Lecture One of the Ramadan Series of 1438H 2017
Mufti Menk – Ramadan 2017 – Save Yourself – Part 2 – Episode 1
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the challenges of protecting oneself from evil world and the importance of saving oneself from disaster and achieving a better life. They stress the need to avoid mistakes and avoid immoral behavior, as well as the importance of forgiveness and protecting one's tongue. They also emphasize the importance of avoiding false rumors and the danger of consequences for those who lie about the situation.
AI: Summary ©
Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.
Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim In the name of Allah subhanho wa Taala Most Gracious, Most Merciful al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen All praise is indeed due to Allah subhanho wa Taala Lord of the world's creator nourisher cherisher sustainer provider protector, cura, the one in whose hands lies the absolute control of every single aspect of existence. We praise Him, we glorify Him, we seek His mercy was Salatu was Salam O Allah. th Marine Nabina Muhammad Allah Allah Allah He was happy he would have been a woman to be among be a son in law Medina. We send complete blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household, his companions, all those who
followed the footsteps from the beginning. May Allah make us from amongst them and May Allah bless every one of us. May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless our offspring, those to come up to the end and keep them all steadfast. I mean,
my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam, it brings a smile to the face that Allah subhanho wa Taala has allowed us to witness yet another month of mercy, another month of forgiveness, another month of goodness, another month of growth closer to Allah subhanho wa Taala this is indeed a gift that we need to make the most of for Indeed, he who exits the month of Ramadan, without the forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala is at a loss. So we make an intention here and now. Oh Allah, we will quit our bad ways and habits not only for this month of Ramadan, but for every day and every year and every moment of the life that you give us thereafter. And we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to grant a
savior from the difficulties and calamities of this life. You and I know when we were created Allah subhanho wa Taala says at the beginning of Sudoku, Lanka boot, has he been
Taku
Taku?
Does mankind think that it is sufficient for him to declare that he is a believer or she is a believer? And then we don't test him or her in that regard? Indeed, we have tested those before then, in order to distinguish between those who were truthful in their claim of belief and those who are liars.
So when you say you're a believer, you've entered into the fold of Eman. Now Allah will test you, for as long as you were not a believer. What was the point of the test? Do you ever see people walking outside a school while the examination is going on being called upon to come and write an examination in the school when they have not yet entered or enrolled? It is absurd. Nobody would do that. The same applies. People say we are Muslims. Why do we face many difficulties? That's because you have entered the school you are the one who's going to be tested, those who are outside the school, they will not be tested to the degree and to the tune of your test. And this is why
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam clearly states in Allah.
tala indeed if Allah subhanho wa Taala loves his worshiper, he will test him. Because the more he tests you, the more opportunities you have to pass the examination. And when you pass one examination, guess what happens? You go to a more difficult one. When you pass one stage, even in your computer games, you go to a next stage, which is not as easy as the first one. So panela Why do I give an example of computer games and I see even older people smiling, because today, even the elderly are hooked up on some of these games. You understand? The same applies in our lives, we will be tested one after the other things will happen not according to my whims and fancies. What did I
say at the beginning of today's opening speech
I said, in whose hands lies the absolute control of every single aspect of existence because that is not in my hands, it is in the hands of Allah subhanho wa Taala those tests and challenges Allah subhanho wa Taala gives us a manual in order to look through so that we would know how to go through the tests. We know the answers for the questions that we will be asked through the tests. And this is why Allah subhanho wa Taala says regarding the Quran,
all people, all people, indeed a reminder or a warning has come to you from your hub
and cure for the diseases of the heart cure for that which lies in the chest Subhan Allah that is a cure in what in the Koran in the revelation in that which Allah has sent you. This is the month of the Quran. This is the opening lecture of this beautiful series that we are continuing from last year. It is important for us to know that Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the score on
there is cure, there is guidance, there is mercy for those who believe. If you believe they will be missing in it for you. Do you want to save yourselves from the calamities of this world? Well, then you need to know Allah has taught you how to do that. Do you want to save yourselves from the calamities and disasters of the hereafter? You need to know that Allah has taught you to do that by revealing to you upon the most blessing of creation, upon the most noble of all prophets of Allah subhanho wa Taala Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah sent him as a favor to myself and yourselves to mankind at large to creation at large Subhana Allah, do you appreciate that? While I
want to tell you last year, in a Masjid in Botswana in Johannesburg, I had commenced the series known as the Save yourself series. The idea was to comb through verses of the Koran that teach us how to live life in a way that we protect ourselves from the challenges that we face in life. What are the challenges you and I know we face problems and difficulty of so many different kinds Subhan Allah and saving ourselves from that which lies beyond this very short life? If I were to ask you, how old are you? perhaps some of you would say something. Let me tell you this morning, I was asked How old are you? And I said, Well, you know, so Pamela, this is an interesting response because none
of you will believe.
