Hisham Jafar Ali – Names Of Allah And His Attributes #26 The Majestic & Most High
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the names of Allah and the use of words like "hams" in Arabic language to describe people who are too high or too proud. They also discuss the importance of understanding Allah's name and showing respect and value for his position. The speakers emphasize the need to humble oneself to the creator and not let anyone try to bring them down, and stress the importance of showing respect and being a great high waover. They also mention the use of words like "has" and "has" in Arabic language to describe actions and intentions.
AI: Summary ©
Today we have 2 beautiful names of Allah.
Allah's two names, the
most high
and the most majestic or the most tremendous.
And these two names have only come as
a pair in the Quran
twice.
One of those one of those occurrences is
very famous and very well known,
Ayatul Kursi.
Who can tell me where does this name
come in Ayatul Kursi?
At the end, the ayah Allahu lahilaha illa
al kurqayyum, which is the greatest verse in
the Quran, it ends with these two names.
And the reason I bring these two names
up now is because we are coming towards
the end of this series.
We only have 3 I think 3 or
maximum 4 lessons left Insha'Allah until we move
to another series don't worry we'll not leave
you
and so as you come to the end
of this series it's important to follow the
order that Allah followed
the 3rd lesson that we covered was Al
Hayul Qayyum
and towards the last of the lessons we
are covering Al Aaliyah Labim because Allah covered
it towards the end of this Ayah it's
important to follow the order
and the in which Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
proceeded.
In the Arabic language literally means to be
in a physically high place.
But it is also used even in the
Quran
not to mean someone in a physically high
place,
but someone who has power, who has control,
who has a lot of say, and who's
also arrogant.
Whatever they choose happens.
Who can tell me in the Quran who
has been described with this with this attribute
of,
human being in the Quran,
that Allah described as they were too high?
Yes.
It made a comeback. Yes.
What does Allah say about?
Became high in the land. What does that
mean? He climbed a tower and sat at
the top of the tower?
That means
he had a high status on this earth
and not just that but what he said
would happen.
He was a commanding force but not just
that he was arrogant he was proud.
There's a negative tone to this word, Allah,
when describing.
He made himself higher, better than others, so
he pulverized them. He squished them under his
feet. That's how he treated them.
At the end of the same Surah, Surat
Al Qasas,
the beginning of the surah,
was he thought himself too high.
What's the last verse in this surah?
Allah says this is the afterlife,
this paradise that we Allah promises us. Who
is it for? Allah says we promise it
to people who don't want to be high
and mighty.
What's the opposite of being high and mighty?
Humble.
Being humble.
Interestingly,
in the end of this Surah, Allah talks
about.
Paradise is for people who don't want to
be high and mighty, proud and arrogant
and,
harsh and difficult towards others.
And they don't want to cause corruption in
the land.
These two descriptions are referring to 2 different
people.
Who is the one who was high and
mighty?
Firaun.
Who is the one who caused corruption
In the same Surah.
His people said to him,
You can go and check the Surah, Insha
Allah.
But what he, Karun, is known for is
what's facade,
corruption, causing corruption,
corrupting people's minds. This is what Karun was
doing.
So Allah says at the end of the
Surah
that
this idea of being high,
being high in status, being powerful, you have
to submit that there is one who is
the highest of them all that is Allah,
not you and me.
Before we delve into this word or these
names of Allah, it came in the Quran
in different forms. Who can tell me?
The name that Allah is the Most High
came in the Quran in different forms.
Yes?
Okay.
But that is not describing Allah.
Well, that is sorry. You're right. That's right.
That's describing Allah. My bad.
As we say, Allah
comes from the same root letters of being
high, being exalted, being above.
What else? How else does it come in
the Quran?
That's what we just recited.
The one who is raised up and who
is exalted. There's another word in the Quran.
2 more.
And where else do we say this word?
In salah. In salah. Al Ala. Where do
we say Al Ala? Yes?
In sujood, we say subhanah.
What does Al Ala mean?
The
no. Not high. The most high. Higher
higher than others.
It's a comparative word.
I'm higher than you. You are lower than
me.
The last one,
the
one who is described as being the highest.
Now
there's something that might come to some people's
minds.
