Mohammad Elshinawy – Moments Before The Attack
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the importance of Islam's path of staying and not dying to achieve happiness and prosperity. The speaker also touches on the importance of not dying to achieve happiness and prosperity, and the importance of being aware of the weight of history and being a valued nation. The speaker also discusses tactics used during a battle in SurahGeneration, including the loss of ownership and the abuse of Jesus, as well as the deification of Jesus during the Bible's wedding.
AI: Summary ©
Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the World
Ibn Abi Dunya, he narrates from Al-Hasan,
rahimahum Allah, that he says, that the example
of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the
world, is like the example of a group
of people that set out on a journey
deep into the desert.
And just as they had gotten so far
along in their journey, that they could no
longer tell, have they covered more ground or
is there still more ground to cover, suddenly
the food runs out.
And the riding animals and the herds they
bring along for food, they all begin to
drop dead.
And slowly the realization sets in that they
too are bound to die, a slow agonizing
death.
In that moment, a man emerges from the
distance and approaches them.
And this man is dressed in a classy
attire.
And there is water, moisture dripping from his
hair.
And they start to say to each other,
this man has very recently been at an
oasis or something, some sort of water source.
And so he reaches them and he says
to them, what's going on?
They said, as you see, we're awaiting our
deaths.
We're literally waiting to die.
We're on the brink of death.
So he says to them, if I were
to direct you, if I would guide you
to fresh water and lush meadows, gardens and
rivers, what would you do in exchange for
that?
They said, we would listen to you without
exception.
We would follow you and never disobey you,
never depart from your instructions.
He said, then give me an oath by
God, by Allah.
Give me a solemn oath, a promise that
you will in fact comply.
And so when they give it to him,
he brings them very quickly, shows them the
shortcut, brings them to the water, brings them
to the lush meadows.
And just as they begin to rest and
enjoy themselves and rejuvenate, he says to them,
let's go.
We're leaving.
They said, what are you talking about, we're
leaving?
What's going on?
Where are we going to?
He said, we're going to a very different
water source.
The hereafter, right?
A very different water source and very different
meadows, much unlike yours.
Not like this.
So the majority of them said, what are
you talking about?
We only found this after we lost any
sort of hope in finding anything.
What can be better than this?
Why get greedy?
We're happy right here.
And a few of them said, what are
you doing?
Did you not promise and swear solemn oaths
that you would listen to him?
Was he not honest with us the first
time around?
For sure he's not going to disappoint.
He's not going to deceive us.
At the end of the day, it was
a crossroads.
Some of them followed him along on the
journey.
They accepted this as the pit stop and
they kept it moving.
And others said, no, we're staying right here.
This is good enough.
We're so blessed to be here.
And as soon as they left, the group
that remained behind, within a few short moments,
they were overrun by an army.
And every last one that remained behind was
either massacred, was either murdered or was enslaved
for life, was taken as a captive.
And of course, this example that is struck,
brothers and sisters, has so many profound messages
to it.
One of them, of course, is that this
deen of ours, this way, this path that
Allah had carved for the world through the
Prophet ﷺ, the invitation he extended to humanity
through the Qur'an and through the sunnah,
the prophetic tradition, this is a path that
offers food and drink.
It offers peace.
It offers prosperity.
It offers value even in the immediate life.
And that's part of how it appeals to
people, that it's a natural way of life.
It has immediate benefit to be harvested.
Like notice, when he came to them ﷺ,
the water dripping, right?
It was noticeable that there was something special
there.
In the middle of the difficult desert, there's
moisture dripping from this man ﷺ.
And likewise, those who respond to his call,
there is immediate benefit.
There is immediate relevance.
There is immediate revenue, if you will.
Islam is real.
And it's for real life.
And it's for real people.
But also, of the profound messages in this
allegory, in this example, is that this world
that Islam gives you the best of, must
never cause you.
You have to stay cautious.
It must never cause you to become complacent
and satisfied with it, because that will get
you destroyed in this world, before the hereafter.
And the sahaba radhiallahu anhum, they understood this
example very well.
They received through the guidance of Islam, the
clarity of Islam, so much relief immediately in
their lives.
In terms of the coherence of the belief.
In terms of the brotherhood that came with
the faith.
Everything.
But when it was time to sacrifice, they
were ready to sacrifice.
You know, you think about the battle of
Badr.
The battle of Badr, you can speak about
it for years.
But in that first momentous battle, the Muslims
had finally escaped persecution, finally got to Medina,
finally got a little bit more comfortable.
The first year they were homesick, and the
climate was different.
The second year they're just settling down, and
the battle of Badr erupts.
The Muslims are outside of Medina, they find
an army in front of them.
A thousand strong.
They're 300 plus.
And they're not equipped for battle.