I was asked, How old are you? And I said, well, whenever I tell people that I am 63 they don't believe me.
Did you hear that?
How old are you? I was asked. So I said whenever I tell people I am 63? They don't believe me?
Do you?
Because I'm not 63. So can Allah Subhana Allah? That's what I said. I said, whenever I tell people, I'm 63 they don't believe me. And I paused for a moment. And then I said, because I'm not 63 so pan Allah. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant, this is the point I want to raise the average lifespan of the soma between 60 and 70 years.
Those who passed away have passed away for longer than 70 years. There are people who have passed away for 1000 years, they have gone there are people who are on Earth, we will never know who they are. Allah says hello to his swimming.
Do you even feel any one of them? Or do you hear the slightest sound from any one of them? You don't even know who they were to be honest, unless you were told by Allah subhanho wa Taala. Man, we think were a big deal yet many of those who are more powerful than myself and yourself together, they had more wealth and more energy than us. They were more powerful. They ruled on Earth. We don't even know who they were. So don't think you're a big deal. Allah subhanho wa Taala says there was a time when you were not even mentioned. Nobody could even talk about you because you didn't even exist. Look at so autodata Allah says hello
Santa
Nina de la mia
had the time not passed when man was nothing to be even mentioned to Panama. We weren't even at he or she nor were we in it because people couldn't refer to us we didn't exist. And Allah says you know what they will come a time later on when you return to Allah. So my brothers and sisters, continuing from last year's theme, a beautiful theme, I decided not to go too fast. Because every time we come through verses of the Quran, they are so interesting. We don't want to break the train of these beautiful verses and the lessons we learn from therefore, last year, I did the first part of the series. And today we have just commenced the second part of the series. And what I've chosen
to do is to go through the last of the verses that I had already discussed at the end of last year's Ramadan. And to start off with that because it is absolutely important for us to know how to save ourselves from the disasters of this world. And here we begin, so to know, is the 24th surah of the Quran. It is in the 18th parts from 30 paths of the Quran known as a jeiza. What we what we need to know is this surah Allah subhanho wa Taala commences it, making mention of adultery, fornication, the prohibition and the punishment.
You and I know that if you want to save yourself from disaster in this world, you need to save yourself from adultery. It will protect you from disease, from sickness from the sickness that is external from sickness that is internal. It will save you from playing hide and seek with your spouse and with others it will save you from a lot of calamity Subhan Allah, aren't we saying save yourself while Allah tells us look, adultery is prohibited? Not because we don't want men to enjoy, but he must do it with due process. There is a process by which you will enjoy yourself there is a process through which you will fulfill the basic desire. If you do not do it through the process,
you will never ever succeed you will fail in fact, you will not be saved from the disasters that will be resultant of your action. May Allah subhanho wa Taala safeguard us. So therefore my brothers and sisters number one, as Ramadan has started, we seek forgiveness for whatever immorality or immoral behavior we may have engaged in in the past, we will not do it again. And we seek Allah subhanho wa Taala is forgiving us May Allah forgive us.
And from this day on, we will realize that to save ourselves from the disasters of this earth as well as that which is to follow later, we will definitely protect ourselves from immoral behavior. May Allah subhanho wa Taala grant us and our offspring protection I mean,
so thereafter, and we know that it's very bad because it breaks your home. It will set a bad example for your children. And it is abuse of the opposite *. Those who commit adultery and fornication What are they doing? Allah subhanho wa Taala says if you really would like to fulfill your basic desire, take the full responsibility of your action by marrying the person so that the result of the resultant children are taken care of in a respectable fashion. They have a mother and the father, they have parents who will take care of them so Pamela and you will be responsible for your action and your behavior. May Allah subhanho wa Taala guide us. But can I tell you what is worse than that?
If a person commits adultery and fornication they seek the forgiveness of Allah, Allah subhanho wa Taala will forgiveness. One levena
Allah says, Those who have committed immorality, those who have engaged in immoral behavior or those who have transgressed against themselves, adultery, fornication is included in this and anything else which is immoral, immoral, those who have watched for example, and who are hooked on to * videos or material we need to understand you turn to Allah
Allah will forgive you. The month of Ramadan is a month of abstinence so that we can declare that we've become better people to Allah subhanho wa Taala and we can bear witness that we have tried our best and we achieved manager. Whoever works hard will achieve. Woman demiurgic della mia Ji, whoever does not work hard, how do they expect to achieve you work hard on something Well, lucky you will achieve so this verse Allah says, a person who's engaged in the morality a person who's transgressed against himself or herself, needs to know
that if that person at that point of sin remembers Allah and turns back to Allah, and seeks forgiveness for the sin, and does not continue committing that sin, then Allah subhanho wa Taala says, For as long as that person knows that there is none to forgive sin besides Allah, Allah will forgive that person. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says, those are the ones that there shall be the forgiveness of the Arab as well as paradise, they will achieve paradise Subhana Allah. So it doesn't mean that you've committed sin in your life, you are doomed forever. No, Allah subhanho wa Taala will grant you Jelena he will go into forgiveness and paradise if you seek that forgiveness. May
Allah subhanho wa Taala granted to us.
