Maryam Amir – MSA West Workshop Names of Allah
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AI: Transcript ©
Gracious, the Most Merciful with the name of God, the loving with
the name of God, the One who protects with the name of God, the
One who forgives with the name of God, the One who is Forever,
forever, forever, accepting of every single one of us whenever we
turn back to him, those are not necessarily God's names, but due
to all actions that he does upon him. With Tada today, Inshallah,
what I'd like to do is share a little bit of my journey to God.
When I first started coming to him, I was so excited. I started
reading the Quran in the English translation, and I felt like every
time I read it, I connected to it. I felt like things would happen at
school, and then I'd go home and open the Quran, and I'd close
Christ and pick a random page, and all of a sudden, Allah's talking
to me. And I felt so personally, personally connected to him, and I
felt love, and I felt hope. And I decided that because of that
relationship, I wanted to study Islam really seriously and study
it more. And so the more that I studied, the more that I attended
lectures, the more that I attended the masjid, the more the messages
that I started hearing about Allah, were those related to one
day you're going to die and all of your sins are going to come to
you, and are you here to meet your queen? All of a sudden, the
messages that I received were, it doesn't matter how much you're
trying, you're not trying. The messages that I started receiving
were, youth in America. You're so messed up these days, the fitna,
they are fitna. Everything that I've heard that I felt connected
to Allah's panel trial and connecting to him based on love,
based on hope, based on this awareness of him, because I wanted
to be close to him, those messages started turning to guilt, to
shame, to terrified, terrified, being terrified of Allah's
punishment. And has my relationship started turning from
one where I got close to him to one where I feared him. I started
having trouble being able to connect to him in a way where I
felt like I was worthy. And it doesn't mean that I'm worthy right
now. It doesn't mean that any of us can be worthy of God, but what
it means is that instead of feeling like he is listening to
me, I started feeling like I don't deserve to be listened to. Nod
your heads if some of those messages that I just mentioned,
the ones that you've heard before,
what I like to do is take three minutes. I'm going to ask you to
speak to the people around you and tell me some of the main messages
that you've heard, tell people around me the messages you pray.
I'm going to walk around and make sure every person is talking to
someone or listening to someone. Inshallah, we're going to do that
for three minutes, and I'm going to ask you to come back and hear
some of the things that you personally have experienced or
work in your communities. And then we're going to talk about loving
God. Inshallah, you ready to go? Yeah? 3210,
Bishan, up, Go. You
Who'd like to start share with me, yes,
can You pass this back so we can hear?
Just pass it
back. Well, kind of had
a deeper concept that we were talking about, how in Christian
belief, there's this idea that if you say, believe in Jesus, no
matter how much you sin or how much value, will always definitely
go to heaven. We were talking Islamically. Is that applicable as
well?
We were saying how a lot of Muslims are saying, no matter how
much you sin, as well as you believe in the shahada and believe
in everything
teaches that you can guarantee you're
kind of saying, is that actually true to this core, to say what
God's judgment is? Maybe you can believe in the shadow. You can
believe in everything that's going to teach it. But what if you're a
horrible person to such an extent that maybe God does that's a great
it's a great question and a great point. We'll talk about that until
at the very end. Thank you so much for bringing it up. For bringing
it up. Jezek, okay, thanks, Mashallah.
Next The next hand yes in the back. Thank you for sending the
mic up
while we wait. We're gonna say subhanallah. SubhanAllah.
SubhanAllah. Get those trees impaired. So one thing I talked
about with my friend Shah
is that a lot of times when you go to talks, his mom will focus on
the punishments
way more than
and we thought that was something that definitely people under your
machine pushes
you further
away versus
like a message, thank you. Does that call a fair? Raise your hand
if you've had that experience as well. Yeah, it's a lot of people.
Thank you for sharing the bottle of Fico. Does that call a fair?
Okay, let's get another one in the middle, right there. Oh, sorry,
did you have that back there? Yeah, go for it. Sorry, then we'll
go to you.
Inshallah, my bad.
