The speakers discuss the importance of "by the way" in English to describe events and people, and the importance of standing up for oneself and finding the strength of the community. They stress the importance of learning purposeful and understanding the importance of certain topics in learning business, and emphasize the need for students to not overwhelm themselves in learning and not overly emphasizing one topic. The importance of learning the Arabic language and finding success in Islam is emphasized, along with the need for community support to build a culture of peace and confidence.
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hamdu Lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam O Allah Ashraf al anbiya evil mousseline early he
was sacrificial Minister nbus una de la Medina, Allahu Medina man whom Amina Latina, Amanullah,
middle Swati heart, whatever. So we'll talk what are sub sub mineable. And I mean some
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sort of graph is just absolutely baffled me, especially the first story, the story of the youth of
the cave has absolutely mesmerized me on so many accounts. And I'm going to share just a couple of
those things with you. And the first of them just has to do with one word if I only said one word,
and try to explain this one little word to you guys. I think my mission for the evening is
accomplished everything else is icing on the cake. And that's actually the first ayah that describes
these young men. Allah azzawajal began the word with the IRA with an heceta and metals herbal cafe
or rakeem. Can woman Aya Tina, Jabba? Did you think I'm translating poorly on purpose? Did you think
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or did you imagine that the people of the cave and the inscription had been from some of our
stranger signs? Now the word that I'm interested in is the word m. which is what it begins with an
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unlimited blob. adaptively drawn
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out of this in Arabic, it's a means of offering an alternative. In other words, in Simple English,
it means the word or or or so the ayah begins, or did you think that the people of the cave were so
awesome? Now when you see it like that, it sounds like, you know, or did you think that game was
awesome? Let me tell you what's really awesome. It's like you're saying they're not that awesome.
When you add the word um, it creates a literary problem. And a lot of scholars of the past dealt
with that problem. And I want to share something with you about then that one particular problem.
This is not the first this is not the beginning of Sultan cough. This is actually the second part of
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Sultan cough. The first part of social graph the first nine I asked before you get to this ayah are
I asked about the Quran, especially I from the very beginning Alhamdulillah Allah De Anza Allah
Allah, Al Kitab Ah, well, me agenda, those IR that are about the Quran and particularly a quality of
the Quran that it will never experience deviation. That is actually the first subject. And so what
I'm going to try to get to is that in this sutra, a lot compares two things. A lot compares the
Koran and the people of the cave. There's actually a comparison between the Quran and the people of
the cave. And when you first hear that, it might sound strange, but inshallah as I try to explain
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it, my job is to try to make that easier to understand and appreciate the power of what's being
said. Let's begin with the quality of the Quran though. He says while I'm here to Allah, wherever he
didn't provided any he didn't furnish it with even the possibility of being deviated and recharge in
Arabic deviation crookedness. Allah revealed this surah and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
would describe in multiple narrations that we should recite the surah when you can call it out when
everyone good every Friday. Why? What's the point of this surah being recited every Friday, it will
protect believers from the greatest trial that has ever hit humanity. Fitness lmsc had the greatest
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trial that has ever hit humanity. This sutra will the trial of the Antichrist, the Great Deceiver,
when he comes in the worst of difficult times, hit the believing oma, at that time, this surah will
protect you. Hold on to this surah and it will protect you. And this sutra begins with the
description of the Quran that had never been Yes. So now I want to explain this connection to you.
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Oh, thank you. That's so nice of you. Okay,
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so I'd like to explain this connection to you.
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We live in a time where morality what is right and wrong, what is acceptable or not acceptable? What
is politically correct or incorrect changes every year? Forget changing every century it changes
every year. And things that were completely unacceptable in American society 30 years ago, 40 years
ago, not only are they accepted now, they are celebrated now. The standards change. I just met a
number of college students in my walk across the bazaar trying to survive the selfie situation. Who
told me that when they're at college, among other Muslim students, the Muslim students are the ones
that are asking What's so wrong about homosexuality? Or what's so bad about drinking alcohol and
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marijuana is not that Haram is it or whatever. These are not questions that were being asked.
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10 years ago, or 15 years ago, but they certainly are questions being asked today. And that is
something that a lot of young people here experience in their college life, even in their high
school life. And some of the young people sitting in the audience even have those questions
themselves. And of course, we are put in a situation where we have to answer these questions in a
way that will be acceptable to the world outside of the Muslim community. Because we want to be able
to say that we are also civilized, we are up to date with the times we also have, you know,
progressive values, etc, etc, etc.
