Hisham Jafar Ali – Names Of Allah And His Attributes #23 The Generous, Honourable and Majestic
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the meaning of Allah's Surah Alayson and the importance of understanding the process of creation and afterlife. They emphasize the importance of avoiding fear and mercy and sharing experiences with others. The speaker also discusses the importance of respect and admiration for every human being and the importance of being a good companion of Islam. They stress the importance of not reciting the message of Islam and being mindful of one's actions. Finally, they stress the importance of being generous and willing to sacrifice for one's own learning and sharing.
AI: Summary ©
Today
we'll be looking at the name of Allah,
the names of Allah, Dhul Jalali wal Ikram,
as I just recited from the beautiful verses
in Surah Al Rahman.
In this Surah Surah Al Rahman,
before this verse,
before we reach this verse,
everything
in this world, everything on this earth is
going to finish, is going to perish, is
going to expire.
Except for the face of your Lord that
will remain.
The one who is described with majesty.
The one who is described with generosity
and honor.
Before this verse,
Surah Al Rahman is different.
After this verse, Surah Al Rahman is different.
This verse is the crux,
the changing point,
the half time in Surah Al Rahman.
Can anybody here tell me?
Before this verse in Surah Al Rahman, after
this verse, what is the difference
in this surah?
If
you are listening to the recitation, that's why
I recited all of it,
Everything on this earth will finish, will expire,
will perish, will die
and every the only thing that will be
left in existence is the face of Your
Lord,
the one of majesty and the one of
generosity.
What is Allah describing before these verses? Yes.
It's about His creation.
Okay. Friday and He says,
no one will stand except to Beautiful.
Masha'Allah. So before this verse, the first
half or so of Surat Al Rahman, Allah
is describing his created world.
The human being. The speech of the human
being. The sun, the moon, the stars, the
ships at sea, the sea. What is all
of this? This is Allah's creation. This is
earth. This is the world that we see.
Right?
After describing all of it, Allah wants you
to appreciate all of it.
Once you appreciate it, that's why He keeps
stopping between them to say
He wants you to
pause. Don't rush to the next don't rush
to the next creation of Allah. Pause, stop.
He wants you to stop and appreciate it,
then move on.
Stop, appreciate it, then move on. Stop. Once
you have appreciated
all of these creations of Allah, the sea,
the sky, the stars, the moon, the sun,
the human being,
then Allah says, well it's all going to
finish anyway.
All of these blessings that you need to
appreciate,
that is from the generosity of Allah.
The moment you appreciate them, you have to
realize
there's something greater than the sweet and the
lovely and the enjoyable things we see in
this world.
That is the company of Allah.
And that is why when Allah describes he
wants you to appreciate it's like
it's like I take you to a restaurant
and I give you everything on the menu.
The appetizers,
the mains, the desserts,
even the tea at the end. You have
a table in front of you with 33
dishes, and I say,
take one bite from each dish and appreciate
it. Take one bite from each dish.
One bite, you think about it, amazing. The
next bite, so crispy. The next one, so
much spice. The next one, wow, the yogurt
is nice. By the time
much spice. The next one, wow, the yogurt
is nice. By the time you get to
the end
and you say, this is the best meal
I ever ate in my life, I tell
you, you know what? The great news is,
tomorrow the restaurant's closing forever.
And your heart just sinks. Oh, wow.
I just enjoyed all of the food in
this restaurant. I love I'm so happy and
you're telling me tomorrow the restaurant's gonna close
forever.
When you get that sinking feeling,
you start to think, right, surely the world
there is something bigger than this restaurant. There
is more out there for me to enjoy,
for me to taste.
Similarly,
just to give you an analogy, so to
rahman, Allah gives you a taste of everything
in His creation. Then He says, well, the
shop's going to close. All of it's going
to finish.
What's going to be left?
The only thing that's going to be left
is the face of your Lord.
The one who is most generous and the
one who is most majestic.
What happens after this ayah in this surah?
What does Allah start to talk about?
The afterlife.
The criminals will be known by their faces.
They'll be dragged by their feet and by
their hands.
And whoever fears Allah will get 2 guidance
in paradise.
After this verse, when you appreciate the shop
is closing and everything is going to end,
Allah begins to describe the afterlife,
the real life, the life that we really
live for.
These two words, duljalaliwalikram,
can anybody tell me, did it come anywhere
else in the Quran?
So Umar is gone, so inshallah somebody else
can answer.
Duljalaliwalikram,
did it come anywhere else in the Quran?
Yes. Same Surah at the
end of the Surah.
The very last verse of this very Surah,
That's it. Only twice in the whole Quran,
these two these these two descriptions of Allah
came.
Why? Why only in this surah?
What is jalal and what is iqram?
Jala in Arabic. When something becomes amazing, magnificent,
mighty, strong.
When something becomes,
has esteem.
You know, how do they address the queen?
Her?
Her majesty. Right? Majesty. Something honorable, something has
a high status. You you know, you cannot
even look them in the eye. They are
majestic. This is jalal.
