Mohammad Elshinawy – Are we keeping our promise to our Creator? – Surah al-Baqarah 240-47
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from the Nairobi LAN Amin wa Salatu was Salam ala shopping on beyond more saline while he was homeodomain
a Salam alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh. My name is Ashok and I'll be moderating the second of our economic IMF Webinar Series.
For those of you who joined last week, just a couple of housekeeping announcements. So this is a 12 week series. This is the second in the in the webinar series.
And for those of you who joined last week, the link for the webinar is different this week, we're using a different platform.
Locally link for this week, inshallah will continue for the remaining weeks.
So the title of today's webinar is what happens when we are ungrateful. And inshallah we'll be focusing on verses 40 to 47 of Surah Baqarah.
Today's webinar, inshallah will be delivered by Sheikh Mohammed Al Cinelli.
Jacob genomic is a research fellow at the Cato Institute. He currently serves as a resident scholar at IECA of Islamic education center of Philadelphia. He's a graduate of English literature, and studied briefly at Islamic University of Medina, studying at Michigan University.
So with that, Inshallah, I will give the floor to Sheikh Mohammed Ali
Salah Al Hamdulillah salatu salam ala Rasulillah Allah and he was a veteran. First and foremost, exactly, and everyone for coming through and dedicating another night studying the book of Allah subhanho wa taala. May Allah sharpen with these moments, your minds and purify with them your hearts
and make heavy with them your scales and guide with them your steps, and illuminate and brighten with them your graves and the graves of your parents and raise your children alone. And I'm going to jump right into the IRS to the IRS that I hope are on the screen. If you're not, I will apologize if all you can see as my face
are is 40 through 47, all sorts of Bacara and before I read to that and give a brief breakdown of the words, and then we will reflect on them in sha Allah sort of Bacara of course is is the lengthiest chapter in the Quran was revealed when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam first came to Medina,
essentially or almost entirely. So, of course, in the beginning, the first onset of the Surah it divides people into believers, disbelievers and those that have fallen into different shades of newfangled hypocrisy, and then sort of work our moves on to speak about the different types of human beings the story of the man who said
the story of veterans and the story of Abraham and his story Ben was right in begins here at the eighth we're going to discuss today. And all that I just mentioned is just the first Jews the first 20 pages of that book.
And then the second Jesus was in Bukhara is all with regards to
the rulings that social worker discusses the major rulings of Islam in terms of prayer and the tabler.
Charity, hedge, fasting, Marriage Divorce, all of these types of rulings. And perhaps the connection between all of this so that you have a theme before we zoom in on these ayat is that Allah azza wa jal speaks about the different types of people with regards to how they responded to the question of their existence or their covenant with Allah which is why they were brought into existence to uphold their covenant with Allah subhanaw taala. And lengthy discussion obviously is given with regards to bandwidth seraient because they are the nearest nation to us and the most resembling nation of us in terms of size in terms of their tests. And in terms of the trip ups that both of us will fall into
as the Prophet alayhi salatu salam said
that we are only sending them in Cana Coleco Shivambu shivering with their armies or our I have dated her a little bit Huntoon that you will certainly fall in the footsteps of those before you footstep by footstep, Hans van right hence, Van even if they were going to lizards hole you'd go in after them.
And so, the Sahaba would be very keen to make sure that when people were speaking about venomous raw eel, they would not fall into the trap of thinking that
We are reading about people that are doomed. Or people that just messed up so bad, and that every bad quality belongs to them as I would thought that their loved one would say, and every good quality belongs to you, meaning you're delusional if you think that in any case, we'll just jump into the beginning of discussion of benefits right and nice seven, eight and well we can take from them and shout louder. So in the 48th IO, which is the first day we're discussing tonight, Allah azza wa jal says, Yeah, Benny Surat Edith Corona. Mattia, Latvia and unterlagen Well, phobia de woofie VR decom what yeah, for Hubble and so yeah, Benny sorry, Allah azza wa jal calls out Oh, Ben,
sorry, Ben was worried means the sons of Israel or the children of Israel.