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The point of it is, when society goes this way, we want to bend along with society, we want to turn
to when they sway we want to sway when the tide turns and the winds blow the other way, we want to
blow the other way to whatever is actually in and whatever is popular at the time on whatever is
being described as the right cause, whether Islam agrees with it or not, you and I feel the pressure
to respond to it and feel like we should kind of go along go with the flow kind of thing. Because we
don't want to stick out and we don't want to look weird. What does the Quran say about itself? It
never what
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never deviates. I want you to imagine a tree with deep roots, thick bark, and it's standing and
there's a flood, and everything else is getting washed away. And the one thing that standing in its
place, and it doesn't budge is what it's that tree. And if you don't want to get washed away with
the flood, the only thing you better hold on to is what that tree it's gonna, you're gonna feel the
pressure, no doubt about it. When there's a flood coming, you're gonna feel the water, you're it's
gonna want to take you away, but the only way you'll survive that storm, aka the stem cell cabinet,
or what was called anfisa. mala, he's held on to an anchor that is of the strongest nature that has
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no cracks in it, you're holding on to this tree. Allah describes the Quran with no deviation,
because the time is coming, where morality will shift one way or the other, right and wrong is gonna
get redefined, and redefined and redefined again. And you and I are gonna have to stick to the same
definitions of right and wrong, that Allah revealed in his book, and it's not going to be easy. And
the people who are not holding on tight to the book of Allah are just gonna get washed away. They're
just gonna get washed away. And so this book that is going to protect us in the toughest of times.
It's not just that you recite these ions and move along, you have to understand what a lie is
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teaching you about times of trial times of shifting morality. Now understand, compare this situation
what, what what strength did Allah give me to be able to withstand these times? Where am I supposed
to find the courage to stand up to the social pressure to the stigma of being Muslim, to hold on to
my religion and still stand with confidence? Where am I supposed to find that shrink? The answer is
the little graph is in times of fit. Now hold on to this book. Hold on tight to this book, because
it will give you confidence it will give you strength and while everyone else is deviating, you can
stand straight call even Leon Robertson shalida Miller Donahoe, that is the relationship you and I
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have to have with this book. Now.
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You've heard that now enough times about the story of these young people. Unless as I have given you
the strongest standing miracle that is timeless, that is as strong today, as it was when it was
revealed total pseudo loss, Allahu alayhi wa sallam, it stands tall today in the United States of
America, just like it did in the land of Hejaz. 1400 years ago, it is no weaker today than it was
then. And he has given us this timeless, permanent miracle to hold on to or do you think that the
people of the cave or something special Do you think a lot putting them to sleep and allowing them
miraculously to survive their their ordeal and then finally waking up, you think that's a miracle
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compared to the Quran that is nothing compared to the Quran. That amazing miracle that you read
about is nothing I have given you so much more. Because you this Alma, this Omar Mohamed Salah
Allahu alayhi wa sallam, we are supposed to stand trial, we have to stand against the greatest fitna
that will ever hit humanity. Allah gave us the strongest backing, the strongest support that
humanity has ever been given. And that's the book of Allah. That's the context in which the story of
the people of the cave appears. In other words, those young people could survive this impossible
situation. Without a book. They didn't have a book. They didn't have a prophet with them. They
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didn't have a scholar with them. They you could consider them new converts basically reverse they
just became Muslim. They don't even know much. All they know is we're not so
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post to worship anything but one God. That's all they know. They don't know anything else. And yet
they Allah gave them the strength and miraculously supported them to stand the most impossible
situation. What do you have to complain about when Allah has handed this Quran to you? Why do you
feel depressed? Why do you what what reason do you have to complain that a lie is not there for you,
if you say a lie is not there for you, maybe you didn't look at the shelf in your home collecting
dust that has the must have sitting there testifying against you. This is the book we must go back
to. And so now let's turn to the people of the book. And in my limited time, I have to be selective
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in what lessons I'd like to highlight especially for the younger audience here. But actually the the
lessons in the pseudo are timeless, they really are timeless. The first thing I want to share with
you is that these were out Allah went out of his way. He went out of his way to say in the home
theater, they are no doubt young people. They are young people. Amanullah be him that believed in
their master. Allah highlights their youth. This is important because young people today when we
talk about youth, we talk about the problem segment of our society. The youth are doing drugs. The
youth are into filth on the internet, the youth are into popular culture, the youth are easily you
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know, easily swayed, the youth are losing their faith. The youth are confused. The youth talk to
each other too much they use the boys are liking the girls too much. The youth have a situation in
the bizarre. I don't like the youth session at the convention. It's too crazy.
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You hear the word youth, you almost make it synonymous with problem. That's just human problem, you
know?
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And yeah, it seems like they are the weakest link in our community. Everybody else is okay with
their Islam brother, but we really worry about the youth.
