Mustafa Khattab – Learning From Animals 2
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I bear witness that there is none worthy
of our worship except Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
And I bear witness that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam is the seal of the prophets
and the final messenger of humanity
Whoever Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala guides, there is
none to misguide
and whoever Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala leaves to
astray there is none to guide alight
So in the last football we spoke about
things we can learn from the creation of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala around us from the
animals and the birds and the insects
and this is something we have been doing
for, you know, thousands of years
building dams,
you know, tunnels
diving, flying,
storing food and so on and so forth.
There are so many things we learn from
the animals
and the birds.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is giving us
a different dimension in the Quran.
He's telling us you learn from them,
in a secular materialistic
way. What about spirituality?
You need to do like them. Because by
default,
they worship Allah
They do what they are supposed to do.
But we as human beings,
we don't do most of us, we don't
do what is what Allah
is asking us to do. Like, say for
example, he's telling us, Tawhid 1 God.
So some of us say no, you don't
even exist. Allah doesn't exist, like atheists.
Some of us worship different gods.
Some,
you know, they worship stone, animals, and other
human beings, and some even worship the devil,
the church of the devil in the US.
So if you look at the 7 more
than 7,000,000,000
people in this world, you see how many
of them actually worship Allah and how many
of them worship something else or those who
say that Allah doesn't even exist.
So today Insha'Allah
I'll be focusing on Surah Nahl. Surah Nahl
is one of the most amazing Surahs in
the Quran that talks about the relationship of
a human being with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
compared
to animals
and birds and the rest of the creation
of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala So Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is basically telling us in this
Surah
Look at my creation,
how they serve me, what they do,
compared to what human beings do so
I finished my khef at Al Azhar when
I was 12 years old
so memorizing Suraqaaf was a piece of cake
it was easy for me 4 different stories
you know the people in the cave the
man with the 2 gardens Musa Waqib Dhruq
Arayn Alhamdulillah
finished Surah Yusuf was also easy like many
other Surahs
Surah Nahl memorizing Surah Nahl for me was
a total disaster
Why? Because every 2 3 ayaat in the
Surah talk about something totally different
Like 2 3 ayaat will talk about the
bees
Amazing
2 3 ayaat will talk about the oceans
and the rain and the water
Something else will talk about the people of
Mecca killing their own girls.
What does this have to do with? What
is this?
So many years later, when I started to
work on the clear Quran translation
and by the way a little commercial, if
you want to read the translation for free
go to quran.com
the translation is there. You can choose it
from the default.
So anyway,
I said SubhanAllah, this is amazing. Now the
Surah makes a lot of sense
because
every 2 3 ayat in the Surah
talks about one of the favors of Allah.
There are 21
favors listed in the Surah.
They call it Surah to Nam. This is
another name for Surah to Nam. The surah
of the blessings.
So, 21
favors from Allah are listed in this surah.
So for example, Allah says, I created you.
This is a favor.
I created the bees for your benefit.
I sent down rain for your benefit. I
gave you free choice.
This is another favor. 21 of them are
listed in this Surah. Yes. There is a
common theme
running through the Surah, that when I was
young I was very foolish. I didn't know
that this Surah is connected.
Like the thread in the in
the prayer beads. There is one thread that
is connecting all the beads together.
So now
when you look at the surah,
of course this surah is connected with the
surah before Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala talks about
those who are ungrateful
for his blessings.
Then he, gives more details in surah Nahl.
At the end of the Surah, Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is giving us an example of
a grateful servant
in the form of Ibrahim alaihis salam and
Ibrahim akanaummatal
kani talilayh Hanifa walamiakumileamushikin
sharaqiranliyaanruumih
He was grateful for the favors of Allah.
This is the last page of Surah Nakhr,
Surah 16. You go to Surah 17, 1st
page
Another example of a grateful servant is given
on the next page, the beginning of surah
17,
Nuh alaihis salam, another grateful servant of Allah.
So the 3 surahs are connected.
So now, look at Surah Naha, Surah
17.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, look at the
different favors. I've given you everything.
I've subjected everything for your benefit.
So everything in this world is is dedicated
to your service. We'll get into some details.
And
your whole job in this world is to
serve me.
Everything is serving you, so you can serve
me.
