Nouman Ali Khan – Striking Examples From the Quran #24 A Firm Word
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The concept ofteenth-grade words used in the Quran is important and often referred to as "any good words" in the context of parables. The use of mis Joyce and "foaming up" in writing is also important. The importance of faith and acceptance of Islam is also emphasized, as it is not something that is permanent and can lead to cultural collapse. The speaker emphasizes the need for acceptance and acceptance of Islam in the world, and the potential impact of the internet and social media revolution on people's political positions.
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Just waiting on
instruction. Okay.
So,
in order to to benefit from today's session,
this is ayah number 27,
and a little very little about ayah number
28,
today from again, Surat Ibrahim.
This is the concluding commentary on the example
that Allah was giving about the
the good word and the filthy word. Right?
I want to explain to you a concept
called,
that's used in, you know, in linguistic analysis
of the Quran in.
It's very simple actually. Whenever Allah gives an
example, he's like I keep saying, he's painting
a picture. Right? So he's making you use
your imagination to visualize something.
Like, the first day we were visualizing a
tree, and yesterday, we we were visualizing an
uprooted tree and all the things that come
with that image. Right? So this painting of
the image, the more words vivid words that
are used, the more you get drawn into
the picture.
You get you get immersed into the image,
kind of like the people in Leeds who
watch movies, and they're really into the movie,
and they just get kind of sucked into
the film.
Right?
So when you get that immersed in the
image,
then what Allah does sometimes is he will
pull you out of the image and bring
you back into reality almost immediately,
but use some of the elements that he
was using
inside the image, but now he will use
them outside the image.
Right? So he's he's kind of pulling you
out of that imaginary scenario
and using that word. So that's what that's
the that's the concept of Tajrid.
And there's an entire ayah
dedicated, in this case, to just just to
pull you out of the imagery of the
firm word, and the firm tree, and the
uprooted tree, to pull you out and give
you a concluding comment that is actually borrowing
language
from those ayats. So for example, you saw
That the origin of that tree or the
roots of that tree are firm. And now
you'll see the word
come up, but not in the context of
an example,
but by
by pulling us out of the image and
actually talking about kind of the takeaway lesson.
So it's interesting that in this case, Allah
didn't just allow us to
imagine
the the the parable,
contemplate the parable, learn the lessons from the
parable. There are some takeaways that Allah himself
spelled out
on top of all of that, and that's
what's happening in these ayat. K. So so
that that's why even though today is not
a parable, it was important as part of
that lesson
to dedicate, because Allah dedicated a particular ayah
just to this concept. Inshallah, through the course
of today's discussion, I think you'll see why
this is so important. So a a a
brief translation is.
Allah will make firm
those who have faith by way of the
faith
by way of the firm word.
By using the firm word, Allah will give
firmness to those who believe.
That's what Allah is saying in the beginning.
Then he says,
in worldly life and in the afterlife.
And notice the repetition of the word fee
that didn't need to be there. You could
say
but you see the fee mentioned twice. We'll
come back to that too.
Then he says
and Allah will I'll translate literally again, and
Allah will misguide
wrongdoers.
Now Allah is using the word misguide. What's
the opposite of misguide?
Guide. But you didn't see any mention of
the word guide before.
You didn't see that. So why is misguide
being used if if misguided is being talked
about when guidance wasn't being talked about? We're
gonna explore that too. That's also another rhetorical
concept in the Quran.
And he concludes with
and Allah does whatever he pleases. Allah does
whatever he wills. Okay. So now, coming back
to the opening,
It's really interesting that the first time we
heard about a word was the word
Any word that is good.
And then that's why there were multiple tafasir
even from the Sahaba. What is that good
word referring to? Any good word. And we
talked about how it can be
it could be
but it could be any sincere word, like
it could be even the word that, you
know, Luqman had with his son, for example,
is
You don't know what good advice, good word,
good gesture will grow into later on. But
by the end here, Allah is not repeating
the word. He's saying.
