Mustafa Khattab – Anatolia Motivation Conference Imam Ibrahim Hindy The Youth Of The Cave
AI: Summary ©
The importance of remembering the first ten verses of the Quran to strengthen one's hearts and allow them to be protected from trials and injuries is emphasized. Cons advisory with others and finding the right guidance is also emphasized. The importance of trusting Allah's guidance and faith in his power to lead is emphasized, along with the importance of increasing one's belief in Allah's signs and promises. The speaker emphasizes the need for small small deeds and small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small small
AI: Summary ©
Thank you, Sister Asha, for such an inspiring
speech.
Our next speaker is imam Ibrahim Hindi. Imam
Ibrahim Hindi currently serves as the imam of
the Dar al Tawhid Islamic Centre in Mississauga,
Canada.
Born and raised in Toronto, Imam Ibrahim had
an early passion to study Islam and encourage
youth to connect to Islam.
Imam Ibrahim has been active in the Muslim
community from a young age and was serving
as a regular khatib in some of the
largest mosques in Canada since the young age
of 18.
He has previously served as the guest imam
at Al Rashid mosque in Edmonton, Alberta
and has regularly led weekly classes at a
number of mosques in the Toronto area.
He has also served as an instructor at
the Al Fajid Institute in Mississauga, Canada.
Imam Ibrahim holds a BA in Islamic history
and is currently an MA in an MA
candidate in Islamic Studies at the International Islamic
University of Malaysia.
All praise is due to Allah alone. In
him, we seek aid and assistance. In him,
we turn both in repentance and for forgiveness.
Truly he whom Allah
guides, none can mislead, and he whom Allah
leaves to go astray. There is none who
can guide.
And I bear witness that there's nothing worthy
of worship, save Allah alone, and that Muhammad
salallahu alaihi wasalam is both his slave
and his messenger.
So first of all, I want to thank
all of the organizers. I know the organizers
are always the ones
carrying the load and doing all of the
hard work, and sometimes they don't get the
thanks that they deserve. So I wanna thank
all of the organizers for this event. I
know they must have put in a lot
of work.
And Alhamdulillah, I'm really happy to be here.
And Sheikh, Mustafa asked me, to give this
talk on this subject. But of course, we're
running late on time. So we're gonna be
doing this as quickly as we can inshallah.
And there's some very beautiful lessons. And This
is a very beautiful topic. I didn't choose
that Sheikh Mohammad Sheikh Mustafa chose it, but
it's such a beautiful topic.
Because like sister Aisha was talking about, you
know, once, Trump became president, everybody was scared
and people were, you know, going on social
media and talking about their fears and and
what they're afraid is going to happen in
the future. And there's no question that we're
in a time of fitna. We're in a
time of trials. And the trials are reaching
the point that people are afraid
even in their the fact that they simply
believe in Allah
Their very faith and their identity is something
that is being threatened by other people. And
it's not simply Donald Trump. It's something that
seems to be happening in many many countries,
including the country that we're in right now.
And this is a beautiful topic
because this story, the story of the people
of the cave, and the verses that were
revealed for these about these people,
it came down at a time when the
Prophet
himself was dealing with Quraysh rejecting him for
believing in Allah
That he couldn't walk down a road in
Mecca except that there was someone who was
looking at him and saying, Yeah,
oh liar, oh crazy person, oh this, oh
that. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam could
not walk through these roads except that he
would hear
the torture of his companions for believing in
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So he would hear
the whip slashing
And he would hear
the skin of Khabab being burnt. And he
would hear the screams from Ahmad ibn Yasir
and from his family as they were hanging
on the treetops.
This is the scenario that they were living
in when Allah
started to reveal the verses in Surat Al
Kahf And started to tell them the stories
in that in that beautiful chapter.
And so in this situation, these verses were
revealed and they were revealed
as a source of relief for the believers.
As something that can give them strength, that
can empower them.
These stories in the Quran are sent in
order to strengthen our hearts, to make us
firm. Because these difficulties in these trials can
only be overcome with the help of Allah
And this is why the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, he tells
us to memorize
and to to memorize either in some narrations
the first part, the first ten verses of
Surat Al Kahf or the last ten verses
of Surat Al Kahf.
Why? The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
That whoever memorizes the first ten verses, another
narration of last ten verses, they are protected
from
They're protected from the, you know, loose translation
of the Antichrist.
Why
do these verses protect you from Ad Dajjal?
Because these are the verses that talk about
fitna,
that talk about people being tested in their
lives for being Muslim.
