Hisham Jafar Ali – Names Of Allah And His Attributes #9 The Protective Guardian
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Alhamdulillah. We continue this series after
a break of about, 6 weeks,
due to illness and travel. Alhamdulillah. But we
are back today. And today we are with
2 names of Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
The two names of Allah that I completed
this ayah with. So who was listening to
what I just recited?
It's a question.
Two names of Allah that were there in
the ending of this ayah.
Okay. Close. Al Moola, he said Al Moola
and Al Nasr.
Al Mawla is correct,
also known as Al Wali.
The second one
in the Quran, it doesn't come as Al
Nasir. It comes as
Al Nasir. It comes as Al Nasir.
Because nasir entails
a level of
exaggeration.
We'll come to that in a second. We'll
come to what they mean in a second.
We have these two names of Allah in
front of us. Allah's name al Wali, and
Allah's name al nasir.
And these are two names which frequently come
in the Quran in pairs. We said before,
there's a reason when Allah pairs a name
with another, and Ghafoor and Rahim, and Aziz
and Hakim, and Sami and Alim. And when
we try and explain the names of Allah
and explore them, we don't just understand these
names individually, we understand why are they paired
together.
You know, if you go to a if
you go to a fashion specialist,
the fashion specialist will tell you
that brown and blue go together,
but don't wear brown and yellow
because
different colors
contrast. They don't match, and some colors match.
Similarly, names and words and meanings, some match
and some don't match. So why did Allah
select these two names to be as a
pair, Al Wali and Al Nasir? And it
comes in the Quran, these two words approximately
50 times.
Let me take you first to the Allah's
name, Al Wali. So who can tell me
what do they think? What do you think
is the meaning of the name Al Wali?
The helper. The helper.
Yes. What do you think?
You were just scratching your neck. Sheikh, you
can't scratch your neck.
Anybody else? What is alwali? What does awali
mean? Guardian.
Guardian? You're thinking of guardian because of the
way it's used in marriage.
For example, right? A woman needs
a
woman needs a a
guardian
in order to authorize the marriage.
Okay? What else?
Close friend. Close friend.
Where how did you come to that meaning?
Where have you heard that?
People try to translate when you say
they say the close friends of Allah.
It's not really you can't translate it, but
we'll we'll explore that in a second. Okay.
This is Wali,
guardian, close friend,
protective friend, different ways you can try and
translate it.
What about the second name of Allah,
An Nasir?
How would you translate this word? Anybody have
a familiar is familiar with this word?
Yeah.
The helper. Okay. This is how it's usually
translated, the helper.
He's on your side against whoever is against
you. He's going to be on your side
against whoever is standing against you. Okay. Good.
Let's start with Allah's name, Alwali. This
word
is not a Urdu word. It's not a
Tamil word. It's not a Mandarin Chinese word.
It's Arabic word. So we have to go
and see what does this word mean in
Arabic.
Alwaliya
in Arabic. This is the first usage of
this word.
Is the saddle on the horse's back.
They would call this.
Why?
Because it is so close to
the skin
of the animal.
And so
you see this imagery. Just imagine this image
of the saddle or the seat
touching the skin of the back of the
animal, the camel, the horse, the whatever it
is.
This word then began to be used in
anything which is close together.
You know? So, for example,
if you said
this page and then the page,
you'd that means this page and then the
next page.
So it started to get used in Arabic
for 2 things that are very close together.
If you just imagine that imagery,
that is the reason why this word began
to be used for human relationships
that are close together. For example,
a person, a child, and their parent. The
parent is known as a, a guardian of
this child.
Right? For example,
a king or a president or prime minister
or governor of a country is known as.
Right? Because if you imagine the country's affairs,
they are very closely attached to the country's
affairs.
But it also began to take the meaning
of
when you look after something.
Right? When you look after something, something's in
your responsibility.
You are the wali of this thing.
You are for example, the king is the
wali. He's the governor of the nation.
The father or the brother or the male
relative is the guardian. So now there's not
just a meaning of closeness, there's a meaning
of responsibility,
guardianship. I have to look after this thing.
This is how the meaning of al Wali.
What does it mean when we say Allah
is al Wali, the ultimate
protective and close guardian. That's the only way
I can translate it.
And then you have the second name, al
Nasir.
Nasara yansuru is to help, to support, to
assist someone.
If brother Mohammed here, if somebody in the
masjid decides to tackle him to the ground,
right, and if somebody from the back comes
and jumps forward to defend him, we say
he was a naseer.
He came to support him. He came to
aid him. He came to help him. That's
what naseer is.
What do these two words
have to do with one another?
What's the link between these two names of
Allah? Why do they always compare together?
Allah
in the Quran who can give me an
example where he mentions these two names together?
