Aqeel Mahmood – The Protector
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
From the names of Allah
that he calls himself in the Quran
are some names related to
Allah
being
a guardian
and being a preserver and being a protector.
For example, Allah
calls himself in the Quran
Al Hafild.
Allah
says, verily, my lord, is over all things
a preserver, a protector, a guardian.
And the word al hafil
is also similar in meaning to al hafil,
Somebody who protects, somebody who guards, somebody who
preserves.
And this is why the one who has
memorized Quran is known as a Hafil
because
not only has he memorized
the words of the Quran,
but he's
also preserving
the meaning of the Quran in his heart,
on his tongue,
and with his limbs
through his actions.
Also from the names of Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala which has
similar meanings is Al Muhammin,
the one who protects,
the one who guards, the one who oversees
everything
that takes place under his dominion.
And
when we look at the life of the
messenger of Allah alaihi wa
sallam, we see
examples
of how
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and the
companions
had
so much trust and in
Allah
How they truly understood and realized
that
there was no one who could give them
the protection that they needed
more so than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
There's only so much
a human being can do
to protect
somebody else.
Somebody he loves.
A loved one, a spouse, a husband, a
wife,
his or her brother or sister, their children,
their parents.
There's only so much that you can do.
There will be instances and times and cases
where you won't be there for your loved
one when they may need you.
There's no chance of a person being with
another individual
that he loves and he wants to care
for 24 hours of the day.
And when we look at the life of
the messenger of Allah from
even before prophethood,
we realized that he was under the guardianship
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala was the one who was taking care
of him. When there was nobody else who
could have taken care of him. His father
passed away before he was even born.
His mother
passed away when he was a child.
His grandfather passed away when he was also
a child, around the age of 6 years
old.
And in the Quran,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds him of this
in Surat Al Duha. Allah says,
weren't you an orphan and we gave you
refuge?
And you were lost and we guided you.
And you were poor and we made you
self sufficient. We gave you wealth. We made
you rich.
Reminding the messenger of Allah
that he was nobody
there was nobody taking care of you.
There was no one
who was watching over you
more so
than Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala himself.
And in order for him to rely on
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Allah made him realize
this by causing his own parents to pass
away when he was young.
Some may say if he was the messenger
of Allah, why did Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
cause his parents to die at such a
young age? Why didn't his parents
grow up,
see him grow up and take care of
him
and give him that
educational
nourishment and that tarbia that he
so much needed and depended upon if he
was going to be the messenger he was
going to be.
Because Allah
wanted him to realize
he is the one who protects. He is
the one who guards. He is the one
who truly
protects
and oversees
and preserves the individual
more than any human being can possibly do.
And when we look at the life of
the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
we see so many examples of this happening.
Seeing this in action. Allah
being the protector and the guardian and the
one who preserves.
When the messenger of
Allah left Mecca with Abu Bakr
It was
such a dangerous
journey
because the Maqans and the Quraysh wanted to
kill the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam before he went to Madinah.
And so they set out in search of
him, intending and planning on killing him.
And there was no one there to protect
him. The whole of the city of Mecca
was against the messenger of Allah
There was no one in the city who
would give him that protection, which is why
he left in the first place.
Him and Abu Bakr radhiallahu an, they left.
And we know the story of how when
they left, they entered,
the cave of Thore.
And when
the 2 of them were in the cave
and they were hiding,
the musrikoon, they came into the cave and
they were searching for them. And
he said, oh, messenger of Allah, all they
have to do is just look down and
they'll see us and they'll kill us and
we're finished. And so the messenger of Allah
he told and
this shows us the trust that he had
in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
What do you think of 2 people of
Abu Bakr? The third of them is Allah
ta'ala. Don't be afraid. Don't be sad. Verily
Allah is with us.
And this is repeated in the Quran.
Allah mentions this. Allah mentions the statements in
the speech of the messenger of Allah
at this moment in time in the Quran.
Because of how crucial it was, how important
those statements were, how he relied on Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
in a moment at a time
when they could have been killed.
It could have been the end of their
lives.
And so we have to realize and understand
and remember
that
as the messenger of Allah alaihi wasalam told
us, if the whole world came together
to try to protect us,
then they won't be able to protect you
if Allah had decreed otherwise.
And if the whole of the world was
to come together to try to harm you,
then
no harm could come to you if Allah
hasn't decreed it.
Meaning Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one
who is the ultimate protector, the one who
takes care of his slaves as long as
they remember him. We know the story
of when they were in Mecca
and Surah Lahab was revealed.
Cursing Abu Lahab and his wife.
And when his wife heard the news, Jameel,
the wife of Abu Lahab, she came looking
for the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, who was sitting with Abu Bakr radiallahu
an.
