Wembley – Light Upon Light
Mufti Menk – Blessings from The Beginning
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the history and importance of Islam, including its cultural implications and the need for forgiveness. They emphasize the importance of seeking forgiveness and rebuilding one's values. The speakers also emphasize the importance of deeds and the need for everyone to have a strong faith in God. They provide examples of how people can change their lives and push for change, including inspiring people to do good and abstain from bad behavior.
AI: Summary ©
Bismillah walhamdulillahi wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillahi wa ala
alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een.
My brothers and sisters, one of the most
interesting things about human beings, when Allah Almighty
created the first of our species, what was
his name?
Adam.
Adam a.s. Anyone here whose name is
Adam?
Make a bit of noise.
Wow, quite a few Adams, mashallah.
So, when Allah Almighty created Adam a.s.,
one of the most interesting things is he
knew, Allah knew already, that He created him
for the earth.
And He had taken from the earth, different
parts of the earth, different types of sand
and soil, different colors.
And He mixed it up and He formed
this creature in the posture that you and
I are today, which means placing the eyes
in a certain way, in a certain place
the nose, the belly, the legs, everything, the
hands, whatever it was, the hair, where it
was to grow and so on.
So Allah Almighty created Adam and then Allah
blew in him a soul.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knew that
although this creature is going to be on
earth, I am making him with what is
taken from the earth, because I want it
to be returned to the earth, but in
a place where it is considered Jannah.
Jannah means a garden.
People argue when Adam a.s. was created
in Jannah, what does it mean?
Does it mean Jannah that we are going
to go to when we die and we
say we are going to paradise?
Was he created in paradise?
So a lot of the scholars say it
was a special place known as the garden
that was temporary.
It's not the everlasting eternal paradise that you
and I will return to.
But Allah Almighty made a place and created
Adam in that place, again knowing that He
wants him to go on to the earth.
But there was a plan.
What was the plan?
Here goes.
We make this creature and we tell him,
we want you to obey us using the
capacity and the brain that we've given you.
Amazing.
Which means the angels do not have the
capacity to disobey.
Shaytan or Satan does not obey.
But here is humankind in the middle, knows
what's right and wrong and chooses to obey.
And wherever he or she has faltered, he
or she will seek forgiveness and be forgiven
by Allah SWT.
So Allah Almighty created Adam AS and initially
there was no Eve, there was no Hawwa.
Imagine how it must have been.
You're the only one of your species.
You look around, nothing and no one looks
like you.
Not even one.
So he was lonely.
You and I would be lonely.
I mean, with us, I see the guy
right in front of me smiling so much,
imagining life without his wife.
Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar.
You're married, brother?
Oh, he's saying Alhamdulillah.
So why are you smiling, bro?
Allahu Akbar.
May Allah bless you and your family and
all of us.
But here is Adam AS and he's thinking,
you know, I'm the only one of my
species.
Allah blessed him.
He made a dua.
He prayed, Oh Allah, take away my loneliness.
Imagine praying, Oh Allah, take away my loneliness.
How Allah is going to do that?
He doesn't know.
But he knows Allah will take away my
loneliness.
Allah gave him a female.
Loneliness taken away.
Allah says, He created for you, from you,
your spouses in order for you, both of
you to achieve comfort, solace and so much
more.
To work with one another, to be able
to be there for one another.
So Allah Almighty created Eve and Hawwa AS.
The two of them were then given an
instruction to say, You know what?
This is a garden.
This is Jannah.
Call it paradise.
Call it what you want.
It was the temporary place that they were
meant to be for a little while.
And Allah SWT says, You know what?
Do what you want.
Do as you please.
فَكُلَ مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا You can eat
how you want, what you want.
You can do what you want.
Allah SWT did not prohibit anything besides one
thing.
Just one.
وَلَا تَقْرَبَ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ You see, this tree,
don't eat from it.
Now, it's easy for you and I to
think, Well, why did Allah make the tree
if Allah did not want him to eat
from it?
Why make a pig when you tell us
don't consume the pork?
Why create things and tell us, well, stay
away?
That is the plan of your maker.
Like I said right at the beginning, He
wanted a species whom he would give the
brain, the capacity, and say, this is right,
this is wrong.
I want you to do what's right and
do not do what's wrong.
When you see the genocide happening, you can't
blame Allah.
Why is the genocide happening?
You blame those perpetrating the genocide.
When a thief steals, you don't say, Why
did Allah let this happen?