I've created you just to worship me and
serve me. Everything else is serving you. So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
Even the malaika have a job to serve
you. They bring down wah revelation for you
he died.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wal anaamah
khalaqahalakum
I crave the cattle for you, the cow,
the goat, the sheep
for you, for your benefit.
I
created for you horses and this and that
to serve you.
I subjected for your benefit the oceans and
the seas and the rivers.
I send rain from the sky for your
benefit.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I subjected
the bees for your benefit.
Pollination and this and that and the honey.
And Allah wa ta'ilum saqharat, I subjected the
birds for you. This is all in the
surah. They're real favors from Allah. So Allah
is telling us basically,
whatever
is in the space, in the air,
you know, like the clouds,
like the bees,
and the sun, and the moon, and the
stars was a kharak, Mushem, and everything
on the land like the cattle and the
animals,
and everything in the sea,
the water and the fish,
so you can eat the fish,
land,
air,
sea.
It's all for you, for your benefit.
So one of the favors Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala says,
was akhara lakmulayla wa sha'at suhmatullam
He subjected for you the day and the
night, the sun and the moon.
Okay, what do we get from this? The
day and the night? What is the big
deal?
Well, what is not mentioned in the ayah,
Allah explains it in Surah Al Uddhan and
other places.
How does the,
the How does the day and the night
come about?
When the earth rotates,
the day and the night come about. And
Allah says, and also the sun and the
moon.
If there is no earth's rotation, there's no
day and night, the ecosystem will be messed
up in this world, and most of the
creation including humans will die. Because one half
of the earth
will be cold,
like
50 minus, a 100 minus because there's no
sun. The other half
is gonna be hot like * because the
sun is facing it day and night for
1000 of years.
And this is a favor for Allah
that we don't we don't comprehend.
And he said, another favor is the bees.
The bees. So now imagine if the bees
in the world, they go into extinction.
You know, there's no pollination, no fruits,
no vegetables.
Life would be totally mizdah.
What you also read in this Surah, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says, I give you milk
from the animals. And you have the birds,
they give you meat and they give you
eggs. And you have the bees, they pollinate
the trees
and they give you honey. And you have
the sea, there's water for you, there's fish
and there's this and that for you. Everything
is for you.
So if you look at the reality,
subhanAllah,
everything is producing for our benefit and our
service. We are probably the only creature in
this entire planet
that does not produce anything. We actually consume
everything.
Right?
So we see the eggs
from the birds, and the meat, and the
honey, and the milk, and the different things.
When you look at human beings,
what do we do?
We cannot take eggs from you. We cannot
take milk from you.
We cannot take meat from you. We cannot
take honey from you. You know, the the
the trees, they give you air which are
mentioned in as as one favor in the
Surah.
Right?
Shamil Musshajar. Right? So Allah is giving you
the trees as a favor. They give you
roots. They give you shade. They give you
the air you breathe.
So what do we do?
Look at us. Now, subhanAllah. As I said
last time, we are the baby of this
world.
Everything came before us like, you know, the
bees,
the worms,
the, you know, the mosquitoes,
the lizards, everything around you they came before
us. Where are the babies of this universe?
And mashaAllah,
you see at least in the last century
how much destruction
we have done to this planet.
And Allah is giving us some of the
destruction we have done in the Surah. I'll
give you. Allah gives you a favor,
you turn it into a weapon to destroy.
Allah gives several examples in the Surah. How
do you respond to the favors of Allah?
1,000,000,000 of bees are dying every year.
We are polluting the water. We are killing
the fish, poisoning them. Subhanahu are going around,
we are causing total distraction to this planet,
not knowing
that when the trees are cut down, when
the oceans are poisoned,
when the air is polluted, what will this
do to us?
We will die. We don't know like we're
shooting ourselves in the head, and we just
pretend nothing is happening.
Right? So, Allah
is telling us, Look how much damage you
caused. I created you as khalifa.
You come and fix the earth because this
is where you live.
This is where you eat. This is where
you breathe. This is how you live your
life. And SubhanAllah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is
telling us, every time I give you something,
you turn it into a bad thing. So
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and we don't show gratitude for the favor
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So for example,
from the beginning of the Surah, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says, khalat alil salam minutu fatim
fayda boo haseem mumubin. 1 of the first
favors in the Surah. I created you from
dust or from
sperm according to the surah. Now
what happens? You openly challenge Allah
There are at least 1,000,000,000 people in this
world, they say Allah doesn't even exist. What?
