Ammar Alshukry – Jumuah 11-10-2024
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AI: Transcript ©
Welcome to success.
Allah is the greatest.
There is none worthy of worship except Allah.
All praise is due to Allah.
We praise Him, seek His help and seek
His forgiveness.
We seek refuge in Allah from the evils
of our souls and from the evils of
our deeds.
Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him.
Whomsoever He leads astray, none can guide him.
I bear witness that there is none worthy
of worship except Allah.
He is alone and has no partner.
I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant
and Messenger.
He is pure of heart.
He is His creation and His companion.
He conveyed the Message.
He fulfilled the Oath.
He advised the Ummah.
He left them on the white pilgrimage.
Their night is like their day.
None can escape it except the One who
has perished.
Peace and blessings of my Lord be upon
him.
O servants of Allah!
Allah says in His noble Book, after I
seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan,
O you who believe!
Fear Allah as He should be feared, and
do not die except as Muslims.
All praise is due to Allah.
We seek His guidance and His forgiveness, and
we seek refuge in Allah from the evil
of ourselves and the whispering of our desires.
Whom Allah guides, no one can misguide, and
whom He allows to be misled, no one
can guide.
And I bear witness that there is nothing
worthy of worship except Allah, alone, having no
partners, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His slave
and His messenger and His perfect worshipper.
To proceed, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr was the
first child to be born in Medina, which
would mean that he would be ten years
old when the Prophet ﷺ passed away.
He is the son of Asma, the daughter
of Abu Bakr and al-Zubayr ibn al
-Awwam.
He was the Faris of Quraysh.
He was the warrior of Quraysh, and he
was one of its worshippers.
His adventurous nature, his character, his strength, his
piety are legendary.
And he would eventually challenge the Umayyads for
the Khilafah.
And his stronghold, his headquarters would be in
Mecca.
And al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf would be unleashed
on Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.
And al-Hajjaj, this great tyrannical figure, who
did not care if he spilled the blood
of Sahaba for the purpose of the throne
of Banu Umayyah, he besieged Abdullah ibn al
-Zubayr at Mecca, and he casted boulders from
catapults at the Kaaba.
And the Kaaba was damaged.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr would be killed by
al-Hajjaj and crucified at the Kaaba.
Now, this event would create ripple effects throughout
the Muslim world.
And it began a discussion that was being
held for the first time.
It was a discussion about Qadr.
Does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala know things
are going to happen before they happen?
Or does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala simply
find out like we find out?
And so a group of people from Iraq,
they said, when we come, because did Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala know that the Kaaba
was going to be attacked?
And if so, why did Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala not defend it like He defended
when Abraha attacked the Kaaba?
And so you can imagine, especially these communities
that had newly become Muslim, had only been
Muslim for 10 or 15 or 20 years,
Al-Iraq and Persia and even Al-Sham.
And so a group from Iraq, they said,
when we come to Hajj, we're going to
ask the first companion that we see.
And they happened to come across Abdullah ibn
Umar.
And so they said, we are a people
from Iraq.
And some people there are saying there is
no Qadr.
There is no pre-written destiny.
Everything just unfolds as it does.
And so Abdullah ibn Umar said, if you
go back to them, then tell them that
they are free from me and I am
free from them.
And that if one of them were to
donate an entire mountain in gold, it would
not be accepted from them until they believe
in Qadr.
And then he narrates to them the hadith
that was narrated by his father.
Umar ibn Khattab, who famously says, بَيْنَمَا نَحْنُ
جُلُوسٌ عِنْدَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صَلَى اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
ذَا تَيَوْمِنِ اتْطَلَى عَلَيْنَا رَضُّ جُلُونِ شَدِيدُ بَيَادِ
الثِّيَابِ شَدِيدُ سَوَادِ الشَّعَرِ It's the famous hadith
of Jibreel.
And included in the hadith of Jibreel is
Jibreel asking the Prophet ﷺ, what is Iman?
And the Prophet ﷺ mentions the six pillars
of Iman that we know.
And he said in it, وَتُؤْمِنُ بِالْقَدْرِ خَيْرِهِ
وَشَرِّهِ That you believe in destiny, the good
of it and the bad of it.
And in another version he says, حِلْوِهِ وَمُرِّهِ
The sweet of it and the bitter of
it.
