Mustafa Khattab – Learning From Animals
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So today,
over the past few weeks, we have been
talking about what we can learn from everything
around us, to look around and and learn
from other human beings, and also from animals
and birds, from children, from everyone. There is
something you can learn from everyone and everything
around you as we give a lot of
examples from the Quran and from the sunnah
of the Quran.
Today, inshallah, we're talking about some of the
qualities given in the Quran, some of our
qualities.
Because Allah's power palaces in the Quran
Allah created us. Some of us are Kufa'ala
and some of us are believers,
as far as human beings are concerned.
So you have to start the story from
the beginning
to see how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala describes
us in the Quran, those who believe and
those who disbelieve. To see why it requires
us our job in this world
and where we do good and where we
go wrong.
We start from the beginning. Allah Subhanahu Alaihi
says, Wa'kudimqal
insa'alu
wa'ifah.
Human
beings are created weak in a state of
weakness.
We're told
in the
So Allah
says, all
living beings in this world,
whether they walk on earth
or they soar with their wings in the
sky, there are communities like you. So animals
and birds, the rest of the creation, they
are communities like us. They have systems,
they have lives, they have organization, and so
on and so forth. That Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala tells us that He created us weak
and He has given us 2 things so
we can do the job.
So the first thing He gave us
the brains, the
intellectual ability,
the intelligence, the sophistication.
Yes. Other animals and birds and so on
and so forth, they have some kind of
intelligence,
but they are not as sophisticated, they are
not as intelligent as we are. Because we
are in Khalifa'a, Allah subhanahu wa'ala on earth.
And we'll come to this at the at
the end. So, Allah subhanahu wa'ala says,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wrote you forth out
of the wounds of your brothers. You are
not knowing anything.
Then he gave you hear,
sight,
wa'ashila,
intellect.
So the word su'ad in the Quran, most
of the time it means intellect.
But you hardly give any thanks to Allah
subhanahu wa'ala. So he says it in the
Quran.
Yes. He gave sight to animals and birds
and the rest of the creation.
He gave them hearing, but he made you
special. He gave you intellect, which is something
that he didn't give anyone else. Then you
see something interesting in Surat Al Anat
wa min tabalatin lakhi biwal a'amabita takhidoo alaminhusakah.
That Allah subhanahu wa'ala has given you the
brains, the intelligence,
so you can have free choice to serve
him.
Then what do you do with this intellect?
Some human beings, as Allah says in the
Quran,
they create
wine or alcohol
just so they can't think clearly. So they
abuse the ability that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has has given them to serve them. Okay.
So this is one type of people.
As we said, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
created you and he has given you 2
things so you will be able to do
your job. The first one, he has given
you the intellect,
the intelligence,
the free choice, the ability to serve him.
And number 2, he has subjected everything in
this world or most of the things for
your service.
Say, for example, the sun is there to
give you light,
then you have the moon, and Allah subhanahu
wa'ala subjected for you the animals and the
birds. As you can see from Surah He
has subjected for you animals, so you can
eat from them meat.
And he says,
he gives you milk
from between digested matter, and love gives you
milk to drink.
Then when he talks about the the bees,
he says, I give you from the bees,
I give you honey.
Then from animals, I give you meat.
Then from the sea, I give you meat.
And I give you yadi lachman tariyah. That's
tariyah.
The pearl.
So everything in the universe or most of
the things are created for your service, musakharat.
For your service, so you can do your
job.
So everything is here for your benefit as
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the Quran.
We as human beings, we don't like eggs
like chicken,
We don't give
milk like animals
to the rest.
We don't provide meat or food or anything
else. We are probably the only consuming creature
on earth. We don't benefit anyone else, but
we live and feed with everything else. Right.
Why? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has subjected
most of things in this world for us.
Especially the big things, like the sun, the
moon, the stars,
and you can look for example at the
cow or the buffalo or the elephant,
but he has not subjected for us mosquitoes,
for example.
Why? To show you that this is not
because of you. You are not the one
who subjected them. If you want to, if
you want proof that you are the one
who subjected the sun, the moon, and the
big animals, prove to me that you're able
to subject the mosquito. You can't. So, this
is just like a proof for you that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is is the one
who subjected all these things for you.
So two things, the intelligence
and he subjected everything for you or most
of the things for you, sir.
And he wants 2 things from you as
explained in the Quran.
Number
1,
that you serve him alone,
that you worship him alone.
To do one thing.
They have been commanded to all to do
one thing,
to worship Allah
sincerely, purely for his sake.
They don't show off. They don't do things
to please people. That's your job. Just to
do things purely for the sake of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And to do this, they
have to do another thing. They have to
put their trust on him.