When Allah says He is the highest, He
is the high, He is the exalted,
He is the highest of them all,
how exactly does that work? Where is Allah
physically located?
This is something that might come to one's
mind. And we have to ask the question,
how did the earliest Muslims deal with these
attributes of Allah that might make one wonder,
is Allah
inside his creation? Is Allah
similar to his creation?
And I'm going to report to you and
narrate you the famous story
where a young, you know, where a man
came to Imam Malik, the famous Imam Malik
of Nuhanas, Imam Mudaral Hijra.
He came to Imam Malik
and he asked him
Allah ascended upon his throne
how did he ascend?
So Imam Malik had a stick
and he was holding the stick in his
hands and rubbing it for a while until
he started to sweat
because of the question he started to sweat
and he looked up at this man and
he said
or
the narrations differ. What exactly did he say?
Did he say,
I want to be accurate in when I
when I report
it? In another narration, he said,
he said,
depending on the narration.
And then he kicked him out of the
masjid.
What did he say?
This man comes to Imam Malik and he
says, we know Allah ascended. How did he
ascend? So Imam Malik responds to him.
The word Istiwa in the Arabic language is
a known word we know what it means
but we don't know how how Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala does these things. We do not
know how it applies to Allah.
Well, imanubihi wajib, but to believe that this
is an attribute of Allah is obligatory because
Allah said he described himself with it.
But to ask this question is a bida.
Now it's not bida to ask questions.
But this man who entered the masjid, he
already knew the answer
because that was a raging debate at the
time about the attributes of Allah.
How do they work? What are the mechanisms?
Is it similar to humans or not? This
was a debate at the time, philosophical debate.
And Imam Malik knew the moment this guy
entered the masjid, he knew this guy, he
wants to cause
he wants to cause confusion. He doesn't actually
want the answer. He just wants to cause
confusion.
So when he asked the question, Imam Malik,
this is not an innocent question. This is
the question of somebody who wants to cause
an argument in the masjid, so he kicked
him out.
How did the earliest Muslims deal with these
questions?
They didn't.
Abu Bakr and Umar never asked this question.
Uthman ibn Affair never asked this question because
they accepted Allah's revelation as it came. They
did not delve into the how and the
why and the where.
They focus instead on one thing. What is
that?
When it comes to the descriptions of Allah,
what did the prophet's companions focus on?
Sorry?
That's not that wasn't the focus just that
they that just that he did it. There
was a focus. They had a focus
on when they under were trying to understand
Allah, what was their focus?
Yes? He's the highest. That wasn't their focus?
Were they focusing on debate and argumentation? No.
There was something else they were focusing on.
Yes.
Yes.
Not quite. Close, but not quite. Yes.
You're you're almost saying it.
I think this brother got he's the closest.
Al Amal.
They were focused on action.
What can we do? Now that we know
this about Allah, what do we do?
Our life has to change from these actions.
That's why in these, when we discuss the
names of Allah, many people have reduced
this whole chapter of knowing Allah. They have
reduced to debates
that were raging in the 3rd, 4th, 5th
century.
But in the Quran and the earliest companions
of the prophet, this is not how they
looked at the names of Allah. They looked
at it. They accepted it, and they thought,
what can we do about it?
It changed their life. The names of Allah
changed their life. So it has to change
our life. If we spend 1 hour debating
one attribute of Allah, then we have lost
1 hour wasted.
But if we spent that 1 hour in
tajjud, that was an hour where we gained
closeness to Allah.
To say that Allah is the highest, the
most high.
And then the other
in the Quran, the the other name that's
closely associated with this is Al Adhim.
Al'Adim. Who knows in Arabic what is Avam?
Al'Adim. What does that word mean?
Bone. Bones. So what does bones have to
do with Al'Adim? Comes from the same root
word.
Al Arabim in Arabic language is a word
used for bones literally human like bones
because bones
are the solid thing that everything else is
built on
bones are dense they have density they're heavy
right they're solid they're not easily you can't
easily break them whereas skin flesh softer easy
to tear easy to cut the bone is
the core of it all
then the Arab started using this word
for anything or anybody
who
was dense, who was great, who had weight
behind them, somebody who they would associate
power, status, privilege to. So, for example, in
the hadith of the prophet,
he sends a letter to somebody,
to Heraclius,
who was at the time the king, the
emperor of Rome. Who can tell me how
did he address Heraclius Heraclius
in Arabic?
