Musleh Khan – Al-Ahzaab Unveiled #05
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AI: Transcript ©
One last thing, uswatun hasana, we broke down
just to understand some of the words that
are being used in this ayah, uswatun.
These are three forms of the same word,
mu'asat, asi, and uswa.
Each of them capturing different aspects of the
same word.
So if you say it like this, it
involves that.
Okay, focuses on the compassion for one another.
Somebody who takes care of you, asi, so
somebody who loves and takes care of you,
is constantly thinking about you.
And uswa, care, love, and courtesy.
So all of these things are incorporated in
uswa of the Prophet ﷺ.
Okay.
We did this verse already.
And I believe that's where we paused, yeah.
We didn't take this verse, did we?
Yeah, okay.
Let's go back to this one, verse number
22.
Yalla, so let's start from here, okay?
So, walamma ra'al mu'minoon al-ahzab, when
the believers saw the enemy coming and gathering
amongst themselves.
Al-mu'minoon al-ahzab qaloo hadha man wa'dan
allahu wa rasoolu.
So they built the enemy, the Quraysh and
the mushrikun, were marching from all corners and
they were coming towards now, the battle was
supposed to begin until they came to the
trench, right?
We did talk about this.
We touched on it very briefly.
And that is, generally speaking, the attitude of
a believer when tragedy strikes.
When the moment hardship and pain strikes, that
very moment that it begins, a number of
things are encouraged to all of us as
believers that we should do or say or
behave when tragedy strikes.
So in this case, war is about to
take place.
The believer, first and foremost, remember we mentioned
to you a hadith, an authentic hadith in
Bukhari and Muslim.
The Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam once saw a
mother crying at a grave.
And she was weeping over for hours and
hours and people, the other companions would be
walking by and they would see her for
many hours crying by this grave.
And eventually word got out that it was
the grave of her son.
So Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam came up to
this mother and said to her that, be
patient and be conscious of Allah.
This is better for you.
Be patient and have taqwa of Allah.
This is better for you.
Okay.
This mother turned around and uttered a phrase
to him to sort of like, you don't
understand, get away from me.
Okay.
So the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam being that
a person he is, he never gets in
confrontation.
If confrontation is looking for him, how does
the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam handle situations like
that?
What does he do or not do?
The first thing the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam
ever does, whenever somebody wants to pick an
argument with him or confrontation comes to him,
the first thing he does, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
he remains silent.
He pauses.
And what he does, they say that this
is kind of where a person takes a
brief moment to gather their thoughts and don't
get caught up with the emotions that flare
up at that very moment.
Anger or pain or insults and things like
that come to you.
It's very easy for us to react and
react immediately.
For the believer, iman keeps you under control.
So the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam would pause.
If that didn't happen, he salallahu alayhi wasalam,
he would do the talking first.
So if somebody wanted to scream and fight
with him, he would respond and say, no,
don't do that.
This is wrong.
This is not the attitude or the actions
of a believer or a muttaqi.
I advise you to do that.
So he would clearly, without hesitation, start talking
to the person and giving them some advice
to like cool down.
Does that work for people these days?
Imagine if you get an argument with somebody
and you're like, listen, just fear Allah and
just relax.
In this day and age, you trying to
be the one to sort of diffuse the
situation might actually, you know, add more fire
to the situation because you're so calm.
Oh, so you think you're all pious now,
right?
Giving me all the advice.
It might feel the person even further.
What do you do in a situation like
that?
Yeah, try to get away from it.
Just don't even engage.
So the third thing is what the Prophet
ﷺ told this woman.
Later on, when she kind of like just
said something to him and told him, get
away from you.
Later on, she mentioned this story to some
of her own friends, and they told her,
you don't know who that was?
That was the Rasul ﷺ that came to
you.
That was the Prophet of Allah.
She felt so bad and so guilty.
She went and found him.
Ya Rasulullah, I apologize.
I didn't know it was you.
I lost my son.
Emotions got the best of me.
And the Prophet ﷺ understood.
So you know what he tells her?
The famous statement, right?
Famous statement.
Patience is the first thing that the believer
reacts with in any tense situation.
Patience.
So for the believer, the standard that you
always, always try your very best to have,
is anytime you're in a tense situation, patience,
patience, patience.
Does that mean you remain quiet?
Is that what patience is?
Take the verbal abuse and just be quiet
and smile?
No.
You can respond.
If somebody's literally insulting you, you can respond.
Now, whether you choose to respond with an
insult of your own, what do you guys
think about that?
He said something, he insulted me, so I
insult him back?
Is that the, you know, the behavior, like
the attitude of a believer?
Well, there is a verse in the Qur
'an that if you meet, you know, something
ugly and filthy with your own filthy words
or actions, the ayah tells us that both
of you now will be at the same
position, meaning both of you now will be
accountable in front of Allah.
Nowhere in the ayah does it say, don't
do that.
Technically, a believer is allowed to say exactly
the insult that they were told to say
back.
They can curse back.
They can fight back.
But this ayah also reminds us that, وَجَزَاءُ
سَيِّئَةٍ سَيِّئَةٌ مِثْلُهَا So the verse is the
reward for a evil or ugly response is
the same thing for the one who initiated
this whole thing, who uttered the ugly phrase
or word or sentence to you, the one
who started it.
If you respond to it, you both get
the same from Allah.
So if that person is going to be
punished, then if you responded the same way,
you get the same punishment.
فَمَنْ آمَنَ وَأَصْلَحَ Then the ayah concludes that
whoever reaffirms their belief and they respond with
something better, that is better for them.
The point here is this.
This ayah does not tell at any moment
you and I that we have to just
be quiet and we can't really like curse
if we really wanted to.
You shouldn't curse.
It's wrong to curse.
And using, you know, swear words and things
like that is not what believers do, especially
somebody of dhikr.
Somebody who's constantly doing dhikr with the tongue
and reading Qur'an, praying and doing all
of these things.
Those words should never come out of your
mouth.
But when you're in the heat of the
moment and it actually you say it, what
Allah is simply saying is, you're no better
than the person now that started this.
So however they are going to be accountable
in front of Allah, you're going to be
the same way.
The point is the ayah does not say
you shouldn't do that.
And that's all I'm going to tell you.
So if you choose to like respond, then
you have to take accountability for that.
That's all I'm saying to you.
Okay.
So these believers, when they saw the enemies
coming towards them, هذا ما وعدنا الله ورسوله
This is the promise of Allah and the
messenger.
They promised us this.
So we mentioned this last week.
What's happening in this ayah right now?
A true believer reinforces their commitment to the
Prophet when they see trouble coming towards them.
That's the first thing they do.
This is hard.
This is not a spiritual switch that you
turn on when you're in a tough situation.
It doesn't just turn on.
How do you develop so that when you
are in those moments that you will react
this way?
How do you do that?
It's a very simple, straightforward answer.
But at the same time, extremely difficult for
the average Muslim to attain.
How can you be of this person?
Tragedy is coming your way.
Something terrible is about to happen and you
reinforce and you come closer to Allah.
So in essence, it's almost as if you're
celebrating the moment because this is what Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la decreed for
me.
Our example, this is the battle of Ahsab.
Think of you or me in a car
accident.
Get into a crash, car's total, but you're
okay.
Other person, total, but okay.
And you walk out and you just say,
Alhamdulillah, you know, this is from Allah.
Alhamdulillah.
The other person is cursing at you, but
you're just saying, what do you wanna do?
I'll fix your car, fine.
It's on me.
I'm at fault.
So inshallah khair, I'll do it.
Calm, cool, collective, and you're closer to Allah
and you're saying things like Alhamdulillah.
Who talks like that in situations like this?
Only people of Iman.
How do you become that person?
It's a very simple answer.
Commitment, keep going.
