Kamil Ahmad – The Example of the Life of this World
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AI: Transcript ©
Inna alhamda lillah, nahmaduhu wa nasta'aynuhu wa
nastaghfiruhu wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina
wa min sayyi'ati a'malina man yahdihi allahu
fa laa mudhilla lah wa man yudhlilhu fa
laa hadiya lah wa ashahadu an laa ilaha
illa allahu wahdahu laa sharika lah wa ashahadu
anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh sallallahu alayhi wa
ala alihi wa ashabihi wa man tabi'ahum
bi ihsanin ila yawmiddeen ya ayyuha alladhina amanu
ittaqullaha haqqa tuqatihi wa laa tamutunna illa wa
antum muslimun ya ayyuha annasu ittaqu rabbakumu alladhi
khalaqakum min nafsin wahidah wa khalaqa minha zawjaha
wa batha minhuma rijalan kathiran wa nisa'a
wa ittaqullaha alladhi tasa'alun bihi wal arham
inna allaha kana alaykum raqiba ya ayyuha alladhina
amanu ittaqullaha wa quluu qawlan sadeeda yuslih lakum
a'malakum wa yaghfir lakum dhunubakum wa man yuti
'illaha wa rasulahu faqad faza fawzan azeema amma
ba'ad Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed
the Qur'an and he made it to
be a guidance, a light, a blessing and
a mercy for mankind and he revealed it
and he left nothing out of it and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala used different ways
to get his message across to us in
the Qur'an sometimes through direct commandments and
prohibitions do this, don't do that other times
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions stories of
the nations, of the people of the past
other times through encouraging us by mentioning to
us the many rewards for the people of
obedience and discouraging us from evil by mentioning
the consequences of that and also among that
which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has included
in this Qur'an are what are known
as amthal, parables why does Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala mention these parables in the Qur
'an?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says wa tilkal
amthaluna dhribuha linnasi la'allahum yatafakkaroon those parables
we present them to the people so that
perhaps they may reflect, they may ponder over
these parables walaqad dharabna linnasi fi hadhal qur
'ani min kulli mathali la'allahum yatafakkaroon we
have presented every parable in the Qur'an
for the people so that perhaps they may
be reminded and so these amthal, these parables
are meant for us to reflect over to
attempt to understand what is Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala trying to say here as he
says, so that perhaps they may reflect and
ponder over these parables and so we human
beings, we use parables, similitudes, examples when we
have a very very important concept to get
across something that may not be as clear
but when you mention a parable, when you
mention an example it becomes crystal clear and
so parables help us to understand these abstract
concepts by comparing them to things that we
are familiar with things in our daily lives,
something that we can relate to and so
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has mentioned various
parables in the Qur'an among these parables
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has mentioned
is regarding the reality of the life of
the dunya the reality of the life of
the dunya and because of how important this
concept is Allah did not suffice with one
parable nor two but rather we have three
parables in the Qur'an telling us about
the reality of the life of the dunya
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in surah
Yunus Innama mathalu alhayati al-dunya kama'in
anzalnaahu minas sama'i fakhtalata bihi nabatu al
-ard mimma ya'kulun nasu wal-an'am
Allah says that the life of this world
is nothing but like water that we send
from the sky this water, it goes into
the ground it mixes with whatever is in
the ground and then Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala says that this brings out vegetation vegetation
that is consumed by who?
