Ammar Alshukry – Beauty Is Proof That God Exists
AI: Summary ©
The importance of finding out who is speaking to in a conversation is emphasized, along with the use of "has" in the title of the book of Yahah. The importance of working for the sake of Allah and creating a reward for actions that are sincere and earned is also discussed. The Surah of Blessings is emphasized, with the importance of forgiveness and promises in achieving beauty. The power of beauty in bringing happiness to people is emphasized, along with the importance of the eye of the beholder and the fruit of gratitude in shaping one's life.
AI: Summary ©
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The eye of a grateful servant
always sees beauty, and the eye of an
ungrateful servant
always
sees poverty,
deficiency.
Whatever actions you do, as long as they're
with Ikhlas,
do not be deceived by what is in
front of you.
So the work that you do, if you
don't see the results, it's okay. As long
as your main concern
was sincerity.
Because if we're animals just like all others,
then why are our souls so easily captured
by beautiful moments and beautiful people, by beautiful
places enamored?
Maybe the beautiful made us and made our
love of beauty a sign that we believe
in him and realize that beauty points to
the divine.
Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu
alaikum.
Allah
mentions in Surah Ibrahim
a good word.
What is that good word? So answer below
Welcome back to Quran 3430. Alhamdulillahir Amin. We
have, of course, as always, Sheikh Abdullah Adoor
and alhamdulillah Al Rahman, Sheikh Amar Shukri,
alhamdulillah,
coming from Al Maghrib. Al Maghrib is so
oppressive they made you wear their colors.
Yeah. I didn't even realize that, man. It's
just natural.
It just flows out. It's in his blood,
Michelle. It's beautiful. It's part of the part
of the the collaboration. Sir, Hamar has obviously
been doing, hamdullah,
quite a bit on the names of Allah
in Ramadan for Yaqeen as well. So check
out his Ramadan series as well, alhamdulillah, and,
of course,
the shorts that have been coming out on
Yaqeenah for some time.
We've done quite a bit together with alhamdulillah.
A blessing to have you here. Allah, by
the way, pleasure is mine. We're a little
disappointed with the shoe game, though. I'm glad
that there's no
shoe cam. There's a shoe shop. There's a
shoe cam. No. There's no shoe cam. There's
a shoe cam. Yeah. I'm I'm actually, I
told you I was heading to Umrah tomorrow,
and so I just wanted to get shoes
that wouldn't get stolen
in Medina. So that was the plan. So
this is a promise that you're gonna wear
the marqoop shoes in the future.
Normally, that's the the norm. You know, we
wear the marcoobs, the suddinis.
It's not recognized.
100%. That's right. Let them know.
It's good to have you, and
we're looking forward to hearing
your insights.
So
in just 14, subhanAllah, you have some of
the most beautiful
and hopeful ayaat from the book of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I wanna remind you
that in Surah Ibrahim, Allah Azzawal says,
and remember when your Lord proclaimed, if you
are grateful, I will certainly increase
you, but if you are ungrateful, then know
that my punishment is severe. And that is
one of the most beautiful ayaats because Allah
promises increase with gratitude,
but merely warns about his punishment without promising
his punishment,
leaving the door open for Tawbah, leaving the
door open for repentance to the one who
takes heed of these verses.
Now when we come to Suraj Hajr,
Allah
says in verse 49,
Inform my servants, oh prophet of Allah, that
I am indeed the all forgiving, most merciful,
and that my punishment is indeed the most
painful. Once again,
that the punishment exists,
but
it starts off with inform them, oh prophet
of Allah,
that I am indeed the all forgiving most
merciful. And then finally,
and inform them, oh prophet, about the guests
of Ibrahim. So I'm going to get to
the connection, the beautiful connection between these three
verses,
but just briefly,
what do you notice immediately from this verse?
Now, subhanAllah, in the previous juz,
remember when your lord proclaimed,
Here, Allah is saying
tell them, oh prophet of Allah. Now aren't
we reading the Quran, so shouldn't it just
be that I am the most forgiving and
the most merciful as is the case of
many verses? Ablana Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu,
he mentions a few possible reasons for this.
One is a very beautiful story that's narrated
that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam walked by
a group of companions
and he found them laughing.
