Nouman Ali Khan – Surah Yusuf #63 – V97-98 Pray For Our Forgiveness!
AI: Summary ©
The speaker discusses the need for forgiveness and acknowledges the negative impact of sexual harassment, particularly in the workplace. He emphasizes the importance of acknowledging one's own lack of knowledge and experience with these behaviors and acknowledging that women have a higher likelihood of committing crimes against them than men. He also mentions the need for a culture change and for women to be recognized as leaders.
AI: Summary ©
Rule of Law human issues Panaji,
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probably a silly MD. Dr. Tommy lasagna poco de hamdu Lillah wa salatu salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah, he was a huge man. I'm about everyone said I wanted to lay down over a carto Today I'll try to discuss with you some things I've come to learn from is number 97 and 98 of the story of use of 47 sort of use of this is the part of the story in which the short episode has already happened. And now the sons are to apologize to their father or at least confront their father and admit that they were wrong. And so 97 is about them talking to him. And then 98 is about his response to them. So that's going to be a discussion by ourselves by itself 97 and 98 Now, let me just first start by
translating what they said Kazuya abana I'll translate literally First they said our father Oh, our Father is still a learner the new banana seek forgiveness on our behalf for our sins ask forgiveness for us for our mistakes or our sins. In lacuna hearts in we have in fact been making or we have been the ones to make terrible mistakes. We've been in the wrong
you could even say we were wrong all along is an OK translation of that. And then in not here suggesting there's no doubt about it. We're completely confessing that we were in the wrong color sofa style film. Welcome Robbie. He said soon or in some time, in a short while, I will seek forgiveness on your behalf or for you from my master in Nauvoo, who is a photo Rahim. Certainly he is the ultimately forgiving, always loving and caring a little photo Rahim. So this is the discussion, the subject of the discussion today. The first thing that we have to, you know, lay out. So I want to be able to present this picture to you as fairly as possible. And with as much nuance
as possible. There are two ways of reading this. Two very different ways, really opposing ways of reading these ions. One way of reading these ions is where you don't want to give these brothers any benefit of the doubt, you still want to be skeptical about their their apology or their confession. And the other is you want to give them as much benefit of the doubt as possible. I've shared with you before that in our history, there was a tendency to buy buy some to consider these individuals profits. There's no substantiated evidence for that. But there are some narrations whose authenticity is clearly questionable, but is enough for some to accept and say that these people, in
fact became prophets. And because of that view, every chance they got to kind of, you know, lessen the blow on them a little bit, the the interpretation of the IOD were more inclined towards giving them the benefit of the doubt.
And then, of course, there's the other reading, which is something so hidden, how we're jokingly saying today that maybe we're we're not giving them the benefit of the doubt that others historically may have given and we're trying to look at it in a much more raw sense. So but you know, the text does have room for looking at it both ways. So what I'm going to try and do is actually advocate both sides. So first, I'm going to try to read these out as if they are sincerely coming with forgiveness, and we're giving benefit of the doubt, as much as possible. And then a little bit later on, I'll try to poke holes in that paint that narrative that I painted by saying,
well, let's not give them benefit of the doubt. And let's read that again. Well, let's figure this out again. And then at the end of that, we're gonna have to have a conclusion. And what I want to say on the onset is I'm not going to try to convince you of one conclusion over the other. And I'm not actually I will come out and say, I don't believe that we have the license to give one, one set of assumptions priority over the other and that is the intent of the text. If Allah wanted to explicitly tell us that they were sincere in their apology, there would have been wording that would have made that absolutely abundantly clear and the question would have disappeared, right? So Allah
did not want us to know that and there's a wisdom in us not knowing, and we're gonna have to discuss that towards the end also, not to mention the response of Yahoo and insulin, which plays into both of those readings. But anyway, let's start with giving them as much benefit of the doubt as we possibly can. First and foremost Scalia Bana they said our father is still failing, I seek forgiveness for us, of our our sins, our mistakes. them is one of the Arabic words for sins. There are lots of
words in the Quran that are used for sins. So when you read an English translation and it uses the word sin, or evil deed, there could be like an array of Arabic words, but they're all being translated a sin. So you don't get to as a reader of translation, you don't get to know which word is being used by Allah. Because we're kind of, we have to simplify and kind of use the same word in English over and over again, which is sin, sin, sin, sin and sin. Okay. But them actually comes from Deneb and then have is associated with the tail of an animal and the idea of them being associated with it with a tribe or with figures and you know, Arabic literature pre Islamic literature, was
it's the part of an animal that's the embarrassing part. Right? There's a famously, there was a tribe that, you know, because they used to associate themselves with animals to like, and that's, that's common in many cultures, like calling somebody a lion or a hawk or something like that, right? So, you know, glorified animals are associated with people often, right? Somebody who's being called a stallion, somebody being called, you know, a, you know, an eagle, somebody being called a tiger, etc, etc. These are noble animals that have majestic qualities. And so they're being associated with those kinds of qualities, this happens often, right? So, and obviously, nowadays is
a more contemporary form of that where, you know, teams aggrandized themselves by naming them after certain animals. Right. So that's, that's even in modern culture. But anyway, so this is old tribe, and because the camel was a big deal, the part of the camel that made them like we're really high, you know, we're were people that everybody else looks up to. And their way of saying that was unfun, ah, so in poetry did refer themselves refer to themselves as the nose of the camel.
Right? And this was their way of maybe in a literary sense, saying that anybody else looks up to us because the nose of the camel is high up, right? So a poet who wanted to diss them, and basically roast them because they this used to happen to people used to make poetry about how great they are. Other enemy tribes would make poetry about how they're not all that. Right. So the guy that made poetry against them called them venerable Naka, called them the tail of the camel. So he replaced the nose with the tail, tail being you know, obviously the behind the camel, that's what you guys really are. Right? So it was a dis now from that word tail.
extracted or the usage became popular as an Arabic have the word dumb. The figurative word for sin, meaning it highlights the aspect of a wrongdoing by which someone is embarrassed. So a sin could be something that's ugly a sin, there are other words a sin that causes a harm. Now there are words in Arabic for sin that actually arguably have come into Arabic from ancient Persian. So Juna in the Quran comes from Guna in Farsi, and Urdu speakers use that too. So there are other words like that to the each of them have their own kind of flavor and background. Though the background for this word is when someone is embarrassed about something that they did something that that makes them
feel ashamed. Right, and that that kind of a sin is called them. So they're using this word and in this word already is imbued the meanings of we're ashamed of what we've done. So they're not just saying sin, they're saying our shameful sin. The sin that embarrassed us, please ask forgiveness on our behalf for the sins that we've done that are so embarrassing and humiliating ties in now. Good nahata in no doubt about it. We have been in the wrong all together. Now. Mostly, I described this to you previously, because heartache came recently. Most is someone who makes a mistake, and it could be over time it became associated with you. You could have made that mistake. Not on purpose.