Israel in is the name of another name for Jacoba his setup so children of Jacob, which became the many tribes and clans of
known as the Israelites, the children of Israel, so children of Israel, meaning those of them in Medina currently and whoever else this can apply to
because the Quran is always to be taken in terms of the generality of its implications, not the specificity how specific it is the person or the group being addressed.
Or else the Quran would just expire with the end of the very last person that existed in the context of its revelation. Right. So Obon was about even referring to the Jews in that still remaining time in Medina or the Jews beyond them, or whomever else means this robot reminder, it applies to you as well. Or when we're sorry, of Kudo and aromatic allottee and anti lako. remember My favor which I have favored you with or bestowed upon you?
Well, phobia do fibia decom and fulfill My covenant, I will fulfill your covenant, meaning fulfill your promise to me, and I will fulfill my promise to you what Yeah, yeah, for HUBZone and only me should you have Raha Rahab is like hope, but hope and Arabic is pure fear Rahab
it actually is the same letters as the word haram haram means to run away and fleet. So Rahab is like fear when it drives you to run in a certain direction. And of course, there's no running from Allah except to Allah subhanho wa Taala is the only one the chair that carries or possesses that quality as the other I'd say and sort of the very unfulfilled role in Allah so runaway where you can you run run away to Allah subhanho wa Taala so remember the blessings or benefits right? Meaning all of the blessings I've given you, the tiny and the the Titanic, the huge all of them
and fulfill
My covenant
meaning your covenant to me I will fulfill your covenant meaning the promise that you have been given from me. And then what is the meaning of fulfilling this covenant? What's the only way to fulfill this covenant? What I mean will be met and the next is 41 will be managed differently monarchy and believe in meaning have full faith in and full commitment to
the mountains dealt with I have sent down meaning the book upon Muhammad Ali Sato, salaam Musa the Kalima Markham, which confirms meaning it's in agreement with that which which which is already with you. And this is profound Allah selling them. This book, which will be sent to Muhammad Ali salatu salam that was already foretold. It agrees with what you have in your book, meaning if you disbelieve in this book, you're disbelieving in your book as well. So be careful. Well, I mean, it'll be Mandela to Masada, Lima America, because they were being selective, you know, and this is a reflection that will Charla we should come back to before the night is over. That they what happened
was they forgot Allah's favor upon them. So they started becoming selective in their religion. I will accept this book because it came to us it's convenient, it's worth it's worthy, because it will give us bragging rights. But we won't believe the other book that we can't brag about because it wasn't sent to venomous RAII.
And so we won't believe in the book that was sent to Muhammad I saw it was set up well and that's what people do. They become selective in their religion, once they forget their their duty to Allah and their debt to Allah the favorite he has bestowed upon them. Masada phonemic American this book confirms that which is what's already with you meaning yearbook. While it's a cool new award I Katherine Bay and do not be the first to disbelieve in it. There's also
very eloquent and very profound it's more than just saying, Don't disbelieve in it, and don't be the first to disbelieve in it. Because that's the exact opposite of what you should be doing because you have
the book with you your book. That's how raw
So you should be awaiting this book, meaning when it comes you should be the first to believe in it. And so when you become the first to disbelieve in it, that's the very opposite. Also, some scholars mentioned well let's Hakuna Allah Catherine be, and do not be the very first generation, meaning to disbelieve in magalia salatu salam, because you will then be liable for every single person that falls in your footsteps. As the Prophet alayhi salatu salam said, Whoever commits a good deed or direct so good deed, whomever follows in suit, you get that reward. Likewise, whoever commits an evil there's even a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim Allah and Mr. Radha Allah and he says that the
Prophet alayhi salatu salam said once that no person is killed, for example, wrongfully, except that the first son of Adam meaning the one who killed his brother will will continue receiving a share of that sin because he's the very first person to introduce who I want them in central cutting the Hadith says he's the very first person to introduce the practice of murder. He was the first person to emerge on Earth
and so while at the corner our Catherine Bay Don't be the first to disbelief and it's one other subtle big feminine kalila and do not purchase with my versus a cheap price.