Now, of course, the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam used to smile, he used to bring
joy, khanabisam al luhakan alaihi salatu wassalam. He
used to smile
and and laugh in his way, a dignified
beautiful laugh, and he would cause others to
do the same salallahu alaihi wa sallam. But
there's a type of laughing
that could suggest heedlessness. Right? A a distance
away from reality and away from the seriousness
of this life. And so the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sama says to this group of
companions
that if you knew what I knew, then
you would laugh little and you would cry
a lot. And
subhanallah, what we find as Ibn Abbas radiallahu
anhu mentions, and this is in many of
the books of of tafsir under this verse
that Jibreel alayhi salam comes to the prophet
Sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and says that your lord has said you
Muhammad,
oh Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, limatukannituaribadi
am Mahmati, why are you causing my servants
to despair for my mercy?
And so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
goes back to them and says, sallidu wakaribu,
the very famous narration or an iteration of
that narration,
that be balanced and pursue perfection and
be hopeful and worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the daytime and in the evening and
you will reach your place of success. And
so that's one of the reasons why nabi
ibadi,
o Muhammad salallahu alaihi wasallam inform my servants
about my mercy.
Also, the scholars mention of the benefits of
this is that it is establishing
the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi wasallam as
the medium as if to say you can
only know Allah through his messenger salallahu alaihi
wa sallam. And so Allah a zu jal
establishing the authority of the prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam as the messenger
in multiple places, and that is also the
case here. And there's finally a place here,
but also, yeah, Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
as you have come to know
me, testify to them about my mercy and
my forgiveness because the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam is the closest to Allah of all
of the creation,
but also let them not forget that punishment
exists, and that is the balance of hope
and in fear, but also
that I work miracles. And I'll just say
that that leads into the next juzuz, just
15,
and you'll see the beauty of let them
know that I am the most merciful, but
also that my punishment exists, but also that
I will work work miracles for them in
this life should they be from the righteous.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst
them,
subhanahu wa ta'ala is the offer giving the
most merciful as mentioning as he mentioned in
the the the verse in chapter Ibrahim,
it's important to remember that Allah
Allah has beautiful names and attributes
that they're forever and that they are perfect
and that there is no room for imperfection.
So from that being the case, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, when whatever is with him with
his Sharia,
the reward for the slave when they work
for the sake of Allah
Allah that will stay with Allah
But whatever is for other than him or
whatever is other than him, meaning creation, there
is a limited time.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the chapter
of Nahal verse number 96 when he speaks
about this reality,
he says after
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says
whatever you have will end but what Allah
has is lasting.
So this is the first portion of the
verse that I want to capitalize on here.
This principle of that whatever with Allah Subhanahu,
whatever with you that is with you is
temporary.
Even yourself, your physical self is temporary in
this life.
It's temporary but Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala the
one that created you Al Khaliqar Raziqal Mudabr
the creator, the sustainer and the one that
has control over all affairs he is forever.
And that's why our ultimate goal in this
life is to work to in order to
be with Allah
in Jannah. May Allah make us the inhabitants
of Jannah Insha'Allah Ta'ala. This world is a
temporary place. What whatever actions you do as
long as they're with Ikhlas
do not be deceived by what is in
front of you. So the work that you
do if you don't see the results it's
okay as long as your main concern
was sincerity.
So whatever was with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that is going to stay.
The investment that you had in this life
for raising your children the right way, for
you denying yourself of temporary pleasures for the
ultimate investment,
being with the law Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Doing
an action of Khayr that you know
is that action that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
loves. This is what is beautiful and this
is what will remain.
Do not be deceived if you don't see
that many numbers
online, offline with an effort that you had
doing it for the sake of Allah. I
remember one of my shiels, SubhanAllah,
I remember we had a lesson. You know,
we were in Medina in the beginning, you're
in the Haram. Everybody's going. Mashallah, did you
see the lesson? Did you go to the
lesson? But then maybe about half of the
book end, you'll only see about a tenth
of the students there.
And it was suggested to the Sheikh, Sheikh,
you want to continue with the lesson. He
said, Why? I'm doing this. What are we
doing this for? If it's for the sake
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you're not concerned
ultimately
with the numbers.
