Nouman Ali Khan – Sunrise & Sunset

Anywhere. So the only way that I mean descending only a lot most of the time, the multimeter a

lot more dynamic environment Oh sorry, headquarter was always happy. But also

in my photo Today I'd like to share with you a reminder about something that emphasizes in different ways, in different parts of the Quran. And it's one of the special ways of remembering it.

And it's, it has to do with special times of remembering. So I'll start with the prayer at the phrase socata love. Something we often recite something we see very often. And it's part of our relationship with remembering a lot. It's very fundamental to us to declare the praise and gratitude of a lot and to declare his perfection. That is something that everybody should know or remind themselves of, in terms of the phrase, some kind of love. It comes from sabaha, which actually means to float. And when we declare the souhan of Allah, which can be roughly translated, I don't like to transition glory to God, I don't think covers the word glory. But it really has to do with

perfection. That, you know, when something is floating and stays in the same place, it doesn't go down, it stays exactly where it's supposed to be. The idea of the speed is that we think of a law the same way

that a viable solution is perfect, no matter what's happening in our life. And when something is said, that is inappropriate about a law, if somebody says something that is equal to something that shouldn't be said, and it's blasphemous or offensive to a lot, that you know, traditionally historically the Muslims when they heard something like that, their immediate response was to say somehow Allah subhanaw taala was said as if I disagree with you, that is offensive because it was too perfect for you to say something like that, which is why the Quran sometimes when people would commit shift of us ohana, what Allah Allah

Subhana Allah

you know that Allah is way too perfect above the things they attribute to him the kinds of ship they do to him. So the idea of saying so probably is You and I are declaring, I confess and I admit otherwise perfect, I admit to the perfection of a low another flawlessness of Allah azza wa jal. So, this idea of disease of removing all flaw from a lies at the heart of this beat. Now, having said that, a lot on different occasions in the Quran tells us to remember his perfection or to call on him as the one who was perfect, especially in the morning and in the nighttime or the evening time, what content will

he not consume, what he noticed

was also

there are multiple layouts like this, which allows origin will say, declare this perfection in the morning time, when the when the sun is coming up. kubla Shamsi will

submit

multiple occasions declares perfection before the sun comes up and right before the sun goes down? Now why is that? Why are those two times so significant? There are a few things to say about that. The first of them I'll say is that you know many of our traditions in our faith and much of our worship, it actually goes back to the legacy of Ibrahim ideas.

And if I lived in a town, which the Bible describes is a cool name of the town is not mentioned in the Quran. And with the town worship, as the Bible says worship many idols they had many, many items. And actually some more recent archaeological digs claimed that they found when they found literally idols the size of maybe $1, to the size of a person and everything in between 1000s upon 1000s of miles.

And it's interesting that the largest idols that they found, are actually a person that looks like a crown of a moon, another person like a crown that looks like Jupiter, which is in Arabic, called Coco. And another person with a crown that looks like the sun.

And remarkably low, put on a lot of Xhosa does not describe all of their idols does mention that they used to have a snowman. But he does mention that

showed how false it is to worship the sun, and the moon. And the star in our shows.

Those three are the ones that unites and they're the ones that were the biggest statues in the talent. So the idea is they have many, many gods but the main ones they believe more, we're the ones in the sky, we need the sun and the moon and the star, the large star.

So the thing about it when he brings it up, let's go back a little bit you know, ancient societies around the world, understood that for the human eye, we experienced this universe, the earth that we see around us, mountains, trees, birds, etc, etc. But nothing the human eye or human experience sees or appreciates is more powerful than the sun right? That's the

The largest most magnificent creation of a lot in our experience that we can see. It's the world itself. It's a mighty source of endless energy. And that's why so many societies historically, pagan societies actually used to worship the sun, including the pharaohs, they used to worship the sun, because it's such a mighty source of heat and power, that they believe the sun god raw, and they will be the pharaohs believed that they were children of that.