Someone grab the mic. So
I think it's also part of like our generation has heard
about if you're a pet, you repent, you
will be forgiven. But we haven't talked specifically, like how hard
repentance is, how hard that is going to like that psychological
issue and just like what you did with wrong like going through that
whole process and coming to forgiveness, and you forgiving
yourself, that's so beautiful, especially the part of you
forgiving yourself? Bottle of fear, Mashallah.
Nobody on that side, on this side, yeah in the back over there,
we talked about
the fixation on outwardly sins, and how when you see someone who
does something it shouldn't be, it's automatically that just one
and done, there's no way for you to connect with God and put so
much
the students, so much about the individual, right. And I think
specifically growing up, there was such a big
emphasis on how you look on outside of this, right? No
personal or internal growth. So it's all about the image you
project to other people versus what's going on in your heart.
There's no balance between the two. Thank you. Does that go?
Okay? Let's get one more person right here in the middle left,
right
here. I here,
may Allah bless you for taking the mic all around May Allah bless
you. What we really
talked about was,
you really want to know Allah, you can look at the 99 games, and I'll
just call each
other mercy. You know one of his names the Most Merciful. And you
know His mercy is infinite. And when you walk to a love, he runs.
We talked about establishing our loving relationship, and you want
to be with me. Does that call a fan? May Allah bless us with that
religion.
Okay?
I also like our talked about, like, sort of acceptance and
specificity. Personally for me, I think, like our Muslim
communities, while we want to be accepting, I feel like we have to
also realize what the problems are and accept them and face them. And
I think like for the Muslim youth, we need to stop this entire idea
of judging one another and assuming what is the right Muslim
and what is not the right Muslim, like this. You can't expect
someone to be exactly perfect, and everyone is always improving. And
I think judging someone without knowing them first is like most of
the time,
the last two brothers Inshallah, and
then what we'll do inshallah is for like 30 seconds, everyone who
wanted to say something can just talk at the same time. We're gonna
hear all of your opinions Inshallah, everybody. I'm so sorry
that we didn't actually get to get to everyone. Yeah,
and that is a message that will be getting our local message.
Anyways, that example, if you want to go to Umrah, or if you want to
have the financial capability, they have the
intention. It's like he did it.
Allah rewards you just for the intention of having, having
intended to do it beautiful.
That's a really important thing. Beautiful. Thank you. And the last
one is that the same group, okay, thank you may Allah bless
everything we want to
do the our group discussed, like, how, like, drama, like, I heard
this thing where they said that, oh, just because you don't pray,
or you have some flaws that, Oh, you shouldn't wear the hijab,
like, because you have faults in that, just, take off in hijab,
because Right, right, you're not worthy because you have mistakes.
You're not worthy of carrying what Islam looks like to other people.
So true, so unfortunate. Does that call up here? Thank you so much.
That was great. I love hearing your feedback. Let's talk about
some of the messaging in terms of what Allah had and what Tala
Himself tells us. We know that Allah is so incredible and he is
so close to us without us even knowing him. But have we thought
about how loving he is really, in the way that he describes his
love? Allah SWT, one of his name's God Almighty is Ella Wahab. And
there's just no reason translating this, but we're just going to say
the the giver of love, or the loving one, the loving one. So he
is in times in our lives. Can you think of one time in your life
where you can think of a quality of something that you've been
given to from, sorry, this came out, really awkward. Can you think
of a time where Allah gave you something because he's so loving.
What's one example of that? Anything that comes to the top of
your head, sorry,
life, that's a good one.
That's what we can all lead to. What's another way
family? But for some people, families, a test for other people,
families a blessing. And even in lessons, there are tests that in
you that come that's every person has a different experience with
that. What else?
Food. Cats having food. So many people will have food.
Okay? You said worship, right?
Tuition,
paying tuition can be a form of worship, and then once you pay it,
it may still give you money for food, then all elsewhere, towels
really bless you to everything away. All right, what about things
in your life that actually seemed like they were a huge non
blessing, but a few years later, you realized that they were a
gift. Has that ever happened to you? Can someone give us an
example?
Oh, sorry, getting into a school, yes, getting into a different
school than when you guys, can I tell you a story? I'm gonna tell
you Sorry. So when I went to the undergrad, I didn't want to go to
the under, I was gonna say I didn't want to go there, but long
story short, I ended up going there for a different reason. So I
went to San Jose State, and I taught a lot my husband. His name
is Alma. He didn't want to go to UCI, but he ended up going to UCI.