Mhmm.
He called him,
the of Rome.
What does that mean?
That means this man is the most powerful
human being in the city of Rome, in
the empire in the Roman empire.
So the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, addresses
him, you are Adhim.
That's your title.
You are someone great, somebody solid, somebody who
is,
in power, in control, high in status. You
are Adhim.
And that's why these two names, Al Ali,
Al Adeen, they tend to come together.
But they're 2 different things.
You can have somebody who's high in status,
but he's not powerful.
I'll give you an example. Or you give
me an example. Who is somebody, let's think
of the UK, who has a very high
status, but they have very limited power?
Yes? The king. The king.
So the king of our country has a
very big status. The king. It's a big
word. Right? Can the king create law? Can
he make a new law tomorrow? No. No.
The king has limited powers. Politically, can the
king
make a political decision? There's no more parliament
tomorrow. Can the king say we're going to
war with that country tomorrow? Is that the
decision of the king? No. Who makes that
decision?
In this country? Parliament. Parliament.
Right? So the king is just a formality.
The king is just a symbol.
So he's high in status, but he doesn't
have any power.
Right?
However, then you have people who are powerful,
but they don't have high status. Very good
example of this is, you know, if I
give you a specific example, a man by
the name of Al Capone.
30, 40, 50, 60 years ago in the
United States of America,
the streets of America were run by gangs,
and these gangsters had more power than the
government.
And one of the most powerful was the
Italian mafia in Boston who was led by
this man, Al Capone.
This man was responsible for the deaths of
thousands of people.
Very, very, very powerful,
But he wasn't high in status in society.
People would not come and say, oh, your
highness. No.
He was just dressed like anybody else.
He acted like anybody else,
but he was extremely powerful. So power and
status
are 2 different things,
but they are closely linked.
And the most complete description is someone who
is extremely powerful, but also high in status.
They have the status, and they can also
do whatever they want.
These two names of Allah,
Allah mainly uses it after
reflecting on all the place in the Quran.
Allah used Al Ali, Al Ulu, Al Muta'al,
Al Ala, Al Aweem. When he uses it,
I saw a pattern.
He uses it in one specific area. Well,
I'm going to give you a story for
you to understand.
Today, a new teacher comes into the classroom,
teaching 6, 7, 8 year olds.
So on the 1st day, the teacher wants
to be the best friend of the students.
So the teacher jumps on the table, tells
stories, roars like a lion, laughs and jokes,
hands out chocolates and sweeties,
stars for everybody. Why?
They want to show these students, I want
I'm close to you. I'm your friend. Be
my friend.
Then there's one naughty boy in the back
of the class.
The teacher's laughing, joking, giving sweets.
Suddenly,
something comes and whacks him in the face.
What's this?
A student at the back threw a pen
at the teacher. Boom.
What happens to the teacher now?
The smiley guy goes away.
He stops smiling.
He toughens up.
He looks that kid in the back square
in the eye.
You outside now.
Takes him outside the class. He says, do
you know who I am?
I'm your teacher. You're my student.
You listen to me.
You obey me. You don't go out of
line.
Do you know what the consequences are if
you go out of line? Detention,
expulsion,
suspension.
I'll keep this between us,
but from now on you respect me. Do
you understand?
What does the student have to say?
I understand.
Then they go back in the room.
Suddenly the student is quiet,
respectful.
The pen is nowhere in sight.
Student's sitting like this on the table,
trembling and shaking.
What did the teacher do to the student?
What did he show the student? He put
him in his place. He put him in
his place.
He showed him his authority,
and he made him prove
that he has to obey.
This is the exact way in which Allah
uses his name,
to inspire obedience,
to show you your place.
Let me take you a first example.
Ends with.
What's the next ayah?
There's no force and compulsion in religion,
but there is obedience.
That's between the lines.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is not going to
force you to worship Him, but He does
have authority.
Authority doesn't mean he can compel you. He
cannot force you, but he is the authority.
Let me take you to another example in
Surah Tur Rad.
Who knows what Rad means in Arabic? One
second.