So he's changed the word to
and not just it used to be it
was indefinite, so it was there was no
the on it, but now there's a the
on it,
which kind of puts you in the in
a certain direction. This is a very explicit
reference to the Quran.
And how do we know that? That Allah
will make believers firm by way of the
firm word and the firm word being the
Quran. First, let's talk a little bit about
the word firm, and then I'll tell you
why I think this is a good way
to read this is actually the word of
Allah, the Quran itself. So the word Sabaat,
actually comes from the image of the word
with a kasra,
And is used for a belt,
that is used to tie the luggage.
So for example, you know, back in the
day, of course, people had camels and they
put loaded stuff on camels, but because the
camel back is kind of narrow, so they
had two sides of the luggage and they're
kind of loading up the bags and they're
it's gonna hang over, but it can still
tip over so they had a belt to
secure it, and that kind of a belt
is actually called a tibat.
That's that's where it comes from, to to
secure something to keep it in place. It's
also used for,
for for locusts
when they are putting their eggs in a
place, when they're laying their eggs. That's also
called also actually. And they use this as
a visual image. They use
it.
When somebody got, you know, hit with a
spear in war and the spear pierce their
body,
and now it won't come out because it's
got hooks. Right? It's got talons on the
side, so you can't just rip it out.
So now it's it's lodged in and it
won't come out. It's set in place. That's
what they would call
So the idea of is something settled, lodged
in,
wedged in, firmed, and the idea of faith
Allah saying, Allah will make believers firm is
that they will stand their ground, and their
beliefs won't shake, and their commitment won't shake,
and they'll stay where they are. And this
is why this word is used in different
duas that have to do with the battlefield.
Because in battle, if you're if you're among
the soldiers that are a couple of 100,
and you see an army coming in front
of you that are that are a few
1,000,
then your feet are gonna shake a little
bit. So our dua is.
Right? Make our plant our feet. Make our
feet firm.
And then again at the end,
meaning plant us in, like don't let us
just uproot and make it make our feet
so strong
as if they're pegged into the ground,
like that's how strong we they they should
be, you know. So the idea of firmness
and establish being established, being rooted, being settled
is the idea that you're not shaking,
You're not moving with the trend. You're not
you're not moving from your position because of
peer pressure, family pressure, or anything else. Nothing
else is able to sway you from where
you stand. To give you to make this
you know, because this sounds all theoretical, but
practically speaking,
so you have, for example,
in many, cultures,
people practice they they dress the way that
the culture
dresses. Right? And I one time, I was
in a flight from an Arab country that
shall not be named,
and there was a, you know, lady sitting
next to me who I didn't know she's
Muslim. I was just sitting in flight, and
then she, like, you know, I was I
was just reading some Quran and she just
started talking to me in Arabic and I
was like, okay,
and then we just started talking. He goes,
She's she's telling me she's Muslim and all
of that and she's proud of her country
and and then I didn't say anything. And
she goes, you might be thinking why I'm
dressed like this because she wasn't dressed, let's
just say, Islamically.
Right? So so you might be thinking why
I'm dressed like this. Like, I wasn't thinking
anything, lady. I was I was I wasn't
thinking about that. I just want an orange
juice and that I'm I'm good. I'm I'm
I'm fine.
She goes, no, but I'm proud of my
country. I'm proud of my heritage. I wear
the jalbaab. I wear the niqab. I wear
this. I wear this because it's our country's
heritage. It's our, you know, but, you know,
I'm going I'm traveling to France right now.
And she's very proud of the, you know,
of the cultural dress when she's in that
culture,
And then as soon as she leaves that
culture, you don't have to
but in other words, her
her commitment to that clothing had nothing to
do with the religion.
It actually had a geographic commitment.
When you're in this geographical vicinity,
then you look like this. When you're outside
of it, you look like that, and that's
completely normal. She sees no hypocrisy in that.
She sees no contradiction in that. It's just,
you know, you dress this way when you're
here, you dress that way when you're there,
and that's just a matter of cultural norm.