When?
If you have taqwa as a quality in
you, outside of these moments, you will always
have access to it inside these moments when
they do happen.
This is a sign.
It's gonna be an indication for you that
when these moments happen and you don't react
the way you would like to, it's a
sign you're not doing enough outside of these
moments.
Think of salah.
If you cannot concentrate in prayer, this is
one of the most common questions Muslims ask
all the time.
How can I improve my concentration in prayer?
The answer are many, but one of them
is all has to do with what life
is for you outside of prayer.
What are you doing?
What are you involved in?
What do you busy your time with when
it's not prayer time?
And then if you think that Iman is
a switch, you just turn on and then
you go to pray, you have khushu, you're
crying.
Oh my God, you know, you're just in
the feeling, the surah, the imam is recitation,
is Allahu Akbar.
Soon as you're done, Salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
You look at your husband, look at your
wife, I still hate you.
And the argument just continues.
It pauses for salah and then as soon
as it's done, get right back into it.
So what are you doing around these prayers?
What are you doing?
How are you living in life when these
moments, when things are good and things are
stable, is gonna help you determine if you
have what it takes to respond this way.
So keep that in mind.
These sahabas live that life.
So it was easy that when they just
went through Badr, then they went through Uhud,
now Ahzab and Allah in Surah Al-Baqarah
told them that Medina is gonna be a
difficult life.
And the ulama say, the reason why this
ayah is in Surah Al-Baqarah, the first
surah revealed in Medina is Surah Al-Baqarah.
That's the first surah.
As soon as they arrived, literally maybe six
to nine months after, Surah Al-Baqarah is
given to them.
In Surah Al-Baqarah, it's the famous verse.
Five things Allah says, I'm gonna grind you
through them.
One of them is fear.
The ayah before this one is all about
a lot of, there's going to be a
loss of life and lots of it in
this part of his prophethood, meaning Medina.
And still in the midst of all of
that, they still have it.
A believer sees the prediction of Islam, good
or bad as a miracle from Allah.
In contrast to a disbeliever, just simply people
with no Iman.
They will see this moment for what it
is.
If it's trouble, if it's a disaster, if
it's like annoying, if it's painful, that's all
they will see that moment to be.
For the believer, they see, somebody could say
to you, that's such a beautiful tree.
It's autumn right now.
All these beautiful leaves and colors everywhere.
People will just think, oh my God, I
wanna go there.
I wanna just take a couple of pictures.
You know what?
Others see leaves falling and they see beautiful
colors on these trees.
The believer, you know what they see?
Wa man tasqootu min waraqatin illa ya'lamuha.
There isn't a single leaf except that Allah
has complete knowledge of where that leaf was,
the time it's going to fall, the trajectory
that it's going to use as it falls,
and where it's going to land, what it's
going to land on.
If there's an ant trying to dig a
hole, so it falls right on top.
Allah knows how the ant feels.
He's probably upset.
He's like, oh my God, I gotta start
digging all over again.
Now there's this big leaf in front of
me.
All of that.
That's what the people of Eman, you don't
see the trees and you don't see those
color, you know, leaves.
You see something much more.
And that's the goal behind the ayat like
this.
Now, I titled this verse, True Men.
Min al mu'minin ar-rijal.
It doesn't say min al muslimin.
If you, you know, once upon a time,
not too long ago, this whole conversation of
masculinity and what is a man and what
is a true man in the sight of
Allah, it has become quite a common subject.
And, you know, without mentioning names, but I'm
sure you all, if you're just scrolling through
online once in a while here and there,
you'll find some pretty popular names of people
sort of giving their take on what a
true man is and what they should be
and how they should live and the things
they should involve themselves in.
In Quran, there are several qualities that are
highlighted of what a true man is in
the sight of Allah.
This is one of those ayat.
A true man are number one, believers.
It doesn't say Muslim.
It's focused on mu'min.
And you all know now when Allah does
this, what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la is focused on.
These are people that are consistent with Iman
in their day-to-day lives.
Allah says these believers are rijal.
You see this word, rijal, that's the Arabic
word.
Well, that's the plural.
The singular is rajul.
A man is called rajul.
The legs, thighs, shins, the entire leg is
called rijlun.
It's the same word.
Now put that all together.
A man is given the name man after
the name of the legs.
What's the connection here?
Why is a man named after the thighs
and the legs and so on?
Why is he named after that?
Because a man's gotta do what?
He's gotta work.
He's gotta be on his feet.
He's gotta do something.
That's how Allah designed him.
Qawwamun, the famous ayah that every non-Muslim
knows.
The ayah that talks about supposedly the Prophet
Alayhi Salatu Wasalam allowing men to hit their
wives, right?
Supposedly, which is completely wrong.
But the point is that ayah starts off
with arrijalu qawwamun.
Men are qawwamun women.
The word qawwam is usually translated that they
are strong.
They are qawwam.
I've seen translations that say they control, they
dictate, they own.
All of these are horrible translations.
But the point here is that in that
ayah, Allah calls men the same word, rijal,
and tells us that one of the things
that makes a man a true man in
the sight of Allah, in Surah An-Nisa,
Allah focused on that he takes care of
his wife.
And he takes care of his family.
He doesn't care what he has to do.
He makes sure security, stability, food, income, protection,
all of that is solidified through his own
efforts.
He may ask his wife to help him
from time to time, but he never depends
on her to do that.
He embraces his responsibility.
I have a family and I need to
take care of them.
That's a big thing missing in young men
these days, especially the young men that wanna
get married.
There's a big problem, right?
That maturity and that willingness to embrace the
responsibility, only the people who do the job
and do it right, both, the women who
embrace their role in relationship in the marriage
and the men who embrace that role, only
they can say to you how tough marriage
is.
It is difficult.
Don't forget all the waleemahs you've ever been
to a nikah.
Marriage is just like, you know, you're a
little Jannah in your home.
No, today it's Jannah, tomorrow it's a little
bit of Jahannam.
And the other day it's like yawm al
qiyam, then you go, it's all, that's how
it is.
But you still keep working to make this
unit, this whole system function.
So the man's role in this area now,
look at what Allah highlights.
A real man or real men who have
proven true, they are people who are honest.
So the quality sadaqu from sadaqul, real men
are people who stay true to their word.
Ya Rasulullah, I'm going to be with you
and I'm going to battle with you.
I'm not going to turn my back from
you.
That's what Allah is saying.
Like when they say they will, they will,
they follow through.
They don't change their mind every 10 minutes.
They don't care about the wasawis or all
of these distractions.
Yeah, sure, it might bother them.
It might be annoying, but they're focused and
they know this is what I gotta do
and this is what I have to deal
with.
Like I have to commit myself because this
is the right thing.
That's tough.
How do you develop that sort of habit?
How do you do that?
The same answer with the previous one I
gave you.
How do you develop this kind of routine?
It's the same answer from the previous subject.
How do you have sabr when you need
it the most?
You're in it.
Yeah, you're always honest with yourself.
Even when you're wrong.
Lots of people do that.
That's part of life.
When you know you're the one that's guilty.
Let me just stay quiet.
Maybe nobody would know.
I won't say anything.
Okay, listen, just don't tell the boss it
was me, okay?
A real man?
No, not at all.
You know, you probably see this too.
It's so often.
I don't want to say names like of
the stores or whatever.
So often I'll go to the grocery store.
Myself, my wife, we see this all the
time of people just like sneaking little items
in their bag.
Yes, it was scanned.
You know, when it's given, did you scan
all items?
Yes or no?
And he says, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And sometimes, you know, very often we would
see that.
What should we do?
Let me just say to you this.
Alhamdulillah, with Allah's help, we do the right
thing, okay?
You don't hesitate.
You do the right thing.