And Abu Bakr radiaallahu an saw her coming
towards her and she said I'm afraid of
of your
life oh messenger of Allah. I'm afraid of
what she might do to you.
How she might behave towards you, what she
might do. And so the messenger of Allah
he said,
he told
she won't see me.
She won't be able to see me.
And he recited
Quran When you recite the Quran,
we place between you and those who don't
believe in the last day a veil, a
wall,
something invisible between you.
And when she came forward and she started
to speak to Abu Bakr radiaallahu an about
what the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam had done and what he's been saying
about her, about Abu Lahab, and she's cursing
and she's angry and she's spewing all those
evil things that she said to Abu Bakr
radiAllahu an. After she finished, she walked away.
And so Abu Bakr radiAllahu an,
he was surprised. He was shocked.
Not once did she turn to the messenger
of Allah And
when he asked the messenger of Allah
about this,
he told him that al verily Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala had made me invisible to her.
She couldn't see
me because of his trust in Allah
because of him remembering
Allah,
reciting Quran,
remembering the speech of Allah in times of
distress, in times of calamity,
in times
where if we were in similar situations where
we were afraid for our lives, maybe we
would think of other things. We would say
other things.
How
often
and how much would we actually think of
reciting the Quran
if harm was about to befall us?
That's something that we really have to think
about. Consciously,
how much are we even remembering Allah in
the day and night
on a regular basis
to the extent that if something was to
happen to us,
if somehow was to befall us, naturally we
would remember Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Are we
in that state where we constantly remembering Allah
The messenger of Allah alaihis salatu wa sallam
was once travelling with the companions
and they were tired so they rested. And
all the companions were tired and they fell
asleep. And the messenger of Allah salatu wa
sallam was under a tree and he was
resting.
One of the non Muslims
saw the companions and saw that the messenger
of Allah was there under the tree exposed.
He's defenseless.
The companions are fast asleep.
He made his way through the ranks of
the companions who were sleeping, and none of
them realized he was walking past them. And
he made his way all the way to
the messenger of Allah
And he took the sword of the messenger
of Allah alaihi wasallam.
This was his chance
to kill the messenger of Allah with his
own sword.
No one there to stop him. And so
he raises the sword in front of the
messenger of Allah And
the messenger of Allah he
opens his eyes.
Imagine
waking up and seeing a sword hanging above
you.
Imagine seeing somebody with a gun pointed towards
you as you wake up.
You wouldn't know what to say. You wouldn't
know how to behave. You'd panic.
And so the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, he opens his eyes and he
just lies down calmly.
And so the man is confused.
And so he says, yeah, Muhammad.
Oh Muhammad, who's going to defend you? Who's
going to protect you from me?
And so the messenger of Allah SWAW, he
said Allah.
And as he said this, the man was
paralyzed
and the sword fell from his hands.
And then the messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam took the sword himself
and the man is on his knees. He
can't move.
And he raises a sword in front of
this man and he says,
who's going to protect you from me?
And the man replies and he says,
nobody.
Look at the trust that the messenger of
Allah
had in Allah
Those nerves of steel which the messenger
of showed in the face of adversity,
in the face of death itself.
And he forgave the man and he let
him go. So on top of
this courage and bravery,
he also had this mercy.
There's so many examples which are mentioned,
but what happens when an individual
doesn't put his trust in Allah? What happens
when a person
doesn't
believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as being
his protector,
being the one who is the guardian, the
one who oversees everything, the one who is
al hafil, al hafil,
al muhammin.
The one who records
and preserves
and keeps everything going.
Without him nothing happens.
We see examples of those who forgot about
Allah.
Those who are proud of their achievements.
So proud
that they would say things
and they would
do things
to show
how proud and mighty and arrogant they had
become,
and they would question even the power of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
One of those famous stories is when the
famous ship, the Titanic was built.
And when this ship was built, one of
those individuals who was working
for that company
when it was built on the day of
its launch, when it was making
its first voyage on the seas.
He said, not even god himself could sink
this ship.
And we all know the consequences of what
happened.
But when a person becomes
so self sufficient, he starts to think that
everything that he's doing is because of his
own efforts.
And this is the culture we live in
today
where we think to ourselves I'm doing everything
for myself.
How is Allah even involved in my life?
What is Allah doing for me? When a
person starts to think like this, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
may cause a punishment to befall you, to
make you realize, to make you remember.
That truly it is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
who preserves. It's Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who
protects. Without whom
an individual
really doesn't have any type of protection whatsoever.
