Empowering Goodness in Difficult Times

hamdulillah

Al Hamdulillah holofil which will even an Adam but Geralyn nudie Mina Fulham almost reaches subliminal LM amo Kato, but he Allah Nedum panache Kuru who Adela Messiah EBk Manish Kuru who Anna niram

When also li Allah rasool Allah Quran the Scholefield a sham we will noodle atom while kita Bill Mokum Machiavellian nabina will hartham Say Ed Willa, the Adam, and let the Bashara be here Risa we know Medea with the alphabet Resetti he Ibrahim alayhis salam Hina Karna Yaffa who kawaii debate Allah Hill Muharram Masada Allahu alayhi wa sallam while at Berry he played in a Latina BarakAllahu be him Cafayate a nurse a lot of admin human agent

and hamdulillah Allah the let me attack his wallet and when we Aquila who Cherie confit milk, Willem yaku love Willie Umina truly what a beautiful to be.

Well hamdulillah Allah the Santa Ana over the hill Kitab with me I'd love to where I was with hamdulillah Alladhina when a study novel when a star fiddle when we will be here one at our q&a He when our rules will be let him into Rudy and fusina Woman sejati Melina when yeah de la who for them will be another woman yielded Bella had the other one a shadow Allah ilaha illallah wa Julio Shikara when a shadow under Mohammed and Abdullah he Rasulullah sallallahu ala Bill Buddha would even the old Hara who Aladeen equally he woke up Fabula he Shahida masala Allahu Allah, he was seldom at the Sleeman Kathira cathedra my bad luck and Hadith Nikita Allah. Well, have you ever had the had you

Mohammed in sallallahu alayhi wa sallam were in a shopping mall or moody Martha to her were in Nicola Martha setting they were called Lebanon in Walla, Walla Walla, that infinity

and Allah azza wa jal FICKY Debbie Hill can embed it in a folder arrow the bIllahi min ash shaytani R rajim. one two and three are met in awfully jet the nurse that moron I believe it all fits in Hona and in mooncup. What's new in a biller? Well am an adult Kitabi la Cana Farah Lavon Benham will be known work through whom will Facetune be shuffling Saturday where Sidley Emery Luna rocks data mill Disseny yokocho Colleen Allahumma habitat and dill multiball La Ilaha illa Allah Allah Houma Jana Mina Latina Anwar middle Sani hot water wasabi happy whatever sub sub Amira but I've been in these few minutes that I have with you for this bless a dear Friday, I'd like to share with you a reminder

of some fundamental concepts in our deen. Commonly in English, we use the phrase enjoying the good forbidding the evil, you've probably heard that phrase many, many times, it's inspired by a number of ayat, particularly from sort of alien Imraan, where yet Morona will Maru ferienhaus will occur and that motor debris metal roof wasn't gonna I didn't want to cut or used among other places in the Quran, what I'm going to do is try to understand some of the vocabulary inside of this phrase a little bit more deeply. So we have a better understanding of what that actually means. Because a lot of times, of course, we live in a time where everybody has a voice, and they can project that voice

by way of comments or posting a video, or making themselves heard on any platform, any number of platforms. So now I have an ability to talk to the entire world. And so do you. And anybody who says or does anything there's you know, there's there's there's every liquidity column Java every every speech has some commentary, right? So now we have an ability to record our commentaries or mockery or disagreement or ridicule, or rage, or agreement or appreciation, all of it permanently on these records that are under every YouTube video or under every post or anything else. Right. So this is and sometimes people do this in the name of I'm enjoying the good and forbidding the evil, by you

know, calling they the listen to something or someone and they say, well, this person is a disbeliever, or this person is completely off of out of the fold of Islam or this person is calling to the wave shaper and etc, etc. Because we have to enjoin the good or forbid the evil, or they'll exhort each other Hey, why don't you speak against this? Or why don't you speak about that, because I want you to call this one out or that one out. And all of this is done in the spirit of something we think we understand, for the most part, which is enjoying the good and forbidding the evil. So let's take these words apart a little bit and break them up one at a time. Let's start first with