Alhamdulillah.
There's only one right answer, by the way.
I hope you all.
Yeah, right thing.
You see something that's completely wrong.
Prophet Alayhi Salaam says, if you can physically
go and change it, do that.
But if you can't, then speak against it.
And, you know, Alhamdulillah, you know, let's put
it this way.
We don't do it for this.
But every time we've done something like that,
where we let the right people know, look,
you know, we just saw this.
There's another.
Put it this way.
We've always been rewarded.
Honesty is not something you learn.
It's something you develop with experience, with your
surroundings.
You can read a book about honesty.
You can read an encyclopedia.
And you can still be the greatest, most
proficient liar in history.
You can still be that person.
The thing that helps you be an honest
human being are two things.
You live like this.
Your affairs and your dealings and your, you
know, transactions and everything you do is all
based on that.
And number two, you're surrounded with the people
who are honest.
What does Allah say in Qur'an?
Ya ayyuhallatheena aamanoo koonoo ma'as sadiqeen Allah
says, people have been met, be and surround
yourself with people of truth and honesty.
You see, you notice the ayah doesn't say,
learn and become the honest person.
Go follow the Rasul, you will become honest.
These things will help you.
But surrounding yourself is what will do the
job.
And that's tough because we live in a
time where one can pretty much say that
it's quite difficult to find surroundings like that
these days, right?
Rijalun sadaqu ma'ahadullahi alayh So specifically now
in context, this is what they became truthful
men because of this, because of what they
pledged to Allah.
The pledge that is referenced here in this
ayah is one of two.
The actual pledge that these companions made with
the Prophet alayhi salatu wasalam when they became
Muslim or the pledge to support and follow
him in the battle of Khandaq.
Like they were gonna be part of the
army and right to the very end, okay?
Faminhum man qada'an nahbahu wa minhum man
yantadhir From amongst them, some of them have
fulfilled their pledge with their lives.
Nahbah or nuhbah is they've reached the end
of their life.
Nahbah is another word to describe somebody dying.
But before they actually die, the process in
which they go through.
So nahbah is like exhaustion, starvation that led
to their death.
Nahbah is sickness, illnesses, cancer, all of these
things led to their death.
In this case, participating here in this battle,
some of them starved, perhaps some of them
got really sick.
And as we mentioned, it was about five
to seven individuals that lost their life in
this particular battle amongst the companions.
So of them, those individuals that lost their
lives, Allah says, some of them, this is
what happened.
This was the process in which they died
in.
Waminhum man yantadhir And others are waiting their
turn.
Do you see the language?
It doesn't say and others survived and others
are still alive.
Look at the language, look at the mentality
of companions.
That's why there is no human being on
the face of this earth like a companion.
There are people who claim, I mean, there
are people who claim they're the prophet, let
alone a companion.
But there are people who claim that they
are equal to quote unquote, companion so-and
-so or better.
But in reality, just having an insight to
the mindset of these individuals, the language Allah
says, they're just waiting.
See, you know what this looks like?
It gives us this image that perhaps those
that survived, they're like, oh man, you didn't
die?
Me too.
You didn't even get sick?
At least I got sick.
So Alhamdulillah for that.
Because why?
Allah would reward, Allah would remove sins from
you.
Allah will sort of renew and purify your
Iman through all of that struggle.
Companions looked forward to it.
You know, there's a famous narration of Abu
Bakr Alayhi Salaam when he became sick.
He was almost bedridden for some time.
Some of the companions came to him and
said, have you seen the doctor?
And he says, yes.
What did the doctor say?
Doctor said he can do whatever he wants.
So the others are looking like, what are
you talking?
What kind of doctor is that?
Surely that doctor isn't qualified.
Like who saw you?
He said, my doctor is Allah.
And Allah, his Qadr is he will do
as he pleases.
So Allah has willed his Qadr is that
I become sick.
So I accept it.
And they just live with that.
Is that allowed?
Is that recommended?
Like if you're sick and you say to
yourself, Allah will decide where the sickness goes.
Or should you go see the doctor?
Both.
Both.
Both of them are from the Sunnah.
Right?
So just keep that in mind.
One is not better than the other.
Right?
Literally, you know, the famous Shaykh that passed
away recently, Shaykh Abdullah.
Shaykh Abdullah from the IMO Masjid, the Egyptian
Qari.
I'm sure some of you know him.
Famous reciter that passed away.
He was a really very close teacher and
friend.
Like we went to Umrah together.
I have never met an elderly man that
knew so many jokes and riddles in my
entire life.
When I tell you this man made all
of us laugh.
Like we were afraid that we were gonna
like do something wrong.
We were literally falling to the ground because
he was just such a pleasant person.
And he was actually my roommate.
So his bed was literally right beside mine.
And we stayed up all night almost for
the 10 nights we were there, just talking
every single night we kept doing this.
And anyhow, so he was also diagnosed with
cancer.
His son is a doctor who specializes in
this field.
He was hospitalized for three, four months.
His son was caring for him.
He took no radiation, no chemo, nothing.
The son said, my dad, all he wanted
to do was just have a Mus'haf.
And he finished the Quran every three days
right on the hospital bed.
When he died, he was cancer free.
It's remarkable.
So both sides are praiseworthy in the sight
of Allah.
So don't think that, oh man, I'm still
not there.
If I go to shoppers and I grab
Tylenol or something and I take medicine.
No, that is from the Sunnah as well.
Okay.
But for those who choose to just rely
upon Allah and whatever Allah wants to do
and where he takes me from here, I
trust him and I will pray for shifa
from him and only him and leave it
at that.
That is a choice where the ulema sort
of leave that to you.
Okay.
Can you just, but discouraging anybody from doing,
just don't do anything, just sit there.
Well, that's a different story, right?
That is certainly haram and punishable.
So there should be some kind of, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
So for the students that are online, this
particular subject reminds us of our brothers and
sisters and what they go through, what they're
going through as we speak in Palestine, in
Yemen, in Sudan, in Bangladesh, pretty much throughout
Lebanon, throughout the Muslim world.
And at the end of the day, their
response generally, things that we see online, we
may never see it on the news, but
we do see it elsewhere.
That one thing, they may have lost everything,
but they haven't lost their faith and their
trust in Allah.
They see nothing good around them, but they
still make the moment like a garden from
the gardens of paradise.
They still say alhamdulillah, and this is all
from Allah.
And yeah, I mean, yeah, certainly these are
the things to sort of take some time
to really understand and figure out where you
fit in all of that.
Fa minhum man qada nahbahu wa minhum man
yantathir wa ma baddalu tabdeela They have never
changed their commitment in the least.
This is validation from Allah.
You see when Allah makes reference to a
group like this and say, look, they never
twisted or turned or bent their faith with
Allah, that's validation.
Whatever they're doing, it's been accepted by Allah
now.
Nahba, when you make something mandatory on yourself,
this is linguistically, okay?
Linguistically, nahba is used that, okay, I have
to do this and I have to get
through it.
Okay, I have to get through this.
And shara'an-wise, so in the shari
'a, I have to, I committed to being
in battle with the Prophet alayhis salatu wasalam
and I must complete this battle.
I'm never gonna step out of it, okay?
So, oh Allah, do this for me and
I will give, I put this example, right?
If somebody does something and they ask Allah,
you know, oh Allah, give me this job.
And if you give me this job, ya
rab, I will give sadaqa on behalf of
so and so.
I will give this sadaqa to seek reward
and to show my gratitude to you.
Person gets the job, they can't just be
like, well, inshallah, maybe like my first check
when it comes, I'll do it.
When the first check comes, I still got
so much debt.
Okay, maybe the second check, the third.
Okay, rent is due, taxes came up and
this and that, the furnace broke.
I need a fridge and just the list
goes on.
