Ammar Alshukry – Lessons from Surat Al-Kahf

Ammar Alshukry
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Allah's guidance and forgiveness is highlighted in Salallahu alaihi wa sallam, as it provides insight into Allah's use of young people to cause fear and distraction. The power of the heart to lead to success is emphasized, along with the need for steadfastness of the heart to believe in promises. The speaker also discusses the importance of optimism in the heart to lead to success and the need for people to trust Allah Subhanahu Wa te'ala. The promise of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is not tied to a time span, but rather a timing of Islam's implementation. upcoming events and talks about the importance of having steadfastness with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala are also mentioned.
AI: Transcript ©
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All praises due to Allah. We seek his

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guidance and his forgiveness, and we seek refuge

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in Allah from the evil of ourselves and

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the whispering of our desires whom Allah guides,

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no one can misguide.

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And whom He allows to be misled, no

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one can guide. And I bear witness that

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there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah

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alone and having no partners.

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And that Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam is

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His slave and His messenger and His perfect

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worshiper.

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To proceed,

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we are encouraged by the Prophet salallahu alaihi

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wa sallam every Friday to read Surat Al

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Kahf.

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And Surat Al Kahf is a chapter

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that

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details

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4 stories.

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It is a

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chapter

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that deals with the concept of fitna,

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trials.

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And the 4 stories that we read in

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Surat Al Kahf reflect this notion of trials.

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A person will be tried in their deed

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like Ashaabul Kahf, or a person will be

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tried in their money like Slahi Bul Janatein,

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the command the owner of the 2 gardens,

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or a person will be tried with regards

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to knowledge even like Musa and the Khidr,

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or a person will be tried

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regarding power like Dhul Qarnain.

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And so in this brief khutba, I wanted

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to share just a few lessons

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from Ashabul Kahf. This story that Allah subhanahu

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wa ta'ala tells us that Rasulullah

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salallahu alaihi wa sallam was asked about

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about a group of people who came into

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a cave. Their story was amazing. And

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I don't have the time to go over

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many gems, but I'll just share

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insha'Allah 3 or 4, if time permits, 5.

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But the first thing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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tells us that these people were persecuted and

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they came to a cave. And Allah mentions

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twice that they are a fiya.

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That they are sorry. Fiya. Not a fiya

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but fiya.

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We

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know fit. Allah says that they are young.

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And the fact that they are young is

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praise for them

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because young people normally

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are more distracted

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with entertainment

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and the frivolity of youth

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than big picture questions.

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Why are we here?

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And why are our people worshiping idols?

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Generally, young people are deluded by entertainment.

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And so if you were to ask young

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people about the newest singers, they would know.

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The newest athletes, they would know. The newest

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movies, they would know. The newest series, they

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would know.

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And so when Allah

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is repeatedly calling them young, that is praise

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for these young people that they separated from

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the frivolity of their society.

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Aminu bi rabbihim was itna umhuda. They believed

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in Allah and we increased them in guidance.

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But there is also praise for the companions

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of Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam when the

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surah was revealed in Mecca because the people

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who are around the Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa

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sallam were also young, and young people change

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the world in every time and place. And

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we see even here in the United States

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in the past couple of months,

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after everything that has been happening with the

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war on the people of Gaza, you saw

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that the greatest national conversations were sparked not

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by people in corporate offices and not by

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politicians,

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but by the young people, the students in

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universities who are having encampments all over the

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country and all over the world that were

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causing

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the discussion to be happening about divestments from

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the Zionist state.

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We

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Allah says they were a young people who

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believed in Allah.

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So the first is the power that comes

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with youth.

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The second lesson

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is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,

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Allah says we strengthen their heart.

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We strengthen their heart when they stood up

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against their people. And they stood up, the

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mufasirim said, a number of times. Number 1,

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they stood up in front of the king

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and they addressed the king for his idol

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worship. And then they stood up to their

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own families. And then they stood up in

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the marketplace. And then they stood up when

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they met each other in front of the

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cave and they said,

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Our Lord, the lord of the heavens and

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the earth, we won't call upon other than

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him. And so this idea that Allah

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gives steadfastness and Allah

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gives strength to people's hearts in their greatest

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moments of difficulty and crisis.

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And we see this word,

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we see this phrase appear in a number

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of other places in the Quran where we

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see it before the battle of Badr, when

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the Sahaba radiAllahu anhu are about to meet

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the enemy for the first time and Allah

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cast drowsiness

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upon the companions. Instead of being nervous, Rex,

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and and being incredibly anxious, Allah

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put a calmness and a stillness on them

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and made their hearts steadfast so much so

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that their swords almost slipped out of their

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hands.

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And we see also with the mother of

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Musa, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in Surat

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Al Qasas

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Allah says

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Allah

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says, Allah says,

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that when the basket that was placed in

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the river went to the house of pharaoh

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and firawn's

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wife

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captures

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the son, the son of the woman or

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Musa alaihis salaam.

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And she says,

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She says, this is a joy to me.

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The mother of Musa put him in the

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Nile river because she was afraid of him

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ending up in the hands of Thrawn. And

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Allah

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sends that basket directly to the house of

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Thrawn. That would cause anybody to panic.

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But that's the plan of Allah Subhanahu Wa

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Ta'ala.

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And that's the ilm of Allah. And that's

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the wisdom of Allah. And that's the power

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of Allah. That he can make Musa grow

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up in the very house that the mother

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of Musa is afraid of and he will

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be the most protected child in Egypt because

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of it because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala knows

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what you do not know but Allah had

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to give her heart steadfastness.

