Nouman Ali Khan – Allahs Promise for Those Who Stay Strong
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
And that's an important lesson.
Sabr means you have to go through pain.
And when we are ready to go through
that pain, then like Nuh عليه السلام, like
Musa عليه السلام, and finally like even Rasulullah
صلى الله عليه وسلم, we are going to
be under the eye of Allah.
Allah is going to be watching.
And He is going to...
and how will you find this?
When will Allah give a new way for
you?
How will Allah make a new, you know,
opening for you?
Well, the secret is given in this surah,
isn't it?
سَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ حِينَ تَقُومَ So,
what I'm going to start with is something
that Musa عليه السلام and Nuh عليه السلام
have in common.
In the story of Musa عليه السلام and
in the story of Nuh عليه السلام, you
see two visual elements, two things that seem
to be in common with each other.
One of them is the sea, and the
other one is the mountain.
So, in the story of Musa عليه السلام,
we know that when Fir'aun was following
him, Allah عز و جل opened the sea,
فَرَقْنَا بِكُمُ الْبَحْرَ He opened the sea for
Musa عليه السلام and the Israelites, and they
went through, and Fir'aun gets drowned inside
of the sea.
We also know that in the story of
Nuh عليه السلام, it's the only other story
where flood or drowning is the punishment given
to the disbelieving nation, and so the people
who disbelieved in Nuh عليه السلام were drowned.
In the beginning of the mission of Musa
عليه السلام, Allah عز و جل spoke to
him on the mountain.
The Arabic word for a mountain is either
جبل or طور.
Those are two words in the Qur'an
used for the mountain.
But regardless, Musa عليه السلام, Allah spoke to
him on the mountain.
And at the end of the journey of,
when Allah commanded Nuh عليه السلام to build
his ship, to build the ark, after the
flood was over, فَاسْتَوَتْ عَلَى الْجُودِ the ship
landed on top of the mountain.
So the two visual elements that these two
stories have in common are the sea and
the mountain.
Now one more thing as we get closer
to the point.
Allah has a very unique style of speaking
in the Qur'an.
So when He speaks about different stories of
the prophets, He speaks in unique ways about
each of them.
But sometimes He uses very similar language in
one story, and then you find the similar
language again in a very different story.
And something like that happens between Nuh عليه
السلام and Musa عليه السلام.
So I want to start with Musa عليه
السلام.
When Musa عليه السلام went up to the
mountain, Allah tells us in Surah Taha, that
when he went up to the mountain, Allah
told him, not only is He about to
give him the revelation, وَلَقَدْ مَنَنَّ عَلَيْكَ مَرَّةً
أُخْرَى We had already done favors to you
many times before this.
Allah has been doing favors to Musa عليه
السلام for a long time.
And so He started reminding Musa عليه السلام,
when your mother put you in the basket,
when your sister was walking on the side
of the river, when you were raised in
the house of Fir'aun, when we reunited
you with your mother, كَيْ تَقَرَّ عَيْنُهَا وَلَا
تَحْزَنُ So her eyes could become cool, so
she could find comfort again.
I did you the favor of reuniting you
with your mother.
Then you killed someone, and you escaped, and
we tried you in many ways.
And so all of these different trials that
he went through, Allah makes a list of
all of them, and then at the end
of all of them, the part of the
plan was, he will get married in Madiya,
and he will go in the desert and
live there for a while, and then one
time he will get lost in the desert,
and he will see a fire on top
of a mountain, and he goes and tries
to see what maybe he can get some
directions there.
This is where Allah was having this conversation
with him, and He says to him some
interesting things.
He says, one of the things He says
is, جِئْتَ عَلَىٰ قَدَرٍ يَا مُوسَىٰ You came
here right on schedule.
You came here exactly according to plan.
So all the things you went through were
part of my plan, so you could be
here at this moment.
But part of what Allah says to him
also is, وَأَنَا اخْتَرْتُكَ لِنَفْسِي I have chosen
you for myself.
