Musleh Khan – Quranic Reflections – Verses to Shape your Spiritual Path #03
AI: Summary ©
The importance of Islam is emphasized, including affirming pillars and completion of completion timeframes. The speaker emphasizes the importance of setting firm bel Easterly commitments to pray and fulfill all rules of Islam, as well as setting a firm bel Easterly commitment to pray and finding a good person. The importance of mental health and following rules is emphasized, along with the need for understanding and following rules. Investing in mental health is essential for everyone and praying for one's success is encouraged.AI: Transcript ©
So we've discussed,
we started verse number
177.
But we're going through it step by step.
So we began with the beginning or the
start of this particular verse. So we mentioned
that this verse we gave some background of
what this verse is all about. We also
mentioned that this verse was given to the
companions at a time where they had felt
they were liberated.
They were an independent ummah because what happened
before this ayah is they got their own
qiblah.
So we were given the qiblah,
and that meant that now we don't have
to share a qiblah with Bani Israel anymore.
Like, we can just have our own. So
there was a sense of celebration and joy
and relief that now we are an independent
of ourselves.
Well, Sahabas felt like
that was the peak. Like, they reached the
pinnacle of their struggle. Now they can just
relax and Islam can be on cruise control.
And that was clearly not the case.
The very first sentence of this ayah we
mentioned is that
that
righteousness is not restricted to you turning your
face towards the east or the west.
So this is poor Anne's way of saying,
don't think you have attained the peak of
righteousness
just because you pray,
which is what we do.
We judge somebody
based on, you know, whether they are a
good person or Muslim or not, what's the
first thing we say? Oh, they're a good
person. They pray. They go to the Masjid.
They give sadaqa.
They're always donating.
Such a great person.
That's not the measuring stick that Allah uses.
Okay? That's what we learned from this. There
is more to Islam than just the rituals.
There is more to Islam than just performing
duties and walking away and say, okay.
I've performed my duties for today. No.
Islam is a way of life,
and that's the thing that we are constantly
reminded
of in verses like this is that this
has to be you.
Like, Islam cannot just be things that you
do. It has to be you. It has
to be your purpose.
It has to be your existence.
It has to be everything that you turn
to to make a choice or to make
a decision in life.
You always think Islam.
Whenever there is an argument or a problem
or an issue or a struggle of some
sort, your mind has to immediately go to
what Islam tells me to do. How do
I approach these issues, and how do I
resolve them?
So that led us to this conversation that
you see on your screen, a comprehensive view
of what is needed to be a good
person or a good Muslim. Okay? So
you guys both know now these
you you know these 2 categories because we've
spent time talking about them, of the morals
and ethics and the ritual worship.
So we have on the one side somebody
who just focuses on being a good person.
That's the morals and ethics.
And somebody who just focuses on doing the
rituals, and that is, of course, a person
who's a good Muslim at the end of
the day. But it doesn't mean that the
person on the first category is
also of the person of the second and
vice versa.
So this area, as you can see here
in the first point,
combines these two categories.
That's what makes a complete Muslim
is you have both of these categories.
You have to be a good person
in order to be a good Muslim, and
you have to be a good Muslim, and
part of that is being a good person.
When you're not praying, when you're not in
the masjid, you're still a good person out
there. People can still trust you. They can
still confide in you. They can still,
see Islam in you. They don't have to
see Islam in you just when you're praying.
They can see Islam in you when you're
doing business, when you're selling, when you're walking,
when you're the family, when you're playing. They
still see that side of Islam from you.
The number one reason you should be driven
to do good for is Allah.
This is another benefit of the ayah. So
the ayah continued, and let me just go
back to the translation,
rather the righteous are those who believe in
Allah. That's the first quality.
So what you learn from that first quality
is the number one reason
you should be driven to do good is
always for
Allah
You know why that's important?
It's very
easy to give up on doing the right
thing when you're doing it to please
someone. It's very easy to say to that
person, well, you don't deserve it. Well, I've
been good to you so much. Now
I'm not getting it back in return, so
I'm I'm gonna change. I'm not gonna do
it anymore. It's very easy to put those
limitations
when you're doing what is right for people,
And we're seeing a perfect example of that
in,
a lot of the protests and so on
that you see across the city, across the
world, really. That you'll see one side,
that will
do good for the betterment of mankind, but
stop if it's done for you.
Stop if it includes you or includes your
people or your background or your religion, then
it stops there. Right? So
these Ayat
call us that even when it hurts the
most,
even when you don't want, you still strive
to do what is right for the sake
of Allah. No matter how much you hate
that person, no matter how much you hate
your situation,
you still strive to do. That's what a
true believer does.
Anybody know an example of that in, like,
Islamic history
where somebody
had every reason
not to do the right thing, but still
did so because it was for Allah.
What's an example of that? You all know
this example, by the way.
Musa and
Firaun.
Right?
Musa alayhis salam doesn't have to say a
single kind word to Firaun.
He doesn't have to even meet him. He
doesn't have to deal with it. He doesn't
have to put up with him.
He doesn't have to challenge him. He doesn't
have to sit there and go back and
forth. Come on, Firam. Stop what you're doing.
Let go. Release.
Leave them or release them from your shackles
and this and that. He doesn't have to
do it. He doesn't have to debate him,
but he still does that. Why? Because at
the end of the day, Allah tells him
to do this, and it's a commitment.
And then Allah tells him how to do
that.
When you meet say to him words of
kindness
that maybe he might take some time and
think, or he might develop some sense of
fear
in his decisions and his in his actions.
So the point is is that Musa alayhi
salaam,
no matter how many reasons he had to
not deal with this man in a civilized
way, he still did that because why? The
ultimate goal was not to show Firan that
he's a good person.
It was first and foremost because this is
a deed that he's doing for Allah
And, of course, now the next one mentioned
in the ayah is
the last day, the day of judgment, the
angels, the books, and the prophets.
K. So you also want Jannah, which you
have to go through the day of judgment
in order to get there.
Angels,
books, to prophets, to us.
What this all means here in the
is that you also
affirm the
pillars of iman.
How many pillars of iman are there?
There are 6 pillars of iman. There are
5 pillars of Islam, but there are 6
pillars of your faith, iman. So you have
Allah.
And then, of course, you have the prophets
and messengers, then you have the angels, then
you have the books, then you have the
day of judgment, and then you have the
Hadar of Allah, the good and the bad
of it. Right? You have 6 pillars of.
These 6 pillars, no one can be Muslim
unless they believe in these 6 pillars. Alright?
They're highlighted
in various,
but the point is it is a fundamental,
rule of of thumb when it comes to
being a Muslim is you have to believe
in these six things. Okay? They are the
foundations of our faith.
These companions are being reminded about this in
the beginning of the era. Does anybody know
why?
Why do you think
that the companions
are being reminded about
the pillars of iman
at the beginning of this verse.
They already believe in Allah. They already believe
in the prophet. They already believe in all
of these pillars. Why are they being reminded
about it again?
Why do you think that is?
You know, one opinion states that
every single
Muslim
needs to be reminded.
Hey, listen. You're a Muslim. You can't talk
like that. You can't act like that.
So it's just a reminder at the end
of the day. So the first wisdom why
is that they should be reminded that look.