Society has a similar belief, they you know, they also believe that the sun is a kind of God. Anyway, he really demonstrates to them that how can you worship something that isn't permanent? It goes away. And he's actually you know, some people misunderstand the story. He wasn't saying, like,

well, this is my God. You know, the Sunday school version of the story, Ibrahim Ali Salaam, believed that the sun was his daughter first. And then he realized by the evening that it sets so he says, I can't worship something. And now people are feeling I can't love something, and I can't worship something that sits down. If I was one of the most intelligent human beings that ever lived. It's not like until you waited until about a time to realize, Oh, my God, it's disappeared. What am I supposed to do? Now, he already knew it's gonna sit, he was demonstrating how silly it is to believe in the divinity of the sun. To those who are around him. He wasn't doing this for himself. This

wasn't his process of discovery, he was showing others why this doesn't make any sense he was demonstrating it is. In any case, when he describes that the sun goes down, and the sun's light starts disappearing, and darkness falls all over the earth. And it's a temporary thing. He wants to draw people's attention to something

that Allah is the one who's worthy of being worshipped doesn't go through phases, doesn't change. And who he is that what the sun is, to us a source of heat, and a source of light changes in a matter of hours, it goes away, and then it comes back for a few hours. And then it goes away again for a few hours. In other words, my relationship with the Sun and the Earth relationship with the sun changes constantly, it's going through back and forth. But I want a relationship with someone who doesn't change, who's perfect, who's always the same, who doesn't experience this kind of up and down. And so he's calling on people to understand that a lot of agendas this permanent, permanent,

perfect. Being that we're that's worthy of being worshipped. Now alert. So in a sense reminds us of that, because the times of the day, where the sun is actually going through a transition, light is turning into dark or dark is turning into light. It's the times where we noticed that the sun's we're reminded of the sun's temporary nature. It is at those times, particularly that Allah says remind yourself, of the one who's always perfect, the sky over you is going to change the way the world looks in front of him in the daytime will be completely the way it is not the way it's going to look at nighttime. I'm reminded one time I was invited to a community on an island to travel and

visit, there's very beautiful islands. And we arrived there at 11 o'clock at night. And they drove us you know, through the mountains to the place we were staying and the place looks scary. terrifying. There's no light outside pitchblack The only thing you'll see is the streetlights in front of us some homes that are lit in the distance, it's extremely, extremely scary, because the darkness creates a kind of fear of the unknown. And the same place when worrying him was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Because when light comes and completely changes, your perspective, becomes a completely different place. So love is always describes us in these two

moments, the time of the sun setting, and the time of the sun coming up. He describes to us where he encourages us to remind ourselves that this life goes through changes, it goes through dark and light, but the light is always the same. This is the time to remind yourself, oh allows perfection. So So kind of lucky enough to

be born.

The other remarkable thing is that a lot of us always have calls on the imagery of light and darkness throughout the Quran. You know in any culture, any civilization including you know, English literature, of course, ancient Arabic literature, Persian literature, you look at different kinds of literature around the world. Light is associated with some things and darkness is associated with some other things. Darkness can be associated with hopelessness. Darkness can be associated with evil, it can be associated with, you know, fear, or, you know, confusion. Or, you know, maybe a worry about the unknown. When someone says they're going through a dark time, virtually in every in

any any any language that somebody would understand they're in darkness means they're not in a good place. You know, when you say I see I see a darkness on their face, or you say about someone I see a light on their face. There's no other things, right? You can tell that these do these two things are opposites.

As always, I made this world experience light every day. And he made this real world experience darkness every single day, every single day. And that's a powerful reminder that you and I, in our life are going to experience light. And we're also going to experience darkness. That's a part of life. That's how low wanted things to be. And no matter how bright the lights are on the earth, when you're landing on a plane, you know, in the middle of the night, and all the city lights are on, no matter how bright those lights are, no matter how much energy we human being spent to light up the city at nighttime, the sky over them still remains a black blanket, you can't compete with a loss of

light that comes in the morning, the sun that comes in the morning, you can't compete with it, there's no way you know. And so let's talk I want to use this opportunity to remind myself in you a little bit about what it means to have light and what it means to have darkness. You know, light and darkness could be imagery for spiritual states, when we are closer to a love when we feel like we're connected to a love when you're praying. And you can actually feel tears coming to come down your eyes that are stemming from your heart. There's a kind of light inside you there's an ease and a comfort inside you. There's a reliance on the love, there's a contentment, I'm grateful for whatever

