Ramadan 2016 – Surat al-Baqarah – Day 11

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welcome wabi Konishi in the rubbish everywhere silly Emily rock determine the selling of olneyville hamdulillah salatu salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah He was a big man. So, once again everybody salaam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. Some outstanding things about the remarkable ayah that we talked about yesterday, the five stages of human life. You know, Elijah says, How dare you disbelieve in a lion you used to be dead I and we went through all of those stages. The first thing that I want to remind you of that I may not have emphasized enough yesterday is the sloop the style, with which the eye begins, okay, photographer una villa. The word Keyphrase, a question word, how,

right and the word How can be asked? by someone who's curious, how did you do that? Or how does that work? You know, and that's a, like, in the, in, in science, for example, a lot of how is asked, right, a lot of Sciences is nurtured by the question of how, but in language also, how is it used when someone's extremely disappointed with someone or hurt by someone? Mother can say to a son? How could you say that? How could you do this to me, you know, and so the word how illustrates how how disappointing someone has been, and how someone has upset you. Now, the more beloved someone is, the more loved and the higher the expectations are from someone, when they disappoint you, then the more

hurtful and the more the hell comes out, you understand. So if you don't care about someone, and they do something, it's like, whatever. But when you expect things from someone, from your son, from your daughter, from your spouse, from your, you know, from a loved one from your sibling, from your student, and then they let you down, then there is a hell. And a lot as well. First of all, there was no there's no closeness to the human beings like the closest to a large religion, that closeness I already described to you, we were in our first original existence in the original company of Allah, directly engaged in conversation with him, there's no closeness like that one. And no, no

creature of Allah, no creation of Allah has been granted that kind of closeness and that kind of rank. And we're gonna actually, it's, it's interesting that the two IR that I intend to cover with you today, after them, we're gonna get into the story of the first human being in the dialogue for the halifa that story is coming. And also it seems to illustrate some very nuanced subtle things in the Quran that don't get talked about often. The the human beings that were created the legions of human beings that were created, countless of them that were all that were going to come on this earth and so many of them are still with a lion. They haven't come yet because, you know, they're

going to be born a century later, two centuries, and Allahu Allah, and when that entire group of humanity was actually a secret kept from the angels. They had no idea. They had no clue that that's already been done. And then finally, when the decision to put one human being on the earth, the first human being on the earth was declared, then Allah let them know of this intention, and let them know rather this decision, but we'll get to that inshallah tomorrow, but today, I want to tell you that there is a unique closeness to Allah, that the human being enjoys. And of course, the ultimate example of that is it a sort of loss of Allah harness man, himself, the height of all

humanity, the peak of all humanity is our messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who, when Allah does call him under mineralogy, when he travels up to the heavens, and he has a meeting with a law, a direct meeting with a law, the closest any other human being ever got to that point was Musa alayhis salaam, and that was on top of a mountain.

And he spoke with a law directly the next elevation beyond that is past the seven heavens, Jebel Ali Salaam escorts Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and he takes him all the way up and he gets to see the documenta. And he gets to the stage, this this highly classified state place where even gibreel Ali Salaam cannot go any further as massive as you realize from his and as powerful as he is, Allah azzawajal describes him as the who attain, you know, the possessor of great might actually even the word you bleed and its original meaning and its root etymology from heat from Hebrew. You know this, they call them Gabriel, its governor, he actually from them from the Hebrew language, and

the Arabic language adopted it, it actually comes it shares the root with Arabic, which is Java, which means power and ability to exert force and the the Mighty One of Allah, the mighty angel of Allah, that's gibreel Adi Salaam, so when he spreads his wings and when he covers over the sky, that actually you can't see anything else. Well, ah hoo, Bill. Okay, moving. Not Phil over him have been like he took over the entire sky. You couldn't see anything else but you believe it, Sam. That same Angel when he escorts was the last item all the way up to meet

With a lot, there's a point where if he travels any further, his wings will get burnt off, he says, I can't go any further.

That's the closest Allah has granted to the human being. And that's something very, very special to Allah now with that closeness, every single human being, you know, is brought onto this earth through has blown into our mothers, and we come into this life. And of course, now we have two existences. This this the soul of ours, this thing made of light, this room, this mystery, lives inside of a physical body. And this physical body has physical needs, it has desires, it has appetite, it gets exhausted, you know, there are there are it's it has an existence, other than the existence of the rule. As a matter of fact, when we are sleeping, the rule has still alive and well.

And it's traveling and it's doing all kinds of things, right. And then it's put back inside of ourselves, you know, so Allahu yetta, waffle enforce hinomoto Allah takes the selves, the actual self, that you are away from you at the time of your death, but even in your sleep, he takes it away. Now, why am I bringing this up, because as human beings as we grow up, we have this, first of all, this, this thing inside of us that was in the company of Allah that's constantly seeking light, but you know what the body takes over. And when the body takes over, human beings get obsessed with things that they need for their physical body, they get obsessed with food, they get obsessed with

shelter, they get obsessed with desire, temptation, they get obsessed with, you know, having a nurturing a family, they get obsessed with amassing more in the physical material sense, right. And that's a struggle that every human being has, they're amassing things for their physical body. And sometimes in doing so they're starving the soul inside of themselves. Because that the thing you have inside you, it's not from this world, it didn't come from here, it came from the sky. And nothing in this world can feed it.

Everything in this world can only feed what your body because your body is made from dirt. And it's from this earth that the body was made. So all of its needs, all of its desires. All of its temptations are fulfilled from we're here. But there's something inside of us that is just not fulfilled, except with something that comes because it's from the sky. So it can only be fed from the sky. It can only be fed from the sky. And that's revelation, the idea of Revelation is to feed the starving thing inside. Because that that revelation like the prophecy, some would describe as a rope. It's called light. It's also called a rope. What does it do? It takes that rule that was

longing that light inside of us that was longing for a connection to Allah because it's so distant from Allah now. Now it's connected back to Allah again with that rope. That's the imagery that's that's painted in the Quran of our relationship with Allah when someone is given this when someone's handed that revelation, now the thing that connects you back to your master who you were in such close company of the same one who, who delivered you, he commanded the angel to deliver you into the belly of your mother, you forgot about him? How could you? cave attack for una bella? When you get to this island, it's actually supposed to put a human being to shame. can you protect vulnerable and

gopher here is not just in the meaning of disbelieving or denying a lot that is part of the meaning. But it comes in the meaning of confront and nygma also, how can you be ungrateful to Allah after this reconnection I am giving you I'm giving you a chance to connect back to me and you're still in denial. Did you forget all the stages I brought you through from my little Jonah T and then you're going to be brought taken back to him? Hola. Hola. Hola, como. He in fact, is the same one who created you I'm translating this way on purpose. It's a strange way of translating. But I'm doing that deliberately. The word the name of Allah in this ayah is actually a woman. It's a pronoun.