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Let me tell you something. In this time of trial, the only people standing up for the truth, the
only people with the spine and the courage to not care what anybody else thought and they're gonna
stand tall By Allah, we're the youth. There were the youth. They are not our weakness. Young people
are not our weakness. Young people are our strength. They are our strengths and they will find their
strength in the Word of Allah. When a young generation goes back to the book of Allah, the world
changes the map of the world changes. Let me tell you something, there are law scholars that have
spent their entire life reading books. They have spent their lives worshiping Allah, they have spent
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their lives studying Hadith Sharia fick, also lucky data see, they have lived a life of learning and
teaching and their their hairs have turned gray to white, and their skins are wrinkled, and they can
barely stand straight. And these are some of the most noble, dignified symbols of human in our
community, the elders, and especially the older scholars of this oma that are a treasure to this
oma. And yet, the scholars of this oma for 14 centuries, are learning about a bunch of young guys
who knew nothing except there's one God, to those great scholars. They had these scholars wrote
books and articles and papers and reflections on the lives of these not knowledgeable, not
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scholarly, no ijazah in any degree, the young men. That's what happened here. This is the power of
the man. We don't glorify credentials. We don't glorify what the appearance, what we glorify what
Allah glorifies is the faith you can stand by, if you can stand up to pressure, then these young
people can become heroes to scholars, not the other way around. So hon Allah, that is what Allah did
for those young people.
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No,
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of the lessons that I wanted to highlight
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It's so beautiful the way the story is told guys, it's so beautiful. And one of the areas of you
know, concentration for myself, is an exploration of a lot of speech in order. How does Allah tell
the story? How does Allah narrate the events and the way Allah did that facilitate governess how
bill cough is absolutely remarkable. This is something that I'll give you. Now, this is again going
to be an oral exercise. Those of you who suffered the afternoon session you shall suffer again.
Repeat after me. There are going to be four ions of introduction how many ions for introductory
ions, the first of them is well 52 this is what you have to remember. The first of them is the youth
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turned for refuge to the cave they had to what? The cave that's the first I went 15 to 11 Cafe for
call robina atina malankara Allah wa halen I'm in a marina Rashida, the second is the IR right after
that, Allah says robina Allah Danny him the second
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If Allah made them go to sleep. The first IO was white, they headed to the cave. The second was they
went to sleep but Amina, I don't have any him. The third eye is some of us not only not Anima is
vain, actually Malibu Amada, then we brought them back to life. So they could they could ask each
other how long they stayed. The first one was they went to the cave. The second one was, they went
to sleep and the third one was they woke up again. Allah woke them up again. And the fourth one and
probably the most important one is National knuckles. So on a cannibal, a humble Huck, we are
telling you their story for actual purpose. It's not a story for your entertainment it is story with
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real purpose. There are four introductory comments in the sutra these four basically summarize the
entire story. I mean, what happens in the story, they go to the cave that was one they go to sleep
that was to a lot woke them up, that was three. And then the story has a real purpose that's for
it's done. Finished. The rest of the I art of this story. actually go back just like you guys have,
you know, in the beginning of a modern chapter in a book, you have bullet points this chapter covers
item 1234. Yeah. What Allah is going to do in this surah is he's actually going to take a number of
ions and elaborate How did they end up running to the cave? So the next few iaat elaborate point
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number one, the next few are going to be what happened? How did Allah put them to sleep? When who
kalibo whom that and Yemeni was at Ashima matassa Mohamed Carvalho homebrew code, they were sleeping
you they were you would think they were awake, but they're asleep. Allah will explain what that
sleep looks like. In other words, Allah himself and explain point number what to then Allah
describes how they woke up. And when they woke up What happened? LEAH TESSA lubaina home, they
started asking each other questions. I'll give you some lessons from that, because I think is one of
the coolest parts of the story. So they wake up. What canonica is now home. Leah TESSA lubaina home
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so they could start asking each other. So they wake up now seven guys in a cave, not the most
comfortable sleep or they didn't think it would be. But it seems like they got some pretty deep
sleep. They have no idea that centuries have gone by. They have no clue. They wake up and they start
asking each other call a car alarm in Hong Kong system, one that speaks more among themselves. How
long were you? How long were you sleeping? How long did you stay? It's really cool that a lot did
that because allies illustrating that one of them is more talkative than the others. Why don't you
know you have a bunch of guys that hang out and everything's going peacefully. But this one guy, he
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doesn't like conversations to remain peaceful. He introduces a subject that he knows is gonna stir
up an argument. And then he's gonna sit back and watch everybody eat each other alive.
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Right? So he's just gonna just throw it out and a bunch of guys are sitting there at you know,
having some food or whatever, and he's gonna throw in. Yeah, the Warriors totally losing.
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And then he's gonna just step back, because he knows emotions. And then everybody and he's not part
of this conversation. He just wanted to watch the circus.