That's the difference between somebody who has nahba
and somebody who doesn't.
So when they say, I'm going to give
sadaqa, nothing is gonna change.
They've committed and they've made it mandatory on
themselves.
Here's another verse to think about.
What's our commitment to Allah, by the way?
If you wanna know what the commitment that
believers have with Allah, this ayah, ayah number
111 in Surah At-Tawbah.
Ayah number 111.
Inna Allaha ishtara minal mu'mineena anfusahum wa amwalahum
bi anna lahumu aljannah.
The ayah continues, but this, the beginning of
this verse, it's what is relative to what
we're talking about.
Allah has indeed purchased from the believers their
lives and wealth in exchange for paradise.
What is this all about?
So please remember this verse, not now.
Remember this verse in life, okay?
Allah says, you will have Jannah, period.
But I need you to give me two
things.
Allah wants from the believers, number one, their
lives.
And number two, wa amwalahum, their wealth.
Two things, their lives and their wealth.
Lives mean not literally, like physically your life.
It means that, but it also means that
how you choose to live your life, so
your lifestyle has to be the kind of
lifestyle Allah is pleased with.
So in essence, you've now given your entire
lifestyle as well as your physical life to
Allah.
So that's what lives here is referring to.
So this is a transaction here.
Allah is literally purchasing.
Ishtara is the verb used here, this word.
Ishtara is the verb for the buyer.
So Allah is literally saying, okay, I'll purchase
this from you.
I wanna have an exchange, a contract with
you.
I want these two things and you get
this in return.
So to purchase this product, the product is
Jannah.
I need you to give me two things.
So your life as well as number two,
your wealth.
How do we give our wealth to Allah?
What does that mean?
You see me with Quran, I'm all about
faham, like to really understand and comprehend and
make it relative.
So you're saying sadaqah, what else did you
say?
Zakat and salah.
It's much more than that.
How you earn your money, who you spend
it on, how you spend it.
If you are wasteful and extravagant or if
you are extremely stingy and a penny pincher,
we talked about these two extremes.
Both of them are looked down upon and
potentially sinful and accountable in front of Allah.
Either or, Allah always wants balance from us.
You never lean to extreme in anything in
Islam.
By the way, it's a principle in aqidah.
One of the ways you know you're on
the right path as opposed to the wrong
path.
Everything you pursue in life, you always try
to find a balance in it.
Like you always focus on the middle ground.
You're never too loose and you're never too
strict.
You're never too liberal, you're never too conservative.
You're always in the middle.
You can embrace the most practicing Muslims but
you can get along with somebody who has
no clue what iman or Islam is.
Somebody is completely different.
You can still get along and build a
decent relationship with both sides of the coin.
That's one sign that your iman and your
aqidah and your faith is on the right
track.
Where did we get that from?
Didn't the prophet alayhi salatu wasalam get along
with non-Muslims?
Yeah, very well actually.
Did business with them, trusted them.
A famous story when he was attacked in
Ta'if that he left Ta'if.
A little Christian boy that came and met
with him.
They had a conversation and so on.
He was very much engaged.
The Christians that came from another city and
were looking for residence in Medina to spend
some time.
What did the prophet alayhi salatu wasalam do
with them?
These were scholars of their respected faith of
Christianity and they came and they said, look,
we came to debate you.
We heard about you claiming to be a
prophet and it's ridiculous.
So we came to really like, these were
scholars.
We wanna come and sit and debate you.
So you know what prophet alayhi salatu wasalam
does?
If somebody came to your house and be
like, I heard you were studying Surah al
-Ahzab but you're way off with this one.
So I came here to clarify things for
you, okay?
So come to my class tomorrow.
What would you do with this person?
Please don't tell me you'll go to their
class, okay?
You belong to mine and that's all.
But the point is the prophet alayhi salatu
wasalam in essence, these people came and they
wanted to argue and have a dispute, have
a debate and humiliate and embarrass him.
The prophet alayhi salatu wasalam says, okay, fine,
we can debate.
Do you guys have a place to stay?
No, come and stay in the masjid.
And he set up a quote unquote residence,
set up a bed, had the companions set
up bed, give them food, took care of
them, everything.
They became Muslim before they went back to
where they came from.
They said, this man is a true prophet.
Just because of hospitality, they saw the truth
in him.
So when we talk about amwalihim wa anfusihim,
when we talk about wealth, how you earn
it, how you spend it, what you do
with it, even if you save it, the
prophet alayhi salatu wasalam used to save as
well.
He used to have goods of like wheat
and barley and other ingredients and he would
store them for sometimes an entire year.
So the prophet alayhi salatu wasalam had a
quote unquote savings account of his goods and
they were locked away.
So Allah says, I want these two things.
You live your life and you give me
these two things.
In exchange, you'll get paradise.
You know who needs to be reminded of
this ayah?
Teenagers.
This is an ayah for young people because
at first when they start seeing, their hair
gets a little longer.
Oh my God, how would I look with
streaks?
And then they go to school and the
girl says, oh my God, you still wear
that granny scarf on your head?
Your hair is so pretty.
Just put up like some nice red streaks
and it'll really do that.
And it gets to them.
Even the guys were like, oh my God,
already you're starting with this whole beard thing?
Okay, fine.
If you want to do the beard thing,
we can turn this into like a lightning
bolt or something like, you know, you can
have like a nice question mark here and
this and we can make it real nice.
So they get caught up in the now
and not realizing this ayah.
When do you get Jannah?
You get an hour later.
Later, you get it after you go in
six feet on the ground and that beautiful
face and that beautiful hair, mud and dirt
is thrown on top of your head.
That's when inshallah you get to see this.
And for young people, it's not about the
consequence and what comes later.
They're just engrossed into now, now, now, now,
how things are.
This is what my life is.
It's a tough, tough situation, but this is
one of the verses.
If you have teenage students and children, this
is an ayah they should have like as
a screensaver on their phones every single day
to remind them, you know, this is what
the purpose is.
They wouldn't exchange it for the world.
We talked about it.
It all happened.
So Allah may reward the faithful for their
commitment, for their honesty.
So those companions that stuck with it till
the very end, this ayah confirms they will
get the reward that they strived for.
What they were striving for, it's done.
Now it's written in stone.
It's become a clear cut ayah that is
now the Prophet Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam can go
and give them this good news.
Allah will punish the hypocrites.
Notice in this ayah, there were two troublemakers,
right?
One of them was just mentioned in one
ayah and that's it.
Those that had the sickness in their heart.
But when Allah talks about who he will
punish, that group isn't in this ayah.
You see the difference?
Because that group, there's still hope.
When somebody reaches this stage of their life
where they're literally using Islam as a disguise
to cover up their evilness and their ways
and so on, that is such a big
deal in the sight of Allah.
Now it's been stamped that these companions, the
punishment awaits them.
In sha'a or, you know, this could
only come from Allah, right?
Like nobody else can do this.
It's not in the fitrah of a human
being to do this.
Only Allah can do this.
Allah still says, or if he wills that
out of his mercy, allow them to turn
and make tawbah to him.
In other words, Allah is still saying, I've
got the punishment confirmed for you guys, but
you're still alive.
Maybe things can change and you might repent
and that door is still open for you.
Like that's amazing.
If you meet a hypocrite that has burnt
you in the worst way, for humans, it's
almost impossible for us to say, okay, fine,
I'll give you another chance.
You know, you did this for so many
years, but now you came out and you
like admitted, okay, fine, I'll give you another
chance.
Okay, we're best friends again.
We're family again.
Like it's almost impossible to do that.
Allah says, If he wills or turn them
to towards his mercy, Surely Allah is all
forgiving and most merciful.
Students, if you remember, especially those of you
that studied with me in the past, why
does Allah speak in past tense?