Might, power, majesty.
And this describes one half of Allah's names.
One half of Allah's names are majestic. They
are powerful. They are scary.
They are strong. You know, they are not
names to be to to make you feel
soft and runny on the inside. These are
names that make you stay up at night
out of fear. Names that make you appreciate
and respect Allah.
Allah's names like Al Qahar,
the one that overcomes everything. Al Jabbar,
you know. Allah is the one that decimates.
Allah is the one whose will cannot be
overturned. Allah is
severe in punishment, you know.
Allah has one side, this is one side.
Respect, esteem. Don't cross me. I am the
mighty, I am the powerful. Who are you?
Who am I? This is one side of
Allah's names. There's another side of Allah's names,
al Iqram.
The most generous, the most soft, the most
loving, the most caring, the most compassionate.
This is the other side of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala's names.
And so this this phrase, this description of
Allah summarizes who is Allah.
Because Allah has both of these attributes.
And this is how when we know that
Allah has both of these attributes, what does
it create within us? A balance of 2
things. What are those 2 things? Yes, is
haqq.
Hope and fear.
If you have too much hope in Allah,
what does that make you?
Allah will forgive all my sins. It's rahmanal
raheem. It's okay.
Become lazy, become complacent.
Right? There's a famous,
there's a famous Bollywood actor once on Indian
TV, I'll never forget, sitting next to a
scholar, a Muslim scholar.
And
the the news host asked this actor, you
know, how can you call yourself a Muslim
and you commit all of these things in
movies and you do all this haram?
What kind of Muslim is this? And he
said, every surah of the Quran begins with
Ar Rahmanir Rahim.
Allah is merciful.
So when I do all this, you know,
stuff with the ladies on the screen and
the drinking and all this stuff and so,
Allah is gonna forgive me. And the scholar
gave a quick reply back, a sharp one.
Allah is severe in punishment as well, my
friend.
Don't have too much hope for you become
lazy.
And don't have too much fear. This is
the other extreme.
Is everybody always making people scared of Allah?
Fear Allah. Fear Allah. Fear Allah. Fear Allah.
Fear Allah. To the extent that there are
people who grow up hearing this all the
time who think that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
does not love and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
does not have mercy.
If there are these two sides,
which side is more
is is
overpowers the other side?
Allah's mercy or Allah's the fear or the
hope? Allah's mercy or Allah's power and might
and strength? Which one is more do you
find in the Quran? Mercy.
Who can give me an evidence in the
Quran?
Or from the sunnah?
Allah's mercy outweighs
his wrath and his punishment. Yes.
My mercy, Allah says, encompasses everything. It is
greater than everything. But there's a hadith the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam informs us.
This is a beautiful hadith about the mercy
of a mother has for her child and
that Allah's mercy is far more than our
mothers have for us. But the prophet salallahu
alaihi wa sallam informed us that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala conveyed to him,
sadaqat Rahmati
gabbabi.
My mercy has proceeded, has come before, has
outweighed my anger.
And And so when we talk, teach our
especially when we teach our children about Allah,
when we teach new Muslims about Islam, we
should be very careful
not to overwhelm them with the fear of
Allah.
But this is a Muslim. Insha'Allah, the expectation
is this person is going to enter paradise.
So we should share with them first and
foremost and emphasize the mercy of Allah. Because
the first name Allah introduced him with is
what?
That's how he introduced himself. I remember once
this also connects with our last lesson. I
wanted to mention something I forgot last lesson
regards to Allah. Once I was in a
Islamic center
and there was a new Muslim in front
of me.
And
another person was explaining to him about Islam.
He's been a Muslim for 3 weeks.
And the person who's teaching about Islam, he's
giving him a aqidah lesson.
I wasn't supposed to attend. I came there
for for a meeting but we were all
running on Muslim timing. You know Greenwich, there's
Greenwich Mean Time, there's Muslim time. Time zone
is 2 hours later. So if you say
4, it's actually 6 PM. So I was
I came for the meeting, but alas, the
meeting was going to be 2 hours. And
so I sat there, and he's teaching him
about Allah.
And he said the first thing you need
to know my brother about this deen
is that the prophet
told us that this religion that Muslims will
split into 73 sects.
All of them are going to the hellfire
brother, except 1.
He said who? He goes, that's
us.
He was like, whoof.
He's like
he's like, what do the others do? He
goes, like, are the mosques in this city?
Are they from the other 70 3? He
goes, yes. It's very sad, isn't it?
He goes, this how many mosques are there
in the city? He goes, about 73. He
goes, about
70. And all most of them are going
to the * fight. Yeah. Just us. I'm
sitting there, I'm thinking,
SubhanAllah.
This reminds me of a statement of the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallallahu.
A very interesting situation in his life when
a Bedouin came in the masjid
and he urinated in the corner of the
masjid thinking there's no you know, he's uncivilized
person. He's not used to these etiquettes and
morals. He came, he just urinated in the
Masjid.
