Nouman Ali Khan – Use the Abilities That Allah Has Given You to Help Others – World Quran Convention
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AI: Transcript ©
When people come and tell me that, Ustadh,
I don't know what to do with my
life.
I say, shame on you.
Allah put a ruh in you that is
so powerful that the angels were told to
do sajdah and you say, your ruh is
so weak, you don't know what to do.
Why are you belittling, why are you insulting
what Allah gave you?
You don't have the power to figure this
out?
Why are you acting helpless?
Why are you acting weak?
What Allah gave the human being is very,
very powerful.
In the next 20 or so minutes, I'll
be speaking to you about a couple of
ayat from the surah we are celebrating together
today, surah al-Insan.
And I wanna highlight just a few things
that Allah has mentioned in this from an
overview perspective.
There are lots of places in the Qur
'an where Allah talks about the people who
will go to Jahannam and the people who
will go to Jannah.
And Allah describes the people of Jahannam in
different ways.
One of the most common ways Allah describes
them is al-kafirun or al-kuffar, or
al-ladhina kafaru, those who disbelieve.
Or kazzabu bi-ayati, al-ladhina kazzabu bi
-ayati Allah, those who called the ayat of
Allah a lie.
Those who believed that the revelations of God
were not true.
But surah al-Insan is taking a very
different approach.
It's not using the word believers.
It's using the word al-abrar.
It's using a different word, good people.
It's using the word good people.
And you have to appreciate what Allah is
saying here.
You have to think about when this surah
came down.
When this surah came down, it came down
in Makkah, and the audience of this surah
was actually majority non-Muslims.
So non-Muslims were listening to this.
And now this message is telling them not
just that they should believe, but actually it's
saying, this place, this jannah is actually for
good people.
Instead of saying this place is for believers,
like other places in the Qur'an.
What Muslims learn from this is, actually there's
no difference, there's not supposed to be a
difference between a believer and a good person.
They're supposed to be one and the same.
So a little bit, I wanna tell you
just a little bit about the word abrar
and birr, and what it refers to.
The word birr in Arabic actually comes from
the word barr, which means land.
It actually means land.
And it's an antonym, it's an opposite of
bahr, which is ocean.
So there's barr and there's bahr.
They're two opposites, right?
Land and sea.
And the idea behind being on land, when
people were at sea, they're always worried about
drowning.
They're always worried about sinking.
I spoke to a sailor about this.
Actually I spoke to a general who used
to be in the navy.
And I asked him, when I read the
ayat of the ocean, I think about some
things, but I've never traveled by sea.
You know, the most I did was go
across a river in a boat.
But I haven't traveled by sea for months
and months like sailors do.
And I said, you have, you've spent so
much of your life out in the ocean.
What do you hear when you hear the
word of Allah talking about the ocean?
And he says, let me tell you something.
Every sailor that's out at sea, every time
they look at the water, somewhere in their
head they're thinking about their death.
Somewhere in their head.
Their death is staring at them.
At any moment, this water will become angry.
At any moment, a wave can come and
tip this boat over.
Doesn't matter how big it is.
At any moment, the color of the sky
can change.
The clouds can show up.
A storm can begin.
It is the most unpredictable, you know, situation
in the life of a sailor.
And when a storm is approaching, this is,
if it's good, they're thinking about when is
the storm coming.
And when the storm is coming, they're thinking,
am I going to survive the storm?
And when the storm is over, they're thinking,
when is the next storm coming?
We have to prepare for the next one.
So they're constantly thinking about death.
You know what that means?
There's a lot of stress and anxiety in
the ocean.
And when they finally reach land, especially in
the old days, when they finally reach land,
there's a, they kiss the earth.
They'll hug the earth.
They'll lie down on the beach.
And they'll just feel the sand in their
hand.
Like this is so amazing.
Why?
Because now they are on stable ground.
They've reached stability.
From this came the idea of goodness.
Meaning, you're a good person because your morals
are not fluctuating.
You're stable.
And you're doing something that puts you on
firm ground.
So the people that are no good are
all over the place.
And they can go up and down.
And they can sink at any time because
they're out at sea.
And the people of goodness have a level
of stability and calm.
They have a moral standard.