And because he went to UCI, and because I went to San Jose State,
our island states, throughout the state West, ended up working
together on a bunch of different things. And he's
going to San Jose State. Going to UCI was the reason that we
actually met each other. And happened to that. Because of that,
we've been blessed until the female married almost eight years.
But that happened. We have everybody. We love us. All you
want to get married is the most amazing person, the best every
day. And if you don't want to get married, we all love us. Who is
better? And if you don't want to get married, if you do want to.
Maybe not sure, I'm just saying, but
the point is, the point is that
somehow I didn't see the blessing in it until years later when I
realized that that thing that I didn't want, Allah opened the
doors for me just because he knew what was better in my future.
Think about the mom of Musa alainia. So Moses' mom, she has a
baby boy who's born in a time where baby boys are being
slaughtered, right in and of itself. I mean, she didn't have,
like, an ultrasound to find out what gender she had. She hasn't
even realized that it's a boy, and these boys are being killed. So
when she has this boy, and she's terrified of what's gonna happen
to her. She's it's revealed her that she should put him in a box
and put him in a river. Now, if you you know how many of you have
a sibling, or likely the young kid in your life that you love, like
sometimes you might get frustrated with them, but like, you're not
necessarily thinking, I'm gonna go to a river and put in a box,
right? Like you might be frustrated, but we still love
them. But this is a mother, and so she she follows this command. She
puts him in that box. He goes down the river, and Musa Ali Salam is
taken where
exactly to where she's trying to get to protect him from he's
literally taken into the home of the person who is conglomerated
every single baby boy now I mean, does it look like he's being
protected? It looks like he's going to be executed? Like, look
where he's going to how many times in our lives have we felt like,
why is Omaha doing this? God forbid that we have that thought.
But sometimes it comes, what is the wisdom in this? What did I do
wrong? How many of you have wondered thoughts like that. But
look at what happens. Musa mother and all kind of talent talks about
her heart like becoming empty. He the one who made it first that she
can be be firm in this test, and in the end, he brought her back.
Musa alayhi salam, but now he's there with the protection of the
state. Now he is back, and she is the one who's providing him the
milk she's nursing him, but also the palace is providing her with a
stipend for taking care of him. So not only does he come back with
security, knowing that she doesn't have to hide him anymore, that he
won't be killed, but also she's paid for taking care of her own
son. So in the beginning, it looked like one of the worst
misfortunes that happened in her life. But in the end, look at what
the giver. Look at what the giver of gifts given over and over and
over. Not only did you protect her son, but He brought her back to
her in complete protection. How many of you have been through an
experience that you want to share right now? Let's take three people
where something like that has happened right here. Yes, I
converted the school year off, and that's when I converted,
and I made go out to, like, see if I wanted to go back to school,
because it was I was, like, a completely different person there.
Or if I wanted to just continue to, like, work and not be in
school and like, so, kind of, like, the doors to everything else
closed and like, it turned out that I just enough money to go
back to school and that, like, magnetic the admission office,
like, decided that okay, like, you can come back without needing to
reapply. Just like, the doors completely open, and it was really
hard to get for me, because I wasn't assuming challenge in my
son. And I was like, why am I here? And like, it's so hard now.
Like, I took my hijab I don't understand, and then, like, by the
end of the year, in the summer, I was wearing my hijab again, like
100 and like, I realized that I needed to come back to school to
be a stronger skill, because it was easy for me at first, and like
now, like, I can be a Muslim amongst non Muslims and like,
wear my hijab.
I love
myself.
So
when I was about nine years old,
my parents made a decision for me that said, go to the fourth grade
Canada, you know. And I thought I was a pretty good kid growing
up
trouble, but I was was being punished. You know, being so far
away from our folks and being at a
all boys and abusive wasn't something I was especially excited
for, but looking back on it, those are probably some of the best
years of my life, you know. And so I definitely recognize that now,
document could actually appreciate
what
happened. Thank you. One more person over here in the front
that's.
Who are you? Where were you?