Thunder. This is the surah
of thunder. It's named after thunder. You get
the picture, you get the theme, you get
the tone. When I say the surah is
about thunder, you're not going to see someone
singing nice nasheeds and happiness and you know?
It's gonna be a different kind of surah.
Let's come to your point. You're gonna say
something?
This is a story, a true story about,
boxing.
Yeah. He used to call himself the greatest.
So Allah wanted to teach him a lesson.
So he got
It's
a beautiful story.
In in Suratul Rad,
the whole theme of Suratul Rad
is that there are some disbelievers who say
Allah cannot bring us back to life after
we die. That's not gonna happen.
Allah resurrect us after we die.
When my milk expires, I cannot make it
back to normal milk. How is how are
we gonna be how are we gonna be
created all over again?
So in Surat Rad, Allah begins the Surah
by talking about His ability to create.
He
talks about the mountains and the lakes and
the skies and everything that He's made.
Then Allah says,
if you're going to be amazed you know
what you need to be amazed by? What
these people are saying.
If we become sand or Mohammed, is Allah
gonna create us again from dust? Are you
serious?
Now the tone of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
changes.
Allah describing the mountains and the seas and
the skies to show He's the powerful.
Then some guy comes and he says, well,
you know, you can't really do anything.
You can't bring us back from sand.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then says,
He knows the seen and the unseen.
Al Kabir,
the greatest.
Al Muta'al,
the highest.
He is powerful, and he has the highest
status. Don't mess with him. Don't think he
can't do something.
Now he's gonna emphasize his
power, his authority. Who do you think you
are? You think I can't make the sun
come back to life?
No.
Then Allah starts to talk about the thunder
and the lightning
showing
you can look at Allah's creation, you see
the sky, the sun,
you see beauty, you see order, you see
strength, you see power, you see might. Great.
There are some parts of Allah's creation that
show you His authority,
that show you need to be scared.
His power is not just in seeing a
nice plant bloom into a rose. No. His
power can also destroy a full town with
one blast.
So he'd remind you about that creation of
his as well. Don't forget.
He shows you thunder. Why? To make you
scared.
To strike fear into your heart.
And he shows you the heavy clouds.
And the thunder glorifies Allah with his praise.
And the angels praise Allah in fear.
What's he saying?
You better be scared.
If you're going to say that I can't
bring you back to life, you better be
scared because what's coming to you is not
going to be pleasant.
And as he asserts his authority
and his dominance
and his severity
that he is the king, that he is
the powerful, that he is the highest, then
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala culminates all of this.
Remember when the teacher is telling the student,
listen, I'm the teacher, you're the student. What's
the final thing the teacher says?
Do you understand me? And what does the
student have to say?
Yes, teacher.
The student has to submit to the teacher
in the end.
So the teacher knows they know their place,
then we can go back inside.
If the student is still messing about, he's
gonna stay outside until he submits.
Tell me, what is the ultimate action to
show submission to Allah?
Sujood. As sujood.
After Allah asserts his dominance.
Al Kabir al Mutaal, the great and the
high. And he shows his power and the
thunder and the lightning and the authority.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
To Allah
does sujood, prostrates
everybody
in the heavens and the earth.
Whether they like it or whether they don't.
And their shadows.
Look how the shadow starts,
and look how it wanes. Even the shadow
is doing sujood to Allah.
Now tell me something. Are there people in
this world who don't do sujood to Allah,
they don't prostrate to Allah? Yes. So how
can you say everybody is prostrating to Allah?
Go on. You are the scholars now. You
tell me.
The shadow. Not quite.
Yes.
Beautiful yes this is it
every human being
whether they choose to or not they are
submitting to Allah
tell me who's making their heart beat
Who's making giving them gravity to stay on
the ground?
Allah. Allah. Who's letting them move?
Allah. Are they not submitting to him?
The difference is choice.
Some people submit to Allah by choice, Some
people submit to Allah
by force. They have no choice.
And so this is it.
These two names,
Allah in the Quran always associates them with
what?
Submission to him.
He uses them against those who think they're
too big for Allah,
too cool for school,
too mighty and powerful.