So committing adultery, fornication, I've already explained partially how we would save ourselves if we abstain from it if we realized what Allah subhanho wa Taala wants. But more than that, worse than that, is when you accuse others of the crime. Did you know that when you commit a crime, you can seek forgiveness, you will forgive you we just heard that. But when you accuse someone else,
to get forgiveness for that accusation, you need to go to that person and you need to seek their forgiveness. They may not be ready to forgive you because they are not a fortune rahimian. They are not the most forgiving, Most Merciful. Therefore, be careful about the tongue. This tongue can actually destroy you. If you want to save yourself, protect your tongue. Think before you speak. Allah subhanho wa Taala speaks about those who accused the chaste and innocent women from among the believing females. Verse number four of swords unknown, Allah says
to me,
those who have accused the chaste women
of committing adultery, they have just thrown an accusation or they have spread a rumor. Allah says if they don't come up with four brilliant eye witnesses regarding that act, then punish them. Subhan Allah and the punishment of the Sharia is made mention of here for the for those who are in authority over the land, if they are fulfilling the Sharia, Allah subhanho wa Taala informs us that the punishment of a person who accuses another of committing immorality or adultery should be at lashes in public Subhan Allah, and Allah says, Don't ever accept any statement that they utter any witness that they bear, they are liars, they are sinful in the eyes of Allah. Why? Because they
create a disaster in the oma, we want to save ourselves from disaster. And here are people accusing one another of things. My brothers and sisters, let's be careful. Many times you hear people say, do you know those two are going out? They're going out with each other. What does that mean? Nowadays ask the young people we're going out means May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us all. That is a dangerous statement. Do you know what you're saying? Is it a reality? If it is true, and you're speaking behind their back, it is known as Viva. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says,
Do you know what is Riba? So the Sahaba the Allahu anhu inquisitive to know what is the Riba? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says the cuca Huckabee Maja Cara
mentioning regarding your fellow brother or sister in their accents that which if they were present, they would not have liked it. That is Reba. What is the sin, the sin is that you bear the brunt of their sin. So you bear the sin.
They have committed comes on to you because you're talking about them behind their backs. Why is it so simple, because we are meant to love one another to the degree that if one does something bad, we are supposed to want them to come back on track. So we go to them, we pray for them, we try to talk to them, we don't go out and become excited. Yes, I've got this on video, I'm going to publish it, I'm going to publicize it, I'm going to make sure the whole world knows about this. That's not the attitude of a Muslim, a Muslim when he sees another committing sin perpetrating that which is wrong, he wants to resolve the matter. He wants to protect his brothers and sisters on both sides. And he
wants to try and ensure that the matter is resolved in a way that people are given a chance
to get close to Allah subhanho wa Taala you see someone drinking alcohol, visiting the nightclubs, perhaps gambling, all these are bad sins according to Islam. But we should have such a genuine feeling for one another, that rather than going to expose and getting excited about it, showing that you don't care, you're not bothered about those who have the Shahada with you, you're not bothered about the family of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, rather than that, you should make dua for them, pray for them. supplicate go and talk to them, communicate with them try and resolve the matter that is the quality of a Muslim. So the Sahaba Allah asks, What if What we are saying is
actually true?
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, if it is true, then that is exactly what he is. And if it is not true, then it goes one step beyond Riba it becomes known as Bhutan.
It becomes known as a slander. It's untrue. My brothers my sisters, today, we are living in the age, the age of editing, photoshopping video shopping, have you heard of that?
It's very simple for you to see a photograph.
And yet it looks so true to you. But it is absolutely false. It never happened. It didn't exist. It is simple to super impose today, a little child of five years old can do it using an application and the world starts hating each other. Just because they witness one video. That was totally video shot. I always give an example of a Hollywood. I'm sure many of us here have watched some movies. They look so real. Nobody ever died. They do you know that? And how many are killed. It's a real movie. If they can create such a real looking movie that was just a movie. Imagine what they can do today. That could happen years ago. Now. They can make you Tonks in a nightclub, just by having one
picture of your face. They add it onto an app and suddenly you're doing the hip hop.