So in my freshman year of high school, my first semester, I went
through a really weird case where I had a really positive friendship
and with someone,
and it
was a was, it was so testing on me, and I,
I wasn't always feeling my best during that time, and I waited a
lot of it on that friendship and on the environment I was in high
school
eventually led me to make decisions to leave high school,
and at that point, it seemed terrifying, but
looking
back, it was literally one of the lessons right now, so much now,
like I see the struggles that I was in, and I see
in a feeling that way, because now I Know, Like I know how to fix
that
feeling. Never go
back to that. Thank you. Thank you so much. So this
past year
at the University experience special assault, and it happened
to me over almost seven months. So before this, I kind
of
just me, and I just didn't understand, like I didn't really
know. I just, I don't get what happens, you know, but now, six
months after, I actually have a really strong sense
of debate that I never had
before, because happens to you, you can't talk about
it, but there's only so much besides,
it's not even what happened To me. It's kind of grateful that
something this
traumatizing. Is just highly courageous to share that here,
probably, and I know that his sister is not the only person
who's gotten that in this room. So let's take a minute if you're next
to a sister and your sister can if your next, your brother and your
next. But
I
yeah, this time.
Share that so many sisters and mothers have gone through sexual
assault, and I have a number of sisters who've talked to me,
who've mentioned that this particular issue was what caused
them to come back to Allah, not because it should ever happen to
that. There's no excuse for that to happen. There is nothing,
nothing, nothing. It doesn't matter what
the future is just like, or where she is or what she was, nothing
where that's okay, or a brother, but having this incredible trial
happen exactly as you explained, where someone else cannot
understand it, and so putting your faith in suju, asking Allah
subhanaw taala to be there with you, that's the one time when you
start feeling like somebody understands and of course, he
understands para because he's always watching. And that's the
second thing we're talking about, and that's al raqid. He's the
observant one. He's the watchful one. He's the one who's always
watching us. Now, a lot of times when we talk about unwelcome it's
put in this way where it's like, he's always watching you. He's
like, God forbid, waiting to punish you. Have you ever felt
that way in your relationship with Allah? You're just waiting to do
something wrong? He's just waiting for something to happen. That's
not how Allah kawatawa is. You know who awaki is? There's two
ways where we can look at this. Number one, when you are in your
bathroom and you're thinking about cutting yourself another time, but
you realize that Allah is with you even when no one else can see you.
When you're going through depression and you feel like
nobody understands no matter who you've spoken with, Abu is there.
He is watching you. He is listening to you when you get into
a huge fight with your parents and they say things like you're going
to * because you're not obeying us, when they say things to you
that might cause you to feel like you're not worthy
in those moments, he is there with you, talking with to Allah in
those moments when you do.
Something really messed up, and you wish that you can get out of
that situation, but you've already done it and you've done it again
and you've done it again. He is with you. And that doesn't have to
be something scary. It means you always have somebody who is
listening and seeing who is with you wherever you are, so having
what's happening, he is there for us to reach out to him in any
moment. And he tells us over and over the whole
He is with you wherever you are.
Abu is there to be with you, to watch over you, even in times
where you feel like you're alone and you can't protect yourself
from yourself. And the second way that arakive is with us is that we
know because he's watching us. We know because he's close to us that
we try our best to do the right thing. When we talk about Allah
being loving, he is so loving. He is so loving that when I intend to
do something right and I don't do it, he'll still reward me that
when I do something wrong, he only makes it as if I committed one
mistake, that if I wanted to do something, but I didn't get to do
it. Excuse me, but I wanted to do something, but I did do it, then
he rewards me 10 times, 100 times, 700 times, and even, even more
than that, there's no way you can lose with Allah. He literally will
multiply your good and only write your bad one time. And if you ask
for his forgiveness right after you did that thing, the angels
won't even write it down. And if you did it and you waited two
years, three years, two months, another day, in that moment and
you asked for him to forgive you, then he'll still forgive you, and
he'll turn it into a good deed. As he
talks about Eternals, for one, there's literally no way he can
lose with Allah. But what does that look like internally when I
know that a little thief is watching me, then I'm a little
more conscientious of what I'm about to do. How many of you are
really, really aware of where your phone is right now?
Yeah. How many of you realize it when you've left it somewhere like
five minutes after it happened? Yeah, I let my mind have been
texting Medina.