No artillery, nothing.
And so the Prophet ﷺ turns to them
and says, it's the crossroad, right?
What are we gonna do?
And so Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, as
expected, we're with you.
He speaks good words, honorable words.
Then Umar stands up, honorable words.
And then Al-Nuqdad says, Ya Rasulullah, we're
not gonna say to you like the people
of Moses said to Moses, as we find
in Surah Al-Ma'idah, right?
You and your Lord go fight, we're staying
right here.
We're going to say to you, اذهب انت
وربك فقاتل, انا معكما مقاتلون.
You and your Lord go fight, we're right
by you.
We're fighting alongside you.
And so the Prophet ﷺ mentions them well,
and praises them.
You know he's praising them, why?
It's not just courage.
They could have said, man, we just escaped.
We're just breathing.
We're just getting some water at the oasis,
right?
And he praised them, but then he turned
to everybody else, because everybody else was the
majority, was the Medinans, right?
And so the Medinans could say, we just
became Muslim, right?
It's just...
And so he says, اشيروا عليا ايها الناس,
O Medinans.
So Sa'd ibn Mu'adh رضي الله عنه,
who was one of the chiefs and the
spokespeople of Medina, he knew, he's like, Ya
Rasulullah لعلك تريدنا.
You're waiting for us to speak, aren't you?
Because they were more than two-thirds of
the 300.
So are you ready?
Are you in or not?
Are you marching with me or not?
And so he said, Ya Rasulullah, we believed
in you, and that what you came with
was the truth.
And on that basis, we gave you our
pledge of allegiance that we will hear and
we will obey no matter what.
It's because we believe in you.
We believe to march behind you.
So he said, Ya Rasulullah, go in any
direction you please.
فَمْضِيْ Wherever Allah has directed you, فَنَحْنُ مَعَكُ
We're with you.
If you march into the ocean, we're gonna
march into the ocean after you.
لَوْ خُطَّ هَذَا الْبَحْرَ لَخُضْنَاهُ مَعَكُ He says,
Ya Rasulullah, and you need to know that
we the Ansar are no less than the
Meccans, right?
We the Ansar لَصُبُرٌ فِي الْحَرْبِ We are
the most persevering of people in battle.
We make history.
لَصُدُقٌ عِندَ اللِّقَاءِ We have integrity when we
meet our enemy.
Meaning we don't run away under any circumstances.
وَلَعَلَّ اللَّهَ أَن يُرِيكَ مِنَّا مَا تَقَرَّ بِهِ
عَيْنُكُ And perhaps Allah will show you from
us tomorrow in this battle what will cause
you to be very pleased.
And so the Prophet ﷺ rejoiced that none
of them were staying behind at the oasis,
right?
None of them were saying, we're happy enough
here with the irrelevant Islam, with the passive
Islam, with sort of the closet Islam, with
just the masjid Islam.
And this is why at a later incident,
he said ﷺ, لَعَلَّ اللَّهَ اطَّلَعْ عَلَىٰ أَهْلِ
بَدْرٍ فَقَالَ أَعْمَلُوا مَا شِئْتُمْ فَقَدْ غَفَرْتُ لَكُمْ
Allah has overlooked, has looked down upon the
people of Badr, the people at that first
battle, in that most difficult hour, when they
made that decision at the crossroads.
And he said to them, Allah said to
them, do whatever you want, you will be
forgiven.
Meaning I have personally assumed responsibility to guarantee
that you will never stray.
If you ever err, I will make it
up.
I will guide you to repent.
I will make sure your good deeds are,
at the end of the day, a net
positive more than your evil deeds.
And that's why we have Islam today, brothers
and sisters.
We have 2 billion Muslims on the face
of the earth.
But how did it start?
It started, in a sense, in a Badr
moment.
Right?
It was 300 individuals, making a decision, a
difficult decision, that they're not just going to
be bystanders.
They're not just going to watch history unfold.
They're going to make history.
And this is why Badr happens over and
over and over again in this ummah, for
this ummah to make its decisions.
The sahaba did not decide for us.
There were people before them that made decisions,
and there are people after them that make
decisions, and every person is going to have
to live for eternity with their decisions.
May Allah عز و جل guide us to
make the right decisions always.
To choose to be activated by this deen.
Allahumma ameen.
وصلى الله وسلم وبرك على نبينا محمد وعلى
آله وصحبه أجمعين الحمد
لله وحده والصلاة والسلام على من لا نبي
بعد أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده
لا شريك له وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ونبيه
ورسوله You know, brothers and sisters, as I
think also about the battle of Badr, do
you know what happened after each of them
said, Ya Rasulullah, we're with you?
He proceeded with strategizing for the army, and
one of them also activates himself, right?
Speaks up.