Why? Because he is the only one who
is who is helping them and providing for
them. Allah subhanahu
wa sallam in the Quran So Allah subhanahu
wa sallam
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling even
the prophet salam in the Quran
urge your people to pray
you are not providing for them you are
not even providing for yourself I'm the only
one who's providing for you and all of
them. Right. So, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
the provider.
Right. So, He's telling us in the Quran
put your trust in me.
There's a beautiful Ayat in the Quran, Surah
Al Nahru.
Allah subhanahu wa'ala says. He talks about animals
in terms of tawakkur, then he talks about
human beings.
Whatever
living beings in this world who do not
carry or those who do not store their
risk provision, it is also the hand of
Adam who provides for you and them.
They say the reason why this ayah was
revealed
it talks about Tawakkul putting your trust in
Allah and you should know that he is
the only one who is providing for you
so you can do your job in this
world and worship him alone. Right? So they
said when the Muslims were persecuted in Mecca
for so many years, 13 years,
then the prophet told
the Sahaba
go to Madinah
and live there so you will be able
to practice your religion, be able to pray,
your wife will be able to wear the
hijab, you will have Quran, you'll be able
to live a Muslim life.
So, some of them said, You Rasulullah, but
if we go there we don't have homes,
we don't have jobs, we don't have money.
Where are we gonna go? So the idea
was revealed. It says, look at the animals.
They put their trust in Allah. The animals
that don't store their food, they don't carry
their food with their shoulders or in their
bagged cattle. They don't have food in the
fridge. They put their trust in Allah because
they know that I'm the one who provides
for them
and so and therefore I'm the one who
provides for you too. So, he's telling them
learn from the animals and the birds.
It's very clear in the Adam.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it clear
that he is the provider and we can
learn something from the animals and the birds.
The prophet
says the exact same thing in Alufid Al
Khareem
So the prophet
explains the same thing in a beautiful hadith.
He says, if you put your trust in
Allah,
just like verse 2, he's he's giving us
an example through birds. He says, if you
put your trust in Allah as you should
just like birds,
they go in the morning, they go for
work in the morning and their stomachs, their
bellies are empty And when they come in
the evening, their their bellies are full.
So even the prophet, salaam, explains the same
thing in the Hadith.
So the prophet
says in this beautiful hadith, there is some
there's nothing that brings you closer to hellfire
except that I told you to avoid.
And there's nothing that brings you closer to
paradise,
except that I told you to do.
And Jibreel, alaihis salam, has inspired me, revealed
to me that no human being will die
before they live the number of years that
have or has been written for them, and
no human being will die before they take
their full risk provision what has been written
for them.
So, then the prophet
says,
so be mindful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and don't try to get you released
through Haram ways, the wrong ways because it
is coming to you anyway.
So you have to watch this either to
take what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has written
for you in halal way or you can
take it in the Haraway.
And we'll give a story in the Ramadan
to explain this meaning. It's one of the
most beautiful stories
I read. It's about 'alim Nabintaib radiAllahu anhu.
It said that one day he was traveling
with his,
with his assistant
and they it seems that they missed salah
or something. They went after salah. So he
went to the masjid and he told his
assistant, okay. We're gonna go inside and and
pray.
So, we're gonna leave my horse outside. And
the horse had a beautiful,
saddle, sirmj on the back of the horse.
So, he found a man,
lingering in outside the Hashem, sitting outside the
Hashem. So, he said, would you please keep
an eye on my horse and tell me
and my assistant to pray and come out?
He said, yeah, no problem. Just, you know,
go pray and come back. No problem.
So, they spend about 10 15 minutes they're
praying and on the way out
Alim Nabatai, brother Laden was thinking maybe I
can give him a tin box or something,
$10 for his service, you know, to honor
him because he keeps an eye on my
horse for 10:10 minutes or something. He came
out,
the horse was there,
but the man was not there. And the
sirish, the saddle on the back of the
horse, the beautiful thing on the back of
the horse was gone.
Nowhere to be found. So what happened? The
man
stole the saddle and he ran away to
the market to sell it.
So I didn't know the color of the
law. Anub told his assistant, will you please
go to the market and buy us a
saddle so we can use the horse?
So the assistant went to the market and
sure enough he found the man who stole
the saddle
standing in the market and selling the saddle
for $10
The exact same amount that Imam Ali was
going to give him. So Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala was giving the man the risk in
Halawi,
but he was in a rush and he
wanted to take it in Halawi.
Purely for his sake and to put our
trust in him.
If these conditions are not met,
then Allah
speaks about those who don't meet the conditions,
and there are some qualities that are given
for them in the Quran.
One of them,
Human beings are created in haste.
