Mikaeel Smith – Forged – Reflection on Surah Hadid #06

AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of dams in shaping relationships and life, emphasizing the role of boasting and amassing wealth and children in a tribal society. They touch on the importance of balancing hardships to achieve success in life and use Gratitude in this process. They provide examples of verses in the Bible and encourage listeners to use it in their own lives. upcoming events and opportunities for people to achieve success are also mentioned.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum, bismillahir rahmanir
rahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, wa salatu wa salamu
ala sayyidina wa nabiyyina wa maulana Muhammad wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam.
Allahumma inna nas'aluka hubbak wa hubba man
yuhibbuk wa hubba amalin yukarribuna ila hubbik ya
arham ar-rahimin.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
his love, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala for the love of those actions that
will gain his love, and we ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala for the love of
those people that he loves.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Allahumma
rabbana alina alhaqqa haqqa warzuqna tiba' wa alina
albaatila baatila warzuqna ijtinaaba min.
We ask Allah, oh Allah allow us to
see the truth as truth, and oh Allah
give us the ability to follow that truth,
and oh Allah allow us to see falsehood
as falsehood and give the ability to stay
away from that falsehood.
Ameen ya Rabb.
Alright we're studying surah al-Hadeed.
Surah al-Hadeed has been a beautiful journey
so far, and we have just reached this
climatic moment of this surah, a very beautiful
moment of this surah.
And I want to start right where we
left off, right where we left off two
weeks ago, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
in my estimation, this aspect, in my estimation,
this verse that we did last week, and
I'm going to start with this verse today
because the Qur'an, you have to keep
the flow of it so that the meaning
of it stays together, right.
And so this verse that we read last
week, this verse truly to me is the
apex of the surah.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala begins verse
number 20, I'm beginning from verse number 20
this evening inshallah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and when
Allah says in Arabic, that means know something,
it's a command to know.
And what I said last week or two
weeks ago was like, it's when the exam,
the teacher says, yo this is going to
come on the exam, this is going to
be there, so you got to study this,
you have to know this, this is something
that you have to review.
And this, what's being spoken about in this
verse is the reality of dunya.
The reality of dunya is revised and reminded
in this verse.
Allah says, know this thing, be aware of
this, of what?
That indeed this this worldly life, now what's
interesting is this, I want to talk about
this again really briefly, this concept of hayat
al-dunya.
See, the Prophet ﷺ in a hadith, he
said, that the dunya is the mazra'ah,
what's a mazra'ah?
Like, like a what?
A farm.
The dunya is the farm of the akhirah.
And so you have these hadith where the
Prophet ﷺ is saying that this dunya is
where you plant seeds.
In another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ praised a
man, a person who ta'ala umarahu wa
hasan amala, like they live a long life
and their actions are good the whole time.
The Prophet ﷺ, he praised that person.
So we have these hadith where this life
is clearly a blessing from God, right?
Alhamdulillahi alladhi ahyana ba'dama amatina, every day you
wake up.
But then you have these hadith, you have
these narrate, these verses where Allah ﷻ speaks
so derogatorily about this temporal world that we're
in.
And a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ, he
clearly said, al-dunya mal'oon, like the
whole dunya is cursed.
So the question is, guys, like how do
you balance this?
And here it is.
The dunya is not the life that you
live.
Dunya is everything that pulls you away from
Allah.
Dunya is, so, so you, you and Becky,
y'all can have the same stuff.
Or Joey at work, whatever, right?
Like y'all can have the same stuff,
house, car, family, wealth.
You can have the same stuff and it
not be dunya for you and be dunya
for them.
Why?
Because everything you have, you're using it to
get closer to Allah.
And everything they have, they see it as
an objective in and of itself.
And that's the primary distinction is the Prophet
ﷺ is teaching us that don't look at
the dunya for its immediate because dunya means
immediate.
It means what's close, duni.
Don't use the dunya for what it immediately
gives you, but see the seeds that you
can plant through every day that you have
life.
And so whenever we speak about dunya, just
realize that as long as whatever you have,
you're using that for your akhira.
Then that's not dunya anymore.
Your relationships with your family, your spouse, your,
your children.
And then, and then you're not loving those
things in and of themselves either.
So I'll share this with you before we
go forward.
Hassan, I've said this before.
Hassan and Hussain are talking to Ali, their
father, and they're brilliant children.
And so they say, dad, do you love
me?
One goes, do you love me?
And the father goes, yes, Ali, he goes,
yes, of course I love you.
Then his brother asked him, do you love
me?
He goes, yes, of course I love you.
They said, well, do you love our mother?
He said, yes, of course.
Where are you getting at?
He goes, how do you love all of
us?
When Allah says, that no one has two
hearts in their chest.
That's Surah Ahzab.
No one has two hearts in their chest.
How do you love all of us?
And Ali drops this beautiful knowledge on us.
He goes, you don't understand.
I love all of y'all only for
the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la.
Like our relationship is just based on us
pleasing God.
Now when we understand that, we understand something
deeper.
When Noah's son chose not to get on
the boat, and Noah then complains to God
in a way, in an adab way.
He said, ya Allah, you said you would
save my family.
And then Allah said, He's not your family.
He chose a different path.
And that's scary, but the point I'm trying
to make is every relationship you have.
Work is not dunya if you don't see
it as the objective in and of itself.
School is not dunya if you don't see
it as the objective in and of itself.
As long as you keep the objective, the
pleasure of God, and I'm going to use
this somehow to please God, so be it.
I'll give you one more example.
We'll read some more.
This is the Prophet ﷺ.
He said in a hadith that, the Prophet
was teaching the sahaba, you got to give
sadaqah.
You got to give charity.
And they were like, who has money to
give that much charity?
And the Prophet said, no, no, no.