And the greatest test that any that the
believers are going to face in terms of
their being Muslim is when Ad Dajjal comes.
So if you want to be protected from
Ad Dajjal, connect to this these verses in
this chapter of the Quran. These chapters and
this verse this chapter these verses are the
ones that are going to protect you from
the trials
of people testing you because of your identity
and because of your beliefs. And what's beautiful
about this chapter is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
starts off. And he says,
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says to the
prophet that perhaps you are killing yourself
through your grief over them that they are
not believing in these verses. Subhanallah. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala describes the prophet
as someone who so eagerly
and earnestly wants the people and sincerely wants
the people to believe in the truth,
to the point that he's almost going to
kill himself
out of his sorrow. He's going to die
from his sorrow and from his grief that
people are not following the truth.
So the people are calling him a liar.
And the people are calling him a madman.
And the people are accusing him of the
worst things. And the people are mocking him,
and they're torturing his companions,
and he wants them to believe in the
truth. And he wants them to enter Jannah
so much that it's as if he's going
to kill them He's going to kill himself
out of his grief. And this is a
beautiful lesson for all of us, even the
people who hate us, even the people who
threaten us and mock us and want to
destroy us. We want them to find the
truth, and we want them to get closer
to Allah
And Allah
says,
I'm Hasid.
I'm Hasid
That you Have you thought that the companions
of the cave and the inscription
that they were of the wonder of our
signs? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, Do
you really think that this is a wonder
of the signs of Allah? Meaning, he's telling
you this is just a very small sign
of Allah. And the signs of Allah are
far greater than that. And the greatest of
the signs of Allah. Imagine the wonder and
the amazement when you see Jannah.
And this is Allah
telling you who cares about the pain, and
the punishment, and the difficulties, and the hardships
of this dunya. Who cares? There's an even
better amazement.
There's an even better amazement which is the
amazement that Allah
has created for us in paradise.
And then Allah
says, and the first lesson that we'll take
from here,
That's mentioned when the youth retreated to the
cave, and they said, Oh, our Lord, grant
for for your grant us from yourself mercy
and prepare for us from your affair guidance.
And so this story, as the scholars have
mentioned,
it happened after the time very shortly after
the time of Alisa alaihis
salam. And so these are the very early
Christians
that believed in Alisa alaihis salam. And they
were persecuted in the lands. And the Romans
would kill them and torture them in many
different ways. And so these young people found
themselves in a situation. They were calling the
people to the truth. Now they found a
king who told them, Either you will leave
your religion or I will torture you and
kill you. So when they faced this persecution,
just like the persecution we're starting to see
a little bit up and they were facing
something far more intense. When they saw this
persecution, they all went to this cave. A
cave that was no one amongst them. They
all went back to the cave and they
started to speak to each other.
What's the reason for going to the cave?
The cave is for them to regroup
and to ask each other questions. And this
is the first lesson for us to take.
That the believer is one who always consults
each other. The believers are the ones who
always consult one another. So when they found
themselves in a difficult situation, they went to
the cave to discuss the issue amongst each
other. And this is how Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala always describes the believers. So Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says,
Their affairs are consultations between one another. And
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says to the Prophet
orders the Prophet
that consult them in the affairs. And the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would do this throughout
his life. And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said, Muslim al Muslimi sittah. And the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said, The rights of a
Muslim over another Muslim are 6th.
And one of the ones that he mentioned
was
That if they seek your advice, you give
them advice.
This is the rights of the Muslim upon
you. So the believer is always looking to
gain advice from other believers,
and always looking to consult other people. If
they're going to buy a car, they're going
to consult people about it. If they're going
to get married, they're gonna consult people about
it. If they're going to get divorced, they're
gonna consult people about it. If they're gonna
buy a home, if they have a problem
with their friend, if they have a problem
with their children, they're going to consult people
about it and gain their advice from it.
This is the the methodology of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
And one of the calamities that we have
as a community,
we have youth
who do not consult others.
Young people who don't consult even their parents,
the people who love them more than anyone
else in this world, they will not consult
them. They won't consult anyone. They think whatever
opinion they have is the right opinion, and
it's a 100% true. And they don't even
need to ask anybody, and they know what's
right. And if anybody tries to give them
advice, they get angry, and they slam the
door to their room. This is the situation
that we see today. This is a terrible
calamity. The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would stand
in front of the people before the battle
of Uhud, before the battle of Kandah. And
he would say,
he would
say,
He said, come give me your consultation, o
people. All of the people come give me
your advice. All of the people come give
me your consultation.