Right. But heartache. And hottie is actually for one who makes a mistake a hottie as opposed to a hopper is it's a you know, fire a little hottie, which means someone who made a mistake on purpose, someone who did something very grievously wrong. They're a habit. And so when they call themselves hottie even, they're not even giving themselves like leeway by saying, No, no, no, we made a mistake, or it wasn't entirely our fault, or we slipped up, or you know, when somebody says, I messed up. It's almost like saying, Yeah, I failed, but it's not entirely my fault. I'm human, what can I say, you know, so that you're not saying that when you say I messed up, you're not saying
you're not taking full responsibility. You're still kind of saying, well, I faltered, because I'm human, and there's some room for error, things like that. But the word hottie is kind of like a full on confession. We were wrong. And we did something wrong. And we did it on purpose. We will we acknowledge that there's no doubt about it. And when someone admits that they're wrong. There's a tendency to defend yourself even as you're making a confession. So you can say, Yeah, I set some pretty terrible things. But you know why? So, there's a bunch, you know, why which contextualizes and lessens the blow of your confession? because now you're saying, Yeah, I messed up. I did some
pretty bad things. But there was a reason you know, I mean, I'm not saying it's okay. But I am
Kinda saying it's a little bit understandable and that kind of languages I know it's not okay but come on it was not that not okay you know, but they didn't Cushing their confession with any further we we did make a mistake but we did feel like you love them more there's no but there's no qualifying you know lessening of the blow they simply just came out and confessed their mistake to their father
what's been discussed among the first series and also is the fact that they didn't come out and say they didn't we don't have in the Quran them saying our master forgive us you know like Musashi Salaam made a mistake he killed somebody by accident immediately turn to Allah and ask for forgiveness right now either his Salaam for South Florida who, you know he realized he had made a mistake. And Allah was testing him and he immediately turned to a light and asked for forgiveness. You have over and over again in the Quran people declaring their you know, the turning to a lion asking for forgiveness. That's a common theme in the Quran. But they're not. They're not being
recorded as asking for forgiveness. They're being they're being shown as asking, you know, jacoba Islam for forgiveness, actually, let me pull up my device because I had written a couple of it out that I wanted to cite to you that I want to read.
So the question is, why not just ask Allah for forgiveness? Why involve jacoba Solomon asking for forgiveness, right? Because in we have to understand is in our faith in our belief. We ask Allah directly for forgiveness. We don't need to go through someone to ask for forgiveness. That's the uniqueness of our faith. We don't have an intermediary, we don't have someone who's closer to Allah and therefore if you go to them, then your prayer will be accepted because you yourself are scum. You're worthless. No would you without a doubt either the undercurrents principle is I respond to the prayer of the one who prays to me, the one who calls on me, whenever they call on me, no
qualifications. There's no how righteous they are, how good they are, how bad they are, somebody could be in the depths of darkness, they turn to a love for that one moment and level hear them. That's That's how religion so our religion doesn't put qualifications on? Well, some people's dogs are more acceptable than others. No, the condition isn't who you are, or what you've done. The condition is what is the sincerity of your heart at the moment, you're making the door. So somebody could be a great worshipper of Allah. But the moment they made a certain door, they were not in a heart wasn't in the Presence of Allah. There they were, their mind was there was just words, that
dog may have less value. And somebody could be someone who doesn't pray is very close from very far from the religion doesn't know much at all. And they don't even know any sacred words. They don't know the words for the dogs, they don't know any Arabic or nothing. And they make the law in their own way. Maybe they don't even verbalize it, their heart just makes a law as they're lying in a prison cell somewhere. Or they're in the middle of a gang. And they're the gangs about to do some activity and they just turn to a lie, they just make a drop in their heart, and who may be more valuable to a love because of this date of that person's heart. That's that's our that's our
understanding. But there is an additional kind of add on to that understanding that everybody should have because Allah has validated that himself. So let me read some of these things to you.
who've been unwinding him. This isn't sort of Toba. And then there's going to be another one sort of Nyssa because in in both of these are Madani surahs were discussing a monkey so right now these are the I'm going to share with you are from the Medina Koran. And one actually from very late all the way at the end of the revelation of the Quran. So Toba. The reason that's important is because the prophets lie, Selim was dealing with Muslims constantly, right? So he's the head of the Muslim community. He's their counselor, he's the mom, he's their governor. He's their general. He's their, you know, he's a mediator. He's big, and he's their negotiator on behalf of other circumstances.
They're judged for their, for their family issues and for their social issues and for their economic issues. He's serving and he's their profit. So he's serving all of those roles single handedly, right. So, now listen to this particular IRA has been unwinding him sada Tata Tata home what was the key the key him Bihar was elliana him the profit is top placing them in number 103. So Toba take charity from their monies, meaning make them give charity from their earnings the community to the hero whom it will cleanse them it will purify them and it will cleanse them spiritually It was a key him we have by means of that charity will suddenly I lay him and pray on them pray on them pray upon
them. In NASA Latika second alarm listen to this carefully, no doubt about it. Your prayer is a source of calm for them.
You praying for them, gives them a special kind of calm Rasulullah sallallahu Sallam made to offer me those who lost lives of them included me in his prayer. Like even now how comforted are we to know that our messenger Salallahu alaihe salam would make the offer this oma for the ones who haven't even been born yet. How
How much of a comfort is that for us? So yes, we make dua to Allah on our own. But is it meaningful to us that our Prophet is making God for us? Absolutely.