That Allah is an amazing,
protective guardian,
close protective guardian, and he's also an amazing
helper and support.
What else?
You are our protective, close guardian, so help
us.
What else? What other ways has it come
in the Quran?
Good.
Whoever turns against Allah, they will never find
a close protective guardian nor will they find
a helper.
You'll find these these two names close together
very often.
The only way I can explain to you
the relationship between these two words is to
give you an analogy.
One day, you decide to go swimming
in a swimming pool.
Of course, the weather has to be good,
so let's imagine that we have the sun
comes out in this country, Insha'Allah, one one
of these days.
So you decide to go swimming. And let's
say you go to swimming with your children.
Yeah?
So you go in the swimming pool,
and any swimming pool generally
should have a lifeguard. Right?
What's the role of the lifeguard?
Sorry?
Save anyone from drowning.
Yeah? What what what were you going to
say?
This lifeguard
not just saves anyone from drowning, they're responsible
for the swimming pool and the health and
safety policies and all the procedures. And the
children should not be in the adults' lane,
and the adults should not be in the
children's lane. And, you know, they're not just
looking at drowning, but a lot of other
things. They are responsible for the entire swimming
pool. This is a lifeguard.
So now
imagine you're swimming with your children, and you
leave one of your children in the fast
lane. You know, you want them to one
day become an Olympic swimmer, khalas. Go in
the 50 meter fast lane. You swim by
yourself. You go to the deep end.
And lifeguard decides to have a cup of
tea, you know, to go for a break.
So the lifeguard disappears.
And suddenly, your child starts screaming and choking
in the deep end.
Now you realize
that as a adult at the age of
45,
you should have taken your swimming lessons more
seriously as a child. And you realize you
can't get go to the deep end in
time.
Somebody standing on the edge of the pool,
another adult fully clothed,
they jump into the pool,
and they grab your child, and they pull
them out,
gasping for breath.
This person is called
a
Yeah. Nasir.
It wasn't their job to help you. That's
not their job. They're just someone standing on
the sides.
But when they saw someone in danger, they
jumped to help and support and aid and
assist. So they are an. They're helping, they're
supporting, even though that's not their job.
And who's the or the swimming pool? The
lifeguard. The lifeguard.
Right? The lifeguard is responsible. It's his job
to look after the swimming pool. He is
the guardian of the swimming pool. He is
a protector of the people in the swimming
pool. It's his job.
But if the guardian disappears, then who do
you look for?
Any helper.
Right? Anybody can anybody help me?
SOS.
Right?
Imagine you're on the motorway. Let's say you're
on the M6. On one unfortunate night, you're
driving towards, let's say, Stoke on Trent. You're
on one of the motorways,
and
you're you suddenly hear one of your tires
puncture.
You think, oh, no. What do I do
now?
The first thing you should do usually is
you call
some assistant services.
They are responsible if you're insured correctly, they're
responsible to come take you to safety.
What if they don't pick up the phone?
What if there's no signal? What if there's
no SOS call? Then what do you rely
on?
Nasir.
How do you find a Nasir on the
motorway?
Anybody?
You start
as the car zoom past, you're there waving
and waving. This happened to me once.
This happened to me once. I stopped someone
I was driving on the motorway, and there
was a man on the side screaming and
just waving. So I stopped my car, and
he said to me, no, can you help
me change my tire? I said, unfortunately, I'm
not very good at this.
If I change your tire, maybe both your
tires will get punctured. Let's let's call for
some services.
So a Nasir is like a last resort,
last worst case scenario.
And the is a person whose job it
is to help you, to guard you, to
protect you.
That's why whenever it's mentioned, comes first and
comes second.
You don't call the straightaway.
You don't call for a helper straightaway.
It's only in the absence of the Wali,
in the absence of the guardian, the protector,
the person in charge, that you then ask,
can anybody help me? And that's when somebody
comes and helps. That's a Nasir.
So
Allah
is both al Wali
and al Nasir.
But who is Allah protecting, and who is
he guarding, and who is he close to?
We said,
gives you the imagery of something touching something
else so closely attached to it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran.
Allah is the wali, the close
protective guardian of the believers.
He takes them out of darknesses into light.
And disbelievers,
who are their protective guardians?
False gods
who have no power.
These false gods take them from light into
darkness.
That is the example, the imagery Allah gives.
Just imagine
that suddenly in this room there's a blackout.
The room we lose electricity in this room
completely.
And all of us, let's say, we all
have Nokia phones, and just one of us
has a smartphone with a flash.
Yeah?
This one person with a flash on their
phone can help us get out of here,
find the door, find the staircase, and get
out of here safe and sound.
In the darknesses,
one light is enough to show us the
way.