If it is about doing it for the
sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, this is
a bad in and of itself. So this
is the other understanding of Ma'a Indallahi
Ba'aqah.
And what does this make for the person
when the person realizes that whatever I have
from the tangible things, even my children, my
wife, my money, everything, this is temporary. Therefore,
the way that I deal with them, the
way that I respond to them, I try
my best to respond and act and to
give and take in a way that Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala loves because whatever I do,
if it is sincere
for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, that reward will
be with him. And that's why Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says,
Allah uses forms of surety.
2 different forms of surety in this verb.
We will definitely surely
give them their reward for the ones that
are living as Sabaroo, the ones that were
patient. This is so beautiful because they are
patient in this temporary world to work for
something that is everlasting.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
with the best of what they did. And
some scholars mention, though your actions, some of
them may not have been that sincere or
the action itself was something that was not
as grand oise, the best of the actions
that you've done in this life, He will
reward you for that as well. So that
shows that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is a
lovethief. He is subtle. That Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala is,
he loves the actions that you do for
His sake. And this should be remembered when
we are we are in this temporary life,
that it is temporary, but while we are
here to have our intention to be sincere,
because, verily,
sincerity is something that is very, very beautiful
in this life, and it will remain with
the law, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in the next.
So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
of those that do the actions of khayr
for his sake, for really that is an
ultimate investment in the next life.
Zaklokeshikhamdulillah.
That was beautiful. And
I want to speak
about
beauty in Surat and Nahl. Surat and Nahl
is called the Surah of Blessings. And while
you're reading the Quran today and you're reading
Surat and Nahl, I want you to pay
attention to how many blessings you're able to
uncover in this beautiful chapter of the Quran.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that Allah
created this cattle, this livestock rather this livestock
and it has benefits. It has the benefit
of creating warmth for you. It has the
benefit of eating, obviously. And Allah says
says
that
of the functions
of this livestock is that it is beautiful
for you to look at.
I didn't grow up in a in a
in a farming culture, but I'm from a
farming culture. I'm from Sudan. I'm from a
a village of farmers. And I remember asking
them about this verse,
Is there beauty? Do you see it to
be beautiful when your goats and your sheep
come back from pasture,
come back in the end of the day.
They usually right before Maghrib time,
that's when all of these herds come back
into their into their, their kettles or their
wherever their their stables are. And I remember
they would say to me, it is incredibly
beautiful.
Them coming
full, being satisfied after a long day out
at pasture. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that
is a beauty that is designed. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
appreciates that beauty. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala designed
that beauty and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says 2 verses later,
he says, and and horses and mules and
donkeys for you to ride. That's the clear
function, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says
adornment.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the end
of that page he mentions that he subjugated
the sea for us
for the purpose of eating fresh meat, tender
meat, the seafood, but also Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says,
and for you to bring out
from that see
adornment that you're going to be able to
wear. And so
when we become
practicing a lot of times you find that
religious people don't appreciate beauty. They see it
to be as something that is from you
know the superficiality
of the dunya. But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says
Allah has adorned
the heavens of this world
with lanterns, meaning that of the function of
the stars and the placement of the stars
is that when you look up at the
sky that it takes your breath away. And
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that beauty
can be a cause of not only iman
increasing, I think we've all experienced going into
a beautiful masjid and your iman increasing when
you go into a beautiful masjid. But Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that actually beauty
can be a reason for iman to enter
into a person's heart in the first place.
So Allah tells us in Surat An Namr
the story of Surayman and Bilqis, the queen
of Sheba, that when she enters into the
palace of Surayman,
she lifts up her skirt, her shin, she
uncovers her shin because she sees glass and
underneath it is water. She doesn't realize that
it's glass and she thinks she's about to
wade through the water and she's told,
This is glass. So immediately she says,
She submits to Allah
because of the effect of beauty. Not only
that, beauty is an argument
for the existence of God.
I have a a poem to that effect
because if beauty is an evolutionary mechanism,
if if if we simply evolved, then how
do you explain rather beauty as an evolutionary
mechanism? It doesn't make sense. So this poem
goes, have you ever seen a dog stunned
by the sunset?
Or a bear marveling mountains capped by snow?