In order for you to do anything for
Allah,
you have to know who Allah is, and
you have to believe in these fundamental
aspects of the religion in order to preserve
your faith. Your faith will be lost if
you just take 1 and leave out 1
or take some and leave out some. You're
gonna lose your iman.
So Allah pretty much gives them a
introduction to Islam course in the first part
of the. That's what's happening here. Right? So
it's not necessarily
a deep in-depth analysis of each of these
pillars, but it's more of a reminder that,
hey. Look. This is who you are. Now
to be a good person in Islam, you
must, number 1,
I have I've list listed them them for
you. Okay? So number 1 was to believe
in Allah. So the first prerequisite to goodness.
Another way to look at this, by the
way, is that
think of yourself like when you get frustrated.
Let's say you're standing in line for something.
Right? And the line is going pretty slow,
and you can literally bud the first
10 people in front of you and wouldn't
be a problem. Nobody would notice. There's so
much chaos. You can literally go in front
of these 10 people, and you wouldn't have
any idea. You know, you can do what
a lot of people do. Right? So they'll,
like, go ahead of the line. They'll turn
their face. They'll look at the shelf, and
they'll pretend that they're still shopping
and slowly sort of mesh their way into
the front of the line,
and then act like, oh, I'm sorry. I
didn't realize this was the line.
You can do something like that. Right? But
the problem is
you go back. The believer says, no. No.
No. You know what? That's not appropriate for
my iman. Right? I believe in Allah, and
I believe in everything that Allah teaches me,
and this is one of the things he
does, Allah teaches us not to do. Okay?
So your
can work to refine and perfect your discipline,
to perfect your actions.
This is the first thing that people lose,
when there's a problem,
when there's a divorce. What's the first thing
that people lose? They lose their faith.
That's why almost every ayah about divorce in
the Quran ends up with taqwa.
Like, Allah will just talk about taqwa almost
every single verse. Why? Because it's the first
thing that people lose.
It's the first thing that's thrown out the
window is is their taqwa, their consciousness of
Allah. So that's where you'll see all of
the, you know, bad language, the the bad
emails, the back and forth. Okay. I'll see
you in court. That sort of thing. Right?
Not I'll see you in the Masjid in
front of the imam. No. I'll see you
in front of the judge. See, those kinds
of situations happen because
this foundation
has been compromised.
So that's why Allah says, if you wanna
be a good person in life, then the
first thing you're gonna have to reinforce is
the thing that motivates you to do the
right thing, and that is for the sake
of Allah.
Number 2, you gotta be remembered that when
you mess up and if you don't repent
and seek forgiveness, you're gonna be accountable for
that. The day of judgment is on its
way.
Number 3, the belief in the angels. How
does that help you become a good person?
The book and the messengers. Without revelation, we
wouldn't know what goodness is. So you appreciate
the source.
You know, how we got access to this
book.
You give sadaqah, and you give charity. Now
this is the 4th. Okay? So what I've
done here is I've coined the book and
the messengers as one.
The, believe in the angels, the book, and
the messengers. So I've coined all of these
3 as 1
just so it's a little more organized. So
for those of you that are writing, at
least you could just keep that in mind.
Right? So you have you have 1, 2,
the number 3, 4, and 5, but I've
put them together
so that at least these pillars of iman
are easier to keep track.
And then we come to the next point.
Okay? Number 4 here.
You give.
So let's go back to the
translation.
And those who give
and who give charity out of their cherished
wealth to relatives,
Who is the hardest people to give,
you know, money to, to give a helping
hand to?
It's your family. Right? You know how they
say never do business with family?
Yeah. That actually, that wasn't just a spontaneous,
you know, statement somebody made up one day.
It came from experience. Right?
But not for the believer.
Person with true iman
always
strives to help the people closest to them
1st and foremost.
That doesn't mean that you throw yourself into
a bad situation
because now we went through all the pillars
of.
So what that should tell us
is that as long as there's somebody in
the family that's practicing their deen and following
at least the basics of these iman. There
may not be the most practicing,
but at least they're sincere for Allah. At
least they're trying to do the right they
may not be praying every day. They may
not be fasting all the time. They may
not be may not be giving theirs again,
but at least, you know, there's they're striving
to be honest and live a good life.
Okay. At least that bare minimum,
Allah says that the people of Yemen, when
they give their,
they should always first and foremost look at
their relatives and see
who not we're not talking about zakat, by
the way, so don't ask about zakat.
That's a separate category. It has its own
rules behind it. We're talking about sadaqa. Sadaqa
has no, quote, unquote, specific rules. It has
generic rules that you follow,
and, basically, you can give it to anybody
you want. So Allah says that in this
case, because it's sadaqa,
then you make sure that, you know, look
into your family and see who needs some
help,
who needs some assistance. It doesn't have to
be money. It could be anything else. It
could just be you know, I got an
extra sofa here in my house. Do you
need a sofa?
Last time I came to your house, your
fridge wasn't working well. I got an extra
one. You want it? You know, I actually
there's some fridges on sale. I'll buy you
one. Like, that that kind of thing. And
you know what's hard about this?
It's when you have to deal with that
one family, that one uncle or aunt or
cousin
that's like the drama queen or the drama
king of the family,
everybody has one of them. K?
So if you don't if you're like, I
don't have none. You you just have to
dig a little deeper. We all have
that one drama person of the family. Okay?
Could be in the immediate family. It could
be in the extended family, but the point
is it's family at the end of the
day.
Allah says
that
even them, if you see that they're going
through some sort of struggle and you're in
a position to help, and at least they're
trying to be a good Muslim at the
end of the day,
they are the first category of people you
should think about when it's time to give
your sadaqa at any point, at any time
throughout your life.
The second rule of sadaqa is it's mentioned
in the a. Everybody see these words?
Cherished wealth.
Yeah. You don't give them your expired goods
in the cupboard and be like, okay. You
have 2 days to finish all of this,
but you're good. You guys like it. No.
Because you wouldn't expect you wouldn't accept the
that kind of donation
from anyone else.
And that's the first basic rule of thumb
of sadaqah.
No. It's it's surprising to me. A lot
of Muslims I talk to don't know this
that,
the first rule of thumb for your sadaqah
to be accepted is that you have to
give what you are willing to receive.
It's the first fundamental
principle of giving
is you always give what you are willing
to accept.
That's why the prophet
says none of you truly believe
unless you love for your brother what you
love for
yourself.
Right? So that hadith applies to you're not
going to give somebody something that you yourself
would never take or want.
So, again, going back to the whole common
example of expired goods
or, you know, this close is outdated, it's
old, it's dirty, it's only got 3 holes,
but I'm I'm sure somebody would want it.
You know? So let me just give it
away.
So there's a couple ways to look at
this.
So one may ask then, okay. In that
case, do I just throw all of this
in the garbage?
I mean, if it's expired and it's expired,
you know, for a relatively
long period,
you know, they always say, you know, the
first two weeks after the expiration date is
usually not any cause of concern. Right? It's
kind of like this period
that they give people who may not have
seen the expiry date, may have not read
it. For a lot of us too, like,
reading the expiry dates on products is a
little tricky
because they usually write it in such a
way that it's coded
or it's written on the one package where
your thumb goes on the most. So after
a day or 2 of opening that package,
the expiry date is rubbed off.