You blame the thief.
Allah told you, do not do this, you
did it.
So who is to blame when Adam a
.s. ultimately did what he did?
Do you blame Allah?
Allah told him, don't do this, but he
did it.
When you and I commit a sin, we
cannot blame Allah.
When someone does something wrong, you don't blame
your maker.
Allah told you what to do and what
not to do.
You are the one who's not following the
instructions.
So Allah Almighty says, لَا تَقُرَبَ هَذِهِ الشَّجَارَةِ
This tree, I don't want you to go
close to it.
No consumption from the tree.
You are not to eat from it.
And that's the only thing I want you
not to do.
And be careful of the devil.
Be careful of shaytan.
When I created you, you know, he refused
to acknowledge your status.
Now many of us, we have within us
jealousy, envy, ill-feeling, hatred sometimes.
That leads us sometimes to belittle others or
not to acknowledge the favor of Allah upon
them.
If you're jealous of how much of wealth
Allah has given someone else, you're actually destroying
your relationship with Allah because Allah gave them
the wealth.
Don't you believe that the giver is Allah?
If you believe that, then Allah gave that
person whatever you're jealous of.
Don't fight with Allah.
إِنَّ الْحَسَدَ يَأْكُلُ الْحَسَنَاتِ كَمَا تَأْكُلُ النَّارُ الْحَطَبُ
Jealousy will eat away your good deeds because
you're unplugging from Allah.
Don't be jealous.
You can say, oh Allah, you gave them,
mashallah, give them more.
Or protect them, preserve it for them, but
bless me too.
That's a good dua.
But if you say, oh Allah, why did
you give them?
How do you ask Allah why?
Allah can decide what He wants.
لَا يُسْأَلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ وَهُمْ يُسْأَلُونَ Allah is
not answerable to anyone.
He's not questioned.
No one can question Him.
But in fact, He is the one who
will question everyone else.
So here comes Adam a.s. knowing he's
been warned about the devil.
He's been warned not to eat from the
tree.
The rest of it, enjoy.
One thing prohibited.
In fact, you and I have many more
things that are prohibited.
Not just one.
So many other things we're not allowed to
do, right?
Adam a.s. And this is amazing story.
Allah knew that this man is going to
consume from the tree.
So why did Allah tell him, don't consume
from the tree?
Because Allah needed the act to happen in
order to establish the guilt of the individual.
I can't say, listen son.
In fact, let me tell you a story.
There was a man.
Whenever he would call his son to do
something, he would give him a slap and
tell him, go do this.
The son says, why?
He gave him some milk in a pot
and said, take this pot next door to
the neighbors but come here.
And he gave him one slap.
So the son says, why do you slap
me?
I didn't do anything wrong.
He says, what's the point of slapping you
after you spilt the milk?
I'd rather slap you before you spilt the
milk.
You see the logic.
Slap you and you go.
If you spilt it, the slap is not
going to bring back the milk.
Anyway, that logic is unacceptable.
You have to let the person perpetrate the
crime.
And in fact, spilling the milk is not
really a crime, is it?
But it's just something to bring it closer
to your understanding.
When it comes to Allah, Allah says, we
will not punish someone who did not do
the deed, even though we knew they were
going to do it.
But we'll wait for you to do it.
And then we see, I can't tell you,
listen, you know what, I'm going to punish
you because I know what you are like.
You're going to eat the cookies.
Are you going to eat them?
Look at the brother saying, ah, maybe.
So, me knowing they're going to do it
doesn't make them guilty.
Let them do it, then they're guilty.
So Allah waited.
And Allah waited.
And shaitan went to Adam and says, هل
أدنك على شجرة الخلد وملك لا يبلع Can
I show you something that will result in
you never dying.
You won't die at all.
What is dying?
What is dying?
There's no death in Jannah, by the way.
That's why we say it's a special place.
It's a special place Allah created called a
garden, the Jannah.
جنة الإبتلاء It was a garden where Allah
was going to test Adam.
So, he says, Can I show you something
that would result in you never dying and
you would have so much kingdom.
You would own so much.
Now, imagine if I promised you, Listen, there's
a medication.
You stay young, you live long.
I can't say forever.
You live long.
And you know what?
You're going to own a billion times more
than what you have.
You're going to ask me, What is it?
I know something that basically does that for
you.
Do you know?
Two raka'at of Fajr.