A pronoun from a language perspective. Yeah, oh, do a llama subak it goes back to what came before it. In other words, Allah is saying the same one who had created you before. And you weren't, you didn't even have this body and he put you to sleep. Then he puts you inside of your mother's then the one who gives you life in this world and will give you death again. That same one is the one Haleakala chromaffin or the Jimmy and he's the same one who created for you, whatever is in the earth, all together all of it. Now, what's the connection, the first thing to understand is the connection with the previous hire. He was you were in the closest company of a lot which illustrates

how much love Allah has for you. Allah didn't do that for other creations the way he did that for you. And then he decided that he will build you a home on this earth on this planet in the entire university pick this small planet for our you know, our habitat our home. And then he says he goes out of his way to say that he created especially for you, he went out of his way for your sake, to put to create things on this earth altogether. Meaning everywhere on this earth there is something that you can benefit from. That is for you. This is a profound statement. scholars were like baffled by this statement. How is everything in the world created for us? How is a mosquito created?

For me,

you know, atheists ask this question, right? Well, how are cockroaches created for me? Explain that one to me? Or how is this created for me or that created for it? Like they'll they'll ask this question because if you if everything is for me, then no thanks. I don't like bacteria or I don't want virus or I don't want this right. You know, they'll say, how's that for me? The response to that is actually you have to you have to take a step back and take a deeper look at what allows origin the same. The idea of benefit for a materialist when, when a person can only think in the material sense their idea of benefit can only be what material, there is no other benefit, in their

view because they become entirely materialistic Valley camomilla hoomin lol, well, I'm you read lol Hayato dunya Delica mahalo hoomin lol, the he didn't want anything but worldly life. That's the extent of their knowledge. That's as far as they can think. So when they think of anything in the world, they say, how does this physically benefit me? How does this in some, you know, in consumption in my wealth, in my status in my security, how is this material good for me, that's the only way they can think of benefit. And that's the tragedy of a human being who forgets that he's not just made of a body, but he's also made of a rule. And there's a benefit to the body. And

there's also a benefit to the rule what Allah created on this earth, so much of it is a benefit to our body. And so much of it is a benefit to our our rule. There are things on this earth that terrify us. There, alligators are terrifying. Snakes or Cobras are terrifying. These things when they have their fangs out, or like they'll, they'll petrify you just out of fear. You know? And these things are a reminder to a believer if a law can create this kind of fear on the earth. If I disobey Him, what kind of fear can he created the

what kind of punishment Can he make in the IRA? You understand? When there's some kind of thing you find disgusting in the world? You find snails, disgusting, cockroaches disgusting? If you think this ugliness or this insect or this creature that is surrounded by filth, and you hate it, you can't stand it, you're the smell of it. When you look at these ugly things, you're reminded in this world that allows images just like in this world, he gives you a snapshot, a little picture of Jana. He'll also give you a little picture of what Jana will also give you a picture of john. He'll tie physical realities to spiritual realities. He'll do that for you all, you know, over and over again. So even

things that don't physically benefit, you are still a reminder for you. In nephila Nikola Tesla kiloton ludvika, you know, is is a powerful reminder in this for you in that for you and that for you. And by the way, our reminder is always something of benefit for the kid in the crowd. A reminder is always a benefit. So the world and everything in it is actually a matter of benefit, whether it's directly of benefit, like the animal and the skin of the animal, and the flesh of the animal and the milk of the animal, and the ride of the animal, there's so much of the animal that is of benefit, or there are animals that we can eat or consume, or they're poisonous or dangerous, even

they have benefit if the benefit is in physical than the benefit is what spiritual and since the human being is both of these things, so Allah azzawajal created this earth to benefit both parts of our existence, the physical part of our existence, and the spiritual part of our existence. This brings me to another very important point, the unity and the consistency in how Allah does things. It's called the Sunnah of Allah. So not Allah will intentionally so Nadella hit Abdullah. It's the legacy of Allah, the way Allah does things, and you will not find any alteration or change in the way that Allah does things and there's no way it can be replaced. Now, part of what you in order to

explain this to you, I won't be abstract, I'll try to be as practical as I can be. Some people are very practical people

are very practical. Don't tell me about the meaning of this word, or how beautiful this ayah is, or how the words connect with each other. Just tell me what's valid, and what's wrong, man, that's it. That's all I care about. Just get to the point. Just give me that. Because I just need to Islam is about action. And we should take action. And that's the end of it. Okay, I just give me a list of what's wrong and what's wrong. And I'm good to go. We have to be practical as Muslims, there are some people that are very practical in life. And there are some very people that are very artistic in life.

And some of your children are very like and by the way, some of these more practical people, they end up in the hard sciences. Right and some of the more artistic people they might end up studying philosophy, art, literature, they might become poets and the practical kinds of poetry. What do you do with that? What do you do with poetry? You know, give me like the manual for a car or something. I'd rather read that and poetry you know, what happens is you have some people that are only concerned in the language sense you can say some people are only concerned with substance

and some people are concerned very much with style. Right. Some people are of substance and

Some people are of style. The thing about Allah xojo this world that he created he didn't make a world of because he said he made it for us. Haleakala marfil of the Jamia this world, is it only about practicality? Or did he make things stylistic and beautiful? And, you know, artistic did he do that on this in this earth? Yeah, actually, human beings are very functional creatures, right? We're very practical creatures. But he also says, So working for us. And so he molded you, he crafted you, and how beautifully he crafted you. There's a beauty in which the way the human being was created. There's a beauty that Allah azza wa jal created in the things around us. And he points out that

beauty and all of our senses, whether it's sight, or sound, or smell, or touch, every one of them has beauty in them. So there are things you enjoy touching. there's a there's a, there's a there's a surface or the texture, the touch of it gives you pleasure, the sight of something gives you pleasure, and you appreciate its beauty, the smell of something gives you pleasure. Food didn't have to smell good as I brought up before, but it's actually something that Allah added to the beauty of food. He made it smell beautiful, he made it look, food can be the most delicious thing in the world. But if it looks like dead insects, you're not going to eat it. It has to look good to

presentation as part of it, isn't it? And that's the Sunnah of Allah in what he made around us. He didn't just make things only practical. And he didn't just make things only beautiful. He actually has a combination of both, because both of them are necessary. Both of these things in the life of it because we're not robots. If we were robots, and we had no personality, then practical is enough. But Allah azza wa jal added a dimension of beauty in life. And by the way, since that is the center of love for all of these I add all of the all of what he created, he exhibited the same exact so now in the Quran.