And then the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam's
companions were going to maul him and the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam told them just
calm down, throw some water,
put put a bucket of water on it,
and he brought this man close and explained
to him nicely, this is Allah's house. You
don't urinate in Allah's house.
This bedouin then raised his hands.
He says, oh Allah, have mercy on me
and Muhammad, but not on any of these
other people.
The prophet
responds to him with something you have to
write in gold and frame it on the
wall.
You made narrow,
tight something that is very expensive.
Allah's mercy is not just for me and
you, my badoo and friend.
Allah's mercy is for everybody.
Those who have such a pessimistic and negative
view of Allah that they think the vast
majority of the Muslims on the face of
the earth, 1,200,000,000
Muslims in the world,
they think 1,199,000,000
are going to hellfire except them and their
6 mates in the masjid.
Them and their,
the saved,
the 34 people who make up the saved
sect, them and their few friends.
They made narrow and tight the mercy of
Allah, which is more expensive than them and
their 6 friends
and their 2 followers on Twitter.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
if we learnt about his mercy and we
learnt about the mercy of Allah, and if
we knew Allah truly who he is,
when we see another Muslim, this was one
of the famous statements of the earliest salaf.
They would
say We do not
kick out of Islam anybody who prays to
this qibla.
Whoever prays our salah and slaughters with us
and, you know, witnesses Eid Ramadan with us,
the big symbols of Islam, we don't see
that this person is a disbeliever.
This statement,
and it's a lie against Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And it is a version of Islam,
a version of Islam that really, you know,
this gentleman, and I will tell you the
saddest thing in this story,
that new Muslim who is sitting in front
of me learning this version of Islam,
that everybody, all the masjids in this city,
everybody's going to hellfire except this people in
this masjid.
He lasted 6 months as a Muslim and
he left.
He returned back to Kufr. He returned back
to disbelief.
Because the version of Islam he was sold
is a version that is so hateful,
so limited,
so restricted. He was suffocating
and disbelief was more beloved to him. May
Allah protect us and forgive us.
Back to Allah's name.
Dhul Jalal yaw Ikram. Dhul Jalal, the one
of might, of majesty,
al Ikram, the one of generosity and honor.
Let us focus
on the latter,
Al Ikram. There are other versions of this
name that came in the Quran. Who can
tell me?
In the first ayahs that were revealed, this
one of
a version of this name came down.
Cream. Kareem. Not cream. It's past dinner time.
You should all have had your dinners, inshallah.
Don't think about cream.
Al Kareem.
And we're going to talk about these three
names now for the remaining remainder of this
lesson. Al Karam. What is Karam in Arabic?
Who would you call Karim? And in the
Quran, Allah doesn't just describe himself as Karim.
He describes other things as Karim as well.
For example,
al Qur'an al Qur'an. Anybody heard of that?
Okay. Rizkum Karim, Ajuram Karim.
Right?
Janati Mukramun.
Allah describes the Quran and his reward and
his sustenance all of it with the name
Kareem. What does Kareem mean? Who can tell
me?
What does Kareem mean?
He's always giving.
Okay. He's saying always giving.
Any other ideas?
Okay. Something that benefits you. Yes? Something that
is, like, dear to you. Something that is
dear to you? Okay. Anything else?
Something on it. Something on it. Okay. Good.
Kareem in in the Arabic language has two
meanings, two connotations.
The first one is being generous.
Before we have talked about Allah's names, Al
Wahab, Al Manaan, Al Razaq, that Allah gives.
Al Wah said that Allah has so much
to give. Kareem is different.
It is Allah's style of giving.
You
see, you know, I grew when I grew
up, there's a masjid near my house, which
I grew up in.
And, in Ramadan, after
there was one particular very, very wealthy businessman.
And he used to come to the masjid
with a stack of cash.
And after salah, he would just give them
out to anybody who came to Octopters. There
would be a line of people.
But from each of these people who came
to him, he would expect a level of
honor. They have to come. They have to
bow their head in front of him. My
master, my sir, please, can I this is
my situation? Please
give it to them. And then he will
expect never to see them again.
A lot of times when we give, there's
a statement in English. We give people with
strings attached,
meaning there's some expectation.
I gave you something. You have to take
me out for dinner.
I won't say it to you, but if
you don't take me out for dinner, then
I'm gonna look I'm gonna be Abu Salcomparya.
When I see you, I'm gonna my face
is gonna not not look very nice. I'm
gonna hold a grudge against you. Look at
that guy. I took him out dinner. I
drove him to this place. I paid for
his fuel, and then he hasn't called me
in 6 weeks. That's how we think. Right?
We always whenever we give, there tends to
be something attached, some expectation, some need.
Okay?
When
Allah gives,
he doesn't expect anything back from us.
And this is the best form of giving.
Who can tell me in ayah and the
Quran where Allah asks us to give in
the same way?
Don't expect anything back.
Allah
expects that we should give in such a
way we don't expect anything in return.