That is the role of Allah
as al Wali,
is that when he sees those who are
believers, those who choose to believe in him,
those who choose to be certain in him,
those who make the right choices, he helps
them. He shows them the light
even when they are surrounded by darknesses,
when they are drowning in disbelief, when they
are drowning in sins, when they are drowning
in an environment,
this suffocating, they can't escape, Allah shows them
the light how to escape. It's like some
you know, when somebody is in a swimming
pool or in a sea or in a
beach, and they're struggling to survive, what does
a lifeguard throw them?
Who knows?
Life saver. Yeah. There's the round orange thing,
the lifesaver, whatever it is. He gives you,
throws you a lifeline.
Suddenly you feel safe.
In this same passage where Allah says that
he is the waleed, the close protective friend
of those who believe,
just a few verses before,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala uses the same example.
He says,
whoever holds on to Allah,
He has held on to something that is
so firm it's never going to separate. It's
never going to break. It's never going to
disintegrate.
Just like the lifeguard throws you a lifeline
when you're struggling to survive, Allah
when you're drowning, He is the one who
throws you that lifeline. He is the one
who shows you the light. He is the
one who takes you out of your sins,
who brings you to the masjid. He is
the one who brought you here. If not
for Allah
his guidance, his guardianship over you, his support,
his help,
His love for you, you would not be
here. You'd be somewhere else drowning in the
darkness of sin, but it is Allah the
Wali who brought you here.
When we understand the name of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, Al Wali, we have to understand
first that we, as human beings,
we tend to take
auliya.
We tend to assume things are protecting us
and they're our guardians. We tend to rely
on them.
For example, who can give me some examples?
Of people, of things that we rely on,
we think this is gonna protect me.
Police man. Sorry? Police. Police man.
Yeah. We rely on the police force. We
think if anything goes wrong, it's okay. The
police force is going to come. What else?
Emergency
services. The emergency services, which I'm right now
struggling a little bit. Medicines.
Yes.
And we begin to rely on the medicine
itself,
on the safety service itself,
on the ambulances themselves.
And all of these things are what?
They are just means. They are tools of
Allah to help us.
But we start to over rely on the
tools.
We start to become obsessed with the tool,
and we start to forget that behind the
tool, there is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And
if he wishes, he can remove all the
tools. And if he wishes,
all the tools can be here, and we're
not able to do anything.
It's like imagine you buy a cupboard. You
go to a furniture shop. You buy a
cupboard. Let's say you go to one of
those furniture shops where you have to assemble
it yourself at home,
and it comes with all the wood and
all the screws and the nice instruction manual.
And you have everything in front of you,
but you realize you don't have a screwdriver.
You can't build the cupboard.
Never over rely on the tools. The tools
can go missing. You might have the wrong
tool,
but always rely on the one that made
the tools.
Because when you don't have the screwdriver, you're
going to call the hardware shop. Do you
have another screwdriver? Do you have another tool?
So when Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, says,
to Allah belongs the soldiers of the heavens
and the earth.
Just imagine this,
that every ambulance service, every police force,
every ant, every spider is a soldier of
Allah.
When he wants, he dispatches them to your
service. And when he wants, he can withdraw
them. They're all his troops. They're all his
minions. They're all his army, and he's the
one in charge. Not you, not me, not
the thing itself.
One of the beautiful ways
one of the beautiful reflections of the prophets
when it comes to understanding what does it
mean for Allah to be alwali
is the statement of Yusuf, alayhis salam, at
the very end of his life.
Now I want you to first understand something.
When I say
the lifeguard is like a wally over the
swimming pool,
you wouldn't expect that if you're struggling,
you're struggling to breathe, that the lifeguard would
just watch you for a little while and
let you struggle for a little while.
You would expect the lifeguard would immediately immediately
try to save you.
But a swimming instructor
would let you struggle.
Because only when you struggle, that's how you
learn to swim.
This is how I learned to swim. One
day my father just threw me in the
deep end. I became an expert swimmer.
But a swimming instructor is not just thinking
I need to save you. An instructor is
thinking how can I develop this person?
What is the name of Allah
that is associated with your development and you
becoming better and you learning and you growing?
Not nasir. Arrab. Arrab
is the one that nurtures, the one that
helps you develop. So Allah, he's not just
a wali, not just a protective guardian, not
just concerned about your well-being and your safety.
He also wants you to develop.
So sometimes he will let you in the
deep end struggle
because that's how you will learn to swim.
Yusuf, alayhis salam, understands this.