the word under that maroon which, in English translation. I don't I don't personally like the translation in joining because you don't normally use it. You don't use the word enjoin. In your typical speech, the entire purpose of translation is to use language that's closer to your experience. And that's not something you typically use you don't enjoy your children to do the homework. You don't your boss isn't enjoying you to show up tomorrow on time, etc. Right? So this is an alien word already for most of us. So let's use language that's more familiar. I'm gonna can possibly be translated as a command. So one possible way of translating this word is commanding

good, commanding good and forbidding evil, but even that has issue

Listen, I want to share with you why that has issues. The word hammer in the Arabic language, you can think of it as an entire spectrum. One person is telling another person something, and if they have ultimate authority over them, like I have ultimate authority, let's say over my young child, that I'm commanding them to do something that can actually constitute as an umber. A general in a military is commanding a soldier, he's actually issuing an armor, but actually armor is also used for suggestion. Um, it is also used for advice in the Arabic language, in fact, not just in Arabic language and in classical poetry, but also in the Quran itself. When when Frauen was losing his

power, he was losing grip over his own cabinet. And he thought that they might switch and turn it over to Musa they Salam side. He said you need to and euthanasia coming out of the commissary from other dark maroon, he wants to kick you out of your land. And he said, suggest to me what I should do. Give me your counsel, give me your advice. And the word for counsel and advice in that IRA is actually from other more on the same word we're just learning about right now. He's asking for a suggestion. Similarly, when will Saudi settlements interestingly, in his story, when he had punched that soldier, and that soldier had died for the law IV. And the police authorities of Egypt, were

secretly taking counsel with each other, and they figured out a plan and the plan was, as soon as we find Musa will kill him in the street. We're not going to bring him into trial. They had a secret meeting where they took each other suggestions. And the word for that is in that meta? Yeah, tell me your own epic. The actor. Look, the generals, or the police chiefs are secretly taking each other's counsel and have reached the decision to try and kill you. This is the same word that speeds up the news from the same origin in cases of divorce settlement between the husband and the wife, if there's a child involved, and how long the session should go on. Allah says but Samuel Boehner can

be my rules, that you should take each other's counsel and figure out what you're going to do in a dignified way. So the point that I'm trying to get at not just from the point of view of the outside of the Quran, in Arabic literature in general, but also even inside the Quran, the word amor doesn't just occur in the meaning of commanding, it actually occurs in the meaning of suggesting or advising or in you know, or encouraging or even on top of that, it can be in the meaning of commanding also, you know, so Allah azza wa jal says it for example, himself, yet Morricone, Allah commands you Allah instructs you unto a Dalai Lama naughty either idea that you give the rights to those who deserve

them to trust to those who deserve them. Now, this is an important distinction, what that means, then let me just give you an by way of an example. Because talking in theory can become hard to understand, let's say it's the first day of class and I have a bunch of students, third grade, some of them are well behaved, some of them not so much, right. And some of them are struggling with with discipline, some of them are not, I'm just beginning to understand these kids, it's gonna take me a little while, and they're gonna get used to my way of dealing with things in my discipline. And over time, I'm going to I will lay down the hammer at first, I'm going to try to figure out how everybody

behaves, and what their issues aren't, where their anger may be coming from, where their violent behavior in class might be coming from, why they're always so loud, why they're always you know, get, you know, being obnoxious, etc. So I might take one of those kids after class and say, Hey, so I noticed you make a lot of fun of your friends. Why do you think that is? You know, instead of embarrassing him in front of everybody, I'll take them to the side and talk to him a little bit. And then over time, I might see a change in that one student's behavior, right. And then over time, as I develop a relationship with that student, the next time he's misbehaving, I can just say, Hey, I

love sorry, if there's anyone in the audience, how much

and you remember what we talked about, and he could just get it. He gets it now, because we went from me slowly advising him beginning to understand him to a point where I can actually even just look at him and he'll know, okay, okay. Sorry, I'm sorry. I know, I know, I know. And he gets it. It didn't happen overnight. It didn't, I couldn't do that the first day. And if I did, in fact, even if he obeyed me, on the first day, he would develop a resentment towards me. And it's not something that would benefit him. If if me as a teacher, I just want obedience in the classroom, I can get it. But if I want the student to actually transform and to see the error in their ways, and to actually