Allah mentions
people who give when they feed others. They
say to them, I'm feeding you for Allah's
sake. I don't want you to thank me.
I don't want anything back from you. It's
all yours.
This spirit of giving, this is the style
that Allah gives him. When he gives, he
doesn't expect anything in return. When he gives,
he doesn't give out of a need of
his own. Sometimes we give people out of
guilt.
You know, you're walking outside on the road,
someone comes to you, said you have some
spare
change, and you really don't want to give
them,
but you feel guilty. I have got some
coins in my pocket. Let me just get
rid of them. Get out of my face.
So you give it to them to get
rid of them.
How often do we do that? Often we're
going to a wedding. We're going to somebody's
house. We think, oh, I've got it. I
can't go empty handed. I've got to take
something with me.
You force yourself to begrudgingly
stop at a supermarket and get some the
cheapest box of chocolates you can find to
arrive at their door and say, here, I've
got something for you. And the whole time
in your heart you're thinking, gosh,
why do I have to do this? I'm
sorry. This is not kareem. This is not
karam. This is not honor. This is not
dignity. This is not generosity.
This is giving because you have to, giving
out of guilt, giving in a way, in
a style where you're expecting something in return
but you're not going to say it. That
is not the style in which Allah gives.
When Allah gives, He gives with karam, with
generosity,
with no expectations.
Think about it.
Every human being on this earth is indebted
to Allah.
The most staunch atheist in this world who
does not believe there is a creator and
says that Allah is a fairy tale, Allah
provides him with oxygen every day.
Allah provides him with food.
Allah provides him with his body, his bones,
his nervous system,
fully functioning. The oxygen he breathes, his lungs
are functioning,
and yet every single day he lies against
Allah. This is karam. Allah's giving, Allah's not
expecting anything in return from him. This is
al kareem. This is one meaning of kareem,
generosity. To give in such a beautiful way,
you expect nothing in return. There's another meaning
of kareem, kareem, which is to have a
high status,
to be honorable.
This is why the Quran was named Al
Quranul Kareem
because it is a it is the most
honorable speech, the most honorable scripture,
the highest status of everything else in the
world. When Allah tells you about his reward,
he says,
They will get the highest status of reward
and the highest status
of risk of sustenance from me. This is
another meaning of Al Karam, Al Karim. So
Allah is not just generous, but Allah is
the highest in status.
One of
the one of the connotations of Al Karim,
Allah tells this in the Quran.
Every human being Allah has given some status
to, some honor, some status, some karam to
every human being in this world. They every
human being, Muslim, non Muslim, you know, agrees
with our value, doesn't agree. They deserve some
form of respect, some form of rights. Where
does Allah say this in the Quran?
No.
Yes, Sheikh.
Allah says we have given honor,
dignity, respect to every child of Adam.
So those people who tell you, oh, if
there's a disbeliever, we should hate them. We
should spit at them. We should abuse them.
This is not something that was taught by
the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Allah says,
Every human being deserves a form of respect.
We don't have to agree with them. We
don't have to love them. We don't have
to be, you know, best buddies, but we
have to respect, give a basic form of
respect to them.
Every human being is a creation of Allah
that deserves karam because Allah is the one
who give them karam.
Another part of this status and generosity, on
the point of status of the verse that
you just mentioned.
Every human being has a base level of
respect and status and dignity.
Yes. Before United Nations and human rights came
along, Allah says every human being has some
rights and some respect.
But then there are some special people who
will get a special status with Allah.
And what is that measuring stick? How do
you know who is the most special in
the sight of Allah?
What's the verse?
See, from the same root,
The most high in status.
You know, this ayah was actually a revolution
in
Let me give you a real example.
Bilal Al Habashi Radiallahu Wa'ala.
Bilal,
the freed Ethiopian slave who was one of
the earliest companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
sallallahu alaihi. Before Islam, how was he treated?
Anybody know?
Yes? He was a slave. He was a
slave. How did people treat slaves?
Did they respect them? No. No. How did
they treat them?
They
treated them like animals, like property.
People would not look at him twice. He
was treated as the scum of the earth,
the sand on the ground
before Islam.
When Allah reveals this verse,
the most high in status in the sight
of Allah, part of Allah's name Al Kareem,
the most generous, the highest in status, he
gives the status to who deserves it. Look
at what happened after Islam.
It's one of the most remarkable hadith of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. The prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam comes to
Bilal radiallahu anhu. The same person
who was treated as muck and dust, nobody
looked at him, he had no rights.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam came to and
he said, Yeah Bilal. Oh Bilal.
Tell me what special thing you do.
What is it that you are doing that
is so special?
I heard your footsteps in Jannah before me.
This is somebody who was a slave nobody
looked at.
The greatest messenger of Allah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam
is saying, I heard you reach Jannah before
me.
Can you imagine the level of this man?
Can you imagine the promotion that he got?
Do you know anybody who has put their
feet on the Kaaba?