The Quran is not only practical, the Koran just how you do this, don't do this, if you wanted a list of halal and haram, and who don't like who to worship and what not to worship and what to believe. I can fit that on one page.

Honest to God, you can believe in one God.

Angels, afterlife, which is made up of Day of Judgment, Heaven, Hell, heavens really good, Hell's really bad.

Here's what you can eat. Here's what you can drink.

Done.

This is what you got to do this. Is your obligations finished?

What does Allah do? He brings up things in his book that make you feel grateful. He brings up things about your past, he makes you think about the favors that he's given you. You know, he makes you ponder upon the words that he chose, he repeats himself and every time he repeats himself, it hits the heart differently. Some parts of the Quran are extremely practical, you know, you see qumola who feola decumanus akademiska saying, Allah is giving you counsel about your children, the distribution of boys and girls, when the will is being distributed. When the inheritance is very practical legal IOD then there are I art in which there's like, all there is is beauty Subhanallah all there is is

profound beauty, there's no stick Raja, how come you can't pull out of like a ruling from it all you can get us of hard Allah, that's all you can get out of those ions. So the Quran itself is actually a perfect combination of the of style and substance. It's both of these things. And both of these things are beneficial for the human being one of them is not more beneficial than the other. One of them is not more useful than the other one is incomplete without the other. And so our study of the Quran is both of those things. It's always going to be it's going to be a study of practically What does Allah want us to do? But also there's also going to be a study of the appreciation of the

beauty of the word of Allah, the perfection of the word of Allah, both of those things have to go hand in hand because that at the end of the day, is the son of a lion all things including his word. Is that clear to everybody? So that's it. That's a very important consideration when we say Haleakala chromaffin or the Jamia you know he created for your benefit for you whatever it has been you know, whatever has been placed on the earth altogether and go to be Rahim Allah even actually come says, For your sake interpreting this is for your sake especially another place in the Quran. Allah says sakurako maphis Amato marfil odd me I mean who he subdued for you. He Sakura is actually

used for domesticating animals like a wild horse. You when you calm it down and it's kind of now it's it's lost its pride and it's subjugated before its master. Yeah, so heartfelt for us. You've subjugated the horse, and now it's domesticated. Now it's under your control. It listens to you now when you whistle or something or do whatever they do, you know, that's that's the state of Allah says he did the seed of the skies and the earth for you. Matthew sloty Well, marfil me I'm in home

and you're wondering like the exhaustive universe, how

infinitely vast the universe is all of it has been subdued for us How? How has it been subdued? Because our idea of subdued is? Well, it's under our control then. Because when an animal is subdued, it's under our control. Now a lot of things in the world are they under our control? Yeah, we are able to manipulate and control resources on this earth like nobody else, were able to create things out of the out of the materials, the raw materials of this earth life, nobody else no other creature has been able to do with these raw materials, what human beings were capable of doing. And that the example of that is everything down to the building we're sitting in, the clothes weren't

wearing the technology were using to broadcast this, this is all made of the raw materials made available on this earth. And in that sense, Allah did subdue this entire earth for us. He did. But the skies is another story. How did he subdue the sky, some are of the opinion that eventually Allah will give us, you know, ways of space travel because of these ions is like, okay, we don't have it yet. But we'll get there. And we're gonna have intergalactic travel and Star Wars got nothing on us. And we're gonna, you know, warp speed and all of it, you know, but I think there's a more practical explanation here. And that is that, you know,

the, we must study the vastness of the universe. And you will know, when you talk to scientists that study the vastness of the universe, then you'll find a common theme among them. And the common theme is the universe is full of all kinds of chaos. There are all kinds of explosions of the magnitude that we can't even imagine, happening all the time, entire star systems get destroyed, planets get warped, you know, black holes in the universe. I mean, if you if you can imagine the impact of an explosion of a bomb, and the effect that would have on an end, that's nothing compared to the kinds of explosions and the kinds of impacts and the kinds of, you know, activity that's happening in the

universe. And they describe it basically as chaos. What's happening in the in the universe is what is chaos, and any one of those gigantic meteors,

if at any point, because they're moving all over the place. So they're like, you know, this earth is pretty awesome, but I'm really nervous as a scientist because, I mean, we got lucky this far. But it could be that at any moment, one of those giant meteors or one of those giant, you know, hurling objects in space comes in does what hits this planet, and we're done. It's finished. So it could be in a matter of a second that all life on this earth is gone. Allah azzawajal for those who observe and study the vastness of the universe, and see the kind of destruction that is possible within the universe, humbles the human being by reminding them he subdued that wild creature of the skies, and

he kept it at bay and nothing strikes you

nothing strikes you like you know like the they have movies made of like a meteor coming towards the earth and the earth is going to get destroyed and we have to now get a spaceship and get on the meteor and blow it up before it hits the earth. stupid stuff.

When a lead this is where you wouldn't get no no rocket to get on no Meteor that ain't happening. It's gonna be done with but Allah azza wa jal has subdued and kept them at bay. It's almost like saying, you know, you are in the proximity of a wild animal. And Allah has gone out of his way to calm down the wild animal. Like a lot calm down the fire forever, Rahim Ali Salam Cooney burden, wa salam and be cool, be it be a source of peace? On Ibraheem alehissalaam that's the impact and that, in that sense, also the earth, like the earth is capable of volcanic eruptions. The earth is capable of earthquakes, the Earth is capable of cracking open, the Earth is capable of, you know, tectonic

shifts, and entire tsunamis can hit and drown us even if we're hundreds of miles away from sea, there are waves possible that can actually wipe all of us out and in no time. Okay, and that this stuff people who study geology say yeah, that could actually happen at any time.