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That she can be of those who believe.

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And so you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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for steadfastness of your heart as you are

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going through difficulty.

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Number 1, steadfastness of the heart allows for

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a person to believe in the deen.

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Number 2, it allows for you to believe

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in the promises of Allah. Allah subhanahu wa

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ta'ala and his promise

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and his prophet, they promised

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that

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that the end will always be for the

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believers. No matter how dark it seems, no

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matter how the entire world goes against the

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believers, no matter how belittle the people are,

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no matter how weak they are, Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala has promised

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that our soldiers are going to be the

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ones who win.

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Allah

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prescribed that I will win and my messengers

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and everybody else will lose.

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But you need steadfastness

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of the heart to be able to believe

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in the promise of Allah. A third

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is

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what the

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people

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say when they enter into the cave. They

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say

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They go into the cave

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and they say,

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enter into the cave, Allah will spread out

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for you from his mercy.

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They're entering into the cave.

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It is a place that is dark.

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It is a place that has no amenities.

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It is a place that is constricted. It

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is a place that has no heat. It

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is a place that is cold. It is

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a place that has nothing. But what are

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they expecting to find? They're expecting to find

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the mercy of Allah.

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And that shows incredible optimism

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that a person, even as they're entering into

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the cave of their life, the cave of

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oppression

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or the cave of imprisonment

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or the cave of grief or the cave

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of poverty,

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that a person has optimism in Allah.

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That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala because I know

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that Allah is a rahman, that Allah Subhanahu

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Wa Ta'ala will provide for me mercy from

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where I don't expect. And we read in

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Surat Al Kahf how Allah

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dealt with them and gave them divine care

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and how Allah

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watched over them and protected them.

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The 4th the third is optimism.

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Having optimism in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when

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you see how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala deals

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with the righteous.

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But then the 4th, and this is the

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last one, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as you

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know causes them to go to sleep for

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100 of years, 309 years to be exact

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and then he resurrects them. And Allah

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specifically uses the word bath in their story

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twice to indicate the resurrection that the Mushrikeen

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of Makkah did not believe in. And Allah

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then causes for them to be resurrected

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and they come out and Allah says,

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We cause them to interact with the people

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of the town that they may come to

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know that the promise of Allah subhanahu wa

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ta'ala is true. For who to know that

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the promise of Allah is true? For as

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habulkath, that they recognize that the promise of

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Allah is true. You see, they were a

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people who fled

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a society that was idolatrous

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because

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they knew that they did not have the

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power to confront them.

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They were going to be persecuted.

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They said that if our people have power

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over us, they're gonna stone us or they're

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going to force us back into our religion.

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And so they fled

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to seek refuge in a cave.

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But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala caused them to

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sleep for that period of time. And when

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they came out, they found that that entire

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society had become Muslim.

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So that they may come to know that

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the promise of Allah is true.

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And I share this to you because the

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promise of Allah is true.

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And it may be that you are expecting

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the promise of Allah to happen in 1

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year or 2 years or 3 years or

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4 years. But the promise of Allah

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is not tied to your time span.

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It is not tied to how you feel

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it should pass.

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It is tied to Allah

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timing.

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And these people,

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they had to have an extended life period.

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala caused them to die

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for 300 years just so that they could

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have the gift to witness that the promise

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of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is true. And

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so we believe that the promise of Allah

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is true. We believe that Palestine will be

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free. We believe that there will come a

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time when the ummah of Muhammad salallahu alaihi

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wa sallam will be led by the righteous

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and not be led by the wicked. We

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believe in a time Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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says

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that we will give establishment

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to those who have been oppressed.

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Those that have been established in the the

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oppressed in the east and the west that

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Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will make them a

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ima and he will make them of those

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who inherit the land. That is a promise

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of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Whether or not

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it happens next year or the year after,

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what we are required to do is to

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believe in that promise, to have steadfastness with

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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, have rubbed of our

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heart, and that we ask

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Allah to grant us a worship of him

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that he loves and that Allah

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allow us to worship him as he loves

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until the day we that we meet him

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and that he makes the best of our

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days the day that we meet him. We

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ask Allah to allow us to hear the

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speech and to follow the best of it.

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We ask Allah

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to grant freedom to our brothers and sisters

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who are occupied in Palestine

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and to bring

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safety and security

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to them. And we ask Allah

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to relieve the bloodshed from the Muslims all

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over the world, whether it be in Sudan

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or whether it be the Uighurs in China

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or whether it be our brothers and sisters

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in Bangladesh. That Allah

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bring stability to the Muslim world and that

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Allah

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guide us and guide our hearts and guide

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us to the unity that he loves.

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What's this for?

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All the like for.

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So shoulder to shoulder.

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Leave no gaps.

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Allahu Akbar.

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Same

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I have,

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6 quick announcements inshallah to ask.

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How's everybody doing?

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So number 1, we have Sheikh from

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Tajweed Institute with us. Please give him a

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few minutes after the salah to address you

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about the projects they're doing. So chef Mikael

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is coming. Where is chef? Welcome.

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So number 2, we have Friday night lights

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today on I'll be doing

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on the broken scales of justice.

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Number 3, living the Quran in sister's class

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with sister Rana

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every Sunday at 9 on Zoom, 9 AM.

00:24:13 --> 00:24:15

Please check our social media pages for the

00:24:15 --> 00:24:15

Zoom link.

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