And so I wanted to briefly talk about
destiny.
And what our belief in destiny entails.
The scholars mentioned four pillars when it comes
to destiny.
Number one, the first pillar is to know
Allah ﷻ's knowledge is perfect.
Allah ﷻ he says, وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ He says,
يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ Allah ﷻ knows
what is between the heavens and the earth.
Allah ﷻ says, in another verse he says,
وَعِنْدَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ To Allah belongs what is
in, to Allah ﷻ belongs the keys to
the unseen.
لا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّهُ No one knows them except
for Him.
وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ And Allah knows
what is in the land and He knows
what is in the sea.
وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا And there
is no leaf that falls except that He
knows it.
وَلَا حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الْأَرْضِ And not one
grain of sand that shifts in the dark
remote places of this earth.
وَلَا رَطْبٍ وَلَا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ
And not a dry leaf or a ripe
leaf except that it is in a book
that is recorded.
Allah ﷻ's knowledge is perfect.
He knows the unseen.
In fact, the scholars say about Allah, يَعْلَمُ
مَا كَانَ وَمَا يَكُونُ وَمَا لَمْ يَكُنْ لَوْ
كَانَ كَيْفَ يَكُونُ Allah ﷻ knows everything that
has happened, the past.
Allah ﷻ knows everything that will happen, the
future.
And Allah ﷻ knows everything that didn't happen.
If it happened, how it would happen?
You and I made millions of choices in
our lives.
And we are the results of billions and
trillions of choices.
In fact, every choice that any human being
ever took and any animal ever took had
to have been taken exactly like that for
us to be in this moment in time
right now.
And Allah ﷻ knows what all of those
alternative realities would have been.
What if you didn't go to the university
that you went to?
What if your parents never met?
What if you were born a hundred years
earlier, a hundred years later?
What if you weren't the gender that you
are?
What if you weren't the skin tone, the
height, the weight?
Every possible scenario that your life could have
been, Allah ﷻ knows it perfectly.
And so when we say we believe in
destiny, we believe in Allah ﷻ's perfect knowledge.
Number two.
The second aspect is that everything is written.
Everything is written.
The Prophet ﷺ, he says, that when the
pen was created, and it was the first
thing that was created, it was commanded to
write everything until the Day of Judgment.
Allah ﷻ wrote everything.
Musa says, قَالَ عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ فِي كِتَابٍ
لَا يَضِلُّ رَبِّهِ وَلَا يَنسَى Everything is written
in a book with Allah ﷻ.
And my Lord is never in error, nor
does my Lord ever forget.
And so everything is written.
Now, an interesting question that comes up is,
with everything being written, do we have the
ability to change our destiny?
And so there's, very briefly, a number of
writings that happen.
And some writings change, and some writings don't
change.
There is number one writing that happened 50
,000 years before the heavens and earth was
created.
That was when the pen was written.
That's in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz.
That does not change.
That's the final draft.
But then there's a second writing that happens,
and that happens every lifetime.
The Prophet ﷺ says in the hadiths in
Bukhari and Muslim, that when your soul is
breathed into the womb of your mother, the
angel that writes down is commanded to write,
he's commanded to write, ثُمَّ يُرْسَلُ إِلَيْهِ الْمَلَكِ
فَيَنفُغُ فِيهِ الرُّوحِ وَيُؤْمَرُ بِكِتَابِ أَجْلِهِ وَرِزْقِهِ وَشَقِيٌّ
أَوْ سَعِيدٍ He's commanded to write whether he
is going to be his lifespan, his rizq,
his actions, وَعَمَلِهِ وَشَقِيٌّ أَوْ سَعِيدٍ whether he
will be of the people of paradise or
the people of the hellfire.
Abdullah ibn Umar radiyallahu anhu, he used to
say, and write me as someone who's saeed.
If you wrote me as someone who's of
the people of the hellfire, then write me
as someone who's of the people of paradise.
And so that is alterable, it can change.
The third is a writing that happens every
year and that is the writing that happens
on Laylatul Qadr.
Rasulullah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, rather he
says, فِيهَا يُفْرَقُ كُلُّ أَمْرٍ حَكِيمٍ Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says, every matter of wisdom
is ordained on Laylatul Qadr.