Was getting it back at the mass convention.
They know, like, what? Yeah, that's what I
said, subhanAllah, my phone is so holy dude. It's not so much time.
But you want to know what's incredible to me that he knew he
was going to bring it back to me. And yet, in that whole process, he
was so so motivated. He was so kind with me, with something so
small that he put put me in positions, where can I tell you
the whole story? Do you want to know it? Okay, subhanAllah, I'm
sure, like 10 of you already heard this story before, but
Subhanallah, Subhanallah a few months ago, and then we were in
Medina, and we were in a taxi and just got this brand new phone time
left. Like, I always have really old cell phones. They're, like,
used, but like, this is my first, like, not respect, one of my
first, like, new phones. Somebody had just gifted it to me. Was so
generous to them. And I'm, like, in a taxi in Medina, we're about
to leave, get to the airport, and, like, taking video. I was like,
You got Snapchat and melted my head. And then I put my taxi, my
phone in the taxi, and taxi, and then I got out, and then I got my
bag, and then my husband and I'm in love airport. Then, like, look
at that. Oh God. And
then we ran back outside, ran back outside, and, of course, the taxi
is gone. And we're like, Uber Eats, like, tracking down, right?
Like it's gone. So I'm like, standing there, like, making so
much trouble. Like, Oh, please. Like, I know it's just a thing,
but it's the most important thing of my life.
Like, I had all my notes on there. I had a bunch of important
pictures on there. I had, like, no private stuff on there, and I was
just Panama, like, I'm a Medina, I'm a woman. I get this bag. So we
fly to Dubai, and I'm, like, making so much trouble at this
point, I just accepted, like, I lost my phone, and then we go to
Dubai, and my husband had brought my old cell phone, so we get,
like, a SIM card from my old phone and a SIM card from his phone. So
that phone so that we can, like, talk, and he texts me, and he's
like, Oh, dude, I accidentally texted your your American phone.
And, like, I just put my phone on airplane mode. So, like, even if
you tried to call so that the taxi driver could hear it ringing, you
know, it's on airplane mode. So how are you ever gonna get through
so, like, someone would need to, like, turn it off airplane mode.
Try to figure out, like, like, let's say you seen text me. Let's
say I have these numbers. He texted me and I see it, and if he
doesn't get seen, right, I'd have to unlock it so that I can
actually call her back and text her back. So, like, somebody would
need to know my password to be able to do that. You see where no
one says, like, even if someone found it, what are they going to
do with it? So he accidentally text my number with his Dubai
number, and because he accidentally texted my cell number
with a number I didn't have saved that number came up as like,
97562,
etc. And so someone had found my phone. She kept watching it all
day, turned off airplane mode, saw that number, and was able to type
in that number and call me back SubhanAllah. So then they called
and they're like, I found your phone. I found that phone, and a
taxi in Medina. And
then after that, how am I gonna get a happy bag? So then I had
some a friend of mine knows an incredible couple male a who is
studying in Medina. They went to that sister and picked up, and I'm
like, but it's still in Medina, my friend Maria Bay and her family,
she was going to follow the No.
Next week. So she goes the next week meet the sister in Mecca, but
I live in NorCal, and Marie's in SoCal. However, she came back on
the 24th of November, and I came to a conference on the 25th of
November, 10 minutes from her house, alone, went
to so much trouble to give you my cell phone. What about those of
you who struggle to pray, but you still pray? What about those of
you every single time you don't want to do the right thing and you
feel like a hypocrite, because you feel like, Man, I'm doing it, even
though I don't want to do it, I'm doing it and I hate doing it. That
doesn't make you a hypocrite. That makes you a spiritual warrior,
because the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said the Mujahid
is the one, the one who struggles with themselves, is the one who
they struggle with their own soul to do things on the obedience of
Allah. You are a Mujahid that someone who's doing, who's someone
who's fighting for the sake of God in the spiritual way that you're
doing the thing even though you hate it. That doesn't make you
weak. It doesn't make you a hypocrite. It makes you a
struggling believer. It makes you a warrior. So in all those moments
where you feel like what was mentioned, how can I go back to
him, when the process of repentance is so difficult, it's
so you know, it's this process of internalizing what I've done. I've
had people talk to me five years later. They're like, I got in a
physical relationship with someone. They didn't have *, but
they did a lot of other things. And they're like, it's been five
years. I make Toba every single day, and I can't let it go. We've
had people who've said that they've done things six years ago,
two months ago, and it's impossible to forgive yourself.