They think Allah cannot resurrect us. Allah is
not doesn't have that much power, so Allah
shows them I am the highest. I am
the powerful, submit to me, prostrate to me,
bow down to me. And this is why,
when Allah revealed in the Quran,
Musaddi wa Muhammed
narrates on the authority of Waqb ibn Uammar
al Juhani
that when Allah
revealed in Surat al Waqya,
glorify Allah, the tremendous
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, from today,
when you bow down in front of Allah,
that's what you're going to say.
And from today, when you go into sujood
and you put your head on the ground,
what are you going to say?
Because these are the two names that show
submission to Allah.
You are not the authority.
Don't try to don't try to throw a
pen at the teacher. You are miskeen.
You are nobody.
Put your head on the floor. You put
your head on the floor, go back in
the classroom now. Now you learn your lesson.
This is why we have to put our
head on the floor. How many times a
day? 5.
More than 5 times a day. If you
put your head only 5 times a day,
I'm worried about you.
30. Uh-huh. 34. 34. Yes, my friend.
Mathematics.
Very good. Yeah. 34 times a day. See,
guys, it's not fair. At least in maths,
you should be better than Ammar.
Okay. In Quran, fine.
In fine. But in maths,
We have some PhDs in maths and physics
sitting here, and he he got it right.
34 times a day,
Allah obligates
us. We have no choice to put our
head on the ground. You know why? To
prevent this sense of arrogance.
To prevent this sense that, yeah, I don't
care.
I know better than Allah. You had your
hand up a while ago. Is it gone,
or is it still with you? It's still.
Still with you, Bismillah. Tell us.
Beautifully said when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created
everybody, all the souls, he informed them that
he is so they know deep down that
he's a creator. So this is a very
important point. In today's world,
at least in Europe, where we are from
in Europe,
the vast majority of people, they don't believe
in Allah.
And why don't they believe in Allah.
There is a sense,
there is a feeling,
there is an idea
of what we call in Arabic.
I gave him a very easy task. I
just asked him to get me somewhat. I
leave him. Let him let him go inshallah.
You see, in this gathering
in this gathering, uncle is the authority.
Yes. Uncle gives the orders and we follow.
Sorry. Come sit.
Yes.
See the one who's sitting on the chair
is the is the one in command.
Everybody knows their place. This is very important,
very natural thing, is to know who's the
authority in the room.
So
coming back to our point, we talked about
Suratul Rad. We talked about sujood and ruku.
We talked about Allah uses these names to
inspire in us submission.
People today, they deny the existence of Allah.
Why do they deny the existence of Allah?
Many of them, many of them deny the
existence of Allah from a place of arrogance
and pride.
They think we don't need a creator anymore.
They say that God is a fairy tale.
God was from the human imagination. We created
it from our minds. Now we don't need
God anymore.
And
we don't need Allah anymore. We are the
gods. We are the gods now.
And so it's such people who deny the
day of judgement and deny the existence of
Allah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala emphasizes to them,
he is hari and adim. He is the
authority.
And you are trying to throw a pen
now in the classroom. You are nobody.
That's when he sends the sandstorm
and the typhoon and the tsunami and the
thunder to remind us he is the powerful
and he is the authority. And there is
an element of fear that we should have
and respect and reverence in front of Allah.
There's another surah in the Quran, turning the
page,
where Allah
twice mentions.
Who can tell me which Surah is that?
We
missed you, you know.
We need you here.
Who can tell you what's
about?
The day of judgment.
What was Surah Al Waqah about?
Also the day of judgment.
People who deny and reject the day of
judgment.
Because their problem is not with the day
of judgment. They have a problem with Allah.
They don't think Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has
the power to make it happen.
Surah Al Waqa is about the same thing.
Allah starts a Surah, either when
when the reality strikes.
What's the reality?
Yeah. The day of judgment.
It's not a lie. It's going to happen.
It's going to lower some people and raise
some people. Now again,
the people who out of arrogance,
they cannot accept a higher power. This is
a lot of people, most people today who
deny Allah,
they put forward so many reasons, so much
logic, philosophies, ultimately you know what it is,
They cannot accept a higher power, someone higher
than
them. Who was like this in the Quran?
Shaitan. Shaitan. Who else was in the Quran?
Firaoun. Firaoun
could not accept there was someone higher than
him.