And he's afraid to speak up because this
speaking up could almost be inappropriate.
His name was Al-Hubaib ibn al-Mundhir
رضي الله عنه And he says, you know,
with the adab, the manners of a believer.
He says to the Prophet, Ya Rasulullah, you
stationed the army here.
Is that like something God told you to
do?
Or is this sort of just tactic, strategy
that your mind guided you to?
He said, no, it's just tactics.
He said, this is not a tactical location.
This is not a good place to station
the army.
We need to be elsewhere, to be closer
to the water source so we can cut
them off from filling up with water.
That made a huge difference in the battle,
didn't it?
313 or 317, 318, whatever it was, they
were not indexing them, right?
Whatever it was, 310 or 20 some odd
believers, every single one of them, is what
I'm trying to point out, felt a sense
of ownership to contribute, a sense of ownership
to be responsible, a sense of ownership to
do their part.
Look at the contrast.
In Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah Azzawajal says,
لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَثَرُوا مِن بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلٍ Among the
Israelites who disbelieved are those who were cursed.
Allah's curse was invoked upon them.
عَلَى لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَ ابْنِ مَرْيَمٍ On the
tongues of Dawood, King David Alayhis Salaam, the
great prophet of Allah, and Isa Ibn Maryam,
Jesus the son of Mary, peace be upon
him.
They were cursed on the tongues of these
two prophets, the disbelievers among Banu Israel.
Why?
ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ This is because
of their rebellion, their defiance, and all the
bounds they kept trespassing.
What was it?
What did they do?
What was the crime they committed?
The next verse explains to say, كَانُوا لَا
يَتَنَاهَوْنَ عَن مُمْكَرٍ فَعَلُوهُ They used to not
stop each other, check each other from the
evils that were done among them, under their
watch.
In other words, Dawood Alayhis Salaam and Isa
Alayhis Salaam saw people in their presence that
said, none of my business.
That said, it's the prophet's job.
Right?
And they would not amplify the voice of
the prophet.
They would not own part of the solution.
They would not stop each other from evil.
So what did they do that was so
wrong?
They did nothing.
That's what was so wrong.
What did they do that was the crime?
That they did not stop crime.
That they silenced themselves.
They censored themselves.
And do you know what is so special
about this ummah of the prophet ﷺ?
That Allah praised this ummah, that this ummah,
not just the sahaba, this ummah speaks up
even in the absence of its prophet.
Right?
It doesn't forget the voice of the prophet
when he dies, Alayhis Salaam.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ You are the greatest nation.
Why?
أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ Brought out for humanity.
Why?
تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ You promote the good.
وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ And you forbid the evil.
وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ And you have firm faith in
Allah.
سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى And in the other hadith, the
prophet ﷺ says, لَا تَزَالُ طَائِفَةٌ مِّنْ أُمَّتِي
عَلَى الْحَقِّ ظَاهِرِينَ There will never cease.
This is the beauty of this ummah.
The honor of this ummah.
There will never cease to be a group
of my ummah, of my nation, upon the
truth, ظاهِرِين, apparent, visible.
Refusing to be invisible.
Refusing to concede.
To resign to the shadows.
Refusing to be an observer of history.
There will never stop being a group of
my ummah, visible, ظاهِرِين, upon the truth.
And the applications are many of course.
And it is our job to not limit
ourselves to the examples that the khateeb is
going to give in a minute or two.
Whether we're talking about not being invisible in
this election run.
And not going invisible after the election run,
right?
Not being irrelevant when it comes to building
power and wielding power, locally and globally.
When it comes to this institution that we
wish to build, so that it can be
an incubator for building families, for networking Muslim
businesses, for creating a megaphone for Islam, and
mass conversions, bi-idhnillah.
All of that is a part of it.
How do I make sure I don't just
live and I die without leaving a mark?
The same way the people of Badr in
their moment, they left a mark.
The people will look back at this moment,
brothers and sisters, a hundred years from now
and say, they built amazing, active, potent masajid
in America.
They turned the narrative.
Finally, after a hundred years against our brothers
and sisters in Palestine, they turned it back
in their favor.
And perhaps it will be much sooner than
that.
And that is not difficult for Allah Azza
wa Jal, Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.
May Allah Azza wa Jal activate us with
this deen.
May Allah Azza wa Jal allow us to
live gratefully for the guidance that the Prophet
ﷺ brought.
May Allah Azza wa Jal make that the
reason why we live and we breathe, and
we wake up in the morning and we
go to sleep at night.
May Allah Azza wa Jal make us of
those that because of this deen we make
the world a better place.
That because of this deen our family stays
together.
That because of this deen we earn an
income and we spend our wealth.
That because of this deen we leave this
world saying, لا إله إلا الله.