Mikaeel Smith – Forged- Reflection on Surah Hadid – Class 1
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the difficulties of Oppression and the importance of repeating "what do we say" and "what do we say when someone dies" phrases. They stress the need to say these phrases multiple times when someone dies.
AI: Summary ©
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakatuhu.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
As-salatu was-salamu ala Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina
wa Mawlana Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi
wa salam.
Allahumma inna nas'aluka hubbak wa hubba man
yuhibbuk wa hubba amalin yukaribuna ila hubbik ya
arham ar-Rahimeen.
We ask Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala for
His love.
We ask Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala to
give us the love of those actions that
will gain His love.
We ask Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala to
give us the love of His love.
His love over all other loves.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
In our final sessions in His footsteps, we
were going over the advice that the Prophet
salallahu alayhi wa sallam had given us.
And the Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in
his final khutbah he said that I'm going
to leave behind me something that if you
hold on to it you won't go astray.
You'll be on track.
You'll be okay.
As long as you hold on to it.
And in some hadith he said there's two
things I'm going to leave you.
In some hadith he said there's one thing
I'm going to leave you.
But both of those hadith, what he said
he would leave us was the kitab of
Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala.
The book of Allah.
And the idea he was teaching us is
that if you hold on to the book
of Allah, if you study the book of
Allah, you hold on to it, you have
a love for the book of Allah Subhanu
wa Ta'ala, then you won't go astray,
you'll always be on track.
And so, after concluding in his footsteps, I
had this desire, I just felt like we
all need to get closer to the book
of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala.
Spend time just learning the book of Allah
Subhanu wa Ta'ala.
Thinking about the meanings of the Quran, connecting
on a deeper level to it.
And there's a hadith I want to begin
tonight with.
Because this hadith can set our intention for
all of the sessions for our study of
surah al-Hadeed.
Or forged.
Just kind of epic, low key, but whatever.
Rasulullah ﷺ he said, مَجْتَمَعَ قَوْمٌ فِي بَيْتٍ
مِنْ بُيُوتِ اللَّهِ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَيَتَدَارَسُونَهُ بَيْنَهُمْ
إِلَّا نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّكِينَةُ وَغَشِيَتْهُمُ الرَّحْمَةُ وَحَفَتْهُمُ
الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَذَكَرَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي مَنْ عِنْدَهُ The Prophet
ﷺ says, No group gathers together in a
house from the houses of Allah.
A masjid.
يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ Reciting the Book of Allah.
وَيَتَدَارَسُونَهُ Studying, talking about it.
Reflecting on the Book of Allah.
إِلَّا نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّكِينَةُ Except that when they
do that, سَكِينَةُ comes down.
Tranquility comes to that gathering.
Tranquility comes to that gathering.
إِلَّا نَزَلَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّكِينَةُ وَغَشِيَتْهُمُ الرَّحْمَةُ And they're
all covered with God's mercy.
As the hadith we've read many times, the
hadith tells us that the Prophet ﷺ, he
says that the angels go back and forth
talking to Allah, what's happening in that gathering?
Ya Allah, they're studying your Qur'an, they're
asking for your mercy, all of these things.
And then Allah says, be my witness that
all of them are forgiven.
And the angels go, but ya Allah, there's
one of them that's there, they didn't even
really want to be there.
They just came, they just came through.
And Allah ﷻ says, this person is forgiven
too, why?
هُمْ جُلَسَىٰ لَا يَشْقَىٰ جِلِيسُهُمْ These are such
blessed gatherings, that just being in the gathering
of where the Qur'an is being recited,
talked about, reflected on, is a source of
mercy.
وَحَفَتْهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةِ And these are gatherings in which
the angels surround these gatherings, because of the
blessed task that we are doing.
So the purpose of this session is to
connect to the meaning of Allah.
To reflect on the book of Allah and
get lost in the meaning of the Qur
'an.
Allah ﷻ tells us that this Qur'an
was revealed, كِتَابًا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ This is a
book that we revealed to you, It's blessed.
لِيَتْدَبَّرُ آيَاتِهِ So that you reflect on it.
So this is heavy because تَدَبَّر is the
main function we should be doing with the
Qur'an.
And تَدَبَّر means just to reflect on what
the meaning means.
To go over the translation of it, understand
what it is that Allah ﷻ is saying,
and reflect on that.
Ibn Abbas, he used to say, For me
to recite إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَضْلُ زِلْزَالَهَا Or قَارِيَة
These short surahs that many of us know
since we were children.
These short surahs, he says, For me to
recite one of these small surahs and reflect
on it is more beloved than to recite
the entire Surah Al-Baqarah.
That's heavy because a lot of us when
we come to the Qur'an we're like,
I don't know a lot of it.
I'm like, it don't matter how much you
know, you know some of it.
And it doesn't matter how much if you
realize this is the Kalam of Allah ﷻ.
If you realize these are Allah's words, it
doesn't matter how much.
Ibn Abbas in this narration, he's saying, It
could be, إِذَا زُلْزِلَتِ الْأَضْلُ زِلْزَالَهَا And this
is why some of the early generation, they
would spend the whole night reciting one single
verse.
Because they would stand in prayer and they
would recite it and they would be thinking
about what it means and they would just
be reflecting on the beauty of it and
their connection to it and they would spend
the whole night reciting one verse.
So it's not about how much.
Over the next eight weeks or so as
we do this Surah, it's about connecting to
one verse that you walk away and you're
like, that's my verse.
I hear Allah in that verse.