Yeah. I don't wanna be weird when I
go there, and I don't wanna be weird
when I go here. So I observe the
norms when I'm here, and I observe those
those norms when I'm there. So now your
in this in this example, your clothing
is being determined by your surroundings.
Right? So I'm I'm I'm more inclined to
dress more like a Muslim,
when I'm in an Islamic kind of scene,
and I'm more inclined to dress,
they'll call it normal,
when I'm in a non Muslim scene.
Right? So I'm I'm just gonna and and
it could be prayer. It could be other
other manifestations of your religion. It could be,
like, you're so used to not hearing anybody
hear you say
that you normally a a Muslim, you say
and then you're hanging out with your non
Muslim friends or coworkers or whatever at a
restaurant and some brother, you know, walks by.
Hey. How's it going?
Like
because it's not because you don't that's not
normal for your most non Muslim friends to
hear you say Arabic stuff. You don't want
them to think that you're extreme or something.
Right? So
the idea of Allah making somebody firm
and they're they're settled in what they are,
the environment,
the surroundings, the the group they're part of,
the family that they're in, the friends that
they're around, the work work environment that they're
in, none of that's having an impact on
who they are. They are the same they're
they're planted in what they are. They're firm
in what they are. Right? And Allah says
and Allah
he so now
that's the meaning of the word
but now why do I think or what
makes me think this is more talking about
the Quran?
Actually, what makes me think that is twice
in the Quran,
Allah refers to the Quran as something that
gives to
the heart of the prophet.
Right? So if so for example, in
This believer said, how come the Quran doesn't
come down one time? Just let it just
come one time and be done with it.
Why does it come little by little? And
Allah responds and he turns the direction to
his prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and he
says,
that is so so we can make your
heart firm.
So every time the Quran comes,
it reaffirms
and re strengthens and reinforces
the peg
inside the heart of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. What does that tell you? That
even the Messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
was being continually reinforced.
That means I, you, and anybody else who's
gonna say
Muhammad is going to need continuous reinforcement.
And if the best reinforcement
for the best of humanity
was the Quran coming little by little,
then it must be that for
us, which is gonna give us reinforcement, is
gonna be the word of Allah. There's got
to be a continuous relationship with the word
of Allah. Now let's take another step in
this remarkable phrasing.
Allah says
Notice the words, Allah will give firmness
to the believers
by the word that is firm. So what's
already firm? What's already settled?
The word of Allah is already settled in
this language, and what is not quite fully
settled?
The believer.
So the the settlement
as a permanent quality belongs to the word.
The word is established, the word is perfect,
the word is settled, the word is what
it is.
But the believer is fluctuating,
and the believer needs more of the firm
word
so that they can have more and more
firmness.
What this illustrates is that the believer is
going to go through up and the ups
and downs, and the Muslim will also go
through ups and downs.
And the only way that the Muslim
will feel that they are firm,
that they'll actually reach reach some level of
firmness,
is how much Quran has been injected into
them personally and into that society.
Now let's talk about this at a practical
level. You know there are many that talk
about the problem of the Ummah, the weakness
of the Ummah, the instability of the Ummah,
the political
powerlessness of the ummah, the corruption of the
ummah. How will we revive the ummah? Umma,
umma, and ummah. Right? So we we hear
this kind of talk. We've been hearing it
for since the colonizer left because the colonizer
left many colonized colonized nations, but he left
the minds of the Muslims colonized
in many ways. Right?
So, and I and I told you about
that before. You have, for example, in South
Asia where I come from,
you know,
the the makeup industry is focused on making
brown girls look as white as possible.
Right? They're a little bleachier skin if they
have to because the colonizer was a certain
color, the master race. So you look as
much like them, and that's that's what's what's
normal.
And then, you know, you could have a
a girl that's, like, from, like, the southern
region, Macron coast, dark skin people, that's how
Allah made them, but when by the by
the time the makeup artist is done, if
she stands next to a white wall, you
cannot see her. Right?
