Sacred Text Messages S02 E10 – Do Americans Know Anything About Qadr?

This has been our man Rahim masala anissina Mohammed Wiener and he was happy to send him to stay Magus era. Lambda Linda saramonic Omar Abdullah he will Ricardo Al Hamdulillah we're in the first week of Ramadan and

I got the news today that our dear brother he mom suhaib Sorbonne passed away. So I just want inshallah for view buddy could pray for him and for his family may Allah subhana wa tada give him a high place in Jenna. It's a sign, I think of a Boolean shala that he was accepted with a lot to die on the day of Juma in the first week of Ramadan, which is a time of immense blessing and Rama. And I know he was well loved I visited him when he at Princeton, he invited me for any event and he was just a beautiful person very hospitable host I mean, you hear this about people sometimes but with him genuinely so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he really was just a very beautiful soul

and people who knew him I think recognize that so Allah subhana wa tada bless him and make it easy for his family I know he left behind a wife and

and and a dependent so May Allah subhana wa tada make make that easy for them inshallah.

Ramadan is an immense blessing for this community. I think everybody feels a kind of excitement when Ramadan comes and

and despite all of the difficulties and tribulations that happen around the world, there's just a great blessing in the the time that we're in in the month when it comes on us. But one of the most important aspects of this month is it's a month of the Koran. It's a month when we really are supposed to go back to the Quran and to

to become intimate with the Quran. I hope inshallah, I'm going to be looking at a mum of these extraordinary work called Johann Quran which are the essences or the jewels of the Quran.

And he, I think, just had incredible insights that were clearly openings from Allah subhanaw taala and this is true of many of our great scholars, Allah subhana wa tada in the Quran. In Surah kamar the text message I wanted to look at today and sought after comma is the 17th verse, Allah subhana wa tada says, What up at the Sunnah or an early decree van Mehmood Decker

that we have made this Quran we facilitated this poron as a reminder, and is there anyone that will really take this to heart that will internalize that fact? And it's it's a rhetorical question, but it's an important question that Allah subhana wa tada is posing to us because I think one of the things that we tend to forget is that

this is an open invitation from Allah subhana wa tada the deen the transaction with Allah is an open transaction with Allah subhana wa Tada. So he's asking us but hadn't been more deckchair

that

in this verse, Allah subhana wa tada is telling us that he's facilitated the Oran, and he's facilitating a lot of different ways. One is into our, one of the most extraordinary things if, if you notice that learning foreign languages is very difficult for people. But generally people can actually recite the Quran, you'll find people from Pakistan or from India, who speak Arabic with a real strong accent, but when they recite the Quran, they can recite the Quran as good as the Arabs. And so there's a type of facilitation just in the the reading of the Quran, which is quite extraordinary that people can learn how to read the Koran properly. I mean, obviously, some people

do have difficulties with some of the letters because Arabic has unusual letters that aren't found in a lot of languages like the ain and often the BA and avant. And the law.

There's actually a book one of the scholars wrote on the difference with him BOD and law, because people tend to conflate those for that or not, even some of the Arabs do that. But the Allah subhanaw taala has facilitated the learning of, of the Quran, the Tila of the Quran, but also he's facilitated the meme memorization of the Quran, the health of Quran, and this is why children can memorize the Quran. If you give a child something like the Constitution of the United States, and they'll really struggle to memorize it. They can do it

But they'll struggle whereas if you give them a page of the Quran, it's quite stunning how quickly people can memorize a good portion of the Koran. But he's also made it relatively easy to understand it's not a difficult book. It has multiple dimensions but at one level the Quran is, is written in a very, very unusual language. It's a completely

it's unique in its in its presentation there's no Arabic like it before or after, and Arabs even Christian Arabs, they know when the Quran is being recited. If you recite a verse of Quran, generally people will will can identify it even if they're not that educated, they can identify it as as the Quran, the difference between the Hadeeth and between the Quran is stunning, because given that they both come from the same source, the province ICM is clearly a vehicle for the Quran, the expressions that he gives in his Hadeeth are from him. So it's the language of the Quraysh. And you will find sayings of Sahaba that are similar to Hades, I mean, the prophet sighs and was undoubtedly

the most eloquent of the people that spoke Arabic. But the distinction between the Hadeeth and between the Quran is absolutely remarkable for anybody that ponders that the Quran brought new ways the Arabs had never heard anything like this. And this is not an exaggeration. This is simply a statement of fact, they had never heard anything like it. It's hard for us today, especially people that don't have access to the Arabic to understand this. And also because the Arabs grow up with the Quran, and they've heard it since they were children. They also don't understand the newness of the language. But they do recognize even even if they're not terribly educated, they do recognize that

it has a distinct distinctiveness that differs from other language. And and in that way, it's,

we can honestly say that it's when they said this is not the words of a bunch of they were not exaggerating and saying that it's not the words of human being because they had never heard anything like it. Things like letter zero was a rotten wizard or aura.