This ayah is in the past tense.
Allah was always forgiving and merciful.
Not Allah is or will continue to be
forgiving and merciful.
It's focused on the past.
Referring to your past deeds.
Okay.
And what does that mean for people who
fall into sins?
Close.
You got it.
Yeah, yeah.
You're on the right track for sure.
Listen, this, these ayat when they're given to
us in past tense is one of the
most beautiful moments of your journey in Quran.
Because think about when you do something wrong,
a person with Iman, when they do something
wrong, whether it's on purpose or not, it
happened.
The people of Iman, how do you feel?
You feel like, Oh, I don't care.
Whatever, I did it.
Or do you feel like, Oh, SubhanAllah.
I can't believe I just did what I
did.
And it's, and what usually is the result
of that reaction where you feel guilty, you
feel upset.
Sometimes if you can't get over that and
do something about it, depression is born.
Anxiety is born.
Stress is born.
The feeling of absolutely, the feeling that you're
useless and you're the worst person, that individual
now is born.
And some people who can't handle disappointment, bury
themselves under their blankets, in their rooms.
They don't eat.
They don't talk to no one.
They literally lock themselves away from everybody.
Because why?
They've convinced themselves that for what I've done,
I'm a terrible human being.
Now, when Allah speaks in past tense, he's
reminding us, you probably lost hope in me,
but I was always there ready to forgive
you and have mercy on you.
You cut that up.
I didn't do that to you.
And I think that that is just absolutely
remarkable.
It just, it's absolutely remarkable that Allah to
do that.
I was always forgiving and merciful.
You lost hope.
You lost that, you made that disconnect.
But I don't care how much you've done
and all the terrible things you said.
It doesn't matter.
You still have an opportunity to come back
to me.
And then when you come back to Allah,
you find, man, Allah was always there when
I was depressed.
Allah was always there when I covered myself.
I buried myself.
I starved myself.
I lost this weight.
I lost my friends, my community, my family,
everything.
Allah says, I was always ready to give
you a fresh start.
It's just absolutely remarkable.
So if you ever give a talk or
a reminder about depression and stress and things
like that, something to get people motivated and
feeling optimistic about themselves, use the end of
the ayat like this.
Why Allah is always ghafoor and raheema.
And it's past tense.
It's all throughout the Quran.
We've talked about what ghafoor and raheema meant,
right?
Why they're coined together, right?
We've already discussed that.
Okay, next.
Yeah.
So those two, ghafoor was stretched.
That's all.
Can I explain it as stretched?
Like I'm writing it.
No, I got you, yeah.
It means that Allah is always ghafoor.
Yeah.
So ghafoor, the structure of the word focuses
on that Allah is always forgiven.
It goes on a scale of something we
call in Arabic fa'ool.
So all Arabic words are put on a
scale and they have to match where the
fatha is.
That's where the first letter, it's gonna take
the same fatha.
Where the next letter is, if it's a
damma, if it's a kasra, it's gonna have
to match perfectly.
That's a whole subject by itself.
But the point is the structure, the way
this word is put together, it can be
maghfira.
It can be ghafir.
It can be ghafor.
It can be ghafeer.
It can be so many different forms, but
Allah chooses to put it as ghafoor.
And then here's an addition.
There's another addition here that isn't in other
ayat like this.
You see these two little lines on top
here?
See these two lines?
That's called what?
Those of you that study the tajweed, what
is this called?
Tanween.
Tanween, right?
These two lines are called tanween.
And they are on top of the letter,
accusative form.
In Arabic, we say mansood.
So this is what you need to know.
The fact that Allah added these two lines,
it's now added something to the verb.
Allah is always, always, always forgiving.
And you say it like that just because
of this addition here.
Two lines.
It add this additional emphasis like, remember, don't
ever, I'm always, always gonna forgive you.
Just turn back to me.
And then rahima has it as well.
It's not rahim, but it's rahima or rahiman.
Same idea.
Now, if I am ghafoor, then you now
become the strongest candidate that I'll give you
this bonus.
And the bonus you get is you have
this mercy from me.
And the mercy we said meant two things.
It means that Allah will always care for
you and look out for you and protect
you and bless you and give you and
guide you what is best, et cetera.
And secondly, rahim here is jannah.
Rahim, the mercy that Allah will give you
is jannah.
Because not everybody who is forgiven gets jannah.
Just because you have Allah's forgiveness does not
get you into jannah.
What must you have?
You must have his mercy.
And in a hadith, the Prophet, peace be
upon him, said, the mercy is basically Allah's
permission.
That's the permission that Allah gives you.
Out of his mercy, you enter jannah, meaning
now you get the permission to go.
So Allah says, if you're gonna constantly seek
my forgiveness and always remember that I'm here,
I'm not going anywhere, then not only do
you get that forgiveness, but you get the
bonus as well.
It's amazing.
Okay.
There's one last thing, but I'll mention it
here.
And Allah drove back the disbelievers.
So now the Quraysh now retreat and they
start making their way back.
So Allah drove back the disbelievers Kafaru bi
ghaythihim See this word here?
Ghaythun Ghaythun Ghayn ya dha is one of
the words in Qur'an to describe anger.
Ghaythun You know when somebody is like boiling
inside, but they stay quiet, but they're just
like in this rage, like so ghaythun, you
can see it on their face.
You know how you say to somebody, I
know you're mad, I can tell.
Yeah, that's called ghaythun.
So they started marching back and all of
them just pure anger, sour faces, attitude.
Nobody talked to me.
Go, go, leave me alone.
Ride your horse all the way.
I don't want to be around nobody right
now.
That's ghaythun.
So Allah exposed now that not only do
they go back empty handed, they lost all
of the spoils of war, all of the
things that they, the materials and so on,
their swords, their shields, all of it was
left behind.
So that became property now of the Muslims
of Medina.
They went back empty handed and now this
additional, this is the third time now they're
going to get humiliated.
Wa kafaroo bi ghaythihim lam yanaaloo khayra Totally
empty handed.
And Allah spared the believers from fighting.
Wa kafaroo bi ghaythihim lam yanaaloo khayra Wa
kafaroo bi ghaythihim lam yanaaloo khayra Allah is
all powerful and almighty.
Okay.
All right.
So here's an incident that took place.
On the day of Al-Ahzab, this is
a side point, but it's just a little
fiqh of something that I'm sure many of
you have heard.
Prophet Alaihi Salaam said that none of you
companions should pray Salatul Asr until you reach
this place where the tribe of Qurayza, remember
Qurayza was expelled and they went and they
set up their own place and space or
village and to get to Mecca or any
sort of traveling that goes back.
Because remember, because the Quraysh are making their
way back to Mecca.
Do the companions just wave and say goodbye?
Or do they at least have a group
of, you know, soldiers and, you know, companions
that are of the best to sort of
follow to ensure that they don't go and
set up shop somewhere else close to Medina
that they really just go.
So this group that the Prophet Alaihi Salaam
assigned to follow to a certain point, they
got a specific instruction from him.
Don't pray Asr because Asr time was gonna
catch them on this journey until you get
to this place.
The Asr prayer became, it came in for
some of them on the way.
So now you have this group, they split
now in two.
Some of those companions in the group said
we're not gonna offer it until we reach
it because that's what Prophet Alaihi Salaam said,
right?
The place of Bani Qurayza.
But the other group now said, no, we're
gonna pray at this spot right now.
See what happened?
It's just like the people, the young men
that were in the cave.
They split up.
And how long were we here in this
cave?
One person says a short time.
Others are, no, way longer than that.
Okay, what should we do?
And then they start arguing with each other.
So the same thing now is gonna happen
here.
The companions split.
One group does this.
The other group says, no, we're gonna pray
right now.