Agreed?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, رَكَعَتَا
الْفَجْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنَ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيهَا The sunnah
of Fajr is better for you than the
whole world and whatever it has in it.
So, that's regarding the wealth.
And regarding living long, make amends.
Your family matters.
Your issues you have between family, try and
resolve them.
Work towards resolving them even if you cannot.
So, one is to solve the problem.
Mashallah, you have a big reward.
But two is, I'm unable to solve it,
but I keep trying.
You have an even greater reward.
Because you didn't achieve it, but you believed
in the instruction of Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
What will that do for you?
It will add barakah.
It will give blessings to you in your
life.
Dua, supplication, just asking Allah, Oh Allah, grant
me, grant me, give me this.
That can change a lot.
Even what was destined for you to a
certain degree, it changes by dua and by
charity.
You give a charity, perhaps there was a
calamity coming in your direction.
It will be diverted by the will of
Allah because of goodness that you engaged in.
But it was all within the knowledge of
Allah.
So here comes Adam a.s. and he
says, Oh, what should I do?
He says, if you just eat from that
tree, you will live forever and you will
own kingdom that you cannot imagine.
And he kept on trying.
And he kept on saying to Adam.
So one day, something happened.
Who ate first?
Was it Adam or Eve?
Can you tell me?
Who knows?
If you think it was Eve, make a
bit of noise.
All the men, come on guys.
Behave yourselves.
If you think it was Adam who ate
first, make a bit of noise.
إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ So listen to
what Allah says.
فَأَكَلَىٰ مِنْهَا They both ate from it.
He doesn't speak about who ate first.
How's that one?
Now do you know who ate first?
They both ate first.
Allahu Akbar.
See how we're quick to blame the other.
I just proved it here.
MashaAllah.
May Allah SWT grant us ease.
Allah says they both ate.
When they ate, what happened?
Immediately they were ashamed.
They immediately saw the changes that happened.
They knew that they disobeyed Allah.
So Allah Almighty had them in the Jannah
that we spoke about.
And He waited for this deed to happen.
And when it happened, He did not send
them on to earth.
He waited.
He waited for them to regret it.
And when they regretted it, He still waited.
He waited for them to seek forgiveness.
And what was the statement they said?
I want you to know it.
And I want you to use it when
you're seeking forgiveness of Allah.
رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا
لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ Oh our Lord.
We have wronged ourselves.
That's what we did.
We have wronged ourselves.
And if you don't forgive us and if
you don't have mercy on us, we will
be the losers.
That's what they said.
So oh Allah, forgive us.
We don't want to be losers.
We have actually wronged ourselves.
No matter what sin we engage in, we
have not affected Allah.
No matter how much we've obeyed Allah, we
have not increased His status.
His status is His status.
He is the greatest and He is the
supreme deity.
The creator, the nourisher, the cherisher, the sustainer,
the provider, the protector, the curer, and so
much more.
Subhanallah.
That is Allah.
So no matter what you do, it does
not decrease the ownership of Allah or His
status in any way.
When they uttered these words, Allah did not
send them to the earth still.
Allah waited for something else.
What was it?
The words came through of seeking forgiveness.
Immediately Allah forgave them.
Now when Allah forgave them, He said, now
you can go to the earth and you
will live therein.
And He told them what would happen, a
few of the things that would happen.
And then He told them, فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي
هُدَىٰ فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا
هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ Allah is telling them, I will
keep sending guidance to your progeny.
I will send guides and guidance.
Whoever follows the guidance that I send, they
will have no reason to be sad, no
reason to fear.
The fear will be gone.
The sadness will be gone.
Because they will follow the guidance that I
will continue to send.
Okay.
Now Adam a.s. was also told, whenever
anyone of you engages in anything that is
disobeying Allah, in the disobedience of Allah, then
you should seek the forgiveness of Allah and
He will forgive you.
But the criminal is he who does not
turn back to Allah.
You do something, you don't bat an eyelid.
You know the first time you sin, you
commit a major sin, the first time you
do it, as you're growing older, you regret,
you say, why did I do this?
I shouldn't have done it.
The excitement of the moment was something that
really was not worth it to disobey my
Maker.
And you regret it.
And that regret is a sign that you're
a believer.
The hadith says, when you regret your sin,
that is a sign that you believe.
If you did not believe, where's the regret?
You would not regret.
Go and do it, plan it, and do
it again and again and again and again.
And you would be proud and talk about
it and tell everyone about it and encourage
others to do it.