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So one among them says he doesn't say How long were we sleeping? He says How long were you guys
sleeping? So good. come live with them. Then one of them says call hula with Nyoman. Oh, Baba. And
we must have slept the whole day. No, no, no part of it. No, not a whole day come on. Maybe like an
afternoon or something. But my own. And then this got so out of hand that one of them says guys. Who
cares?
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Oh boo Kuma movie my love based on your master knows how know he knows better? How long you stay?
Can we leave it alone? Please? Can you just leave it alone? I don't want to know how long we slept.
The fact is, I'm hungry.
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Guys, can we not discuss whether this was a whole day or half a day? I need chicken. That is the
issue. So anyway, he literally says father are through a Hadouken bhiwadi pico de la el Medina
alienvault scelta. Iman, when a bunch of guys get together and hang out, obviously, what is the
number one priority food, these amazing heroes of Islam. And Allah goes out of his way to say they
were just a bunch of guys hanging out with each other. And then they said, Man, we gotta eat
something.
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And we need to find the right guy among us who's gonna make the most of this money that we've pulled
together, he's gonna go to the right restaurant and order exactly the right amount. Don't give it to
this guy. He's only gonna bring four bags of ketchup and nothing else. Give it to the guy that's got
the right because one of the guys knows all the restaurants. There's always a guy that knows all the
spots where we going in. And there's always a guy that when they're all sitting together and they're
all confused about what to order, I'll have some fries. I'll have a soup to shut up. I'll order for
everybody. There's always one guy that knows what to do and they know which one that isn't a
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You take the money, you need to go, because everybody else you have those annoying guy guys that
look at the menu for 30 minutes, I'm thinking Hold on,
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you know, ah, we gotta get this done, we got to keep moving. And then he gave him advice about being
subtle. Don't don't draw too much attention to yourself. You know, when you have a lot of Be very
careful and soft Don't make a scene. What did they know that the guy is going to be wearing 300 year
old clothes with ancient currency from a kingdom long ago and walk into the middle of a mall dress
like Shakespeare. And
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he's like, I'm trying to not draw attention to myself, you know.
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And he's gonna pass on some shillings at the McDonald's. And then he's gonna be like,
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you know, what did I have may have some chicken thou has produced, you know, like,
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you understand what's happening here, right? They're supposed to not draw attention. But this is not
gonna work out the way they imagined. I wanted to highlight this part of the story. Because when we
think of, you know, this is not and that's this is connected to another piece of this, this study.
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A lot of people believe that this is a Jewish tradition. It has nothing to do with Judaism. This
story has nothing to do with Judaism. As a matter of fact, this was a story of young, it's a
Christian tradition. The Jacobite church actually accounts this tradition, about 70 years before the
birth of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam. This story was translated from Aramaic into Arabic,
and it was spread among the Syrian churches and the Syriac churches across the region. These people
were turned into since they were called the seven sleeping saints. And the Jacobite Church of the
region was now celebrating every year, the Festival of the saints, where they would actually fast
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and then have a feast commemorating the sacrifice of these young men. This was actually entirely a
Christian holiday. It is as it was as Christian back then, as you think of Black Friday today. You
know, are you think of like something purely Christian, like, you know, Christmas break or something
like that? And what are the core ideas has nothing to do with Muslims at the time, nothing to do
with them? And what is the Quran do? The Quran comes along and takes a story that is only being
celebrated by who, by Christians a purely Christian holiday literally, and says, actually, we own
it. And these are our people, and they were Muslims. And they weren't Christian at all. And they
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weren't saints, they were just young men, and they were very normal young men. What made them
awesome was their confidence and faith. Otherwise, they were not hovering in the air only sporting
iaat
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they were just pretty normal people. In order to be great in the sight of Allah, you don't have to
only spew out wisdom. A lot of young people when they turn towards the religion, they lose their
personality.
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Like even if they hang out with a bunch of guys and everybody's having a good time to like a suffer
loss after loss after loss after loss after having a good time clearly hot. Um, you know, it's gonna
hurt my mind. Oh, wait, hold on, you can relax, you can be yourself. You can be yourself. And one of
you can ask about food. I'm hungry.
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I started a lot earlier, we were discussing how long we were sleeping in which I thought we should
do and here you are worrying about the No, there's no reprimand. Let's go eat man. Let's go meet the
In other words, you when you turn towards the deen of Allah, you don't have to become a social
outcast. You don't have to become weird. You don't have to be depressed all the time. Because if
you're a person of the oxycodone, you have nothing to do with the dunya. These people yes, they left
the world. They went into a cave because their lives were in danger. But they still went back to the
restaurants.
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You understand? We paint an extreme picture that the Quran itself doesn't paint. And our youth
suffer from this. Sometimes they feel like turn becoming serious about Islam must mean you can't
have a life anymore. You can't have friends anymore. You can't have a personality anymore. You have
to drop all of those things. Please. It's such a beautiful religion. It brings color to your life.