Imagine Yusuf, alayhis salam, a child in the
bottom of a dark well abandoned by his
brothers, by his loved ones. It's different if
it was somebody else. If some thief came
and took him and threw him in the
well, it's different. Or your own brother
your own brothers take you, and they stab
you in the back and they throw you
in the well. I mean, not physically stab
you. You know what I mean? They figuratively
they betray their own brother. It hurts. It
hurts to a different level when family hurts
us. When our own parent, our own sibling,
our own relative, when they hurt us, it
hurts a lot more than somebody else. He's
in the well.
Yusuf, alayhis salaam, when he's sold in the
market, he's sold for a cheap price. It's
like he's nothing. They don't value him.
They just sold him for a few pennies.
They didn't value him. Imagine if someone told
you that your price on the market is
10 p.
That's how much you are worth, Habibi.
That hurts.
Yusuf alaihi wasalam is going through this as
a young boy,
and then he gets to the palace, and
he gets some hope. And then as he
gets into the palace, he gets seduced by
the lady by
the by the, by the wife of the
of the king.
And then he ends up in prison
for something he didn't do.
And all this time, he understands
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is still watching
him, still guarding him, still protecting him.
Allah is still close to him.
Because sometimes Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala wants us
to struggle,
wants us to suffer so that we learn,
so that we develop.
As they say, no pain,
no shawarma.
Oh, sorry. Did I get it wrong? No
pain,
no gain.
And so sometimes Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as
Alwali,
the close,
the the the loving creator,
the one who wants to protect us, the
one who guards us, sometimes
he wants us to struggle in the deep
end so that we learn.
And so in the end of his story,
when Yusuf alaihis salam's parents come back and
he's put up on the throne, and he
then he says,
and you gave me the knowledge of interpreting
dreams.
You created the heavens and the earth.
You are my wali.
You are my protector.
You are the closest to me. You are
the one who guards me. You are the
one who looks after me in this world
and in the hereafter.
This admission,
this realization
that when he was in the bottom of
the bottom of the well, Allah was looking
after him. And when he was in the
palace, Allah was looking after him. And when
he was in the prison,
Allah was looking after him. It was all
the plan of Allah until he sits on
the throne and he realized
that all of this was the wilayah, the
guardianship, and the protection of al Wali.
Sometimes you don't realize he's looking out for
you.
Sometimes you don't realize he's looking out for
you. You know, I'll give you an example.
You know, I said the lifeguard, he throws
you the ring so you can so you
can float.
The ring, this lifeline to save you can
come in any form.
You know, can you imagine that the prison
was a lifeline for Yusuf alaihi salaam?
You know, we think
if Allah is going to help us with
his walaiah, he's gonna give us a Mercedes
Benz. He's gonna give us some fine dining
food. He's gonna give us, you know, x
y z blessing. This is how we think
Allah will save us. But sometimes,
to save us, Allah
has to put us somewhere we are uncomfortable.
What was Allah saving Yusuf from?
What was in the palace that Allah had
to save him from?
The fitna of the women.
Imagine,
a massive palace.
So much pride,
so much happiness on the outside. People come.
They say, wow.
16 bedroom detached house. No mortgage.
Damn it. Wow. Look at this kingdom of
Yusuf.
But they don't know inside the palace what
goes on. He's miserable because every day these
women are plotting against him.
Is it worth living in a palace if
you live a miserable life?
It's not.
Is it worth living in a prison if
you live an honorable life?
Allah saved Yusuf alaihi salaam from the palace
and placed him in a place in the
prison.
In the darkness of the prison, he was
a Muhsin. He was the most effective person
he could be.
And if he was in the palace, they
would not have let him move. They would
have twisted him and tied him and made
him miserable.
Allah saves
in his protection
in ways that we don't comprehend.
Sometimes he saves us by leaving us in
the deep end. Sometimes he save us, saves
us by putting us somewhere we don't expect,
but he is Alwari. This is where the
trust comes in. Knowing Allah is the protector,
knowing Allah is the closest to you,
he knows best.
And so sometimes he puts us in a
place we never expected. This is where your
trust in Allah, your reliance on Allah comes
here.
Yusuf alaihi salam,
after all that happens,
you are my help. You are my protector,
my guardian. Wherever you put me, you are
watching over me. Because
Allah is not just looking out for your
material world. Allah is also looking out for
your
afterlife.
So you might suffer temporarily in this world
so that you can get some real estate,
some apartments, and some palaces in the afterlife.
That's why
his
when he's protecting you, he's looking after you.
He's not just looking at this world, he's
looking at the afterlife.
In the Quran,
Allah
frequently reminds us
that there are 2 groups that can never
be our wali,
that can never protect or help us. Who
can tell me what those 2 groups are?
Yes.
Okay. 1 is the disbelievers. Number 2,
the hypocrites. Okay. Let's put the disbelievers and
hypocrites together.
What's the second?
The false gods that people worship. Okay. The
false gods that people worship.