That's my verse right there.
So may Allah ﷻ give us a deep
understanding of His book.
May He give all of us that connection
with the Kalam of Allah.
The connection with Surah Al-Hadeed.
So let's talk about this Surah.
My wife asked me, she said, I gotta
be careful because she's actually here today so
behave.
She asked me, she said, why you choose
this Surah?
I was like, I don't know, I love
it.
She's like, nah, you can't say that.
Needs to be more.
And you know why I love Surah Al
-Hadeed?
Surah Al-Hadeed is a Surah that was
revealed in Medina.
So what we understand that there are some
Surahs revealed in Mecca, some Surahs revealed in
Medina.
And the Surahs revealed in Mecca, they were
all about building up strength of Iman.
They were about making us strong.
Ready to deal with the difficulties that being
a Muslim would bring.
And most of the stuff in Medina is
about rulings and how to behave and how
to carry ourselves and how to conduct ourselves
so on and so forth, but not Hadeed.
Hadeed comes as a Medini Surah with a
Meccan flavor.
Because it's heavy.
It's heavy because Surah Al-Hadeed, from Surah
Al-Hadeed to Surah Tahrim, there's 10 Surahs.
And these are 10 Surahs that are all
from Medina period.
All from Medina period.
And this section of the Quran is the
most collected place of Medina Surahs back to
back.
Even though it's one of the shortest.
And all of them, all of them serve
as a wake up call.
And the reason why Hadeed was revealed, this
is why Hadeed was revealed.
It was about five years after Hijrah where
Islam started to spread now.
A lot of the hard grinding of the
early days of Mecca, gone.
A lot of the hard grinding of the
early days of Medina, gone.
It started to get a little easier.
And so when it started to get a
little easier, people started to let up a
little bit.
They started to take it easy a little
bit.
That grind mentality is like, we can chill
a little bit.
Why?
Because there's all these new Muslims coming in.
We grind it for 10 years.
Let the youngins pick up slack.
So what happened at this time when these
10 Surahs were revealed, this was a time
when everyone started to relax a little bit.
The feeling for Jihad had come down.
Oh, they can go out and fight.
The feeling for spending in the path of
Allah went down.
The love of Dunya started to creep back
up.
In fact, there's a beautiful narration in Abu
Dawood that really beautifully puts this together.
Uqba ibn Amr, he narrates this moment.
And this is after the Prophet passed away.
It was during the conquest of Constantinople.
And Abu Ayyub, he's a great Sahabi, he's
a great companion of the Prophet.
He's present.
And they're fighting.
It's Jihad, they're fighting.
And there's this one Muslim who just picks
up his sword and he runs into the
thick of the battle.
And there's some younger people there, they're looking
at him and they're like, man, this guy's
crazy.
Has he not read the Quran?
The Quran says, The Quran says, don't throw
yourself into destruction.
Don't throw yourself into destruction.
Why is he doing that?
Abu Ayyub was present.
Abu Ayyub has been around for so long.
He said, hold up, hold up.
I lived when this verse was revealed.
Can I tell you what this verse is
about?
They said, please, tell us.
He said, Ayyuhannas.
He said, listen up, everyone.
You guys are saying this verse, but you
don't realize what this verse is about.
This verse was revealed when Allah started to
give us strength.
And the OGs that had been Muslim for
a long time, we started to relax.
We started to chill.
We started to say, you know what?
We don't got to go out all the
time.
Let the youngins come in and struggle.
We don't got to give so much sadaqa.
Let other people come in and give sadaqa.
And that was when Allah revealed the verse,
do not throw yourself into destruction.
What does it mean?
The path of struggle was the thing keeping
you on track.
Once you stop grinding, that's the path of
destruction.
And so the idea behind these surahs, all
of them are wake up calls.
Throughout all of these surahs, it's what's wrong
with you?
Wake up.
Isn't it time?
Wake up.
All of these surahs are serving as a
wake up call for the believers that already
believed, but started to relax, started to take
it easy.
And so that's why I want to study
this surah.
It's a beautiful surah in which Allah teaches
us that the struggle is the way to
Allah.
And you got to keep grinding, no matter
what, you got to keep grinding.
And so long that you keep grinding, you'll
keep getting closer to Allah.
But the moment you lay back and you
start chilling, the Quran says, don't throw yourself
into destruction by stopping the grind.
So these 10 surahs are special.
Every night before the Prophet would go to
sleep, he would recite five surahs.
They're called the musabbihat.
All of them begin with the phrase sabbaha,
and I'm going to talk about this in
detail.
Every night he would recite these surahs, five
of them, the first of which is surah
Hadid, which means iron.
The Prophet ﷺ, he would recite this every
night because it's a wake up call.
And as we go through this surah over
the next five to eight weeks, you'll realize
how powerful this surah actually is and the
message that it has for us.
Let's begin.
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم Before we start
reading Quran, we always start with أعوذ بالله.
We always start with أعوذ بالله, which means
I seek refuge with Allah from Shaytan.
And the idea is I want to come
to the Quran with a clean heart.
I don't want the noise because the noise
from my day, the noise from my boss,
the noise from, what's her name in HR
again?
Yeah, Becky, exactly.
All that noise, I can't bring that to
the Quran.
I can't bring that to the book of
Allah.
So before we begin, إذا قرأت القرآن فاستعد
بالله.
Allah ﷻ says, when you come to this
book, you need to clean the slate.
So don't just run up to it, open
it up, start reading.
The Prophet taught us, start off أعوذ بالله.
Let me seek refuge.