It adds it gives you reason for joy. It's not a reason to be depressed, especially among young
people. You know, so now Where are we?
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Okay.
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Now the lesson I really want to share with you this is the one I might even get in trouble with but
doesn't matter.
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Because I'm gonna leave now. So
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I'll be back in the morning. But anyway, so what I wanted to share with you is actually a lesson
from the sutra that is the least taught the least taught in my opinion lesson of the sword or this
story.
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At the other four, I told you that summarize the whole story. The first of them was they went into
the cave. The second of them was they weren't put to sleep. The third of them was they woke up and
the last of them was that he's telling the story for a purpose and by saying that national una casa
la cannibal humble Huck
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narrating the story onto you for actual purpose by saying that Allah is teaching you and me that
there is such a thing as learning the story and not understanding its purpose. There is such a thing
as learning Islam and forgetting the purpose of Islam, there is such a thing as gaining a lot of
knowledge without purpose, there is such a thing.
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And we have to be careful about learning with what, with purpose, we cannot lose sight of purpose,
everything we do, must have purpose. This is one of the most powerful lessons taught in this surah.
In order to help you understand this lesson, I'm going to give you a silly example. And then come
back to the the silly example, to help you frame your mind in the right direction.
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You have a person who's very successful in business, he's launched several businesses, all of them
have become multi million dollar successes, and he has money is no longer a need in his life. And
his businesses are running themselves. He doesn't have to spend a 10 hours a day at work, he doesn't
have to do that anymore. He decides that after all of these years of putting work in and running
these businesses successfully, he wants to give back to the community. So he decides to go and
become a teacher of business. So he goes to a business school, and he teaches a business class,
okay. Now there's a difference between a business professor who's only taught business in the
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classroom, and a multimillion dollar success teaching business. Who would you rather take a class
from the multi millionaire or the business professor?
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The multimillionaire because he's got real life experience. He's not just going to teach you what's
in the textbook. He's going to teach you what's going on in real life, you understand? And you want
to take him as a role model to emulate his success. Isn't that the case? So he's a really good
teacher. And he decides that one day, he's going to teach his students several principles of good
business by telling them a story. Because you know, when you tell a story, it becomes easy to
remember, lessons become easy to remember. Of course, Calderon does that, right? A lot, tell stories
and teaches lots of lessons through the story. So they're easy to remember, unless instead of making
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a long list of lessons, it'll just tell the story. And you'll remember the lessons automatically
anyway. So here's how the story goes. There's a man, he wants to start a successful retail business,
he looked at the right location, he searched out the location that has the most foot traffic, he
found an appropriate rent, he did a lot of research into the inventory, and the quality, he did a
lot of work on the branding of his business. Then he set up good customer service infrastructure,
and he started running his business. And when he's telling the story, what is he telling students to
do? location is important. Pricing is important. inventory is important. Quality is important.
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Customer service is important. These are things that go into running a good business, yes. One
student raises his hand.
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So does he wear sneakers or shoes everyday to work? Another student raises his hand. So what brand
of toothbrush does he paced with?
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Does he does Russia See that? And another one raises his hand? What color socks does he wear?
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And the professor is just looking at these idiots.
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I just told you a story, the point of which was for you to learn proper business practices, yes. And
eugenius. Turn around. And all you're telling me is what color socks does he wear? or What does he
eat for lunch?
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You know, what kind of car does he drive? Do you not get what I'm talking to you about? Do you
understand that you're missing the point entirely. And the student says, Well, at least I'm still
asking about the same story.
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00:28:42
Is it possible that people will learn about the people of the cave,
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00:29:03
and they're supposed to learn how to hold on to their faith and stand with confidence and rely on a
line all of these things, but get lost in details that don't even matter? Is that possible? Do we do
that with Islamic studies? Do we study the story of Yusuf Alayhi Salam and obsess over? What was the
what was the minister's wife's name? How old was she?
00:29:05 -->
00:29:12
Did they get married eventually? Or what? were his use? Of all the sounds Mom, I want to know about
his mom, because I'll let him talk about his mom. So I want to know about his mom.
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00:29:15
What are his brother's names? Do they rhyme?
00:29:18 -->
00:29:20
You know, where do they live?
00:29:22 -->
00:29:28
There are lots of questions you can ask even about the story of the cave. People can ask Hey, so
their dog was it spotted?