Bilal put his feet on the Kaaba
to call for salah. Nobody had this honor
except this man.
What is it that promoted him to this
height?
It is just one thing. He said, oh,
I think I know what it is. Who
can tell me what is it that promoted
him to where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam says, I heard your footsteps in paradise
before me. What did he do?
Anybody
know?
Every time he did wudu,
he would pray 2 rakas. That's it.
You think to yourself such a small deed?
You think it is small, my friend?
But those 2 raka'as, Allah knows they are
heavier than the mountain of Uhud
and all the gold on this planet because
of the quality with which you would pray
his salah.
It is the weight of the deed that
reached Allah.
This man who before Islam, nobody looked at
him, Allah raised his honor, raised his status
to the extent the prophet says, I'm hearing
your footsteps in paradise before the prophet, salallahu
alaihi.
Anybody in this room can be raised to
such a level.
You do not have to be a companion
of the prophet,
but your heart has to hold the kashya,
the awe and the fear and the love
of Allah.
Abu Bakr as Siddiq, very famously it was
stated about him.
Abu Bakr was not the greatest companion of
the prophet because of some special salah or
some special fast he used to do.
But because of
how sincere he was in his heart when
he would perform his actions. This
Ayah
in the highest in status in the sight
of Allah is the most God conscious of
you. This Ayah has flipped
flipped all of the criteria in this earth.
People judge people according to so many things,
according to how many degrees they have, how
much wealth they have, it's their their looks,
their aesthetics.
All of these ways people judge other people.
But remember something,
Al Kareem. Allah is Al Kareem, the one
who owns status.
Status is owned by Him. He decides who
to give honor to. He decides who to
humiliate.
And remember, with Allah, there's a different leaderboard.
In this world, you know, in the Premier
League there's a leaderboard, you know, 1st place,
2nd, 3rd. In this world in people's eyes
there's a different ranking.
You might be 30th, last place in this
world,
but you might be first place in the
sight of Allah.
The prophet, one
of his companions,
nobody
wanted to marry him.
Nobody wanted to employ him. Anybody know his
name?
Julaybib radiAllahu ta'ala.
This man is so low in status in
people's eyes, even after Islam, nobody's daughter would
ever marry him. You know? Nobody would even
employ him,
like, you know, untouchable.
And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam used
to love him.
And when he was missing in a gathering,
he would say, hey, nah Jullaybib. Where's Jullaybib?
And they would say, why are you remembering
this guy? Nobody cares about this guy. Why
are you remembering him? And the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam would say,
the day he passed away, the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam held him to his chest and
he said,
He's from me, I'm from him.
People may not have respected him. People may
have thought less of him. But it what
was important was what Allah
considered this person.
The criteria changes. The leaderboard changes. The rankings
change when it comes to the sight of
Allah, Al Kareem. He honors only those that
deserve honor. One of the famous statements of
Umar al Khattab
We are people. Allah honored us,
gave us high status
by Islam.
If you try to get high status by
schmoozing with politicians,
by having a nice public profile on some
social media page and racking up some viral
posts,
if you try to get status by doing
viral dramatic videos and interviewing half naked women
on the street, if you try to get
status by any way other than Islam, Allah
is going to humiliate you.
Don't seek status
from anyone
other than Allah.
Because if you are low in status in
the sight of Allah,
that's going to affect you for eternity.
Even if in this world, you are respected.
Remember the prophet today, it's all about followers.
It's all about that's the currency of today.
How many, how popular are you? And the
prophet tells us, look at what Allah says
in the Quran.
There are how many prophets by name in
the Quran?
25. 25. How many prophets did Allah send
on this earth?
Over a 100,000.
How many prophets there are you don't even
know their names?
They were not even raised to the level
where you and me have the privilege of
knowing their names. They are anonymous unknowns.
The prophet tells
us,
Some prophets had no followers. 0.
50 years, a 100, 200 years, according to
Allah, no followers.
So don't be deceived by the number of
followers you have,
and don't be deceived by the currency of
your popularity,
and don't be deceived by your MBA, and
don't be deceived by the tax bracket that
you sit in.
And don't be deceived by your status and
your lineage, and which family and which tribe
you're from. And don't be deceived by any
of the other criteria that human beings attach
to you
because
Allah is the owner of status, and he
is the one who assigns status, not you
and me. And your assignment and my criteria
is going to die.
The owner of honor and state generosity is
going to stay till the day of judgment.
How many unknown people?
How many people who are unknown, anonymous, nobody
even cares about them, nobody looks at them
twice and they are from the closest of
servants of Allah. May Allah make us of
them. This
name of Allah, Dhul Jalalay Ulikram, has a
very special status
when it comes to dua.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says in hadith
in Surah Al Tirmidi,
he says,
Alizhu
biadaljalaliwalikram.
When you ask Allah,
he says constantly ask him with the name,
You Dal Jalaliwal Ikram.
One day the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
hadith of Ma'adim Jabal and Sunat Tirmidi,
the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam passes by
a man
Why?