You know, when it comes to a righteous person, we may not know where they stand with a lot, but with a prophet, everybody knows where they stand with a lot. Right? So you could say, somebody, please make an offer me, but they could say I don't even know where I stand with a love. And that's fair. But when you ask a prophet to make the offer you it's different, isn't it because we all know where they stand with Allah. And Allah listens to them, and Allah has a special relationship with them. And so what Allahu semirara even Allah is all hearing all knowing so light, even Cushing that I have with you pray it will give them comfort, but otherwise all hearing meaning even if they pray
themselves unless hearing them, Allah knows what's in their hearts, too. And it's not like they could be hypocrites, and you pray for them and it'll work doesn't work like that. So why are they here?
Then you feel alone. It's the same for the hypocrites, whether you asked last forgiveness for them or not a loved one, forgive them. There are some people who genuinely seek Allah's forgiveness. And then on top of that, they get the bonus of the Prophet praying for them. You get it? But then there are people who want to mess up and think the prophet will pray for them. No, no, you can't keep messing up and you got the Prophet praying for you. That's not how that works. Another Ayah Soto Nyssa, Omar Suleiman, Rosalyn Liu para Bismillah we never sent any messenger at all except that he should be obeyed by Allah as command. Allez allez leave well in the home, and for Sahaja Yoga, and
then it's an incident that happened in Medina. And, you know, some people came to the prophet SAW them. And, you know, we're kind of adamant about not having done wrong, even though they had done wrong, I won't go into the story. But the comment from Allah here, when the home is well, and for Sahaja Yoga, and if only it were the case that when they had done wrong that they came to you, first on federal law, and they had asked a lot of forgive them was stuck for Allahumma rasuluh. And the messenger would have asked forgiveness for them. La Jolla de la hora, Hema, they certainly would have found a law, continually accepting repentance and loving and caring. In other words, Allah
didn't just say when they came to you, if only they asked us forgiveness, he said, If only they came to you, and asked us forgiveness. And on top of that, the messenger asked for forgiveness for them too. So Quran validates the notion of a prophet praying for you. And in the context of the story jacoba A Salaam is the Prophet of the family, isn't he? So when they're asking his prayer, they are hopeful. Again, looking at it from the benefit of benefit of the doubt lens, they are hopeful that the daughter of a prophet is going to be something that will go in their favor, given the heavy weight of the sins that they've done, that maybe they need the add on, they're going to make God
themselves. But could you put in a good word, we've made Toba but we need a little bit of help, you know, and we actually we are hopeful to qualify for the shuffle of Rasulullah saw Shannon, on judgment day like that, right? So it's kind of like along the lines of that, that they're turning to jacoba Sullivan saying, could you you know, pray for us or basically pray for our prayer for our forgiveness or seek forgiveness seek forgiveness on our behalf for our sins, that would be a literal translation. We're in fact the ones that have been doing wrong along
now in in this also, they could have just said pray for us or seek forgiveness for us. But another thing that goes to the reading that we want to give them benefit of the doubt is that they said the words our sins and you can say make us that far for me seek forgiveness for me without saying sins right? You just like you could say make the offer me without specially specifying what do you want this person to make just be offering me right? Or ask a lot of Forgive me without saying ask a lot of Forgive me for my sins. So the for my sins is actually an add on. And that add on also goes to goes further to substantiate that they are in a confessional state. They are making a confession
before you know jacobellis to them. And they're now openly admitting the shameful acts that they had done and they're confronting them. They're not shying away from that anymore. Right. So if you accept that narrative, then it may be that this, this miraculous experience that they just had,
of seeing a loss plan in action, and seeing the consequences of their wrong blow up in their face has finally broken their pride and humbled them before Allah. And Allah all powerful invisible plan is now all too visible for them. So finally, they see and they humble themselves before the one that they have actually been violating. And perhaps they recognize that yes, they have been doing wrong to their father, they've been doing wrong to us, so they've been doing wrong to Binyamin but really before all of that they've been doing wrong to Allah. Right and the sins that have been racked up, that the
Maybe other people don't even know about a let us know about them. And they're feeling overwhelmed now by the weight of their own sins. And because they're feeling so overwhelmed, they feel like they need all the help they can get. And they come to their father and say, forgive us our, you know, seek forgiveness for our sins. And it's implicit. Dad can't be mad at them and then make the offer them. Right. So and this reminds me of an incident in
the seat of the profits of the Los Alamos I'll tie that in together to help you understand because when I want to give benefit of the doubt, I want to take every avenue I can, everything I can think of, to construct a narrative of benefit of the doubt. I don't want to shortchange it because there's another point of view. So let's look at the seat of the Prophet. So sort of for a moment, in the famous battle of boyhood, there were archers who left their position, I think a lot of you know that, and they were instructed not to leave their position, but yet they defied that order. And there was a lapse in judgment, from some of them, enough of them that it costs, terrible calamity.
And not only were many Muslims killed, and you know, martyred in the path of Allah, the prophets I send them was almost killed himself, and he was severely injured in three different places on his face, there was an arrow that had gone through his face, and was lodged in and it took two people to pull it out. And this is those who love Allah says that and that has to recite the Quran on to people. And you can imagine for weeks to come, when the revelation of the Quran was coming, the way he would speak must have been affected. Right? He's the one giving the hook but you guys go to a dental appointment, you can't talk straight for a few days, you put braces on, you know, and every
time the people would hear his voice like that, and by the way, they didn't have modern medicine and surgery and disinfectants and things like that, right? So when he went home a little bit, a lot more on who and Fatima de la ohana they, they made a paste from, you know, leaves and mud. And they made a paste and they kind of plastered his face. So that's that's his fracture. That's his bandaid, you know, and he's in that state. And on top of all of that, his uncle that he loves so much hums all of the lohana was not only killed, but after being killed, his body was mutilated, you know, and it his heart was pulled out of his body, the fingers were the fingertips were cut off, the nose was cut off
to cut off. It was it was a like a deplorable sight and a incredibly traumatic thing that was done to the bodies of the Muslims that were remained on the you know, usually, as part of the honor of war, they would leave the dead so you can come back and Bury Your Dead they didn't do that they mutilated the bodies. And also if you're inside they're doing that I don't agree with it. But I won't stop them either. He literally said this. Right. So now the people all this catastrophe, and you can point back to the the you know, the breaking point in the war because, you know, we're looking at Southern kakula who are the who is the who tsunami Isn't he had died official. Allah was
fulfilling his promise to you, when you were annihilating them, you are making the field making them feel the heat of battle. So a lot of promise you victory in a lot was you know, fulfilling his promise until you loosened in discipline had died after sheltam with another family and you started disagreeing with each other about the command that was given. When I say to my mother, remember the Morocco motto a boon and you started you engaged in an act of disobedience. After you saw something you love. You saw them running, really dropping their shields and their swords because they're too heavy to run and dropping their armor and they're running off into the hills. You're like that armor
is a lifetime worth of savings. We should pick the war's over they ran the enemy ran. So they disobeyed the order. Now, fast forward all of that over those people are also sitting in the football
next week in Medina, the people who caused all that destruction are also sitting in the hood, but the people whose families members have been killed are also sitting in the hotbar and the prophesize. elements the Habib, and his family has also been mutilated, because of the people sitting in the hood. But who messed up? how messed up Do they feel? how embarrassed do they feel? An alarm will reveal to him. I met him in a law he didn't tell him we'll open it up can be done for boomin Holic for an homeless fella home, which our home Phil Emery doesn't have a token and a law in our county. He says only by a special leniency from Allah and mother comes from Allah that you are
lenient towards them. And if you had been harsh and hard hearted, they would have run away from it from from you. far from home, then pardon them. Step one. What's the thrill of home and ask Allah to forgive them?
