Ramadan 1437H 2016 from Bosmont Masjid in Johannesburg, South Africa, Talk 7
Mufti Menk – Ramadan 2016 – Save Yourself Series – 7
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The speakers discuss the importance of unity and forgiveness in achieving success. They emphasize the need for people to fulfill their Salah and not let anyone interfere with their success. They also stress the importance of being creative and flexible, warning against harming oneself and protecting oneself from being rejected. The speakers stress the need to protect one's deeds and fulfill their responsibilities to achieve happiness, while also acknowledging the danger of harming themselves and the importance of avoiding harms. They also mention the Surah and the killing of people in the United States.
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Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
smilla rahmanir rahim al hamdu Lillah wa Salatu was Salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah He was happy to hear from him. We praise Allah subhanho wa Taala we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his entire household all companions May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless them all without exception, and May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless every single one of us, and grant us all success in this beautiful month of Ramadan. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us a deep understanding of the deen And may Allah subhanho wa Taala make us from those who can act in a way that will please Allah subhanho wa Taala not in a way that will displease Allah subhanho wa Taala my
brothers and sisters, it is absolutely important for us to realize the power of unity. If we would like to save ourselves from being crushed by the enemy, it is important for us to unite. And it is important for us to realize the minor differences that we do have among us should not be a cause for us to begin to hate each other to the degree that we cannot even stand up for each other. May Allah subhanho wa Taala protect the soma, Allah subhanho wa Taala speaks about this in many places in the Quran. And in one of them verse number 103 of surah Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala says, Why don't seem to be having me.
Hold fast to the rope of Allah subhanho wa Taala and do not split. Do not split do not dis unite and do not leave that particular room. What is the rope? The Quran that was revealed by Allah subhanho wa Taala and the deen that was brought by Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam hold fast to it, and unite, this must be the uniting factor. The uniting factor is the fact that I say the Shahada, Shadow Allah Allah illallah wa shadow, Mohammed Abu rasuluh I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship besides Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the final messenger of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And Allah subhanho wa Taala instructs us to make it our
business to remind people where they are going wrong, to encourage them to do good and discourage them from bad. It's our duty, and it is the duty from amongst us of at least a group that is enough for us to take lesson from if everyone is going to remain silent, then we have a problem. So at least some of us need to be those who correct the others. That correction must be based on revelation, not based on our whims and fancies, not based on what we think, not based on our emotions, but rather based on knowledge based on revelation. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us a deep understanding.
So Allah says in verse number 104, of the same surah
he can't
let there be from amongst you a group who calls towards goodness, yes, una de la salle. They call towards goodness by encouraging people to do good and discouraging them from bad. So the reminder is something important, you know, Allah says, was that good faith in God
found me keep on reminding for him to remind the benefits those who believe if you're a true believer, you will not get upset. How many times does Allah instruct us to fulfill Salah in the Quran so many times, not once, it was enough for him to say it once in the Quran, it would have been recorded, but Allah repeats it again and again. Because he knows that for us, it's beneficial. To be repeated. Repetition is good. So don't feel bad when things are repeated. Also what is of importance to save ourselves from people not wanting to listen to the truth, not wanting to take heed, not wanting to be warned from the bad. It's important that we choose the best way of communicating that
goodness to them. It's not good enough for us to swear people and tell them you know what, you're not fulfilling your Salah you are this and you are that with big, big swear words not at all. You're just supposed to say you know my brother, it's better if you fulfill your Salah. If you don't, this is what may happen. And if you do, this is what will happen. And so on. you encourage them in a beautiful way. You know that I time, you know that I place and you know the right word.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala make that easy for us, then we have a very interesting
verse, very interesting verses connected to making haste to do what, obviously, is goodness in one direction, we will all run in that direction, right? If there is something being dished out wholesale goodness, people are dishing out wealth, money, or gold or something expensive, valuable. Someone is giving out three Rolex watches, like we said the other day, do you know we wouldn't be rushing in that direction? We would want to at least at the bottom of our hearts, we know you know, okay, let me see. Let's see what's going on. Even the wealthy people someone might see you will go and show them. Look at this watch. It's worth 200,000, lazy, lazy, SubhanAllah. It's natural and
normal, that when goodness is coming from a direction, you want to go in that direction. So the best thing you could ever have, the greatest goodness is the forgiveness of Allah. Allah is giving out that forgiveness every night of Ramadan and even every other night and every day. So Allah says in verse number 133, of surah, Allah Imran was
Illa.