So even the earth is capable of just letting loose, going crazy. But Allah did what to the earth subdued it, He humbled the earth, He kept it calm. And you know, this is actually something that at the end of the the cycle of the world, when the world does come to an end, when Allah azza wa jal decides that this world is no longer of you know, meant to serve this purpose of the Day of Judgment is going to begin, then one of the expressions for the earth is what a project in

the earth will bring out its heavy burdens, like it's been holding its breath, it's been wanting to explode. And it's just like

and finally unless has go ahead, and it just goes crazy. The ocean start boiling over, it will be how to sue JIRA, for JIRA. Oh my god. The oceans just start exploding and boiling over the earth starts getting stretched either out of the mud that what I look at my feet, our water halat it gets starts getting stretched and whatever's inside it gets started getting thrown. It starts the

Going out whatever its head and tackle that is actually used when a mother gives birth and goes

when the baby comes out and she feels that relief, Allah describes the earth is going to be like I'm holding so much inside me that I just want to spit out. And it's going to give it out. And finally the earth is going to go off the image of Alcott mafia wahala is like a sheet, like a crumpled up sheet on a bed with stuff on it, and you yank it, and you just everything just pops up, you know, that's the image of what's going to happen with yours. But until then, Sahaja, Lacan, he subdued it for you. Hanako lako marfil are the German another interpretation of marfil are the German has actually been the Jimmy and goes back to any unknown German, meaning he created whatever is on this

earth for all of you all together for humanity to share at large for and by the way, the calendar conversation here began with the EU and us people. So all people were supposed to share the resources on the earth. This was supposed to be a place where you had to learn to coexist. This was not a place where all human beings By the way, you will learn later on inshallah, when you get to pseudo sexual trauma, and other places we were learning, we're gonna learn that actually, for the majority of the world's existence unless plan was not to make everybody Muslim. We're supposed to carry out to that, well, yes, we're supposed to be able to preach the message of Islam, but the

history of humanity and even the future of humanity until a very late time, almost right before the day of judgment. Right at the end, you find the entire Earth is believer, but for the vast majority of the career, the story of humanity, humanity was supposed to have been diverse. It was supposed to be a mix of Christians and Jews and Buddhists and others and you know, seekers and Muslims, there was supposed to be there, and Allah open the blessings of this earth, for who? For all of them, for all of them. And this is actually part of the plan of Allah, that he Yeah, you Hanna's? That's where the conversation began. He's the one who created the world for you, all of it all together, because

the blessings of the earth were the way by which human beings could find their way back to Allah. Then he says to muster in a center for someone who knows of XML, what are roughly translate in one of the possible translations. There are several possible but I'm only inclined towards one because I don't want to get too philosophical in this discussion. He says that he turned his attention towards the sky and and balance them out into seven skies. He turned an ASMR could also mean he turned his attention upward, is some upside that comes from the word Sumo, which means upwards, so he turned his attention upwards and molded or fashion or even balanced it into them into seven skies, seven

layers of skies. Now what in the world does that mean? To be Rahim? Allah says, For example, about Alice diva that the word I explained as turning attention toward something has several meanings, the first of them, and it still feels a little different.

For instance, the waiter and woman aka Alan fullt. Lita stone, Allah Voodoo cron uses the word is the word shall rise over something to climb onto something. Like when new holiday solemnise people were going to climb on the ship, Allah azza wa jal says, for instance, the waiter on top of America,

when you and those who are with you rise up and settle on the ship, okay? The same way when you're writing on an animal and you sit on an animal, the test Oh Allah hoodie, so that you can find, you know, right climb up and sit on its backs. Allah azza wa jal uses the same word for the idea of the Ouch, which is above the seven heavens, Allah says, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. Right, he rose up, that's one possible transition, he rose up on the throne. But then the problem becomes, what does that mean? human beings aren't held, they can't help themselves, but started imagining the throne, and the king rising up on the throne. And this becomes inappropriate for a lot as well. So

Mr. Malik statement became kind of a standard in this oma and I'll repeat that for our all of our benefit, and estivo Halo module,

rising the idea of sdwa whether it means turning attention or rising, it is not unknown. It's very well known that Allah did the activity while on the outs. There is no it's not a mystery that that happened. Okay. Well, Clay for high school and how it happened cannot be understood. That is a matter with a law that just can't be understood. Well, Mr. noobie he was

and believing that it happened is absolutely mandatory. It is a necessary part of our faith was Alan hooba. And asking about it how exactly that it happened. Could you explain to me what does it mean? You know, does that mean there's a throne does have decoration what you know, when you start getting into like really wanting to find out these details, and he says asking about it is an a heinous innovation, meaning a new thing invented in the religion that will destroy the religion so Malik's idea of without, for example, in this in this statement is that of people focus

on things that they shouldn't be focusing on Allah azza wa jal in the beginning of the surah put us in our place when he said Alif Lam Meem

there are some things that are only with Allah.

And you know what's most beautiful in this ayah I love this part. He says Tomas de la de la isla sama for so well no savasana What's new? Like, how I want to know how I want to know how I want to know how and unless has to you in the IRA? Well, who are the coalition alum?

He knows everything.

What is he telling you? You don't know anything.

You don't just know your place.

Just Just by the time you get to this part and say I want to know the details of how that works. Allah Himself puts the believers mind at rest. And says you need to be okay with the fact that you don't know everything only Allah does. Well who are equally sure in Ireland.