Meaning bragging rights reputation status, don't sell out
my signs for the for this cheap price what ie if it's a call, and only me,
fear only me so the I before his for HUBZone rush to me out of fear factor code means obey Me Out of fear, because it's put, in contrast to purchasing, meaning selling
or exchanging my science for a small price. And so fearing me here is not a feeling it's a practice, it's refusing to sell to exchange Allah's aid for a small price to have co equals action. Where AI effects upon. Well, as always, we'll have covered well today with Actimel Hacohen tarla moons I have 42 And do not mix the truth with falsehood. That's what some people do.
They tried to give like an Islamic justification. When Australian did this to what is actually what is actually wrong. You give it like a right veneer, but at its core, it's wrong. You may fool yourself, possibly You may fool others quite possible. But you're not going to fool a large surgeon don't do this. Well, actually, we'll have our tech team we'll have our intern Darla moon and don't nor conceal the truth, while you know that something else they used to do. They used to just be silent about the truth. And neither of those was permitted of them. Anyone who receives the book has to say it and say it purely say it's straightforward. This is the religion of Allah, I do not
possess, keeping this to myself. I cannot nor do I possess mixing it in a way that would align with the popular culture at the expense of Allah's pleasure.
And of course, there's a difference between presenting Islam in a way that resonates with the culture meaning giving them what they need the pure religion of Allah and Islam sharing it with them in a way that's appealing to them in a way they want as opposed to giving them what they want, which is our short sighted limited clouded bias desires with a with a god Leeton tried to justify okay God will accept of you whatever you're already upon. And then the I had gone to tell it Ben was fine. How can you get back with the program what our theme was Salado to the character or Caroma, rockier in, return to the basics, right back to basics, the timeless fundamentals establish the prayer and
give this like a workout. Omar rockier in and bow along with those who bow keep good company makes a lot in gemera. And so interestingly, the Prophet alayhi salatu salam, even for us told us these are the pillars of Islam Salas like, these are the pillars of Islam. And so when your Islam becomes like empty and becomes tasteless and becomes shaky,
then
what you need to do is go back to the basics, check the pillars of your house, right check the super Foundation, which is your belief in Allah Subhana Allah Allah and then check the founding pillars of the house, your soul, all yours, okay, your HUD your fasting, how how much quality has been drained from them, that will explain your Islam. And so Allah Azza dustbin was re established the prayer faders Again, bear with those who bow, humble yourself along with those who are humbling themselves before Allah. Then Allah azza wa jal speaks about that model and NASA will very fit for you command people instruct people with righteousness when sown and full circle when you forget yourselves want
to learn and Kitab while you are currently reciting the Scripture, you're currently proficient actively telling people what God is saying FLR
It's afternoon we'll unit reason.
You know, interestingly the word the afternoon, it means to reason. Yes. But
the article, the mind was called after you know, the recall, recall is the rope to tie an animal with the rains,
that you tie an animal or tie them to a stable with, even you know, if you ever people like in the Gulf countries when they were like their, their their head gear there's a rope they put on top of their head that's called their call. Because recall is a rope. And so the Do you have no mind meaning to restrain you? That's what a mind is supposed to do. It's supposed to tell you this is good, go after it. This is not good. And I'll keep you they'll pull you back from it. And so how can you get yourself to do this? How can you get yourself to command people with good and forget about yourselves.
Of course.
These are two separate obligations, people should know that always, we always have to make that disclaimer, you doing the right thing
that's bare minimum.
You instructing and promoting others to do the right thing. That could also be your obligation to the degree of your ability and your knowledge. And so you slacking in either of those, there's not a there's not excuse you for for being negligent in the other. In other words, if you're not practicing the right thing, you still have to command people to do the right thing. Those are two separate obligations if you were to Slack and doing the right thing.