Make haste towards the forgiveness from your arm and make haste towards paradise, run towards it, rush towards it, make sure you are found in that direction and not just ordinarily walking but rushing. How many of us can seek the forgiveness of Allah every day? Jenna is in front of us. My brothers and sisters walk towards it by seeking Allah forgiveness, the two are connected. How are they connected? I will get paradise through the forgiveness of Allah and His mercy. So I keep asking for forgiveness and unless mercy and He will give me paradise in return, but I'm also allowed and I should be asking for paradise as well. Oh Allah grant me forgiveness and can't meet Allah. Allah
subhanho wa Taala. Grant us Jenna me he saved us from hellfire. So save yourself from Hellfire by having the correct qualities Allah makes mention of some of these qualities in verse number 134. That's the next verse. And let
me mean
those who spend at times of ease and the times of difficulty, when it's easy for them they spend, when it's hard for them, they also spend spending what cause in a good cause helping people. So Allah says, Those who suppress their anger. Those who control their temper, they deserve paradise. Do you know that? control your temper? Brothers and sisters, one of the biggest disasters is when a person cannot control his temper? Who do you think you are? That's the question you need to ask yourself. A lot is above you you need to control that temper people tend to vent their frustrations upon those whom they love the most or the most vulnerable, your wife, your children. Nowadays, were
supposed to say your husband to a man. stop swearing him stop losing your cool on him all the time. You becoming angry, control your temper. Now Allah subhanho wa Taala help us control our temper. So Allah says welcome we mean and the people whom Jelena is prepared for one of the categories or included in the qualities of these people, the quality of controlling your temper, extinguishing that anger, when you get angry, tell yourself No way. I don't want to make this May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us without working hard on that temper of yours, you're not going to be able to solve the problem. It comes with dedication, when Allah tells you the agenda will be achieved in layer of
something. Remember, that will be quite a difficult thing. It's not going to be a simple walk in the park. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us? So let's all promise that we're going to control our temple.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us all? I mean, then Allah subhanho wa Taala says, will Athena and in us, those who forgive people, Allah will forgive them. Learn to forgive, like I told you, one of the qualities of those who are going to genuinely forgive people. It cannot be something easy. It's very difficult to forgive someone who has harmed you oppressed you done something wrong. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us it's extremely difficult but if you find it in your heart to forgive them, Allah subhanho wa Taala will forgive you more easily. Why do I say more easily The reason is sometimes a person takes advantage of you forgiving them when they know you forgive a lot. They will
keep on harming you keep on taking from you keep on doing you have every right every right to claim the right that is owed to you.
You have every right someone owes you $1,000. And they will tell you Did you hear what the sheriff said this evening? Just forgive me. Don't worry, Allah will forgive you.
They can't keep on saying that. Tell them look, you owe me the money and please give it to me. That's it, I want it. I'm talking here about someone who might have sworn you someone who might have done wrong to you. If someone owes you once in a while. You might say okay, two, one or two of them. You know what, it's negligible. Let me let it pass this time. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant you more in terms of sustenance, but at the same time, what we need to know my brothers and sisters is learn not to hold grudges, learn not to hold burdens, learn not to break your back by holding so much against everyone who's around you. Just releasing take it out? May Allah subhanho wa Taala make
it easy for us. Then Allah makes mention of the one who commits immorality, and straight after that regrets.
What does that mean? That means those who have committed any form of immorality, immoral behavior, they've engaged in anything immoral, starting from a bad word, to adultery and fornication going all the way across the spectrum. Those who might have participated in the watching of * movies and so on * and what have you, Allah says, One levena, Isla
de schatten,
la festa, cell phone, even those who have
engaged in immorality or oppressed themselves, which means they have transgressed against themselves,
if they quickly remember Allah, and they seek forgiveness for their sins, and they say, Who is there besides Allah who can forgive my sin, oh, Allah forgive my sin, they are seeking forgiveness. And they don't continue in that sin. So these are the qualities, what happens, you quickly admit, you remember that Allah alone can forgive you. And you do not continue in that sin. When you seek that forgiveness, you change your ways. Allah subhanho wa Taala says, thereafter, Allah, he catches
me robbing him more margin.