Now there's a logical sequence. You can't make do out for someone unless you have one forgiven them. So when they ask when coming, because I'm not telling you about lm Ron, today, I'm telling you about user. But why did I bring that up? I brought that up because you understand there's a logical sequence. If they say, pray for us pray for our forgiveness. Well, what has to be already the case that you must have already forgiven someone before you can include them in your prayer? You understand? And I'm talking about real prayer. Not
The insult prayer, the insult prayers May Allah forgive you
may only elected forgive you. I may draw for you, you know,
that's not praying for someone that's insulting someone in the wind disguised as a da. It's not much of a dog at all. But when you're making go off for yourself, when you're praying by yourself for the things you want in life, and then you pray for someone who hurt you. You know what that can only mean that the that you have genuinely forgiven that person from the bottom of your heart because you included them in your prayer, right? So when they say, pray for us, pray for our forgiveness, or ask for our friends literally asked for our forgiveness for the sins that we've committed, then they are in begging, forgive us to the level where it becomes easy for you to what, pray for us. We need that
level of forgiveness from you. You we know the kind of heart you have, we know the kind of hurt we've caused you. But we need that kind of forgiveness from you. Please, we beg you forgive us in that, to that level. We were wrong. We were absolutely wrong, that we're not providing any justifications. We're not providing any rationales. We're not going to give you any reasons. any excuses. Just forgive us, please just pray, just ask for our forgiveness. And then there's another dimension to this.
This this request of theirs, and I want to read that to you. But before I do, let's think about the response of jacobellis because we want to look at both of these together today. Yeah.
Carla sofa a stock fukumura B. He said soon sofa. Or very soon you can translate. So fi soon or very soon, I will ask my master to forgive you.
I will ask my master to forgive you. Or I'll ask my Masters forgiveness on your behalf. Those are also good translations.
Certainly he is extremely forgiving, always loving and caring now what in the world doesn't mean soon?
He could just say, My master forgive them immediately. They asked he did it.
But he says I will. So this created a curiosity among alpha soon. Why is the law telling us that he didn't say yes. Why didn't you just straight pray for them? Why did he say he will pray for them?
So a common answer given in classical deceit is that he said I shall your center so grievous and so serious, that it cannot be atoned for by just a simple me making Doha I want to find the most special hour of the night, when I feel allies closest and most hearing of the doors because he's closest asleep in those special hours on those special days of the week. That is when I'm going to make a ceremony out of making the out for you. Okay, so I'm going to find the right hour of the night to pray for you, and things like that. So that a lot of Mufasa rwn have basically, you know, lean towards that view that he said I will because this isn't the best hour, there's a later hour in
which that will be the best time to pray for you. I'm personally skeptical of that explanation, but I'll explain why later on.
Another view that's been, you know, communicated about, I will ask on your behalf is actually that, I will ask, not only now, am I forgiving you. But understand that I will continue to pray for you. And I'm in line with that theory. There are some people that have presented narrations about how for 20 years he continued to pray for their forgiveness after this happened. So the sooner I will is suggesting I will continue to write. So not only do I pray for your forgiveness, now, I'm going to continue to pray for your forgiveness. Then there's a third explanation. And the third explanation is I don't believe you.
Not yet. You don't get to do all that and just say you're sorry. And I just accept your apology. Your tears aren't enough. Your words aren't enough.
I need to know that your apology is sincere. So it's a wait and see. And I don't want to be taken advantage of again. So I'm going to see how this plays out a little bit before I pray for you. But you should know that Allah in the who who Allah for Rahim certainly he meaning Allah is the ultimately forgiving, always loving and caring. Now I'm switching over to the not giving so much benefit of the doubt theory. I'm switching over to that side. But before I do another, another one on the positive side. And on the positive side, it can also be in so he mentioned this today and I really liked it as a thought that he had and I think that it's worth really contemplating, and that
is that I can forgive you now. But even in the future if one day the memory of the pain you caused me comes
one day I'm sitting on my bed and I have a flashback of when you rock
shirt.
One day, I remember the ugly words you said to me. One day, I remember what you were doing with Binyamin. One day I remember, you know, the, the time I was crying or this happened or that happened if you know sometimes you can move on from an incident, but it's memory comes back and it hits you like it just happened. Right? And so he's saying that flashback that traumatic recurrence that trigger. And when that happens, even when that happens, at that very moment, I'll pray for your forgiveness again. So when he says I will, he's saying, This is not a pain that's over for me. And even when that pain comes back, I'll ask forgiveness for you again. Because when that pain comes
back, it will clearly make me look at you different, because it will feel like you just did this to me. Right? When you guys get into a fight with a loved one, you bring up things that hurt you four years ago, but you bring it up as if it just they just did it right now. You know that it just it comes back. And now, even though you figured that out, and you forgave each other and everything, all that's got sorted out, right? And you're like, I thought we were past that? Well, it's still hard. So
you're back at it again. Because that's human nature. So that doesn't make someone petty or, or evil, you know, or looking to Gaslight, somebody else. But it could just mean that it's something that even though they reconciled at the time, the pain of it didn't go away, that can happen. And when the pain comes back, I'm going to ask a lot of forgiving and it's a very beautiful and magnanimous reading of this ayah. And it's a very powerful statement, because that's it's not only acknowledging the nature of forgiveness, or praying for someone, but it's acknowledging that it's not an easy thing to do that it might have to be revisited because even if you you forgive someone
or you prayed for them, and things got okay.