00:29:29 -->
00:29:50
Was it big or small? Was it like a you know, one of those Chihuahua things? or What was it? And I've
actually read classical diversity in four or five pages dedicated to the color of the dog. And I
have literally pulled my hair out saying why why is this in the Tafseer? Why? Because the purpose of
Quran
00:29:51 -->
00:29:51
is
00:29:53 -->
00:29:59
part of the teaching of the Quran is not just knowledge. Part of teaching is what should you focus
on and what you learn to ignore
00:30:00 -->
00:30:42
There are some things you have to learn to not ask. Not every question is healthy. So what does he
do? He says, say akula una de la tone Ravi roncal boom, una casa de su Hong Kong boom. Rajma una
subpattern. What Sammy No uncle, boom, look at these people, all they discusses, they must have
been, you know, three and the fourth one was the dog and five and the sixth one was the dog. And
they even say they were seven, and the eighth one was the dog. Why are they talking about this? Why
can't they learn from the people of the cave? That they should leave useless conversation? Remember
when they were asking how long were you sleeping? What was the answer? Allah knows better? Unless
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00:30:43
has now again.
00:30:44 -->
00:30:52
Allah knows better about their number. What do you care? How is it gonna increase your demand that
there were seven? Aha, seven. I knew it.
00:30:54 -->
00:30:57
Because it wouldn't have been epic if there were five.
00:30:58 -->
00:31:03
You know, and then there are some other people who really have a problem with the fact that they had
a dog.
00:31:05 -->
00:31:10
Right? Because dogs are stuffed with different buckets than dogs or like chiffon, you know?
00:31:11 -->
00:31:37
So then they tried to reinterpret the book. That actually means how they miss their servant, his
name his dog, because he they dog, you know, I'm saying he was their dog. So what are you talking?
They had a dog? It's okay. They had a dog, you know? And even the ISS bossy. tonzura he will see the
dog has his paws stretched out. How are you gonna say their servant had his paws stretch? I mean,
00:31:38 -->
00:31:44
visualize this for me, please. What? And they're running for their life and they have a servant? Are
you serious?
00:31:46 -->
00:31:49
Even in the state of emergency, you take your Butler with you. I mean, come on.
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00:31:52
doesn't make any sense.
00:31:53 -->
00:32:31
But anyhow, we got what I'm saying is even in the study of Islam, a lot of young people here have
become inspired, and they want to learn more about Islam. And they want to take classes and courses
and increase their knowledge. But you know, one thing I will I will mind really remind you of, don't
lose sight of purpose. Don't go overboard and learning something that is not making you into a
better person. If you know enough that we need to recite the Quran without mistakes. It's okay. You
don't have to give have 13 ages out into it. It's okay. It's okay. Allah will not ask you about it.
You're relaxed. There are other things you need to learn that are a bigger priority for you. Those
00:32:31 -->
00:32:53
of you that want to become specialists Go ahead. But for the rest of you don't over indulge in one
subject over another. Don't you know don't give something priority that ally himself didn't give
this much priority. You know, and we do that we tend to have this Hulu, this overboard excessiveness
in our learning of the religion that's why Allah says roofie Dini calm, don't become excessive in
your religion.
00:32:54 -->
00:33:19
So how do you know? And how do I know that we're becoming excessive or not becoming excessive? This
is one of the greatest lessons of this surah. Allah will teach us, you and me what kind of questions
we should be asking? And what kinds of questions we should not be asking. If Allah wanted me to know
where the cave is located, what law he would have told me. If Allah wanted me to know how many there
were, he would have told me himself. If Allah wanted me don't know what the names of these guys were
able to told me.
00:33:21 -->
00:33:36
He does. He wants he keeps details from me on purpose. Because he's telling me I don't want you to
focus on that focus on what I did give you the tragedy of even Islamic Studies has become our entire
focus becomes on what Allah didn't say.
00:33:37 -->
00:33:52
What he didn't say not on what he did say. And then after teaching this incredible lesson of focus,
there are three more stories in this surah how many more? Three more? Let me tell you what they are.
There's a story of two gardeners.
00:33:53 -->
00:33:57
This is followed by the story of a journey taken up by Musa alayhis salaam. And
00:33:58 -->
00:34:01
then there's a story after that of the codename.
00:34:02 -->
00:34:35
The story of the two gardeners that Allah mentioned their names, does anybody know if Allah
mentioned their names? Or the location of the garden? Or the century in which it occurred? Or which
prophet they follow? Did he give those details? No, because that's not what you're gonna learn
about. You need to focus on what you what you've been told that a lot told us the story of Messiah
hidden, and even his name is not mentioned. Who is this leader? Is he a man? Is he an angel? What is
he? Where is he? Where did musala salon go? Who's the servant next to him? Where is this place?
Where the two oceans meet? Where do they go first? With that I'll answer any of these questions. No,
00:34:36 -->
00:34:39
but do we become obsessed with those questions? Absolutely.