feel like I care about them, I'm actually doing this for their own good. And that's going to take some while and I might not start with commanding, I might start with advising. I might start with suggesting I might start with putting my hand over their shoulder but with some compassion, some listening also from them. This is an important part of the process if I really have

somebody else's well being in mind, what if I just want to make sure I win an argument, then I can just throw some things in their face, threaten them to go take them to the principal's office, and I'll be done with it. My job is still done, I still taught a class, I didn't do anything illegal. Right. But the point is, I'm missing something very, very fundamental. So that's a little bit about the word and, and when we think about doing a murder to something good, who am I doing it to? Do I care about this person? Or do I just want to win an argument? I don't want to embarrass this person humiliate this person. Do I just want to show the world how wrong they are? What is my motivation

for correcting them? What is my mbalula mind saving? Right? And this becomes a really important question to ask myself when I'm embarking on a journey to correct somebody else, or to advise somebody else. The other thing is when you meet someone for the first time, and you're like, Well, you know, before I become friends, what's your take on this issue, this issue, this issue and this issue, so I can gauge how much I'm going to do my roof I need to do with you, before I can become I can treat you as a dignified human being. You let me know your stance on all of these issues. So we know where we stand. Exactly. That's not how human relationships work. You have to treat someone

like a dignified human being, and you're not in the back of your head. If you're thinking I'm gonna get to know this person a little better, so that by the time I get to know them, then I'm going to drop some honorable model from them. This is a very condescending, self righteous, you got it figured out and you need to save the rest of the world kind of attitude. And Allah azza wa jal says further to Saku and fossa calm. Don't consider yourself so pure. Well, our alarm will be Monday taka Allah knows better who has taqwa, we we've got this idea, we've got it figured out. Everybody else needs to get on board. Right. So there's that other attitude that comes with it. Now, this is the

first part of the phrase when we say in joining, which I kind of broke apart. But then we use the word of mouth roof Marina Bilbao roofer, and this is Marina build my roof. And now roof, we simply translate in the English language is good. But there is a lot more going on in this word, than just good. The Arabic word for Good is actually haved. That's a very common word in the Arabic language for good. And for that, which is better. In fact, if use unmethylated means the best, but in my roof is what's called an Assam, maroon. So first, let's dig into the origin of this word. The word or odor in Arabic actually means things that are normal in a society. So the role of the Arabs, for

example, was to wear a turban when they traveled or when they went into a new place. And they covered their face in some of the tribes. That was their oath. That's the role of the roof in Pakistan could be when you go to somebody's house, they offer you Chai, Chai pani Shani, first, that's their oath, or means the cultural norms of the society, everybody knows this is the normal way to behave. When you go to first time I went to Japan, I didn't know how the cashiers work, when when they give you your change in your receipt, they do this, you know, they they handed to you, and they kind of bow a little bit Oh, what's going on. But that's just how they hand you their receipt,

that's their oath. That's their norm. So it comes from that word, then it's associated with things that are considered good. Things that are considered normal and good in a society are actually called Earth. Now from it, we get the word and fine recognition. Like, you know, when you when somebody is behaving like everybody else is behaving, you're recognizing that as normal behavior, if somebody is driving on the wrong side of the street, if you're used to driving in America, and you're like, I'm just going to drive on the right side of the street and you end up in England, there's going to be a problem with the road situation, right? Because that's, that's not their oath.

So everybody will recognize you as alien, you don't belong here, you don't know what you're doing here. This is not how we do things here. That's what's called unrecognized and that's the Arabic word and mooncup that which is not recognized. Ankara means to deny that you know someone, Nikita is someone who denies something. But anyway, come coming back to the word maruf. The ISM of rule means things that are recognized that maroon have in my roof, you are encouraging people to act on things that are recognized. Now, if somebody doesn't know any better than they can recognize it. If somebody doesn't have enough knowledge yet, then they can recognize the right and wrong of

something, you have to develop their knowledge of Earth until it becomes my roof to them, then you can encourage them to do it. In other words, if a child doesn't even know that it's not a good thing to raise your voice, they don't even know that that may be the first thing is to develop that as part of their knowledge base. And the more they learn now, that becomes my roof to them, known to them, recognize to them now you can encourage them to act on it. So the first piece in all of this stuff we're gonna build our roof actually is an entire philosophy of education. You're supposed to raise the awareness of a community so they understand what good actually is, what good behavior

actually and then you can enforce it. And you cannot assume they already know some things we know some things