And the fourth is a writing that happens
every day.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, كل يوم
هو في شأن.
Every day Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
decreeing a matter.
So these are the four writings that happen.
Three of those writings, the third, the second,
and the third, and the fourth, they all
are able to be changed by our actions.
And people sometimes they ask, and the sahabah
themselves ask the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
the question.
They said, يا رسول الله, should we not
then just rely on what has been written
for us?
Should we just rely on what's been written?
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
اعملوا فكل ميسر لما خلق لها.
He said, no, work.
Because everyone shall have what they have been
written for facilitated for them.
And Ibn Al-Qayyim argues about this because
some people they'll say, دعاة, does it change
Qadr?
Does it affect Qadr at all?
When everything is written?
And Ibn Al-Qayyim says, how could a
person make that argument when you don't make
that argument around anything else in your life?
Does anybody say, if my education is written
for me, then why should I go to
school?
Does anybody say, if my rizq is written
for me, then why should I work?
Does anybody say, if having children is written
for me, why should I get married?
Shouldn't I just stay at home and rely
upon what is written?
We don't take that attitude with anything else
in our life.
So why would we do it when it
comes to the worship of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala?
Why would we do it with regards to
du'a?
The argument then truly is that du'a
is one of the most effective means to
change Qadr.
And our good deeds change our Qadr.
The Prophet ﷺ says, whoever wants in Al
-Bukhari, whoever wants for their lifespan to be
extended and for their rizq to be increased,
then let them connect the ties of kinship.
And so these are things that affect the
writings.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in your
final draft, when He wrote it, He also
wrote that you would take the means to
acquire those benefits that you want.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when
He wrote that you would achieve such and
such, He also wrote that you would take
the means to achieve such and such.
And one of the greatest means that you
can take is du'a.
The third pillar, and then I'll wrap up
with the fourth inshallah ta'ala briefly.
The third pillar is will, that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala wills everything into existence.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's will, there are
two types of will.
There's what's called المشيئ الكونية المشيئ الشرعية.
There is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's universal
will, and there's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
legislative will.
There are things that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala wills and He allows to happen, even
if they're not good.
People ask the question, does God will for
bad things to happen?
Yes, God wills for bad things to happen.
Because otherwise, you are saying that that bad
will was something that was outside of the
will of God, or it was something that
overrided the will of God.
And both of those are impossible.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wills for
crimes to happen.
Yes, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wills for
crimes to happen, but He doesn't love those
crimes.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala لا يرضى لعباده
الكفر.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not love
that people disbelieve in Him.
But He allows for people disbelieve in Him.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not love
that murder happen, that pillaging happens, that *
happens, that theft happens.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not love
these things, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
allows for these things because He made this
world have certain causes and effects.
And if you take advantage of the cause,
then the effect is going to happen.
And otherwise, there would be no point to
free will.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave you guidance
and me, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
told us what would happen if we follow
that guidance.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also informs
us the path of the evildoers and where
that leads to.
وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنَ And we guided them to the
two paths.
So that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
legislative will and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's
universal will.
And the last thing that they mentioned as
a pillar is the idea that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala not only created us, but
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created your actions.
وَاللَّهُ خَلَقَكُمْ وَمَا تَعْمَلُونَ And Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala created you and Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala created your actions as well.
We ask Allah to allow us to hear
the speech and follow the best of it.
أَقُولُوا مَا سِمِعْتُمُ استَغْفِرُوا اللَّهِ وَلَكُمْ فِى استَغْفِرُونَ
وَالْغَفُورُ وَرَيْهِ الحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على رسول
الله There are many benefits to belief in
Qadr, belief in destiny.
But I think just one that I can
end with is that I believe that this
belief in Qadr has saved the Muslim world
billions of dollars, if not more, in prescription
medication.
When you have a person whose family member
dies and you go to them and they
are experiencing loss and grief but one thing
we're not experiencing if we believe in destiny
is that if I had only altered this,
if I only hadn't had an argument with
them before they left, if I only hadn't
done and changed and the Prophet ﷺ says
don't say if because if I do this,
لو, it opens up the playground for Shaytan.