So so that but but where did that
come from? That came from colonized cultures. Right?
A sense of inferiority. But, anyway,
the reason I'm bringing that up is you
have Muslim cultures,
and in Muslim cultures,
now, many Muslim cultures, we have Islamic,
visibly Islamic things.
You go to certain Muslim countries, you can
hear the you
can hear the You walk into most restaurants,
if not all restaurants, the food is halal.
Right? You're gonna see many, many people wearing
many women wearing hijab.
Right? So you're gonna see kind of or
you'll see, like, signs that say or Allahu
Akbar or things like that. Right? And you're
gonna see a lots of places, taxi drivers
playing recitation of Quran or something like that.
Right? So you're gonna see visible
signs of Islam and Islamic culture
in any given Muslim country, right?
Then you notice something. In those same countries,
something happened,
and within 10 years,
the Adhan got banned in certain neighborhoods,
or you start seeing Christmas trees in the
mall during Christmas season even though it's a
Muslim country, and all of a sudden you
start seeing, you know, like,
less and less, of the hijab and you
see alcohol became allowed.
And you're like, how did this happen in
10 years? Like, this was
what? What what's going on here? You know?
Like, for example, what happened with the Ottomans
is this is a little bit further back,
but in the empire Jawad was telling me
in the Uthmani rule,
women wearing niqab was the norm, women were
just covered, their face was covered too
and that was the norm. And if you
weren't covered, that looked weird. And within 10
years
with Ataturks coming, within 10 years, even the
hijab became strange.
Right? So something that was going on for
centuries
disappeared within 10 years, within 10 years.
Or you'll have countries that are associated with
very conservative values, conservative Islamic values, religious country,
and all of a sudden, somebody decides they're
going to have a concert there.
They're gonna have a Beyonce concert there. They're
gonna have a Jay z whatever. They're gonna
have somebody's concert and you see 50,000 youth
show up and they're
jamming to this concert and they're like, like,
it's a it looks like a non Muslim
country. And you're like a stuff for love
stuff for love. Wait a second.
Where did those youth come from? Did they
just crawl out of the ground? Were they
zombies that were hiding?
Or they they were part of that society
right? And if you went there 5 years
ago, visibly, it looked like a very Islamic
place.
It looked very, very Islamic. You know what
that is? Societies
that have Islam on the outside is like
the branches and the bark of a tree,
but Allah says firmness,
stability of this faith does not come from
giant masjids,
or you can hear the adhan, or there's
halal chicken available everywhere, or
not that stuff. You know where that comes
from? It's actually
And where does where's in the in the
imagery?
The roots are firm. So if you don't
build a society
that knows in the depths Every young man
and woman knows in the depths of their
heart, why are they Muslim? Why is the
Quran the word of Allah, what is Allah
actually saying in the Quran? If they don't
know that, then even if they're in an
Islamic looking society,
it's like the is not the roots are
not firm. So a new wave, a new
trend, a new king, a new president, a
new party winning the election,
a new company moving to the area or
whatever and all of a sudden what looked
Islamic within
no time looks un Islamic
and you're like, Astaghfirullah, what's happening? Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah.
No. No. No. It's not Astaghfirullah. We didn't
give that society firmness.
We were okay with the outside appearance
of Islam, and we were not concerned with
deepening the roots. So when we say this,
look at what's happening, look at all this
facade and all this fitna and all of
that, and we're saying if we get rid
of that, if we outlaw the alcohol, if
we impose
if we force girls to wear hijab, if
we make people go and pray their salawat
in the masjid, and if we shut down
the businesses during the prayer, that will be
Islam. Hold on a second.
Even if you imposed all of that, our
people themselves in the depths of their hearts
convinced of any of that. Do they want
that? Do they do they believe in that?
Do they love that about about being in
that country or they feel like If I
had freedom, I'd be doing something very different
right now. And in fact, that's what happens
when you give those youth a little bit
of freedom, you see that they're all
like acting out. They're they're actually acting more
western than westerners.