So you had no idea when to stop
eating this thing or to cooking it. So
it's like these little annoyances you have to
deal with as well.
So you have this grace period of a
couple of weeks. That's not a big issue.
If you still wish to donate and you
look at the product and you say, you
know what? It's still good. There's nothing wrong.
I would eat this. Give it away. Bismillah.
It's fine. Right? But the point is is
that if you are really, like, black and
white in terms of what you will take
and what you,
will refuse,
then that same mindset you should have when
you're giving for the sake of Allah. As
you always try to give the best of
what you have, that's why Allah says,
is
your most beloved
cherished wealth, the wealth that is most important
to you.
That's what you're giving from.
You know, I I love ayat like this
because it really brings out the purity of
Islam.
We make this a part of our faith
to give
and give from the best we have. We
don't just give leftovers to anyone.
We give the best of what we have
because Allah tells us part of our faith.
So after relatives,
then
orphans.
Prophet alaihis salatu wasalam was an orphan,
grew up with orphans, surrounded by orphans.
A lot of us, maybe most, if not
all of us, will never be around orphans.
So
how do you practice? Like, how do you
implement this?
I mean, if there's a program out there
you can afford to participate in and sponsor,
sure.
But, you know, the average person, especially in
this part of the world, will never see
orphans,
will never know who they are, will never
know their names. So how do you practice
this?
Look.
The good thing about our dean is that
it does give you choices.
So it starts off with that which is
important, but nowhere in this a does it
compel you
that you must give towards these groups.
This is Allah's list,
and he starts off to that which is
supposed to be loved to him. So family
first.
Guys, most beloved to Allah.
Alright? That you take care of your family
first.
After that, you take care of the group
of people that have no family.
No. It's usually yeah. No. It's usually considered
both. Right? So this person is completely orphan.
There is an opinion in Islam that
yeah. Yeah. There is an opinion that, technically,
if the father alone passes away,
then they're considered to be somewhat orphaned.
But in this area,
you know, for the most part, the general
rule of thumb, even throughout the Quran,
these are people that these are children that
just don't have any care. They have no
mother. They have no father,
and they have no one to care for
them, and that is the the,
that is the majority opinion as well. Okay?
So rest assured, whenever you come across this
word,
just rest assured, these are people that have
no,
parents whatsoever.
K?
Which, again,
you have to put things into perspective.
Remember these Ayat are talking to an audience
about 1400 years ago,
where you have the battle of Badar and
you have the battle of Uhud and Tabuk
and all of these battles,
and so on.
A lot of these families
lost a lot of these children lost their
parents in war.
Like, almost all of them would have lost
them either in war
or they were extremely sick with some kind
of disease or ailment
where which no one had a cure for,
so they died off very young, very early
when these when these kids were probably just
babies. It was a very common thing back
then. Now you don't even have to go
back 1400 years ago. You can just go
back in the beginning of the century, like,
in the early 1900.
Like, one of the things that I,
personally do it in my free time you
should do this if you don't. Right? You
will be truly, truly captivated and amazed of
what life was, what it is. Like, I
spent a lot of time watching old videos
on YouTube of, like, like, real life videos
of people in just walking the streets, just
doing going to work in, like, 1901
or 1902 or, like, 18
80 or 1890,
and you just sit back.
And if you do this, like, it'll consume
your attention,
and you'll start to pay attention to all
the little things unnoticed. Wait a minute.
There's not a single car.
Wait a minute, there's not a single
piece of plastic because it wasn't discovered at
that time. Right?
Nobody's using a plastic straw.
Everybody is dressed and covered from head to
toe. Every man is is dressed like a
gentleman, right, from head to toe with the
hat,
the full suit.
And we're talking about even children.
Like, you the children will wear a hat
and a full fledged suit, and they're just
playing in the mud outside or in snow.
And that's, like, considered
that that's considered life. There was no such
thing as this, like, fashion sense. Okay. You've
gotta have a certain style or your own
you or own unique way.
Like, wearing clothes was not something peep people
paid attention to or even cared about as
long as you dressed like an appropriate individual.
And even the women, very sophisticated. Like, the
only thing that was missing was just the
hijab on their head. That was it. Everything
else was
it's it was just remarkable to see these
little things. Then you start looking at, like
you see the horses carrying the carriages, and
you're wondering, my god. That was life to
them. And then you start digging in deeper
and deeper, and then you start paying attention
to the infrastructure,
the way people would look and smile.
There was no tooth toothpaste back then or
how they used to clean their teeth. There
was no dentist. There's none of these, like,
this idea of the lifestyle that we live
right now, much of it didn't even exist.
Orphans is one of them.
It was very common to see children just
roaming around
or being with families
and because they had no parents.
So She's playing?
They're doing anything they can get their hands
on. They're delivering milk.
I mean, there's even videos that I saw
of children delivering blocks of ice.
Like, because you just
it's not like you had a fridge. Fridge
weren't even invented. So they would find different,
creative ways to freeze ice and then literally
deliver it. They'll bring milk. They'll bring bread.
They'll do all these, and these children would
do that. One of the things you could
also do back then in the early 1900
is that you can mail your kids.
So, like, if you wanted somebody to see
your children,
you could literally
go to the post office,
drop your baby off, they will package your
baby where the person would actually post them
in, and he would literally get on a
horse
and deliver your child wherever you wanted to
go. So I want my parents to see
their first grandkid. Okay?
Cameras weren't really invented. Like, cameras were only
for the rich at that time. So if
you were an average citizen of the middle
class or even lower class,
you you could've just buy a camera and
then email it. Computers weren't even invented. So
how do you think they would do this?
It's remarkable. And then you can actually see
pictures of
mailmen, postmen
that have a baby,
you know, with food
in his post postage bag,
and he's literally walking down the street to
deliver this child.
It was a completely normal thing.
So you may have to my point is
is that you may have to go back
a few
years in order to really appreciate
who Allah is talking to
when these categories
of people are mentioned
that are not common to us today. You
have to just go back and then you'll
say, oh, okay.
It makes perfect sense
to that time and that culture and anywhere
else in the world that still
lives and functions
in in a similar way where orphans is
a common thing. So in the, you know,
in the Middle East, it's very common. In
Africa and other parts of the world, it's
very common to see orphans. Right? It's not
a foreign concept as it is for us
here. So that's with respect to orphans.
One last thing I'll tell you about orphans.
They have the strictest
rules when it comes to their wealth.
Whatever their parents left behind,
orphans have the strictest rules of any category
of people throughout the entire Quran.
Even more strict than, you know, the rules
between husband and wife, the wealth between a
husband and wife. Right?
Orphans is the only category of people
that Allah
says that if you took a piece of
their wealth, money, or anything
without them knowing.
So if I was in charge of a
group of orphans to take care of them,
to feed them, Where am I gonna get
money to do that?
Most orphanages,
at least during that time, what they would
do is that they would collect the inheritance
of those children.
So whichever family they did come from, the
parents would have left us lump sum of
dinars or wealth or something.
So the person in charge now, the guardians
will take that and buy what they need,
sir, to take care of the children.