What was special about the way this man
was asking?
What was special that he already his dua
was accepted before he even started asking? You
know, imagine you come to a restaurant
and you're about to place the order, he
says,
your order has already been completed.
What do you mean? Ask anything you want.
It's coming. Anything you want is gonna come.
What did I do to deserve this?
What did this man do
to deserve a blank check from Allah? Ask
whatever you want. It will be provided.
He asked Allah by his names.
He knows Allah. He knows who he's speaking
to. When he talks to Allah, he's not
talking to some,
cash machine, you know. £10, please. 20, 30,
you know. I want to see my balance.
When he talks to Allah, he's not talking
down to Allah. He's not he's not treating
Allah like Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is a
check out on some e commerce website.
When he talks to Allah, he talks to
him with love, with fear, with respect, with
awe. He's trembling, he's tearing, and he's saying
from the depths of his heart.
This is what Allah wants from you. This
is what will get you acceptance.
This is why when the prophet saw
the way he asked and the way he
said the names of Allah, the prophet, sallallahu
alaihi wasallam, was so affected. He said, just
stop. Just ask whatever you want now.
Allah has accepted it from
you. And this teaches us a very important
lesson.
You know, every day,
you know, every day without fail, I'm asked
this question, whether it's direct messages through emails,
through chats. Tell me a dua for this.
Tell me a dua for better grades. Tell
me a dua for you know, when exam
season comes, tell me dua for better grades.
Summer season comes, everyone's having weddings, getting married,
tell me dua to find my future future
husband and wife. Oh, my. Okay. Tell me
a dua for this. What dua you know,
who told you there is some specific formula?
This is what people want. They call this
an Urdu in, you know, where I'm from
in South India and Pakistan. They call this
Wazifa.
This idea you tell them some sentence
and you say say it 10000 times and
whatever you want is gonna happen. Like it's
some magic spell.
So they go to a corner and
they next day they're gonna find a wife.
This is how Dua
works. And I'll never forget I was in
an airplane,
a particular airline, which I'm not going to
say which one, and this particular airline very
known for
very bad piloting skills. So we're on this
airplane,
and we're going through some heavy turbulence. And
the gentleman next to me raises his hands,
and now I'm waiting to see what is
he going to ask Allah. You know, you're
turbulent. This is when you beg Allah. You
know what he says? Yaseen.
Yaseen.
I said, brother, these are two letters of
the Arabic alphabet.
It's like you're saying a b c,
d e f. This is
what do you want from Allah? Where are
his names? Where are his praise? Where's attributes?
He doesn't know anything.
Uncle, what language you speak? Urdu. Uncle Allah
speak Allah understands Urdu.
Speak to him and just ask him what
you want.
Musa, alayhis salam, made dua to Allah in
Aramaic.
Ibrahim, alayhis salam, in Akkadian.
Muhammad, salaam, in Arabic. You are not limited
by language. You are not limited by a
specific formula. You are not limited by some
specific word you have to say 1,000 times
for something to happen.
Allah says,
just call me.
I will respond. But call from your heart.
Call from the depths of your heart. Call
him with your language. Call him with your
words. Don't wait for someone to tell you
what sentence to say. You know how to
speak to Allah. You know how to speak
English. You know how to speak your language.
Speak to Allah. What is this?
You you know, I know somebody who did
not make dua to Allah for 10 years.
They had cancer. 10 years. They did not
ask Allah why. They didn't know the Arabic
dua to say.
They're waiting for someone to say. Tell them,
say.
They were waiting for 10 years to know
this dua, to speak to Allah.
Don't limit yourself. Yes. This is not to
remove the importance.
That the best person who spoke to Allah
was the prophet, salaam, and if you are
stuck for words, his are the best words.
And if you want to learn from someone,
theirs are the best words, the words of
the prophets in the Quran, the words of
the Muhammad, salaam,
but don't stop.
Don't stop asking Allah because you don't know
the words.
Allah knows. You know, you don't even have
to speak.
He knows
what is hidden in your heart. You don't
have to speak. Just raise your hands and
cry. He knows what you're saying. You don't
have to say, your heart is speaking to
Allah. You don't have to even move your
mouth.
The prophet, he
would just look up at the sky
and Allah
would say,
I can see you looking up at the
sky. I know what you want.
I'll change the qibla for you.
Allah changed the qibla.
The prophet
did not even open his mouth to ask
Allah.
He just looked up at the sky. Allah
changed the qibla for him.
Allah's name, Al Akram.
Allah says in this first five verses, or
that was ever revealed, which
We're gonna have to go to the 20
plus.
Anybody?
Yes. Yes?
Yes?
Masha'Allah. Nobody knows
Allah says in this first revelation
to the prophet
recite, oh Muhammad,
in the name of your master, your nurturer,
the one who looks after you, the one
who created everything.
He created human beings from a clot.
Recite
and your lord is more generous.
In Arabic, this is known as
It's a comparative word. What is comparative means?