Tahmid, takbir, all your dhikr, all of that
is charity.
And then the Rasul ﷺ, he said something.
He said, and your intimacy with your spouse
is sadaqah.
The sahaba were like, ya Rasulullah, a person
fulfills their desire and that's sadaqah?
The Prophet ﷺ, then he said, if you
did it in a haram way, would you
not get sent?
They said, yeah.
So if you do it the right way,
you get reward.
So the Prophet ﷺ is teaching us to
redefine dunya.
And so remember as we say this word,
dunya, think of dunya as everything that distracts
me from Allah ﷻ.
Whether it's a human being, whether it's a
status, whether it's wealth, whatever it could be,
everyone has their other, their own dunya.
But then in this verse, Allah ﷻ gives
us stages that we all go through.
It's profound verse.
Let's do it one more time because we
did it last session, but we need it
so it flows into the next.
Allah says, remember this, know this.
That this world, number one is it's play.
They say la'ib is play that has
no point to it.
So you ever see a kid playing, you
know, y'all remember the jack-in-the
-box?
For real, I mean these old toys, whatever,
but you know, like you push it down,
then you turn and all of a sudden
it pops up.
And if you're a little baby, when it
pops up, you're like, oh, that's like, you
see your little like little brother, like he
can play all day with it.
Pops up, he's happy.
La'ib is play that has no point
whatsoever.
The next stage, innama al-hayati dunya is
what?
La'ib, play.
Play with no point.
Lahu.
Lahu is play that you keep score at
though.
Like there's a point to it more.
You know what I mean?
There's more to it.
You keep your score, you keep your tally.
There's a, it's still games, but it's not
at that level.
Number three was zina.
Ah, this dunya is nothing but beautification, adornment.
As I said in class in Jalal ad
-Din, the peak is when you walk that
red carpet, right?
You know what I mean?
Show the watch you got, show the drip.
That's the peak.
When you get to the peak of the
dunya, what do you do?
You just walk down the carpet, let people
take pictures.
That's it.
Zina.
That's it.
Zina.
Beautification.
It's so shallow.
Number four, wa tafakharun baynakum, and to boast
amongst one another.
What did you get?
What do I have?
I have this.
What do you have?
I have this, tafakhar.
Tafakhar comes from fakhr.
Fakhr means like to be proud, but tafakhar
is like with people, proud amongst people where
you're competing and who has more.
And last but not least, wa taqathir.
Wa taqathir fil amwari wal awlad.
And to the amassment or the consumption or
amassing more wealth and children.
Now hold on, let me explain something.
In a tribal society, and in the time
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the more
children you had, the safer you were.
Because you can't just call the cops, like
911.
I need help.
No.
If you have trouble, it's how deep you
roll.
That's it.
And so a sign of strength was wealth
and children.
Wealth and children, particularly sons.
And so the verse says, all you end
up doing at the end is trying to
amass more wealth and what?
And children.
I already said nowadays amassing children.
I was listening to a scholar today.
He was like, like amassing children isn't a
flex these days.
Amassing children ain't a flex these days.
We ain't even gonna go on that tangent,
but whatever.
It's the sunnah is beautiful.
The sunnah is, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he said, have many children.
I want a big ummah on the day
of judgment.
That's the sunnah.
But I'm speaking about the time we live
in where it's like, oh, you got three.
Oh, four.
Oh, you're irresponsible.
But that's not us.
I'm speaking about the time we live in,
the time we live in.
So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la,
now what do we say about this verse?
It's amazing because these aren't just random things
that Allah is mentioning.
Play, amusement, beautification, boasting, and amassing more.
No.
These are the stages that we go through
in life.
And so what's amazing, I was talking to
a sheikh today, and he said something.
I heard it before, but he reminded me
of it.
Whenever you go from one stage to the
next, remember I told you the little kid
with the jack-in-the-box?
So imagine the little brother who's like, you
know, 12 years old walks in, and the
mama says to the 12-year-old, hey,
play with your little brother.
He's like four years old, three years old,
playing with the jack-in-the-box.
And he sees his little brother sit there
with the jack-in-the-box, and he
turns it, boom, it jumps up, and he
gets happy.
The 12-year-old looks at this and
goes, mom, there's no point to this.
Mom, this don't make sense.
And what does the mom say?
Son, this is what you used to do.
Every stage you go through, you look back
at the previous stage as childish.
So first you start with la'ib, just
pointless games.
Kids, they could play outside all day doing
nothing.
My daughter's sitting there watching me.
Why you gotta watch me like right here,
baby?
Can you just sit like over there?
Go sit down.
Mashallah, she'd be paying attention, but she'd be
throwing me off, because I'd be on the
floor, and then I'd see her.
I gotta see her at home, you know
what I mean?
Yeah, for real, she throws me off my
floor.
Mashallah, may Allah bless her, right?
I mean, I mean, they be keeping me
on track, though, for real.
We were on the car ride here, and
they're like, I'm not joking.
They're like, that was attachment to dunya, dad.
I was like, yo, be quiet, yo.
Mashallah, may Allah bless us with righteous children.
May Allah bless us all with righteous people
around us in general.
Okay, what was I saying?
So each stage, you look at the previous
stage as childish.
And so now the 12-year-old who's
playing sports now, keeping score, soccer, basketball, this
and that, he looks back at the previous
games as childish.
And then when you get out of sports,
and you move on to zina, everyone goes
through that zina phase, where all of a
sudden, the dude's in the mirror all day.
You know what I mean?
Like, all of a sudden, he cares how
he looks so much.
Like, something just happened.
Right after they get married, too, mashallah.
Mabrook, congratulations.
Zina is the next stage, but when you
get to the zina stage, you look back
at the other stage, childish, childish.
After zina stage, when the zina starts to
wither away, we move on to tafakhar.