The past can come back and unsuspecting ways and trigger you and unsuspecting ways, or something they say one day, is mirroring something they said in a different context in a much worse, uglier context. And it reminds you of all of that it triggers you. And in that moment, I'm going to commit now that I'll turn to a line ask, I pray for you again, whenever bad feelings in my heart come towards you. I'm just going to erase them by making the offer you so that's a very beautiful response from jacobellis.
Okay, then there's this quote by Lucy, which is again, in benefit of the doubt the benefit of the doubt reading of these ions. Well, I know that
infill kalami Allah hardeeville is a NASA Hey, you should know that some of the contemporaries or leaders of scholarship, talking about this, I have said that the correct view is an esto filler, I still feel that I didn't 11 rename the verb seeking forgiveness requires two objects. Now this sounds technical. So let me put it in Simple English for you because it's really cool. And I want you all to understand this in simple simple English. So please bear with me. When you say I asked forgiveness, okay, I asked forgiveness. Then there are two other pieces of information expected. I asked forgiveness for what? And I asked forgiveness from who
let me repeat that. When you say I asked forgiveness, or please seek forgiveness, then please seek forgiveness is followed by two additional pieces of information. I seek forgiveness from you for eating your cake. From who and for what you get it from who and for wide. Now, when they spoke, they only gave one of those pieces of information. They said, seek forgiveness on our behalf for our sins.
Right for our sins. What's missing? From who? They didn't mention a lot, right? So they didn't meant they said, seek forgiveness for what for our sins from who we didn't say, right. Now, listen to jacobellis Sam's response. Again, I remind you drill this in your head. So this becomes easy to understand. I want to get past the technicalities. The past the technicalities is what about jacoba? Listen, he's gonna he can also give two pieces of information you could say I will seek forgiveness for your sins from Allah. For what and from who right. He says I will soon seek forgiveness for you from my master.
From my master, now he didn't mention their sins.
So they mentioned seek forgiveness for sins but not from Allah. So they mentioned the four part but not the front part. You get it? But when you're good responded, he responded with the front part, but not the four part.
So they're each missing one thing
ones missing a the others missing be right the complete statement. If it was complete from both it would have been seek forgiveness. ask Allah to forgive us for our sins.
ask forgiveness from Allah for our sins and he would have responded I will soon as forgiveness from Allah for your sins. So the front and the four are switched. One of them gives the for the other one gives the front Yeah, so I lose his explanation. I won't read the Arabic I'll just summarize this for you. One way of looking at this is in Arabic When you skip a detail, like in the first case the from is skipped. Yeah. That could mean that there's more than one from
so seek forgiveness for our sins from Allah. seek forgiveness for our sins, please ask us have to forgive us to for our sins. Please ask Binyamin to forgive us to for our sins. Please ask, we've wronged so many people, can you also ask them to forgive us? Please, not to lead out we want you to pray towards Allah for our forgiveness. And that's why I don't translate this the thought here as praying, you can. But the word of authority can be used for human beings to a human being forgiving another human being in the Quran. You can use my filler while I'm on sobre la Florida and Nevada Colombian as we move whoever has suffered and forgave the word same Mark Farah lafora verb is used.
So here it could mean you know, ask Allah forgive us, also asked you to forgive us. also asked you to forgive us. We've wronged we wrong the line we've wronged people. Allah has rights. The people have rights. Allah the Creator has rights and the creation has rights. We wrong the Creator, could you ask a lot of forgiveness as we asked to? And could you also put in a good word and really ask yourself to even though you said there's no harm on you, right? But they're still going out of their way and saying, could you include just, you know, ask everybody to forgive us, please.
You know, ask whoever you know, whoever we did wrong to including Yusuf Ali Salam and Binyamin to forgive us all. So now what why would that be? Because just because you forgive someone or you say there's no harm? No, there's no shaming on you Remember, we talked about that.
Just because you forgive someone doesn't mean the scar went away, doesn't mean the relationship is what it used to be, doesn't mean that you're exactly the same as you were before. Forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean the scars are healed, or everything is restored to the way it used to be.
And they want to make sure that things are really leveled and settled, you know, cleared out and use of will listen to his father like no one else. And Yahoo will listen to his father like no one else. So when they say forgive, it has a certain meaning. When the father puts his hand on his shoulders and says forgive your brothers, it's time we forgive him, forgive them, then it will have more of an effect. Can you put in a word to them also. So that would be the benefit of not mentioning a law in the first part, you get it so it wouldn't be restricted just to Allah, it will be beyond the law also. Because we owe an apology to Allah do an apology to others as well.
Yeah, and Islam is responding with something remarkable. He is responding by saying you are concerned about so many but let me tell you, when you make a lot happy a lot makes you happy with everyone else. A lot makes other people happy with you.