The hadith says, good news to those or
there is hope for the forgiveness of the
members of my ummah for as long as
they do not openly sin.
Openly sin meaning, they are proud of what
they did.
You know what we did last night?
It was New Year's night.
No, we were in Birmingham engaging in the
obedience of Allah.
Come on guys, I'm only giving you an
example.
But that's what they say, New Year's, what
did you guys do?
You did nothing.
You know what we did?
And that's how they talk.
And they mention bad things.
Am I right?
And the guy says, get away.
You guys did nothing.
You don't know what we did.
And they're talking about sin.
And they're talking about all sorts of things.
I hope they're talking about the goodness that
happened.
MashaAllah.
But, for as long as you don't brag
about your sin, there's still goodness in you.
And if you've bragged, you need to make
a quick diversion before the goodness comes back
to you.
So, it's not like loss of hope.
If someone's been openly sinning and displaying it
and encouraging others and putting it on TikTok
and on Instagram and whatever else it is.
One of my colleagues calls it Insta-Haram.
And I said, what's that?
He said, because most of it is haram.
But nonetheless, if you have sought the forgiveness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, after all
of that, it means you diverted, you turned.
There is hope for you.
But it becomes more difficult because the element
of regret begins to diminish.
You committed the sin second time, the regret
is a bit less.
Third time, a little bit less.
Fourth time, perhaps you might not regret it
anymore.
Then it becomes part of your deed.
And you start thinking habitually that it's okay.
You know what?
Allah is forgiving.
We heard the sheikh say, Allah is ghafoorur
rahim, He'll forgive.
Let's just get all of this done.
And inshallah, we'll seek the forgiveness of Allah.
When you commit a sin, my brothers and
sisters, don't do it belittling the status of
Allah.
But do it if you have to do
it only because of human weakness.
After having held yourself back as best as
you could, you fell, that falling should only
have been out of human weakness.
When you come up to Allah, and you
say, oh Allah, human weakness, I fell.
Help me get up again.
I regret it.
I want to be on the same page.
Oh Allah, grant me goodness and guidance and
bless me and strengthen me.
The dua of the Prophet ﷺ which we
all need.
اللهم اكفني بحلالك عن حرامك واغنني بفضلك عن
من سواك Oh Allah, grant me sufficiency and
contentment through halal so that I don't even
go to haram.
Make halal sufficient for me so that I
don't have to tread the waters of haram.
And oh Allah, grant me sustenance from yourself
so that I don't have to depend on
anyone else.
What a powerful dua.
Allah will give you and bless you.
That's a sunnah dua.
اللهم اكفني بحلالك عن حرامك واغنني بفضلك عن
من سواك What a beautiful dua, supplication.
So, when a person realizes that Allah Almighty
is so merciful.
In fact, they turn to Allah knowing that
they're going to be forgiven.
I go back to Adam a.s. And
I want to mention a few interesting factors
because I'm a human, I have sinned.
And I still sin because I'm a human
being.
I know there are different levels of sinning
so I'm talking of a certain level.
But I have to admit I'm a human
and all of us in this arena are
human.
And we all sin including those who will
be viewing this later.
Or hearing the talk.
We all sin, don't we?
But I give you good news.
Turn to Allah, seek His forgiveness and start
cutting down on the sin.
You're supposed to have chopped it off completely
but if you're making progress in the sense
that you're cutting off or cutting out the
sins one by one, the bad habits one
by one.
Wallahi, you're heading in the right direction.
It's a sign of the mercy of Allah.
You want to know if Allah loves you
and has mercy on you.
You become conscious of your sins.
Sign of the love of Allah.
Why?
Because you're connected.
If you were not connected to Allah and
you were a person who did not believe
at all, why would you even want to
stop your sins?
You wouldn't even consider them sins.
That's why I say, you know a few
days ago there was a sister who told
me, I don't think we're supposed to dress
in this specific way.
And she mentioned something that was outside what
the Quran and the Sunnah teaches.
And she says, I don't think Allah will
actually hold you accountable for it.
I said, my sister, I want to tell
you one thing.
Allah Almighty says, if you engage in a
sin, you're better than a person who justifies
something that you're doing.
So you'd rather say, look, I want to
get to that level of modesty.
Even if it is a very high level
and you're aiming there, you won't ever slide
backwards.
But if Allah Almighty has, may Allah forgive
us, but if Allah Almighty has rejected a
person, they start to believe that this is
not important, that's not important.