How much property do you have?
How many square feet?
What kind of car do you drive?
Right?
If they mention the make and model, then,
oh, no, it's just make.
You guys just mentioned the make.
Oh, y'all don't even know what I'm
talking about.
Okay, cool.
No, the point being, we go to tafakhar.
Like, I don't have beauty anymore.
I don't like games anymore.
So now all I can do is how
much, what do I have?
Boasting about what I have.
And the last stage is the stage of
just amassing more wealth.
And now listen, each one of the things
we mentioned, if they're done not as an
objective, but as a means to somehow getting
closer to Allah, somehow, I don't know, you
figure it out, then that's not dunya anymore.
But here's the crazy part.
When you graduate out of all of these
loves, what's the love that comes next?
Love of Allah, love of akhirah.
And that's why people who are in love
with Allah and they want the akhirah, they
look back at their previous life, like, I
can't believe I was in love with that
stuff.
I can't believe I was spending so many
hours playing video games.
I can't believe I was spending so many
hours doing this.
The same way that 12-year-old looks
at the kid playing a jack-in-the
-box and goes, who would do that?
And the mom goes, you used to do
that.
When we graduate up in our love, we
look back and we move on.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He says,
I want you to truly understand this dunya.
He's speaking to me and you.
So He says, the example of this dunya,
this life that we're living and how quick
it goes by.
It's just like rain that comes down and
makes the farmer so happy when the vegetation
grows.
Think of the life cycle of a plant
grown by a farmer.
The whole life cycle is one season.
What, 90 days?
120 days?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I want
you to look at that life cycle and
reflect on your life cycle.
How long do you really have?
And look at the cycle.
The verse says, like rain, when it comes
down, it brings joy to the farmer's heart
when he sees the vegetation grow.
It can mean it gets strong or it
starts to wither away.
So now this plant is strong and the
farmer's looking like, man, look at my crop.
Look how strong it is.
Look what's happening.
Now this is ajeeb.
The Quran says, and then you'll see that
same plant start to turn yellow.
You know what I was thinking about?
This part of the verse is a reflection
on our own lives.
You go through your, you're the nabat.
You're 12 year old, you're growing up.
17 year old, you're strong.
20, you're strong.
22, you're strong.
Then as time starts to go, 40.
I told y'all, I used to have
a left and right knee.
Now I got a good and bad knee.
You know, 40.
Now what's crazy is, and everyone with me
will nod when they hear me say it,
but some of y'all don't, y'all
ain't felt it yet.
So when you're aging, you don't feel it
the way others see it.
So the Quran says, not that it gets
old.
You'll see it aging.
And when you look in the mirror and
you see the gray hair, you're like, I
don't feel like that.
When these boys, they're like, yo, let's go
ball shake.
I'm like, I got you.
I get on the car.
I'm like, y'all go ahead.
Go ahead.
We run in half court, right?
The point I'm trying to say is the
Quran says, you'll see it turn yellow.
And to me, that told me, SubhanAllah, I
don't feel the turning yellow, but I see
it.
And then this crop that was grown by
the farmer, that he was so happy as
it grew.
Now it's fall and it's done.
And no one cares about it anymore.
And life moves on.
And Allah is saying, I want you to
think about yourself.
Life is going to go on.
30, 40 years from now, there'll be new
people sitting here.
There'll be new, you've moved on.
There's new problems in the world, different crazy
presidents.
There's new, your corporation didn't stop running, but
you're gone.
And think about how quick that happens.
What are you doing with the time that
God has given you on this earth?
Because it's short.
And then, and now what's crazy is plants
go through the same cycle as we, animals
go through the same cycle, but look what
Allah says next.
But the difference between the plant animal and
the difference between you and those species is
for you, there's an akhirah.
So Allah says, and at the end of
this life cycle, it's not just over.
There's either a very serious punishment or forgiveness
from God.
What did you use your 40, 50 years
for?
What did they go to?
Did they go to beauty?
Did it go to playing?
Did they go to a sport?
Or did it go to acquisition for the
sake of acquisition?
What did it go to?
Either you get the maghfirah of Allah and
his pleasure.
And this is where we're starting today.
And Allah says, and this worldly life is
nothing but a thing of deception.
Meaning a lot of people get caught in
the dunya and never survive it.
They get caught in the world and get
caught up in the whirlwind.
And that's why they said, here's the key
guys.
They say that the dunya is like an
ocean and your heart is like a boat
on the ocean.
So long as the boat stays on the
ocean, you'll get to where you need to
get to.
But if you let the water into the
boat, if you let the dunya into the
heart, and that's that attachment, that deep attachment
where you can't separate from it because you
made it an objective in and of itself.
Whenever we're going on a journey and we
run past Buc-ees, right?
What's Buc-ees, right?
That's a spot.
I'm in Texas.
I can say that.
Buc-ees, I already know.
If we're going to Houston and there's a
Buc-ees on the way, we stop, don't
we?
Who ain't going to stop at Buc-ees?
But you don't get attached to Buc-ees.
No, for real.
Do you?
You don't get attached to Buc-ees because
the objective was Houston.
But what we've done is we're making, and
it sounds a funny metaphor, but we've made
dunya the objective.
And so now we're like, yo, we got
to leave Buc-ees.
You're like, no, I'm chilling.
I want some more popcorn, whatever they be
selling.
I don't know.
You're trying to settle down.
And the Quran is like, no, just use
the dunya.
Use the dunya.
Don't let it take over you.
And that's why I heard one poet.
He said, don't be owned by what you
own.
Don't be owned by what you own.
And when I heard that, it hit me.
It was so beautiful.
Don't be owned by what you own.
I said, poet.
Now, are you ready for the next thing?
These are new verses for today.
Verse 21.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He
says, سابق means to race.