Let me get rid of everything else.
Because the reality is the Quran will only
bring out what's inside of you.
If you have perversions, you'll see that in
here and you'll justify it through this.
If you have sicknesses in your heart, you'll
justify them through this.
يُذِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا This guides
many people and misguides many people.
So you bring a clean heart.
We start off by saying أعوذ بالله من
الشيطان الرجيم.
And then we say, بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم.
In the name of Allah.
They say the whole Quran, the message of
it can come back to Surah Fatiha.
Like the whole Quran, if you had to
tell one person you walk in by a
person on the street, you meet him, hey
what's your name?
My name's Josh.
How you doing?
What's going on?
He's like, yo I heard about that Quran,
can you summarize it for me?
What do you tell him?
Five pillars?
Nah bruh.
Fatiha.
Fatiha.
That's the summary.
But the scholars they say the summary of
Fatiha is in Bismillah.
Because the believer does everything through Bismillah.
Everything through Bismillah.
You go into the gym?
Where's my gym bros?
Bismillah.
You go into work?
Bismillah.
You walk into your house?
Bismillah.
Bismillah means I seek the help of Allah
in whatever action I'm doing.
I need the help of Allah so I'm
opening this book for guidance.
And I won't find guidance unless I have
Allah's help.
So we begin everything by saying Bismillah.
My teacher used to say if you don't
know any other dhikr Subhanallah, la ilaha illallah,
wahdahu la shirika, la lahul mulku wal amin.
You know what I mean?
They get long.
If you don't know any other dhikr the
one way you can get close to Allah
is just use Bismillah all the time.
Bismillah.
Bismillah.
Bismillah.
Bismillah.
Bismillah.
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim.
Let's begin inshallah.
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala He says Sabbaha
lillahi ma fi samawati wa ma fi al
-ard wa huwa al-aziz wa al-hakim
Sabbaha Everything Everything in the heavens and the
earth glorifies Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Sabbaha lillah.
The word Sabbaha in Arabic it means when
you when you declare something is free from
any fault or evil when you say like
anything evil or bad that people attribute to
God Subhanallah.
You say Subhanallah.
What does that mean?
He's distant from it.
The word Sabbaha in Arabic actually means to
go beyond.
So what you're saying is Allah is far
from everything they ascribe to God.
Every hardship, every difficulty, every evil all of
these things Sabbaha lillah.
Allah is free from all of these things
that are attributed to Him.
Sabbaha lillah.
Glorified is Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Glorifies Allah everything.
The Quran says ma fi samawat It says
everything.
Now this is deep you know because it
doesn't say everyone in the heavens and the
earth.
There are some verses that say everyone in
the heavens and earth glorifies Allah but this
verse doesn't say that.
It says everything.
You know what the scholars they say?
They say that everything that God has created
is glorifying Allah in some fashion or some
form.
Everything.
Every particle of matter.
Every rock every tree.
Everything that exists is at some level glorifying
Allah.
And that's profound because they say there's two
ways it glorifies Allah.
It's either itself glorifying Allah or it leads
you to Allah and you glorify Allah.
You see the mountains you're looking at them.
There's my man Muaz we've been missing you
bruh.
You see those mountains you're looking at them
and the moment you see them you say
subhanallah.
The one who created this.
The one who made this beautiful thing.
You say subhanallah.
Everything is doing indication back to Allah.
So this is powerful because the prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam he taught us that everything around
us is glorifying Allah.
You know how that connects to me?
Am I in unison with everything that God
has created?
Am I the only one not glorifying Allah?
I'm walking around the school.
I'm walking outside.
There's trees.
There's grass.
There's pavement.
There's rocks.
There's all of this creation of God and
Allah says Beautiful verse.
Allah says there is nothing that exists except
that it's glorifying Allah but you just don't
understand how it glorifies Allah.
Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam Abu Dharghafari he says
that one time I was sitting with the
prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and we were in
a halka.
We were in a halka.
We were sitting in a circle and the
prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam he had pebbles in
his hand.
And he says We heard the pebbles in
his hand start to glorify Allah.
We heard the subhanallah coming from the rocks.
I wrote this with the heart and mind.
The miracle is not that the rocks glorify
because the rocks always glorify.
The miracle is in this moment we were
able to hear it.
So what's beautiful to me as a believer
is I'm being reminded that everything is already
praising Allah.
Are you going to get in where you
fit in?
Are you going to be praising Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in every moment conscious of
Allah?
So the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam has these
rocks in his hands and they begin to
glorify.
Abu Dharghafari he's like I'm watching this.
He says and the prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam
took him and he went to his right
and he put him in the hand of
Abu Bakr.
And Abu Bakr holds him in his hand
and they're glorifying Allah in his hand.
Abu Dhar is like we're all there.
We're all listening to this miracle right in
front of us.
He passes them to Umar.
He passes them to Uthman.
He passes them to Ali radiyallahu ta'ala
an.
They said the whole halaqa we heard these
rocks glorifying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Everything around us glorifying Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
This brings another level to your spirituality y
'all.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam in another hadith
he said No jinn, no person, no rock,
no anything hears the adhan except on the
day of judgment that thing will glorify Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that I heard this
person call the adhan.
I heard this person call the adhan.
Like the believer is walking around with another
level of consciousness.
Let me make this y'all.
When I first converted like and I found
out about like angels and jinn I felt
like a whole another portal of reality had
been opened up to me.
That people were sleeping on.
Unaware of.
You feel me David?
That's my guy.