Good. And there's a third.
Yes.
Sorry?
We'll we'll add that to the disbelievers group.
Good.
Excellent.
There are 3 groups that sometimes we don't
realize we take them as our auliya. We
take them as our protectors.
The shaitan,
false gods,
and the disbelievers,
and those who are not trying to not
don't have our best interests at heart.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Quran,
who can give me the aya?
Oh believers, do not take the disbelievers as
O believers,
Don't take disbelievers
as your protectors
at expense of your fellow believers.
Good.
At the same time, Allah
reminds us now let me see how does
this, you know in Ibn Ashur Rahimahullah, he
says that there are 8 possible ways in
which Muslims and non Muslims
end up working together or having relationships.
Not all of them are harmful.
Some of them are mutually beneficial.
But the idea of a Wadi
is when you're seeking honor from your relationship
with somebody else, when you're sucking up to
somebody else, when you need their validation. And
without that validation,
you're insecure about who you are. Sometimes we
are like that. Sometimes as Muslims, we are
like that.
We don't feel confident in our beliefs until
some non Muslim says, yeah, this thing in
the Quran is true. We say, look, you
know that scientist, that philosopher said Muhammad, sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam is a prophet.
Great. We are waiting for this philosopher to
say something. Right? This is just one example,
a psychological example, where we have overreliance.
We seek izzah. We seek honor, dignity
from other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There's
just one example.
Then it comes to the shaitan.
How does a person take the shaitan as
a wali? What does that even mean?
Yeah.
Okay. By following your desires and following your
and and getting involved in doubts, by following
what the shaitan wants you to do. Yes?
Giving in to his whispers.
Mhmm.
You're thinking your desires will give you something.
Yes.
You know, when it when it when you
go to the lifeguard,
when you give someone responsibility over your house,
anybody you give a make a responsible
for anything,
that you have to protect this thing.
Anybody.
You trust them. You rely on them for
results.
Sometimes we give this trust to the shaitan.
I'll give you an example.
Right now, for example,
sometimes it can be a disadvantage in this
world to be a believer, to be a
Muslim. You have to sacrifice.
Maybe financially you have to sacrifice.
Maybe physically you have to sacrifice. Maybe your
time you have to sacrifice.
Right? I'll give you an example. Let's say
you are working let's say you're a doctor.
You're working in the NHS.
Let's just give an example. Somebody is a
Muslim. He's a doctor working in the NHS.
But this Muslim also loves the Quran, and
they want to memorize the Quran. They want
to understand the meanings of the Quran. So
every day, they wake up at Fajr. They
spend 1 hour memorizing and revising and understanding
the Quran, and then they drive 1 hour
to work. They go to work. They squeeze
their salah in the middle of their surgeries
and dealing with patients.
After they come home from work 1 hour,
they spend with the Quran.
Now they're colleagues at work.
Those 2, 3 hours that this person spent
with the Quran, their your colleagues are spending
it learning and developing and maybe reading books
and, you know, developing professionally.
So you start to think the shaitan starts
to tell you, you know what? This Quran
is making you fall behind everybody else.
The fact that you're going to the masjid,
the fact that you're spending so much time
here, you're gonna fall behind. They're going to
be consultants, and you're still going to be
a junior baby doctor. You're not going to
you're not going to be as quick as
them.
This is one of the ways the shaitan
deceives us.
Of course, Allah wants us to be excellent
in this world and the hereafter. There's no
contradiction.
But there's one way the shaitan to see
them. You know what?
Let me just stop praying the masala. Let's
pray at home.
Let me just combine my prayers. Let me
just leave this Quran thing until later in
10 years later when I'm more settled. This
I'm more settled never happens.
You never settle. We're always moving.
And so what happens?
You start to put trust in the Shaitan's
promise. He's promising you something. If you let
go of a, b, c, d, e, you're
going to make progress. I'll give you a
more real life example, personally happened to me.
When I was at University I had a
colleague, Muslim colleague who in Ramadan
didn't fast and the reason this person didn't
fast they said look it's exam season.
How am I going to study and revise
if I'm hungry and thirsty and tired?
I said, look, man. I am hungry and
thirsty, but I'll do it with the help
of Allah.
Ni'amal mawla or Ni'amal nasir. I have confidence
Allah will not leave us if we sacrifice
for his sake.
What happened?
So you're eating, you're drinking, you're drinking coffee,
tea, hot chocolate, you're staying up at night
to study.
The shaitan deceives you to think that these
are the things which will make you pass
your exams.
Really?
A bagel in the morning and coffee in
the after that's gonna make you get that's
gonna make you pass your exams?
Is not Allah the one who's going to
give you success?
This is where you have to trust.
And so we say, you know what? The
shaitan's point is a fair point.