But race in competition with others.
See, in order for, they say, أول درجة
الذهابين.
The first level of people who are going
to God.
Like, we have to understand we're on a
journey.
And when you're not woke, it's like you're
sitting down.
It's like you're not up yet.
You're sitting down.
And there's people on the journey going to
God.
And they're like, yo, come.
And you're like, nah, I'm chilling.
But there's a point that comes in your
life where you're like, yo, I think I'm
going to get up and walk too.
I think I'm going to get up and
walk too.
They say, أول درجة الذهابين.
The first stage of anyone going to God,
racing to God, بغز الدنيا.
You start to dislike the dunya.
Now, remember, dunya is not life.
You love life because every day is an
opportunity to please God.
But you dislike that in the dunya which
pulls you away from God.
Do you feel what I'm saying?
And that's when Allah, there was a hadith
where the Prophet ﷺ was asked, what's the
sign of someone's chest being expanded?
What's the sign?
The Prophet ﷺ said, number one, they start
to get distant from the dunya.
Now, people misunderstand that.
Oh, I'm going to get distant from my
family.
I'm not going to do work good.
I'm not going to do school good.
Nah, you misunderstood what dunya was, yo.
Distant from anything that pulls you away from
God.
So سابقوا.
سابقوا.
Allah ﷻ says race.
Now, the word سابقوا is deep because it's
not race by yourself.
سابقوا is when you run with other people.
Now, I don't know if any of y
'all ever been in the run club before,
yo.
But I have.
I'm going to go back one day, inshallah.
Running is crazy because the word سابقوا indicates
that you're not winning but you're in the
race.
So it's like, you know, when I ran
my first like 5k, right, and half.
We did half?
We did 10k?
But we did a half too, right?
No?
10k?
It felt like half.
I would tell people, yo, I ran 10k.
And people who don't run, they'll be like,
did you win?
And anyone who runs, they'll be like, bro,
the winning was being in the race.
Like, being in this race of being, being
in this race of getting, it's not about
winning.
It's about every day you're getting up and
you're racing towards God.
And the meaning is get in the race
and also have people around you in the
race too.
Surround yourself with people that are in that
race too.
Because المرء مع من يحب المرء على دين
خليلي All of us will be on the
same religion as those that we interact with.
When I was running that 10k, Haytham was
by my side the whole time.
How many times did I feel like quitting?
Haytham was like, Shaykh, let's go.
Shaykh, come on, let's go.
And wallahi, there was moments I would have
stopped, but there was someone by my side.
And so Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى, here's the
crazy part though, right after the verse, verse
20 is about, forget this dunya.
The next thing after the dunya, after that,
about competing in the dunya, Allah says, forget
competing in the dunya, compete for akhira.
Surround yourself with people that you compete in
akhira with.
So the last stage of the dunya that
we just read was people competing to get
more wealth and children.
And the very first word of this ayah
is, get in the race with other people
for the akhira.
سابقوا, get up, compete with one another.
Now the sahaba understood this because they embodied
this mentality that I'm not going to compete
with other people over anything of the dunya,
I'll only compete in akhira.
There was a moment when the sahaba, a
group of sahaba, they came to the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم.
And this just tells you like their mentality.
A group of sahaba came to the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسلم, and they're kind of
having like a low-key personal meeting with
him.
And they said, Ya Rasulullah, we have an
issue.
سَبَقَ أَحْنُ الْأَمْوَالِ الدَّثَرِ بِالْأَجْرِ.
They said, Ya Rasulullah, the sahaba who have
wealth have gone ahead of all of us.
They got all the good deeds.
They've gone ahead.
Their concern is how do we keep up?
We don't have money like that.
And they have money we can't spend.
So they're ahead of us in the race,
Ya Rasulullah.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, he said,
Can I tell you something?
That if you act upon it, you will
outrace, he said the words, you will, you
know, I'll tell you something if you do
it, you will catch up to anyone in
front of you, and you will outstrip, you
will leave behind anyone behind you.
The sahaba were like, Ya Rasulullah, please tell
us.
Please tell us how to win this race,
how to catch up to the pack.
Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, he said something
that all of us know.
SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, Wallahu Akbar after Salah 33 times.
That was what he gave.
And what's crazy is now the poor sahaba
after Salah, they start sitting, they count stuff
on their finger.
And the wealthy sahaba, they kind of like,
what y'all doing?
And see, there's this competitiveness, not for dunya,
for akhirah.
Can I share something else?
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, he said,
if you knew the reward for the first
stuff, if you knew the reward, he said,
you would race and you would have to
draw lots for it.
You know, like when something is valuable, and
you draw a lot, you're like, I didn't
get a turn.
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, he said,
if you knew the reward, you would race
each other, you would have to draw lots
for it.
Sahaba embodied this mentality that we're going to
compete, but we won't compete in dunya.
We'll compete in akhirah.
And the main story all of us know,
just to bring this home, is that see,
Umar was a businessman.
And most businessmen, a lot of times your
money is tied up.
You don't have liquid assets.
Umar, there was a moment at the Battle
of Tabuk, where for some reason his assets
were liquid.
So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is
trying to gather wealth.
And he says, we need as much as
we can get.
And Umar goes, oh my goodness, my assets
are liquid right now.
And what is his first thought?
I could be Abu Bakr.
Now, but hold on, I want to stop
here.
Can you imagine what our society would be
like if we were all competing not for
dunya but akhirah?
Can you imagine like the ihsan we show
each other?
Can you imagine the good deeds we would
be doing?
Before I go forward, let me give an
example.
Umar ibn Khattab, he used to study Abu
Bakr.
He used to study him.
But why?
Because he wanted to outdo him in akhirah.
So in the time of his khalifa, he
was the khalifa, he saw Abu Bakr every
morning after Fajr, like hanging back and then
going out to the outskirts of Medina.