Like you're walking around and everyone's just in
their world going here and there and I'm
like there's two angels on this dude's back
right there y'all.
You know I would see a car driving
past.
We're in the hood like beating the music
and I'm like man I can see the
shaitans right behind them y'all.
I felt like I could see it.
I felt like I was on another level
of operation like I'm seeing things on a
whole another thing.
And here this verse is telling us everything
is glorifying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So this the water molecules inside here are
glorifying Allah but the Quran says you just
don't understand how it glorifies.
You're just not on the wavelength to be
able to hear that level of glorification of
God but it's all doing it.
That's profound.
The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam he told
us that every morning and evening the places
of the earth they call to one another
like the places of the earth call to
one another and they say has anyone walked
on you and glorified you today?
Because somebody glorified Allah.
Has anyone walked on you and glorified Allah
today?
Meaning they boast to each other whether or
not they witnessed our glorification of Allah or
not.
So why is this so heavy?
The beauty is the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
sallam says when the believer dies the earth
cries because the earth misses the dhikr that
that believer used to do walking on it.
I had a teacher he used to say
when you take a flight you should do
a lot of dhikr.
You know why right?
Because that space where you're flying through in
that moment of time maybe nobody ever said
a subhanallah at that particular spot and that
spot's going to testify only for you on
the day of judgment.
Only for you.
Only for you.
That spot in time and space right there
is glorifying for you.
Ya Allah on this day Haytham said subhanallah
on me and nobody ever said subhanallah.
No one ever said that on me because
that plane route how many people fly it
yo?
It's a level this idea that everything You
know why else I like this?
Because the believer remembering Allah amongst those who
don't remember Allah is very hard.
When you're at work when you're at school
when you're in an environment where nobody's remembering
Allah it's hard to remember Allah.
But when you remember hold up everything around
me is remembering Allah.
These trees as the wind blows the leaves
are glorifying Allah.
The prophet said the one who remembers Allah
amongst those who are heedless are like those
who are fighting in a battle while everyone
else is running away.
It can be hard to be a rememberer
of Allah when it feels like everyone around
you is not.
But when we look around and we look
at the trees and we look at the
stones and we look at the birds and
we look at everything around there there's this
realization that I'm in line with everything else.
Because I'm remembering my creator like all of
these rest of this creation.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says what?
Sabaha lillah everything.
So I told y'all the word sabaha
is to say Allah is far from free
from every fault, every deficiency.
So I had a teacher he used to
say I need y'all to stick with
me I'm gonna go a little deeper.
The word hamd when you say alhamdulillah you're
attributing all good to Allah.
Right?
Something happens you say alhamdulillah you're attributing all
good to Allah.
And when you say subhanallah you're disassociating you're
disassociating all negative and bad from Allah.
Subhanallah.
I had a teacher he was teaching us
the hadith subhanallahi wabi hamdihi.
He said do you know what the effect
of this saying these words is on you?
When you say them alhamdulillah all good is
for God Allah puts beautiful qualities within you.
And when you say subhanallah freeing all negativity
all evil from God Allah cleans you through
that subhanallah.
Heavy, heavy, heavy.
Subhanallah sabaha lillahi ma fis samawati wa ma
fil ab Everything is praising Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala glorifying Allah in the heavens and
the earth.
wahuwa al azizul hakeem wahuwa al azizul hakeem
We come across these beautiful names of Allah.
One of the best one of the most
special blessings that Allah has blessed us with
through this deen is the asma'ul husna
the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
It's hard for you to understand because you've
known them for so long.
But coming into Islam and you ask someone
who is Allah?
What is Allah?
And they say oh what is Allah?
Let me teach you.
ar-rahman ar-rahim al-malik al-qudus
as-salam al-mu'min al-muhayn You start
to get a better picture, understanding of who
Allah is.
These names are not they're to be learned
not just the Arabic.
They're to be understood and they're to be
witnessed.
Imam Ghazali says with every name of Allah
there's three levels you have to work with.
He says the lowest level is just to
know what it means.
Today we're looking at the word aziz.
Aziz means the almighty.
We'll talk about it in a minute.
He says the first level is just to
know the name.
He says the second level is to call
upon Allah through that name.
To call on al-aziz.
He says the next level is for certain
names to bring the quality of God within
you.
ar-rahman ar-rahim What are you though?
Are you working on that within yourself?
These names of Allah are the key to
knowing who Allah is.
And it's beautiful because in this particular verse
Allah combines two names al-aziz al-hakim.
What is aziz?
Aziz is almighty.
In 90% of the Quran where the
word aziz comes it always comes with a
quality of beauty.
It always comes with a quality of the
all-wise.
The all-knower.
The merciful.
The forgiving.
The generous.
Wherever the word aziz the mighty comes, 90
% of the Quran it always comes with
a quality that in our mind balances out
that aziz.
He's not just aziz he's almighty.
He's hakim.
All-wise.
He's not just aziz but with that he's
most merciful.
There's only a few places where Allah says
he's aziz and qawiy.
Aziz, almighty and strong.
Almighty and powerful.
One of the scholars they highlighted the beauty
of this is that we realize that one
attribute is always accompanied with the other attribute
and we have to see them together at
the same time.
He's not just almighty he's all-wise.
Let's look at this word aziz though.
We have to connect to them.
We have to understand.
We have to interact with these words.
What does aziz mean?
It means the one of true honor.
It means the one of might.
How do I interact with aziz?
I humble myself before aziz.
I humble myself before aziz.
The prophet he once said to Umar ibn
Khattab whoever seeks honor through people Allah will
disgrace you.