Allah then reveals a verse in Surat Al
Nisa
that
the people who take that wealth wrongfully
So let's put this into perspective.
If I need to buy a big van
because I have 10 orphans, they can't fit
in my car.
How do I purchase this van? Do I
just take my own money or you take
a portion of
one person's wealth,
or do you take a portion of everyone's
wealth? Generally speaking, it's a little bit of
everyone.
Those who have nothing, they're excluded from that.
Right? There's a different path that they get
access to money as well. But that's besides
the point. The point is now you take
a little bit of money. Now it's time
for me. I got all the money to
go buy this van.
Do I have to go buy, like, a
top of the line Mercedes or BMW
with all the works? And I'm like, yeah.
This is the only van I can drive.
Right? Which is, you know,
significantly
higher, cost much more
as opposed to, you know, a really good
used van would would do the job just
fine.
What would you say I should do?
Yeah. You just get what is what is
needed. Right? You don't have to go overboard.
So me going and purchasing what I don't
need, what's unnecessary,
I'll let you know what Allah says about
them.
They will be punished. The people who steal
this man, Allah calls them thieves, by the
way.
They're stealing money from orphans, and Allah says
they will eat
that money that they stole from the orphans.
It will be turned into fire, and it
will roast and cook their stomachs on the
in Jahannam.
That's how their punishment will be. Because they
wrongfully took from an innocent group, children.
You can't do that.
It's one thing when you take from people
wrongfully, but it's a whole different ballgame when
you're taking from children
who have no defense whatsoever, who have no
voice whatsoever.
That they will eat from within their stomachs
fire. Everything that they consumed wrongfully from those
orphans will turn into a fire into their
stomach, and that's what they will consume instead.
That is the only group of people in
the entire Quran that Allah gives an ayah
like that to.
No other person who takes money wrongfully
from another group
gets an equal punishment except the group that
takes from orphan. So it's really, really important.
Then you have the poor.
So you have,
the well, that's what we just complete.
Everybody knows what mesquite is. Right?
We all know what is.
Okay.
So you understand how will they know? They
will be, of course, told and informed on
the day of judgment. The miskeen, they don't
wrap themselves around people.
Okay.
One of the words the two most common
words for the poor is
and.
K?
And That is the two most common words
that people use. Right? What is the difference
between the 2? Does anybody know?
What's a When you say somebody's
what are you saying about them?
Remember it this way. Right? Paycheck to paycheck.
That's
They
can't save anything.
Paycheck to paycheck.
Sakir
is the degree below that.
There is no paycheck
because they just they can't make ends meet.
Right? So every single month,
they're begging, they're striving, and they don't know
it could be their last month in their
apartment. That sort of thing. Right? They're struggling
every possible way, and they cannot make ends
meet. So whenever there's free food being given,
whenever there's, like, a, you know,
a particular fruit drive happening somewhere else, they
are the group that will be there to
attend
to see what they can get. Right? Because
they can't survive any other way.
Allah starts out with the.
So you now know
are people who live paycheck to paycheck.
I have a quick question, a side question.
Are there people here,
like in Toronto
Yes.
Who drive, who have cars, who have jobs,
but still become miskeen? Yes. Yes.
Most. Right? Most people are. Think. Most people
are like that.
Right? They can't save a dollar. Yeah.
Yeah. So
they qualify
to receive,
like, sadaqa and, you know,
go to a food drive. Like, massages will
sometimes get, like, bags of food with ingredients,
rice and sugar. They qualify to receive that
as well? The?
Yes.
Hundred
percent.
Because why?
They're working paycheck to paycheck. They have no
guarantee
that the next paycheck
will cover their grocery bill.
But there's a good chance
that every single month, they might see an
increase in something, in some kind of item.
Right? Like, prices will always fluctuate on certain
items in the grocery store. Right? Like, how
often does it happen to you when you
go to the grocery grocery store, you go
to the produce section, and you're like, oh
my god. For some reason, celery is higher
to this week for some what I don't
know what happened. Right? Or you go to
like, you look at the price for milk
or some other item. You know? And it's
every week this happens. And then there are
other weeks where it goes back to normal,
and then it fluctuates again
for whatever reason.
So they they, without a doubt, qualify to
receive. Now if they choose to take it
or not, that's their decision. But the point
is they have every right to be there
to give themselves a bit of that, security
in terms of, you know, survival.
So Allah then also tells us here that
after the people closest to you, then after
the orphans, then the miskeen, they come.
The this is based on an
Like, they will not they don't wrap themselves
around peep
here's the thing about the mesquite. Okay?
You guys noticed that sometimes on Jumard day,
we have some beggars outside. Right?
You guys notice that. As soon as you
exit the parking lot, you see some beggars.
Right?
This
means that they're not going to come up
to you
and wrap themselves around begging, please, please, just
tell me. They might hold up a sign.
They might wait to get eye contact with
you in your car and then just, you
know, please, please, something. Right?
That's what Allah is saying. Why Allah tells
us this in Quran is that
sometimes
the
won't let you know and say to you
they're.
Everybody understand?
You're not gonna always know when somebody's because
for a lot of people,
they might feel a bit shy or embarrassed.
Yeah. Their dignity, their just everything. Their their
confidence, their self esteem.
Yeah. But they might be sitting right beside
you, and you have no idea
of the life they're living and how they're
struggling.
You know? So
what this here, when Allah tells us,
the thing that I want you to remember
is
pay attention
to
the signs of someone's struggle.
Just pay attention.
That's all.
Sometimes you will see the struggle
on their face without them saying a word
word.
You know how you know how you can
sometimes look at somebody and know something's wrong?
Yeah.
And you don't they don't have to say
a word. You just kinda see them down.
You see them lost.
They're staring at a spot, and they're thinking
nonstop. Yeah.
Just pay attention.
You'll be shocked.
I don't think you'll be shocked. I think
it'll just kind of remind you. It's like,
everybody has a story, and everybody goes through
something. Right? Yeah.
Yeah. They're lost. To be So just we
have to, like, pay attention. You know? Sometimes
If you see somebody that looks like they're,
you know, just something is not right,
that's why the prophet sallam do you understand
why the prophet, alaihis salatu wasallam, taught us
to spread the salam?
It wasn't just to get blessings.
It was to break the ice and start
a conversation with people.
That's the deeper wisdom behind.
It wasn't just so you could be, like,
a really awesome Muslim, just to every person.
You
and just walk away. No.
It has a deeper wisdom behind it. It
was the ultimate icebreaker
to spark a conversation.
You know, sometimes
you'll hear
a but it sounds like something else.
You see you'll see, but, okay,
sister.
Oh, it's nice to see you. You should
pick up on those things
and be like, how are you, man? What's
happened? You okay? And you'll be you'll be
shocked what people will tell you when you
take the time to ask.
Like, I've tried this so many times. I've
put this to the test for my own,
like, from my own mind, like, just for
my own satisfaction to remind me how real
this is, and I would do that. Like,
I would just be
giving salam to random people. You know, people
like us, we're giving salam to 100 of
people all the time, and they'll just pay
attention for that one person
where the handshake wasn't really handshake. They kinda
just
they kinda just touched your hand. So you
pick up on that. You're like, hey, man.
What's going on? You alright?