And he saw him going into a tent,
a tent.
He saw him do this like three, four
days in a row.
And finally, after the fourth day, he goes
into the tent after Abu Bakr leaves.
And inside the tent, he finds an elderly
blind woman.
And he says, who's that man that comes
in here?
Excuse me, I'm sorry to disturb you.
Who's that man that comes in here every
morning?
She goes, I don't know who he is.
All I know is he comes in every
morning.
He cleans up after me because I don't
have any family.
And then he cooks me breakfast.
And then he feeds me.
Umar, in that moment, it said he fell
down crying.
And you know what he said?
He said, Anta huwa.
Anta huwa.
Yeah, yo.
What is it?
You are him.
Like, I can't beat you.
But see, we destroy, our society destroys because
we're competing for dunya.
We're competing for wealth.
We're competing for name.
We're competing for all of these things.
So we're at each other's throats.
These people were serving each other because they
competed for akhira, not for dunya.
Can you imagine what your life becomes when
all of a sudden, I'm not racing anyone
in akhira, I'm racing people in akhira?
Allahu Akbar.
Why does Allah say sabiqo?
Because when you run with a group, as
the phrase says, you want to go, what
is it?
You want to go fast, go alone.
You want to go for a far journey,
stay together.
Go in a group.
The Quran says sabiqo, urgency.
But why right after dunya was mentioned?
Because you can never get on this race
for akhira until you leave dunya behind you.
You have to do that first.
Because the hadith says, the love of one
removes the love of the other.
The love of dunya removes the love of
akhira.
The love of akhira removes the love of
dunya.
Let's look at this verse.
Allah says, sabiqo, run, race, compete, together.
Sabiqo, ila maghfira min rabbikum.
Race towards maghfira.
What is maghfira?
Forgiveness.
What's the objective?
Forgiveness.
Race towards the forgiveness of Allah.
You never know which action is the forgiveness.
You never know which one.
Race towards the forgiveness of your Lord.
Ila maghfira.
I lost it, I can't see it.
I'll tell you.
Ila maghfira min rabbikum.
Race towards the forgiveness of your Lord.
I will say this, you can't get the
forgiveness of the Lord till you get forgiveness
of people though, y'all.
You know that, right?
The sins that you do against God, God
will forgive those.
But the sins you do against another person,
they can't be forgiven by Allah.
You have to get forgiveness from the person.
Sabiqo ila maghfira min rabbikum doesn't mean ignore
people.
Doesn't mean push people out.
Because people are our biggest doorway to heaven
or biggest doorway to Jahannam.
Sabiqo ila maghfira min rabbikum.
Race, race towards forgiveness.
Wajannah and race towards a paradise.
Now listen, we have to actively and more
regularly think about Jannah.
For many of us, there's very seldom time
that we actually think like, I can't wait
for Jannah.
But Allah mentions Jannah so much in the
Qur'an so that we remember that's home.
Like you gotta want home.
You wanna wanna get back home.
And so in the Qur'an, Allah always
reminds us like, this isn't it, y'all.
You gotta want Jannah.
Wajannah.
But then Allah says, Jannatin arduha fa ardi
al-sama'i wal-ad.
And race towards a paradise as vast as
the heavens and the earth.
The universe as we now know how expansive
the universe is.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is
saying that's one person's Jannah.
The Prophet ﷺ, he said the lowest person
in Jannah will have a Jannah the size
of ten times the earth.
The Sahaba, I wonder how they understood that.
When we understand the vastness of the universe
today, I think how did the Sahaba understand
that?
How did the Sahaba understand that?
Vastness of the heavens and the earth.
But look what it says next.
That's been prepared.
Yo, prepared means it's already, it's already set
up.
It's already set up for you.
It's like it's waiting for you.
That means prepared already.
Set up with the lights, with the beauty,
with the best of everything.
Why?
Because of your struggle in this dunya.
U'iddat.
Prepared already.
For who?
Lilladhina amanu billah.
Those who believe in Allah.
Wa rusuli.
But also sabiqu.
They were grinding.
They were racing.
They were running for Jannah.
And they surrounded themselves by people, other people
running for Jannah.
That Jannah is prepared for them.
U'iddat.
Prepared already.
You know my favorite verse?
I've said it before.
I'm going to say it again.
My favorite verse describing Jannah?
It's Surah Muhammad.
Surah Muhammad.
Allah says that we will enter them into
a Jannah that they're already familiar with.
I don't know.
That verse hits me, y'all.
It's like because I ain't trying to get
there and be lost.
Like where my stuff at?
Allah says in this verse, I will enter
them into Jannah but you already know where
everything is already.
Because it's home.
It's home.
And the people we love the most are
there already.
The people we love the most that have
gone ahead already, they're there.
Now look what's next.
Now the Qur'an is, the Qur'an
is a marjaza.
And the marjaza is its literary beauty.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says
in Arabic, that is the bounty of God.
Now what, when you hear that, what's the
that go back to?
What did we just say?
I'm gonna read the verse again.
Strive and race.
Strive and race one another to the forgiveness
of your Lord and to a heaven, a
paradise that is as vast as the heavens
and the earth, that was prepared for those
who believe in Allah and all of the
messengers.
That is the bounty of God.
What's the that going back to, y'all?
So there's two ways to look at it.
Most of the Mufassireen, they say that is
referring to Jannah.
And what this means is Jannah is God's
bounty.
Meaning, listen, there's a hadith, a beautiful hadith.
The Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said, no
one, I'll find the hadith, I just had
the hadith here, one second.
Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he said, no one
enters Jannah based on their actions.
SubhanAllah, Shaykh, you're talking about race towards good
deeds, do them, do all of these urgencies,
surround yourself.