And another really beautiful thing, the thing I
want you to focus on now, is He
says, وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَىٰ عَيْنِي So you can be
crafted, and I'll focus on the word تُصْنَعَ
in a second, you can be crafted under
my watch.
Meaning, crafting, you know when somebody works with
wood, and they make a table, and when
somebody works with metal, and they make a
sword, and in different kinds of works, you
have to do craftsmanship, you have to have
artistry, you know to cut the angles properly,
and to mold it properly.
People do a lot of صُنَع when they
are making a pot, or when they're making
utensils, right?
So Allah is describing someone being crafted or
designed.
So Allah is telling Musa A.S. that
all of those experiences you had, were part
of you being designed.
So you know how in engineering, there are
stages of product development, and you have to
go through one design phase, then the next
design phase, then the next design phase.
It's like Musa A.S. life was being
engineered by Allah, and every part of the
design, every one of those experiences was part
of the design, so you could be ready
for your real mission.
And in this is a really beautiful lesson
that the experiences that we go through, they
are part of Allah's design, to help engineer
us.
Because we are like the human beings, like
a baby is like raw materials.
Right?
It's like raw materials.
And as Allah puts us through these experiences,
actually each one of those experiences starts building
our understanding, builds our maturity, builds our experience.
Sometimes you develop strength by going through pain.
Right?
This is just Allah's design.
You know athletes, for example, if they want
to improve themselves, they have to push harder
than their previous stamina to improve.
Right?
And that's how they're being engineered to perform
even better and better and better.
So Allah says to him, وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَى عَيْنِي
So you can be crafted, engineered even, under
my watch.
And I want you to remember this phrase,
crafted under my watch.
Now, I told you the connection, there's some
sort of a connection between Musa Alayhi Salaam
and Nuh Alayhi Salaam.
And I told you about the mountain and
the sea, and the story of Musa Alayhi
Salaam and the mountain and the sea, and
the story of Nuh Alayhi Salaam.
Then I told you that Musa Alayhi Salaam,
Allah says to him, so you could be
crafted under my watch.
And then you find a similar phrase in
the story of Nuh Alayhi Salaam.
When you look at the story of Nuh
Alayhi Salaam, and Allah told him to build
this ship, which was a strange instruction, because
there was no water anywhere nearby.
Why am I building a ship?
And nobody even knows how to build a
ship.
Nobody, because they're not a people that live
next to the sea, so they have no
reason to know how to build a ship.
So Allah gives him wahi and he says,
وَصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا Engineer the ship under our
watch.
Musa Alayhi Salaam was told, I engineered you
under my watch.
And Nuh Alayhi Salaam is being told, engineer
this ship under my watch.
And so this phrase is similar between these
two stories also.
Now, let's focus on Nuh Alayhi Salaam for
a couple of moments.
When he was being told to engineer the
ship, then everyone around him, they already called
him crazy.
They already insulted him for many generations.
In fact, some of the things we learn
in the Quran, the hints that we get,
is that people used to disbelieve in Nuh
Alayhi Salaam, and then they would get married,
young men disbelieved in him, young men and
women, they got married, they have children, they
bring their children and say, don't listen to
this crazy old man.
And then those children get older, they get
married, they have children, they bring their children
and say, my dad told me don't listen
to this crazy old man.
So generations and generations used to insult Nuh
Alayhi Salaam.
But now, after 950 years, Allah is telling
him, build a ship.
And they're looking at him building a ship,
and this is the...
We told you he's crazy.
This is, see?
This is the craziest thing he's ever done.
Right?
So, one of the big allegations against Nuh
Alayhi Salaam is that he is insane.
By the way, that same accusation was made
against Musa Alayhi Salaam also.
He was called insane also.
But anyway, so he's building this ark, this
ship, under the watch of Allah.
But while he is building it, the more
he builds it, the more people make fun
of him.
Every day he's working on it.
You cannot build the ship in one day.
You cannot engineer it in one day.
You're working on it, working on it, working
on it.
And Allah is...
It's almost as if, you know, when you
design something, especially construction project, engineering project, and
we know it's big enough that it's going
to fit human beings, it's also going to
fit animals.