For those type of people, they will be forgiveness from there. And they will also have gentlemen, they will also have paradise. What a beautiful verse of hope, those who've done wrong in their youth, those who are young, and they've done wrong, those who are old, and they look back in their lives, and they think to themselves, I did this wrong and that wrong, Allah is telling you hang on, we know about you, we know about you in person. And we are telling you that if you change your ways, and your habits and you seek the forgiveness of Allah, and you don't continue doing what you did in the past, we will forgive you and we will definitely grant you paradise.
So pan Allah, this is something really great. So let's save ourselves from Johanna, let's save ourselves from the torment from the punishment by engaging in the repentance that we are being spoken about this evening. Then we have another quality that we need to engrave within ourselves, we need to actually make sure that this quality is part of our character. What is it? leniency to be lenient towards people don't be too hard, the way you speak the way you react or should I say interact with people and even when someone does something, how you react is extremely important. You need to think very carefully. So Allah subhanho wa Taala speaks to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, and the lesson is for all of us, you see Muhammad Sallallahu sallam, he had such a beautiful way of speaking. When he used to speak, the people wanted to listen to him. When he said something they wanted to obey that instruction. He put it forth in a beautiful way. He gave people hope. A man once walked into the masjid and urinated in one corner and everyone got upset and angry and they wanted to beat him up and the Prophet sallallahu Sallam spoke to him in such a beautiful way. And he told the rest of the people to go away and in fact to start becoming busy trying to clean that urination, but he told this man, you know what? This is a Masjid. It's the house of Allah. It's not
for this type of thing. It is for Jean our it is for Salah it is for Declan. It is for worshipping Allah subhanho wa Taala The man was looking and he knew that the rest of them wanted to beat me up and look at what the prophet sallallahu Sallam himself is telling me and so he says Allah Mohammed, Mohammed and voila, Taka mana. Allah have mercy on me and have mercy on Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam but don't have mercy on anyone else. Why was he saying that?
He was upset the way the rest of them reacted, then the Prophet sallallahu Sallam had to correct him again. So the Prophet sallallahu Sallam says, You know what you're trying to make narrow, something that does not become narrow. It's too broad. What's that? the mercy of Allah, you can't see all I don't have mercy on these people. No, wait, that's the mercy of Allah, He will have mercy upon whosoever He wishes. So the point being raised is the method of speech. Allah says, if you are hard hearted, and if you are harsh, the people would have dispersed no one would have wanted to listen to you, and what you have to say.
So this reminds us whenever we are speaking, whenever we are reminding people, let's not do people in a way that they run away, and in a way that they don't want to listen to us. They feel as soon as they look at our face, they will say this man is only talking about the fire. You know, may Allah subhanho wa Taala help us it's important to speak about the fire, because it is the truth. It is definitely there. There are warnings, but we need to know how to warn the people in a way that we strike a balance between hope and fear. We don't need to eradicate all their hope and tell them listen, it's over my brother now you do what you want. You're really going into the fire. stove.
