Ready To Withstand Challenges

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

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

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

unlimited blob. adaptively drawn

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

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

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

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.

Oh, thank you. That's so nice of you. Okay,

so I'd like to explain this connection to you.

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

marijuana is not that Haram is it or whatever. These are not questions that were being asked.

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.

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

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

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

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

have to have with this book. Now.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

You hear the word youth, you almost make it synonymous with problem. That's just human problem, you know?

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.

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

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

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.

No,

of the lessons that I wanted to highlight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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,

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

he's like, I'm trying to not draw attention to myself, you know.

And he's gonna pass on some shillings at the McDonald's. And then he's gonna be like,

you know, what did I have may have some chicken thou has produced, you know, like,

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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?

Okay.

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.

Because I'm gonna leave now. So

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.

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

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.

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.

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

classroom, and a multimillion dollar success teaching business. Who would you rather take a class from the multi millionaire or the business professor?

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

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.

Customer service is important. These are things that go into running a good business, yes. One student raises his hand.

So does he wear sneakers or shoes everyday to work? Another student raises his hand. So what brand of toothbrush does he paced with?

Does he does Russia See that? And another one raises his hand? What color socks does he wear?

And the professor is just looking at these idiots.

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?

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.

Is it possible that people will learn about the people of the cave,

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?

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.

What are his brother's names? Do they rhyme?

You know, where do they live?

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?

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

is

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

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

has now again.

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.

Because it wouldn't have been epic if there were five.

You know, and then there are some other people who really have a problem with the fact that they had a dog.

Right? Because dogs are stuffed with different buckets than dogs or like chiffon, you know?

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,

visualize this for me, please. What? And they're running for their life and they have a servant? Are you serious?

Even in the state of emergency, you take your Butler with you. I mean, come on.

doesn't make any sense.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is followed by the story of a journey taken up by Musa alayhis salaam. And

then there's a story after that of the codename.

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,

but do we become obsessed with those questions? Absolutely.

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

The story of Musa and Hayden and what's the last story in the sutra?

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?

Or Yeah, john Matthews really behind the China wall.

You know,

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.

at him,

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

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

incredible inspiration in the Quran.

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

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.

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.

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.

He already already done, you've already been cooked. You know?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

And there's and they're not even looking up and they're saying thank you. And then there's no

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,

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

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

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.

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?

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

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,

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.

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

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

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