Or a camel enamored by a starry desert
night? Or a bird breathless by the scenes
it sees below? And if you've never seen
a cat gaze fondly into the other with
resolution abreast, if you've never seen a cat
gaze fondly into the eyes of another with
resolution impressed, then maybe there's something special in
our souls that is not, by evolution, addressed.
Because if we're animals just like all others,
then why are our souls so easily captured
by beautiful moments and beautiful people, by beautiful
places enamored?
Maybe
the beautiful made us and made our love
of beauty a sign that we believe in
him and realize that beauty points to the
divine.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
allow us to
live beautifully that we manifest the beauty that
he is and that we be granted the
gift of seeing the face of the creator
of beauty in Jannah.
Kind of hard to top that
man. Bless you and increase you.
Subhanallah, I was thinking, Sheikh Abdullah was speaking
about the forgiveness element, nabbeiribadi,
that let my servants know that I am
laghfurrahim.
I am forgiving and merciful.
Part of that is that Allah
rewards us on the day of judgment with
the best of what we used to do.
That's forgiveness. That's mercy. Subhanahu. That Allah overlooks
the shortcomings,
and he only takes the beauty of those
deeds, and he rewards us with beauty
for the beauty of those deeds, the best
of intentions, the best of the strive,
despite all of the shortcomings that we know
we bring to it. And then here you
have these ayaat that are talking about things
that we merely,
at minimum, might appreciate
for functionality.
Yeah. But there's so much more than functionality.
Yeah. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, did not just
give you things
that meet your bare needs. Allah, subhanahu wa
ta'ala, was already showing you ihsan, excellence throughout
Wow. With your existence Absolutely. And then with
everything that he put in existence around you
and beauty that he gave to you.
And, subhanallah, I'm just thinking about that.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
used to seek forgiveness
because he felt deficient
in thanking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Mhmm. So they will not be a grateful
servant. No one is paying more attention
to the beauty of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
all around than the prophet, salallahu alaihi wa
sallam. And he feels so utterly deficient in
his worship, salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And he's saying, should I not seek forgiveness?
Or when Aisha
says to the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
why are you praying so much?
Why are you doing this to yourself? Your
feet are bleeding.
They're swollen. Why? And Allah has forgiven you
for all of your sins,
past, present, future. Right? And the prophet says
shall I not be a grateful servant?
I cannot encompass praising you. Yeah. You are
as you praised yourself.
The prophet
gratitude to Allah
and desire to praise him is
perfect.
You know, sheikh, about this, verse that you
quoted,
I use it as an example
when teaching about the names of Allah to
indicate that even when you have 2 verses
that seemingly speak about Allah's
mercy and his punishment in the same breath,
that there are subtleties to indicate that Allah
mercy is greater than his punishment.
So and this is where translation kind of
does a disservice here. Mhmm. So Allah
says for example number 1,
tell my servants. So immediately he's he's he's
drawing proximity. There's a big difference between me
saying where's my sister to my mom versus
where's your daughter? Right? He's saying my servants.
And then he says
that verily I am. So that's emphasis. And
then
indicates that these are names of Allah that
he chooses for himself, the forgiving and the
merciful.
So all of that indicates
his great mercy for his servants and then
when it comes to his punishment he doesn't
say
He doesn't call himself a name. But he
simply says that my punishment
is the severe punishment. So there's that separation
there that doesn't exist when it comes to
him talking about his mercy.
That my mercy surpasses my anger. Mhmm. Right?
The mercy
encompasses everything. It's a beautiful thing.
There was not kindness
in something except that it beautifies it. So
even that you know and that's what that's
what's so beautiful that you know so beautiful
is that worship in and of itself
is a beautiful thing. And when you see
someone doing an action of hayr, an action
of the Sharia,
it's a beautiful thing. But as I say
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So if someone is consistent in trying to
do their best
and there's time they're gonna make mistakes and
they turn to el jafoor.
It's beautiful. How I mean, when someone comes
to you and says, you know what?
I'm sorry for what I did the other
day. I really apologize. When a husband does
that to his wife or sometimes to your
children, you make a mistake,
you're humble
and you admit your mistake and you're sincere,
that's a beautiful thing. That's something that when
someone sees you making that effort to lower
yourself or lowering yourself for Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala by making amends with someone. You know,
like I tell my community in Ramadan and
Shaban is a time that we need to
prepare ourselves, you know, tohadu tohadu with Prasanna
give gifts, love one another.