As a ummah we don't seek honor through
anyone except Allah.
That's how we connect to aziz.
Allah says whoever wants honor, whoever wants might
and honor then all might and honor comes
from Allah.
Izzah is from Allah.
And that's something as a ummah that we
want now more than ever is izzah.
Oh Allah give us izzah, give us honor.
But you don't get honor except you know
who the one who is aziz.
And you humble yourself to aziz.
And you know he is the one that
truly is aziz.
Jalla jalaluhu.
The prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam has taught us
to connect to these names.
Understand these names.
See the balance of these names.
Al hakeem.
How do you connect to hakeem?
No matter what happens, you don't get into
the job you wanted, the school you wanted,
the whatever you wanted.
And those moments you have to remember who
al aziz al hakeem.
All wise.
Nothing is happening except through the wisdom of
God.
Except through Allah's wisdom, everything.
Right now we're going through something so difficult
for the ummah.
How do you psychologically and spiritually get through
this moment?
Al aziz al hakeem.
The wisdom and the might of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Let's move forward.
Sorry.
To him belongs umm, the kingdom.
The dominion of the heavens and the earth.
Ironically, having just gone through this political shift,
power and kingdom, who's in control is something
that's on everyone's mind.
But as Muslims we have this deeper understanding
of power and control.
Lahul mulku al samawati wal ab.
True dominion belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
We never forget that.
Yuhyi wa yumeet.
He gives life.
And he gives death.
Wa huwa ala kulli shay'in qadeer.
And he is able to do all things.
Qadeer.
Nothing is impossible for Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
Huwa al awwalu.
This is a verse, subhanallah.
This beginning of surah al hadid, I love
it because all of these names of Allah
are coming together at one time.
We just looked at the name of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala aziz, almighty.
We looked at the name of Allah al
hakeem, the all wise.
Together they remind us that his might is
there with his wisdom as well.
And now we move forward.
Huwa al awwalu wal akhiru wal zahiru wal
batin.
Wa huwa bi kulli shay'in alim.
Huwa al awwalu.
He is the first.
Before everything.
Nothing is before him.
Meaning his, everything else, it has dependent existence.
Everything is dependent upon him.
There is nothing prior to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
He is first, nothing is before him.
For me, the way I connect to that,
in the morning when I wake up, huwa
al awwalu.
Huwa al awwalu.
When you first wake up, what's the dua
you read?
Alhamdulillah al ladhi huwa al awwalu.
And as I'm ending the day, huwa al
akhiru.
Alhamdulillah al ladhi.
Ahyana ba'da ma'tama wa ilayhi nushur.
And when we go to sleep, Bismillah ya
mutu ahya.
Huwa al awwalu wal akhiru.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is before everything.
Allah is after everything.
He is the last.
There's nothing before him.
There's nothing after him.
Huwa al awwalu wal akhir.
Wa huwa zahir.
Last, I want to talk about this.
What does it mean huwa al akhiru?
He is the last.
Imam Ghazali, he says that when you're seeking
knowledge, the last stage of knowledge is when
you know Allah.
Huwa al akhir, he, reaching him is the
last level of your knowledge.
That's the last stage of all the knowledge
of deen you'll ever get, is you know
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He's the goal of all knowledge.
Huwa al akhir, huwa al awwalu wal akhiru.
Wa huwa zahiru wal batin.
This is a heavy one.
The word zahir and batin are heavy.
Zahir, it means manifest.
Zahir is like when something is clear everywhere.
So it's as if everywhere you look, without
any misunderstanding, but everywhere you look, you see
the signs of God.
So wherever you turn, you're seeing the signs
of Allah in everything.
When you develop that in your heart, you
see Him everywhere.
Wa huwa zahir.
Huwa zahir.
Wa huwa al batin.
This is the crazy part.
Batin is the opposite of zahir.
And batin means that which is hidden.
Like the deeper you go, you go batin.
Zahir is outside, batin is internal.
And so the Prophet ﷺ, he used to
read this du'a.
He used to read this du'a.
He used to say, Allahumma, Lord of the
heavens and the earth, Lord of the throne.
Rabba kulla shay, Lord of everything.
The one who sent down the Torah and
Injil and the Quran.
The one who splits the seed.
La ilaha illa ant.
A'udhu bika.
I seek refuge with you from every evil
thing out there.
And then he would say, Ant al-awwalu.
O Allah, ant al-awwalu.
You are first.
Laysa qabalaka shay'un.
There's nothing before you.
Wa anta ya Allah al-akhiru.
Laysa ba'taka shay.
I want to stop here for a moment.
The sahaba used to sit down whenever they
felt their iman getting rusty.
This surah is called Hadid.
And one of the common themes of this
surah is that as time goes on, you
start to get rusty.
Your iman starts to get rusty.
So the sahaba, they used to sit down
together, and they used to say, ta'al
nu'min sa'atan.
They used to say, yo, Muaz, come on,
let's sit down, let's believe for a little
bit.
They used to say, yo, yo, come, let's
sit down.
Abdullah, come, let's sit down.
Let's believe.
Jadid imanana.
Let's refresh our faith.
One of the, how do we refresh the
faith?
It's about talking about Allah.
It's about remembering who Allah is.
A lot of us, if we were to
sit down and we were to break out
into groups, and I was just like, yo,
bro, talk to your partner about Allah.
We wouldn't know what to say.
The Quran is connecting us to who Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is.
And the rasul in this dua, he's talking
about the greatness of Allah.
But we've made these things so aadi, so
normal.