That that is such a beautiful statement. And yet if you said it, if somebody tried to say that in another way, there's something besides high points out and I thought it was a really nice

illustration of this point. If you say for instance, mural, Hamilton Hamilton O'Hara, if somebody said that in a speech, it would just people wouldn't. They just wouldn't.

It would, it would seem ridiculous.

Because when when Allah says that, it just there's something about that language that's so powerful that even Lebanese Christians or Palestinian Christians will study the Quran purely as a literary masterpiece, and really appreciating the language of it. But if you try to speak in a Quranic language, and use the types of idioms that the Quran uses, he, nobody would take you seriously. And this is something very remarkable about the Quran. The fact that it is it's so profoundly serious in its presentation and in its language and yet, any attempt to use the types of

idioms that the Quran uses would not work in normal human language.

So, so, the language is is fascinating, and and very difficult to I mean, there is an argument that it's it cannot be imitated, but there are some examples of lines that people try to like, for instance, mill Salem at a cadaver lab. He actually tried to imitate some of the, the verses of the Quran and he put it in the idioms of the Quran. So he used the type of structures of the Quran uses but it ended up sounding ridiculous. And this is remarkable that he could not replicate the Quran. And there's two different opinions about sort of anthologies Did, did Allah remove the, the possibility or is are simply people incapable of it. Most of the scholars inclined towards the that

it's simply a jazz it's a Marchesa in that way that it prevents people from mimicking it but the newness of the language to the Arabs was just stunning. And this is a good example what up at the Asana or an early victory the hangman wood deck here

that is clearly

Nearly a pyronix statement, it does not sound like a Hadeeth it is clearly from the Oran and this is the way the Quran speaks to us. It's it's just a very interesting language. So it's, it's facilitated the Quran, Allah has facilitated it in many ways in its teeth, in its remembrance, but also in its understanding that the Quran has a remarkably sparse vocabulary. There's about 1720 odd

words, or in the root system of the Koran. So the trilateral or the quadrilateral, literal words in the Quran, there, there are not that many, you can learn on vocabulary in a relatively short period of time. But the richness of the language, the nuance of the language, the nuance of the words, and the semantic fields that the Oran creates, are quite stunning. And that's why potentially there's just an immense amount of possibility for,

for meaning to to emerge the the meanings of the Quran, Latin, or the idea of a who the wonders of the Koran will never cease. But also we've been facilitated to actually implement the Quran and and to practice the Quran, this is all possible and so people have to, in essence, empty their minds and really to,

to to enter into the Quran autofest Cilmi katha enter into this system, enter into the state of submission, which is to submit to the word of Allah subhana wa tada

really set aside your preoccupations.

One of the the buzzwords that that is used constantly today is mindfulness. This idea of mindfulness of people being mindful, there was no human being who has ever existed on this planet that was more mindful than the Prophet size and prophetic mindfulness is a Sunnah the practice of mindfulness the prophesized sum was mindful in every single human action that he that he participated in. He when he got up he had a prayer when he first woke up he he immediately remembered Allah subhanho wa Taala when he woke up was the first thing he said when he woke up super Hannah, Lydia, Yanni. But imagine he waited in the shore. So handily the journey but imagine he was in a leafy Vickery. Allah Homer

geography, Alvin ofili Sani Nora is in or a feeble serene or focalin or attacking or a new me, and you mean inaudible and she Mati Nora, Allah Allah also be Nora along with Gianni Nora Aloma Athenian aura. I mean, this was a do as it he, he said every day, every morning when he woke up, then he would recite the ends of the last eyes of Sora Ali embrun, which is about looking into the heavens, that he would actually go outside, look up into the stars, and then recite these verses. And then when he put on his clothes, he was mindful, he always put on his set while sitting down. When when he went into when he went to relieve himself. He had a prayer when he came out, he had a whole