Right? Why? Because it's repressed and they never
felt convinced of what they were what they
were what was imposed on them. But Allah
is saying, the only way believers will ever
have stability,
is only gonna happen by the firm word.
So the scary question we have to ask
ourselves I mean, I'm from Pakistan, I'm I'm,
American, I'm very American, I'm very American. I'm
very Pakistani. I'm both deal with it. But,
like, you know, in my culture in Pakistan,
it's a Muslim country, and we have slogans
like Pakistan Right? And we have many and
we have many different Pakistans in Pakistan. But
one of the Pakistan is very conservative, very
religious.
Right? Very practicing religious,
Muslims.
And the vast majority of them have no
idea what the Quran is about.
The vast Forget about the not religious people.
Well, I'm not talking about the not religious
people.
I'm talking about the visibly practicing religious, wanna
make sure everything is halal and, you know,
the clothing, the the the social life, the
and no idea what Allah says, no idea.
How is firmness gonna come?
And then what happens in and even in
forget about Baxal, even in the west, we
want our kids to be good Muslims. So
what's what's shallow solution that we come up
with? We're gonna make our kids become a
hafid of the Quran. So because if they
become a then Allah will protect everything else
is with Allah. So this kid is memorizing
the Quran,
and then after memorizing the Quran,
Allah protect all of our children, I know
enough of these thousands upon thousands of stories,
that same kid is drinking alcohol, that same
kid is in a gang, that same kid
left the masjid, he's doing drugs, doing all
kinds of crazy stuff. But I made him
a hafid. How did he do this? How
could he do this? Why did he do
Well, because you made him memorize sounds.
Those were the sounds of the word of
Allah, but the word of Allah will not
become firm in someone until they know what
Allah is saying,
and they feel what Allah is saying.
Right? So we didn't We we we did
part of the job, which is so amazing
these kids memorize the Quran, but if by
the time they memorize the Quran, they haven't
begun to taste the meaning, the wisdom, the
beauty, the relevance, the power of the Quran.
If they don't feel any of that, it's
just there to lead taraweeh,
that's all it's for,
what have you done?
Where's firmness gonna come from? Where's stability gonna
come from?
And then he
says, in worldly life.
Meaning, if we want Islam to be firm
in society
among the believing, the individual and the community,
then without the word of Allah, without the
firm word it will not happen. Then it
will be a cultural Islam.
It will be an Islam that's been based
on a cult.
Some people's Islam is based on a personality.
Other people's Islam is based on a certain
group
and so long as they're around that group,
their Islam is strong. The moment they get
away from that group, their Islam disappears, it
breaks up.
Or some Or they find they were worshiping
almost worshiping a Sheikh, and then when that
sheikh turns out to be human or he
said something that's contradictory or wrong, everybody makes
mistakes, everybody's human, all of a sudden your
faith has collapsed. Why is your faith collapsed?
Because you weren't holding on to,
you're holding on to something else.
Something else is always going to be unstable.
So Allah is offering believers the solution. He's
offering us
a remedy.
If we make Quran education
and Quran,
like, attachment I don't just say education. I
don't just say, oh, teach Arabic, teach tafsir.
I say there's there's gotta be a a
discussion
on the Quran among youth, among among families.
There's gotta be on the Quran. There needs
to
be
a culture of Quran.
When that starts happening, and and how the
Quran interacts with the outside world, how is
the Quran helping us understand the world around
us? If that doesn't happen, faith will not
remain firm.
It will become an artificial thing. And when
it's an artificial thing, the next wind comes
and the tree tips over.
It's not that Islam is weak. It's our
attachment to it is weak, and Allah is
teaching us what makes it strong in this
ayah.