by our animals and us human beings hatta
idha akhadati al-ardu zukhrufaha wazzayanat wa zanna
ahluha anahum qadiruna alayha ataha amruna laylan aw
naharan faja'alnaha hasidan ka allam taghna bil
ams Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says until
when the earth has become beautiful you see
all this greenery all of these different flowers
and colors and the farmers who planted all
of this they think they have full control
of it when that happens, all of a
sudden the command of Allah comes and he
destroys these crops by day or by night
as if there was nothing there the day
before this is how we explain the ayat
the signs of Allah for people who will
think, who will reflect what we learn from
this parable my dear brothers and sisters is
the reality of the life of this dunya
that it is full of glitter and glamour
and we enjoy it and we think we
have full control over our lives but we
forget that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he
is the one who is in control not
us, we have no control over our lives
whenever Allah has decided he will take away
our lives don't expect to live on forever
don't expect to live till an old age
but even if you do live till an
old age then let us look at the
next parable that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
suratul kahf وَضُرِبْ لَهُمْ مَثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَا
إِنْ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ
فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًا تَذُرُوهُ الرِّيَاحِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ
شَيْءٍ مُقْتَدِيرًا and present to them the example,
the parable of the life of the dunya
that it is like water that we send
down from the sky it mingles with whatever
is in the earth bringing forth vegetation and
then after some time Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala says that all of this becomes debris
scattered and blown by the winds referring to
the end of the season yes, there is
a time when you have greenery and you
have beauty and where all of this vegetation
is full of life but that, it starts
to decline and then these same plants that
we enjoyed that scene they change color and
then they fall to the ground and they
become blown by the debris وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَى
كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُقْتَدِيرًا and Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta
'ala has full power over everything and also
the parable that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
gives to us in Surah Al-Hadeed إِنَّمَا
مَثَلُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا إِنَّمَا إِعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا
لَعِبٌ وَلَهُ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ
وَالْأَوْلَادِ Know that the life of this world
is nothing but play and amusement and adornment
and mutual boasting with one another and competing
in wealth and in children This is the
reality of the life of this world Then
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ
أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًا ثُمَّ
يَكُونُ حُطَامًا What is the example of the
life of this world?
Allah says, like a downpouring of rain This
causes the farmers who planted the seeds This
causes them full of joy And when they
see the results They see the vegetation, they
see the crops, they see that beauty It
only lasts for some time And then those
same leaves and those same plants They start
to change color They become yellow, they become
brown And then they fall to the ground,
become debris وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ
اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانِ Allah says, and in the Akhira
There is either a painful punishment Or the
forgiveness and the pleasure of your Lord وَمَا
الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ And Allah sums
up the reality of the life of the
Dunya He says, and the life of this
Dunya Is nothing but a deceiving enjoyment It
is nothing but a deceiving kind of enjoyment
And so these two parables, they teach us
They teach us that the reality of the
life of this Dunya Is that it is
short It is temporary And that no matter
how long you live on for Eventually, you
are headed for your demise And so today
you may be young and strong And full
of energy And think that you have everything
in your hands But soon, you are going
to start to decline Until you become weak
and fragile As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us About the reality of our life
We are born weak and fragile And we
return to that later on In our old
age, weak and fragile And then in the
end, what happens?
In the end, it's done and it's over
with Just like these plants They become scattered
debris On the surface of the earth But
you will become scattered bones Not above the
surface of the ground But rather below it
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds
And the end is for the righteous And
there is no hostility except against the wrongdoers
And I bear witness that there is no
god but Allah There is no partner for
Him And I bear witness that Muhammad is
His servant and Messenger Peace be upon him
and his family and his companions And those
who follow them in good faith until the
Day of Judgment Then, fear Allah, the servants
of Allah, for the sake of righteousness And
watch over him in secrecy and secrecy O
you who believe, fear Allah, have the taqwa
of Allah And let each and every single
one of you look to what He has
sent for His tomorrow Let each and every
single one of us ask ourselves What have
we prepared for that day?
And then Allah says, and fear Allah For
indeed, He is well aware of what you
do One day, the Prophet ﷺ was with
his companions And he was passing through the
marketplace And he spotted a skinny dead lamb
on the side And he went up to
it, he held it by its ear And
he asked the companions who were with him
Who would like to have this for one
dirham?
The companions, they said Ya Rasulullah, this is
worthless What are we going to do with
it since it's dead?