What happened to you? You look like you
didn't and you just you try to make
a joke to spark the conversation.
Look like you didn't take your vitamins today.
What happened to you?
Oh, man. You know, last night, I couldn't
sleep.
Last night, just something happened. My kid wasn't
sleeping. We took him to the hospital.
You don't know evil stories, man.
That's why
those who are
here's another thing to remember.
It doesn't have to be people that are
physically struggling.
Sometimes the
are emotionally
struggling.
They're emotionally
lost.
Financially, they're doing just fine, but, emotionally,
they really need someone to talk to. They
really need to unload.
You know, psychologically,
they just have problems. They need to confide
into someone.
You know, we all must know somebody who
has no family anywhere.
They've moved to this part of the world,
but they just have no family. You probably
are their own family.
So just keep in miss mist keep try
to think outside the box that it's not
just about helping and money and that sort
of thing, but it could just be emotional
and mental support for that individual. Okay?
Travelers.
This might this might surprise you quite honestly.
Right?
Travelers are travelers.
So who are these
what category of people are this?
These are people who come to our masajid,
and,
this sunnah
is that when a traveler comes to your
local masjid,
that we, the community, are supposed to be
hospitable and take care of travelers.
That's actually the prophetic way. Like, we are
supposed to provide whatever they need
so that as they stay so if they
need a little bit of extra money, if
they need some gas, if they need some
food, they need to book a hotel,
the community is the one that is supposed
to, like, rise up
and say, okay. Well, it's your first time
here, so you probably don't speak the language.
You don't know where to go, etcetera, etcetera.
Like, there's many places in the states
that once they see an Ontario license plate,
you become a target.
And here you are just looking for, like,
a grocery store or a restaurant, a halal
plate, but you're driving through the wrong street
of the wrong neighborhood.
Like, this actually happened to,
to us when we were kids.
We stopped at a gas station.
It was somewhere in Detroit.
Stopped at a gas station.
Yeah.
And some my dad just went outside,
pumped his gas.
Somebody from a balcony,
an apartment across the street screamed out and
said, get back in your car.
Get back in your car.
So
we're foreigners. Like, we just we're doing this
for the first time. We're all kids at
the van, all 6 of us, and we're
looking around. We're hearing this man scream, and
my dad stops,
puts his, put the gas pump away, jumps
in the car, and just sits there because
he has to pay. Right?
So he decides to drive up
to the guy, to the cashier,
and still this guy is yelling, don't get
out of the car. Stay in the car.
It's as if this person
was watching or knew somebody was there waiting
for the right moment to just attack.
Right?
So you could just be
in in just, you know, innocently doing what
a routine thing a traveler does, but because
you're not from the community,
you have no idea. That's why Allah takes
care of travelers this way and says, you
know, you gotta look out for these people.
Look out for that one person that walks
into the Masjid you've never seen before.
You know? That's first time into the community.
We have a lot of those here at
IIT, by the way. Oh, we have a
lot.
Almost every week, you'll see somebody come to
IIT who's never been here before. Almost every
week.
First time of their life. Like, every Jumar,
I come. I'll need somebody. Even last Jumari
that I was here, somebody came. It's like,
first time in my life. We just came
from Texas. We've never heard of this message
before.
But we actually heard of you, so we
came. Right? So, like, okay.
But
you'll be surprised. We've even had students in
this class
before COVID
that were from other countries who have never
ever
sat physically in a classroom like this from
where they come from. They just don't have
access access to a masjid the way we
do.
Their masjid is, like, in another town,
a 100 kilometers away, but they don't own
a car. They have to take a bus
that only comes by once a week, just
doesn't come by during those class times. They're
stuck because then now they depend on Internet,
but then their Internet fluctuates. It only comes
on on 3 times of the week or
something. Like, these are a lot of people
who come to our communities,
come from places like that.
You would never know.
So Allah says
that we have to love being hospitable.
That I don't think we have our problem
as a community. It's just a matter of
really knowing and and meeting those who are
foreign to our community.
Those who ask for help under a crushing
debt.
So this here is
the one who asks. The one who you
know, some translations,
say that they are beggars,
but that's not a very accurate translation.
Is just somebody who is asking.
K. Is also used for somebody who's ask
who has a question. Just wanna randomly ask
a question, you call them
So in this area, though,
is this,
when you grab an animal by its throat,
usually you grab the animal from the back
of its neck, and you force it to
turn and go the other way. So let's
say you're trying to get the attention of
an animal, like a little goat or sheep
or something,
then it keeps going the wrong way.
Rikab is you grab by the neck and
you turn them and you push them towards
that way. You know what Allah says about
mankind?
Allah says that He is always on you,
meaning all of us as mankind.
He is the raqib.
In other words, Allah can force you and
compel you to do whatever he wants
if he chooses to. So he reminds us,
I'm,
I can destroy you. I can keep you
alive. I can do whatever I want and
force you, just like how we would grab
the next of those animals and force them
to turn a certain direction. Now what does
this have to do with death? Those who
are asking
and so rikab is usually used when it's
talking about people, it's usually used to talk
about somebody who is still
enslaved,
who are still chained,
We're still, like, slaves to a particular owner.
Right?
You're still stuck in that system.
You might think, well, okay. We don't have
slavery here. Yeah. We do.
It's called mortgages.
It's called debt. It's called OSAP,
school debt. Yeah?
Our
our slavery system is just a little different.
We not we we physically may not be
slaves,
but we might be slaves. We certainly are
slaves to a system
that compels us to
do and give and pay and meet deadlines
in a certain way that if you miss
one of them, you pay a penalty.
You will suffer for it if you missed
it just once,
you know, for the most part. So
those who are asking for help because they
are under some kind of debt in some
way,
those that need to be bailed out. So
this category
is talking about the group
that has gotten a debt to such an
extent
that they really need to get out of
it. Otherwise,
they will not be able to work or
pay their bills or survive
in that sense. K? So not just somebody
who has, like, random debt here. They're, hey.
Can you take care of my credit card
bill? No. No. No. This is somebody who's
really in a situation where they can't buy
a car.
They can't pay for rent. They can't do
anything because why? All of their
assets and money is going towards a debt.
So they come to you seeking for debt.
If you are in a position where you
can help to do that, that is also
a huge, huge
quality
of a good person and a true believer
in the sight of Allah.
Look what comes at the end of the
verse.
The thing that we Muslims put at the
beginning of the verse, these are the things
we look at when people when we wanna
judge somebody if they're a good person or
not. It's coming now towards the end of
the ayah.
Watch. Just take a look. You don't even
have to read the ayah. Just I'll just
point to it.
As a start,
this is where salah came, right here.
So it's coming towards
the end.
What does that tell you about salah
and zakat and rituals in general?
What does that tell you?
These are important,
but these are not the defining qualities in
the sight of Allah that make a good
person.
Lots of people can pray.
The worst human beings, Abu Jahl could pray.
Well, like the worst human beings,
the Quraishtim could stand in salah.
Monafiqun
of Medina
prayed fajr with the prophet
in the first row. They were Monafiq.
They were his hidden enemies, and the worst
of them,
man who killed Umar ibn Al Khattah, he
came to kill him at Fajr time.
Like, he came right at Fajr,
and he was there for the salah.