How did he come from?
If the Creator didn't exist, how did it
happen? Did it come from nothing? Did you
create yourself?
What is going on?
This doesn't make any sense. Fa'ida huwahasimu
mubim desi. He doesn't exist.
No. I'm gonna worship another human being. Or
I worship an animal. Or I'm gonna create
a, you know, a god out of the
stone and I'm gonna worship it.
So, they turn the favor of Allah
into gratitude.
Some say, No, you cannot raise us from
the dead.
What? Allah who created you from nothing,
cannot restore you back to life from something?
Is this what you say?
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know,
I give you different things and you turn
them into ingratitude.
I give you for example,
I give you grapes. Allah, this is what
Allah says in the Surah. I give you
grapes,
you turn them into akhuh.
What is this? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, I give you kids.
You kill them.
You know, like the people of Makkah before
Islam, they used to kill their own daughters.
You know, it says in this way that
I
give you kids, you kill them. Is this
how you pay me back for the favor
of kids?
And some people say, how why is this
relevant? Why are you talking about this? Because
still in this day, in some cultures,
they kill their own girls.
Give you one example. In China, for example
In China,
of course, they go to the doctor to
see the * of the baby. If it's
a boy, they're happy and excited because someone
is going to join the workforce
and they would provide to the family. If
it's a girl, in many cases they have
abortions.
In China, just Google it if you think
I'm making this up. Till this day, people
show ingratitude to Allah
They turn their favor
into a disaster and they show ingratitude to
Allah
So ask Allah
to make us grateful to him He was
the best in this life and the best
in the Lord to come. Assalamu alaykum
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us
the key in this Surah.
He's showing us, I send you Hidayah.
I created everything for your service, for your
benefit,
and I give you so many blessings and
so many favors, and you have used them.
You even use them
to destroy everything around you. You kill your
own kind.
You kill your own kind. I said of
course, we poison the water, we kill the
fish,
we kill the rest of the animals.
You know, bounty hunters, they go to Africa,
they shoot the different creation, they just take
a selfie
with a rhino or a lion or an
elephant, and they just they post it on
Facebook and they leave.
Did you go all the way to just
kill an animal, just take a picture and
leave? What is what is the point?
And even we're a cleave, you know,
killing our own kind,
killing other human beings. And subhanAllah, when you
follow the news,
all their people are dying in Al Hawta,
Syria, Yemen,
Libya, other places.
Why are they dying?
SubhanAllah,
the people are shooting, they are pulling the
trigger,
they have no clue
why they are killing another human being. They
just got an order from someone, their, you
know, senior, telling them to shoot. Drop a
bomb or a barrel or some, you know,
kills and kill them.
And the people who are getting killed,
they have no clue why someone is killing
them. And this is one of the signs
of kiyama, as the prophet says in the
authentic hadith. So we're causing so much destruction.
If you read, you know, studies and documentaries
on National Geographic, you see how many
hundreds of thousands, if not millions of species
that went extinct in the last century only,
you will be like
totally devastated.
We're causing so much destruction.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
in the surah.
If you want to show gratitude to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and do your job, the
job I created you for, there is a
key in surah nahi. If you do this,
this is a prescription
to your illnesses. If you follow the prescription,
you will live a good life, you will
be grateful to me. So what is the
key?
Surah 90 aya 90 in the surah.
In
Allah
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Surah Nakh, 16,
ayah number 90. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
this is the solution.
Allah commands justice.
Al ihsan means grace and perfection.
Waayitaayidul
kurbah, courtesy and charity. And of course, charity
begins at home. Start with your family, then
by extension to the rest of Allah's creation.
Waayalahaanilfarshayi.
Allah prohibits,
forbids,
shameful deeds
violations
and haram things, bad things,
and aggression with other human beings and the
rest of Allah's creation.
So Allah, this is a road map. This
is this ayah is the cornerstone
of Surah Naa. This is what Allah wants
from you to do, and this is what
what Allah is asking you to avoid. If
you do this, you'll be a grateful servant