But then he adds,
And before I get to, I just one
more thing I wanna tell you. What does
the Quran tell us when somebody becomes firm
in their faith? The first, of course, this
is Surat Ibrahim. So let's start with the
example of Ibrahim alaihis salam. When your faith
is firm, it's not just that you can
stand in front of Firaun like Musa alaihi
sallam or in front of like Ibrahim alaihi
sallam. Ibrahim alaihi sallam can even stand up
in front of his dad. Before you think
about standing in front of your in front
of think about standing in front of your
uncle
or your dad or your older brother or
your family because
that sounds a lot tougher.
But the government, I'm ready to protest.
Right?
But the immediate
authority in front of you, you can't stand
in front of them.
But he he demonstrated even as a young
man that he could challenge even respectfully, he
could challenge his father when the father was
doing something wrong.
Where's firmness gonna come from? It's a kind
of courage also.
Is actually having the courage to say the
right thing. That's the same thing with the
that's the same thing with the believer in
Alifiroun who spoke up in Surat Rafir.
Him speaking up guarantees the death penalty.
You're standing in the palace of the pharaoh
in his assembly speaking out against the pharaoh.
What's gonna happen to you? You're not Musa
who's got a special love and Firaun's got
a soft corner. You're gonna get executed. He
knows it but he spoke up anyway.
Right? Because that that's
but then why did Allah separate that from
This is the scary part.
Allah says believers will have the the firm
word, not just in this world,
Allah will make them firm with the firm
word in the.
So Allah describes, for example, in Surat,
at Tahrim, you
We believers are walking and Allah gives them
the right words. They say, our master complete
our right our light and forgive us, as
they're walking towards Jannah, may Allah make us
of them. Allah describes in Surat
he
says
None of them are gonna be able to
speak except when Allah gives permission. Ar Rahman
gives permission, and they're gonna say the right
thing. They're gonna speak in the right way.
That's
in the But what about
Because Allah is saying, Allah will give you
firmness with the right words, with the firm
words in this world and in the next.
But then Allah describes in some places in
the Quran,
people are speaking nonsense on judgment day.
I wanna hear help help you hear some
of those words. What nonsense will some people
say on judgement day? Here's 1.
A person will stand on judgement day on
their way to and they're like, if Allah
guided me, I would have been a good
person.
If Allah had had Allah done that, Allah
didn't do it.
Right? That's what just keep this word. Had
Allah guided me, I would have been from
the Okay. Another one,
Oh, we used to follow all these influencers.
If we had another chance, we would get
away from these people the way they're getting
away from us now, if we just had
another chance.
Another place in the Quran,
They say,
these
we we ended up following our leaders and
our elders, and they're the ones who misguided
us from the past.
Our
It's our leaders. It's our it's the government.
It's the politicians. It's the business people. It's
the celebrity. They're the ones who misguided us.
We didn't do it. They did it. This
this they're the real problem. Look at how
corrupt they are.
Right?
Okay?
Then,
They're the ones who misguided us.
Give them double the punishment. You Allah, give
them double the punishment.
Now this is this not and among this,
oh, there's also, for example,
in at the end of also.
Right?
Yeah Allah, death is coming, but no. No.
No. Just give me a little bit more
time. I'm gonna give so much. I'll be
so good. Just watch. Just watch.
I had to go to Urdu
here. Right? Because I when I when I
went to Pakistan, one of the things somebody
told me is you get people that are
begging you for a job. They're begging you
for a job. Right? Like, yeah. I I
have small kids. Like, no, you don't, but
I will one day.
Please give me a and then you finally
give the guy a job. He's like, just
give me a job. I'll show you.
No. You've never hired somebody this good. Then
you hire the guy, the guy stopped showing
up at work, not not returning calls, missing
deadlines, and he's like, sir, if you just
give me this one bonus
for Eid,
you see what I do.
You've never seen this kind of productivity.
Right? So you got this, like, mentality
that, oh, oh, just give me another chance.
I'm gonna be amazing. I'm gonna be amazing.
Teachers know some kids do that to them.
I know I missed my deadline, but, yo,
if you just give me just, like, 5
extra points,
I'm gonna be the best I'll show you
I'll be the best student in this class.