Even in his personal affairs salallahu alaihi wa
sallam, When the people were accusing Aisha
of what they accused her of, and the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam didn't know what
to do in this situation.
He went and he got advice from Ali
ibn Abi Qarib and Usama ibn Uzayd.
And Usama ibn Uzzaid
Like do the math. When the prophet died,
he was 17 years old. And this incident
with Aisha occurred 4 or 5 years before
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam passed away. So
the map is, Usama Abu's age is 12
to 13 years old. And the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam is getting his advice
about such a personal matter
from this very young person. And now, another
calamity we have in our communities
is the parents do not seek consultation from
the youth. And they don't ask the youth
their opinions. And they don't seek
to understand their viewpoints, and what and and
what they think is the best course of
action. And how do we expect to raise
young people who are going to make good
decisions when they're older? Who are going to
lead the community into the right places? If
when they're young, you're never asking them any
questions, you're never consulting them about any decision
that you have to make. If you want
them to grow up and become people who
are capable of making good decisions,
consult them when they're young. So the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam would do this.
And there are many examples of this even
in the Quran as well. So the prophet
would consult them. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, he's consulting those who are younger than
him in age, who have less experience than
him, who have less knowledge than him, who
have less wisdom than him. He is the
one receiving revelation from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And yet, he's seeking the consultation of others
because this is the way of the believers.
So these young people
When they found the spitznah, they went to
this cave to get consultation
between one another. When they met this hardship
and this difficulty, they went to the cave
to ask one another. And then what did
they say in the cave?
That they said And they made dua to
Allah. And they said, Oh Allah, grant us
from yourself mercy
and give us guidance to the right. Give
us the correct guidance.
And this is another beautiful example from them
that we need to always be making dua
to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We need to
be constantly making dua to Allah. When we
find the hardships and the difficulties in our
lives, how can you presume to get out
of any of them without being the one
who is constantly making dua to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And the prophet would prepare his
armies and he would prepare his resources and
he would have his plans and yet he
would always be making dua to Allah
desperately asking Allah to help him. And when
prophet Ibrahim alaihis salam,
when he entered Egypt
and his wife Sarah was so beautiful that
when the people saw her they went to
the King and they said she is so
beautiful she is not suitable for anyone except
you. So the soldiers came and took the
wife of prophet Ibrahim away from him. So
now he was oppressed. His wife is taken
away from him. He has nothing to do.
He doesn't become like the crazy people we
see today who call themselves Muslims who just
go around, start killing people indiscriminately. No. He
has nothing in front of him to do
other than to make dua to Allah.
And he makes dua. And he keeps making
dua until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala frees her
from the hands of that king.
So no matter what you're capable of doing
or what you're not capable of doing, if
Allah has closed all of the doors or
if He's given us some things that we
can try to do to save our situation,
you need to always be making dua to
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Asking Allah to help
you during the situations that you are in.
And then
Allah says,
Then Allah
says, we cast over them a cover of
sleep within their cave for a number of
years. All of a sudden they're in the
cave getting consultation from one another, they fell
asleep. Every one of them fell asleep.
Then Allah
says, Then we wake them to show them
which of the 2 factions were those who
are most precise in calculating
what they had remained in time. Meaning Allah
wanted to let them sleep and then wake
up to see the reality that they are
upon the truth.
You know, brothers and sisters,
as human beings, our lives are very short.
And we think, oh, we're losing and they're
winning. But nobody wins other than Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And his affair is predominant.
And he is the one who is always
going to succeed. And maybe we're not gonna
see it in our life lifetimes.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his will
will always will always take precedence
and will always dominate.
So don't think that just because you might
be losing right now, you're the one who's
weak right now, that you're always going to
be weak. Allah
might give us victory
even if we don't think that it's possible.
And Allah
He says,
Allah
says that, we are the ones who are
relating your story in truth. Meaning some of
the people spread falsehood about their story. Allah
says, we're the ones telling it in truth.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that they are
fitya. What does that mean? It means between
16 years
old to 19 years old.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about prophet
Ibrahim innahu,
that we heard Fatin meaning he he was
17 years old at that time. So between
16 to 19 years old, these very very
young people. And Allah
said about them that they believed,
and so we increased in their guidance.
And this is incredibly beautiful. Your belief in
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is never going to show you
anything that is a 100%,
a 1000%
evidence the way that some people want evidence
of God. They wanna see God. Even if
they saw God, they would think they're crazy.