There's a story which is mentioned
of
an incident which took place in the time
of
Nuruddin,
the
predecessor of
Nuruddin,
it said
that when he slept 1 night he had
a dream
that 2 individuals
were trying to
rob the grave of the messenger of Allah
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And when he woke
up, he he did wudu, he prayed,
and he went back to sleep. And he
had this dream a second time. And he
woke up, he prayed, did wudu, prayed, went
back to sleep. The 3rd time he had
the dream, he couldn't sleep no more. And
so when he told his adviser, his adviser
told him and gave him
advice of going to Medina yourself.
Go to Medina.
And so the both of them, when they
went to Medina, they carried lots of wealth,
lots of money with them
with a plan to give sadaqa to the
people of Medina. When they arrived in Medina,
they were watching and recording
every single person who came
to collect this charity from them.
And every single person from Medina was told
to come and give,
give their name so they can get some
money.
And when everybody was done and couldn't
find those 2 individuals that he had seen
in his dream, he asked them, is there
anybody else? And they said there are 2
people who have come from Al Maghrib, from
the west.
And they haven't come because there are there
are people who worship Allah. They give charity.
They're always
at
Al Baqir,
the graveyard of the Muslims.
And they're always doing righteous deeds.
And so when he called them, he asked
them where they were from and they said
we are from Al Maghrib, from the west.
And we have come here to perform Hajj
and we stayed after Hajj because of our
closeness to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And so when he went to his house
and he looked under their rug,
he noticed a tunnel had been dug from
the house all the way to the grave
of the messenger of Allah alaihi wa sallam.
And when he asked them and he interrogated
them, they said we dug this
as an order from the Christian ruler who
told us to come and he gave us
lots of wealth, which we would give in
Sadaqa to hide our actions
until we reached close to the grave and
there was an earthquake,
and so we stopped.
And that same night you came.
So Nuruddin,
this individual,
he was
receiving this dream from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
As a result of which the messenger of
Allah alaihisratu
wa sallam
even in his death,
his body is being preserved, his body is
being protected by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The point being brothers and sisters, when a
person remembers Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and he trusts Allah and
he believes in Allah
as being his protector,
Allah
will protect that individual
even after his death.
Brothers and sisters, we were talking about Allah
being
the ultimate
protector and the guardian and the one who
preserves and the one who oversees.
Allah
being
Al Hafid
Al Muhammin.
The one who protects. There's no greater protector
than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala himself. And how
he protected the messenger of Allah salallahu alaihi
wa sallam from harm in Makkah, from those
who wanted to harm him.
From those who wanted to kill him when
he fled Makkah, when he made the hijrah
to Madinah.
And we mentioned examples of how the messenger
of Allah was
protected
when
everyone else was unable to protect him.
When there was nobody else to protect him,
he had this
and distrust in Allah
We know recently
of what's been happening. We know of
crime rates increasing. We know that
from the signs of the day of judgment
is that
a person
will kill another,
and he won't know why he's killing that
person, and the person who's being killed won't
know why he's being killed.
And there are some parts of the world
where
people
are involved in crimes,
and
you would be shocked at the statistics.
There are cases of some places in the
world where a person
could commit crimes to the extent that in
an in a single city,
there could be 3 murders,
there could be 97
stabbings,
269
knife crimes
in a space of 2 months.
And
these are statistics
for our city, the city of Birmingham, brothers
and sisters.
These statistics
are statistics which are 1 week old,
and maybe
the officers who are here today can tell
us that those statistics have probably increased over
the past week.
So what can an individual do for himself,
for his family, from an Islamic perspective to
protect himself from to and to protect his
family members? First of all, having
in Allah
Secondly,
having
the tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Remembering Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Advising our family members to remember Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. The messenger of Allah alayhi salatu
wa salam, he gave us
adkar in the morning, in the evening, when
we leave our homes,
when we are traveling.
The messenger of Allah
he told us,
When a person leaves his house,
if he says,
In the name of Allah, I put my
trust in Allah and there is no power
nor might except with Allah.
It will be said
You have been taken care of. You are
protected
and you are guided.
And then the shayateen will flee from him.
They'll step aside. They'll move away from him.
And other shayateen
will tell those shayateen.
They'll say,
What are you gonna do to a man
who's been protected?
He's been taken care of? He's been guided?
What are you going to do? How are
you gonna harm this individual?
There's nothing you can do to this man
who has remembered Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as
he's left his home.
That's just one thing that we can do
in order to make sure
that we are protected
when we leave the security and the safety
of our own homes. Remembering and understanding
that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can protect us at
times when nobody else can protect us.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will give us and
our family members safety and security
in times and instances where they won't be
able to be there for us. They won't
be able to protect us all the time,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he
forgives those who have been killed and murdered
and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives them
the death of Shuhada
and that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protects us
and protects our families and protects our communities
from evil.