And then a week later when he's missing
all this assignments again, what happened to you
being the best student?
Yeah. I know,
just, like, just one more chance. Just just
one more. I know I said one more
last time, but just this this is this
is this I mean it this time.
Right? And they're doing this on judgment day.
Now the examples I gave you, somebody who
comes along and says, if only Allah guided
me, I would have been good.
If Allah give me another chance, I'll be
good.
My leaders are the ones who misguided me.
My elders are the ones my family is
the one that misguided me. It's not my
fault. You should punish them twice. It's the
it's on them.
You know what? None of this sounds like
things that they're gonna come up with on
judgment day. You know what this sounds like?
These are the kinds of things they've been
saying in their life all along.
They've been saying things like it's all the
corrupt leaders' fault, my family's fault, what can
I do, it's everybody else's fault, Allah didn't
guide me so how can I if Allah
if Allah already knows everything, then how can
it be my fault? If Allah already decided
everything,
how can it be my fault? If Allah
has already written written that is and He
knows who's gonna go to jannah and jahannam.
Well, you know, guess I it's not my
fault. They've been they've been singing that mantra
in this life and they're thinking they're gonna
be able to sell it to Allah on
judgment day.
Allah says the believer will come before Allah
on judgment day with
Does this sound like a No.
So Allah is now telling us the people
of these kinds of
words, these weird excuse type words that live
the life of excuses in this life, that's
what they're gonna bring to Allah on judgment
day. That's all they were prepared with. But
the people who are holding on to Allah
and holding on to his word in this
life, they come with the right words before
Allah on judgement day. May Allah make us
all from them. So
Now we get to
and Allah will this literal translation sounds like
Allah will misguide the wrongdoers. Let me just
tell you something about in in. It's really
cool.
Simple English. If I say, for instance,
they executed the murderer.
They executed the murderer,
the word murderer
is actually telling you why they executed him.
So they didn't have to give you a
separate statement to illustrate the reason for which
the execution happened. You understand?
They executed the murderer,
or, you know, they You know, the company
fired the thief.
So why did they fire him?
Because he was still It didn't have to
be said. The word thief included it in
it. The rationale was already embedded into the
way the statement was made. The same way
when Allah says, Allah misguides
the wrongdoers.
Allah misguides the wrongdoers.
In fact, I'd better translate that as Allah
allows
the wrongdoers to remain in misguidance
or to carry on in misguidance. That's how
I would translate that. But what's the rational
why is he allowing them to be in
misguidance?
Because of their wrongdoing. You understand that the
is already there.
Now, what's really interesting word, Allah didn't say
here, He didn't say in here. He said
here.
And
anybody who's an Arabic student here knows
means to put something where it doesn't belong.
Is someone who puts something where it doesn't
belong.
Right? Your anger belongs somewhere, you put it
somewhere else, you're
Your your your the rights belong somewhere, you
gave them somewhere else, you're
The money belongs somewhere, you put the money
somewhere else, you're That's that's the the meaning
of is putting something where it doesn't belong.
What's really remarkable about this ayah is, you
were supposed to put the water where it
belongs, the seed where it belongs, you were
supposed to rely on the tree where it
belongs, and you're the Valim, you're the one
who misplaced your hopes on the wrong tree,
you're the one who didn't nourish, put the
water where it belongs, and
nurture the roots how the way they deserve
to be nurtured. You nurtured the wrong thing,
you're the wazim.
And Allah says, and and it's interesting, I
told you kind of in passing in the
beginning, Allah didn't say
this is the opposite of guidance. This is
the opposite of being firm on the firm
word.
So what is Allah telling us about misguidance
in this ayah?
It's by he's telling us, actually, misguidance in
this ayah means there will be people who
don't hold on to the firm word, and
they have no interest in holding on to
the firm word, and they will distance themselves
from the firm word, and they will be
disinterested
and, you know,
actually even repulsed
by the firm word and Allah says Allah
will keep them that way.
