Mohammad Elshinawy – Divine Parables #08 Water – The Source Of All Life 10-24

Mohammad Elshinawy
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the world of water and the dronies Parables, emphasizing the need for discipline and direction to survive. They stress the importance of genetic engineering to change behavior and avoiding getting too secure. The speakers use various examples and parables to emphasize the importance of avoiding being secure and benefiting from the "by plant and "by seasons" approach.
AI: Transcript ©
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We continue

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with the divine parables.

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And the parable for tonight is actually

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a repeated

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parable throughout the Quran

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that depicts for us the worldly life, the

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dunya,

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as being akin or very similar

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to rainwater.

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You find this in Surat Yunus. You found

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this in the Salatul Esha. We heard it

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in Surat Al Kaif. You find it in

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Surat Zumr. You find it in Surat Al

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Hadid.

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But before we sort of make a few

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stops on some of these

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phrasings and their

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their difference between them is subtle and nuanced

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and each gives you more and more value.

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But before that,

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why is this world being compared to water?

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The scholars have mentioned over ten reasons.

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That water is unstable,

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topsy-turvy like the waves of the ocean, like

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the unpredictability

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of the rain, and likewise this world who's

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rich today is broke tomorrow, who's broke today

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is rich tomorrow,

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who's alive today is dead tomorrow.

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Un unpredictable, unstable. The second reason he said

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is that water is limited.

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Yes, it is the most abundant natural resource

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but it is transient still. It is passing.

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And likewise with this world, you can't trap

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it.

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The beautiful doesn't stay beautiful forever. Impossible.

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The healthy cannot retain their health forever. Impossible.

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Right? That's the second reason. They said the

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third reason

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is because

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you can't be surrounded with water, this life,

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this world, right? And not get wet.

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You're gonna get wet

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because you're being entangled in this dunya.

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And that means you have to make sure

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you only get wet, and you don't drown

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altogether.

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You need direction, you need discipline to survive

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it because you're not gonna be able to

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avoid it.

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So you will get wet, number 3.

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They said number 4,

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just like with water,

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a little bit of this world is useful,

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so useful.

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But a lot of it is destructive.

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It is doom.

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Now bring us to some of the parables.

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In Surat Yusuf Yunus, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

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says,

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the example, the method of the life of

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this world

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is like water

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and

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that we send down from the skies.

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And so the

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plants of the earth pull it in. They

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soak it up. They absorb it.

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Plants that humans eat from and plants that

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animals eat

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from. In other words, this world produces different

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things at different levels. The scholars said this

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could also be hinting at the fact

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that there are

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huge distinctions

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in

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economic levels, in

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wealth levels.

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Some people

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eat the highest levels of even human food.

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Right? The fine diners. Right?

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And then others eat less than that. And

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then there are foods that no human being

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would accept to eat unless he's desperate. The

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scraps,

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right?

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This is the example of this world.

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And that is why you know a person

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needs to not be jaded or not jaded

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is not the right word. Not be distracted

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by this disparity.

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It's all dunya. From the top to the

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bottom, it's all really

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one category.

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You know, as one of the scholars would

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say, a person is utterly foolish

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if they are, you know, spending their flight

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wishing they could be like the guy on

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1st class. At the end of the day,

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it doesn't matter who's 1st class and who's

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economy. What matters is

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when the plane lands, where are you going?

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Yes? That's what matters.

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And so this is the journey of life,

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and we will all have different but

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it's all the same dunya. It's all classified

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as the same level.

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Then Allah

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says in the same ayah,

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And then after everything is being produced here

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by the rainfall,

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and the earth takes on its full beauty.

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It's mesmerizing. It's sort of appealing. It is

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it draws you in.

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Once it does that,

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it decorates itself like a bride decorates itself.

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Here's the challenge.

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And its people

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begin to assume

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that they are fully capable over it. They

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have it under their full control. That's the

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problem.

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The problem is when you think you got

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it all under control.