Like one person told me years ago that
I don't think Allah would punish someone for
not praying.
I mean, how does he benefit from the
prayer?
I said, my son, it's not Allah benefiting,
you will benefit from the prayer.
When you go out to earn your money,
how did Allah benefit from that money?
He didn't.
But you went because you needed the benefit
from it.
The currency on earth is the dollar and
the pound and whatever else, including the Zimbabwean
dollar, if you know it.
By the way, we have Riyad Musa in
our midst, I'm competing, right?
My brother.
Allah bless you.
He's one of our comedians from South Africa.
The rand is also crashing.
Oh, I think it's strengthening now, right?
Nonetheless, see no one laughs at my jokes
because I'm not a comedian, right?
But the currency of the day of Qiyamah
is your deeds, you need to do them.
Because on that day, يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ
وَلَا بَنُونَ On that day, your wealth, your
children will not avail you at all.
What you had, it's over.
But your deeds will come to your assistance.
That's the currency of the day of judgment.
So as you are piling up a lot
of money, you need to pile up a
lot of deeds.
These will come in handy on earth and
those will come in handy in the court
of Allah SWT.
That's how beautiful it is.
So, do good deeds, yes.
And at the same time, earn your livelihood
also through goodness.
Allah says, if you earning through halal means,
I give you a reward automatically.
And you will clock deeds as well because
you were conscious of what was halal, what
was haram.
You bought and sold ethically.
May Allah grant us goodness.
So, Allah Almighty knew that Adam A.S.
would engage in this sin.
But I want to bring to your attention
something interesting that gives me a lot of
hope.
You and I fall, right?
We seek the forgiveness of Allah.
May Allah forgive us and strengthen us and
help us.
And may we be cutting our sins and
decreasing them.
Allah told Adam A.S. do whatever you
want but this one thing, don't do it.
And guess what he did?
Guess what he did?
Exactly that one thing.
Are you following what I'm saying?
Adam A.S. is told, do whatever you
want but not this.
And guess what he did?
He did exactly what he was told not
to do.
That for me, is a consolation from an
angle.
I'm not belittling the issue of sin.
Sin is sin, it is wrong.
Wrong remains wrong even if the whole world
thinks it's right.
And what's right will remain right even if
the whole world thinks it's wrong.
Because it's decided by your maker and mine.
That's it.
But Adam A.S., the consolation is he
was my earliest forefather.
What do you call that?
First of the species.
You know they go to forefather.
Is there a five father, six father?
Something like that, no?
I think Wembley is sleeping.
Come on, Birmingham did much better.
Come on guys.
You got to get used to the dad
jokes.
Come on, don't tell me dad jokes.
Allah bless you.
Are you a dad yet, my brother?
I'm a granddad.
You can imagine the jokes.
But nonetheless, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows
and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when I
look at it, my earliest forefather, the first
of my species, he was close to Allah.
He spoke to Allah.
He knew Allah.
Allah created him.
Allah told him.
And he faltered.
Well, I can actually just, you know, say
subhanAllah, well if he faltered, at least I
have hope because Allah forgave him and Allah
will forgive me too and inshallah all of
us.
Ameen.
May Allah forgive us.
Isn't that some hope?
Isn't that a means of looking at it
from an angle that delivers lots of hope?
Allahu Akbar.
That's Allah.
He wants you to have hope.
Look, Adam a.s. fell.
But he quickly sought forgiveness.
The question is, are you and I quickly
seeking forgiveness?
You did something wrong, do you say, Oh
Allah, I regret it.
You read two units of prayer and cry
to Allah, strengthen me, make me strong.
What I did was wrong.
I don't want to do it again.
Make me strong and help me.
And this is why we say, my brothers
and sisters, every time as community and society,
we make halal difficult, we are guilty of
making haram easy.
It's like a seesaw.
I give you one example.
The example of fornication, adultery, etc.
When you make nikah difficult, you are making
zina easy.
You're guilty.
That's why they say, make it easy for
them to get married.
You know we have people who, especially when
you're living in a cosmopolitan nation, a beautiful
city where people from all over the world
have come together, different races, different tribes, whatever
else.
Everyone has come together in one city.
A city of London perhaps, and so many
other cities.
If your child has gone to school with
someone totally different race, and one day they
come back and they say in college or
wherever, university, they say, you know mom or
dad, I met someone, a really amazing person.
I'd like you to meet them.