And I add on top of that, that you're not promoting people towards the right thing, those are two separate
sins to separate mistakes, that's double problematic. Obviously, if you're telling people the right thing, and you're not doing it yourself, that's not going to be very effective at all. Right.
But neither doing nor telling is is actually the worst form is actually the worst form to the point that our scholars used to say that if a person is sitting there smoking, and he said with someone else smoking, he's obligated to stop smoking, and whether or not he stopped smoking, he still has to tell the person in front of him You shouldn't be smoking your bodies and I'm and I trust that Allah will ask you about to the end of it. Right? Those are two separate things. Even if you continue smoking, you still have to tell him to stop. Surely it's not going to be very effective, because actions speak louder than words. But nonetheless, this is still your duty.
And perhaps that is why the likes of these if come in and say how could you do this? How could you say something? How can you reduce religion to Table Talk? We're in it's not moving you even so how can you be satisfied just with telling others just with telling others because that's the worst form? Right? Doing the right thing and telling others to do the right thing that's the best form beneath it is you doing the right thing and being negligent and telling you to do the right thing? Beneath it the worst form is for you to tell people to do the right thing and you're not even doing it. That's what there's a hadith and in
of course there's a there's a degree below that which we already talked about, which is neither doing nor telling. But the point of it being the worst of the three forms. The weakest of the three forms the most.
There's a hadith of Salman Salman is at the low to Allah and who and Bukhari and Muslim he said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said a man only brought forth in the Day of Judgment Jojoba hoe
for now
for you look off in that hat and deliver Khattab who says he will be thrown in the hellfire and his intestines, his insides will come out will spill out. And then he will continue to circle around them circle around them around us and fetch them Are they here enough? And to the people of the fire will all gather around this person and say to him also and so didn't use the command this was good and didn't use the forbidden roof from evil. And he would say yes, I use the command you with good and not do it. And I used to forbid you from evil and I used to do it.
And so his true colors came out and perhaps that's the symbolism in his intestines being ripped out to the Wrath of Allah may Allah protect us and Europe such a feat. But what his insight his his reality came out
nonetheless to I'd
say that Allah's Israel says was there in over somebody was Salah and seek help and all of this in working back up the mountain basically, the somebody was solid in patients and in prayer.
We now halacha Abiraterone and it is something very big meaning it's a burden eel carsharing except those that are in awe of Allah humbled by their or their recognition of Allah, who are sharing and Latina Allah Luna and the hula four of the HEMA and Naomi Leakey, Raja Haroon, those who are certain that they will meet their Lord and that they will be returning to him Subhana wa Tada. And so what is it that makes you
Islam easy once again, what is it? It's the fact that you're in awe of Allah, what causes you to be in awe of Allah, your your clean your certainty your conviction in Allah and in meeting Him and in His reward and in his punishment, that is what makes it not difficult to submit wholeheartedly, right. Whenever like Abiraterone, if 45 It is difficult, il cashiering except for those who have for sure are in awe humbled or have Allah Who are those that are for sure I Levine I have known those who are certain that they will meet their lords who kind of all the time whenever we lay here Raja roll, you know, there's a Hadith also. So I will click very quickly just to match up the Hadith
where the Prophet alayhi salatu salam says that Allah will bring forth a person on the day of judgment that he will say to him also and so they didn't I marry you off. They didn't I honor you didn't die subdue for you, horses and camels meaning transportation. And I allowed you to attain positions of leadership and I allowed for you
to collect spoils of war made lots of money. He said, You did my Lord, for one tiny neck and Mulethi Did you think that you are going to meet me? And he will say no, I did not think I was going to meet you. So he will be told for Leo man said camoranesi 20 So today I will forget you the way you forgot me. Of course Allah doesn't forget, this person didn't forget either. He acted like he dealt with Allah as if he forgot about him. He ignored Allah so Allah will ignore him on that last day. And so the solution to remembering Allah azza wa jal is to build our certainty in him so that we don't ignore our relationship with Him. Subhana wa Tala. And so it's heavy Kabira Illa sharing and Latina
Luna hula kurabe those certainly were meter Lord.