Allah put as my roof inside every human soul, when he put us on this earth, even a baby while Allah says, Allah in the Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, when he says Kulu, the Nullah, to Allah fatality, that every child is born on the fitrah, the same fitrah the same nature that Allah describes in the Quran is filled with Allah and that the fallenness where Allah, the nature, you know, created by Allah Himself, the one he molded people into that nature inside a human being knows that it's, it's a good thing to be honest, it's a bad thing to lie, it's a bad thing to cheat, it's a bad thing to steal, it's a bad thing to hurt others, it's a bad thing to rob, you know, all

of these things are known to human beings, this you don't have to be a Muslim to know that it's already my roof to everyone. So on those things, yes, of course, we should advise. But within the scope of this the in there are some things that not everybody knows yet. Not everybody understands. And the more I actually is one thing, you know, people like myself, we have the microphone, so I'm speaking and you're listening. But you know, one of the one of the most educational things that someone like myself can do is actually listen to people to listen to them and learn from them. And when I listened to people, I realized where Earth is, like how much people know or don't know. And

sometimes from the questions that I get, surprisingly, even in Muslim countries, I realize our youth are dark, you know, like I just came from Pakistan, where nearly 70%, or even more of the population is under 28. Like they're very young. It's an insanely young country. And a lot of they don't know, the kinds of questions they're asking, you would expect sometimes, that somebody who's raised in a Muslim country would know some things they don't and I don't blame them at all. So if they're not acting on something that they don't even know when they don't even understand that it's not their fault, that our job is to raise the awareness so they can actually act on something, and then we can

advise, but what we what we see sometimes is people aren't acting on the value system that Allah has given. People aren't acting on the instructions of Allah and His Messenger, salallahu Alaihe Salam, so we have to condemn them and we have to go after them. We've done well hold on a second, let's raise the bar a little first, let's treat them like a human being first. You know, let's let's dignify them. First, let's help let's help them understand first, and you might be surprised how quickly they mature and grow into something that you won't even believe. I'll give you a shocking example of this that I read in the deceit of spirit and noon. So to noon was revealed to the Prophet

sallallahu alayhi wa sallam good, a good sixteens took 16 to 18 years into Revelation. Right? So the Quran was revealed. Most people here know, the Quran was revealed over 23 years, right? So almost 18 of those years are gone. So most of the Quran has already been revealed, right? And this is middle of the time that he was in Medina, salallahu, alayhi, wasallam. And a Sahabi comes to him. And a Sahabi says that I want to get married to this woman. Right? This isn't the opening soon as the suburban news. We'll have the opening soon as I absolutely know. He says I want to marry this woman. And what does she do? She's in a and he says I because he was poor. He didn't have any wealth or

money. And he was Wajid so he wants to marry. And he says, well, she's in a questionable profession.

You know, and I won't spell out what that is. But he didn't realize there's something wrong with that. That's how liberal or open that society was that somebody even suggested and he had to be told no, you can't do that. You can't marry a person like that an ayat came that you cannot marry people like that. And the revelation came what does that tell you? That's a hobby was not condemned for asking that question. He just didn't know yet. He didn't know. I'll give you another example. All 23 years are done. The entire Quran nearly has been revealed maca has been conquered Maga has been conquered now there's no excuse everybody should know what's up and in the middle of that kick you

know the the takeover of Makkah and ship has been destroyed the idols and the destroyed some guy gets out of his house and he's like what's going on Chicago see no idols. Something change you know some people that are just playing Playstation at home regimes are changing the sunrises and the sun falls and they're they're just going to the next level and they're just beating their record. They don't know what's going on to the outside world. But there happened guys at home chillin there. What happened? Azov happened? Mikado Concord, he has no idea what's going on. He comes out one day and Muslims have taken over and he's like,

what's this Islam thing? Like, can you can you tell me a little bit about this Islam situation? Now the Muslims could say

you had 23 years to figure this out.

You get no more excuses. Naka has gone to war with the prophets I said multiple times. And now Mushrik in Makkah is saying I didn't know please know What is Allah doing sunnah to taba.