Look what happens.
For the Prophet Alaihi Salaam did not mean
that for us.
Later on, it was mentioned to the Prophet
Alaihi Salaam and he did not berate or
he did not get angry or scold or
reprimand any of the two groups.
What happened here?
What's the point of this?
To keep them unified, okay.
But what's the point of this incident here?
What are we supposed to learn from this?
To one group, one person or one group
has an opinion.
The other group has an opinion.
And the fact that the Prophet Alaihi Salaam
didn't look at those who prayed at that
very spot and say, I told you, I
gave you some specifics.
He didn't do none of that.
He just agreed with both.
Well, he was satisfied that despite, okay, he
gave them one instruction, but some of them
decided not to.
It wasn't quote, unquote, a big deal.
Put it that way.
But what's the lesson for you and I
now?
What happens when Muslims disagree on the same
subject?
What do they do?
We go and build another masjid.
On this, it's to do with.
Yeah, okay, but it's okay.
Yeah, yeah.
So specifically, like, or I should say, generally
speaking, when Muslims disagree on any issue, generally
speaking, how do we react to those moments?
Can we still, as a Muslim culture, disagree
and still cooperate with respect?
Can we do that as a culture?
We should, but based on your life experience
and mine, are you convinced that this is
the reality or we need some help?
Yeah, we go and be like, oh, so
you're going to start Ramadan tomorrow and not
the day after?
Okay, fine.
We're going to have our own masjid.
See that building there?
We just bought it and we're going to
do that.
You know, right here in the city, obviously
I won't mention names, but there's a street
that has three masjids on the same street
next to each.
They're all neighbors to one another.
And one jama'a does not step in
the doors of their neighbor and they don't
do that.
And none of them visit or cooperate in
anything.
That exists like here.
Imagine, you know, other parts of the world,
right?
For the most silliest and trivial things, Muslims,
you know, as a group, as an ummah,
you know, where we are now as opposed
to where we were 50 years ago is
great, alhamdulillah, right?
But man, subhanAllah, simple things of when the
asr time comes in and did you pray
the early asr or are you praying the
late asr?
You know, that kind of conversation.
They both have evidences.
This is the thing, just remember this.
As long as the one who differs from
you still comes with solid evidence, what is
the ruling here?
You respect both opinions and leave it alone.
Like one time somebody, you know, said to
me that taking pictures is haram, which is
a well-known masalik.
It's a well-known scenario that scholars have
more than a half a dozen opinions on,
okay?
So they said like when you take pictures,
you're sinful in the sight of Allah.
I haven't been told that once.
I've probably been told that a thousand times
and even some people, subhanAllah, went as far
as declaring me a disbeliever, right?
So the point here is this, right?
Clearly on the flip side, do we see
scholars on YouTube?
Do we see pictures of them?
So according, yeah.
So the point is, is that for somebody
to make that kind of claim, look at
all the hundreds and thousands of others that
you are quote unquote saying that they are
people of the hellfire or they're a shahadah
that doesn't count.
Like what are you talking about?
But the point here is those who say
pictures are haram is a valid scholarly opinion.
But those who do allow with certain conditions,
that's a valid scholarly opinion.
Why can't, okay, if you don't want to
take pictures, why can't it be as simple
as, okay, you go stand in the corner
there, let us finish up.
That's a respected to your opinions because the
scholars do that.
So this whole idea, the main purpose and
the lesson you get from this is that
despite the companions who were all given one
instruction, this split happened, it wasn't a big
deal.
And they both sides after Asr was done,
they both cooperate and continued the journey.
They didn't be like, oh, you early Asr
guys or you late Asr guys, go with
your crew and you guys go up there,
stay away from us.
They didn't do that.
There was just respect and that was it.
So I put this scenario just because this
happened right after Al-Ahzab, right?
Wa anzala allatheena thaharoohum min ahli alkitabi min
sayasihim wa qadafa feen quloobihim alrooba fareeqan taqtooloon
wa ta'siroona fareeqa And he brought down those
from the people of the book.
Who from the people of the book?
Wa anzala allatheena, this group.
Thaharoohum are the troublemakers amongst the people of
the book.
The troublemakers, the ones that were openly talking
against and persecuting Muslims.
Now we need to talk about something else,
okay?
In the Quran, we have verses that say,
don't be friends with yahooda wan nasara.
yaayu allatheena aamanoon la tattakhidhu alyahooda wan nasara
awliya Why?
Don't take them as friends.
Because then the ayah continues, Some of them
are only supportive and friends to one another,
not to you.
And another verse, yaayu allatheena aamanoon la tattakhidhu
bitaanatan min doonikum So to Ali Imran, Allah
says, don't you dare open up and trust
anybody except yourself.
Verse like this.
Don't open up and share your secrets and
trust nobody but yourself.
Now you have verses like that.
It says that from amongst them, people of
the book, you have some that were very
aggressive and fueled with hatred.
So how do you look at all these
verses?
And what is the conclusion here?
Because somebody on the outside who look at
verses of the Quran and they see this,
they're like, man, they must really hate us.
And I just invited my neighbors who are
Muslims to my barbecue last week.
And they came, they ate all my food.
Now I'm seeing in their own book that
they hate us.
Is that what it's talking about?
Remember this guys, okay?
Another verse.
Muhammadur Rasulullah wallatheena maAAahu ashiddaa uAAalal kuffari roohamaa
ubaynahum Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.
And those that were with him are really
strict and firm on the disbelievers.
We have another verse like that now.
That's that that stamps that the believers are
really strict, harsh and rigid on the disbelievers.
Now we got some problems here.
How do you explain this?
How do you explain that?
Surely somebody may have, somebody here should have
some thoughts because.
So we're not, when it says we don't
be friends with them, meaning, I mean, it
doesn't mean they don't speak to them or
don't be kind to them.
But I mean, don't, I don't want to
say don't, don't share the secrets.
Not on that, but like, like, like, like
keeping them as, as supporters when you can't
really, they can support you.
But like she said, you know, not to
like give out your secrets as a, like
a, as a community.
And okay.
What if you're not like, like, you know,
as Muslims, you have a certain standard, a
certain way of life, right?
Whereas, so when I, I look at that,
I'm just like, you're not my friends in
that.
I don't hold a party with them or,
or, or, you know, like, like a community
that would have an opportunity, right?
What if, what if the non-Muslim raised
you, lived in your house, took you in
as a baby, you were an orphan and
raised you and allowed you to develop in
whatever path you choose and you ended up
choosing Islam.
Do you look at the person who is
quote unquote, like your mom and dad be
like, listen, we're not friends and I'm not
going to tell you any of my secrets,
but thank you for raising me.
How do you, where do you go from
there?
What if your neighbors and your colleagues and
your teachers and students are all of other
religions?
Listen, the reason why I do this, the
reason why I do this is just for
us to be reminded of how, how important
it is for all of us to be
equipped with knowledge about our deen.
This is the, this is the result that
if you're not engaged in learning consistently, this
is the problem.
When somebody comes to you now and brings
it like this, I have listened to preachers,
priests.
Okay.
I've listened to them in their service.
I sat there and watched them quoting our
verses to affirm they hate us and they
don't want to be around us.
I've sat and I've watched some of the
most famous preachers on the planet.
And this is broadcasted in front of 20
million people through their channels.
And it must be like, if you don't
understand the context and what really is happening
here, you're going to find yourself in a
lot of trouble.
Like you're just not going to be able
to know how you defend this.
How do you protect this?
What's Allah really saying?
Then on another ayah, then Allah says cooperate
with each other based on consciousness and gentleness,
be kind and gentle.
And Allah doesn't say just the two words,
Muslim to everybody.
So on the one hand, don't be friends.
Don't trust them.