00:34:40 -->
00:35:00
We become obsessed with what a lie does not want us to focus on. In other words, the first story
taught us a lesson learn to ignore your your useless curiosity. It's okay to be curious, but there's
such a thing as a useless curiosity. And he tested my useless curiosity with the story of the
gardener's then he tested it again with the with
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00:35:03
The story of Musa and Hayden and what's the last story in the sutra?
00:35:04 -->
00:35:14
Local nine? Do we ask silly questions about the club name? Instead of focusing on what we are told?
Who is this little codename? Is it Alexander the Great?
00:35:15 -->
00:35:17
Or Yeah, john Matthews really behind the China wall.
00:35:19 -->
00:35:20
You know,
00:35:21 -->
00:35:58
we get obsessed with things a lot chose not to tell us. This in and of itself is a powerful Quranic
teaching in times of fitna, you have to hold on to the book. That's what I started with you
remember, you have to hold on to the book, but you have to hold on to the book with purpose. You
can't just hold on to the book artificially, or for your own silly curiosity. You must emphasize
what your Lord Himself emphasized. You must pay attention to what he said, and what he wants you to
know. And what he wants you to learn and internalize. One of the most beautiful ions of this entire
story is called rugby.
00:35:59 -->
00:36:00
at him,
00:36:01 -->
00:36:49
Allah knows better about their number. When do we say Allahu Alem? When you know something, or when
you don't know something? When you don't know something? You say, Robbie, Allah Allahu Adam, isn't
it? So when Allah says love, Dr. Lamb? What is he saying? You don't know. He knows leave it alone.
Leave it alone. And the beautiful languages are on the movie at him. My, my master knows better
about their number, meaning where they 357 85 I don't know. I was the one who knows. But then he
added something. He said my alemu home Illa Colleen, for those of you that are familiar with the
Arabic language, Kalamata de moneth, when when a miracle was my Yamaha Illa Colleen Bell called my
00:36:49 -->
00:37:32
alemu home in LA County for either bommie hobbycraft la de, he went, he used the pronoun going back
to the people of the cave, he doesn't say, Allah knows their number, nobody knows it, except a few.
That's not what he said. He said, Allah knows their number, nobody knows them, except a few, meaning
most people get lost discussing the number and very few people actually focus on them. We have to be
the few people that focus on them, their heroism, their faith, their strength in action, their
their, you know, their their desire to leave, what what you know what they left behind. Now, I want
to conclude inshallah, with Allah just some comments about these young people that are such an
00:37:32 -->
00:37:34
incredible inspiration in the Quran.
00:37:35 -->
00:37:56
They are, like I said before, they didn't have the Quran. They didn't have the Quran, they didn't
have the greatest miracle of Allah azza wa jal, by the way Allah put them to what Allah put them to
sleep. And this Quran is actually one that will keep us awake. Our miracle is that when the world
will be sleeping, we'll be the only ones who lay awake, our miracle is going to be the one where the
world is lost, and
00:37:57 -->
00:38:16
the whole world is lost in love. And the only ones awake are the young people. And when these same
young people, all they can care about is how many likes on their stupid joke did they get how many
lol did they receive when they keep taking eight different selfie angles.
00:38:17 -->
00:38:27
And then fixing the color correction and learning the photo called you know, said changing all of
that and then posting it just felt like taking a selfie out of the blue.
00:38:30 -->
00:38:46
When you're so lost inside of yourself, when this device is is basically your soul. When that's
what's happened to you, then you're a lost cause the enemy of Islam doesn't have to come and destroy
you. He already did.
00:38:47 -->
00:38:51
He already already done, you've already been cooked. You know?
00:38:52 -->
00:39:14
You guys, you have to transcend the image. You have to get beyond, you know, social pressure. You
have to get beyond what people think of you on campus. If you're wearing a hijab, instead of you
feeling sorry that you're wearing Hijab and they look down on you, you should feel sorry for them.
That ally did not crown their heads with guidance. That's what you should be thinking.
00:39:15 -->
00:39:32
You young man over here. You know, instead of worrying about Man, these guys get to eat what they
want, do what they want, drink what they want, you should feel sorry for them that a lot dignified
you as a human being and kept you away from living an animal existence pretending to be human.
00:39:33 -->
00:40:00
Instead of wanting to be like them. Allah has dignified you with beautiful speech talisman for suku
bodily man. You don't use foul language. You don't even allude to foul language. You there are no
four letter filthy words in your vocabulary. And when you hear them, you don't you don't laugh. You
don't find them enjoyable. You you you react to them like you went to a filthy smell. You're
disgusted by them because Allah has he has
00:40:00 -->
00:40:10
Given nobility to this tongue of yours, he gave this tongue the honor of reciting the Quran. It has
no room for filthy language left. It has no room left because Allah cleaned it up.
00:40:12 -->
00:40:48
This is my young generation. These are my young heroes that are going to stand. The real battle for
Islam for a lot of you in the United States is on college campuses. It's on high school campuses.