It's incredible that the IOD have so much guidance in them. They have an orientation in the Quran is not just about knowledge, it's a way to think it's a way to think. So the thinking of the human being is directed by the kurama of Allah. But some did say well I translated it as turned attention. Where did I get that from? Him? I will go to be Rahim Allah Allah says, Allah Allah, Allah Akbar, Allah in the face towards a turn towards it, kind of Fulani Macmillan Allah,

Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah Allah. And this is the position of Eman Vega and Vega. He also he interpreted his as Casa de la jolla, he turned his attention towards it, but you know, so now, but why even so, what are some benefits that we can derive without getting into the philosophical details of the unseen what are some things we can benefit from? In this ayah? Allah azza wa jal first mentioned the earth then he mentioned the skies even though in other places endocrine well, Alibaba Lika Raja Maha Maha Amara like he created the skies and after that he made the earth that's what he mentioned elsewhere. But here he says whether the Haleakala

marfil or the jabian foma is the law Illa sama so it seems like the order is reversed here. The word Thumma in Arabic doesn't just come for Tara. He doesn't just come for this happened there after this happened. So Mark can also be thought of you can say Lofoten, meaning Moreover, not only did he make everything in this world for your benefit, more over he turned his attention towards the sky. You can also translate it here as secondarily, he turned his attention towards the sky and molded them into seven skies. You know what that's teaching us? That's actually teaching us that allies in this ayah telling us what a priority he made for the world this world to be extra beautiful for the human

being for it to be a comfortable place for the human being any mountain cultivator him Hello, quote him again because he's had such profound things about desire. He says, Lita, oh whoa, Allah Tata, he, he made this earth beautiful, functional, practical, full of blessings for you. So you can gain the strength to be obedient to Him. So you can be appreciative of Allah and obey him more. So you can have all the energy you need all the resources you need to worship him better. Subhan Allah Akbar Allah Tati. So for someone who has SMRT balanced them into seven skies, what those seven skies means only Allah azza wa jal knows, by the way, the sister of this surah is another angle on the

next surah. And in the beginning of that surah, Allah will address this issue again, you'll notice that there are some things that we cannot know in their full scope. There's no way for us to know. And Allah will mention that here again, what automata shabbiha there are some things that are ambiguous. They sound like you can get it, but you really can't get it. Well, I'm old enough equilibriums 8150 no matter shaba how many people who have some kind of deviation in their hearts, they get after that stuff, they get obsessed with what they can't know. If they love fitness to start some new kind of scandal. Well, if the law really or to come up with some new interpretation,

so they can get take credit and say, by the way, I come up with a new interpretation for this. I got nobody else figured this out. I figured this out now and I know what the seven skies means, you know, and I'll tell you my own personal position. Allahu taala, Allah Misawa in my own study of the Quran, what I find the most convincing about the seven skies is that the most we will ever ever ever know physically is the first guy

like the most human beings will ever get to is the first guy what's what's that based on? There are seven skies, the lowest sky is called a summer adonia literally meaning the lowest sky. lowest of how many? Seven, right? Allah says, what are called Xena sama. adonia be masabi we beautified the lowest sky with lamps, what's he referring to as lamps? stars. So when you get the most powerful telescopes in existence, and you can look at hundreds of 1000s if not millions and billions of light years into space, and as far as you can see, what do you see?

Stars, which means this decorate the decoration of all we see is still stars. So long as you're seeing stars, you're still in what sky? The lowest one, the lowest one. And then there's 2345 there's other floors to go. So how on Allah? So this is just, you know, our NASA motto cliche in the last comment on this inshallah Tada. And I'll actually make it short today, because maybe I do want to go further. Yeah, we have time. And you guys just got relief. But no, if

I'm going to go further, I will tell you something about * on the side. Before I could talk about check, actually, something I meant to tell you.

The journey of the human being began allows me to talk about it and used to be dead and he brought you life and then he talked about the world being created for us, it seems like a less talking about the beginnings, right? The soul is beginning with the beginnings and it's very appropriate that the Quran the entire Quran. Its its first major chapter is Bukhara. And the first part of the Quran was about our relationship with revelation itself that he can keep tabula rasa Buffy those who believe in it, those who are hypocritical about it, you know, all of that. Those who you know, produce something like it if you don't believe in it, people who criticize it and talk about its examples

that was done with now let's start talking about the beginnings of not just the human being but the beginnings of all creation. And this is appropriately very appropriate at the beginning of the Quran itself, right the story of humanity starting with the story, the story mentioned in Bukhara, and the narrative in Bukhara by the time you get to the end of the Quran, the last several songs of the Quran, I think everybody here knows that the overwhelming subject matter is the afterlife. So it says those in the sequence of the Quran, you have the beginning of the journey of the human being all the way to the end of that journey. SubhanAllah like it's this beautiful timeline illustrated

even in the order of the Quran. But what I wanted to share with you is that, about that that longing for Allah one thing I skipped and it's really valuable, I find it really valuable. Allah azza wa jal says, and I remember I told you one of the last things I told you yesterday was human beings, everything they pursue the pursuit of beauty in the pursuit of perfection, they find themselves unsatisfied, and keep wanting more and more and more, where does it ever end? Quran itself tells us well, you know, because monta

and that only towards your master when you head towards your your hub, will you find the final stop? Like you won't want anymore? You won't want anymore. You know, Allah azza wa jal describes, in Jenna, people being given by Allah. And they keep saying has been, has been my master Enough, enough, enough. I haven't, I don't want any more. I don't want anymore. They're completely satisfied. In this world. Even if you say I don't want anymore. You do

what you like, you know, when you're at somebody's house, and they're like, the archive, archive, they never need anything. Like, you know, like, hurry up, put more than one big piece actually. And then put the piece with all the bones and not the meat in your legs. And then one more, this is what you give me, you know, like,

but in when we come in the company of Allah, there's no more to want. And my one of my favorite ions in the Quran, man is the most favorite iron of iron. Right after Allah says, Well, I'm not allowed to be called monta. He says, what I know who

he is the one who makes one laugh, and he's the one who makes one cry. Every laughter you've enjoyed every bit of joy you've enjoyed, actually was revealed from Allah. And every time you cried, it was given by Allah, and the ultimate experience. And by the way, laughter is an expression of something you enjoyed. And enjoyment is a fraction of what you had when you were in the company of Allah.

And you know that there are tears of sadness. But you know, the strongest of tears are not tears of sadness. There are tears of joy. When someone's so happy, they can even help crying like, men do that sometimes women do that a lot.

You know, why are you crying? I'm so

this is happy. This looks exactly like yesterday's sad. How am I supposed to tell the difference?