A lot removes other problems in your life. When you get a lot forgiveness, the doors have opened up you know, you know there even a Hadith of the prophets. I said I'm about people who Allah loves Allah puts their love and respect in other people's hearts. Right? So you're, you're so focused on your sins. And by the way, the other thing is, instead of focusing on your sins and how what wrongs you've done, because you're focused on that you're stuck on the mistakes you've made, which is cool. But yeah, Google Islam says, I'm gonna focus on Allah, I want you to just think about who Allah is, you're thinking about how big your sins are, I want you to think about how grand Allah is. So I
won't even mention your sins, I'm just gonna say, I will seek forgiveness of my master
for you, I will. And it's as if he removed the mention of sins, one to not embarrass them to to already know you already mentioned your sin. So I get it, I don't have to beat you over the head with it. But also to say you are focused on one detail, I want you to learn to focus on the other one.
turn towards Allah. And once you turn towards a login genuinely, then it will no send is too big for him. And whether you earn you know, you could genuinely say sorry to a person that you hurt. You could say sorry to them. But you can't control whether they'll forgive you or not. And you can guarantee that they'll forgive you or not, you can't. But Allah has given you a guarantee that when you turn to Him sincerely, he will guarantee forgive you he will ask
Absolutely Forgive me. That's his promise. He promised us this. So why don't you work towards the guarantee meaning focus on the love, bring up his name, I will bring up his name. So So first off, it will be, I will seek my Masters forgiveness for you. And the word Rob, he also has a beautiful little gem in there because, you know, he's my master. He's the one who nurtures me, he's the one who's cared for me all along. So as you were hurting me, you were hurting his beloved slave, you were violating one, the one he loves, because I know Allah loves me, and I will turn to Him. And I'll say I forgive them out of
so
because a lot will be offended on my behalf. Right? I was offended on Yahoo's behalf against them. But I'll tell a large soldier that I you know that I'll beg him to forgive you.
But then he adds it now who was over for him? Certainly he in fact, he's the one that continues, forgives like no one else can. He's extremely forgiving, always loving and caring. In other words, you should primarily be concerned with seeking forgiveness yourselves. You're asking me to forgive, but you're forgetting who ally is maybe I'll seek and I'll ask, but you should know that ally is the extremely forgiving, I will I'll get to it. But ally is extremely forgiving for you to know that you need to go directly to him to you need to go directly to him. So this was a reading of kind of the benefit of the doubt let's turn to the dark side
and see this a different way. Well, if you were really that sorry, all these years you weren't sorry.
You know, the pharaoh wasn't sorry, didn't believe in God actually said I'll build a tower to talk to God myself. If he's up in the mountain Moses went up on a mountain to talk to God. Well, you know,
if the Lisa had built me a tower, he told him now I live as bad as Baba Some are utterly Illa Allah He Moosa, let me go climb up and talk to Moses, God myself, I don't need to go to his mountain, I'll make my own.
That was that was the Pharaoh and when he was about to drown,
he started leaving.
Okay, so now when you actually are overrun, now when your power is gone, all of a sudden, doba is too far. And Allah says,
others
will contaminate move city. Now, the crosswords now a chunk,
really. And just a moment ago, you were in disobedience. And you were the one causing corruption. I could, playing out the devil's advocate, but the one who doesn't want to give benefit of the doubt advocate, you could quote that exact eye on these guys and say, oh, now you're sorry. I see. Because he's the Prime Minister of Egypt. You can mess with me no more. If I don't forgive you. And I tell my son not to forgive you. You know what's gonna happen to you? So now you come begging for forgiveness? How about the time you just yelled at me before you left?
How about you calling me crazy and teaching your kids to call me an insane old man? for all these years? How about? You weren't sorry for any of those days? You weren't sorry. Last week? You weren't sorry, a day ago? You weren't sorry, two days ago, all of a sudden, you've been making mistakes. Your eyes just opened up. Your brain was just able to process that you've been doing these grievous sins all along? All this time. What did you think you were earning good deeds? Is that what it is?
I mean, jacoba, some would never talk like that. But I'm saying
I could
have taken benefit of the doubt. What do you mean, you asked for him? Oh, that's convenient. Oh, now that you're overrun. What choice do you have? What do you What are you still working on? We don't need your forgiveness. You can't mess with me anymore. Forget about the awkward I am donia. You can't mess with me anymore. I'm the Prime Minister's father.
So. And it's also important because even though Yusuf Ali Salaam has said no harm shall fall on you today,
what if he meets Yahoo, and Yahoo starts crying? and Yahoo starts saying you may have forgiven them for what wrong they did to you. But I can't forgive them what they're wrong. They did. To me, I want justice. And you're gonna say, Well, I can forgive my part. I don't I can't forgive you. I hope smart. My father has a right to take justice and he can take your sins. He can Kenny, or the pain when he sees his father's tears. It might revisit some things.
And he might start asking questions that might start happening. And if that's all the case, well, we don't want that kind of trouble. So before we head back to Egypt, could you please just pray for us and by the way, if you're seen as praying for us, or asking forgiveness, or if you can go and tell us to forgive us to, then we'll make sure that we're safe with us because now they're actually realistically
It would be understandable that they're technically scared of use of money. So they have every reason to be, even though he's given them calm, and he said, Bring your families and all of that no harm shall fall upon you. They're like, Okay, well, he didn't ask the details of what we did. But we did a lot of messed up sons stuff since he was gone. And what if dad opens his mouth? He's gonna say, Yeah, I forgive you for what you did to me. But I didn't know what y'all be doing all this other stuff while I was gone?
How about we review some of this case, we reopen this case, that can happen. So they're terrified of that. So it's only convenient that you come to that now and ask for his forgiveness, hmm. And act all spiritual and even now, you can't even mention the last names. Yeah, I'm looking at it differently now.
Who says forgive us our sins? What sins? Exactly? Can you spell them out? What sins
and there is the new and the new can be by one linguistic standard. them can be used for lesser sins and say artists for major evil deeds. So you don't even think they're that bad.
Because you just do just embarrassing deeds, some embarrassing things that we did.
You know,
me you could look at it like that.
And it may be that even though they are making this sincere apology, and by the way, when they they come in, instead of confessing to dad, We Were Liars, we wronged you, we did this, we did this, we just give we went straight to me to offer us, right.
Because
jacobellis I'm still doesn't know anything about a well,
he doesn't know. And since Yusef is alive. Now, the question begs itself, you came to me with a shirt with blood.
Can you now tell me what happened?
He has a right to know, right? You should be able to ask Can you tell me now What happened? But before he even opens his mouth about what happened? This could you just make the offer letter? Forgive us please? In other words, let's let's let that be his ancient history. And if Allah forgives, who are we to remember? Let's put that behind us. Because if you rehash that, then it's going to be bad, right? So and you're a man of your man of God, you should just pray for us. Please just pray for us. And of course, if he makes the offer them, and that's an immediate endorsement, that he's okay with them, which means Yusuf Ali Salaam won't be upset on jacobellis on his behalf.
Right? So it's an insurance policy to know not the sounds pretty bad that I'm not giving benefit of the doubt. But I'm telling you that it can be looked at that way.