Rather you say لِلَّهِ مَا أَخَذُ وَلِلَّهِ مَا
أَعْطَى وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِنْدَهُ الْأَجْرِ مُسَمَّى فَاصْبِرُوا وَاحْتَسِبُوا
Everything has an appointed time with Allah Subhanahu
wa Ta'ala.
They weren't going to live an extra day
and they weren't going to be...
Rasulullah ﷺ says إِنَّ رُوحَ الْقُدُسِ نَفَثَ فِي
رُوْعِي He says that the Holy Spirit cast
into my soul أَنَّهُ لَن تَمُوتَ نَفْسٌ حَتَّى
تَسْتَكْمِلَ رِزْقَهَا وَأَجَلَهَا That no soul shall pass
until it completes its lifespan and completes its
rizq.
These things are written with Allah Subhanahu wa
Ta'ala and so we become comfortable with
loss.
We become comfortable with the loss of wealth.
قُلْ لَن يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا
هُوَ مَوْلَانَا وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتُوَكَّلِ مُؤْمِنُونَ Not only
with the greatest losses but pain, sadness, sorrow.
We understand that that is written for us.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he says and I'll
end with this.
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he says to
Ibn Abbas, he's teaching this message to children.
Ibn Abbas is a young man at the
time and he says وَعَلَّمَنَّ الْأُمَّ لَوِ اجْتَمْعُوا
عَلَىٰ يَنْفَعُوكَ بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَنْفَعُوكَ إِلَّا بِشَيْءٍ كَتَبَهُ
اللَّهُ لَكَ If the entire world were to
gather to benefit you they wouldn't be able
to benefit you with something other than what
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has
already written for you.
And if the entire world were to gather
to harm you they wouldn't be able to
harm you with anything more than what Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has already
written for you.
And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam also says
to him وَعَلَمَ أَنَّ مَا أَصَابَكَ لَمْ يَكُنْ
لِيُخْطِئُكُ وَمَا أَخْطَأَكَ لَمْ يَكُنْ لِيُصِيبُكُ And know
that whatever touches you is never gonna miss
you.
And whatever misses you was never going to
touch you.
And so as we go through the trials
and tests of life and as we see
other people go through those trials as well
we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la to grant us an iman that is
rasiq an iman that is cemented in our
hearts that allows us to navigate the difficulties
that this test comes with that we be
of those who are from the sabireen and
those who meet Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la having believed in him and believed
in destiny.
We ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la to have mercy on our dead we
ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
to accept from us our prayers we ask
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to
bring freedom to our brothers and sisters in
Palestine we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la to bring relief to our brothers
and sisters in Lebanon and in Syria and
in Sudan and all over the Muslim world
in China اللهم إنا نسألك الجنة وما قرب
إليها ومن قول وعمل ونعوذ بك من النار
وما قرب إليها ومن قول وعمل اللهم آت
نفوسنا تقواها زكها أنت خير من زكاها أنت
وليها ومولاها اللهم اقسم لنا من خشيتك ما
تحول به بيننا وبين معصيتك ومن طاعتك ما
تبلغنا به جنتك ومن اليقين ما تهون به
علينا مصائب الدنيا ومتعنا اللهم بأسماعنا وأبصارنا وقواتنا
أبدا ما أبقيتنا واجعله الوارث منا رب ارحمهما
كما ربياني صغيرة رب ارحمهما كما ربياني صغيرة
اللهم ارحم المسلمين المستضعفين في كل مكان اللهم
رحمك بأهلنا في فرسطين وسائر بلاد المسلمين في
السودان والصين اللهم كن لهم معينا يوم قل
المعين كن لهم ناصرا يوم قل الناصر اللهم
انصرهم نصرا مؤزرا اللهم عليك بأعدائك الذين يقاتلون
أوليائك ويصدون عن سبيلك اللهم انزل عليهم بأسك
ورزك إله الحق اللهم اجعل شأنهم في سفال
وأمرهم في وبال اللهم اجعلهم غنيمة للإسلام المسلمين
والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا محمد وقم إلى صلاتكم
ورحمة الله الله
أكبر الله أكبر أشهد أن لا إله إلا
الله أشهد أن محمد رسول الله حي على
الصلاة حي على الفلاح قد قامت الصلاة قد
قامت الصلاة الله أكبر الله أكبر لا إله
إلا الله