Illa Allah subhanho wa Taala help us Allah says in verse number 159 of that surah so what Allah fathima matin Allah,
Allah, it is indeed due to the mercy of Allah subhanho wa Taala that you will lenient to them or you are lenient to them, while our
one honey volcon Bina boom in how olynyk and indeed, if you were hard hearted or harsh and hard hearted, you, they would have all dispersed from around you, they wouldn't want to listen to you. So that's a beautiful lesson we all have to learn from that. Also, what's important for us to know is when we become miserly, it's actually harmful against ourselves. We are harming ourselves. If I am miserly, and I don't spend in a good cause. Don't think for a moment that that good cause is going to stop as a result of me not spending in that direction. Allah will reject you and pick up someone else to spend in that direction. So if you have been given to a good cause, and you know it is a
good cause, keep giving, try to give Open your arms to those who are in need.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us to help others. Remember, if we are becoming stingy or misery, Allah will create others who are going to give and the reward will be gone, they will have taken it but the train continues is not going to stop. It doesn't mean because of you. Everything's going to stop. So Allah reminds us verse number 180, of
what I accept
those people who are miserly with that which Allah has bestowed upon them, let them not think it's good for them, they should not think for a moment that that's good for them. In fact, it is bad for them. Obviously, these verses were revealed upon a specific occasion, but the lesson is for all of us, if you want to protect yourself from being rejected by Allah subhanho wa Taala, learn to take out a little bit of your wealth, and give it to the poor, give it to those in need, give it to a good cause. And Allah subhanho wa Taala and open your doors, then we have something that is inevitable, every one of us is going to go through a certain door known as death.
Almodovar. wakulla, necesita. filou. Death is a door every single person is going to cross go through, they have to go into that door. You have to there's no option. People before you have gone before me have gone I have to go You have to go no option you have to. So who is the winner, the winner is the one who saves himself from Hellfire by doing good deeds, pack away as many good deeds as you can. Before you go on holiday. You collect all your rents and what you do when you're about to go. You go to the bank and you change those rents into the currency of the place you're going to go to so that it's rather than if I go to the Maldives, and I give them brands they will laugh they
won't know what it is they're going to look at the faces and the animals there and they're not going to know what it's all about. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us but if I were to go to them and present their currency or an acceptable international currency, they will not they hate this man has come with the money What would you like sir? You may enter you have Oh wow, this man is rich man. They'll tell everyone Hey, be careful. This guy got a lot of well, be careful treat him well. Good morning, sir. Good afternoon, sir. Can I carry your bags? Can I do this why you've got the cash. That's what it is. The same applies to gentlemen. But that currency is different. It's called deeds.
The more deeds you do will law he the angels will open the doors for you. They will greet you upon entry they will make you welcome they will give you good
News. They will tell you to come inside exactly why you've got the currency that required to go into Jelena. I'm a rich man, what do I have lots and lots of deeds. And I was kind I didn't give my deeds away, but I kept them for myself in a way that I benefited the deeds you have to keep my brothers and sisters. Don't let other people have the reward of your deeds by backbiting about them slandering, cheating, etc. So this is a powerful reminder, save your deeds from being taken away by protecting them and at the same time, save yourself from the punishment by amassing lots of deeds. Many of us are interested in amassing fat bank balances you know, they say this guy has a bank
account. That's what they say in our language here. What does that mean in the sitting fat? Hello? Well, Allah subhanho wa Taala help us? It actually means the men's wear a lot, isn't it? Well, law when you have a lot in terms of deeds, you would be the winner. Many of us are worried about a lot of money. What about a lot of deeds? Allah subhanho wa Taala says, verse number 185.
All men hire to do
every soul shall taste death. And indeed the one who is saved from Hellfire and granted entry into paradise is the winner. That is the winner. And indeed the life of this world is a deception.
Subhana Allah, what type of a deception we think we have, but we don't have if you die, they take off even your jersey that you are wearing this evening because of the cold in this messaging. As I was coming here, someone said the masjid embossment is like a cold room Mashallah cold room Alhamdulillah? Well, the Koran we are eating is warm. So the warmth of that Koran would actually heat you up to the right temperature. But what you need to know my brothers and sisters is one day we will all die, all the clothing that we are wearing will be removed. anything of value of this world will be taken out and left in the world for other people to fight over stuff.
So prepare, prepare my brothers and sisters, some of the wealthiest people may not be wealthy in terms of the archaea, the Hereafter, and some of the poppers who didn't have anything in this world. They might be the wealthiest in the hereafter. May Allah subhanho wa Taala strengthen us. Then we have some reminder. You see, we hear a lot of bad words against the Muslims and against those who are righteous sometimes in the world. You hear people saying negative things false rumors about Muslims, they spread false rumors about Islam and the Muslims. And it irritates us
a lot. Allah tells us in verse number 186 of surah Allah a man he predicts this and he says that Obi Wan nafi
forsaken, you will be tested regarding your wealth and yourselves. Then he says what I mean a Latina
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Cassie and you will hear from the people who received the book before you, which means from the Jews and the Christians, and you will hear from the Missouri team, a lot of harmful words, there will be a lot of harm coming to you from that direction. So Allah says, what should you do as a result? What does that
mean? Oh, if you are going to bear patience, and you are going to be conscious of Allah, that's the best thing you could do.