And then the last I hear once again says you have any right of Quran and Marathi and I'm trying to make money for them to como la la Amin Obon Surah II remember My favor over you in that I preferred you over all of the worlds I made you the chosen people. Of course, they were the chosen people, not unconditionally, but for certain reasons. And let us play favoritism with anybody. They were the chosen people for a certain reason.
And so if you notice here just to close out because I'm short on time now
if we realize
the IR to begin with Obama was sworn in,
remember My favor, and then they end here this section of if Obon was so I remember My favor. So it's as if this whole discussion addressing Venosa Ian, is captured almost like parentheses or like brackets, is fenced off by Allah reminding them of his favor subhanaw taala because that is the secret if you feel like life has become tasteless, tasteless, you need to go back to gratitude. Does Allah azza wa jal for example, say
in our planning to go from solid Rebecca on her, we have given you the abundance, so pray to your Lords on our data. And so worshiping Allah is an expression of our love and gratitude to Allah subhanho wa taala. And so you need to go back and give yourself time. And I wish to just say two things about gratitude. Number one, gratitude is a mentality. Gratitude is a mentality. And that's why throughout the Quran, Allah azza wa jal essentially refuses to mention the big favors whenever he's calling us. He talks about the trees and the you know, the mountain, the things we consider mundane. Because whoever is not grateful for the little things will not be grateful for the big
things. That's the whole trick. It's a mentality. And Allah azza wa jal has made that mentality very easy for someone that puts in the work and tries to become mindful, because Allah obligated you to begin all the prayers with Alhamdulillah. Allah mean, and so when you say in hamdu, Lillahi Rabbil Alameen don't let it you know, be empty. Think of an aroma of a favor and make it small because it's about mentality catching the small things. Because if you don't catch the small thing, you're gonna catch the big things. So like one of our Michelle, if you say, just think about the smallest thing like if you're putting on set after work and you use smell dinner in the kitchen, just okay. intend
with your hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen that I'm so lucky to have a warm dinner waiting for me. You know, when when you were driving to work that morning, a few hours before your lunch break where you pray, when you say it hamdulillah just keep bringing to mind that swerves. Someone swerved into your lane or you swerve into their lane, because everyone's on their phones while driving nowadays, these little things, you know, that's the first thing Being grateful is a mentality. Second thing you need to know about gratefulness at the core of gratefulness is feeling broken. Feeling how can i Where do I begin?
In repaint, you'll Allah, that's that feeling that will make worship dear to you and bring the meaningfulness back to your event that with a loss. So again,
you know, one, one man, this is the story I mentioned to you as I close here now, one elderly man was rushed into a hospital,
he had to be rushed into an emergency surgery, one of his organs failed. And it was a risky surgery at that age, and they weren't sure he was going to get out, alive. And so when the doctors came out to his family, in the waiting room, and they said to him, them, you know, like, basically hamdulillah it's him like, you know, thank God, he's gonna make it. And so the kids didn't know what to expect. I mean, it was a shocker, like just happened sort of like instantaneously called ambulance get into the hospitals and they were just all on edge. So when the doctor reassured then they all just broke down, you know, the anxiety you know, that the brim they all broke down crying
and basically hugging and kissing the doctor like that. We don't even know what to say like, what do we begin? Like, how can we ever repay you like you save there? And so they they went into the room and they saw their father, and they found him crying as well.
Not sure if he saw them crying through the glass or something. And so so
they wanted to make sure he didn't miss read their their tears that like the doctor gave them bad news or something, and said that animals don't cry, it's gonna be okay to the end of it.