Through the toggle that reveals its Allah reveals it without even the Bismillah there's no Rathmines. And yet, in that sutra, what does Allah say? When I hadn't made that much stickiness, the Jarrah Kapha Jew hat is Moroccan Allah. But my blue mana when one of the machete keen comes to you,

and wants to seek your protect protection, because he didn't know. Then Allah says, give him protection until he gets to hear the speech of Allah. And then take him somewhere where he feels safe. So he doesn't feel intimidated by the overwhelming force of the Muslims. And he becomes Muslim because the Muslims have taken over, take him somewhere safe, safe, so you can figure this out for himself. That's because these were people who had no idea

because they didn't models hadn't been raised yet. They didn't know any better. When we say the phrase that maroon have in my roof, it actually suggests that we are very aware of the people we're trying to help. We're also very aware of the lack sometimes of our own knowledge. And I'll come on the flip side of this now, one one quick comment and I'll come on the flip side. One quick comment is that which is recognized? You see, I consider myself very much a student of Allah's book, like I don't I'm nowhere near a scholar, I know scholars, and the more I get to know scholars, the more I realize how much nowhere near that I am. But I can tell you this, the journey of learning this deen

is a journey of humility. The more you study it, the more you learn it, the more you recognize that you don't know much at all. And when you realize that you don't find yourself in a position to lecture someone else on what they're doing right and wrong so easily. It's not that easy anymore. You realize there are some things in which to the best of your understanding, you know this, but there are things that are most fella fee, there are things in which even the scholars were not explicitly clear, or they had debates among themselves. So for if I see somebody with, let's just say, a beard length that is different from my own. Let's just say I see somebody else with, you

know, be the pants above or below the ankles or so and I say, You know what, I read the I Googled this, I already saw five YouTube videos on this with people that have way better beards than you. And therefore I know for a fact that this guy because of the pair of jeans he's wearing is going to the hellfire and I got to do I'm going to get him out of this is the kind of thing you know what that illustrates a an absolute lack of humility to knowledge, an absolute lack of humility. In our mind, we're actually doing, um, what have been models, but in reality, in reality, it's just projecting one's own ego. And it's also broadcasting one's own lack of knowledge and depths. So

that's why that's broadcasting. If I can just humble myself to what I don't know, if I can just simply humble myself to that the depth and the richness of our tradition is that we shouldn't just be quick to pass judgments and you know, pseudo fatwas, because we've seen a couple of posts or reread a couple of articles. Well, how much time and knowledge have we spent? And then, on the flip side of that, are you saying you can't see anything is wrong? Everything's okay, you should just shut up. That's the flip side of it. So let's talk about the flip side of it. There are some things that are absolutely fundamentally right and wrong. And not just this, the this is the religion of

Ibrahim mulata Bikram Ebrahim, it's been passed on since then, and what is right will always be right, what is wrong will always be wrong. And you don't need to be a rookie, or a scholar, or a great student of anyone to know that you have to be good to your parents, the best you can be. That's you don't need a degree in Sharia, to know that. You have to speak to people with kindness and humility, I have to do that. And you have to do you don't have to have exhaustive knowledge to know that you don't have to know like exhaustive knowledge to know that you know that the rights of inheritance, the rights of may have the importance of marriage, the importance of guarding chastity,

all of those fundamental teachings that are not just given in this Deen, they're actually a confirmation of what was already given in previous scriptures. It was known for millennia, before Islam, it was my roof already. And then the Quran came and made it my roof all over again, in those things, we have to speak up in those things, you have to raise your voice, because that's not a specialization, that doesn't require a great deal of knowledge. That's, that's, uh, oh, my roof is not off. If you're hanging out with a bunch of your friends. And you're when you're at their house, and his mother calls him and he says, Mom, I'm going to my friends.

Now you know what, my friends then you should slap him on the back of his head and say, bro, that's your mother. One. Don't do that. They'll say sorry. You just did a little bit maruf because what will holiday near Santa you could do that dear friends. You want to wrestle me wrestle him? That's fine. You know? Because they'll dare contexts in which you should be enforcing good values.