Even if it was alive, it would be
worthless Because it's small and skinny And so
when the Prophet ﷺ heard this response He
said, Wallahi, lad dunya ahwanu ala Allahi min
hadha alaykum He said, by Allah, the dunya,
the life of this world Is more insignificant,
more worthless to Allah In the sight of
Allah Than this lamb is to you And
how insignificant and worthless it is in your
sight And so, this is the reality of
the life of this world That most of
us are so attached to That most of
us are constantly chasing after This doesn't mean
that we completely abandon the dunya This doesn't
mean that we no longer work To make
a living, to make an earning But here
the Prophet ﷺ wanted to get a message
across to us And that is, that we
should not become so attached to the dunya
in this way And so, we need to
prioritize We need to prioritize our akhira over
our dunya Because we are not here forever
We are here for a number of days
This is not our permanent home But rather,
our permanent home will be in the akhira
And so, the choice is yours Either sell
this temporary life for a life of eternity
Or sell the life of eternity for this
temporary life that you're currently living in One
day, the Prophet ﷺ Umar ﷺ visited him
And the Prophet ﷺ, he was lying down
on a straw mat So he got up,
sat up And Umar ﷺ noticed some marks
of that straw mat on the back of
the Prophet ﷺ He started to cry The
Prophet ﷺ asked him Why is it that
you're crying, O Umar?
Umar ﷺ said, O Messenger of Allah You
are who you are The most beloved of
Allah's creation to Him And yet, the emperors
of Rome and Persia Qaysar and Kisra They
are living the kind of lives that they
are living Meaning, in the luxuries of the
dunya And yet, you are living the way
I see you He was trying to say,
O Messenger of Allah, you deserve better than
this But that was because Umar ﷺ was
looking from the lens of the dunya So
the Prophet ﷺ said to him أَمَا تَرْضَا
يَا عُمَرُ أَن تَكُونَ لَهُمُ الدُّنْيَا وَلَنَا الْآخِرَةُ
O Umar, are you not happy?
Are you not satisfied?
That, for them, is the dunya Allah has
given it to them They're enjoying themselves in
it But for us, will be the akhirah?
Again, what was the Prophet ﷺ trying to
stress here?
He was stressing the importance of having the
correct worldview That we Muslims, we don't think
from the perspective of the dunya But rather,
we think from the perspective of the akhirah
And so, here we're not saying to completely
abandon the dunya But rather, to prioritize And
the yardstick, the way to measure Where you
stand is by asking yourself Whenever I am
presented with a situation in front of me
Where either I do something to fulfill my
personal desires But that same thing happens to
be displeasing to Allah Which one will I
choose?
Which one will I choose?
Ask yourself that question That every time you're
presented with a situation Where you have to
choose between Either fulfilling some joy or some
pleasure of the dunya for yourself Or fulfilling
the pleasure of Allah Meaning, that this particular
element of the dunya Allah has made it
haram Ask yourself which one you're going to
choose And that will tell you where you
stand That will tell you where you stand
And so, that's why it all comes down
to this very element If we were to
compare what Allah ﷻ tells us About the
people of Jannah and how they made it
there And He tells us about the people
of the Hellfire And how they ended up
there When Allah tells us what these people
used to do in the dunya We find
this huge contrast The people of Jannah were
a people Who sacrificed their dunya They abandoned
everything they had For the sake of Allah
In fact, their dunya was stripped from them
Everything was taken away from them Like the
prophets and the messengers and the shuhada And
all those who treaded their path And so
they struggled And they sacrificed And they worked
hard But on the other hand What does
Allah tell us about the people of the
Hellfire?