you've given me, I'm grateful for the condition I'm in. There's been times like that, that we experienced that kind of light in our life that's in a spiritual leader in a state of light. But then there are other times a person feels disconnected from alone. Even when they're praying, they can feel anything. They don't even feel motivated to me, Donna, we can live here in bed, it's wintertime, and nobody wants to get up and leave. Like they're staring at the ceiling not being able to get out I can open a person experiences a state of darkness. And you know what sometimes a word is describing no matter how close you can get to alone, no matter how good your connection to a

legate can get, there can be a time coming where that connection will become weak. This is not permanent. You and I cannot hold on to that state that closeness to Allah permanently. There will be ups and downs, we are going to experience turbulence on this journey. And on the other side, there could be someone who feels like I've become so far away from above, I am so drowned in darkness. I'm so far away from him that I've just drowned in sin. And I keep messing up over and over and over again. I'm you know, like when they leave I said like that he swears by the night when it becomes lifeless. I have no faith inside me I feel a little light inside me. And even though a lot of

reminds me

of your master has not abandoned you. He didn't say goodbye to you. He's not upset. He hasn't given up on you. There's another light coming after that. Nobody's beyond hope, just like lightning day can be so absolute. I mean, when the sun comes up, there's no place that isn't lit. And when the sun goes away, there's no place that isn't dark. And yet it completely transforms by the last command every single day. So no one human being should know if we're lucky to do that for the entire earth. He can do that from my heart. You know that lamp in the sky that he can light up and he can bring out is similar in some sense to the lamp love put inside my chest, which is why it's futile to nor

Ironically, the solar up light, he calls our heart a lamp. He describes it like a lamp that's lit up.

Now, that's one state what way to understand this analogy of light and darkness and especially when to remember a lot in times when the sun is transitioning into light and it's transitioning into darkness. But there are other important lessons here. Light and Darkness don't have to just be in you know, spiritual states and our relationship with Allah. They can also be our emotional states. A person can fall into, you know, hopelessness and misery. A person can be overwhelmed with grief. Many of you have experienced things in your life that are like very deep scars and physical scars. If you get cut a lot made the body in a way that over time though, it'll start healing. There may be

a market over time, it actually gets better when a bone when the human body breaks a bone. And then you put it back in place. Actually, those joints that are fixed again, by laws permission, those are the strongest part of the bone now, it's more reinforced than anything else. You know, that's how the human body but sometimes emotional injuries, things that were sent to you that hurt you experiences that hurt you that caused you pain loss or caused you pain. It could be something that lingers inside you like a cut just to heal. Like it feels the same every day. I'm reminded of your violin Salaam who would cry about the loss of use of a salon so many years later, like he just lost

him so much so that his son's other sons couldn't understand why are you still crying about this? Like it just happened?

So

are you going to keep remembering missing user remembering him but you're gonna kill yourself? What are you doing, they would get upset with him. And that tells us something if a prophet of Allah at least helped us on his spiritual

connection with a lot is flawless. I mean, he's a prophet of Allah, and yet sad, this is still a part of his life. So just because you're spiritually healthy and your mind is in a good place, and your connection to what lies in a good place, that does not mean that your sadness has gone away, because your pain has gone away, or that your emotions aren't where there's, you know, that those emotional pains can be erased that those two things are two separate things, which is white light and darkness, on the one hand, is about our relationship with a mother. But on the other hand, it's also about other scholars, other pain, other difficulties, and sometimes Allah makes us experience

those kinds of dark nights for a long time. But even then, a lot of promises that he brings about what day he brings day again, and even when he brings me in, I will particularly the I recited to you actually has to do with the story of Korea in South

Korea was a man who loved along, spends his time on Instagram in person teaching and teaching the religion of love teaching the book of Allah, that's what he did with his wife, because his life essentially revolved around the house of worship, which you can call the question of that time. You know, as a matter of fact, even when the angels came to him, they came to him in the middle of his usual place to be, you know, the place where he prints now, all he wanted it for so many years, was someone who can take charge of the responsibilities he's carrying, you started off to shave, my hair is turned ash, you know, I'm old, I can't afford it the grip already, and I don't see anyone, you

know,

I've been wanting everybody that's left behind me, I'm not so sure they can do the responsibilities that I was carrying. Yeah, look, I can only find someone to inherit my legacy. So I can teach them and they can actually learn the way I need them to. So they can carry this responsibility properly. So give me someone who can do that he didn't think it was going to be a child. But he wanted a child for so long. But he and his wife couldn't give birth. And so he's, you know, lifting old gotten to old age. And by the way, not just for spiritual reasons. Some people want to have a child, and they're not able to have a child and they can live with that pain for many, many years. And a lot