There are contexts in which you I'm not a scholar, I can say you could talk however you want to your mom, bro, I'm not an Okie he knows that what we're saying, that's not the point that's being made. So on the one hand, I have to become humbled to what I don't know, if I don't have direct knowledge of something, and I shouldn't be talking about it. And so the last thing that I leave you with, is actually tying this concept to another concept in the Quran. This idea of, you know, commanding that I didn't even talk about forbidding evil but commanding good, or that maroon of Imam suggesting that which is dignified. Another phrase in the Quran that I think everybody here knows, because it's part

of certain acid is what our soul will help with our soul will help. It's a similar phrase, it's a similar concept. And it's very beautiful phrase, I, we could talk about that for hours. But I'll just leave you with two things about that. The law Sita rule in Arabic is reciprocity, meaning I do for you, you do for me. That's what that means. So Thalassa means that I give you advice. And actually, you also give me advice. So if I'm so willing to give advice to person A to person A, that I'm actually equally willing to listen to advice from person A, maybe I'm advising them about one thing, but they're in a position to advise me about something else. I don't consider myself an

authority on advice. I'm equally eager to share something of benefit with someone, and I'm equally eager to listen to something that can benefit me. It's not going to hit my ego. It's not going to be no, no, no, no, no, I have a Huck, you, unfortunately, have a Laughlin. So I need to give you the hook. And then you just take and listen in and say thank you. No, no, no, no, no de la Sol billhook. They encourage each other advices advise each other, they care for each other. And they are bound to each other by counseling each other to what is true. This is a very powerful phrase. Because in that phrase, we're at the scholar, and the layperson, the elder and the youth, the mother and the

daughter. They all in that sense become equal. Sometimes a child can have advice for the parent that's possible, like Ibrahim alayhi salam had advice for his father, that can happen, that can happen in the seal of the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam Sahaba gave advice to their parents that happened. And then they were played, there are times where you can give advice to the elder and the elder will give advice to you. And no one of them is position sitting on top of a mountain called Unhak. That they own it, and that's why they're dishing it out to everybody else. That's not how that works. What our soul will help has humility in it has mutual love and care in it. So when we

listen to these guidelines in the Quran, I pray that we are able to internalize the deep wisdom in them and the genuine concern we're supposed to have for each other. And the the eagerness we're supposed to have to get closer and closer and closer to the truth as we travel through this journey of life. May Allah azza wa jal make us sincere towards the words of Allah. May Allah azza wa jal make us of those who when we do and would have been miserable, when we do not hear and then when can we do to us it will help them to us so that we do it in a way that is pleasing to Allah and actually in accordance with the Sunnah of His Messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam BarakAllahu li Walakum

filled Quran it again when a family were er can be a it would be a

long walk but Allah like children Nyla Hey Lola, I should run a mother was when Allah Allah Salah to Highland salah or diploma to Sona to call the farmer to Sona Allahu Akbar a long walk about the Isla de long long

sipping

law experts

hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen unrushed Manuel Rahimi, Maliki Jung Min De the corner boudoir II can staring

at you know Sarah Palin was stepping email syrup on Latina and I'm Thai than him why he really melted boom behind him when a or lately when

he

when he learned he maphis Santa words he went up what Elon law he told our own

to find your own methane or three Javelin as heated

room for you

I attended how when I needed more than Katie why to me noon and be

well

known kita Vela for anyone who

means goon

meaning hormonal move mean when I tell room when you fancy ping

li come in

when he you call to come you when loon C'mon edible rozum

solving

hola

me I love Lehmann Amida

Oh expert

along who keep up

along

loll Akbar

Al Hamdulillah here have been

rush man you're watching Imani King young man in the corner in Canada standing

in Dena Slean off on him was stepping email seen off on Nadine and I'm telling him why even melt boom behind him when a more knee pain

the

last three in

Santa Fe New fostering levena

levena where I'm you know slowly hands the water well some will be you have tea water well some will be slob

law

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 Quran all the way to the point where they can have a deep profound understanding of the Quran. We are students of the Quran ourselves. And we want you to be students of the Quran alongside us. Join us for this journey on Vienna tv.com Where 1000s 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 Quran 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 Quran beginning to end for yourself, your kids, your family, and even among peers. That would be the way to go sign up for being a tv.com