Like, these people
just because somebody can do rituals means nothing
in the sight of Allah unless they do
what?
Unless they have the other half,
which is they have to carry the good
qualities of a good person as well.
K? Those who keep so those who establish
prayer, now this comes in. So now that
you've gotten all these qualities of being a
good person, now Allah says, okay. Now you
also establish prayers.
Students, what does establish prayer mean when Allah
says, aqaamu salah?
Why does Allah just say pray?
Why does every time Allah tells us to
pray He has that verb aqaam, like established
it. Why?
See, lots of, lots of students don't like,
lots of Muslims, they don't really, like, think
about salah this way, but why
why mention the word establish?
Okay.
So so you we have to be, like,
told to establish it. Aren't we already doing
it?
Like, if you are praying every day, everywhere
you go, no matter what, you'll stop and
you'll pray. Have you established,
salah? Is that what the a means?
And salah takes priority.
Okay.
So salah is your number one priority over
everything else. Okay. What do you call all
of this?
Establish
salah means
make a commitment to fulfill
the prayer and everything in it.
Let me to give you an example.
Lots of people will pray everywhere they go.
To the parks, on the street, in the
sidewalk, in the mall. You see them all
the time. Right?
But
some people when they do that,
they're praying and they're praying. They set a
world record for the fastest
ever recorded in history.
Like, they'll just do it. They just get
it over with. If you ever go to
Niagara Falls when Maghrib time rolls around, just
look around,
and you'll see.
When Maghrib time comes around, it almost looks
like, you know, the Islamic Institute of Niagara
Falls. Like, the whole Niagara Falls Park area
turns into one big masala.
There are about 100 different prayers going on.
I mean, obviously, we can't we can't gather
into 1 salah. Right? So it's it's pretty
normal.
Everybody who's having a picnic, the vast majority
of
Muslims, there's a salah happening everywhere,
and it's really interesting to watch.
When the salah time kicks in,
right, I
I follow very strongly
the majority opinion, which is
salah. The best time to pray
it is at the beginning when the time
of salah enters.
K?
So some moment that you know that salah
time has enter enter. So let's say you
go online, you look at
is at 8:20.
When 820 hits,
we're giving you then a comment we start.
K? That's been the majority opinion always.
Summary of the message, give or take, give
it a few minutes. Right? Really allow the
signs of salah to kick in. So some
messages will wait 5, 10 minutes, even 15
minutes before they start their prayer. Right?
So when we're done our, we're just looking
around.
Like, there will still be a group that
just started the first.
There'll still be another group
that is in the middle of their salah.
But then even before
we finish, there's a whole other group that
just
just finished the and they're gone.
Establish
salah means
that you make a commitment
to pray
and pray fulfilling
all the rules of salah in that prayer.
So prophet says when you go
for, do that until
until your body
what? Does anybody know? Know?
Means until your bones relax.
How long does it take for that to
happen?
Give or take, like, it varies from young
to old, but generally speaking, it takes about
2 to 3 seconds for that to for
your bones to settle into that position.
Just imagine, you might think 2 or 3
seconds is just not a big deal.
Just imagine, you know, when you go down,
1,
2, 3, and then you can feel your
your your body sort of collapse. That's your
relaxing space now you've gotten into. There you
go.
Until your bones are relaxed when you stand.
So you're waiting there a couple seconds and
you can feel the bones relax
then you're going to send you that. And
that's how salah is done.
So people who say, oh, it just takes
about 5 minutes. Not really.
If you do it right, it takes just
a little more. 5, 7 minutes. Maybe even
give yourself a good 10 minutes. And take
your time and pray it right.
So that's what established the prayer, is that
you make a commitment,
nothing will get in front of you and
salah.
Number 2, when you pray it, you pray
it with all the rulers. You make sure
your hands are in the right place. You
raise them in the right way. You go
down in the movements in the different positions
the right way, the right pace, and end.
You know, the prophet says that when he
went into ruku, the sahab says you could
pour some water on his back, and it
would settle. It will just stay there.
So if you don't know if that would
work, then you try it. Like, if you're
physically able to and be in Ruukh in
such a way,
I mean, like, we were students once upon
a time. So we used to do this,
like, just to try it out on each
other. So in my room, we were like,
okay. Pour some water on me. I was
like, well, you do it on me. You
know, you'll be surprised 99%
of the time, we'd all this water would
fall to the floor until we could master
and find that that position perfectly.
So
these are just things that help us to
develop
what Allah wants from us.
Establish something. Last thing I'll tell you about
establishing prayer. When you do all of these
things that we've just mentioned, the prayer becomes
permanent.
Salah becomes
on autopilot for the rest of your life.
You know,
don't we know you probably are one of
them as well. Maybe, you're one of them
as well. You're You're the kind of Muslim
that if you miss prayer or you you
know it's time for salah, but you can't,
like, stop and pray at that moment, it
bothers you.
It makes you real uncomfortable, and you're just
like, oh, man. I just I can't do
it. I can't eat right now. I need
to pray my makrib.
That's how you know you have aqam al
salah in your life.
When everything
around you
bugs you or makes you uncomfortable
until that salah is complete.
That's one way, like, you really know you've
established prayer, and prayer is permanent in your
life. Okay?
Then you give zakat. Zakat is a whole
course by itself, but
what's the point of zakat, students? Just tell
me that.
What is the wisdom behind
Allah
obligating on us to give a portion of
of our wealth every year?
What what's the point of that?
Yeah. Exactly. To purify our wealth. How does
the cat do that?
You're absolutely right. How does this purification
happen
when we give 2.5%
of it every year?
So the rillemot tell us a couple of
things.
Number 1, you will never
feel the loss or even see the loss
of 2.5%.
That's one way your your wealth has been
purified.
You will give,
and you will never feel that you've given
anything.
That's why a lot of Muslims, when they
give 2.5, the wealthy ones, they'll say, oh,
I just give whatever. I give, like, 5%
sometimes, even 10%. Just, you know, I just
want to give more.
But 2.5%,
you just don't feel it. Second thing is
after you do it,
you do it with the sense of hope
that Allah will honor and bless you. So
when you give the zakat,
it's not that you're hoping that those who
need it will receive it, but you also
pray that Allah will bless your wealth,
that whenever you spend your money, you are
always content.
That's another way you know that Allah has
blessed your wealth. Whenever you spend it, you're
always happy, Alhamdulillah.
Whatever you have, you're always blessed and you're
happy with it, Alhamdulillah.
You know, some people, you'll give them a
$100, they'll be like, that's it? But then
others will have $10, and they'll just say,
man. So I'm grateful, man. $10?
I could still go I could still do
something with that. Yeah.
That's when you know you you have your
your wealth is blessed. Your and, of course,
that you earn it in the right way.
The obvious ones are when you earn it
in a Halal way, and you spend it
in a Halal way, and things like that.
Okay?
Those who keep their commitments.
Employment
agreements,
driving. You've gotta follow the rules.
The red light is the red light. You
know what I why I wrote this?
I should have wrote here as well,
reserved parking
in bold letters.
You know,
it might sound like a petty thing. Right?
Let me tell you something.
You see when the management put parking out,
whether it be for doctors,
for workers, for employees, for imams, whoever,
and they put these things here, and they
put signs very clearly,
that immediately
becomes what is called in the Quran
Ahdun.
