Nadim Bashir – Why Were All The Prophets Shepherds
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AI: Transcript ©
If you study the life of the Prophet
ﷺ, and not only that but every single
Prophet that came in the past, there was
one job they all had, and they were
what?
They were shepherds.
And if you study the seerah of the
Prophet ﷺ, there are many ulema and shuyukh
that explain that why were they shepherds?
There's a reason why every single Prophet was
a shepherd.
Why?
Because being a shepherd builds up responsibility within
you.
You have to wake up early in the
morning.
Being a shepherd means that you have to
be very patient.
Being a shepherd means that you have to
protect your flock from the wild animals.
So it builds up bravery in you.
Being a shepherd means that when the animals
are doing, and you cannot even communicate with
animals, but whatever the animals are doing, you're
building up resistance, and you're building up patience.
Something that every single Prophet needed.
You're building up the understanding of cleaning, because
you have to keep on cleaning the place
over and over again.
This idea of responsibility and cleanliness and so
forth.
So there are so many things, so many
characteristics that are built up within a Prophet
when they are a shepherd.
And all these characteristics become manifest later on
in their life.
The reason why I'm sharing this is because
that this is what we learn about the
Prophet ﷺ.
And if you study the life of the
Prophet ﷺ, you also understand that he grew
up in the house of Abu Talib.
Abu Talib was not a very rich person.
In fact, if you say all the children
of Abdul Muttalib, it is mentioned because once
again, this is not the time and the
era of Islam.
We're talking about before the era of Islam.
So at that time it is mentioned in
some books of surah that when Abdul Muttalib
passed away, majority of his mirath and his
inheritance was not given, a very small portion
of that.
And in fact, none of it was given
to Abu Talib, but rather it was given
to all the other children of Abdul Muttalib.
Why?
Because Abu Talib was already married.
Abu Talib already had children.
Abu Talib already had a household.
So the money was given to those who
did not even have even a wife at
that time, they never had a family.
Logically, you make sense how things were at
that time.
So Abu Talib was a very poor man.
And the Prophet ﷺ grew up in that
same household.
But never once did the Prophet ﷺ ever
complain to his uncle.
Never once did he object to his uncle.
Never once did he go to his other
uncles and say, you know, I'm living with
an uncle that is in a state of
poverty.
I want to go and live with some
other uncle.
He always remained patient.
And he grew up in a way where
he learned how to build himself up, where
he learned how to do hard work.
And he got to the point that where
at the age of around 22, 23, the
Prophet ﷺ became an international, not even a
national, an international businessman.
I mean, you have to think about the
confidence that you require in order to go
and talk to people internationally.
Because there was always a language barrier, there
was always a cultural barrier.
You know, there were so many other challenges.
But the Prophet ﷺ, he became an expert
in international business.
So, the question is that the Prophet ﷺ,
he grew up and at the age of
25, he had all this, you know, he
had all these accomplishments at that time, all
these achievements at that time.
Now, let's come forward all the way to
the time of majority of you who are
sitting here in this crowd.
When you came here to this country, how
difficult it was.
There were no masajid.
Finding one masjid, you had to drive 20
-30 miles to get to one masjid.
To get to one halal supermarket, you had
to drive for around 10-15, sometimes even
half an hour.
And I remember back in the day, especially
for the families that are very strict on
zabiha and non-zabiha, they would have to
go to even further places and go and
cut their own chickens, just so that they
can have food for themselves.
Things were difficult.
And then not only that, but you had
to earn your money, send your money overseas,
and even pay Uncle Sam at the same
time.
But you know what that did with majority
of you, with the majority of our adults
who are sitting here in this crowd, and
majority of the adults who were immigrants to
this country?
It made you strong.
It built you up.
You don't get rattled by the small things
in life.
Even if there's a setback in life, you
know how to handle it.
You are strong.
The reason why I'm saying all this is
because when it comes to the current generation,
we are raising the current generation the complete
opposite.