So the Prophet, salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he
used to say, ya Allah, anta al-awwal
laisa qabalaka ash-shay.
Ya Allah, you are first.
There's nothing before you.
Wa anta al-akhiru laisa ba'taka ash-shay.
You are the last, ya Allah, there's nothing
after you.
Nothing after you.
When everything is destroyed, you will still exist.
That's Allah.
Wa anta al-zahir.
You are the manifest.
Nothing is more apparent than you.
Nothing is more there than you.
Wa anta al-ba'tin.
And you are the most hidden.
The deeper you go into anything, you'll find
the signs of Allah in that thing.
Yes, when you look at the mountain, you
see Allah, the sign to God.
But the deeper you go into each particle
of that mountain, the deeper you go, the
more you see signs of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
laisa doonaka shay.
Then he would say, faqdi anad-dain.
O Allah, remove any debt that we have.
And O Allah, remove us from poverty.
Sabaha lillah, everything in the heavens and the
earth glorifies Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He is almighty.
We seek might through Him.
We seek honor through Him.
Respond to the verses.
As we're reading them, I want you to
respond.
If you hear the word, connect to that
word.
Huwa al-Azizu.
He is almighty.
He has all honor.
What do you say when you hear that?
O Allah, give me honor.
Give this ummah honor, Ya al-Aziz.
Huwa al-Hakeemu.
He is all wise.
O Allah, I don't understand why we go
through what we go through.
But I know You're Hakeem, Ya Allah.
Lahu mulku al-samawati wal-ad.
O Allah, I know the kingdom belongs to
You.
I know all of the dominion of the
heavens and earth belongs to You, Ya Allah.
Give me dominion over my own nafs.
Give me dominion over my own, give me
control over my own nafs.
Yuhyi wa yumeet.
You know, whenever we read the verses, yuhyi
wa yumeet, we always think of physical life
and physical death.
But the Quran, and especially surah Hadith, speaks
about a different type of life and death.
The death of the heart.
And the life of the heart.
Sometimes the hearts die.
We can't cry anymore, we can't connect, we
feel dead in our hearts.
Allah reminds us, yuhyi wa yumeet, He gives
life, He gives death.
So when I read yuhyi wa yumeet, I
say, O Allah, give my heart life.
Give my heart life.
Give my heart life.
Wa yumeet, wa huwa ala kulli shay'in
qadeer.
And He, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, has
power over everything.
Huwa al-awwalu, Ya Allah, I begin everything
with You.
You're before everything.
You're my first priority.
Before everything, anta al-awwal.
Huwa al-akhiru, wa al-akhiru, He is
the last, He's after everything.
He's the first and the last.
Wa al-zahiru, He's the apparent, I see
Him in everything around me.
Wa al-batin, and the deeper I go,
He is the hidden, meaning the deeper I
go.
One of the scholars, they say, they said
that, zahir, ya'ani, they quoted the verse,
aqraba, He's closer to you than your jugular
vein.
He's closer to you than your jugular vein.
Wa huwa bi kulli shay'in alim, and
it is He, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
that knows everything.
When you're going through hardship, if the one
who has, in order to truly trust in
someone, there's three qualities they have to have.
They have to have compassion, they have to
know what you're going through, and they have
to have the ability to remove it.
Allah reminded us in this verse who He
was.
He says, I am qadeer, I have the
ability over everything.
And then what did He remind us right
now?
Alim, I know what's going on.
I'm aware of everything happening.
Nothing is happening without me knowing it.
That's why we know it's His hikmah.
huwa allathee khalaqa al-samawati wa al-ardha
fee sitati ayyamin thumma istawa'a alal arsh
He is the one that created the heavens
and the earth in six days.
So coming from Christianity, the reason these verses
always hit me is because we had read
this in the Bible, that God created the
heavens and the earth in six days.
But the Bible says something really weird after
that, because on day seven, He rested.
And so this was something I learned as
a Christian for how many years that He
rested.
And then when I opened the Quran, the
Quran comes differently.
The Quran doesn't take me to another space
completely.
It keeps me on the same track, but
it corrects the misunderstanding.
Because in Surah al-Qaf, it says, wa
ma mas'ana min lughub He created the
heavens and the earth.
He says, I created the heavens and the
earth in six days.
wa ma mas'ana min lughub And no
tiredness even touched me.
The scholars, they say, why seven days?
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is kun
fayakoon.
They say because He wanted to teach His
insan to do things in order.
He wanted to teach us to be deliberate.
To teach us to schedule your time.
To teach you to plan.
He could have did it in one moment.
But they said, He rattabahu.
He put it in order.
Why?
To teach you this is the proper way
for your life to be.
Put things in order.
huwa lathee khalaqa al-samawati wal-adda fee
sitati ayaan He is the one that created
the heavens.
Khaliq of the heavens and the earth.
I was telling Qalam students, yo, you know
what y'all gotta do?
You know what we slacking on?
You know that Netflix joint with the planet,
my earth, planet, what's it called?
Planet Earth.
Homework for next halaqah, y'all.
Planet Earth, y'all.
Real low-key.
I'm not even joking.
We have become so accustomed.
We're so city folk.
We're so disconnected with this world that we
forgot to see how amazing Allah subhana wa
ta'ala is in the creation.
And it's funny.
I have a memory of my grandfather who
passed away many years ago.
This was back in the day of the
old TVs, man.
Like old school joints.
When cable, old people had cable, whatever.
He used to watch Discovery Channel all the
time.
And I was young.