Veronica, he had a prayer when he ate he had a prayer. When when he

when he finished his meal, he had a prayer. When he saw

people he said on why they come that's a prayer. When he left people he had a prayer when he started walking towards the masjid, he had a pro when he went into the soup. He had a prayer. When he bought something he had a prayer, where if he bought new clothes, he had a prayer for it live is to a higher God than where is to him. He then wanted to shahida it's just stunning. The entire life of the prophesized him is a testimony to prophetic mindfulness, which is being in a state of presence is being present, is being aware. And so the Quran is is a book that brings you into the presence. In fact, one of the secrets of the banaba of the Quran, which is in Arabic is called lt fat. Which

which is it's, it's, it's a technique you don't really find it much in, in. I have I've rarely seen it in western literature. I have seen it strangely enough in in some of the poetry of

Dylan who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, he actually uses empty fat in his in some of his poetry.

They walked along by the old canal a little confused, I remember well, so when you talk in the third person, then you go to the first person that's called lt fat. So if you look in the, in the in the in the in Surah Fatiha Allah subhana wa tada begins that is, according to you, Mom, Shafi and Bismillah R Rahman Rahim mm nafion begins

Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen and the Hadith in Sahih Muslim Sahih al Bukhari begins with Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen. But he begins if you begin it with Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil aalameen Ar Rahman AR Rahim, Mehdi kiyomi de iaca, that's lt fat to move into the going from the hot tub to the hot that going from the third person to the first person, or the second person, in this case, yak and Abu so it's going from a type of as you enter into the prayer, you're moving into presence, and then you become present with EOC and Abu where he can step in. So the Quran pulls you into a type of Divine Presence. If you read it with attentiveness, if you read

it with mindfulness, if you read it with presence, and this is what Allah Subhana was, as for henneman with Decker, you know, he Are you going to really take this, this, this, this,

this word, and, and and and make it part of your, of your very being. And obviously memorization is one of the best ways to actually bring it into your very it I mean, it becomes all of your synaptic connections in your own brain become

enlightened with the the memory of the heart. And so if you if you recite a verse from memory, that means that it's lodged in your consciousness in your mind. So this is what we're being told to do, to really reflect deeply to take this upon ourselves to enter into this extraordinary gift that we have been given this is called the the duvet Allah, the Allah subhana wa tada has invited us to the banquet and the Quran is his banquet. And Matt daba is in one rewinds Matt dooba, which is a banquet and others met Devo, which is the place where your discipline where your soul is discipline. And so the Quran is essentially teaching us how to respond, and how to react to the world. And that's

what's really important because if you look at, at Allah Subhana, Allah says, In the Quran, of Muhammad zeca, rockethub and the Sahaba, that a person has had success, who

there's a difference of opinion about the verse, is it God is a cow? Or is it the person actually, willfully and I think both of them are, are sound meanings because, well not to show on your language a lot. You can't do anything except Allah wills at first. And so this is completely compatible, but that other flamin zecca that he has had success, the one who Allah has caused his soul to grow zeca at Ischia

work on harbor Mendoza, and he has failed the one who failed to or who allowed his soul to be stunted. So the growth of the soul.

One theologian said that you have to think of God more as a gardener than a mechanic, that that and this is obviously metaphorical.

You have to you have to think of Allah subhana wa tada as one who nurtures you That's why roble and amin is the Mora be, Allah is the one you rugby an alameen he's the one that nurtures the world that causes them to grow. And so the way Allah subhanho wa Taala, it's not like a mechanic who just is going to fix your problems? No, this is this is done through nurturing. So two things are happening. One is that you're born with all these default settings as a human being, you come into the world with all these default settings. So one of the default settings, is that you you, you're selfish, there's a default setting. So one of the things we have to teach children is to share

we had out of the five children that that that I had,

we had one that just naturally shared, but the other ones had to learn that and we know in the story of how Timothy who was was the most generous, generous of the pre Islamic Arabs, his he had a tent that he lived in, but then he had a tent for hospitality. So anybody that came to him, he would they could send the tent as long as you want it and he would feed them and take care of them. In fact, it said that once he had a beautiful Falcon, and and he had a guest come and he didn't have anything to serve him. So he ended up sacrificing the Falcon which was worth a lot and and feeding