Wallahi, the complete opposite.
We went, you know, the adults over here,
I was born here in this country.
I was born and raised in this country.
But majority of the adults who came here
to this country, you went through that difficulty.
And you know how strong it made you.
Yet instead of teaching your own children how
to, you know, putting them in a difficult
situation, or making them strong, we're doing the
complete opposite.
We're making our children so soft.
We're making our children, you know, giving our
children every single thing that they want in
life.
This is not gonna make them strong.
And this is why subhanAllah, I'm just being
very honest here when I say this.
Our children have, what do they not have
in their life?
If I ask you, what do they not
have in their life?
I mean, homework was a problem.
Now you have all these AI and chat,
GBT and so forth.
You know, now they don't even put their
time into the homework and putting time into
the essays.
Okay, and at the end of all this,
at the end of all this, at the
time of their graduation, khalas, give them a
Tesla, give them a car, a brand new
car and so forth.
And not letting our children go through some
difficulty.
I'm not saying, let me understand, I want
you to understand what I'm not saying that
put unnecessary difficulty upon them.
But let them make it for themselves.
Let them go out and work hard.
Let them pay their own bills.
If they can get a job, they can
get on their two feet.
And even I say this, if they have
to even go and flip hamburgers, let them
go and do it.
If they need to go and drive an
Uber, let them go and do it.
But what's happening is that when we give
our kids over and over and over again,
what's happening is that they have no understanding
of working hard.
They have no understanding of difficulties in their
life.
And what happens is, the slightest difficulty, khalas,
anxiety, I need to go to see a
mental health professional.
Okay, a simple problem in life, depression.
I mean, sometimes you talk, I mean, I'm
always there for the youth, my doors are
always open.
But sometimes when you sit down with them,
and they say, yeah, this is such a
small issue, okay.
And I'm going through a major depression.
I mean, Habibi, you're not, this is not
a depression.
This is you just not knowing how to
handle your situation.
That's all it is.
It's a small issue.
Which has then in turn, it has turned
into many divorces.
Small, small issues in families, khalas, let's head
straight to the exit door.
Small issues, small conflicts, let's head straight to
the exit door.
Whereas majority of our immigrant community, how many
problems do they not have?
They have so many problems too.
You think they did not have mother-in
-law problems?
You think they did not have brother-in
-law problems, sister-in-law problems?
They had all these issues.
But the point is, that we keep on
giving over and over again.
And this is why, by the way, there
is a reference in the Qur'an about
this too.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, He says, وَلَا
تُؤْتُ السُّفَهَاءَ أَمْوَالَكُمُ الَّتِي جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ قِيَامًا
وَارْزُقُوهُمْ فِيهَا وَكْسُوهُمْ فِيهَا وَقُولُوا لَهُمْ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us
a balance.
He says, do not give your money to
someone who is immature.
Okay, the word as-sufaha can be translated
in many different ways.
We're gonna translate it here as immature.
Do not give your money to someone who
is immature.
لَا تُؤْتُ السُّفَهَاءَ أَمْوَالَكُمُ الَّتِي جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ
قِيَامًا The same money, Allah is saying, you
can use it for your own benefit.
You can use it to take care of
yourselves.
The same money, do not give it to
them because they are immature about it.
لَا تُؤْتُ السُّفَهَاءَ أَمْوَالَكُمُ الَّتِي جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ
قِيَامًا وَارْزُقُوهُمْ However, you continue to provide to
them.
وَارْزُقُوهُمْ Give them rizq.
وَقْسُوهُمْ And keep on clothing them.
وَقُولُوا لَهُمْ قَوْلًا مَعْرُوفًا And keep on saying
something that is right.
And then he says, وَبَتَلُوا الْيَتَامَةَ حَتَّى إِذَا
بَلَغُوا النِّكَاحِ So a long time ago what
would happen is, if there was an orphan,
and the orphan was in the company or
staying under the guardianship of a particular adult,
then the Qur'an is saying that when
that orphan comes under your guardianship, and he
comes with his wealth or her wealth, you're
not allowed to use that wealth unless you
are poor.