So, it's a very large construction project.
Right?
So, you have to have blueprints.
And you have to have a schematic.
So, you can put the right pieces in
the right place.
And you have to have structural engineering even.
All of this has to be taken care
of.
Allah says, وَحَمَلْنَاهُ عَلَىٰ ذَاتِ أَلْوَاحٍ وَالدُّسُورِ In
another place He says, we made, we boarded
him onto something made up of boards of
wood, planks of wood, and nails.
It's as if every board of wood and
every nail was designed by Allah, put this
here, put this here, put this here.
So, everybody else is calling him crazy, but
he's working according to the design Allah has
revealed to him.
You know, and he's designing this ship.
Now, why did I mention both of these
things to you?
Now, I slowly work towards the point that
I wanted to share with you in this
khutbah.
There's a really beautiful surah in the Quran
that I came here to not only study
but share some lessons from with a group
of our students, surah al-Tur.
Surah al-Tur is surah number 52 in
the Quran.
And I'd like you to go after the
khutbah this weekend, just read surah al-Tur
on your own.
In the beginning of surah al-Tur, Allah
takes a number of oaths.
He swears by a number of things.
The first thing He swears by is the
mountain.
And the last thing He swears by is
the sea.
So, وَالطُّورُ وَكِتَابٍ مَصْطُورٍ فِي رَقِبٍ مَنْشُورٍ وَالْبَيْتِ
الْمَعْمُورِ وَالْبَحْرِ الْمَسْجُورِ وَالسَّقْفِ الْمَرْفُوعِ وَالْبَحْرِ
الْمَسْجُورِ So, the first thing was the mountain
and the last thing was the sea.
And it's very subtle and delicate that at
the end of this surah, Allah talked to
His Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam.
Allah talked to Muhammad Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wasalam.
And He said to him, أَصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ
فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا Keep moving forward with patience.
Stay strong on your mission.
Because you are commanded by your Rabb, because
of the hukm of your Rabb, keep working
forward because you are definitely under our eyes.
The same phrase that I told you was
used in the story of Musa alayhi wasalam.
The same phrase that was used in the
story of Nuh alayhi wasalam, is a similar
phrase that now Allah is using for Muhammad
Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wasalam.
And He's using it in Surah At-Tur
in the beginning of which He made a
hint towards the mountain and He made a
hint towards the sea.
But what does it mean for our Prophet,
alayhi salatu wasalam?
It actually, it's kind of a combination of
both of those stories and then even more.
In the sense that, Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
is going to go through many many experiences
while he is in Makkah.
And every one of those experiences is part
of what Allah wants him to go through,
not just for him, but actually the lessons
for all of the ummah until Judgment Day
are being designed by the experiences that our
Prophet is going through, salallahu alayhi wasalam.
If we contemplate that for a little bit,
that's a very powerful lesson.
What is that lesson?
Every surah of the Qur'an that we
recite so beautifully, our Qur'an memorize them
and we enjoy them, reciting them in the
prayer.
When those surahs were given to the Prophet,
salallahu alayhi wasalam, when he would recite them,
people would call him crazy.
People would insult him.
And he had to go through those experiences
so that a thousand and a half years
later, you and I can recite those same
surahs.
You understand?
So he, Allah put him through that because
actually he had to go through that so
one day we can value what we're reciting.
So one of the things that every Muslim,
myself and yourself should be aware of, is
the words of Allah that we get to
recite, they're not cheap.
It was a big sacrifice that had to
be made and the Rasul sallallahu alayhi wasalam
was being crafted and his mission was being
designed by Allah with a lot of pain
so that one day we can have the
convenience of having access to the word of
Allah.
Because it did not come to us in
an easy way.
It came to us through the sacrifices of
our Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasalam and those that
believed in him.
The other thing is, that in both of
those stories, especially in the story of Nuh
alayhi wasalam, Allah azzawajal told Nuh alayhi wasalam
to build this ship.
But why was he telling him to build
the ship?
Because the azaab of Allah is very close.
The azaab of Allah is very close.
So two things are getting closer.