But remember, Allah,
He is the One Who forgives. He is a Satir. You know what Satir is?
He's the one who covers when you cover the mistake of a believer in
this life, Allah will cover that mistake for you on the Day of
Judgment. He tells us that this is inside Muslims, this beautiful
series on the names of Allah, and there's this hadith where this the
believer is going to have a private conversation with Allah,
and they're asked, Did you do this? Did you do this? This sin,
this sin, this sin, this sin. And of course, you say yes to every
single one. I mean, there's no way you cannot. Because even if you
said no, I didn't, your arms are going to speak against you, your
tongue is going to speak against you, but it's also going to speak
for you. It doesn't always have to be terrifying, but it is a little
bit terrifying. But in all those moments, you keep saying, Yes, I
did, yes I did, and you're waiting for some type of punishment, and
then Allah says, I hid them for you in this life, and I'm going to
forgive them for you on this day. He hid our mistakes in this life,
and he promises our forgiveness in the hereafter. How do you know
that Allah has forgiven you because he promised you that he
will forgive you when you come back to him. Subhanallah to Allah.
Allah tells us over and over in the Quran, oh my servants who
wronged themselves, don't despair. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins.
He is the Forgiving, the Merciful everything. He forgives
everything, as long as we ask for that forgiveness before we pass
away. So what could you possibly do that is too big for his
forgiveness? Do you understand what that sounds like? If you were
to say, I did so much that Allah shall forgive me, you are
literally saying Your sins are bigger than Allah God your bed.
It's not physical. It's not possible. There's no way that you
can be so bad that Allah wouldn't forgive you. Subhanallah, he's so
ready to accept every single one of us. What that looks like,
though, is when I make that mistake and I go back to him, I
ask him to forgive me and tell me, but then what if I do it again and
again and again? Then it's like heavy footsie, where a servant is
asking for Allah's forgiveness, and then he goes back to it, then
he asked for his forgiveness, and he goes back to it, then he asked
for his forgiveness, and then he goes back to it. And Allah tells
him, do whatever you want. This is a summary of Hadith, as long as
you ask for my forgiveness and you don't worship anyone, believe me,
I will forgive you as even if your sins hit all the way up to the
clouds. Subhanallah to Allah. So he's promising that he's going to
forgive us. The question is, when are we going to start working on
forgiving ourselves? Shay upon wants us to be so busy hating
ourselves and feeling guilty about what we've done in the past that
we don't have time to do good in the future. That's so deserved.
Snap I was I worked on that for so long.
He How many times have you wanted to do something, but like you're
sitting here and you're thinking about all the messes that you've
done in the past, so you don't even do the right thing, because
there's no good thing like that. And the lesson I'm trying to tell
us that when you do good deeds, it wipes out the bag. And
subhanAllah, I'm going to tell you one of my favorite verses in the
Quran. A lot of people ask me this question, when I write the Quran,
I feel like it talks about the Hellfire so much. Have you ever
felt that when you open it and you're like, you hear about
punishment and you hear about so much scary stuff? Yes, because
that's real. That is a reality. It's about balancing hope and
fear, and especially about having.
Love, but also when he passes a * of fire, he balances with
talking with talking about paradise. Some of us are motivated
by fear, some of us are motivated by hope. And what works for you is
looking, look at what works for you. He's talking to you. He's
asking you to connect with the Quran in a language you
understand. So when you look at the verses and you see that they
talk about things that encourage you focus on those verses and do
good with those verses. You accept all the other ones. You accept
every single verse in the Quran, but findings going to motivate you
and continue to use that to to encourage yourself. What we're
going to do, Inshallah, is talk about really quickly, three ways
of connecting with him. Number one, Allah tells us that in order
to come closer to Him, in order to get his love, we do the obligatory
actions, and then we follow it up with doing voluntary stuff. If
you're trying to pray five times a day, you're good enough. That's
the best thing you can do. If you've already done that, follow
it up with something else that's incredible. May wanna give you
success. The second thing is reading the Quran in a
translation. You understand. Raise your hand if you put the Quran in
a translation. Okay, on a regular basis. All right, for those of you
whose hands in the what today choose to recite one verse a day
in the translation. After 365 days, how many of you read?