Right?
Ahdun is the kind of contract that doesn't
have to be physically written and signed to
agree upon.
It's a contract that is understood
by the people as well. It's understood
that when a sign says stop,
what do you do?
Even if there's nobody around?
Like, there's no cars coming that side, that
direction? You're the only car. It's, like, 3
AM in the morning, and you're at the
stop sign. You're like, I could easily just
run this stop sign nobody would even know
or see.
But the people of iman don't do that.
Why? Because you took and you made a
commitment with Allah
that you would obey and
respect any of the rules or signs, especially
when they don't go against your deen.
Yeah. That area, there's nobody you're watching. Well,
you don't even have to worry about traffic
laws. You you've gotta, like, find a different
route to get home. Right? Forget about the
traffic laws. You just wanna be safe. Right?
So but the point is, like, especially for
us in the west, we don't have this
problem, right, for the most part. Right?
So
coming back to even the little things. So
this is why I always make it a
point that, you know, it might sound it
might come off as like, okay,
You know, trivial to some people.
But you see these, like, reserved parkings that
we see here? Like,
it's not just because my name is on
it. It's because of the fact that
this is a hidden,
unspoken
agreement you make with Allah, that you would
follow the rules wherever you go. Like, you'll
go to some masjids. They have one gate
that says in,
another gate that says out.
And, you know, it's becoming it's become, like,
the greatest chan challenge for a masajid all
over the city, especially in Jumran time. Like,
we have to like, some most masajid have
to get law enforcement to tell us how
to get in and out of parking lots.
Right? Isn't that like it's pretty sad
because what ends up happening
is, unfortunately and it even happens here.
Unfortunately, when some Muslims come out or in
for Jummah, it even happens here,
they feel like
all traffic
just
automatically will pause for their exit
and pause for their entrance
and forget that, wait a minute. You know?
Once you step out of this parking lot,
you're you're in public space. Like, you gotta
just follow those rules. And then sometimes you'll
hear, you know, people passing by blowing their
horns, and they're like, oh, what's this place?
Why is it so crowded at 12:30 and
1 o'clock? What's going on? And then they
make the link.
Oh, those Muslims again.
Those Muslims.
Yeah. So
I I I paint those examples for you
on purpose just so you really understand
that on the one hand, it might look
like a simple trivial thing. What's the big
deal? But on the other hand,
Allah put it in an ayah, and the
only ayah where he lists the qualities of
a good person that are important to him,
Allah puts it there. Like, respect rules wherever
you go.
Those who are patient now it comes to
an end.
Okay.
So Allah then concludes and says:
So in conclusion,
Sabirin everybody see that word?
The Sabirin
is
and those who are patient in times of
suffering.
Not
is the person who has patience as a
quality in them. They're not just patient during
this time or that time or this
place or that play. No. No. No. No.
They are patient all the time. They always
access. I mean, there might be days where
their patience is just fairly thin,
but it's still there.
K? That's So
Allah uses the plural.
Look at it. And those who are patients
in time of suffering.
They're patient when they're in the battle,
when they're in the problem, when they're in
the argument, when they're in the confrontation.
They're part of the problem, and they're still
patient.
So let's just say, you know, they even
got called in as a witness,
or they are the other person.
Somebody they got into an argument with somebody.
This person is just every curse word in
the book,
sabireen.
They're in
They're in the problem, and they're just like,
you know, just let you finish, man. Yeah.
Once they're done, listen. I was wrong. It
was my fault.
Apologize. That's
You still take your hit. You still admit.
You don't lie, but the point is you
don't react and lose yourself the way the
person has lost themselves.
Remember that
means that you don't lose yourself to a
place where you disobey Allah.
You can get angry,
you can feel upset, you can talk back,
you can answer back, you don't have to
stay quiet, you don't have to be abused,
you can respond to all of those things,
but you respond in a way that you
don't disobey Allah's parameters
or rules.
So if somebody cursed at me, can I
curse back?
So there's a verse
in the Quran
that Allah
tells us,
that the one who
the one who says something to who insults
you or puts you down,
if you choose to respond the same way,
then neither of you are good.
Which means what does the AIA say, well,
don't respond like how they responded?
No.
The AIA just says if you choose to
respond the same way, then you both are
the same.
What is Allah saying here?
So
you basically
technically,
you could respond to somebody the way they
respond. You could swear back,
but Allah is saying now what you've done
is you came at the same level as
that person.
So if that person is punished for that
moment or that word they said, then guess
who also gets punished?
Then what does Allah say in there?
Then whoever at least, you know, pardons and
does the right thing, then they will be
rewarded by Allah. So Allah still
encourages you to do something better.
The a is
what is the reward for somebody who does
something wrong except that if somebody does the
same wrong, they will get the same reward.
Meaning,
if that person gets a sin for the
wrong they did, you respond with the same
wrong. Guess what you get as well?
The same sin.
So the point here is,
technically,
Islam does not explicitly
say to you,
don't respond the same way.
It doesn't spell it out to you, but
it does say to you, if you do
that,
just know you're not any better than the
other person. You've pretty much gotten a dead
level. So if they're gonna be punished, if
they're gonna lose reward, if they're gonna lose
this and lose that,
you are going to lose the exact same,
maybe even more.
You know why I bring this aya up
or this conversation is some Muslims take that,
and they run with it, man. Allah says
I could curse you back, so I'm gonna
curse you back. Allah says you punch me,
so I'm gonna punch you back now. Okay?
No.
You don't get to do that because those
are parameters Allah set very early in Quran.
And if you cross them, then that person
is punished just as much as the other
person.
But as Allah still says that whoever does
what is right and does the thing that
will help the situation become better, then they
will be rewarded. Who are those people, by
the way, that do the right thing and
do what is right for the situation to
get better? Who are those people
In this area, who are they?
They are the people who are?
They are the people who are
yeah. This group. Right?
They are the patient ones. So if you
ever wanna know who those people are, those
are the people who are patient. They have
every reason to fight back and hit back,
but you know what they do? They're like,
listen.
Just stop.
What are you doing? Why are you act
why are you talking like that? Just relax.
And then it calm the situation down.
These are the people that Allah loves the
most. And Allah concludes the ayah with patience
because it's only the people of patience that
can practice everything in this ayah.
You know when you're in a rush and
it's time for salah, you know how easy
it is to just rush through prayer?
And then you con conclude in the next
Yeah. These people do that all the time.
Yeah.
Can
only be done
well, done properly,
on a consistent basis when you have what?
When you are?
When you have patience.
Is the act the act of patience. Like,
it is the thing that will demonstrate for
you how patient you are.
Because it's not it's not easy to be
patient in anything that's repetitive.
You know, when you'd mhmm. When someone is
sick, it seems like there's a
No. That's okay. That's that's okay because
when people have chronic illnesses and diseases and
it's it carries on for a long period,
yeah, it's okay to encourage them to hang
in there and just be patient,
but also encouraging them to, you know, do
what they need to do to get the
right treatment and to keep themselves at least
stable
in their life. Yeah. Absolutely.