But there is such a thing as being so overwhelmed with joy, that your laughter starts coming With what? With tears? You know, this is so beautifully placed because when finally we are in the company of Allah in Arabic and monta, can you imagine meeting with a lot again, what emotions will a human being go through? when they're in the company of a lot again, it's going to be laughter and it's going to be tears and he's gonna cause it because he were in his company, and who were

so amazing. And if you if you're looking forward to that, then it's okay then

The the death that is coming to all of us in this life is not a problem anymore. So the next IRA is what I know who I am. Ah, yeah, he's the one who's gonna give that and he's the one who's gonna give life. You know, the seven skies that Allah just talked about what is the function of them for us, we're going to travel the seven skies, the soul is going to go through the Prophet would tell us I saw him when we die, we're going to go through the seven skies, we're going to be meeting angels that every one of these stops and eventually come before Allah azza wa jal and be told that this is a good soul, may Allah make us of them, and they brought back into their grave, and they're just

enjoying relaxing, they're in LA, they're in relaxation until the last dogen calls them again. But now they've been in the company of Allah, you know, this, this is the this is the the journey that all of us have to look forward to. And so now a lot so it begins way at the beginning, when this whole story began, when all all human beings were created, but one of them was chosen to come to this earth first, because we were all with a law. By the way, other Elisa was the first human being Yes, only in the worldly sense. Only in the worldly sense. Why? Because in the spiritual sense all of us were created when, at the same time, this is why Allah azza wa jal says in no law has starpha

Adama.

No doubt Allah chose Adam.

You can only choose someone when there is a wide choice, there is others. If Adam alayhis salam is the only one then you don't say estafa and he put him next in the LA stuffer Adama 1011 li Rahim, Allah Emraan.

No doubt ally, in fact, chose or the Melissa new Ibrahim the family of Iran, you know, over over all the other nations of the world and all of them we know were chosen from among their nation. So who is Adam chosen among First of all, the one of them is polled. And that is the rule of ultimate Islam. And then he's going to put it into this body, the first body that's been created by Allah, the One crafted by Allah Himself, you see, a larger version, he even says, who will love you so we can fill our hammy kaliesha He's the one who molds you inside the bellies of your mothers, however he wants, all of us are actually allowed design, all of us are allows design. But the first design

is actually that of our family system. And when someone has beautiful eyes and eyes, forehead, good skin, texture, color, hair, all of the good features that a human being can have somebody has good height, you know, somebody has good, good, good, you know, bone structure, whatever it may be, the ultimate form of all of it was actually given to Adam alayhis salaam, and our mother who was Salaam, Alia and all the beauty that human beings have thereafter is actually a byproduct of the beauty that our parents enjoyed. That's how they're, they're the most beautiful human beings ever created. Those two, you know, and because Allah Himself directly molded him out of clay, that's the most direct

creation of allows origin. And that was made not that create all of the other creations there on the earth. They are creationism agenda, that molding is happening up in general. So it's unique. Now as far as origin finally decides this, and he says this and before I tell you what he says, I want to share with you what happens in the biblical account. In the Bible. In the Old and New Testament, there is no record of the conversation we're about to read in the Quran.

There's no such record of a lot of talking to the angels and saying, I've decided I'm going to put someone on the earth. Okay, I'm gonna put Luckily, there's no conversation. However, the Christian and Jewish tradition is not limited to the Old Testament and the New Testament, there's a lot of oral tradition. There are a lot of additional texts and writings, I told you before there were factions of the Jewish community that actually believed in the exhaustive oral tradition. And a lot of these oral traditions were passed down generation after generation. And they were very vastly in circulation about three centuries before the coming of the salon, and three centuries after. So

these 600 years is actually when a lot of these oral traditions were also starting to get documented. These are extra biblical texts. They're not from the Bible. They're in addition to the Bible. And it's actually in these texts that you find reference to judgment day Hellfire Heaven, jinn angels, and this story is not found in the Bible. But it's found in some of the Babylonian rabbinic accounts in the Talmudic accounts. There is something like the story. So I want to tell you the closest thing to this that people remembered, it's not accurate, but I still want to tell you what they remembered, or what they believe. They believe that God decided to create human beings and

create a human being but before he created him, he called a bunch of angels. And he said to them, I'm going to create a human being and put them on the earth and he's gonna, you know, he, you know, he's gonna have control over the sea and the fish and he's gonna eat from the fruit and he's gonna have all this dominion over the land. What do you think? And the angel said, terrible idea. No, no, no, I don't think we should do this. This is This is bad. And God destroyed all those angels. Then he called a whole bunch of new angels and said, What do you think I'm gonna create a human being this a terrible idea? It's really bad.

They're gonna kill each other, they're gonna make bombs, tanks, whatever. And, you know, it's bad. He kills all of them too. Then he calls a third group of angels. And he says, What do you think I'm gonna create a human being they said, seems like a good idea. Let's go for it. And that's when he created the human being. Okay. So that's roughly the and I, when I first heard this, I didn't believe it. I did. Come on. No, no, this, really. So it just so happened that yesterday is if tar was at, you know, at the Irving machine, and it was a civic lifestyle. So we had leaders from the Jewish community, Christian community, several churches that were there. And I spoke at the start,

and after the start, I'm sitting next to the rabbi. And I was like, hey, so the creation story. You guys have like God asked the angels, and then he killed all of them because they said bad idea. And then he brought a whole bunch of other angels and killed all of them too. And then another because yeah, we have that. Okay. verified story. Excellent. Now I can quote it in my lecture.

heard it from the horse's mouth, the kosher horse's mouth and the rabbi's mouth, but anyway, but thanks to the rabbi for confirming it, anyway, you know, so, but the idea is now what is the Quran do with this, this was the known kind of story within the Jewish community. And the Quran is retelling the story, but what does Allah do? Allah doesn't ask the angels What do you think?

Allah tells them?

You know, in Arabic, when you say, agile, you fill out the halifa. I'm gonna put, I'm not translating califia because it's loaded. I'm going to put a leaf on the earth.