Because some people react in a way that makes one problem 10 problems. Some people react in a way that is unacceptable. islamically just because you are upset at what they are doing against you does not mean that you now need to do something that is irrational or unacceptable. No, we are all upset at what's happening across the glue. That doesn't mean we need to do things that are unacceptable themselves. No, may Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us wisdom and grant us understanding I mean,
then Allah Subhana Allah
Allah makes mention of the two hours and these two hours and supplications towards the end of surah. Allah in Milan, I'd like you to go through them. I make mention of them yesterday and Allah subhanho wa Taala says here that those who have heard the caller calling and they have believed and they seek the forgiveness of Allah, Allah will forgive them. Allah says
Allah responded to their call by saying that I will not waste the deeds of any one of the doers from amongst you, who does deeds male or female, you do your deeds, I'm not going to waste those deeds, you're never going to see wastage of those deeds. We move on to Salatu Musa, the surah named after women. And Allah subhanho wa Taala makes mention of the origin of mankind. We know we believe that we were created from Adam and thereafter Eve or hawala salatu salam was created from Adam. That's what we believe. And we believe the moron says that at the beginning of Surah An Nisa
people fear the one who made you
know people be conscious of he who made you and let me holla kakum enough see you. He who created you from one soul wahala coming has
created from it. Its spouse, from Adam, Allah subhanho wa Taala chose to create Eve for Hawa Allah salatu salam, wa bestimmen, Houma.
Cathy, oh,
and he caused from the two of them, a multitude of male and female to spread to spread on Earth from the two of them, which means you are all part of one family. Remember to fulfill each other's rights, those who are Muslim from amongst you, you have more than one limb, those who are not Muslim from amongst you, the least you can say is you have one link, and that is the link of humanity. When you see someone doing something wrong, it is not correct to kill them, it is not correct to harm them, it is correct, to teach them it is correct to guide them, it is correct to tell them and not to lose hope and to continue telling them how many of us do that which is wrong. And we do it for
years on end. And the day comes when we turn back to Allah subhanho wa Taala. After a long time, today, we witness the killing of gay people in the United States of America. I want to tell you something very interesting about this. We cannot condone sporadic killing, that's what it is. It's killing no matter where it is. It can be in Iraq or Afghanistan or Pakistan or anywhere else in the world. We are against killing Why kill innocent people, people who have not fought you, they will be confirmed they will be disbelievers, you can disagree with them, but you're not allowed to go out and just kill them. You cannot. Your duty is now Your duty is to go out and give them the message of
the deen. So when we say that we condemn the killing of people just like that. It does not mean we are condoning any of their actions. Nor does it mean we might be agreeing with every aspect of their living, but it means they are human beings and your duty towards them is to correct them or to tell them or to guide them or to express your disagreement. But you cannot go around killing people. That's something common logic that you can understand. Even if Islam disagrees with this belief. For example, there are people who hate the Jews, you cannot go and kill them. There are people who hate Muslims, they cannot come and kill us. There are people who hate Christians, we cannot just go and
kill them they cannot go and kill them etc. You cannot do that. This is something that you need to understand. And if you don't there is something wrong with your Eman and your brain. May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us. It doesn't mean I agree with Christianity nor do I agree with Judaism? No Does it mean I agree with any other behavior or inclination. But what it does mean is as a human being, I don't have the right to take the law in my own hands and to start killing people as and when I wish and I think No, not at all.
It is something worth taking note of May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us understand this. This is why I end on this verse to remind you my brothers and sisters, all of you are related as human beings are the mother is salatu salam being the Father. He was the first of human being May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us resolve our differences and May Allah subhanho wa Taala guide us to do that which is correct, especially when we disagree with people we should never ever become violent as a result. May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless us all.
So Allahumma salli ala nabina Muhammad