
tyranny.
And then when Allah azza wa jal gave
to them a prophet from him, Hud alayhi
salam, calling them to Allah azza wa jal,
they rejected him.
And when he threatened them of the punishment
of Allah azza wa jal that would surely
come upon them due to that rejection, they
ignored him.
And they said, who is stronger than us?
مَنْ أَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً Who can possibly topple
us?
Who is possibly stronger and mightier than us?
A nation that conquers, that does as it
pleases, leaders and kings that do as they
please.
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ الَّذِي خَلَقَهُمْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ
مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً Do they not see and know
and realize that Allah is their creator?
That Allah azza wa jal is stronger and
mightier than them?
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala destroyed
them جَلَّ فِي عُلَى And that is from
the sunnah of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Allah azza wa jal changes times and changes
situations and changes the days between people.
He alternates them.
اِنْ يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدْ مَسْتَ الْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌ مِثْلُهُ
Allah says from the battles or from the
lessons of the battle of Uhud, when the
Muslims suffered losses, 70 of the companions were
martyred رضي الله عنهم مجمعين.
And the Prophet ﷺ himself was injured.
Allah says that if today, meaning on the
day of Uhud, they came upon you injury,
loss, death, then they came upon those, your
enemies, something similar before.
Didn't they lose on the day of Badr?
Didn't they suffer injuries and loss before you?
وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بِيْنَ النَّاسِ And such are
the days Allah says that it rotates between
the people.
Nothing rests, nothing lasts.
The only thing that will remain is the
name of our Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And the only thing therefore that we take
from this dunya is that which we do
for his sake.
And in his name subhanahu wa ta'ala,
your iman, your righteous deeds, all of that
which you accomplish with your own hands, that
is what you will take forth.
And that brings me on to the second
benefit that we take from these events.
And that is that Allah azzawajal from that
which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made
haram, and from that which Allah detests and
dislikes and hates, is dhulm and oppression in
any way, shape or form.
In the hadith of Ibn Umar رضي الله
عنه and what is collected in Al-Bukhari
and Muslim, the Prophet said salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, oppression will be darkness, layers of darkness
in the day of judgment.
And that's because any type of oppression that
is committed towards any other person, Allah azzawajal
will hold those people to account.
And Allah will deal with them either in
the dunya or in the akhirah.
And from the duas that are not rejected
is the dua of the mazloom, the oppressed.
As the Prophet told us salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, that's a single individual that is oppressed
because someone took away from them their rights.
Imagine then if there is ten people, a
hundred people, a thousand, a million, a whole
nation of people, all of them making dua
because of the oppression that has come upon
them.
The dua of the oppressed is not rejected
by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And what is collected in Sahih Muslim, the
hadith of Abu Dharr رضي الله عنه, hadith
al-qudsi, our Prophet said salallahu alayhi wa
sallam, that our Lord Allah azzawajal says, يا
عبادي إني حرمت ظلم على نفسي وجعلته بينكم
محرما فلا تظالموا When my servants have made
oppression, Allah says haram upon myself.
And Allah didn't need to make anything haram
upon himself.
He does as he pleases.
And no one can overcome his will subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
But to show the repugnant nature of this
type of sin, that someone should harm another,
take from their rights, withhold something that belongs
to them rightly.
Allah azzawajal made it haram upon himself.
مَمَا رَبُّكَ بِظَلَّمٍ لِلْعَبِيدِ Your Lord never oppresses
any of his creation.
I have made it haram upon myself and
I have made it haram upon you.
Oppression.
فَلَا تَظَلَمُوا So do not oppress one another.
And in the Quran, every single story of
a nation, of a king, of a leader,
of a pharaoh that was destroyed, it is
often because of the oppression that they committed.
And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, وَمَا ظَلَمْنَاهُمْ وَلَاكِنْ كَانُوا أَنفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ We
never oppressed anyone.
But they used to be the ones who
used to commit oppression against themselves.
And the greatest form of that oppression is
the oppression of shirk.
إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ That's the worst type
of oppression because you withhold the right of
Allah azzawajal, then alone the rights of others.
To withhold the worship that belongs to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala alone is the worst
form of shirk.
And then Allah azzawajal from those lessons that
we also then learn is that if Allah
doesn't like the dhalimeen, the oppressors and their
oppression, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
help the oppressed.
And that help will come to them sooner
or later.
As Allah azzawajal says about the people of
Musa alaihi salam, Bani Israel, who underwent years
of subjugation, years of oppression, years of torture,
the hands of Pharaoh and his armies and
his advisors.
وَنُرِيدُ أَنَّ مُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اَسْتُضْعِفُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ
وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ مَا إِمَّتَهُمْ وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ Allah says that
we want to show our favor to those
who are weakened upon the earth, those people
that were displaced, those people that were tortured,
those people that were exiled from their homes,
that were imprisoned, that were harmed in one
way or another.
Allah azzawajal says that one day will come,
we will make them the leaders.
وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّةً وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ And they will be
the ones to inherit the earth.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala destroyed Pharaoh and
destroyed his armies.
Despite his wealth and despite his might and
despite his power, Allah destroyed him because of
the oppression that he committed.
And Allah azzawajal raised up those people that
he looked down upon, that he frowned upon,
that he thought were beneath him, that he
thought were worthy of even him looking towards
them.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raised them up.
And Allah elevated them.
But they were elevated, why?
Because of their iman.
Because they were willing to believe in Allah
azzawajal.
Because they were willing to follow the Prophet
of Allah, Musa a.s. And because of
that, Allah azzawajal honored them.
And one of the things therefore that we
often forget and from the lessons that we
can learn from the Qur'an in these
types of events is, إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌ
The promise of Allah is ever true.