So you give in to the shaitan and
his promises and his deception,
and what happens on results day?
You fail 6 subjects.
That very person
who didn't fast in Ramadan,
in order to get in order to do
well in the exams, they failed 6 out
of 10 subjects.
Now that may not be the case for
everyone. Other people may not fast, and that
may make them pass. But they failed in
the sight of Allah. They give in to
the shaitan.
They put more trust in the shaitan's deception
than in the promise of Allah. What does
Allah promise us?
If you
support Allah, Allah will support you. That's what
Allah promises.
What's the shaitan promising us? Oh, man. Forget
it. So long. It's you know, why why
tire yourself?
Just give in.
Right?
Just forget it. Do it later. The shaitan
this is the shaitan's whisper.
We when we start giving into this, we're
saying, yes, sheitan, have you become?
Now I'm going to rely on you for
results. I'm gonna do exactly what you say,
and you're gonna give me results. People have
the same issue with finances.
I mean, they get a call. Is crypto
halal? Wallahi, I don't know. Is short changing
halal? Is hedge funds halal?
So
some people, they get so obsessed with what
to do with their money,
they look for all the doubtful and gray
areas in order to invest their money.
The shad shaitan tells them, put your money
in crypto, put your money here, put your
money there, put your money there, there,
buy those coins, you're gonna become rich.
I say to such people,
who is the one who's going to make
you rich? Allah.
There are halal avenues. Use them. When something
is clear cut haram, avoid it. But it's
tempting.
That's the deception of the
shaytan.
Shaytan
promises you, you know, if you be a
religious Muslim, you're gonna be a poor person.
Zakah,
sadaqa,
you know, all these halal investments, you're gonna
be poor, man.
So just spend your money in the Haram
stuff. It's okay. At least you'll be rich.
Right? At least you'll be rich.
That's the deception that we begin to say.
You know what? He's got a point,
and that's when you've taken the shaitan as
your aliyah now. He's your wali.
You better bet that he's going to help
you on the day of judgment because he's
not going to help you. That's why Allah
frequently in the Quran reminds us,
don't take the shaitan as your wali. He
is not your friend. He is your enemy.
The moment you hear that temptation, that whisper,
don't fast, do this with your fine, the
moment you hear those whispers, those doubts,
that's coming from your enemy.
He wants to make you doubt.
Shaitan promises you that if you are religious,
you will become poor.
But Allah promises you that if you sacrifice
for him for his sake, he will forgive
you your sins, and he will give you
vast
generosity of Allah.
Whose promise are you going to trust?
Who are you going to trust? You've got
2 parties promising you something.
Every time you drive on a road, every
time you turn on the telly, every time
you're on YouTube, someone is selling you something.
They're promising you something. Get rich in 7
days. Try this method. I'm standing in front
of a mansion. Everyone is trying to sell
you something. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is trying
to trade with you something as well.
Allah words it in the Quran. He says,
all believers,
shall I tell you about a deal, a
business deal that's going to save you from
a painful,
everlasting pain?
Let me let's make a deal. So are
you going to deal with Allah or are
you going to deal with the Shaitan?
This is the name of Allah Al Wali.
To take Allah as Al Wali,
it requires from us to trust in Him.
When we know that Allah is Al Wali
just as Yusuf Alaihi Salam. In the bottom
of the well, in the darkness of the
prison, in the height of the palace, in
the slave market, he knows Al Wali is
looking after me. The same way, when you
know Allah is Al Wali, he is the
lifeguard, and he's the guardian of your life,
and he's close to you, and he wants
best for you, you have to trust him.
You have to trust
him. You will never find a waleel like
Allah. The life god can go for a
tea break. Allah is Al Hayul Qayyum. He
never disappears.
He never takes a break nor does he
take a nap.
And this is why in the Quran, when
Allah talks about his name Al Wali, he
says,
He talks about.
For you to take Allah
as your for you to trust him,
you have to trust him
because he is looking after you. Now
let us come to the second name of
Allah, Al Nasir.
Do we need to take a break before
Al Nasir? Do you want to do some
exercise, aerobics, some stretching?
We're all awake? Khalas. Okay. Good. Insha'Allah, I'll
tell you some
not funny jokes and this will keep you
all awake, insha'Allah.
And Nasir,
the one who helps, the one who supports
when it seems nobody else is going to
help.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Quran.
If Allah supports you and gives you victory,
no one can defeat you.
And if Allah wants to humiliate
you, no one can help you win after
him.
I want you to imagine Nuh, alayhis salaam.
Nuh, alayhis salaam,
900 and how many years he gives dawah
to his people?
950
years.
You cannot do this for 950
minutes.
9 50 years.