And Allah
says, If we open the heaven If
we open the skies and the heavens, and
we lifted them all the way up,
They would have said, We're hallucinating. Where people
were going crazy. This is not reality. Even
if they saw Allah,
some of the people will still not believe.
But when you choose to believe in Allah,
and you do good deeds, Allah increases your
belief.
And Allah shows you his signs everywhere around
you. But you make the choice to believe
just like they make the choice to disbelieve.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
That those who are guided, Allah
increases in their guidance and He gives them
taqwa, consciousness of Allah. And Allah
says,
That those who have believed and they've done
righteous deeds,
their Lord will guide them.
Because of their faith. So because they believed
and they did good deeds expecting reward from
Allah, Allah increased their iman. You want to
increase your iman? Take the step towards Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Do good deeds.
Try to increase in your good deeds. And
because of that, Allah will increase your faith.
Suddenly, you will see the signs and the
miracles and the evidences of Allah that you
could never see before.
Because you did these good deeds and you
connected to Allah
And Allah
says,
That Allah
says that they said that we have
that we made firm their hearts when they
stood up, and they said, Our Lord is
the Lord of the heavens and the earth.
We will never make dua to anyone other
than Allah. And indeed those who have done
so, they have spoken
an excessive
transgression.
Is an excessive lie, an excessive transgression.
One of the companions asked the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam,
which is the worst of the sins? And
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, and
He said that you give partners to Allah
though He is the one who created you.
And so this is the whole purpose of
our being here, is to believe in Allah
alone, and to tell the people that we
believe in Allah alone,
and to not be ashamed that we believe
in Allah alone, and that we make du'a
to Allah alone. And this was the entire
reason they were persecuted.
Because they said, Our Lord is the one
who created the heavens and the earth, and
how can we pray to anyone other than
Him?
And so because of this they were persecuted.
And the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
You know, he the Quraysh once sent a
man to argue with the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. So the Prophet sat with him.
His name was Hussain. He sat with him
and he said to him, You Hussain,
He said, How many
Gods do you worship on earth? He said,
He said, I worship 7 deities on earth
and one in the heavens.
So the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
to him,
When hardship comes to you, who do you
make dua'a to? Who do you call to?
He said,
the one who's in the heavens. He said,
he said, if your wealth becomes destroyed, who
do you call upon? He said, the one
who's in the heavens. He said, if your
livestock die, who do you call upon? So
I call upon the one in the heavens.
If the rain stops coming down, who do
you call upon? He said, I call upon
the one in the heavens. So every time
he was asked he was asking these questions,
he would say, the one in the heavens.
He said, so why is it that you
are worshiping other than the one who is
in the heavens? Why are you giving are
are you associating others in your worship with
Allah? Because when you're worshiping,
you are giving thanks. So he said, you're
saying that Allah is the one giving you
these things and helping you during these problems,
and yet you're thanking other than Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. And so when he said this
to man,
the man was taken aback. And the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said, if you believe,
I will teach you something that will benefit
you with Allah. So the man said The
man believed. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
said to him to say a very beautiful
dua,
That, oh Allah, forgive me my sins
and protect me against the deficiencies of myself.
And it's a very beautiful du'a for us
to take.
And so Allah
mentions them and their mission of tawhid and
calling the people to the truth and calling
the people
to
and that there's no one other than Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says in the Quran,
That the youth said to each other, when
you have withdrawn from them They withdrew from
the people because of their fear of them.
And that which they worship other than Allah,
then retreat to the cave. And indeed your
Lord will spread His mercy, and He will
prepare for you an affair,
and He will He will get you out
of this affair. So this is a very
beautiful statement. When they went to the cave,
and they're saying, We have to leave these
people who are disbelieving in Allah, and punishing
us, and torturing us.
They said What did they say? They said,
That Allah Are we down? Okay. Insha'Allah.
They said, Your Lord is going to spread
His mercy for you.
This will be the last point of benefit
we'll take.
They didn't go to the cave
and say to each other,
We're going to be ruined.
They didn't go to the cave and say,
Donald Trump is going to arrest us all,
and we're all we're all That's it. This
is done.
They didn't go to the cave and say,
That's it. Allah
is gonna cause us to be captured
and destroyed. Even this cave, they know about
the cave, they're gonna come, they're gonna arrest
us, they're gonna throw us in prison, they're
gonna torture each and every one of us.
They never said that. What did they say?
They said, Allah is going to spread His
mercy on us. And this is a very
beautiful statement.