Better, stronger,
faster.
This implies
that there's someone slower, someone less better, someone
less generous. Right?
Many scholars say that in this in this
first five verses, there's 2 Iqra.
Right? The first Iqra, recite, oh, Muhammad, in
the name of your Rab.
Right? Your master and nurturer, the one who
looks after you.
And the second one is Iqra,
recite,
and your Lord is most generous.
The one who taught by the pen.
Many scholars,
for example, ibn Ashoor,
for example, Al Alusi,
and others, they say, the first time Allah
tells the prophet to read,
he's telling him to read and recite in
order for him to benefit. The first iqra,
for me to benefit.
The second time Allah tells the prophet to
recite, he salam to recite to other people.
And so the first time Allah tells him,
he emphasizes the word
because is the one who looks after you,
who helps you grow,
who is the one that nurtures you from
nothing until your full potential.
That's the first Iqra, recite so you can
grow, o Muhammad, so you can learn, so
you can develop.
The second Iqra,
Allah says, iqra
recite I e spread the message
and Allah is most generous. Why does Allah
emphasize His generosity in the second iqra?
When He's telling His Prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam
to go and spread the word, why does
he tell him Allah is most generous?
Today we're very tired.
Warm weather,
radiators.
Yes?
Is it because,
when he's going to spread the message,
people might,
put him down?
He was the one who's giving the status,
so don't worry about what who Akbar. This
is not what I thought, but this is
a very valid reflection.
When the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam goes
out to give dawah to Allah, to to
call people to Allah, people will put him
down, and they will lower from his status.
But Allah is saying, when you go ikra,
when you go and recite to other people,
remember, rambukal akram, Allah is the the owner
of status. He will give you the high
status,
not other people. Okay? This is one meaning.
Yes.
Beautiful.
The second Iqla is harder than the first.
Just like the second qum is harder than
the first.
The second revelation after Iqla, the second revelation
Allah reveals,
Oh, Muhammad, salaam, oh, you who is wrapped
up.
Stand up at night to pray. Put pray
the night prayer.
The revelation after that, the next time Jibril
comes to the prophet,
he he reveals to him a new message.
Who can tell me?
Oh, you who is wrapped up.
Stand up and warn others. Go and call.
Spread the message.
The first is the petrol, the fuel for
the second. If you don't stand up at
night, oh, Muhammad, salaam, you cannot go and
call other people to Islam. You're going to
burn out. You need this time with Allah
for you to go call. The first Iqra
is more important than the second. If you
don't recite for your own learning and read
and study and learn from your own learning,
how can you go and read and spread
the message? But the first Iqra, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala emphasizes He is Rad. He's the
one who develops you. The second Iqra Allah
emphasizes he's generous.
Because the second one involves your sacrifice. Look
brothers and sisters,
we live in a non Muslim country.
I'm gonna ask you a hard question. You
have to be honest with me.
How many here has a non Muslim neighbor?
Put your hand up.
How many people here have a non Muslim
neighbor?
Okay.
How many people here
has been kind to their non Muslim neighbor?
I'm not telling you preach. How many people
here have shown some kindness to their non
Muslim neighbor? Put your hand up.
Less than the first. Right?
What are we doing here?
How can you and me justify our existence
in this country?
We have a lot of work to do.
Allah is most generous because we have to
sacrifice and struggle for this.
There's enough damage done to our name on
the news and to Islam on the news.
People, when they look at the news, the
first thing they think about about Muslims, all
of you know. I don't have to tell
you. Who is going to over overturn that
image?
You and me. There's nobody else.
When Allah tells the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
recite to others, spread the message.
Allah is more generous. He's saying, you have
to sweat for this. You have to bleed
for this. You have to tire for this.
You have to have sleepless nights for this,
and I'm going to be the most generous
so I will reward you for it.
How much we strive for that paycheck? How
much we strive for that promotion, for that
piece of status, that Rolex watch, that special
car? And we cannot strive when Allah promises
us His generosity
and the best form of generosity.
Something to think about.
I'm going to end inshaAllah. The last ayah
I want us to discuss and think about.
When Allah calls himself kareem,
we talked about Dhuljalalu alikram, talked about al
akram, now we talk about kareem. Why did
Allah say kareem in the Quran?
Aya number? No.
Suratul Infitar? Yeah. You're in Suratul Infitar. Yes.
We have to stop for one moment with
this aya.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in Suratul Infitar,
Allah says,
He doesn't say all people.
He says, oh, human being. It's like he's
taken you alone to talk to you just
by yourself.
And he asks a question to every human
being who hears this, Muslim, non Muslim.
What deceived you?
Who fooled you about your generous Lord?
Who made you think that Allah was not
generous? Who made you think that Allah was
not merciful?
Who made you think that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala was oppressive?
You know, all the movements we have today
in the world. Yesterday, I was on the
phone with a Muslim woman, a Muslim girl,
you know, who wanted to leave Islam. And
I'm telling you this, I have these phone
calls every week. You don't know these people.