May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us the next best thing you say? The amount of mischief Did you see the video doing? Its rounds. My brother, my sister. You are a macmini don't believe it? You know you cannot do that your Eman cannot do that either. May Allah subhanho wa Taala forgive us all. So verse number 23 of the same surah Allah subhanho wa Taala says in Medina,
Sana
Mina god
those who falsely accuse the chaste believing women,
those who are ignorant of what you are accusing them of, and they are innocent of what you are accusing them of. Allah says for them, they have the curse in this world and the next, we want to save ourselves from kiss. That's why we're talking about this verse. If you want to save yourself from Lana in the dunya and the Acura, stop accusing people stop spreading rumor. Now someone might say no, but I didn't start the rumor. I didn't start the rumor. So let me at least forward it so people can know what's going on. You know,
we're all guilty of receiving messages. And immediately, we have a whole list of people tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, it's gone. Before you know it, it's been to 1000 people and each one of them brings it to another 1000. Within 15 minutes a million people have that message. Where did it go from? May Allah forgive us? It's dangerous. Allah says the source is cursed, not only the source, anyone who was guilty of spreading it thereafter, is also a party to the crime.
So don't Subhanallah imagine Allah is saying a person who accuses others is actually cursed in the dunya and the app
Losses hola Hamada buena when they are going to have a great punishment, sometimes Allah uses a lien. a lien means painful punishment. In this verse number 23 of surah. Allah says, a very big punishment, may Allah protect us, a lot of us think it's light. And this is why in some of the verses as we shall see inshallah, tomorrow, Allah speaks about this and he says that
certain things, you think they are very light, but in the eyes of Allah, there are massive, huge crime being committed, and you don't know for you, it was the foreword of a message may Allah subhanho wa Taala safeguard us now, I need to speak about verse number five of the same surah before I close for today. And that verse is regarding what should be done, if I've already committed such a crime. I've already engaged in accusing others, I can taste it in my life. A lot of the times when you're struggling with your health, with your wealth, you've got problem after problem you have disaster with your children with your parents, you have a problem and a difficulty. These are
matters we want to save ourselves from we go from doctor to doctor from pillar to post, and we don't know how to safeguard ourselves. A lot of the times you need to look within you have used further rumor about someone if the answer is yes, perhaps you have achieved that curse that Allah speaks about. Maybe you have pinched yourself by talking about others. This is why a true believer saves himself or herself by not speaking ill about others. I promise you, my brothers and sisters, if you and if I were only to speak good about one another, behind our backs, we would make a better Obama. Let's promise today, and I challenge you, behind the backs of others, no matter who they are, Do you
promise that you will only say good things
Alhamdulillah even if it is your mother in law, by the way, Allah subhanho wa Taala Grant has the ability to say the best word. Look, there is a lot of goodness in every one of us. And we also make mistakes, while only happen the evil, making it seem like there is no goodness in the person speak about the good. If you don't have anything good to say keep quiet man, can you
do me a favor for
whoever believes in Allah and truly believes in the last day of accountability, they will only after that which is good or remain silent? Because they know if they say that which is bad, they will be held responsible in the dunya and the alpha. So what if I've already done something? What if I'm struggling and suffering? Number one, seek the forgiveness of Allah? You know why? Allah subhanho wa Taala says in verse number five, regarding those whom he said, are very sinful Illa de nada, boom, you're back.
Indeed, except for those who seek the forgiveness, they engage in terrible and they make amends. They change their ways and habits. Allah says for them is forgiveness. For Indeed Allah is most forgiving, Most Merciful.
Imagine a person who has done bad, they have been cursed, they are suffering
in every way, they want to save themselves. The best way to save yourself from calamity on Earth and in the next life is by seeking the forgiveness of Allah and seeking the forgiveness of those whom you have wronged. Say, you know what, my brother I wronged you? I'm very sorry, forgive me, please, I realize my mistake. But do you know what US law means? A slow means to make amends thereafter, if you have written about someone spoken bad about them, you now need to go around speaking good about them. You need to undo the bad that you did. You went around and you spread bad you spoil their name in community and society. Now that you've asked last forgiveness, you must go back to the people
whom you went to spoil that person's name and said you know what, I was wrong. What I said was actually wrong. And it was bad for me to say May Allah forgive me and maybe that person forgiving me too. It is not easy to do that. For us. It's easy to ask Allah for forgiveness sometimes. But we are sometimes very proud. Our ego prohibits us from going up to the person Please forgive me my brother, forgive me. Forgive me, my sister. I have wronged you. That's not easy. And Allah says if you're ready to do that, we will ensure that you have mercy in this world and the next May Allah subhanho wa Taala bless us all here we have commenced the beautiful month of Ramadan, we hope to be reading
tarawih tomorrow again, in a beautiful place that we read today. I challenge you to come
You're early tomorrow by the will of Allah subhanho wa Taala and enjoy your time with Allah subhanho wa Taala. We will be speaking about the verses whereby we can save ourselves from the calamity of this world and the next aku kolyada or sallallahu wasallam albaraka Allah Nabina Muhammad Subhana Allah Allah Subhana Allah Mohammed, the shadow Allah, Allah Allah