Mathematicians mashaAllah, to
feel like I'm able to understand you and connect with him when I
read the word that he revealed to me. How else am I going to know
the one who has revealed this entire way of living without
reading His words? So reading the verses in translation, and
finally, I'm going to recite it versus the Quran for you, my Quran
teacher, my May Allah, bless him. In every single way, he encourages
that when we talk about the Quran, we should recite it, because this
is the Quran. I know I'm a female, I understand that that's not
something common in our community, but we have this understanding
that when it's for knowledge, when we're teaching one another, that
this isn't about fitna, it's okay. Inshallah, this is a moment of
teaching, and also SubhanAllah. It's still for men. How many men
have learned from women? How many women have been scholars who have
taught masses of men for men.
But I also say many other facts, and I've only heard copping from
here a few of those times. So I'm just saying, just
gonna stop myself while I'm not ahead, alright, so I want you to
close your eyes.
And in that moment, alright, it's a moment where, please close your
eyes for real. It's that moment where Subhanallah,
it's your last moment on Earth. You've lived a life of struggle.
You've tried to do good, you've made mistakes, you've tried to
come back to him. You faltered, but you've tried and you've tried
and you've tried, and in those moments you didn't want to try,
you still try. And in those moments that you tried and you
didn't want to try, you stopped trying, you went back to him over
and over and over and over.
And then in this moment where the angels are coming to you to take
your soul,
imagine when Allah SWT tells us,
in those who've said, our Lord is Allah, and they've
been firm on that
the angels descend on them.
Don't be afraid and don't, don't be sad well as you imagine,
and be given the glad tidings of paradise. Imagine, in that moment
you're given the glad tidings of paradise. And then, as your soul
is taken and is taken all the way up through the heavens, the angels
see the most beautiful names that you've ever been called in this
life. And then you've gone through being buried, you've gone through
being questioned, you've gone through this you ought and you get
into Paradise, and you're standing there, and somebody comes up to
you, and they cover your eyes. They cover your eyes, and that
person who's covered your eyes, you don't know who they are, but
you touch their hands, and all of a sudden you recognize the hands
of the person that you have missed for so long. Maybe it's a
grandparent who passed away when you were a kid. Maybe it's a
parent who you've missed for so many decades. Maybe it's a best
friend or a cousin. Maybe it's your sibling, it's somebody who
went before you. You haven't seen it so long, and then all of a
sudden, they're standing there in front of you. You turn around, you
see their face, their face is so bright, and you realize that
Inshallah, for the rest of eternity, you're going to be
together. And that's not because you were perfect. That's because.
You believed in Allah. You tried your best to live this life
however best you could. You balanced being fearful of him, but
hopeful of him, and trying your best to be conscientious of him.
And you're hoping that God, willing that in and of itself,
will be Hina to gain his pleasure. We can't get anywhere from our own
deeds, but Allah, out of His mercy, can give and give and give
you can open your eyes. May Allah make us of those people who meet
each other in that moment, and make us of the people who are
like, I remember seeing you in that room and me and Yoda. It's so
possible. How many times can I tell you something? Have I been
with a sister and I'm like, Oh man, may Allah bless us with
meeting in Mecca. And then Allah, we really meet in Mecca, but one
time in high school, I was like, in trouble, get to study in Egypt
together, and then we really studied in Egypt together. Never
doubt when your draw is being accepted. When I got my cell phone
back, I was like, I should have made drop in paradise, like he
clearly answered my but what about the bigger stuff? Don't ever
underestimate Allah's generosity. He's the loving, He's the
forgiving, he's the one who finds our fault. They'll let us work on
building that relationship with Him, subhanAllah, NICUs, of the
people that he loves. I mean, subhanAllah will be having a
condition when we're going
to do five minutes of questions inshallah. Um, so really quickly,
I'm just going to turn this off. Smell.