But the hadith, Rasul, he said, one of
the Sahaba, SubhanAllah, this man was brilliant.
He said, Ya Rasulullah, I couldn't imagine the
courage.
He said, even you, Ya Rasulullah, he was
trying to figure out, is it our deeds
that don't get us or is it just
the fact that deeds don't get you in?
So he asked, Ya Rasulullah, you mean even
you?
The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, I never forgot
this hadith when I heard the words, this
part, the Prophet said, Allah said, me too,
unless and only if I will get Jannah,
if Allah just showers me with his mercy.
You know what this is saying?
You grinded, you worked hard, you were in
the race.
All of a sudden, guess what creeps up
in your heart?
I'm supposed to get Jannah.
I deserve it, yo.
40, 50 years praying, acting on all of
it, doing everything.
I'm supposed to get it.
I'm supposed to.
No.
If you count, if you measured your actions,
the God's blessings upon you, the hadith says
all of your ibadah doesn't equal a glass
of water.
And a lot of us got a lot
more than a glass of water.
That's why Omar was on his deathbed and
they're praising him.
They're like, you're a sahabi, you were this,
you were that.
He's at the end, he goes, I hope
I break even.
I hope I break even.
So I know what you're thinking.
You're like, Shaykh, then why are we doing
actions?
Why am I grinding?
My grinding is to prove how much I
love Allah and how much I want but
I only give it if he gives it
to me.
Can I give you an example?
There's a boy.
He comes home from school and he says,
Baba, I learned how to count.
I learned how to count.
I can count to 10.
And so Baba goes, all right, if you
can count, I'll take you to the candy
store and you can get candy.
And how high you can count, we'll get
that much candy for you.
The kid's hyped up.
The father takes him to the candy store.
There's a ammu selling candy.
And the ammu, he says, what do y
'all want?
And the father says, whatever he counts to,
give him that.
So the kid, he goes one, two, three,
four.
He counts up to 10.
And so the ammu reaches in and gives
him 10 candies.
Kid's lit.
He's happy.
Masha'Allah.
Goes home.
Next day, the kid's on his way home
and he figures, you know what?
I'm gonna just stop at the candy store
real quick.
I know how to get candy.
So he goes into the candy store, same
ammu.
He goes, ammu, salamu alaikum.
Ammu, walaikum salam.
He goes, one, two, three, four.
Ammu looks at him.
What you want?
What you want?
What's wrong?
What do you want?
He tries again.
Maybe he didn't hear me.
One, two, three, four.
He goes, oh, I get it.
You think you're supposed to get candy.
He goes, no, no, no, no.
Your counting doesn't get you candy.
Your actions don't get you Jannah.
Your counting pleased your dad and your dad
got the candy for you.
Your actions please, our actions please God.
That's what we do it for.
They don't, they're not, they don't gain you
Jannah.
What gains you Jannah is the mercy of
God only.
And that's what we're seeking is God's mercy.
But Allah uses the word fadl so you
don't feel like you deserve, you deserve it.
Like he owes it to you.
Zalika fadlullah.
Now, you know the word I asked y
'all, what does the zalika go back to?
Does it go to Jannah?
Everyone's like, yeah, zalika fadlullah.
That is the bounty of God.
That meaning Jannah.
You know what I think zalika goes back
to?
Sabiqo.
That if Allah places it in your heart
to grind and strive and race, that is
the greatest bounty Allah could give you.
You know, some people get on this, on
the grind of deen and then they start
seeing other people grinding in dunya and they're
like, man, what did I do?
You know what I'm trying to say?
I've seen kids that mashaAllah blessed them with
hizb, they were on the deen, they were
this, that, but they start looking at other
people and they're like, man, my man got
this, he got that.
And it's like, do you know what Allah
gave you?
Zalika fadlullah.
Zalika what?
Not Jannah.
What's the true fadl?
If Allah makes you of those who race
for Jannah, that's what makes, that's the zalika
for me.
Not the Jannah.
To live a life that's dedicated to racing
towards Jannah as much as I can.
Zalika fadlullah.
And guess what?
He gives it to whoever he wills.
Oh Allah, give us that.
Oh Allah, give us.
Can you imagine if we leave this gathering
and it's like, you know what?
I'm gonna have my dunya, but I'm not
grinding for it no more.
I'm grinding for akhira, that's it.
And if this thing doesn't fit into the
equation of akhira, I ain't even worried about
it.
But let me tell you something.
It ain't gonna be easy.
It's not gonna be easy.
It's not supposed to be easy.
Jannah ghali.
Jannah ghali jiddan.
Jannah is expensive.
It takes effort.
And so what does Allah say next though?
Allah says, because this grind ain't easy.
Guess what the next verse says?
ما أصاب من مصيبة ما أصاب من مصيبة
في الأرض ولا في أنفسكم إلا في كتاب
من قبل أن نبرأها إن ذلك على الله
يسير So beautiful.
First of all, the word musiba in Arabic
means calamity.
But the word in Arabic communicates something that
the English doesn't communicate.
Musiba in English, calamity, is random.
We're struck with a calamity.
Arabic, the word musiba is the same word
you use when you hit the bullseye, like
when you're shooting a bow and arrow, and
you hit right in the middle, you say
I hit the mark.
Musiba isn't random.
It's where it's supposed to be.
The word musiba is from asaba, salab, correct,
not random.
It's supposed to be right where it was.
That's important.
Because when you realize I'm going through this
for a reason, and this didn't randomly hit
me, it's a whole different feeling.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He
says, No calamity hits this earth.
No calamity hits this earth.
And no calamity hits you.
There was a moment where Rasulullah ﷺ, can
I see a pen?
A pen?
Not a real pen.
Or open a new page.
One day the Rasul ﷺ, he described calamities
in this dunya.