They said the surgery was a success. And he says to them, Allah, He does not why I'm crying. You know, he said, I'm crying because I've had this organ for 70 years.
And I've never felt this way about Allah, the way we feel about the doctor right now. Like, Doc, I love you so much. Like I don't know what to tell you. I can't even find the words to express it.
That feeling of gratitude where it's beyond words, is more deserved by Allah azza wa jal than by anybody else. And that's why it's mentioned that among bananas, right, actually, we could connect it with bananas, right as we close, it was said that there will Dalai CERAM the great king of bananas Roiland prophet among venomous, right, you said, Oh Allah, how can I ever thank you?
When me thanking you is yet another blessing from you that deserves thanks, even if I said hamdulillah you're the one who reminded me said Hamdulillah. So I need to say Alhamdulillah for Alhamdulillah but then again, I have the fact that I remember that is another source like an endless chain. So how do I ever repay you? And so and this is the point Allah azza wa jal revealed to those are they serve Oh, do you realizing that
you realizing that that you cannot repay me this is this is the gratitude that I expect of you. That's it, you have repaid me the thanks I obligate you with. At the core of it is realizing that we are unequipped to give to things when you have that feeling. You will be like the province or state level praise tonight is feed swell enjoys it. Why shouldn't I be grateful slave? It's not about I must is it obligation is it haram it's way beyond them. It's a much more sweet much more pleasant relationship may Allah grant us and you that relationship and our deen with him alone that I mean
Zack alone later on, we'll stop here and open the floor for questions. Particle Lahoma we have
learned stuff we're gonna do with it. Zack Hello, hi.
This is Michael on Kara check. What's your I mean? That's very beneficial. Mashallah. So, in terms of questions from the participants, the procedure is that the questions will come in writing, there is a tab on the webinar. So participants can feel free to ask questions there and I will moderate as questions and present some of them over to you.
So Inshallah, I'll start with with a question inshallah. So, you know, mashallah we have, you know, over
participants, mashallah, on this webinar, and many of the people on the call are workers of the dean, many of them are working for economics. And reflecting a little bit on the verses that you've just recited, you know, they start off by addressing the money Israel, but obviously, they're relevant for all of us. And as workers of the deen, we sometimes can fall into this trap of thinking that we're immune from everything because we were working for the team.
And the verses that you recited, talked about loneliness, not to forget about ourselves, you know that you remind others but we also must not forget about ourselves. So for the work of the dean,
whether it be or top two or three pieces of advice that we should try to do, let's say every day or very regularly, at least, to prevent us getting into this trap of forgetting about ourselves.
Especially for the worker, the team.
Yeah,
I'm just
drained.
And so
all of the acts of worship the grace of the acts of worship and Islam.
The objective behind them is the purity of your heart. Right? Welcome slide 30, they could establish the prayer to become mindful of me. Fast Lakota taco and you know, become conscious of Allah
Zeca you know, when I'm going into the whole classrooms looking behind take from their wealth, you know, a charity to purify them with it. And so, a person needs to make time they must make time
to find out what is the effect of my acts of worship? What's the fruit? Do I feel closer to Allah azza wa jal or not. Because if I don't, we're not going to stop doing Islamic work. No, because that would be part of the
of the due diligence that we're that we're skipping out on or that we're falling short in, what we're going to start becoming more conscientious start becoming more serious about finding that intention of ours finding the fruit of our work and the fruits of our labor, in this dunya. In this dunya, there is a first installment of their work to kind of reassure the believer a little bit that he's on the right track.
The state of your heart is that is just that. And so
check on the tenderness of your heart. Because if the tenderness of your heart is not there,
then number one, you're not going to be able to continue in the Islamic work. Or number two, you will continue for the wrong reasons. So either way, it's a problem.