And you're taking care of that child.
You need someone to take care of that
child.
But the Qur'an is saying, do not
use that yatim, that orphan's money, do not
use it.
Additionally, the Qur'an says that you observe.
فَإِنْ آنَسْتُمْ Look at the words of the
Qur'an, subhanAllah, beautiful.
He says, جل وعلا, فَإِنْ آنَسْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ رُشْدًا
If they get to the point of rushd,
just like, الخلفاء راشدون.
Why rushd?
Because Rashid, a person who's Rashid, he understands,
she understands the situation.
They know how to make the right decisions
in their life.
They're intellectual that they know the situation.
The Sahaba, the Khulafa Rashidun, what was one
thing that was beautiful about them, they knew
the right decisions to make at the right
time.
It was not one decision every single time.
They would study the situation and then they
will make the decision accordingly.
So the point is that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala saying that, when you see that
maturity within them, then you give them the
money.
You don't go and give them a phone
just because they turn 12 years old.
You don't give them a phone just because
they turn 14 years old.
Yes, there are times where then they need
to stay in touch with you.
They're going to college, they're going to other
places.
Khalas, give them the phone.
Buy them a phone.
But perhaps you don't have to buy them
the latest iPhone.
Give them a flip phone.
Khalas, you wanna text me, right?
You love me as a father, okay?
You wanna text me so bad, I'll give
you a flip phone.
You understand?
Give them a flip phone if they need.
But we need to make sure that our
children are taught how to be, you know,
how to be responsible for themselves.
How often do we see that parents spoiling
their children, giving them whatever they want.
And this is why, I'll be honest with
you, this is why a lot of the
men also, they are so disconnected, they're so
connected, so connected with their parents that they
cannot be separated from their parents.
And hence then you have issues even when
you have men growing up 20 years old,
25 years old, yet they cannot make a
single decision in their life without the input
of their father and without the input of
their mother.
And there are some who are so connected
that they will not do anything, they will
not even make a single decision in their
life without their parents' approval.
And so when they become married, when they
get married, and the wife sees that my
husband is so connected and he's not even
like a true man, why?
Because he cannot make any decision in life
and he does not care about my opinion,
but he only cares about the opinion of
the parents.
You see, it's a domino effect.
It's a domino effect.
It all started from some place, the way
they were raised and so forth.
So I'm gonna finish on this.
The point is, brothers and sisters, is that
as they say, you know, as they say
in English, and I might butcher this, tough
times make strong men.
Strong men create good times.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create hard times.
It's a domino effect.
And we're literally, we're going down the same
trajectory.
Let's not do that.
Let's teach our kids how to be responsible
in their life.
Let's teach our kids how to be strong
in life.
Give your kids their responsibility.
I tell my own kids, you don't know
how to do anything, go search it up.
What's not on YouTube nowadays?
What's not on YouTube nowadays?
Go figure out for yourself.
When you have hit the brick wall, then
you come to me and I will help
you out.
But first figure it out for yourself.
But they come to baba, mama, no, don't
worry, man, I'll do it for you.
Okay?
Everything in life I'll do for you.
Don't worry.
And khalas, then they become weak men.
So I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
because, well, I'm saying this because I care.
And when you see the youth, the way
they are going forward, they're moving forward, later
on they may get that understanding when they're
probably 30 years old.
But why at 30 years old?
At that time they're supposed to have two,
three children by then, honestly.
You understand?
And just at that time, there's just thinking
about, oh, now we need to get married
and so forth.
This is the situation that we're living in.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala build our
young men.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
the ability to help grow, you know, to
help give tarbiyah to our children in the
right way.
And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give
our children the ability to remain on the
sa'at al-mustaqeem.
Ameen.
Ameen.
Ameen.