That means you can say, well, you sure we could discuss this. But you say in Ninja Ilan, when you use the DSM five, when you use the definitive active participant, this is now a noun it said, I have made up my mind no doubt about it. I am putting a Khalifa on the earth a lot. So we that is not asking the angels their opinion. He's actually telling them he's telling them this, this decision has been made. This is done. I'm just I'm informing you not asking you. Okay? Now Ally's talking to the legions of angels. I did not specify that there's a small group of them. Some of them not believe that this was some angels. Others believe it was all the angels I would at the very least

you would have to argue these are the angels that are closest to Allah, which Allah describes in the Koran, how feanor how they are the ones that are surrounding and doing the walk around the arch. Yes. meluna al Shara Vika in Yama, Yama, Yama, samanya, the a toddler hovering and holding the edge of a lot together, you suddenly gonna be humbled to be him. They're the ones who are doing this we have a law that countless angels in the like, you know, infinite number that are closest to Allah are now hearing the announcement. I am putting a Khalifa on the earth in new Jilin filati halifa. The other thing to note here, that's very important, and I find this very convincing. Dr. Samurai

pointed this out, may Allah preserve him. He points out that the command that is coming you guys all know the story that command is that he's going to do such that right? That they're going to tell them to do such that but actually, the the commander prostrate for the angels is one. But it seems that Allah went out of his way to ask at least exclusively to do such that to

mama Naka and Tasha is Amar talk.

What prevented you from doing such that from prostrating when I specifically commanded you?

So there is a collective command to all of the angels but in certain era, we learn that Allah exclusively targeted who at least has certain. Now, Allah mentions that once he doesn't mention that every time and we know that it leaves you know, if you follow these slightly, narrations, these are again extra biblical texts, that they you know that he was given dominion, even Kingdom or leadership over the angels and he had this high position. So when Allah commanded them in includes him, the Quran is hinting that it can look commanded him directly also, that solves a problem because for a lot of people, you know, the ISS, Allah commanded the angels, and they all did such

that except to at least, and they're like, well, if Allah commanded the angels, then he must have been from the angels. But Quran itself solves that problem by saying Allah exclusively commanded him. I'll actually issued the order to him In addition, and that that resolves that problem, but anyway, is called honorable Khalid melodica. In nature, I don't feel the halifa I am putting a halifa in the next 10 or 12 minutes or so inshallah, I will just say some things about the word halifa that I think are

that is valuable. I'm going to put a halifa someone to be left behind on the earth. I don't know how far we can take the extra biblical texts and rely on them. They seem to be in line with what the Quran is suggesting this the only reason I'll bring them up because they don't seem to contradict the account of the Quran. They seem to be in line with the account of the Quran and a lot of those oral traditions in one way or the other.

are passed down how much they've been changed from the teachings of prophets. You after all the corruption it's still somehow or the other you can tell from the teachings of prophets right now, part of their their story, the Jewish story that didn't make its way into Talat, but extra texts is they had a group called benign Elohim. That's the Hebrew terminology, literally meaning it's blasphemous in our, in our terminology, children of God. Okay? That's, and I'm sure you've heard Christians and Jews use the phrase, we're all children of God. Right? Which actually, in a figurative sense means people that are close to God are dear to God doesn't literally mean children.

So there's a story about these creatures that were close to God that were placed on the earth, and they caused all kinds of chaos on the earth. And then that rebellion was put down. Okay, that's the that's the account that they have. And some of our Mufasa don't have actually taken that from the Iliad, which doesn't mean they took it from the Old Testament but also suggests that the Muslim scholars were in excess of these extra biblical texts as well. But anyway, so the this rebellion was put down, and you know, now Allah azza wa jal decides, once again to the angels By the way, I've decided I'm going to leave somebody behind on the earth. halifa. Khalifa comes from the Arabic word

health, which means to be behind, literally. So some have interpreted it to mean Yakubu Babu Baba, that I will leave someone who will have children who will have children who will have children or will have children, who will keep on leaving children behind, I will have I will put someone on the earth who has many generations to come after him. That's the idea behind the word halifa. Another suggestion behind the word halifa is actually someone left behind to do as he pleases. You know, like, for example, you have a manager that you trust at your company, you say, Hey, I'm going on vacation, I am leaving you behind. And when I leave you behind, what does that mean? You're gonna

have to make the decisions. I'm putting my phone on airplane mode. Right? Because you're gonna you're in charge. Now, you You're the one left behind. He's, in a sense, the Khalifa. And the idea is, I'm going to leave someone behind on the earth to make decisions. I'm going to give him freewill. And I'm going to let him do as he pleases. This is the idea of Khalifa. The other idea of Khalifa is someone left behind that represents like, in a sense, the manager represents who

the boss, right? A manager will only be left behind if the manager if the owner has trained him really well. And the the owner is confident that even in my absence, he will think what what of the boss, what would the boss have done,

I should do what the boss would have done. So he is going to represent the decision making patterns of his boss. So he's going to reflect the attributes of his boss, when he's left to make those decisions. He's not going to change the management style fire everybody under you know the company and change the name and change the logo and change the address and the guy comes back from vacation. And he's like, what is that what you love me in charge?

I thought you represented me, I thought I trained you Well, you know, the company is going in this trajectory, even in my absence, and should continue to go in this trajectory. This ties us back to the idea of, you know, of Khalifa from from before, when a lot we were in the last company, when we were a lot less company, I told you we took on, you know, droplets of the attributes of Allah, like mercy, like creativity, like the pursuit of wisdom, or less wise we want wisdom, like the pursuit of knowledge, these attributes were given to us. So when Allah says halifa, he's going to leave on the earth, someone who is going to take advantage of these droplets of the attributes of Allah that

exist inside of his room, and he's going to do right on the earth. This is all embedded inside the word, Khalifa. And that's why, you know, it's important to note that the rest of the world the rest of the existence, that Allah made all of it in submission to Allah. Right? The exception used to be seems to be the human beings and the jinn. What does Allah do over and over in the Quran? Subhan Allah or you Serbia hola him FSM what are what what are the whole book of Allah Allah?

You know, you you you meet Allah condition, Kali. Everything in the skies in the earth declares a loss perfection. It does exactly what Allah tells them to do.

Who Allah, Allah cocoon from income, Garfield, woman, calm, man, but he made you and some of you believe in some of you disbelieve, everything else follows the pattern. Everything else is in line. And you people some of you come and stay in line, some of you get out of line.