It's a big problem. And so, you know, for example, sincerity, sincerity, as one of the scholars, you know, gives a beautiful litmus test for he says is a greatness to Allah. If you don't find that in your heart, then it's likely not what drives your actions, then it's likely not what drives your actions. And so when you find yourself in prayer, just going through the motions or not praying on time or not getting off revision. When you find yourself in times of mercy, how and Allah and His messenger are being mentioned, that you're not very interested or just you're you're there for the entertainment just wondering, Am I going to hear a story I've never heard before.
As opposed to, oh, man, I heard this. I've heard this so many times, and I still haven't lived up to it or it's been so long since I thought about it. It's a completely different mentality that reflects a regard for Allah in your heart. And so that would be the first thing
to look for the fruits of your good deeds, the fruits of your Islamic work at heart, at heart, because look at the end of the day.
None of this really none of this will really matter if the heart is not in the right place. Right? Like
as one good brother said, if you make the whole world Muslim, and you attain world peace, and you solve world hunger and you just do everything
but it's not for Allah, then that's not why you're here. Correct? I mean, Allah azza wa jal could have done this without you but he puts you here to test you who will do the best deeds for his sake subhanaw taala this whole world is an exam paper the whole world is going to crumble and get shredded the exam papers and get shredded in the end anyway. And so it's about the quality of your service while you're here before the exam is over.
And so Allah is testing your heart and direction of your heart and the interest in the pursuit your primary pursuit at heart before anything else that's number one number two you're gonna have to find a find a mentor or people that can be substitute mentors until you find a mentor people two different people you're not a superstar in front of us as one good brother says as well. You know like you're in spheres where you could be the leader you could be the energy man you could be that the engine of the Derawan you could be like a rock star I don't want us to rock let's yeah superstar in your respective field. Go find the field where you're not a rock star. Go find the fields where
you're not a super set where you just an average person who can be forgotten about in the crowd can have their their mistakes pointed out for them can be reminded about their flaws and their humaneness.
ask Allah to help you find that sphere. That's cannot be overstated the importance of something like that.
And number three is you want to know your station with Allah.
Then you're going to have to determine what Allah station with you in private in private doesn't mean you have to be in a room by yourself and privates could be in your schedule, but no one can hear you. In your downtime in your whispers your DUA, you have to develop an intimate relationship with almost a partner with the island to get you through the turbulence of
Darryl tourbillons observing the Dean because no one wants you to fall more than anybody else because a devout worshippers only benefiting themselves. So if they fall off, only one person is pulling off, but a servant of the masses if they fall off
everyone they carry on their shoulders falls with them. And so, number one, look for the fruit, the tenderness of the heart. If not go fix it to make time to fix it balance between the individual obligation and the collective obligation. Visit the graveyards of visit the sake and reflect on the Khurana increase in your a badger and focus in your bed and turn off your phone and disconnect. That's number one, go find your heart.
Number two, try to find a mentor a place to find some brokenness to find some humility to find find your flood self to keep it humble on number three is build an intimate relationship with Allah learn to speak to him and have lengthy dialogues with him Subhanallah without asking Him for help to continue to get to the right reasons and not be derailed by shaitan. Those are my advices on Lohana
accounts. Mashallah. Very, very good advice. So the next question I have is, how do you teach teenagers gratitude?
I mean, the beauty of gratitude is ingrained the beauty of gratitude is federal.
It is federal, but sometimes that veteran can be varied, varied by entitlements buried by you know the distractions if you know the ins.
And these
are not off Allah. Allah azza wa jal tells us that he tells us what Satan says to warn us of it. That Shaitan says when he vowed to destroy us all he said, So Marathi and naman been at home and called for him more than a month in March. And it was a joke that I'm checking, I'm gonna come to them from the right and they're left in front of and behind them, and you will not find most of them to be grateful. And so he comes at you from every angle, right? And so, gratitude requires patience. Gratitude is not the opposite of patients or separate of patients, you know, after 100 Now for the Allah to Allah and who
he says something that's just
so wise reflective of the wisdom of a Sahaba, you know, a student of the Prophet SAW said, Allah, he said
that we were tested with hardships and we were patient. And then we were tested with comforts luxuries ease, and we were not able to be patient.