About the Falcon then when we asked the man, you know, did did he need anything he said he came to buy his fat, his famous Falcon. And he had just fed him the Falcon, but the many stories about how to apply. But it said that his his brother wanted to because everybody praised Hatem for being so generous that in fact, the Arabs, Edward Newman had a more generous than had them a pie. And so the, the his brothers set up a tent of hospitality, and his mother visited him. And when she saw the tension, what are you doing, and he said, I want it because Hatem has a tent for hospital, I want to have a tent for Rosie, she said, Don't waste your time. And he said, Why, he said, when I circled

you, you used to put hat, push, hat them away. And when I circled hat them, he would pull you to my other breast. In other words, this was fifth era in him, so you do find those people, but I don't think she was fair to him, because I think people can work on themselves and get better at it. So and that's, that's the important point is that we have to nurture our souls out of these default settings. And so cowardice, a lot of people are afraid, but you can overcome your fears. It takes it takes work. And and in fact, one of the most courageous spiritual acts that you can do, is to live joyfully, because it's very easy to be depressed. That's easy. Anybody can be depressed, or you look

at the world, that what the world doesn't make you depressed. If it doesn't, you're you're dead, you have no heart. But it takes courage to, to live joyfully despite that, despite everything in the world. In fact, a very wise philosophers have, as a teacher of my father once said that, he said that

he was asked, Can a kind of a person be happy, knowing all the things wrong with the world? And he said, Oh, indeed, the truly happy person is happy, in spite of everything he knows about the world. And, and part of the reason why he's happy is because he feels an obligation to be happy, because one of the reasons why the world is such an unhappy place, is there so many unhappy people in it? And so why would you want to contribute to the unhappiness of the world and we all know to be around people that are joyful, it has an effect on us. I mean, that's one of the reasons like people that say Turner, everybody missed a mom's aid, because he moms aid when he comes around people, he has a

joyful presence. And so people always feel joyful around he makes me feel joyful. And and that's a gift that Allah subhana wa tada game, but it's also something that we can work on in our own cell. Some people have it naturally, his personality is sanguine, and it's, it's, it's a, it's a beautiful temperament to have. But you can work on that in yourself to not be a downer, to not be the wet towel, to not be the person that people walk away, feeling relieved that they're out of your company. So that's, that's very important. So

it's, it's a courageous act to be joyful, in an incredibly depressing world. Because you're bringing joy to a place that needs more joy.

I mean, that's, that's just something really important. So, so one of the things that the Quran teaches us, and I think this is really, really fundamental to the Quranic teaching, it teaches us how to respond appropriately, in order for us to grow spiritually, in order for there to be Ischia of the self in order for the self not to be stunted. And one of the greatest gifts

that our our masters have given us is the teaching of our best at

Mercy. And everyone in Egypt knows about our best and mercy. His his mom is in Alexandria, and and i actually witness a clear miracle in that place. And she has not been my father was with me as a witness, but he was an extraordinary spiritual master. And he was the teacher of Ivanov de la, the great

scholar who wrote the heck out by ear.

But even after Allah who was quite accomplished, jurist fapy, an alum and well known he wasn't just a mystic, but he really was an accomplished scholar. He was feeling the weightiness of the world on his shoulders and sometimes we we have that experience.

He went to visit about abus mercy. And when he came in he told him there are only four states in the world. There's only four states. And there's only four responses to each one of those states. And this is purely ironic. So he said and he put it some of them have versified it he said labdoo fi nanometer nobody yet your corner out it no matter see it. So Abdu Finnair, matana Oh buddy at your corner Alta attend almasi at a

servant is either in blessing or tribulation. So those are those are two states you're either in blessing or you're in tribulation

or you're kunaal Tomasi at or you're in obedience or disobedience. So those are the four states. You cannot it's it's like a Boolean, algebraic.

It's like a Boolean algebraic

presentation, like he's exhausted the states of the world. So here you are the four states that are back on Medallia alley. So the well of this world are for as long as time exists is one of these four. Well, nocturnal, happy within a Harley and what

necessitates the truth, demands in each one of these four states are the appropriate responses and Yesh. cotulla. To be grateful to Allah for the NEMA

and Yesh called Allah Allah while Spira and to be patient for the tribulation.