Patiently giving dawah to his people. And they're
insulting him, and they're mocking him, and they're
making fun of him. And he's patiently calling
them quietly, loudly, privately, publicly. He's trying every
avenue possible.
At the end of all of this,
when he can't take it anymore,
he says something.
Oh Allah,
I am overwhelmed,
so help me.
This name of Allah and Nafir is usually
used in the worst case scenario when you
have nothing else, nobody to turn to but
him.
You have you are cornered.
You've been cornered. You cannot left, right, there's
no way for you to go.
Just like
when your wife cooks you something, and you
know it didn't taste nice, and then she
asks you in front of everyone, how was
the how's the food? You're
cornered. Nowhere to go.
Yeah?
Just like when your teacher knows that you
don't know you don't know the answer to
the question in the class, and he asks
you, what was it? What's the answer to
this question? You got nowhere to run.
When you have nowhere to run and hide,
the name of Allah and Nasir comes to
your mind.
Because Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
He helps, He supports,
He saves you from the worst of situations.
He says
I am overwhelmed.
I don't know where to go.
Help me.
From the word and
There's another part of the Quran
where Allah says he gave nazar, he gave
help and victory,
when somebody was in a corner.
You have to tell me.
I'll only I'll give you a hint if
you guys don't get it.
Yes?
Is it is it time
Mhmm. When he went on it?
Mhmm. Nope.
But this is not what I'm thinking about.
But this is a good there's a good,
istitlal. This is a good eye that you're
thinking about. Yes?
Sorry?
Close. Little bit before.
A hazaab.
This is one situation, but this is this
is a good situation actually. You're giving me
things that were not in my notes, so
now I have to talk about these. But
there's one particular moment in the Quran.
This moment,
if Allah didn't help, you would not you
would not exist today. There would be no
Muslims today. It was the the most dangerous
moment in the history of Islam.
He just said it. Yes?
Not the battle of battle. Yes. Tell us,
doctor.
Yes.
When the prophet Muhammad, salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
and Abu Bakr were in the cave.
Alone.
What does Abu Bakr say? Who can remember
what he says?
When he sees
the group, a group of kuffar above,
people who are out to assassinate the prophet
Muhammad.
He says if they just looked down,
we are finished.
If these this group of disbelievers just looked
down,
Muhammad salallam would have been assassinated, Abu Bakr.
And what would happen to Islam?
Finish.
What does Allah say about this moment
in the Quran?
Look, believers,
if you don't stand up for the prophet
Muhammad, Allah is going to help him.
When the disbelievers kicked him out, when he
was just one of 2 people, no army,
no weapons,
no king,
no authority,
2 people in a cave.
When one of them said to his companion,
don't be afraid, Allah is with us.
When you're backed in the corner, and all
the odds are against you, and you say,
Allah is going to give me nusrah, Allah
is going to help me,
what does Allah then give you as a
gift? Number 1.
Allah sent peace down on these people.
Today in the world,
the most expensive
and valuable commodity is peace of mind.
Everybody is looking for peace of mind.
They go to the Bahamas.
They go on holiday.
They pay psychiatrists
1,000 of pounds. Why?
I'm depressed.
I'm anxious.
I'm agitated.
I'm on I'm not I can't sleep at
night.
The moment you realize Allah is in
the most stressful situation, Allah will send down
a peace
like no other peace.
You'll feel like you're sitting in a jacuzzi
in an island.
No nothing to worry about.
This is what is.
Tranquility.
No worries.
Is how you would describe an ocean.
Peaceful ocean. No ripples. No movement. Peace.
This is what Allah places in your heart.
Fa'anzalallahu
sakinatahuwalaihi.
Allah calmed Ubaka's heart.
And he helped them with soldiers they could
not even see.
Who are these soldiers?
The angels.
Some scholars say the animals, the spider,
you know, different animals that were there in
the mouth of a cave depending on the
authenticity of those narrations.
They didn't and Muhammad sasam o Baqarah, they
don't even realize what is happening.
What is Allah doing to protect them? They
don't even see these soldiers of Allah, these
troops, going about their business.
And he made the disbelievers'
word or their authority the lowest.
And Allah's word the highest.
This is Allah's name, al Nasir.
Today,
many a khateeb will shout from the member,
this ummah is in weakness.
We are destroyed.
When is Allah going to help us?
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has said, man,
qala hala khanasfahu ahalakum.
Whoever says the people are destroyed, they finished,
then he's the one who's destroyed.
This name of Allah, An Nasir, gives you
hope
when you look at the world around us
and you look at the Muslim countries
and Iraq and Syria and Palestine and Afghanistan
and every country,
half of the people in this room would
not be in the UK if it wasn't
for the fact that living in the country,
the Muslim country they are from, is not
a life that they could live honorably.