I'd be like, yo, can you turn the
cartoons on or something?
And it would be like the old, you
know, the cheetah is about to approach.
You know what I'm saying, right?
You know what I mean?
And I used to just be like, yo,
why is granddad watching this, yo?
Like, what's he getting out of this?
And maybe I'm unk now, but you know
what I mean?
Is that the problem?
I'm unk?
Okay.
Anyways.
We need to reconnect to the beauty of
God's creation.
The khalq al-samawati wal-ab.
And we're, throughout the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is telling us I need you
to look at the sign of me.
And we're saying, I don't see Allah.
And I'm saying, the Quran is saying, just
look out there.
Look at what is created.
But here's the problem.
We've seen it so much that we made
it aadi.
We made it normal.
We made it normal.
We made it as if it's something normal,
but it's not normal.
It's a miracle every time it happens.
So what does he say?
huwaladhi khalq al-samawati wal-ab fi sitati
ayyam in six days thumma istawa alal arsh
and then he established himself on his throne
of dominion.
ya'lamu ma yaliju fil-ab.
This is the discovery channel.
He knows everything that enters into the earth.
Every seed, every grain, every drop of water.
Allah knows that.
wa ma yakhruju minha and every plant that
comes from the earth.
Every plant that comes from the earth.
Everything that comes out.
wa ma yanzilu minas sama and all of
the rain and the hail and the snow,
all that comes down.
He's aware of every drop of it.
wa ma ya'ruju feeha and he knows
what ascends through it.
And what ascends are your actions.
The angels take your actions up.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
he's aware of everything happening.
Never for a moment think that Allah is
ghafil, unaware of what's happening.
And here's the verse.
Please listen closely.
wa huwa ma'akum ayna ma kuntum and
he is with you ayna ma kuntum wherever
you're at.
huwa ma'akum ayna ma kuntum He is
with you wherever you're at.
huwa ma'akum When Moses got to the
Red Sea and he was being chased by
Pharaoh, his people around him said, inna la
mudrakoon, we're caught now.
He said, no.
kalla inna ma'iya rabbi He said, my
Lord is with me.
When the Prophet reached the cave with Abu
Bakr and they were there and they were
being chased and they were hiding in that
cave, you know the story all too well.
Abu Bakr said, we're caught.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said,
no.
inna allaha ma'ana, Allah is with us.
The quality of the purpose of dhikr, the
purpose of remembering Allah is to create this
idea within your heart, this idea of ma
'iya with Allah.
ma'iya, what is the word ma'iya
in Arabic?
ma'a means with.
This withness with Allah.
This idea that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is with me in my hardest moments.
Allah is always with me in every moment.
He's aware of what I'm going through and
He's there with me.
wahuwa ma'akum aynama kuntum.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he was
taught towards the end of his life, one
year before he passed away the angel Gabriel
came and asked him what's ihsan?
What is ihsan?
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said,
an ta'bud Allah ka annaka tara The
level you have to reach with your dhikr
is that you worship Allah as if you
see Allah.
That withness, fa illam takun tarahu fa innahu
yaraak.
If you can't see Him, know He's watching
you.
Bilal radiyallahu ta'ala He's being dragged through
the sand.
What is he saying?
ahad, ahad, ahad.
Why?
Withness with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Withness with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam after ta
'if, stone covered in blood collapses.
But what does he do?
Right away he's making du'a.
He knows Allah is with him.
Huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum.
The greatest impact of dhikr of Allah being
in a state of remembrance of God, is
that you reach a state where you realize
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is with me.
And that's what this verse climaxes as.
It says, wa huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum
wallahu bima ta'maluna baseer.
And He is with you wherever you are.
Wherever you are.
Whatever difficulty you're in.
Huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum.
Ibn Taymiyyah, he was locked up in prison.
And he used to say, what can my
enemies do to me?
If they put me in jail, I have
khalwa with Allah.
I have time alone with Allah.
If they kill me, I'm a martyr for
Allah.
What can they do to me?
The time of growth for Malcolm X was
in jail.
He was by himself.
But he wasn't by himself.
Inna Allah ma'ana.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is with us.
I say that just because there's a lot
of people that listen to this halaqa every
week who are actually in prison.
And so they'll resonate with what I'm saying.
Huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum.
Don't matter where you're at right now.
If your heart is with Allah.
There's a narration by Ahmed bin Hanbal in
his Kitab al-Zuhd.
Where Musa asked a question about how to
get close to Allah.
Musa asked a question, Ya Allah, how do
people get close to you?
And Allah says to Moses, ana jalisu man
dhakarani I'm sitting with the person who remembers
me.
ana jalisu I'm with you if you're remembering
me.
I'm with you if you're remembering me.
Where are hearts connected to?
You could be at work, you could be
on the job, you could be in the
most difficult situation or the easiest situation or
the most beautiful.
But your heart is connected to Allah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is with you.
Huwa ma'akum aynama kuntum That concept of
Allah being with me is the goal of
all of our lives.
That's the goal to have that idea that
Allah is always with me.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then says wallahu
bima ta'maluna baseer And Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala knows what you do.
Sees.
Baseer.
He's watching.
He's watching what you do.
That works two ways Joe.
You know when you're doing a good job
you hoping the boss is watching?
You know what I'm saying?
Sometimes you be grinding at work and don't
nobody be there.
You're like dang man I wish they could
see what I'm doing right now.
And sometimes we're slacking and knowing the boss
is watching will keep us on track.
So depending on whatever state you are, wallahu
bima ta'maluna baseer wallahu bima ta'maluna baseer Some
of us are grinding on our dean right
now.