Well, yes, had an minetta while you're stung Fira and to witness the blessings went when you're in obedience, to see the minute that this is the monastic Allah one of the names of Allah is Alma Nan, the one yamano alayka he reminds you of his blessings. So when you're in obedience is to see the minute the the trophy, the success that Allah subhanaw taala has given you to be in that state. While you're stuck furor and to be in a state of repentance of Toba

of his default, to ask Allah subhana wa tada forgiveness when you're in disobedience, those are the appropriate responses. So somebody was telling me the other day about he was in a living with some Muslims and he felt like he was an outsider and they were mistreating him and he didn't feel comfortable. And and I told him, Allah subhanho wa Taala tells us we are unable to complete Baba and fitna, we made some of you tribulation for others apostrophe. Ron, will you show patience? Will you show patience? Cannot ibuka basura and Allah sees all things. So whenever you're in a situation, the default setting is to think the worst of people. The way you personal one is actually difficult,

because it's not the default setting. The default setting is always to go to the worst of people. So somebody could be having a bad day. And you come in and they and they mistreat you and you think they were mistreating you because you had a turban on or you're a Muslim. Now that could very well be the case they could have been a racist or they could have not like but they could have just been having a bad day. You it's your inward state it's going to determine how you respond to those circumstances. And the Quran tells us is our ability as an returner wrong with a right

return a wrong with a right this is what Allah subhanaw taala tells us. So the Quran is giving us all of the means by which the circumstances that Allah subhana wa tada sends to us because all of this is from God. And if you think it's from other than God, you you don't understand the creative, the Muslims, everything is from God. All of the tribulations in your life are from God. In fact,

according to see the Amazon rule, all of the diseases of the heart revolve around at the Maria bar. We are Khadija

being discontent with the decree of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And this does not negate freewill. But we believe in in an extraordinary paradox of determinism and freewill, that everything is decreed and yet Allah has made us free within that decree. But when things happen, you cannot escape your destiny. If you are destined to be

to die in a place Allah will bring all the circumstances about to bring you to that place at that time that you were destined to be there. And there's no way that you can do that. I mean, I'll tell you a really interesting story that happened to me when I was in Saudi Arabia, right?

After 911

I had gone I was in I was in Jeddah, and I just arrived from the airport. And, and then I was at the airport, they have these drivers that drive you, because I was picked up at the plane, and then they drive you, too. So there was a this man, he was from one of the veteran tribes, you know, they have these tribes, the melodic Benny monic. And, and the Japan and

different, many hodl you know, how to be people. And I really liked him. I've always enjoyed conversing with them. But he asked me this was right after 911. And he said to me, can I ask you a question? He asked me where I was from, I said, America, so can I ask you a question? He said, Sure. He said, Why did Americans hate us? Which made me laugh? I said, actually, you know, I think they think that you hate them. He said, The I don't know. He said, I don't hate Americans. I like Americans. And he said, Why do they hate us? And I said, Well, I think some of them the ones that do maybe is because they think that most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. So they think

somehow, Saudis did this to them. And he's, and then he asked me a really interesting question. He said, Do they know anything about other?

And I said, I think most people there would deny the other unless they're Amish. And I didn't say that. But I said, just said most people would deny the other. And then he said, No, no, you, he said, there's him to animal animal cutter, you have to teach them about the cutter. Because he said it will remove hatred from their hearts.

In other words, when you see that things are from Allah, you're able to live in this world in a completely different way. Where you don't have that kind of animosity towards people. And this does not negate like that there's long there is oppression, there's all these things in the world, but they're there as a test.

And so it's not that you don't oppose oppression and try to remove oppression you do. But you do it with that deep knowledge that this is these are the circumstances that God has given me to see how I behave. And then it enables you to turn your enemies into your friends because you don't hate them. You see them as vehicles of the Divine and the good and the bad and the ugly, and the beautiful, all these things. So this is this is time to get back to the Quran. Allah subhana wa tada inshallah bring us back to the Quran and make us people of the Oran a hamdulillah. May you have a blessed month in Shall I hope some of you will join me in the Jawahar Parana for law gives me the ability

inshallah. And then again, I just really Please pray for our brother, your mom. So hey, so Tony's he was a really genuine gift to the community. Well, anybody who knew him knew knows exactly what I'm talking about. May Allah make it easy for his family and May Allah give him a hi welcome in in genitive for those inshallah. Sarah Marie calm Rahmatullahi wa barakato