But, but should we look at it that way? And by the way, in that case, when he says, I will soon seek forgiveness? He's saying, Are you think I buy it already, that you just want to ask for forgiveness, and I think that you've transformed yourselves overnight.
I need to see real change in you.
I am going to wait and see if you actually mean this forgiveness or not. I want to see what your prayers change. I want to see tears from your eyes. When you don't when you know I'm not looking.
I want to know what's going on with you.
I will ask, sure. And he is forgiving. You can ask immediately right now. But human forgiveness and the last forgiveness are two separate things, me praying for you, which means I've forgiven you. And then on top of that I'm praying for you will happen in due time. But whether or not I forgive you is not the more important thing. The more important thing is allies, the old forgiving, a love forgives, and he has love and mercy for all of his slaves. So you need to be concerned with that. But as far as and he can forgive immediately,
either than right a level immediately forgive. But I will forgive when I'm ready. Or I will pray for you. which also includes I will forgive you when I'm ready. But I'm not ready yet. Because I don't know where you stand yet. This claim is not enough. You haven't exactly earned credibility with me. So your words I can't take at face value. It's not understandable when someone's lost credibility for that many years, that you can't take their words at face value. So it's totally understandable. There are some scholars who even mentioned that Allah revealed to jacobellis Allah, that Allah hasn't forgiven them yet. So he won't ask forgiveness for them yet. I don't necessarily subscribe to
that theory. But the idea is the same. Why would ALLAH forgive someone yet? Because their heart isn't sincere yet.
Allah knows the state of the art and if the artist sincere, immediately, Allah forgives when immediately. There's no delay. There's no procrastination in the receiving, you know, the receipt of Allah's forgiveness. So the idea here, the soon will then be interpreted. Well, we'll Let's wait and see.
The other way of looking at the word soon would also be the hurt you have caused me is so overwhelming. And this news has made me revisit the last years and the assumption that I had about you and has made me rethink the gravity of the wrong that you did to me and to my children. The evil that you committed that I need some time to process. I can't just sit here and Migdal off.
You, Yala forgive them. And just give me some time. This is a lot to deal with. The Quran is remarkable and it's nuanced that it recognizes the spiritual power of forgiving someone, but also recognizes that we're in we're human beings. In the end, even profits are even a Lucy Rahim Allah mentioned in his commentary that perhaps his anger or his hurt, kept him from making his default immediately. That's why so far.
Others because we want to paint a picture of profits as almost superhuman that he forgave them and he will forgive them means he will continue to make dua for them. Remember that interpretation they'll keep on making the offer you? Well, the problem with looking at it like that, and removing the human element from profits, is that that itself actually becomes a disservice to profits. Because if you say the profits were superhuman, and they were able to forgive under the, you know, the most impossible circumstances, that just means that it didn't take any effort for them.
That means isn't let's just help them and he doesn't help us. So therefore we can do what the prophets did. There were special we're not that kind of thinking creates a distance between you and the prophets of Allah.
A father's pain is a father's pain even when he's a prophet.
I child suffering is a child suffering, even when he's a prophet.
Their their suffering isn't different than ours. Our messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was even when when Allah would talk about people complaining about profits right? Now some people make them into Gods or creatures made of light, angels, etc. Others make them what why should we follow him? called Fatah? William? She fell off as well. What? What kind of Prophet is this? What kind of messenger is this? He's walking, he walks around in the marketplace, he go, he goes shopping. He eats food like the rest of us. What's, what's the big deal about him? Yeah, he's like you in every way. And yet he's committed to Allah. And yet he fights off every evil, you know, what, whatever
comes, he defends, and he becomes a role model for you in this. And so with your Cobra Sam, it's not superhuman patience, that he immediately prayed for them. But rather, he's human, he's hurt. He can't just forgive immediately. It's gonna take him a little while. And he's able to say that to them openly and not just artificially, you know, because sometimes we're not genuine in our speech when somebody says, so. So you don't you don't hate me, right? You're gonna make golf for me, right? You're like, yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. But in your heart, like, No, no, no.
But I don't want drama right now. So I'm not gonna say I'm just gonna say yeah, and move on from the conversation. No, no, no, yeah, it sounds like I can't yet.
So first off, look at rugby. And because I can't forgive you immediately for the wrong you've done.
Because of the hurt you cost them I love now you appreciate who allows, because Allah loves more than any human being can ever love.
And you violated Allah before you violated me. But Allah forgives immediately. It's almost like he's contrasting his ability, his inability to forgive immediately, with a loss of ability to forgive and love regardless of the sense of a believer, or a sense of a human being, he can be able to afford an AR Rahim on top of that. Now forgiveness means it's not held against you. That's what forgiveness is, right? It's no longer held against you, we moved on. But over here is loving care on top of that.
So you just because you forgive someone doesn't mean you're in love with them, doesn't mean you go out of your way to care for them. That just means you forgive them. You know, people forgive killers of their family member. That doesn't mean they're going out to dinner with them every night. That doesn't mean they're paying their bills. They're just forgive them. Please don't let me see your face. But Allah is a little fooled over him. So he contrasts that. And he recognizes his humaneness. And that's one of the most beautiful features of this sutra that people are being described as incredibly emotional and incredibly spiritual at the same time. And as emotional beings, we have
limits. We have real, we're not infinitely loving. We're not infinitely patient. We're not infinitely powerful to withstand, you know, abuses. We have we have human limitations. We can't withhold our tears. Even if there's a prophet, he can't withhold his tears. You can't hold him from crying out my son, my baby use of years later. You can you're there's a so this acknowledgement in itself is a very powerful thing. So now I come to the conclusion of this conversation, we we tried to look at it. And I painted quite an elaborate photo for the first time of giving the benefit of the doubt. And on the other hand, you can say that this is convenient, because now really, what
choice do they have? They don't want to be on the wrong side of use of racism and jacoba. They said I'm anymore. Plus, they didn't mention the word of the end. What I didn't mention is nowhere in the Quran did they actually come out and say, or Allah recorded that they
They asked for forgiveness from Allah, nor did a live are mentioned in the Quran, then Allah forgive them.