Fine. You wanna stay that way? You stay
that way. You wanna hold on to some
other words for yourself? You do it. Some
people will hold on to their excuses for
life.
Hold on to them for life and Allah
says, Allah will keep them that way. That's
fine and that's the same excuses they'll come
with like I told you on judgment day.
Other people will run to Allah's word. They'll
run to and and try to hold on
to Allah's word because they know the more
they hold on to these words, the firm
the more firm they become.
So actually, misguidance
is now being described as not being firm
on the word of Allah,
not holding on to the word of Allah
and therefore not being firm yourself, flip flopping.
Like I was telling you, if if we're
Muslim, if our families are Muslim, if our
cultures are Muslim because of some cultural trend
that's been going for a few centuries,
that doesn't mean that the Islamic roots are
firm,
that the faith roots are firm. Then a
new trend can come and remove everything that
looked Islamic
and just get rid of it in a
generation.
You know?
And it but if the roots are firm,
then
then the next generation will keep benefiting from
fruits and fruits and fruits and fruits because
the right kind of trees were planted.
This is a this is a very interesting
time in the history of the world and
in the history of Islam. We're living in
the middle of the one of the most
important moments in history if you don't realize
it.
Right? Colonization has ended. There's an Internet and
an information revolution and a social media revolution
and a the world humanity is in conversation
with itself like it's never been before in
the entire history of humanity.
Right? Entire history of humanity.
Nobody will be able to hold on to
what they believe without it being challenged today.
It was possible for you to believe something,
and live in that belief your entire life,
and you never even met somebody who doesn't
believe what you believe. That was possible.
That is now impossible.
You will not only meet,
be exposed to ideas that oppose your worldview,
but the strongest waves will come and hit
you. And it don't won't discriminate if you're
7 years old or 17 years old or
75 years old. It won't discriminate. The only
way people are gonna be able to stay
is That's the only way.
Nothing else will kept keep holding
on. If you think you're gonna stay Muslim
because your mama is Muslim, because your dad
will be really upset if he finds out
you don't really believe as much as you
used to believe,
then your your then your your attachment to
Islam is just an emotional one, or you're
just being courteous to your elders and that's
it. That's all that's left. Nothing deeper remains.
And Allah will allow those who misplaced their
faith in the wrong thing, Allah will allow
them to be by the wayside and fall
into to misguidance. And somebody asked the question,
how can Allah misguide allow even Muslims to
end up leaving Islam?
What's what's going to happen? And look at
the power of the eye at the end,
Allah does whatever He wants.
Allah does what he wants. He's already told
us openly in many places.
If you turn your backs, Allah will replace
you with another nation other than you. They
won't be like you?
They won't be like you? Allah will replace
entire
nations, ethnicities, millions of people with other people.
Allah can bring others. Allah Islam is not
in need of us,
Allah's deen is not in need of us.
The as
it is. You're the one that's not I'm
the one that's not
We're the ones that need The word will
stay where it is
and others will come and benefit from it.
And Allah is not interested in numbers the
way we are. We think, oh, when we
have the numbers, we have strength.
Your numbers impressed you it's not numbers that
matter in the end the world wasn't changed
by huge numbers of people it was a
handful of people the sahaba were not a
massive number of people
there are a small number of people
over and over again in the history of
the world It's a small band of people
that bring about a change in the entire
world. What does that small band of people
have that the world doesn't have? They have
They have firmness.
They're deeply rooted. That's what the difference is.
And that's what this these ayat about the
the firm word, and the loose word and
the deep roots and the shallow roots and
the tree that falls and the tree that
stands.
All of this is actually teaching the ummah
for for until judgment day, it's teaching us
if we have become weak and we become
the kind of tree or trees that keep
falling, how do we replant
and become the kind of tree that refuses
to fall? The formula has been given to
us. It's up to us to take it.
May Allah make us the generation that takes
it and reaffirms it so our next generations
are actually even stronger
than the ones that are now.
Assalamu alaikum, everyone. There are almost 50,000 students
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