Why does she want to leave Islam?
Somebody told her if she misses one salah,
she is a disbeliever.
And somebody told her that Allah, Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, will not accept her repentance
unless she's sincere. Doesn't know whether she's sincere
or not. She stopped praying salah.
The she missed one salah, and she said,
finish. I'm a disbeliever. I have to say
my shahada again.
This fringe opinion, which was not held by
the vast majority of scholars for Islamic history,
was pushed on her.
She was guilted into feeling she's not a
Muslim anymore because she missed one salah. She
slept through one salah.
She says, now I'm finished. What's the point?
Why would I believe in a Lord who
wants to who creates such a difficult religion
to follow, and then he wants to torture
me for it? This is what she said.
And I just recited this verse for her
and she began to cry.
Allah says, oh human being,
who fooled you, deceived you, lied to you
that Allah was not generous? He is kareem,
the most generous.
He is most giving, most merciful, most forgiving.
You come to him sincerely, he will accept
you. What made you go so far from
Allah
that you thought there was no going back
to him?
That man who killed 99 people, why did
he kill the 100th person? He met such
a scholar who told him, no one's going
to Allah's not going to forgive you. He
went and killed the 100th as well because
why not?
This
khitaab,
this message,
Allah
is harsh. Allah is unforgiving. Allah wants to
oppress. Allah wants to torture. This has no
place in the Quran. There's a balance.
But Allah in this ayah,
he calls out to those people who are
far from him, those people who disbelieved in
him, those people who
struggle to even pray their normal day to
day salawat, those people who have sinned, who
have committed major sins, minor sins, who have
strayed from the path, who are lost.
If somebody is far, somebody is abused, somebody
you know, a parent, if their child had
disobeyed them
so much to the extent they have left
the house, the parent will say, go further.
I don't want to ever see your face
again. But Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, when one
of us is far from Him, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala says,
oh human being.
And then the name of Allah he uses.
What who fooled you? Who lied to you?
Who deceived you about the nature of your
loving, nurturing, caring Master,
Allah?
Al Kareem, the generous.
He emphasizes,
when you are far and you think there's
no going back, he says, I'm generous. I
have plenty of room for you in Jannah.
When you disbelieve,
when you give up, when you fall on
your knees, when you go astray, when you
stop praying, when you start smoking, when you
go back, fall back into your addiction, back
into your bad habits,
Allah says, don't worry.
I'm kareem.
I have space for you. Come back. There's
always room for you in this house. There's
always room for you in my jannah. There's
always room for you in my paradise. Don't
go far. Come back.
Then he reminds you, I created you from
nothing. Right? Did you do anything for me?
Did you do me any favor for me
to create you? I created you for free.
Right? I didn't expect anything back.
I balanced you out. Did I ask for
any price, any payment for that? No. You
are balanced as a human being.
I gave you all of these blessings and
you didn't ask for them. Just ask me,
I will give it to you.
Just ask me for guidance, I will give
it to you.
One of the beautiful duas that one of
my teachers used to say,
Allah Oh Allah, we didn't ask you to
create us.
We didn't ask you to feed
us. We didn't ask you to make us
alive.
But we are asking you for guidance. Please
guide us. You gave us all these things.
We didn't ask you for it. I'm just
asking you to guide us. Show me the
guidance.
Allah is talking to people who reject him
and reject the day of judgment. And he's
saying to them, I am Karim. 1
1st in the first time I talked to
a Christian pastor,
and I was explaining to them who is
God in Islam, they said, in Christianity,
God is love.
In Christianity, God is love.
But in Islam,
very angry God.
I told him,
When Allah is talking to disbelievers
who reject the day of judgment and reject
him, he describes himself as kareem, generous, kind,
loving, honorable.
When we introduce Allah to non Muslims, we
should emphasize these traits of Allah.
Allah is not just fire and brimstone. Allah
is not just might and power. He is
kalam. He's generous. He's merciful. And so I
had to fix this person understanding.
Do you know what will fix people's understanding
of Allah in this society? All the non
Muslims that we live with. How many guess
what percentage of this country is Muslim?
Wild guess. How much percent is Muslim in
this country?
5
5. 5, 6 percent?
Yes.
Yes? Yeah? We are between 3 5%. 95%
of people in this country are not Muslim.
And you know what they think of Allah?
They think that God is terrible. They think
that God is scary. They think that God
is angry. They think that God wants to
punish them, that God hates them. Do you
know who is going to fix their thoughts
about Allah?
You.
Nobody else.
Talk to your neighbor. Talk to your colleague.
Smile at them. Show them kindness. Remind them,
yeah, you are insane or human being. Wherever
you are, whoever you are, where you are,
wherever you are from,
Allah is more generous than you think.
Just one last thing before we conclude.
I will not be here the next 2
weeks. I really apologize for that's out of
my control. After that, we will continue without
interruption. We have 7 sessions left until we
complete the series.