Meet them please.
Meet them before you just say no.
Meet them, it's your duty.
Perhaps they might be sleeping together for the
last two years and you don't even know.
They want to make it halal for whatever
reason it is.
If you want to deny and decline, do
it with a proper reason.
Not just because you don't like it, you
already planned that they're going to marry a
cousin from back at home.
No.
That laughter means a lot of guilty.
حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل Consider it, look into
it.
Then you can say, do you know what?
MashaAllah, what a lovely brother or what a
lovely sister.
MashaAllah, I see.
Amazing.
You were not worried about the race because
race is irrelevant.
Did you grow up together?
I know some people use the excuse of,
oh, there needs to be similarity.
But you went to the same school, you
ate the same food, you spoke the same
languages, you have the same habits and so
on.
You follow the same people on Instagram and
you are exactly the same.
The only difference is your skin color or
your race.
If you're going to hold that as a
reason, you are lost.
You need to reconnect with Allah.
So my brothers and sisters, when you make
that difficult, what becomes easy?
The sin becomes easy.
You begin to have a problem in the
home.
No, my house is no longer in harmony
ever since my son wanted to marry someone.
You brought it upon yourself.
If you let it be, it would be
the happiest home.
I know someone who was finding it difficult
but because he was advised by the right
people, he let the marriage happen sometime later.
He told me, he said, the best son
-in-law I could ever have asked for.
Here he is, subhanAllah.
And there we go.
But no cultural, too cultural.
What happens?
We prefer culture over religion.
May Allah Almighty forgive us.
Nonetheless, culture is important.
But it's only valid when it does not
contradict that which Allah Almighty has ordained.
May Allah strengthen us.
So halal and haram, when a person engages
in something that is haram, a lot of
the times, it is simply because of human
weakness.
Good news turned to Allah.
I don't know of anyone who calls themselves
a Muslim and says, Oh, Allah made this
haram.
I'm gonna do it and let's see what
he does.
That's called defiance of Allah.
That is dangerous.
Because if you want to defy Allah, you're
actually in the territory that is very dangerous.
May Allah strengthen us and may Allah Almighty
always grant us goodness.
So Allah says, I will send you guidance.
Adam a.s. In his children, there were
prophets.
In his grandchildren, there were prophets.
In his great-grandchildren, further down, further down,
there were prophets.
One after the other, we have Sheeth a
.s. Noah, Nuh, may peace be upon him
and so many others.
Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael.
Who else?
Jacob, Joseph.
So many more.
Moses, Jesus.
May peace be upon them all.
I've said the English names.
Yes, indeed.
These were the greatest of the men to
tread the earth.
Muhammad s.a.w. What did they bring?
Why did Allah send them?
Allah sent them to remind you and I
of what happened initially.
And that's why when you take a look
at Judaism, Islam and Christianity, they are connected.
They all have similar names of the prophets,
right?
And they all have similar stories of the
beginning of creation.
It's not a coincidence.
It happened.
Indeed, it happened.
And every time you see these faiths and
you hear the stories, Allah says, I will
send you a guide.
I will send you another guide.
I will send you another guide.
What will the guide call towards?
Never towards himself.
Always towards the maker.
All these prophets I mentioned and many more,
they've always said, O our people, worship your
maker alone.
O our people, do not do bad deeds.
O our people, do all these good deeds.
That's basically the message.
Believe in Allah.
You have to go back to him one
day.
Meaning you worship him alone.
You believe in good and bad faith that
comes from him.
You believe in the angels.
You believe that previously he had sent people
as well.
They came with goodness.
They were chosen by him.
They were amazing people.
And then Allah once asked, who are not
messengers per se on that level, but he
wants us to convey to one another and
remind each other to do good.
That's all.
Why am I here today?
I'm only here to tell you, connect with
your maker.
Have hope in his mercy.
Turn towards him.
Do good and abstain from bad.
Be charitable and reach out to not only
the rest of humankind, but all other species
and creatures created by the same lord you
are trying to impress.
That's why we're here.
So we ask Allah Almighty to help us
in that.
It's a mission.
Do you know when you encourage someone to
do good, or you discourage them from bad,
you have a full reward.
Not just for your encouragement or discouragement.
For every time they took heed, they were
reminded, they did a deed.
Today if I were to tell you, please
donate.
I get a full reward for every donation
even though I don't have much money.