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And this is a problem in our age

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more than anything else, that we have this

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obsession with exercising control.

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I'm gonna decide what's right and wrong.

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I'm going to decide, Let me throw some

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genetic engineering in there, whether my baby is

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gonna be a boy or a girl, and

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what color their eyes will be. Look how

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far it's gotten.

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This obsession with control

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as if you can ever fully control life,

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that is the most dangerous moment. Because he

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says,

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and its people assume they have full control

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over it. What happens?

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At that moment,

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our command comes to it.

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By night or by day. And that means

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unexpected, catches them off guard. It also means

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quickly, it also means intensely.

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By night or by day.

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Our command comes to it meaning it falls

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apart.

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And you know everyone as individuals, there's a

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moment when they fall apart.

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There is not a person that dies today

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except that he dies with text messages that

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are unread,

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and emails that are not responded to, and

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errands, and plans, and schedule that will not

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be fulfilled.

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But also the demise of civilizations.

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This has happened with tens of 1000 of

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generations.

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Like think about like the Roman Empire, the

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Persian Empire, the Chinese Empire, the Aztec Empire,

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Adan Thamud who used to cut, you know,

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their homes out of mountains, carve them out

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of mountains. We don't even know anything about

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them anymore. Just traces, they're placeholder names.

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They are news that has vanished and just

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barely know

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what direction to point to, what the a

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100 or 1000 years we're talking about. Atahum

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Amrunah, our command comes to them. And so

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this notion of never being secure with this

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world, every time by the way This is

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a beautiful gem regarding this set of parables.

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Every time Allah speaks about how you should

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never put your guard down to this world

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that sort of flexes for you and then

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crumbles in front of you, cycles.

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He always

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pivots you over to the correct mindset.

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So in Surat Yunus, this example that is

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given, the verse right after it is what?

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And Allah invites you to the world of

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security. This is not a world of security.

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Don't ever get secure. Don't get too secure.

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In Surat

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Al Kehf, Allah says, it's like rainfall that

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come And then it collapses again. What's the

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next verse?

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Wealth and children are things that you grow

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in this world. Right? Are the decor of

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this life,

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and the only things that remain are

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Hopefully our wealth is also of our righteousness.

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Hopefully our children are of our righteousness but

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only if it's classified as righteousness, that's the

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only thing that remains.

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Likewise, Surah Al Hadid, when Allah subhanahu wa

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ta'ala says, this world is nothing but something

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that flares and you boast of it, and

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then all of a sudden it disappears, the

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next verse is what? Same pattern.

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Now compete for what's worth our competition.

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Compete towards the forgiveness of your Lord and

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the paradise that is as wide as. Right?

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And speaking of Surah Al Hadid,

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just to bring this full circle, Surah Al

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Hadid has

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the parable of this world being like water

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or rain water. And Surah Al Hadid,

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there's a lot here.

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But

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I'll mention to you one very quickly,

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is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in

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Surah Hadid,

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this world is a world where people boast

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and flex,

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and it is like the plants that get

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very vibrant and then quickly they

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become yellow and then they become rubble.

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They fall apart. You guys ever seen You

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all outside in the fall, every year, the

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corn fields after they go through them post

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harvest, it's just rubble to the ground. Right?

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Yellow, then rubble.

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Some of the scholars said this isn't even

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a metaphor anymore.

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This is literal

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because the water becomes a part of you

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as well.

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And every human being, as life progresses, if

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your death is not sudden,

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you can actually show watch yourself dry up

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like the leaf dries up. Your season, you

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can see it progressing.

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You look at your skin, if you give

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yourself pause, I have less water in my

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skin than a baby,

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and a little bit more water in my

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skin than the elderly. And so Allah is

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telling you, benefit from these treasures, benefit from

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these parallels,

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and see that you are like this rainfall

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and the vegetation.

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You too have a season, so make the

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best of it. May Allah enable us all

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to benefit from these words and make the

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best of our season on this earth.

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