Don't be really strict and harsh, but on
the other hand, be nice and be kind
and be gentle.
Here's the point.
Here's the point.
This ayah is focused on the troublemakers and
the extremists in these religions.
That's what the ayah that I've quoted to
you.
That's what they're talking about.
Don't take the Jews and the Christians as
friends.
It's not talking about your neighbor, your teacher,
your friends, people you know, you trust.
It's not talking about them.
It's talking about the people who are openly
attacking you, threatening you, threatening your life, literally
sending you emails tomorrow.
Watch out when you drive to work.
You'll get a surprise.
That sort of thing.
That's what all the ayat are talking about.
In context here, Allah is making reference to
Ahlul Kitab, Allah is talking about.
It's even mentioned who supported the enemy alliance
from their own stronghold, meaning that these people
were leaders.
They came up with strategy.
They're the ones that persisted for this to
happen, and they want to see the Prophet
and his followers exterminated.
That's what it's talking about.
So the next time you have this conversation,
right?
Just remember that these ayat are never talking
about the people that, you know, we see
and meet day to day.
That's not who it's talking about.
People who are openly trying to persecute and
attack and threaten, and in some cases are
successful at doing that, but to hurt the
Muslims because of their religion.
Those are the people that Allah says, be
careful.
Be careful who you tell your secrets to.
And when you tell somebody, and those ayat,
they were all revealed in battle, by the
way.
The verse in Surah Ali Imran is revealed
just before the battle of Uhud began.
So Allah tells the companions, this is the
time now when war is about to take
place.
You know, just think about people like you
and me.
We're sitting at home and we're watching on
TV that the war is going to start
like next week.
So we're talking to our friends and we're
like, man, you know where I'm going to
go?
Actually, I took all of my furniture.
I took all of my gold, my money,
everything, and I actually put it in a
safe.
And you know where I put it?
So-and-so place.
It's safe there right now.
Now you tell this person, but the person
you thought, and I'm sure this has happened
to some of you.
Somebody you thought always respected you as a
Muslim until you shared your deepest secrets with
them.
And when they go back to their own
crew, they're like, God, she actually told me
that where this gold and where this money
is buried, we can go get it right
now.
Who cares about her?
She likes me, so I can do it.
I can tell her anything she wants and
she'll trust me.
Those kind of people, that stuff starts to
come out and you start to see who
are really, truly your friends.
People you thought were okay with your Islam
and you being a Muslim and wanting to
pray and have a space for wudu and
you want to wear the hijab until some
point when they see the conflict on TV
and they're like, God, this is how they
really are, huh?
Yeah, do it to each other.
But it's more apparent and obvious when it
comes from outsiders, right?
It's hard to really know when a Muslim
is doing that with you.
So this A is very specific.
And Allah continues, see this word here?
This word, castles that are well protected, meaning,
have you ever seen like images?
Like if you watch like Harry Potter and
you see those castles that have like tunnels
where swords are sticking out.
They have soldiers, all guard soldiers that are
all lined up at the edges of these
castles, well protected, waiting for anybody to cross
the line or get too close.
That whole setup, when a structure or a
building is protected, anybody who crosses the line,
they're dealt with.
That whole setup is called sayasihim, sayas, okay?
It's a very unique word.
Arroob, extreme fear.
So it continues and cast extreme fear into
their hearts.
So Allah exposes something you and I would
never know.
Because when you look at these people who
want to destroy the believers, on the outside,
they look like normal people.
They don't seem to be vicious in any
way.
And then when you stand up and you're
firm with your religion, right?
And you're like, I don't care.
If you don't want to be my friend,
it's done then.
This is, I'm a Muslim and I'm going
to stay this way.
What ends up happening here?
Usually intimidation, you know, like, oh, you're not
going to win us over.
You know, we're going to still keep fighting
you.
No matter how committed you are, we're going
to continue to show you how powerful we
are.
But Allah says deep down in their hearts,
they're really afraid.
So think, just put it in context to
the conflict today.
That despite all that's been done with the
Palestinians and elsewhere, their iman, their resilience, and
then on top of that, the rest of
the world all have started now.
They've woken up and they start to see
for themselves, wait a minute.
These guys are really vicious.
This is wrong.
Children are being slaughtered, right?
Every infrastructure in existence wiped out.
And on top of it, schools, hospitals, like
they're starting, the world now sees truly who
is the one that continues to perpetuate this
conflict.
So Allah says those who continue to do
that, there is this kind of fear, ru
'ab.
You know, ru'ab is one of 11
words in the Quran to describe fear.
Okay, there are 11, ru'ab is one
of them.
Ru'ab is this.
When we say extreme fear, you know how
when you're sitting at home and let's just
say you're really scared and you hear like
a little, like a little scratch and then
you get up.
Is there something here?
Oh, okay.
It's just the door that moved.
Then you kind of relax again and then
you just hear like a little and you
can't sleep for the rest of the night,
like extreme paranoia and fear.
That's called ru'ab.
That's what Allah is saying.
That's how they really feel.
So Allah exposes something that you and I
would never know.
You, the believers have killed some of them
and then took others captive.
So those who died in the battle, died
in the battle.
But some of them, they didn't and they
were instead kept as captives.
Okay, we'll conclude with this because before I
touch this ayah for the next maybe 15,
20 minutes or so, I want to just
share with you one point, right?
Because some of you asked me this.
So I guess it's important for us to
understand why, so in context here, Badr, Uhud,
Ahzab, then Hudaybiyyah, then Khan, then Tabuk, and
the list just keeps going, going, going, going
on one battle after another.
Why is my question to you?
It seems like when a believer becomes more
practicing, more trouble, more trouble comes into their
life.
Life becomes more difficult, more tests.
Why?
Okay, you're absolutely right.
Is that all?
Allah wants to test you.
Allah wants to see if you're genuine, if
you're for real.
But it's painful and it's hard and it's
very discouraging.
You know how many reverts I meet who
go through that whole process?
Before they were Muslim, they lived a peaceful
life until they took their shahada.
Then they married a Muslim and it just
went completely downhill from there.
You know, he had three kids with me
and he just walked out and left me
alone.
Now I'm stuck by myself.
You know, he used to abuse me or
she abused me and verbally this and that.
As a matter of fact, you know, she
left Islam, but I was married to her.
I don't know what to do.
Or he left Islam.
He doesn't even pray.
And then I married him because I became
Muslim and I thought I was marrying a
religious man.
Now he turns out to be the complete
opposite.
Why does that happen?
It seems like that's the routine, like that's
the norm.
The more religious you become, the more problems
in your life.
Okay, write this down, okay?
Number one, there are several answers to this.
But the more religious you become, the more
difficult life gets.
Here are some reasons why.
Number one, first and foremost, understand nothing happens
except by the qadr of Allah.
It was a qadr of Allah for this
to happen to you.
Whether you are Muslim or not, it's Allah's
qadr.
You didn't, like this didn't happen to you
because you became Muslim or you became religious.
You understand?
That has nothing to do with that Allah
willed it, period.
Okay, so that's the first thing to understand.
It's not because you did something or you
didn't do something or you adapted to this
new life or you became more involved and
more practicing.
No, that may be connected in some way,
but you don't know that.
You'll never know that.
You'll never know because I became more religious,
then this is why Allah did this to
me.
You know, lots of Muslims do that, huh?
They're like, oh my God, you know why
I got sick or you know why I
lost all this money?
It's because I was lying to somebody this
morning.
Now, as a matter of fact, you know,
I really said some things I shouldn't have
said to my kids.
You can't do that because you'll never know.
You can use those moments to remind yourself,
okay, maybe it could be that.
So I'll just make sure that I don't
do that.
You can do that, but to link your
test or your hardship to this exact thing,
no human being can do that.
We don't know.