Two things are increasing.
One, the time they have left and the
state of emergency is increasing.
Two, the way they make fun of him
is also increasing.
And as the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasalam was
making his da'wah and he was sharing
the Qur'an with the people of Mecca,
their aggressiveness towards him was also increasing.
And the more their aggressiveness was increasing, the
time for hijrah was also coming closer and
closer.
The time to leave Mecca was coming closer
and closer.
When he has to leave Mecca, the moment
he will leave Mecca, the new chapter will
begin.
And that new chapter is not just the
life in Medina, it's the chapter of azaab,
punishment for the people of Mecca.
And the first episode of that punishment was
Badr.
The second episode was Uhud, and so on
and so forth.
Right?
The punishment, the phase of da'wah is
over, now Allah's punishments will begin for them.
And Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasalam is being told,
وَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ فَإِنَّكَ بِأَعْيُنِنَا Stay committed to
your mission, no matter what people are saying
to you, no matter how much they call
you crazy, whatever insults they give you, keep
moving forward, don't back down, because every step
you take is being designed by us.
Every single step you take is being designed
by us.
What Allah does in this surah, He tells
the Prophet alayhi sallallahu alayhi wasallam to make
tasbih.
As you get to the end of the
surah, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam is being
told, keep doing tasbih of Allah until idbarul
nujum.
Meaning, do tasbih of Allah in the night
time also, until the stars begin to disappear.
Meaning Fajr time.
Yeah?
And this is a very important image, because
the image of doing tasbih of Allah in
the night, is actually like his mission.
He is calling to Allah, describing the perfection
of Allah, sharing the word of Allah, and
around him is the darkness of kufr.
Darkness of shirk, like the darkness of the
night.
And soon that situation is about to change.
There's new light that's coming.
Right?
So in it there's a subtle hint that
things are about to change until the hukm
of Allah comes, until then you keep doing
this.
Until then you keep working.
But soon I will give you a new
hukm, a new rule, and that rule will
be to make hijrah.
And you'll have to go.
But what does that mean for you and
me?
When you follow the command of Allah, when
you stand by the truth, when you stand
by what is just, when you don't allow
corruption to happen under your watch, when you
call it out.
Whenever you do that, it requires sabr.
Because whenever you say the truth, somebody gets
angry.
Then people get offended.
You're afraid to get attacked when you do
the right thing.
And we've got to keep doing the right
thing until it becomes impossible to do the
right thing.
Until the very moment it becomes impossible.
And when it becomes impossible, Allah will open
a new door.
The idea is you and I cannot just
say, we stand up for justice without going
through pain.
You have to go through pain.
Allah loved His Prophet ﷺ so much, and
He allowed him to go through a lot
of pain.
And that's an important lesson.
Sabr means you have to go through pain.
And when we are ready to go through
that pain, then like Nuh ﷺ, like Musa
ﷺ, and finally like even Rasulullah ﷺ, we
are going to be under the eye of
Allah.
Allah is going to be watching.
And He is going to...
When will Allah give a new way for
you?
How will Allah make a new opening for
you?
Well, the secret is given in this surah,
isn't it?
سَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ حِينَ تَقُومُ وَمِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَسَبِّحْهُ
وَإِذْ بَعْرَ النُّجُومِ Do tasbih of Allah every
time you get up.
I hope you guys enjoyed that video clip.
My team and I have been working tirelessly
to try to create as many resources for
Muslims to give them first steps in understanding
the Qur'an all the way to the
point where they can have a deep, profound
understanding of the Qur'an.
We are students of the Qur'an ourselves,
and we want you to be students of
the Qur'an alongside us.
Join us for this journey on bayyinatv.com
where thousands of hours of work have already
been put in, and don't be intimidated, it's
step by step by step, so you can
make learning the Qur'an a part of
your lifestyle.
There's lots of stuff available on YouTube, but
it's all over the place.
If you want an organized approach to studying
the Qur'an beginning to end for yourself,
your kids, your family, and even among peers,
that would be the way to go.
Sign up for bayyinatv.com