They are a people who prioritized the dunya
over the akhirah They were a people who
preferred the temporary enjoyment of the dunya Over
the permanent enjoyment of the akhirah They were
a people who did not want to put
any struggle into it They were a people
who could not wait They lost patience They
said, I can't do this Let me enjoy
myself here I can't wait that long They
were a people who wanted to lay back
Who wanted to relax And not sacrifice And
not struggle And so coming back To the
parables that Allah mentions in the Quran Of
the life of the dunya When we go
out today And we see the trees and
the plants That only a few days ago
were full of greenery And lush with full
of life We find them changing color to
red to brown And then we see them
falling to the ground We see these leaves
falling to the ground And we see them
scattered Remind yourself As Allah is reminding you
That that is going to be you one
day If you think today You're strong, you're
full of energy, you're full of youth And
you have complete control over your life Then
remember that very soon That's all going to
finish And you soon are going to become
scattered debris Below the surface of the earth
And remember That the only thing that you're
taking with you when that day comes Is
not your wealth that you amassed It is
not your property and your house That you
spent years building Nor your business that you
spent years struggling for But rather you're only
taking one thing with you That's going to
stay with you As the Prophet ﷺ told
us يَتْبَعُ الْمَيِّتِ ثَلَاثَةَ There are three things
that follow the dead person to his grave
أَهْلُهُ وَمَالُهُ وَعَمَلُهُ His family, his wealth and
his deeds فَيَرْجِعُ إِثْنَانِ وَيَبْقَى وَاحِدُ Two of
them, they go back to the dunya And
only one remains with you The Prophet ﷺ
says يَرْجِعُ أَهْلُهُ وَمَالُهُ وَيَبْقَى عَمَلُهُ His family
and his wealth go back to the dunya
While his deeds, meaning good and bad That
is the only thing that remains with him
in his grave And that is the only
thing that he's going to be resurrected with
On the Day of Judgment So no matter
who you are No matter how rich you
may be No matter who you were in
this dunya You're going to your grave alone
You're going to your grave alone Leaving your
entire dunya behind Only taking with you your
deeds, good and bad So prepare for your
akhira from today Because my death and your
death is not something that is in our
hands Nor is it something we know when
it's going to come كلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ
Every single soul shall taste death Every single
soul is going to taste it وَإِنَّمَا تُوَفَّوْنَ
أُجُورَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ And then you're going to
reap You're going to reap your rewards on
the Day of Judgment فَمَنْزُحْ زِيحَ عَنِ النَّارِ
وَأُدْخِيلَ الْجَنَّةِ فَقَدْ فَازُ And then whoever is
prevented from entering the Hellfire He is the
one who has succeeded He is the one
who is truly victorious وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا
مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ And the life of the dunya
is nothing but a deceiving kind of enjoyment
هَذَا وَصَلُّوا وَسَلِّمُوا رَحِمَكُمُ اللَّهُ عَلَى نَبِيِّكُمْ مُحَمَّدِ
بْنِ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ كَمَا أَمَرَكُمْ بِذَلِكَ رَبُّكُمْ جَلَّ
فِي عُلَاهِ فَقَالَ تَعَالَى قَوْلًا كَرِيمًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ
مَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا اللهم صلِّ وسلِّم بارك
على نبينا محمد وارض اللهم عن خلفائه الأربعة
أبي بكر وعمر وعثمان وعلي وعن سائر الصحابة
أجمعين وعنا معهم برحمتك وكرمك يا أكرم الأكرمين
اللهم أعز الإسلام والمسلمين وأذل الشرك والمشركين ودمِّر
أعداءك أعداء الدين اللهم انصر إخواننا المسلمين المطهدين
في كل مكان اللهم عجِّل بنصرهم يا قوي
يا عزيز اللهم انصر إخواننا المسلمين المستضعفين في
فلسطين على الصهائنة المعتدين اللهم عليك بالصهائنة المعتدين
ومن أعانهم على قتل إخواننا في فلسطين اللهم
عليك بهم جميعا فإنهم لا يعجزونك اللهم اشدد
وطأتك عليهم اللهم أرنا فيهم عجائب قدرتك اللهم
فرق جمعهم وشتد شملهم اللهم أحصهم عددا وقتلهم
بددا ولا تترك منهم أحدا يا قوي يا
عزيز يا ذا الجلال والإكرام اللهم اغفر للمسلمين
والمسلمات والمؤمنين والمؤمنات الأحياء منهم والأموات إنك سميع
قريب مجيب الدعوات ربنا آتنا في الدنيا حسنة
وفي الآخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار إن الله
يأمر بالعدل والإحسان وإيتاء ذي القربة وينهى عن
الفحشاء والمنكر والبغي يعيذكم لعلكم تذكرون فاذكروا الله
العظيم يذكركم واشكروه على نعمه يزدكم ولذكر الله
أكبر الله يعلم ما تصنعون