Because being, I guess, being enduring, persevering and hardship, requires patience, patience, to persevere, right.
And showing gratitude, in luxury or in comfort requires patience. And that one is harder, it's harder to show gratitude requires more patience, more of like a struggle of fight, to lock yourself. That's what patient says, lock yourself where you don't want to be to lock yourself upon gratitude is harder than to lock yourself upon. not objecting to Alana disbelieving and a lot during hardships. And that's why our teenagers, they're in that sense of entitlement. They're discovering ourselves, they're discovering their independence, they're discovering their autonomy. And then in this part of the world, you add the wrench of, of materialism. And so we're not what you need to do
is help them hold on to gratitude, by if they're young enough, by showing them that they're not entitled to everything they have. Right? You're not entitled to. So every last thing you have, you have to earn things.
Also, by just taking them to visit visit, it's just the treasure chests, the hospitals, the treasure chest, the feeding the homeless is a treasure chest. Visiting the graveyards is a treasure chest you're not entitled to life or to help or to a meal or any of these things didn't have to be this way. You know. And so the Prophet alayhi salatu salam said to us this advice that I'm relaying to you regarding your teenagers just find a crafty, I trust your judgment, to find a crafty way to to present these are packages for your teens. But he said if you find yourself looking at those that have been preferred above you in dunya,
then let's then go look at those beneath you because that will help you not be little Allah's favors over you. Right. And so in our time in our culture, especially with the accessibility that social media gives us, we're comparing ourselves and that with other people's lives, we're comparing ourselves with other people's selective snapshots of their lives, like their highlight reel. It's not even their real life. And so we're always looking at those above us or those we assume are above us. And so we need to do is counteract that the antidote to that is to continue to flood ourselves with those that are less fortunate in the worldly sense.
That's very important. That's a win win. You can involve your children in
service of this nature and it was virtuous visitations of this nature.
That would help among other things, but I think that's the most practical action item that comes to mind right now.
I have a question. For clarification as requested. Could you clarify about asking to do good? While you may not be doing good yourself?
Versus the Hadith about the man in the hellfire? Yes.
So just keep in mind, Allah subhanho wa Taala is criticizing. Not that they're saying. Not that they're saying to people do the right thing, because you're supposed to do that. He's criticizing the fact that they themselves know it well enough to say it and they're not doing it.
And so there's two ways you can react to this, to this reprimand from Allah Zildjian, you can stop saying the right thing, stop promoting good, that would make you worse. Or you can add to your promotion of good, the embodiment you acting upon good and that would make you better.
Okay. And so there's the solution to you.
preaching what you don't practice is not that you stop preaching, it's that you start practicing what you preach that there's no other legitimate
solution except that that's what we're trying to say. Because many people misunderstand that they think, Okay, let me just stop talking. So don't be a hypocrite, no, no, that's a double wrong, that you stopped talking and stop acting. No, you can do that.
And there's a great wisdom to this, by the way, just timing out permit to explain it, because
nobody's sinless. And so if we say how can I, you know, tell people not to sin when I steal sin? Well, in that case, the no one would ever promote good, right.
I hope so. Yeah. So, with that about we'll make that the last question.
remains, I need to thank you, Sheikh Mohammed, wish me luck here for taking time out of your schedule to
help us learn from you.
Next week's session inshallah will be the third in our series. The title of it is how do you prepare for your biggest challenge and this will be delivered by Dr. Kia jarhead and it will be focusing on through the verses 73 Sorry verses one to 10 and 20 from Surah. Mo so it will be again same time 9pm Eastern time. Next one is day and that will close so long I got a lot more will be handy. I should one lie in line and a snug fit or go to one leg or the nominal shaytani regime monniera in one us in Sonoma Pecos in the Lena Amanullah Sonya what the was on Bill hack what was on this? So let alone salami