The promise of Allah never diminishes.
The promise of Allah will always be that
which Allah azzawajal decrees when He decrees it
in a manner that He decrees subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And therefore from the lessons that we also
learn from this is that when Allah azzawajal
answers those du'as and Allah brings relief
and Allah azzawajal gives people that which they
requested sometimes for years and years and Allah
azzawajal grants them power and success over their
enemies, that is just as much as a
cause of celebration and is also a test
from Allah azzawajal to see how you will
behave now.
What will you do?
One of the things that Allah azzawajal placed
in our path when the Syrian conflict began
many years ago is that Allah azzawajal wanted
to see how we would behave.
And for many of us, alhamdulillah, we put
our money in our pockets and we spent
in the way of Allah azzawajal.
But now also, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will want to see from those people in
Syria who are now the people in charge,
who are now the people in power, what
they will do, how they will react.
The people of Musa a.s. used to
say to Musa, there's no benefit in you
coming on Musa.
Whether you came before you came and after
you came, you're still being oppressed.
Pharaoh's still doing what he's doing.
What's the point of you?
And so he said, as Allah mentions in
Surah Al-A'raf, قَالَ عَسَىٰ رَبُّكُمْ أَن
يُهْلِكَ عَدُوَّكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَيَنظُرَ كَيْفَ
تَعْمَلُونَ And He will make you take their
place to see how you will do.
How will you behave?
How will you act?
And so often we ask Allah Azza wa
Jal for change but we're not really prepared
for that change.
And when that change comes, sometimes we don't
do much better.
Sometimes we're worse.
Sometimes we do something but not in the
way that Allah Azza wa Jal is pleased
with.
It is a test from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And just as that applies to those situations
far away, they apply to us as well.
When we ask Allah for change, when we
ask Allah for something in our lives, that
Allah gives us something, that Allah grants us
something, that Allah bestows something upon us and
Allah gives it to you.
How will you then react?
How will you behave?
Because the blessing of Allah Azza wa Jal
can be taken as something as a means
of good and it can be taken as
something which is a means of trial.
And that person then becomes more distant from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
All of these and more are lessons that
we can learn.
That Allah Azza wa Jal disperses throughout the
Quran, that our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
taught us in the sunnah.
These events are important for us to reflect
upon and to think about.
They should increase us in our iman and
bring us closer to Allah Azza wa Jal.
But they should also make us reflect.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
His guidance and for His steadfastness.
And that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives
to people good guidance and that Allah Azza
wa Jal helps them to achieve and attain
success.
بارك الله لي ولكم في القرآن والسنة ونفعني
وإياكم بما فيهما من الآيات والحكمة أقول قولي
هذا واستغفر الله لي ولكم ولي جميع المسلمين
من كل ذنب فاستغفروه إنه الغفور الرحيم بسم
الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله
وعلى آله وصحبه ومن والاه وسلم تسليما كثيرا
أما بعد The final lesson that I want
to share with you that is a lesson
that I've said a number of times but
it's something which I think bears and is
worth repeating because it's something that we often
take for granted and that is that from
the greatest lessons that we learn from incidents
and events like this is the great blessing
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala of safety
that Allah Azza wa Jal spares you from
the challenges and the trials that other face
No one knows No one knows how they
would react in that situation No one knows
how they would behave No one knows the
strength of their own iman that if they
were to be threatened with their own life
or the lives of their children or the
loss of their property and wealth how they
would respond and react to that And so
the Prophet told us salallahu alayhi wa sallam
in the hadith Ask Allah for his protection
Ask Allah for safety Never want to be
in that situation Never ask Allah Azza wa
Jal to place you in a trial that
you don't know how you would bear And
that's why some of the Salaf from their
understanding and from their knowledge the companions radhiallahu
anhum is that if they asked Allah Azza
wa Jal for an illness or for a
difficulty or some hardship they would always close
it and put a caveat and say Oh
Allah if you must try us then give
us a trial in which we don't decrease
in iman nor do we become distant from
you because everyone has tried and tested but
the problem is not in the trial the
test in and of itself it's in the
way that we respond Oh Allah if it's
a trial that takes us further away from
you weakens us in iman makes us negligent
and heedless of you then oh Allah don't
try us with such things But if it's
going to be a trial that increases you
in iman expiates for your sins increases you
in reward then Inshallah that's a trial in
which you will benefit from you will gain
from it and that is why Abu Bakr
radhiallahu anhum what is collected from one of
his first sermons that he gave us the
Khalifa of the Muslims he said to the
community and they were companions the vast majority
of them Sahaba that he was speaking to
on the minbar of the Prophet salallahu alayhi
wasalam in Medina He said to them ask
Allah Azza wa Jal for aafiyah ask Allah
for safety and protection for no one was
given anything after yaqeen and after certainty better
than the protection and the safety of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala because of that protection you're
able to come to the masjid and pray
and you're able to read the Quran and
you're able to have relative safety for yourself
and your family that you can then spend
your time and effort in doing that which
is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala we
ask Allah Azza wa Jal that he keeps
us safe us and our brothers and sisters
and that Allah Azza wa Jal grants us
his protection and Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala saves
us from the trials of the dunya that
make us weak in iman and the distances
from him we ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
that he protects us from the traps of
shaitan and we ask Allah Azza wa Jal
that he makes the affairs of our brothers
and sisters in Syria and that whole region
easy for them that Allah lifts from them
their oppression and their difficulty that Allah Azza
wa Jal grants them safety in their families
and in their honor and in their wealth
and in their property subhanarabbika rabbil izzati amma
yasifoon wa salamun ala mursaleen walhamdulillahi rabbil alameen