Which is interesting, because that's not a small thing in Suez in the Quran, Allah mentions people who asked for forgiveness. And he mentioned his father for Allah home, and he forgave them. Right? So this is not a small detail. This is actually the crux of one of the one of the fundamental pillars of guidance is the slave turns to God for forgiveness, and God turns to the slave and forgives them. That's like the that's the that's the heart of the story, our entire life, is that a mystic father? So it's not like, Oh, well, it's understood. No, it's not just understood. There's not you could say it's understood for profits, and it's spelled out for profits. How come? It's not
spelled out over here? Well, here's my take on that a lot longer.
You can read this with enormous benefit of the doubt you can read this with a skeptical eye. And that was the intent of the text, it seems the test the text is telling us, there's no way for you to know what was going on inside of their hearts.
There's no way for you to know,
there is no way for you to know if they were sincere or insincere. There's no way for you to know if they were doing this because their hearts finally felt connected to a law, and they recognize the gravity of their sins. And there's no way for you to know that they did this because of social and political expediency and convenience. And to save themselves for their humiliation. We don't know. Well, why don't we know? Because it's a timeless lesson.
Human beings, forgiving has to come with caution.
Just because you forgive someone, first of all, the sofa could mean, let's wait and see if that forgiveness is sincere. You can question whether or not I'm not sure whether it's sincere or not, I don't know. And if I let my guard down, maybe you'll be up to some no good again. So I'm going to wait and see. And it's completely okay for you to not trust someone's apology. Or even if you take it at face value, to take it with a grain of salt and say, I'm still going to keep I'm still going to sleep with one eye open.
Right? I'm going to keep a careful watch. I'll remain cautious. Because the because our religion doesn't expect us to be naive. Or you forgive them. So they're your brother now it's okay. It's
not okay. not okay. Somebody cheated me in business. And then I forgave them. I'm not doing business with them again. And even if I did, I think about it 1000 times. That doesn't mean I didn't forgive them. That still means though that I don't know if there's their apology was sincere or not. That's what the law.
Now the the balance here is, even though I don't know, and I'll take a precautionary, I'll give me the benefit of the doubt. So long. As you know, I pray that it's sincere. And Allah knows if it is an absolutely forgives. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to take the cautionary road and I have the right to
I have the right to take the cautionary road. That's actually what we're learning. You know, and it's not to take away from anyone not to question them not to say they're hypocrites or things like that. No, if somebody lost their credibility, sometimes what happens in for example, marriages is somebody does something grievous wrong.
Some husband does wrong, the wife a grievous wrong or wife does has been a grievous wrong, and they apologize, and they're forgiven. And then they do the same wrong again, and they're forgiven. And then you say, the same wrong and they're forgiven. And then they cry and do it again, and they're forgiven. After 10 times, the husband's crying, please forgive me, please forgive me. I mean, at this time, I swear by Allah knows that it's true. Allah knows allies witness, you can cry, that's all fine. But I need to be careful now. Because there's a there's a lack of credibility. So I'm going to take my precaution. And I'm not, are you questioning my intentions? No, I'm just being
precautious. And you know what you suffer Jacobo son got to be.
And this is actually almost similar to what you certainly saw, I'm set to them. No harm. No shaming shall fall upon you for what has happened before. Up until today.
May Allah forgive you? May Allah forgive you.
You know, and he is the most loving and caring of all those who love and care. So there's that and, you know, I'm inclined actually, to give them benefit of the doubt in this case, I am inclined I want to be able to say that they were genuine and what substantiates that in my heart further, is at the deathbed of yaku. And he said on the last thing he asked his children in total bacara not in this Sora is what will you worship after I'm gone mother, I mean, buddy, what will you worship after I'm gone and they all responded with we will worship you know, your God ilaha illa. By ecogra Hema was Mariela was hakala your God and the God of your father's Ibrahim Ismail is Huck, who's all one
God and we are in surrender to Him. So they made that declaration to their father when there was no reason to. It wasn't like a you know, a social
thing, it wasn't something to show off. It wasn't something that had an additional advantage. It was a sincere declaration. And the Quran records that as a sincere declaration. So even though someone can look at this with a skeptical eye, I would still give I will actually be inclined towards the benefit of the doubt they did find a lanell Finally, but they were so overwhelmed by the gravity of their sins that they only mentioned their sins. And perhaps they did want to say that asked the others to forgive because we can't even find ourselves. We're so ashamed that we can even come in front of us have asked him to apologize. I know he's said no harm shall come. But it just, it's just
so embarrassing to even face. Binyamin now. Now that we see because we were blinded to the wrong we were doing and now we finally see ourselves for what we were, you know, there's a famous axiom in Arabic. And the opposite is in the Quran. Or the corollaries in the Quran. Men are a fan of Sahaja for a bow, whoever knows themselves knows their master. And unless isn't no Quran, velata cuca, Latina sola and Sahaba and for some don't become like people who forget a lot, let make them forget themselves. In other words, when you're not mindful of Allah, you will do things that aren't even real you. And when you become conscious of Allah, you look back and say, how was that me?
How did I do this? Because when you forget a lot, you become something else. You become someone else, your justifications change. Your rationale changes, your conscience, your guilt, your moral compass, puts gets put in a freezer, and you will do things and you'll look back and say, How in the world did I ever end up doing that? How the * did I become that? Because there was a bond from Allah, that was severed, right? So perhaps they've now found they're bound with a bond with a law, and they're buried under this, those sins that took them away from Allah. And jacobellis me saying, I will seek forgiveness for you, but you must do your part.
I will do it but allies extremely forgiving allies all loving and caring and know who will have fought over him. So without inshallah, without I'll conclude today's discussion of this exchange, and now we're actually reaching near the conclusion of this story. Let me tell you, we're not in here.
It's it's pretty heavy lifting from here. The IOD are very loaded. I don't even think I can do one IRA in one session from here on maybe the next one, but the ones after that, I think they're gonna be a while. Again, I'm not rushing in this series. I'm just going to take my time. And you know what, so him and I really enjoying this series and being able to explore a buzzword in this way and being able to share it with you guys. So we appreciate your audience. And we make sure that you and your families find a renewed sense of love and, you know, curiosity into the word of Allah that brings light into all of your lives. barakallahu li walakum filco Hakeem, when a family What do
you think I'm going to sink right on the sink, right? No, I'm not. You can't make me do anything.