If I were to tell you, abstain from
bad, and you abstain from it, or dress
more modestly, in a way that is pleasing
to Allah.
You know what needs to be done.
Do it.
Tonight's the night.
Tonight is the night.
You need to make changes in your life.
You know what they are.
You've been thinking about it for a while.
Don't justify.
If you've been thinking about it for a
while, today is the day you need to
make the change.
Many times people say, I want to say
the shahada.
I need a sign.
This is your sign.
Tonight's the night.
The change has to happen.
You have to push yourself to do the
right thing.
At the end, if you don't push yourself,
you're not going to get anywhere.
So the shahada needs to be said.
You say it, here and now.
أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله أشهد أن
محمد رسول الله I bear witness there is
none worthy of worship besides Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad, peace be upon
him, is his messenger.
What does that mean?
The messenger will bring goodness.
I will follow.
I will listen.
And I have hope.
So Allah sent all these messengers in order
to remind us.
Because man benefits from a reminder.
When you're reminded again and again, it should
benefit you.
Don't be irritated by a reminder.
Now, that doesn't mean when you're sitting in
a motor vehicle and the one sitting next
to you, I'm not going to say who,
it could be anyone, telling you, watch out,
be careful.
Did you see that car?
Did you see this car?
Did you see the bird flying?
Did you see that?
Relax, I'm driving, come on.
I would park the car on the side
and say, you drive.
May Allah Almighty grant us ease.
But it's good to have these passenger seat
drivers because sometimes, you know, we benefit from
them.
Hey, hey, and suddenly you slam brakes and
the car stops.
Oh, oh, you almost knocked.
Yes, I almost knocked into the thing.
Thank you so much.
MashaAllah.
Have you seen that happening?
Have you ever seen that happening?
How many yeses have there been?
HasbunAllahu wa ni'mal wakeel.
Allah grant us ease.
But mashaAllah, my brothers and sisters, I pray
that we take heed and understand the blessing
of Allah.
Allah is very merciful.
Allah is waiting for us to turn to
Him.
Allah wants us to improve as we draw
closer to the day we are going to
leave this world and return to Allah.
He wants us to prepare for that day.
Whereas on earth, the distractions are such that
we forget about the day we're going to
return to Allah, which is actually certain.
And we are busy preparing for a day
that we might not even see.
People are saying, well, I need to amass
so many thousands or so many hundreds of
thousands in order to be able to buy
a house by 2030 or 2040.
You might not even see 2040, but it's
not wrong to plan ahead.
But it is wrong to prioritize in a
way that what is more important is given
priority.
Sorry, what is more important is forgotten and
what is less important is given priority.
I'll give you one example.
If you are on the coast and you
see a huge wave and then you see
a human being drowning and you also see
a dog drowning and you are say on
the pier.
You can jump in if you know you're
an expert and you know you're a good
swimmer, life saver, whatever it might be.
Who will you save first?
The human or the dog?
Come on, say it.
Who said dog?
Notice I said a man.
Mashallah.
It's okay, I'm not going to go into
all of that.
But nonetheless, if you look carefully, your intention
is to save both.
That's a believer.
I want to save the dog, I want
to save the human.
That's my intention.
Inshallah, I'm going to manage.
But when you jump in, the first person,
the first meaning creature that you go to
save is the human being.
And then you come back if you can.
And if the dog died in the process,
you know what?
Allah will not hold it against you.
But if you started with a dog, Allah
will ask you, why did you start with
it?
You can't say, that was my father-in
-law.
Allah forgive you.
And all of us.
I'm a father-in-law too, so you
can imagine.
So, prioritize.
I want to do both, but inshallah, this
is more important than that.
The same way, when you're earning for this
world, remember, prioritize.
We want both.
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً
وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ Oh Allah, grant us goodness
in this world.
Grant us goodness in the hereafter.
And save us from the painful punishment of
hellfire.
Right?
So we want goodness in both.
But what is prioritized?
What comes first?
What comes first is your connection with Allah,
preparation for the hereafter.
This evening, as I end my speech, I
invite you all my brothers and sisters, to
embark on a beautiful journey on the path
to earning the pleasure of Allah.
It's a beautiful journey.
You might face a little bit of flak
this way, that way.
You might have a challenge or two.
Take it in your stride and enjoy the
ride.
Because at the end of the tunnel, at
the end of that path, you will find
the pleasure of Allah.
Beyond which, there is nothing besides eternal bliss.
May Allah Almighty grant us that goodness.