When Musa, alayhis salam, tells Firaoun there is
someone higher than you, what does he ask
his architect to do?
You'll hear this
My architect, Haman, build me a ladder so
I can go and check out upstairs.
I wanna go see who this God of
Musa is. Where is he sitting?
He was mocking him.
He was
spitting
at
him
and so this is it people who cannot
accept a higher power they cannot submit
they will always have a problem with Allah
with the day of judgment they will always
reject
Allah mentions his name, Al Adhim, the great,
the tremendous,
the one who cannot be rejected and cannot
be returned twice in the Surah.
The first time he mentions it is after
he mentions 3 groups of people. Who can
tell me the 3 groups of people in
Surat Al Aqyah?
The people of the right,
the people of the left, and then
those who are the closest to Allah, 3
groups.
After describing the 3 groups,
then Allah describes paradise and hellfire.
Then Allah describes people who reject him
and then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala proves,
look at the fire, look at the rain,
look at the sky, look at the sperm,
look at the *.
Do you think that I can't do this
again?
When Allah describes all of the amazing creations
He has made, He then says
Then
after this was a long section of the
surah.
Then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala summarizes the same
thing again at the end of Surat Al
Waqqah.
He does it the long way, 3 groups,
paradise, hellfire,
I am the greatest.
Then he does it in a short way,
3 groups, paradise, hellfire, I am the greatest.
He says it in an elaborate way, and
then he summarizes it. And then he ends
the Surah with the same words.
There's something beautiful that I noticed when I
was studying this Surah, and I was comparing
it,
with the other Surah Surah Turad.
Or rather, when I look at the other
place, it was mentioned, Surah Al Hakka.
In Surah Al Hakka, the last two verses,
Allah says,
the day of judgment is the certain truth.
So glorify the name of Allah, the great,
the tremendous.
In Surat Al Waqah, Allah ends
by saying,
Again,
this is the certain truth.
So submit to your Lord, who is the
greatest, who is the most powerful, who is
the majestic.
He is the he is his highness. He
is he is the majestic one. He is
the majesty, and you are nothing.
In these last two verses that Allah repeats
the same last two verses in Al Hakka
Al Wakka,
he's talking to those people who deny Allah,
reject him, who are atheists, who say there's
no deal of judgment, and they use all
their philosophical mumbo jumbo, and he says,
you know what
it's the truth
and it's coming and nothing you say can
change it but you know what your problem
is you need to do
you need to humble yourself
then you will accept this reality
and that's why why is it the case
that many people they only turn to Allah
when a really bad thing happens in their
life. 1 of my teachers, Sheikh Abdul Rahim
McCarthy, he was my high school teacher when
I was a teenager.
Mashallah, he's a famous dairya.
And he used to be a gangster in
the USA,
non Muslim. And what made him turn towards
Allah
was that he had a car accident.
And he said a truck, a lorry drove
into the front of his car
and he said his words I was staring
death in the face.
That's when I realized I'm not the gangster.
I'm skin.
I can't do anything and I have to
submit myself to the creator.
I have to humble myself to the Creator.
And so this is where Allah, Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, shows us.
We have to do
What is
In the Arabic language, who can tell me
what
means?
What is in Arabic?
Swimming. What does swimming have to do with?
Repeat the question.
Repeating
your swimming. Okay. Swimming involves repetition?
Not quite. That's not what the scholars mentioned.
Yes.
When you are swimming
let's say I'm out swimming in a swimming
pool
and I try to pull him down
when I let go what's going to happen
to him
Yeah? He's going to He's going to He's
going to come back to the top.
Tasbih
in the Arabic language is called is which
is to make Allah to declare that Allah
is free from any imperfections.
You know when people insult and abuse Allah
Allah God can't do this there's no God
God is this God is that what are
they trying to do?
They're trying to bring him down
but can they bring him down
he goes right back up
This is the analogy between.
What does it have to do with swimming?
Is that Allah
is the highest.
He is Al Ali, Al Mutal, Al Ali,
Al Kabir. And no matter who tries to
bring him down, he remains where he is,
and it is they who have brought themselves
down in the process.
Has to declare
that whoever says Allah can't do this or
can't do that is incapable of this or
that. No. Allah is able to do that
and more. This is the idea of tasbir,
to declare
the greatness of Allah.