The advice to you wallahu bima ta'maluna baseer
Allah sees what you're doing.
Some of us are slacking.
We need to realize Allah is watching.
wallahu bima ta'maluna baseer Lahum.
We're almost done.
Just two more verses.
Allah repeats.
Why is there repetition?
You know repetition in the Quran it's not
there's a function to it.
Whenever I was running with these with these
brothers mashallah We used to speak to ourselves
while we're running.
I would mention the gym again but they're
getting too hyped.
They think that you know what I mean.
We used to run and we used to
say things over.
You got this.
You got this.
Because those affirmations we want that to be
a reality in our heart.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't repeat just
for no reason.
The repetition is so that idea becomes more
firm within your heart.
What does he repeat now?
Something we just read above.
To him belongs the dominion of the heavens
and earth.
No one's in control except to him.
And everything will go back to Allah.
All of the dhulm.
All of the oppression.
All of the difficulties.
Everything will go back to Allah.
What do we say when someone dies?
إِنَّ لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّ إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ It's all coming
back to Allah.
In this verse what does he say?
وَإِلَى اللَّهِ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُوا الْأُمُورِ Everything is
going back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
In the last verse.
That's beautiful because it depends on what state
you're at.
If you're the victim of oppression.
إِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُوا الْأُمُورِ If you're doing what
you're supposed to be doing.
إِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُوا الْأُمُورِ It's all going back
to Allah.
Allah is keeping count of everything.
يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ
I told y'all you gotta watch Discovery
Channel bro.
You got to y'all.
Don't sleep.
I'll try my best to paint this beautiful
picture.
يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ He causes the night
to enter into the day.
وَيُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ
And he causes the day to enter to
night.
You know the most beautiful things of God's
creation are where two opposite things meet together.
You go to the beach.
Why?
Because water meets land.
You look at the horizon.
Why?
Because the sky meets the earth.
And you look at it and you go
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ But one of the most beautiful
moments of God's creation where two things mix
is day and night.
We all go and watch sun rises and
sun sets.
Because it's a beautiful moment of God's creation.
It's a beautiful moment when you're witnessing Allah
SWT in that moment.
Never again will it be just like this
moment you just saw.
I had one scholar, they say like, you
know, remember when your mom used to wake
you up for Fajr, right?
You bust in the door, kick the lights
on.
A sudden change is blinding, it hurts.
Allah SWT shows us this method of transition.
The most beautiful method of transition from day
to night and night to day.
I remember one day I was sleeping at
my grandmother's house, y'all.
We weren't Muslim, right?
But it was morning time, time for breakfast.
And she came in the room and she
rubbed my back.
My kairi, she just rubbed my back.
And she's like, Michael?
That southern little time to wake up.
And I just woke up.
Hey, Grandma.
Hey, Grandma.
Wow, it's time for breakfast.
It was like a movie, you know what
I mean?
I'm used to mom, boy, get up, turn
the lights on.
Light, all of a sudden dark to light,
it's blinding, it hurts.
Allah SWT says if you want to see
my greatness, come to those things where the
opposites meet and I'll show you greatness.
I'll show you that.
Moments of birth coming into the world.
Beautiful moment.
Water and land coming together.
Beautiful place.
We all go there.
The horizon.
And Allah says, يُرِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ He
causes the day to enter the night and
the night to enter the day.
It's not a mundane thing.
It's a beautiful thing.
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ And because this surah
is going to talk about true believers.
Allah says, I need y'all to focus
on something.
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ
He knows everything that's in your heart.
Listen, we wonder how vile actions can happen,
right?
A lot of us wonder like, how could
such crazy actions happen?
It all starts in the heart.
If you don't protect your heart, you don't
know where your actions will end up.
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ
Do the action or not.
Allah teaches us check your thoughts first.
That thought you're having right now, Allah is
aware of that thought.
Allah forgive me.
استغفر الله If you check your thoughts, how
would your actions be?
Beautiful, exactly.
Beautiful.
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala is aware of that which is in
the chest and because this surah is about
to talk about those believers who believed but
they were weak and they started slacking Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I know what's
going on in your heart.
Check your heart.
Don't just sit there and think about anything.
Watch that heart because I'm watching that heart.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala connect us
to his book.
It's my hope to finish this surah in
about five or six sessions maybe.
It's not a very long surah inshallah ta
'ala so hopefully five or six sessions and
the hope is that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala allows us to connect to this meaning.
After the halaqa is over, go back, look
at the verses, read them in English, recite
them over and over again, connect to them,
understand them, reflect on them and ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to open your heart
inshallah.
May Allah give us the realization that he
is with us.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
the realization that he is with us.
May Allah allow us to connect to these
names of his.
Allah loves to be called by his names.
Al-Azizu at a time where this ummah
needs honor, call him by this name.
When you're going through a hardship that you
don't understand why you're going through it, what's
the name you call on?
Al-Hakim.
Al-Hakim.
I don't understand it.
Al-Hakim.
He's our first priority.
Akhiru.
He's the end of our knowledge.
Zahir.
We see him in everything.
Hidden.
The deeper you go, the more signs of
him you find.
May Allah give us connection to his names
and attributes.
Subhanakallahumma wa bihamdik.
Nashhadu al-la ilaha ila anta.
Nastaghfiru quna tubu ilayk.
Subhana rabbika rabbil-izzati amma yasifoon.
Wasalamun ala al-mursaleen.
Walhamdulillah.