It's not inside the masajid. The real champions of Islam are these young people, even if they don't
know much, they're still holding on to their faith. The real heroes of our religion are these young
guys, these young guys that are sitting in a college Auditorium in the summer, and their girls
basically undressed, sitting next to them saying, Hi, Abdullah, how are you? You have such great
handwriting.
00:40:50 -->
00:40:54
And there's and they're not even looking up and they're saying thank you. And then there's no
00:40:55 -->
00:41:15
other regime. And even though they are even though he thinks she's beautiful, and even though he
wants to look like any man would, even though he's attracted, he just turns to a lion says Yala
saved me from this flood, you promised me better I'm you better hold up your promise because I'm,
I'm dying over here. Yeah, like you better do your part. You know,
00:41:18 -->
00:41:48
these young people are going to be left behind. They're the ones who have held on to their faith,
the most basics of their faith, I don't expect our young people to become scholars and experts of
the Arabic language and take them on and memorize and all of that, those of you that are doing that
I'm so proud of you. And those of you that haven't even taken a single step in that direction, you
don't know how to recite a single word of the Quran. That's not your fault. But the fact that you
can still hold on to your faith, and the fact that you can still make a commitment to Allah and say,
yeah, Allah, I want to be strong. And I know where I'll get my strength. I will get my strength from
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00:42:26
your words. So I am turning to your book. Yeah, Allah make this journey easy for me, make this
journey easy for me. And when you can do that you watch what Allah does for you. He will do for you
what he did for them, was it the now home Hold on, we increase them, and we enhance them. And we
evolve them in guidance. He made you he'll make you he'll transform you into better and better
people. He'll make you people that other people will want to be around. He'll make you a role model.
Here you are looking for role models, you forgotten that you're the one Allah gave Islam to. You're
the role model, you're looking for someone to lean on. You're the one that everybody else has to
00:42:26 -->
00:42:49
lead on learning to stand up, this book will help you stand up. It is high time that the youth stop
complaining, they stop saying the pressure is too high. I don't know how to handle it. You are the
people a lot chose for this generation. And a lot chooses the right people for the right generation
that can carry the banner of his faith. You're the people that Allah chose. Stop hiding behind
excuses.
00:42:50 -->
00:43:05
We don't even have to run to a cave. We don't have to run to no cave. We can we can stand tall where
we are. We're not being killed for saying that in the law. We're just being looked at dirty. does
nothing. Look away. sterile you want?
00:43:06 -->
00:43:42
You know, people are just saying condescending words to us. And every time they do, it's an
opportunity for conversation, isn't it? Every time people talk down to us make fun of us insulting
words towards us. These are times where we must see that that these people they hate this Dean so
much. I'm going to talk to them and let's see what happens. And you will find many of them
completely transformed because you have the confidence to stand up for your faith. The last thing I
want to share with you on this note about young people not too long ago a group of young people
don't have I met a young boy in Chicago, who on his way to school, he goes to public school Muslim
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00:44:18
boy, he goes to public school and on the bus. Other kids call him Muhammad terrorist Osama bin
Laden, ISIS, you know, do you have a bomb in your backpack they say the same the entire bus route,
and even made a video of it for me. He like he saw it being done. And he made a video. Another time
he did it again. Another time they even beat him up. They even beat him up. It's been reported to
the principal. It's been reported to the school district. It's been the teachers have been told the
bus driver has been told, but it carries on it comes every few few weeks. It happens again and
again. And again. What I'm trying to get at is there are countless families in the United States,
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00:44:47
who's the real victims of Islamophobia. And the real pressure against Islam that's being mounted is
being mounted even against our children. They're not safe. And this is a very serious epidemic that
we all must stand up for. We have to grow a spine and walk into the school districts and say we have
paid taxes in this country. Our children are entitled to a stress free oppression free, you know,
dignified education in the public, even if it's in the public school system.
00:44:48 -->
00:45:00
And you will provide it to us whether you like it or not. And if you don't like it, we'll see how
you keep your job because you will not because these children are as American if not more. If not
00:45:00 -->
00:45:36
More, and we have to stand up for our kids. Now, we cannot remain silent in every one of your
communities. Every single one of the parents has now we have to become activists now. Because if our
children are smothered by these kinds of words, and they grow up having no confidence in their
faith, what are they going to hold on to? It's gonna be gone the moment they get a little bit older,
we have to be able to if we're if we throw them into this flood, we better at least hand them a
paddle. At least throw them a lifeboat or something. You can't just throw them in the mix and not
support them. So are the cause that I leave everyone here with is the cause of our kids, the cause
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00:45:43
in your local communities, get involved and let them know Muslims live here and they're here to
stay. barakallahu li walakum wa salaamu alaikum