That is why, when
he writes his book, Sahih al Bukhari,
when he writes his great book, the greatest
book of hadith in the history of humankind,
the most authentic hadith that were ever collected
from the prophet
who can tell me what's the very last
hadith the very last hadith that he writes
and he collects?
Anybody
know? Because he orders his book in a
very specific way to leave an effect on
your mind
The first who can tell me the first
hadith in Sahih Bukhari?
The hadith of intention. Actions are by the
intentions. Because when you start something, you have
to have the right intention. But you know
what the end of the book is?
The last hadith he leaves you with
as you close the book, he says there
are 2 sentences
that are light on the tongue but heavy
on the scale of deeds and most beloved
to Allah. What are those 2 sentences?
It is as though he's saying to you,
oh, reader of this hadith book that spanned
many volumes and was written over 16 years,
as you leave this book,
don't think that all you take from this
book is reading many words.
When you walk away from this book, you
should be somebody who remembers Allah and who
glorifies Allah and who knows your place in
this world. That's the meaning of tasbih, know
your place.
It is as though you are saying I
am the lowest of the low, oh Allah.
And so many of those there are so
many people around us who claim you are
this or that. You're incapable. You are not
powerful. You are nobody.
But, O Allah, you are above all of
that. No. You are the greatest of them
all.
You are the greatest majesty.
You are the greatest highness.
Nobody is above you, nobody is
beyond you, and nobody can stop you. This
is what you are saying when you say
That's why when you go into the bowing
position, what do you say?
Do you know the history of bowing? Who
can tell me in what cultures do people
bow
to greet somebody or to show something to
somebody?
Yes?
Okay you take off your hat in some
cultures to show respect but bowing to
bow in Japan
in specifically what very popular
in martial arts
who bows in front of whom
the student bows in front of the teacher
I'm not saying this is permissible impermissible we're
not discussing the ruling we are talking about
this is something in some cultures
the ruling. We are talking about this is
something in some cultures.
But this is not just something in Japanese
culture.
This is in so many different cultures,
this idea of bowing in front of somebody
else.
Today if you go to meet the King
in Buckingham Palace how are you supposed to
greet the King?
Anybody knows?
Yeah it's called the neck bow for a
man you have to neck you have to
bow your neck and for a woman they
have to curtsy
why are these rituals in place what's the
purpose of these rituals why can't you just
come and say
hi how's it going
why do you have to bow
similarly
in
in Japan
in Vietnam in China there was a there's
something called the kowtow, which is basically sujud.
When somebody would enter the the palace of
the emperor, they have to do the kowtow.
They have to do sujud to the emperor.
In the 5th century BC, 500 years before
Isa Alaihi Salam passes away,
a Greek historian called Herodotus says,
in the Persian empire when two people meet
each other,
if one of them is lower in status
or class than the other one, he has
to bow.
So what is the purpose of bowing in
all human cultures wherever it has happened?
It is to show what?
Respect.
And to show I am low class and
you are higher class than me.
The younger bows in front of the old,
the student to the sensei,
the lower class to the higher class, the
civilian to the emperor, to show what?
I know my place,
and I know your place.
This is summarized in the word
Subhanak.
I know my place. I know your place.
And the beauty in sujood,
the low the highest point of your body
is touching the lowest point,
the sand.
And when you are touching the lowest point,
you say
Allah is the most high. It is as
though you are saying, oh, Allah, I know
that I am low, I am small. Look
at my head on the ground, but I
know you are the highest of the high,
and there's nobody higher than you.
What a beautiful way to glorify our creator.
What a beautiful way to remember Him, to
say, tasbih. Oh, Allah, I know my place,
and I know that your place is far
beyond what I can imagine and what other
people imagine. So Allah mentioned in the Quran,
Allah is far above the things they say
and claim about him. They claim Allah is
a son, Allah is a daughter, Allah is
this, Allah Allah says I'm above all of
these things. I am beyond all of these
things.
I this is my place, Subhanak.
And how low are those people who speak
and who abuse and stand in front of
me?
Something beautiful about this this way to remember
Allah
Allah
mentions in the Quran about the prophet Yunus
alaihi sallam.