this displays that right before he's going to die in this very old age. That alone decides that he's going to give up a child. And the angels come and tell him he's going to have a child. And this Finally, it seems like there was this years of night. And now it's about about to turn into what day it's supposed to be like now it's it's hope now. And the law tells him the sign from Allah is you're not going to talk to people for three days. But while you're not going to talk to people for three days, interestingly, he tells him what's up in the machine, he will

he continue to declare how perfect a lot is, in the evening time in the morning time. You keep remembering the light in the evening time, and in the morning. Why? Because you know, when you and I hope for something, we really pray to Allah, something works out, you make love for it, you ask a love for it. And in your head, you're telling yourself if this works out, if this if this thing happens, if these if my daughter can just get married, if this can, you know, this one can graduate or if they just get this job or whatever else, you have something that you're hoping works out. And if it works out, everything's going to be perfect. Things are going to be good. That's what's going

on in your head. You're telling yourself this all the time. And a lot of says no, even when you're about to have a son understand something, nothing will ever be perfect, because perfection is only for love. So remind yourself that when light turns into day day will also eventually turn into nice. So don't forget that. Don't forget just because you got what you wanted. Now everything's perfect. You're deluding yourself, perfection and permanence only belongs to us. That's why it's so big. She was a car. Because you know, you might think after you're waiting to get something for so long once you have it. Problem solved. But no.

Human Being in labor in difficulty. Yes, we want things. We want things to make life better, but life is never going to be perfect. It's never going to be without problems. Now, what does the devil do? The devil uses your dark times To tell you you know, you can see and you start saying to yourself, you think you're saying it to yourself. It's actually the devil telling you this? He's telling you. Well, God used to be pretty good with you remember, I don't know why he's so angry at you now. You got sick. Your kids don't like you. This happened. That will happen. All the while I was doing this to me.

I was in late and all of a sudden he keeps throwing me into different kinds of darkness. I don't get it. I'm making the same dog. I'm still praying. I haven't changed. Why is what changed towards me. And that's these are the times you and I have to remind ourselves in those morning and evening times, the world around you will change. The world will never change. There's a love, a love ever change. You think that a lot change just because your surroundings change just because you're surrounded by

Darkness you've

just because you're surrounded by light, you're like, oh, finally, it was good to me. No, no, no, a light is always the same. Allah loves you just as much when you're in darkness as he does when you're in light. When you're going through difficulty, it was still loving when you're in light, the light still loving you, which is why the opposite, you know, exactly I was told RT Aster. And remember last perfection in those two times. And also last on a lot more I think it was, when the insults were getting overwhelming. When the courage would say the most horrible, horrible things to him. You know, and you know, when people say hurtful things to you, they've hurt a lot. Especially

if you're a dignified person, if you're used to hearing customers all the time, it doesn't affect you. But you know, if you're a dignified person, and you hear insults, and really constantly you

lose a dignified person. And he's hearing all kinds of horrible insults and the allegations against him constantly. Every time he tries to do what lies mark, he is met with humiliation from no connection. You know,

sometimes words can hurt more than a beating does. And when that beating is getting so wrong for him. What I say to him was there either way,

what's up, so

just be patient of everything. They're saying, just

against everything, they say, just withstand it. And then he tells him just keep remembering that a lie is perfect, right before the sun comes up and right before it goes down.

You know, why? Why would allows him to tell him that. Look, there isn't a there is a there is a darkness there is a hopelessness, but there will be light again. And then it will be difficult he can come again and light will come again. And this is just the journey between darkness and light that Allah created for every human being for every single thing that we also almost a test whether or not because of your situation do you let go below or not? One of the most beautiful things in our in our religion that keeps us connected to Allah is our five prayers. Everybody knows that. Our daily connection to Allah is five prayers. And of those five prayers when we pray them together. Two

of them are silent. Lola is silent. And Madeline sharp and Fletcher are not silent. They're loud. You notice the times when the world is surrounded by darkness. We recite the Quran louder. You noticed that a lot is called white light. Or Allah says I've been relying on sunidhi when knowing that the answer, believe in Allah, believe in the messenger and believe in the light that we sent down. So when we are reciting Quran from our heart, we're actually increasing light around us, we need more light when there's more darkness. So in dark, when the sky starts getting darker, and we're still in darkness, then we increase the light of our hearts by reciting Coraline, even lower,

it's such a beautiful religion. It's such a profound reality that allies has given us in our prayers. And so I remind myself and I remind you, of those special times, the morning time, and the evening time, particularly what's been alluded to endocrinol seems to be the future.