Rasulullah ﷺ one day, he drew a square,
right?
The Prophet ﷺ drew a, it's a wax
square, I'm sorry.
The Prophet ﷺ, he drew a square, okay?
It's really a bad square, don't make fun
of me, okay?
And then the Prophet ﷺ, he drew a
line in the middle of the square and
it extended out of the square.
It extended out of the square.
And then the Prophet ﷺ, he drew these
lines on the side like this.
He did, he drew this in the sand.
The Prophet ﷺ knew there's visual learners in
the ummah, mashaAllah, for those of us who
are educational teachers, SubhanAllah.
And then the Prophet ﷺ, he said, you
see this box here?
And I highly recommend you draw this diagram
after you learn this because it's a powerful
reminder.
He said, you see this whole square?
This is the life, your life.
This is your life.
And he said, you see this line?
This line coming out?
This represents you.
And you see what's coming outside of the
box?
That represents all your hopes.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do this.
Notice the hopes go well beyond the box.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that.
Yo, yo, life's going, yo, you can't, you
ain't here that long, yo.
You ain't here that long, yo.
And now what about these things on the
side though?
The Prophet ﷺ said, those are calamities that
come.
He said, some, one hits you, the next
one it will miss you.
One misses you, the next one will hit
you.
The Prophet ﷺ in this diagram, he's letting
us know that as you traverse through life,
these calamities are going to come.
They're unavoidable.
You miss one, the next one hits you.
It's part of this dunya.
But here's the deal, when you're on the
grind for akhira, when you're on the grind
for akhira, they come harder.
That's why the Prophet ﷺ, he said, the
Prophets are the one who get the hardest
calamities.
But this verse is powerful.
You know why?
Here's the deal.
The believer is supposed to be balanced, yo.
The believer is supposed to be balanced.
And what does that mean?
That means when the calamities hit, I keep
going.
And when it's times, I keep going.
I am not someone that fluctuates whether I
keep running on this race.
It doesn't matter what's happening around me.
I'm going to keep running.
But how?
How, Mikael?
Life is hard.
How am I going to keep running when
I lost my job or I lost a
loved one or I'm going through a hardship
emotionally?
How am I going to get through that?
Look at this verse.
Allah says, ma asaba min musiba.
First thing, look at the word musiba.
It's not by chance, Mikael.
That had to happen.
You couldn't have missed it.
It had to happen.
You know what's the worst thing?
Is when there was an investment opportunity that
you could have got in and then you
missed it.
But if you never knew about it, you'd
be like, yeah, whatever.
But when you knew about it, you'd be
like, oh, man, I had a chance.
I was talking to a brother in this
room who blew my mind with what I'm
about to tell you.
He was in a deal, multi-million dollar
deal.
I ain't going to tell you all that,
but I got it all in his face.
And something happened where he lost it.
He talked to me about it after.
He was smiling.
I'm like, bro, I know you being the
holocaust.
How are you smiling, bro?
He's like, it wasn't for me.
I'm like, facts, bro.
But the smile is what got me.
The smile, and that's the beautiful thing.
When you realize this was written ahead of
time and there was no way to escape
it, the smile comes.
You get the flat tire and you're like,
oh, you're angry versus like, yo, I guess
I ain't supposed to get there on time.
I tried my best.
I left early.
I did everything.
But to me, it was his smile, y
'all.
I told y'all about my sheikh Tamer
who lost Ilyas, the orphan at the age
of 12, eight, nine months ago.
Within 48 hours, Ilyas, 12 years old, dies.
The day before, perfectly fine.
This man cried.
But while he cried, he said, well, Allah,
I'm pleased with God.
I said, what kind of creature are you?
And I realized he's a believer.
He's a believer.
And he lost his 12-year-old adopted
son that he adopted when he was a
baby.
But when he, the day after, I was
with him the day after, and of course
he cried because the prophet cried when he
lost Ibrahim.
But he said, well, Allah, I'm not angry
with God.
I'm happy with God.
But it hurts.
That's all.
It hurts.
But I'm happy with God.
So you're on this path.
You're running, you're running, you're running.
The next verse, Allah says, مَا أَصَابَ مِن
مُصِيبَةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ SubhanAllah, when global things happen,
فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ Now that's me,
happening within my life, sickness, loss, difficulty.
Allah says, إِلَّا فِي كِتَابِ This was written
in a book before.
This was written already.
This was written already.
God's knowledge is perfect.
That doesn't mean we don't have free will.
We have free will.
But God's knowledge is perfect.
God's knowledge is perfect.
He knows everything.
مِن قَبْلِ أَنَّفْرَأَهَا Before it happens, it's in
a book already.
You know why this is so beautiful?
It's because there's a hadith where the prophet
ﷺ is speaking to يَا غُلَامِ إِنِّي أُؤَلِّمُكَ
كَلِمَاتٍ Mu'az.
Mu'az.
He's sitting with Mu'az, young boy, and
they're riding.
He's riding shotgun.
And he's alone with the prophet ﷺ.
He's radeef, meaning he's riding shotgun with him
on the camel right next to him.
And the prophet is riding with him and
he says, يَا غُلَامِ إِنِّي أُؤَلِّمُكَ كَلِمَاتٍ I
want to teach you some words.
What?
Okay.
اِحْفَذِ اللَّهِ يَحْفَذْكَ اِحْفَذِ اللَّهِ He says, protect
God.
God will protect you.
Protect God.
You'll find Him wherever you turn.
Whenever you need help, only ask God.
Only ask God.
Don't pick up the phone call no one
else.
Ask God first.
Then he said, and know this.
Remember, whenever the Qur'an or the prophet
says, know something, it's going to be on
the exam.
It means you got to review it.
You got to review it.
He says, and know that if the entire
world gathered to give you something that God
didn't write for you, they could never give
it to you.