Because even in the worst circumstance,
they never lost hope in Allah
They were always optimistic from Allah
And this is why the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
Do not let any of you die except
that you have beautiful thoughts about Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And so these people in the
most difficult circumstances said, Allah will show us
His mercy. He will spread His mercy to
us. Don't be like the person who is
always thinking negatively about Allah. That when you
get up and pray, you think Allah is
not gonna accept it from me. When you
make dua, you say Allah is not gonna
accept the dua from me. Don't be that
that kind of person who has these negative
thoughts about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You start
a business, you think, no, I'm gonna lose
all of my money. Yeah. I'm not gonna
be able to succeed. You have a restaurant,
you know, you're gonna go to a restaurant
to eat food. You say, I'm probably not
gonna like the food. You know, you need
to book some a ticket. You say, you
know, I'm probably not I'm probably not gonna
find a ticket to book. Everything you're gonna
do in your life, you think negatively and
you think that Allah is not gonna make
things easy for you, and you think that
Allah is gonna make things difficult for you.
Allah does not love the servant who holds
a negative opinion about him. Imagine somebody went
to a rich person or a powerful person
and said, I'm poor, and my kids are
hungry, and I need a home, and I
need a shelter, and I need this, but
you're probably not gonna help me. You probably
don't have any time for me. You're probably
not gonna be generous with me. The person
would say, Why are you coming and asking
me? If you think that I'm stingy, you
think that I'm not generous, you think I
don't like helping people, why are you asking
me? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
belongs the most beautiful examples. Allah,
he says,
I'm whatever my servant thinks of me to
be. If you think Allah will be merciful
to you, He will be merciful to you.
And if you think Allah will be generous
to you, He will be generous to you.
And if you think Allah will accept your
deeds, He will accept your deeds. This is
a beauty that comes from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And so they were able
to have this beautiful opinion about Allah, so
Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala showed them mercy. And He put
them to sleep and even while they were
asleep To go quickly. Or even while they
were asleep, He was giving them from His
mercy, the beautiful wind. He was giving them
the ability to move side by side. He
was protecting them from other people who might
have harmed them. And so they went through
all of this until eventually
they got up. And when they woke up,
they said somebody
They started to discuss each other, how long
were we here for? They said maybe a
day or half of a day. They didn't
argue in the small points. And then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala told them Sorry. And then
they said to each other, let's go and
buy some food. When they sent someone to
go buy food, they realized the that they
had been asleep for 100 and 100 of
years. And the people were amazed by this,
that they had this very unique currency.
And they thought that they had this treasure
where they had these old currencies. So the
people came after them and they found them
in the cave. And subhanallah, they all passed
away in the cave as soon as the
people realized this truth about them. One of
the last points of benefit that I'll mention
very quickly
is that Allah
mentioned the dog in Surat Al Kahf more
than 4 times.
And Ibn Kathir mentions about this. He
said, This is a dog.
And Allah mentions him 4 times throughout the
verses.
He says, This is the companionship
of the righteous people. When you are in
the company of the righteous people, you receive
blessings from Allah
He's just a dog, but Allah raises him
and mentions him 4 times in the Quran.
Did Allah mention you 4 times in the
Quran? He didn't mention me 4 times in
the Quran. He mentioned this dog. And so
he says, when you're in the company of
the righteous people, Allah
raises your status.
And I'll mention this last story from Al
Hasan al Basri. He said, find good people
and be friends with them. They're the ones
who are gonna protect you. He said, even
if you're not righteous, find
righteous people, be friends with them. He said,
because if you're friends with the righteous people,
he said, then they're going to enter Jannah,
and they're gonna look for their friends.
And if their friends are not there, they're
going to say to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
our happiness is not complete
until our friends are here. So Allah will
give them permission to go to jahannam and
take their friends out.
And the other people in Jahannam are going
to say, Why is this person leaving and
I'm not leaving?
And they're gonna say, Is there a prophet
who interceded for them? Is there a shahid
who interceded? Who interceded for this person? And
they'll say, It's their friend. So the people
who are in hellfire will say,
We have no no one to intercede for
us nor do we even have a close
friend. So their close friend friendship for the
sake of Allah. And then being friends for
in righteousness is what saved them at the
end of the day. And these are the
keys that we need to take if we
wanna overcome the hardships and the fitna that
we're seeing in our life. And if you
connect to these these verses and this chapter,
these are the verses that are going to
take you out of hardship and protect you
even not just from the fitna of Donald
Trump, but from the fitna even of the
dajjal.