But you're gonna have to make that choice yourself. And that's the that's the decision he declares. In these last five minutes. What I want to share with you in Sharla is something about the principle of the Quran. Who is speaking so far? I am, I'm placing your Khalifa on the earth who's the one speaking? Allah Who is he speaking? If Colorado KalEl

What do we know about the melodica? First we know they're very close to Allah. Second, we know they're constantly doing this. We have a law declaring his perfect

user behavior behavioral behavior. Third, we know they are soon Allah Hama amerihome. We have aluna My motto, they don't disobey a lion, whatever he told them to do. And they do what they're told. They they immediately do they execute, what they're told will be angry he or your friend, they only by his command do they act. What I'm trying to get at is in the in the in the view of Islam in the view of the Quran, what Allah teaches us, angels are incapable of what disobedience, disrespect, shared Cofer denial, they're incapable of any kind of blasphemy altogether. Is that clear to everybody? Okay, a lot of talk to them and said, I've made a decision. The decision is I'm going to

put a human being on the earth. Now listen to this. Carlota geographia Manju sufia, who has Fukushima?

You're going to be placing on it someone who's going to cause corruption.

And he's going to spill count the endless blood, rivers of blood.

Excuse me, you're going to put someone on the earth, even though he's going to this problem and this problem? What seems What does it seem like the angels are doing?

We're questioning a lot. They're saying you're putting someone on the earth? Oh, we think it's a pretty bad idea. And here's why. The reason is, he's going to cause a lot of corruption. And he's going to spill a lot of blood. Now, before we deal with that problem. Up until now, like, since Adam alayhis salaam until 2016. It seems like we've proven to the angels that they were wrong.

But that's a separate find.

Because corruption us Come on spill blood. No, not us, you know.

So they seem do they seem to have now that we know, do they seem to have a valid criticism?

They do. But the bigger point is the fact that they even have a criticism? Who are they to have a criticism against the command or decision already made by who? By Allah?

Let's take a step back. You're studying Islam. You're studying Dean, you're studying with a scholar, you're studying with a teacher.

And you read something you don't understand

that this doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't understand how this can be.

There's anyone giving a lecture, guy comes up after the lecture and says, oh, by the way, you said this does this? How does that even make any sense?

And the mom says to him,

coffee,

you question the word of Allah?

Who are you? What are your qualifications? Where did you get your degree? I have any Java and this, this, this? And this, you're gonna question me?

kick them out of the machine. Don't let them come back. This is at least, you know. In other words, when you say something about the command of a law or the decision of a law, or the revelation of a line, somebody comes along and says this is not making sense to me. I don't understand how this can work. This seems to be a contradiction. How is this a good idea? Then our immediate response is why

coffee? How can they This is blasphemous. You can't ask that question. Let's talk a little louder. Leave tomato tomahto tomato Tauba like, you know, however, you can do it.

And sometimes it sounds like it. Some artists do it's so cool, right? They like they look like they were trained by the you know, the airport, you know, when they direct the planes.

You know,

get the plane to the gate but anyway.

What we're learning in the Quran is angels who never disobey Allah never disobeyed Allah,

and are only in obedience to Allah and never question His perfection.

asked him a pretty direct question when they didn't get it.

Does that take away from the fact that they're obedient? No, we didn't make them shouting.

By the way, in the same story later on, somebody else will ask a question.

As you do livan Hanako. Tina, I am going to do such de to someone you made from clay, who asked that question.

So angels asked a question. A police also asked a question, but at least asked the question and becomes a police shavon. Angels ask a question. And I actually I'd like to argue that the question of Iblees is a lot less offensive to human beings.

At least his problem was he's made of dirt. That's it. He's the people human beings are made of dirt. That's his problem. Angels. Their problem is, he's corrupt. He's a killer.

Isn't that a lot more offensive than you're made of dirt?

And at least didn't say something elaborate about himself. Like I am so much more qualified. And he didn't say hi to me. No, but he says You made me from fire. Angels actually

You don't think about this carefully. Angels turn to the to Allah azza wa jal and say, This guy is corrupt. He's a killer. We do this we have you will not notice or be happy Hanukkah. And we're the ones who declare you to be pure

sounds. This doesn't sound very humble.

That sounds like Why are you giving him the job? Give us the job.

And yet they're not unless I'm angry with them. Allah doesn't punish them. And we already know they don't disobey Allah. They're not you know, they don't they don't contradict Allah. They have no ounce of, you know of pride in them. Then how do we understand this text?

I feel like teasing you and not telling you any of it until tomorrow. But I will tell you a little bit of it. I'll give you a hint. So you can think overnight, I want you to think on the pillow so you can think this is not just so I can tell you all the answers digital like wrack your minds what is going on here in this story. Allah azza wa jal is teaching us that it's not just a question. It's how you ask the question.

It's not just about what you ask, it's also about how you ask. It's about how you ask. There's, there's curiosity. Curiosity, in and of itself is not forbidden. Not understanding even the command of Allah not understanding it not being convinced yet is not forbidden.

But if you come and ask and you question it with pride, arrogance, criticism, you come across as talking down about it, then you've got the you've got the police problem. But when you come and ask the same question you don't understand, but you make sure you say that to Allah. Allah, I'm asking this question, but I know in no way mean any offense. In no way do I mean that this is imperfect? All I mean, is I don't understand. That's all I mean, then you have every right to ask a question. Our religion is actually a religion of questions. First Allah, Allah decree, in quantum law and the moon as the people of remembrance, if you people don't know yourselves, I would argue, in the

Islamic education model and in the in all education systems, this needs to be a principle, you have the right to ask questions. And when people in positions of authority professors, scholars, whoever, when they get offended by a question, they are actually departing from the Sunnah of Allah. If Allah can give angels the permission to ask a question, who's left? How can you and I say How dare you ask? You can't you have to then acknowledge the what you can criticize, however, his attitude.

attitude is wrong. If somebody comes with an arrogant attitude, you must put them in their place. And that's the son of a lottery. That's what he did with who it leaves. But if somebody comes with curiosity,

genuine curious, they just want to understand that there's no way you should be getting angry at them. You should be addressing their curiosity through a law here. I call to Allah with eyes opened with insight. What a beautiful religion from the very beginning of the story. We are asked to become inquisitive people. That is the legacy of this Deen Subhana Allah and we haven't even gotten into the story yet. May Allah azza wa jal give us a better understanding of this Deen and make us people of following this faith with open eyes barakallahu li walakum wa salaamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.