And if the entire world gathered to do
something against you that God didn't write against
you, they could never.
The whole room, the whole ummah, the whole
world.
The prophet said to Muaz as a young
boy, I need you to know this in
life.
No one can harm you except God's permission.
No one can benefit you.
I love benefit because we think there's a
lot of people that could benefit us.
And the hadith is like, nope, not unless
it's written for you.
So what does this say?
Beautiful.
Allah says, that's easy for God to have
all this written because past, present, future time
is a creation of God.
Writing everything that will happen to the day
of judgment.
That's easy for God.
But here's where we're going to end.
Why did he tell us this?
Look at this verse, verse number 23.
I'm telling you this so that you do
not become distraught, broken, heartbroken, sad over what
you lose and don't get.
Whatever misses you.
Can I make it simple?
The next time you're making something, coffee, a
drink, and it spills, in that moment, I
want you to, for a moment, be able
to go, oh, it wasn't written.
That wasn't mine.
Because if you could do it with a
glass of milk, as they say, don't cry
over it, you'll be able to do it
with the harder things, too.
But if you break down over a glass
of milk, oh, boy.
No, you understand there's a process of building
your tawakkul, building that ability to tap into
that knowledge.
And you got to start with the small
stuff.
You got to start with the small stuff,
the small inconveniences.
Allah says, I'm telling you this so that
you do not become distraught, broken down over
what misses you.
But here's the other side.
And so that you don't exalt yourself over
what you get.
See, there's two extremes that we don't want
to be in.
When I miss what I thought I was
supposed to get, I become broken, extremely depressed,
very low, extremely low.
And then when I get what I want,
oh, I'm elated, I exalt myself.
This isn't the way of the believer.
There's a beautiful hadith where the Prophet ﷺ,
he said, Ta'isa abd al-dinar wa
abd al-dirham.
Rasulullah ﷺ, he said, Ta'isa abd al
-dinar wa abd al-dirham.
Amazing hadith.
The Prophet ﷺ said, Cursed be the servant
of the dinar and dirham, dollar and cents,
wa abd al-qateefa and the servant of
clothes.
Look what he says next.
In u'tia radia.
If he gets it, he's happy.
But if he doesn't get, he doesn't fulfill
his side of the bargain.
If Allah doesn't give him, he doesn't pray.
If Allah doesn't give him, he's not giving
charity.
What is this saying?
Regardless of what you're getting for you or
is happening against you, you have to stay
the course.
And this verse is beautiful because it's saying,
don't get so sad when you miss out
on things and don't get so elated when
things go the right way.
It was all written before.
Because what happens if you're too happy at
the blessing, and I hate to use the
word happy, isn't it?
The word is exuberant almost, exalting oneself.
When you get your blessings, what's the first
thing you should do?
Gratitude.
Gratitude.
This isn't me.
This is Allah.
And when the hardship comes, what's the first
thing you say?
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah ala kulliha.
So this verse, subhanAllah, I'm telling you that
all of this is written so that you
do not become so broken when you miss
out on things.
When hardships come, you don't become broken by
them.
وَلَا تَفْرَحُ بِمَا آتَاكُمْ And you're not over
-exalted and so like losing your mind happy
when things go your way, your balance.
You're like alhamdulillah.
وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ And indeed
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not love
the person that is arrogant.
Arrogant.
I was supposed to get these things and
مُخْتَال مُخْتَال from خِيال is they think big
of themselves.
فَخُورٍ and every boasting person.
These are beautiful verses, brothers and sisters, and
in these verses Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
after reminding us the reality of the dunya
which is the shackle that stops us from
this race.
Immediately after that he says سَابِقُوا Get up
and run.
Run to your akhirah.
Run to Allah because time is short.
We don't have a lot of time.
Run to God's forgiveness.
Run to Jannah and realize it's already been
prepared for you.
And guess what?
That ability to get up and run is
the greatest bounty that God can bestow upon
you.
And when you're running you got to understand
it's going to be hardships.
There's no way of getting around hardships.
They will be there.
But here's what you have to understand.
No calamity, no hardship comes except that it
was already written.
It was already written.
And the way that you will survive calamities
is realized is that your darkest day was
the day that Allah was giving you the
most light.
The darkest day was the day Allah when
you look in hindsight you'll realize that was
the day that Allah made me right there.
I said it weeks ago I'm gonna repeat
it.
Yusuf alayhi salatu wasalam he was called up
to a position of economic holding the economics
of the country.
And the Aziz, the king at that time
he needed someone that could solve the economic
problems.
Yusuf alayhi salam he goes I can help
you.
But everyone says well where did he learn
this from?
He learned this when he was a slave
in the house of the Aziz.
His moment of slavery was where he learned
the lesson that would make him and lead
him to being the king that he became.
Your darkest moment is the moment that Allah
is making you.
But if you don't allow that to happen
and you don't allow yourself to see the
blessing you will miss out on your brightest
day.
So may Allah give us Tawfiq.
We'll stop here verse number 23.
We probably have like two more sessions of
this surah inshallah because there's about seven more
verses remaining and then I guess we'll go
to another surah after this inshallah.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
Tawfiq.
May Allah give us love of the Quran.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us
to surround ourselves with people who are striving
for akhira.
May Allah allow us to surround ourselves with
people who are striving for akhira.
May Allah take out of our hearts a
love of this dunya.
May Allah take out of our hearts a
love of this dunya.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bring ease
and comfort to our brothers and sisters around
the world khususan, Palestine and Sudan and all
of the places that Muslims are suffering.
We ask you ya Allah to send down
your aafiyah upon them.
Ya Allah we ask you to strengthen our
hearts and give us a love of your
kalam and connect our hearts to it.
Salah is in four minutes inshallah.