Allah says
When Yunus alaihi salam goes into the belly
of the whale,
what's the first thing what's the famous statement
that he makes?
Tell me, why did Allah put Yunus alaihi
salam in the belly of the whale? What
was he doing?
He left all his permission.
Mhmm. Yunus, alayhi salam, leaves his people without
permission.
So what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala do?
He shows them his?
He shows them his place.
When he reaches the inside of the whale's
stomach, he realizes,
this is my place,
and he says the famous statement.
Oh, Allah. There's none worthy of worship, but
you you are the authority.
That is your
place.
I was someone who wronged themselves. That is
my place.
The prophet
says about this dua,
The dua of my brother, Dun Noon, when
he was in the belly of the whale.
If anybody seeks Allah with this dua, they
will be responded to. This is one of
the greatest things we can say to Allah.
Allah says about
if he didn't make this,
if he didn't realize his place, and he
didn't accept,
and he didn't acknowledge the place of Allah,
what would have happened to him?
He would have stayed in the stomach until
the day of judgement.
Do you know what that means?
If you are in some difficulty,
you are in the dark belly of some
whale,
some financial darkness,
some marriage problem,
some difficulty in your life, you are in
a dark place and you see no way
out of this cave,
what is your way out?
Remember your place. Acknowledge your place. Acknowledge His
place, and Allah
will take you out of the whale. But
if you sit there thinking, why did He
do this to me? Come on, man. What's
going on? Why is this happening to me?
I'm the OG. I pray
I do all this cool stuff. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, you should be giving me jannah.
What is this what is this financial problem?
Come on. If you speak to Allah like
that, you're gonna find you will be deeper
and deeper into the into the belly of
the whale.
Tasbih
is the way out of darkness. Tasbih is
the way out of the belly. Tasbih is
the way out of difficulty.
And when the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam used
to see
something,
somebody insulting Allah, an idol being worshiped. And
when you pass by a church, when you
pass by people worship other than Allah,
remember this, to say
Remember to declare
the greatness of Allah, the highness of Allah.
He's far removed from what they are doing.
He is nowhere compared to what they associate
with him. He is Al Ali yul Aalal
Mutahaal,
the highest of the all highnesses on this
earth. He is Al-'Arim,
the greatest, the one with the most power,
who nobody can stand in front of, who
nobody can debate, who nobody can differ or
deter or turn away from. He is Al
Ali Al Adhim. And this is what you
should remember when you're in salah.
The most the pinnacle of salah is sujood.
But I'm going to end with 1 fa'idah,
one point of benefit.
When a king or an emperor makes you
bow in front of him, what's he trying
to show you?
Close. He's trying to show you you are
distant from me. You are far from me.
Don't come close to me, Habibi.
That's your place. This is my place.
But when you do sujood in front of
Allah,
is Allah trying to show you how far
you are from him?
The opposite. The prophet
said,
when you submit to Allah you're
not going far from Allah
that is the closest you will ever get
to him
if you are humble
and you are fearful of him and you
submit and you put this head on the
ground and you say, oh, Allah, this is
my place
and I know your place. You have achieved
the closeness to Allah.
He's not trying to push you away. He's
trying to bring you close. That is the
difference between Allah and the king, between Allah
and the emperor, between Allah and the sensei.
The sensei wants to show you we have
a professional relationship, you're my student, bow, now
go away.
Don't come and put your arm around my
shoulder, we don't know each other like that.
Allah is trying to show you. You've bowed.
You've prostrated in front of me. Now ask
me whatever you want. You are my beloved.
I love you now because you have humbled
yourself in front of me.
The way to attain the love of Allah
is through submission and humility and sujood in
front of him.
One day, the prophet, sasam, his companion asks
him,
can I ask you a favor?
The prophet says, what's the favor that you
want?
He says,
I want to be your companion in Jannah.
That's the easy favor to ask for? It's
a big favor.
What did the prophet
asked from him?
If you wanna be my best pal in
Jannah, what do you need to do?
Sujud. You wanna be my pal in paradise?
Do lots of sujud,
put your head on the floor,
Then you then you will be you will
be with me in paradise. Who wants to
be the companion of the prophet in Jannah?
You all want to be?
Then the question is how much sujood are
we going to do to get there?