And the Muslim prayer, particularly, but especially all the times when there is darkness outside, which is why the closest personal love are the dev the night, when the world is surrounded by darkness. That's the hope that's the I will leave right now the last beautiful thing I want to share with you is a lot as origin even though the sky turns dark. Allah keeps telling us in the Quran

that allowed me to relax remarkable signs of the sky, the sun, and the moon, the sun and the moon, he keeps referring to them over and over again. It was amazing. Of course, the sun is a source of light, we get that. But when the sky is surrounded by darkness, and we're over blanketed by darkness, which can be in our personal life, it can be hopelessness. It can be anger, it can be previous scars, it can be anything, it could be a trauma, that that's not letting go of you. It could be any of those things. Even in those times. If you look at the sky, you can if you have to look, it's not so obvious the sun, you don't have to know where it is. But the moon, you got to find

it sometimes you gotta find it, when you find it, that Moon is not a light of its own, that Moon is getting light from the sun.

And so it's reminding you that the sun is not dead, that the light of the law is not gone, it's there. Even when you're in the dark. Even when you're in the dark that light is still

there is it's a remarkable reminder to us that even in dark times, don't think light is missing. It's their use of look for

is more effort required to look and it becomes the most beautiful thing in the sky.

You know, it was a loss of a loved one it was

the last thing I'll share with you. So last night so that was compared in Milan to the sun

Whether you're in a locked up isn't up

there in the lobby, or you want to call her to allow by laws permission, and you are a brilliant lamp.

And the word Sahaja is used for the sun.

It's actually useful. So *

describes he put in the sky, the sun, the light of we get the light of the planet we receive the Messenger of Allah. So the loved one is being described like the light of the sun. And when the messenger was alive, it was like a day. The best, the most fortunate people are the ones who got to experience that sun directly. They saw him, they lived with him, they heard his voice. He didn't hear from a book or recording or some recital they inherited from the Messenger of Allah, so a lot more. sometimes they'd be sitting with him and his teacher would be the same room that will happen to those people experienced the sudden they experienced the brilliance of light. And time

is no longer in our company.

No longer in our midst. Now we're by ourselves. But you know what, when we're no longer in his company, what's still there, the moon and it still reflects what the light of the prophet SAW the light of the sun is still reflected on the moon in the darkest of times, the believer we are actually being compared to the moon By the way, you and I are being compared to the moon. You and I are supposed to reflect the light of this new love

for the world to frame lakes, where does the world's gonna find light is gonna find it and people are gonna compare you and I two lamps, why lamps, you'll never have seen I was in a salon I didn't miss back. In the morning time, the lamp is irrelevant.

You don't need a lamp in the morning doing in the lamp at nighttime. The believer, it seems the believer was to be tested in this life surrounded by dark situations. And instead of becoming hopeless because of dark situations. In fact, the believer was supposed to be the lamp that illuminates the dark situation. We were supposed to be that lamp. When were we supposed to get our fuel, our fuel is supposed to come from a pure source less healthier will appear. That's that's the legacy of our messengers, humble backgrounds. That becomes our view. And that illuminates us that gets rid of our own darkness, not only does it get rid of our darkness, we become a source of light

for others. So they're the dark, they can feel better. They can find hope in us they can find some guidance in us, they can find some love, some mercy, some courtesy and all of those remarkable attributes. Our profits on the love learning center are supposed to be reflected in you and me in some way. In the way he used to just turn to people and care for them and listen to them and be patient with them and forgive them. those qualities are supposed to emulate in ourselves and people should find that light in us. That's what's supposed to happen. So I remind myself and I remind you of the value of turning to Allah, especially in the learning and especially in the evening. You'll

learn so much and because of people that declare his perfection the way he deserves to be for it to be declared, and we overlook all of our shortcomings.