The human beings are made of haste.
So they are so hasty
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says it is
as if they were created from hasty itself.
Why? Because they are always rushing. They want
to take things in a Halal way. They
do it doesn't matter what you're getting the
money in Halal or Halal. It doesn't matter.
What matters is I want this and I
want it now.
Some people they try to be rich very
fast so they go to drugs, they do
certain things. They don't matter if it's halal
or halal. So this is what I'm also
kind of analysis.
Some some human beings, they are hasty.
They're always rushing. They don't wait.
They only wait, and they're all lazy if
it is time to do something good. If
it is time to mix a lot, you
got 2 or 3 more hours, man. We
can we can wait. Wake up with 5
minutes and then you still have like a
hour and a half before, the sunrise.
They they end up praying like 5 minutes
before.
Right? So, this is what human beings do.
One of the qualities of human beings,
in the lisaynahuliyaqahaluwa.
Ilaamassalu
shahu jazuaa, maidaamassalu
fayumaluwaalu
salim. So Allah subhanahu wa'ala says in Surah
al Manaj that human beings are created impatient.
They have no patience.
If something bad happens to them
they lose hope,
they become so disparate
and they blame Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
their own faults.
If something good happens to them they turn
their back to Allah and they never say
thank you.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, except
al Musa'alun. The people who pray.
The people who pray. So, this is the
exception.
Also,
Allah says that human beings are
katurah.
Human beings are stingy. They don't they don't
want to give anyone anything. They want to
eat things for themselves.
And this beautiful ayah is
Surah Al Asa
says,
if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us
human beings
the treasuries of everything in this world.
So, say for example, that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has given some of us
control over air, for example. Air, the air
would breathe.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you would
have
withheld
the treasures of Allah. We don't like to
share anything with anyone
because human beings are created stingy. We don't
like to share. Now, imagine if some of
us, a human being or a country,
they have control over the air, for example,
and they are not happy with you. Can
you imagine? They will just withhold the air
and you will die innocently.
Or they will raise the prices. If you
are not able to pay at the end
of the month, you know, mister Ibrahim, we
are sorry but you didn't pay your bill
for 2 months, we are sorry we'll have
to cut you off.
You can't breathe and you will die. But
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't do this because
he knows that human beings are stingy.
And he said he will go withhold because
you think that the treasuries of Allah will
run out.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says also all of
the qualities of human beings
in the insan alayatullah
abha a wustam.
This is what Allah says in Surat Khathra
Surat Anala.
Human beings once they feel that they don't
need anything from anyone
they become tyrants
and they just abuse and oppress people. They
turn their backs to Allah and they just
oppress people
because they have a lot of money, because
they have a good education, because they have
a good health and so on and so
forth. They just turn their backs to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. How does Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala bring them back?
He would take something from them. You will
lose someone, you will lose your job, you
will lose your health. Now, you go back
to Allah and cry Allah give me this,
give me that. So Allah
knows.
He knows you because He is the one
who created you.
The last quality for today, Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says, Waqanum insadhu akhtha al shayeen jalala.
What are the qualities of human beings?
And this is something you cannot see anywhere.
Human beings, they debate and they argue with
Allah more than anything else. And, as a
matter of fact, then there are the only
ones who do this.
I created you.
Worship me. No, thank you.
I provide for you.
So, thank me. No, thank you. Right.
Allah doesn't even exist. This is what a
lot of people 1,000,000,000
people they don't in this world. 1 out
of 7 people in this world they don't
even believe that Allah exists.
About 2,500,000,000
like more than 1 third of it, they
thank another human being and they think he
created them and he provides for them.
1,000,000,000 they worship animals and
some worship mice and the stones and the
fire. Who is left?
Very few of my servants are thankful to
me. This is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says.
Will you pray,
fasta, give salakat?
I don't have to do all of this,
man, because I have a cure heart.
They debate with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
those who close their eyes and say well,
just like on a sunny day some people
would just close their eyes and say well
the sun doesn't exist.
All you need to do is just open
your eyes. So, people would just debate and
argue about Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Why?
Because they don't want to do their job,
which is to worship him alone,
serve him sincerely for his sake and put
their trust in him. They just play games
And some of them even say, well, I
just live this life whenever I want.
5 minutes before I die, I'll make Tawba,
I'll ask Allah to forgive me. I'll go
for umbrar khalilu and Allah is kareem and
all these things. Right?
So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran,
samankanayal
zu mikal bihi faliyahmamil
al saliha.
If you are expecting
or if you have hope in meeting Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala and meeting his word in
Adal, then do your job which is
do good deeds.
Worship him alone and be a good person.
And this is the essence of Islam.