Everybody understand?
We don't know that we can never make
that link.
So the first thing is to understand that
however and whenever it first comes from him,
Subhanahu wa ta'ala, right?
Number two is, let me word this as
easy as possible.
Every single test or hardship has blessing in
it.
Every single stress or test or hardship that
you go through always has some blessing and
reward in it.
How often does this happen?
Without even asking you guys, you all have
stories like this, where you went through a
painful experience and after it was over, you
said, man, that experience got me to where
I am now, made me become this person.
I became more, I became a better parent.
I became a better Muslim.
I became a better leader, a better student.
I might concentrate more and focus more.
I used that experience that Allah put me
through when I was going through it and
no idea.
But Alhamdulillah, man, only Allah knew the outcome
of that.
You know what's a very good example of
that?
Divorce, right?
A very good example, very common one.
When you're going through the divorce, it's the
worst experience in the world.
I go to court, all the emails going
back and forth, lawyers involved, thousands of dogs.
Then your ex-in-laws or in-laws
or whatever you call them, all of them
getting involved, everybody talking about you.
You can't even walk into your message anymore
because when you walk in there, everybody's like,
that's him.
That's the one.
He just got married.
This is five times now.
Can you believe that?
He recycles wives, mashaAllah, this guy.
I don't know.
Yeah, don't worry.
We hear it all.
The leaders, we hear it all the time.
So when that storm calms down, the divorce
is done and he and the husband, they
move on with life and things settle down.
You have no idea what Allah took you
out from because of what he is preparing
for you to come.
You have no idea what the next step
is.
And some of the greatest human beings to
touch the ground were worse than Shaitaan before
they became Muslim.
Some of the people of Jannah were worse
than Shaitaan before they were Muslim.
People like Umar ibn al-Khattab radiAllah, he
tried to kill the Prophet alayhis salatu was
salam before he became Muslim.
Right?
When you try to kill the Prophet of
Allah, like there's just no turning back from
that.
That's it.
And I give this example all the time.
I'm sure some of you have heard it
from me.
And look what happened to Umar.
Not only did he become Muslim, he became
a leader, a khalifa.
He became one of the greatest companions ever.
And on top of that, he asked Aisha
radiAllahu anha, just before he died, he was
on his deathbed bleeding out.
He was literally dying.
He told his son, go ask Aisha if
I could have her burial spot next to
her husband.
Imagine that.
He's about to die and he's still with
the etiquettes of asking permission.
So Abdullah's son goes to Aisha, Umar has
requested that he wants to have your burial
spot next to the Prophet alayhis salatu was
salam.
That was for her.
And she gave him permission.
She says, how can I refuse someone who
the Prophet alayhis salatu was salam loved?
So she says, absolutely.
Son comes back, tells him the good news.
You're going to be buried next to him.
It was done.
So the second thing is you don't know,
but there is always barakah and blessing in
every test and in every pain.
Number three is going through hardship removes sins.
It is a path of forgiveness.
And that is something the Prophet alayhis salatu
was salam taught us as well.
With every ounce of pain and hardship you
go through is equivalent to removing one sin.
One mistake is erased.
So the more the pain and the struggle,
the more of these sins are being flushed
out and erased from you.
Now you have something more to say to
a revert that after they became Muslim, they're
going through all of this.
Now you can broaden that response and be
like, you know what?
Yeah, you're being purified from the last 30
years of your life.
It's all that partying, all that craziness you
were involved in.
Allah is just wiping it out for you.
You know, we always tell a new Muslim,
all of your sins are erased, right?
You're like a newborn baby.
You know, the scholars have several opinions, what
exactly that means and how it happens.
Lots of Muslims assume that that happens immediately
with the shahada.
This is one opinion.
There is another well-known opinion that this
will happen as they begin and start their
new life of Islam.
Meaning after the shahada, the intention to now
live the life, that is when all of
these, their past life now will begin to
erase.
And there are other opinions as well, that
this happens much later.
This happens with their duas, this happens with
their forced salah, things like that, right?
So that's the third.
And I'll just, I'll give you one more.
This one is kind of unusual that you
may not have thought about.
But when the believer goes through pain and
struggle, the believer should try their very best
to help somebody else who is going through
a pain or struggle.
So for you to understand the wisdom, why
you're going through what you're going through, I
know that it seems strange.
I'm going through the struggle, but I'm encouraged
to go help somebody else.
I need the help.
Why are we encouraging you, the one going
through the struggle, to go help somebody?
To help them and ease their struggle.
Why?
You should all know this actually.
Okay, it could be worse, but even if
it isn't, you just know they're going through
tough times.
Yeah, go.
I pray for you.
Take it even one step further.
What happens to when you relieve somebody of
a pain and struggle in this world?
What happens to the believer on the day
of judgment?
To that individual?
Allah will remove a pain or a struggle
for them on the day of judgment.
So you can help yourself to make life
easier for you in this world so that
you will reap the benefits of that in
the hereafter because the hereafter, you can't help
nobody.
So there's no way to relieve yourself of
any test and trials on the day of
judgment.
So this opportunity is open for you and
the ulema, they encourage it when you're going
through the hardship yourself.
They encourage you to do that.
But even when you're not going through anything,
always looking out and helping people who are
struggling in whatever way allows and it puts
you in a great position in the sight
of Allah on the day of judgment.
One last thing and we're done.
Why?
Why are you encouraged to help somebody in
a struggle, especially when you're going through your
own?
Why in that moment?
Why not say, you know what?
Yeah, I'll help them, but I need to
get over this for a little bit.
So just give me a month or so
and then I'll help you out.
Why are we encouraged to do it right
then and there as best as you can?
What do you think the wisdom is behind
that in terms of timing?
Okay.
Okay, sabr for who?
Okay, listen.
When you're going through the struggle, is it
safe to say you understand how that person
feels?
Is it safe to say that?
That, listen, I'm going through my own stuff.
And I see you crying.
I'm crying too.
I see you in pain.
I'm in pain too.
But you know what?
Your iman now starts talking.
It's just coming out of your voice.
But this is actually your iman talking.
You know what?
Despite that, I'm going through that.
Listen, I really want to help you.
Okay, I'll just put aside my stuff for
now.
I can deal with that later.
I really want to help you.
You see, you're already in that frame of
mind.
You're already at that same level with a
similar experience.
So you're already, your heart and mind has
already been groomed to be sympathetic.
And that sympathy now translates to some sort
of help and assistance.
Whether it's words, you do something for them,
anything.
So a very simple example.
Your neighbor just lost her husband.
Okay, and she's sitting there all alone.
Okay, you know the sunnah, what you do,
the family of the deceased.
You know what should happen to this family?
Whenever you go to a janasa or a
wake, what ends up happening?
Who provides all the food for the congregate?
Is it the family of the deceased?
Who does that?
Like, is it volunteers or who is it?
Okay, the community.
Some cultures, it's the family that has to
do that.
So this family that just lost their loved
one have to order all the food or
the treats and whatever and get everybody there
and arrange it all.
And this sunnah is the complete opposite.
The sunnah is that the community serves and
protects that family for some time.
Not all forever, but at least even if
it's just a few days.
I'm talking about they don't even cook.
They don't clean their house.
They don't do their own laundry.
Nothing.
People do that for them.
You literally serve this family through this grief
period until things start to get a little
better and it picks up and then inshallah,
you can move on.
So the last one here to help others
is extremely powerful that rarely people think about.
And I will leave you with that inshallah
ta'ala.
Subhanakallahumma bihamdika sharawal la ilaha ila anta astaghfiruka
wa atubu ilayk.
And next week inshallah, we continue.
There's lots of very interesting things coming your
way.
So I'm very excited to introduce a lot
of this material to you inshallah.
Okay.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.