Send a text, send a gift to someone.
You're trying your best to be your best
for someone for someone that created you, for
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
That process in and of itself
is a beautiful thing for one that recognizes
the reality
of submission to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
that's why you know SubhanAllah you never there's
it never ends as you said la orsi'thunaynalek.
I cannot encompass it's I cannot encompass you
know, praising you. You are as you praise
yourself. And again, you mentioned the names of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Who's better to know
about Allah than Himself when He tells about
Himself? And learning about that is is is
a beautiful thing and manifesting that in our
lives. You see beauty is in the eye
of the beholder.
The previous
juz
is.
Mhmm. If you are grateful
I will increase you. I will increase you.
And
Allah does not say what he'll increase you
in Mhmm. Because that increase is broad and
it colors all things. Mhmm. And so beauty
is in the eye of the beholder.
The eye of a grateful servant
always sees beauty,
and the eye of an ungrateful servant always
sees poverty,
deficiency.
Right? Allah mentions, like, the world loses color,
The world loses any beauty,
and so
because of your ingratitude, you're unable to see
beauty, so how could you possibly have a
beautiful life? Yeah. Right? SubhanAllah, it's all so
interconnected.
So it starts off with gratitude.
Gratitude changes the way you see the world,
And if you see the world the right
way, then you perceive Allah the right way,
and Allah promises you that you'll see true
beauty in the hereafter, and it's just it's
a beautiful scheme of existence of how long
that we have. Beautiful.
I just want you to end with another
poem, man. Yes, ma'am.
You
Oh, man. I don't I don't I don't
know if I have,
let me see. The one about Jannah? Maybe.
Yeah, Jannah.
Prophet
from the dome. No, I don't I don't
do a kubah from the dome. From the
dome. Thinking of that, I also realized, like,
this whole thing about, like, adornment and, like,
people like frown on beauty was just a
roundabout way of you saying that people should
appreciate
Sudani shoes. That's absolutely right. Yeah. The beauty
of Sudani shoes. You you have not worn
them in a session in the mongrabut? Nothing
yet? Come on. No. I always wear them.
I always wear my Sudan shoes. I told
you I'm just on a place where they
could get stolen.
So I'm not
I'm not looking to give them up anytime
soon Uh-huh. For the sake of Allah. You
know the story of the man who was
who got his shoes stolen. He was running
after the guy. Mhmm. And he couldn't catch
him. And then when he finally was gasping
for Aaron, he gave up. He said, I
give it to you for the sake of
Allah.
Like, why did you say that
at the beginning?
So
a quick poem on Jannah then. It goes
like this. It's imagining Jannah. So close your
eyes back home.
It goes, close your eyes and imagine this,
Eternal
bliss. Your every wish at your fingertips
and more. Perched on a throne near a
stream so serene and exquisite a scene you've
never seen, yet you still dream of more.
Gone is pain. Gone is fear. Gone is
grief. Gone are tears.
Idle speech you shall never hear and the
prophets make up your social sphere. And more,
the martyrs righteous and the truthful too. You
are from them and they from you. They
held tightly to what they knew was true
and to join them you did too. There's
more. Maidens chase to restrain their gaze, lost
in a glance for days days, fun and
frolic as a child plays, Where the breath
that leaves your lips is praise
of the one who gave you more.
Imagine you and your father with ages the
same. Imagine showing off your book with no
shame. Imagine nights with the sahabah, their stories
to entertain. Now imagine,
Muhammad
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Imagine him knowing
your name.
What could be there more? Gardens underneath which
rivers flow. A goal so far and yet
so close. A journey worth taking for those
who know. Tell me, do you not wish
to go for more? For all of the
bounties and all of the grace and all
of the sights and the smells and the
taste will be forgotten without a trace, as
if frozen in time and space
when you
see His face.
What an excellent master
of a miserable slave.
You forgot and He forgave. He gave you
guidance and you still strayed.
You asked for mercy.
That
He gave.
And more.
And more.
And more.
Oh, yeah.
I will not spoil that with any more
words. We'll see you all tomorrow.