Remember, like I said to you, patience does
not mean you swallow your pain and suffering
and just deal with the abuse, deal with
the pain. Patience is that you can respond
and take the pain. You can respond
when they're when you're being abused, but you
respond in a way
that does not break the rules and the
parameters that Allah set for us. Okay?
In conclusion,
they're all
and adversity. So
you're in the problem.
You're not in the problem, but the problem
is all around you.
K?
The problem is all around you. So what
does that mean? Go back to the house
again.
You're just sitting there
watching TV,
but mom and dad are literally, like, killing
each other over there.
Now you, the eldest son or eldest daughter,
could get involved,
but you're just like, can you guys stop?
Okay. I'm I'm selling my business,
but and then you try to, like you
know, you're you're not in the problem, but
because you're hearing and seeing and
and you and, you know, you know it's
happening,
If you can say something, you try to
say something in a way that doesn't
add
and exaggerate the problem even further. Right? So
you're gonna be like, oh, dad, I know
it's your fault, so you might as well
just take whatever mom throws at you. Just
take it. Right? You can't you can't do
that.
Right? That's
not
Okay? So
if you put this in times of, like,
war, yep,
you're also patient that maybe you're too weak
or too old or whatever that you cannot
participate in the battle, but the battle is
continue is going on around you.
That's. And in the heat of the battle
itself, so
you're either in it or it's around you
or you're like you're literally you are the
heart of the battle itself. Like, you are
the one that started the problem.
So all of these situations,
you know you did something wrong. You know
you started the problem. You know that it
got weird because of you, so you're still
patient and you say, you know what? It
was my fault.
I cut you off, and that's how you
got into that accident,
and I'll take care of it.
Here's the here's the graduation,
certificate you get out of this.
These are the people who are true in
faith.
These are the people
who are honest, and they have true faith
in
Allah. These are the people that are always
mindful and conscious
of Allah
You want to live a life where you
never forget Allah
You want to live a life where you
wanna just check your your iman, make sure
it's correct, it's the right amen.
Everybody asks that all the time. How do
I know I have true amen? Verse 177
can help you to figure that
out. Where you stand in each of these
categories.
And just keep in mind that each the
order that it's mentioned is not just mentioned
there by chance. Like, they're specifically placed in
that order by
Allah himself. Any questions on that before we
go on to number 3? And then we'll
pause.
We'll just introduce this, and we'll pause.
Any questions on that?
K. Number 3 is
truly, truly one of the most remarkable verses
about mental health in the Quran. Right?
Please don't think that when you hear about
the term mental
health that,
somebody who is, like, in an extreme situation
going through severe depression or anxiety and that
sort of thing. No.
We all every single human being
has
to pay attention and monitor their mental health
because
the world itself is a place that will
is designed
to disrupt
to disrupt and stress your mental health
to a point where, you know, you don't
wanna be here anymore. That's how the world
is designed. That's why the prophet
says that the world is cursed and everything
in it is cursed.
Like, everything in this world is cursed.
You know? Except 3 things, he tells us.
Three things that are not cursed.
You know? Except
the remembrance of Allah
and the thing that helps you remember Allah,
and number 3, the scholar or the student
of knowledge.
So
this
idea and the subject of mental health
is
like it is absolutely critical for the prophet
alaihis salatu wasalam. He needed mental health guidance
to get through his task as a prophet
to deal with the constant, constant
persecution
he and the companions had to deal with.
Anywhere they went, they were persecuted.
Whether they went to Mecca, whether they went
to Taif, whether they went to other cities,
north of Medina and Tabuk and other places,
Medina itself, they're always,
being persecuted,
always being sought after, always being harassed.
Like, you really
you know, somebody asked me a while ago,
how did the prophet, alaihis salatu, salam, stay,
like, sane mentally? Like, how did he keep
it together 23 years?
Imagine 23 years, people are trying to kill
you because of your faith. How do you
keep yourself together?
How do you do that?
And then, you know, I did a,
I think it was the last Friday here
about
950 years.
How do you stay mentally focused on one
task for almost 1000 years
to do one thing. Your your task, your
job is to preach the word of Allah.
And in 950
years of your life,
only 12 or so
believed what you said.
Just 12. Like,
it's almost
1 per 100 years.
Right? So a little bit more, but just
think about it. If you took one from
a dozen people of each 100
year, you know, you're left with about 3
or so, but the point is it's very
close to
one person per 100 years,
you're working day night to preach and just
you got this one word, and then 100
years of your life is done.
It's it's like
mental health is serious. Like, this is something
needed for all of us.
So I start with that so that we
all understand,
don't ever for a second think you do
not need the nurturing of mental health from
the Quran. Like, don't ever think you don't
need that. You just probably are living you
know, there's a point in your life right
now where
your mental health hasn't reached to a point
where it needed this kind of attention.
But if you engross yourself with the challenges
that those people
who are standing in those protests are dealing
with, those people who are going to those
campaigns,
those people who are standing in front of
their haters,
in front of those people that are killing,
children and, you know, innocent civilians. They just
stand in their front of their face and
listen to some of the things they say
to you.
There are some of the things that they
say, man, that could haunt you for the
rest of your life.
Like, it could it could destroy you
mentally for the rest of your life. That's
why we're talking about this verse.
I did not initially, like, choose this verse
to be in this course, but,
it was later on I I decided, you
know what?
For for those of us out there that
are dealing with this whole issue of of
Palestine and the effects of that here at
home,
perhaps this is somewhat needed.
This verse here was given to the prophet
when he felt that Allah stopped talking to
him.
So for about 6 months or so, the
revelation had stopped. In that 6 months,
the thing that started the revelation again was
Surat Al Duha.
So after 6 months, prophet gets Surat Al
Duha, and somewhere after that, this ayah came
to him as well.
Okay?
We don't have an exact timeline, but this
is definitely a
verse.
So this is in the Meccan period,
or pre Hijra period.
And this is found in Surat Al Hajjar.
It's one of the shorter surahs of the
Quran.
It is one of the sister surahs of
the, surahs that are, begin with.
So you have 3 surahs that are consecutive.
You have Surah Al Rard,
then you have Surah Ibrahim,
and then you have Surat Al Hijar Aliflam
Rah. So you have these 3 Surat that
are sort of coupled together. They start off
in a similar way because they're all dealing
with a similar theme,
But it ends off with this a this
is the last aya of Surat Al Hijar.
Okay?
The last two verses
of.
Take a look at the translation, and then
we'll pause there
Give you guys a couple minutes to, prepare
for.
We certainly know that your heart is truly
distressed by what they say. Listen. This is
Allah talking to the prophet. Okay?
We know how your heart is so stressed
out by what they say.
So glorify the praises of your master and
be of one of those who always pray.
So he's basically telling
Proverbs, make of
me and be of those who pray
and worship your Lord until the inevitable comes
your way, until
your death comes to you.
Each word in this area, we're going to
break down,
k, and look at.
Because every single word
means something to somebody struggling with mental health.
And we're gonna show you one of the
many ways that Quran helps people struggling with
mental health.
It doesn't matter at what capacity, at what
stage,
somebody who's really severely depressed and going through
severe anxiety,
loneliness,
whatever the case is,
I pray that this, this will will help
you get through some of that. Okay? So
we'll pause here,
and, we'll continue next week.
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