When you look at the world around you,
don't lose hope.
The nusrah, the help of Allah, doesn't come
overnight.
It doesn't come overnight.
One day,
in Makkah,
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam is sitting
with his companions.
And one of his companions, Khabab ibn al
Aarath, comes to complain to him.
Now, can anybody remember any of the young
young men here?
What happened to Khabab ibn al Arah? How
was he tortured in Mecca? Does anybody remember?
Yes?
Mister Khur, I don't wanna repeat the way,
my Habibi said it. He was placed on
hot coals
which burned through his flesh and his skin
until his bones.
Just imagine you look at a man,
and his back is just torn apart with
with burning coal.
That's what happened to Khabab.
Now Khabab is justified. He comes to the
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
His hadith is in Bukhari.
We came one day and we just complained
to the prophet Muhammad
He is sitting back,
and he has a cloak on top of
him in the shadow, in the shade of
the Kaaba. Just imagine this moment.
A group of us came. We said,
Are you not going to ask Allah for
his nusra, for his help, his support, his
victory?
When is this going to end? We have
been tortured for so long.
13 years in Makkah.
I have no flesh on my back.
How long are we supposed to take this
for? This is what he's saying to the
prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
The prophet sallahu alaihi wa sallam coolly and
calmly responds.
People before you went through worse than what
you guys are going through.
In the times of the prophets before you,
Muslims would be taken,
and a grave would be dug for them
in the earth,
and then a
large like a garden scissor would be brought,
and it would cut his head in half,
and he would be beaten and melted with
melting iron
until he has no flesh and bones,
and still that would not make him give
up his deen.
And then the prophet
says,
Allah is going to fulfill his promise.
There will become a time when somebody will
go from San'a to Hadramaut,
2 cities in Yemen.
Now San'a and Hadramaut
back in those days
was like
the most dangerous
few kilometers on this earth.
You could not go 1 kilometer without being
stabbed or stolen from or finished. You cannot
cross this place.
Like people say, Bermuda Triangle,
all of these conspiracy theorists. Right? They say
there's this triangle in the ocean. Whichever ship
goes there, it disappears. This this part from
San'a to Hadramaut was like the Bermuda
Bermuda rectangle. You could never pass there. You
would disappear.
The prophet says, this place, which is so
dangerous, there will come a time
somebody will pass this this area
on a horse or on a, you know,
on a caravan, and they will they will
have no fear. They'll be safe.
You guys are in a rush.
You guys are in a hurry.
Allah's victory does not come overnight.
How long did new Khalil Islam have to
wait?
950
years.
We are an impatient people.
We are a generation of KFC and fast
food.
We are a generation of drive thru and
same day delivery. Like, same day same day
delivery.
Do you understand
how many people have to be muddledoom and
oppressed to for you to get your item
on the same day? We are a people
who have been spoiled
by speed.
Sheikh Mohammed, do you remember the days of
dial up connection?
You had to wait 3 minutes to connect
to the Internet, and then every web page
would take 6 minutes to load.
And to hear people know only fiber optics.
We are a generation and a people who
don't know patients. We don't.
Everything immediate, everything fast, everything now, yesterday, tomorrow,
same day delivery.
But nusra,
Allah's help and support,
it doesn't work like that.
Don't be in a rush. This is what
the prophet says to Khabab.
Yes, you have no flesh on your back.
Yes, you are in pain, but there will
come a time
when Allah
will convert 1,000,000,000 people on this earth into
Muslims. You have to wait. You have to
be patient.
Musa, alayhis salam, his people,
when they suffer at the hands of Firaun,
they say
to
Musa Alaihi
Salam,
Oh Musa, we were being tortured before you
came, and we're still being tortured. You've not
done anything for us.
And Musa Alaihi Salam says to them,
He said, look, Allah might destroy your enemy,
and then make you the kings of this
part of the earth.
That might happen,
but
You have to grasp this idea
that this earth is Allah's.
He decide who's going to be king.
Sometimes you're on the bottom. Sometimes you're on
the top.
You have to be patient.
When you are in suffering and when you
are on the top, when Yusuf Alaihi Wasallam
was in the prison and the well, he
was patient. And when he was the king,
he was patient. But if he said, oh,
Allah, I'm 10 years old. Make me the
minister of Egypt now.
It wouldn't have worked.
He had to wait till his forties, till
his fifties
until he could sit and say,
The nusrah of Allah
comes at his pace, not at your pace
and my pace.
We are people. We want change overnight.
But Allah
says,
There will come a time when the change
can come overnight,
but it is all in the hands of
Allah
When we internalize the name of Allah
you know that there is no corner that
anybody can place you in except that you
can ask Allah for his nusrah, for his
help.