This is really interesting in nowadays, like the
times we're living in.
Because if you look at the last 30,
40 years, we don't even have to go
that far back.
We can go back 20 years.
The world is impressed mostly with Western media.
And in Western media, there was a definition
of right and wrong and what is okay
and what is not okay 20 years ago.
Even 25 years ago and 30 years ago.
And then five years after that, the definition
changed a little bit.
Then five years after that, it changed again.
Then again, then again.
So the conversation, for example, in the world
that's happening about gender right now, that conversation
did not exist 20 years ago.
Completely different.
So what people mean, even in the West,
what people mean by social justice today is
completely not what they meant by social justice
20 years ago.
It has completely changed.
So their definition of right and wrong is
like being at sea.
It goes this way, it goes that way,
it goes this way, it goes that way.
Al-abrar people, their definition of right and
wrong is stable.
They understand that Allah has given them something
within them that qualifies this is right and
this is wrong.
And Allah is appealing to humanity and saying,
when you consider the word of Allah, there
is something moral inside you and there's something
in the word of Allah, they will connect
with each other and you'll realize this is
in fact the truth.
This is the goodness that you feel inside
you anyway.
Instead of the Quran convincing you that killing
is wrong and stealing is wrong and lying
is wrong and zina is wrong, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera.
Actually in one sense, Allah's argument is you
already know it's wrong.
You already know.
And the Quran is only confirming it.
It's actually only confirming what human beings feel
inside of them anyway.
I was really interested in this question of
goodness.
Because different societies should have different definition of
goodness.
We're Muslim, so we have our own definition
of what it means to be a good
person.
But a Christian might have a different definition.
The Aborigines in Australia may have a different
definition.
The Hindus may have a different definition.
The Buddhists may have a different definition.
And though all of them have different belief
systems, one of the most interesting things throughout
history is nobody said killing is good.
Nobody said stealing is good.
Nobody said lying is good.
Nobody said cruelty is good.
Nobody said impatience is a good thing.
Nobody said mocking someone else is a good
thing.
Nobody said arrogance is a good thing.
Nobody said being ungrateful is a good thing.
Their definition, across cultures and across religions, it
seems even though these cultures sometimes have nothing
to do with each other, there are some
basic values that they all somehow share.
Where did that come from?
The anthropologist will tell you, well, you know,
we develop these values over time.
But if we develop them over time, then
some societies should have different values that they
developed over time.
Some others should have different values that they
developed over time.
But at the core of humanity, there is
a basic understanding of morality that everybody understands.
Everybody.
Allah put rahmah inside every human being.
If you were, doesn't matter if you're a
Hindu or you're an atheist or you're a
progressive or you're left wing or you're right
wing, it doesn't matter.
If you're walking down the street and you
see a child got hurt, immediately something, nobody
will look at that and say, good.
Nobody will look at that, you know, and
say, that's great, I wish more of that
would happen.
Nope.
Except in one country we know now.
But any decent human being will look at
that and say, I should help that child.
I should find out if they're okay.
If you saw somebody, if you're walking in
the mall doing your shopping, an old lady
just fell down.
You're not gonna check their religion first.
You're not gonna check it, you're just gonna
help them.
Because you're a human being.
This is not even because you're Muslim.
This is because you're a human being.
Allah is first telling us in this surah,
inviting humanity to go back to the goodness
they already know inside of them.
And the Qur'an is only confirming that
goodness.
That's the call to al-abrah.
Now, let's take it a step further.
There are two things I want you to
be aware of in these eight minutes that
I have.
I just wanna share this one piece with
you.
Terrifying, actually.
There are two things in Islam.
If I think of my obligations to Allah,
it's just two things.
I'm responsible for myself.
I'm responsible for myself.
And I have some responsibility to others.
I'm responsible to earn halal, that's for myself.
I'm responsible to pray, that's for myself.
I'm responsible to be truthful, that's for myself.
I'm responsible to be grateful, that's for myself.
This is what, at least, there are obligations
or responsibilities I have that apply to myself.
But there's another part of my religion where
I owe something not to myself, but to
others.
There's others.
And it's interesting that Allah uses the word,
يُفُونَ بِالنَّذِرِ They fulfill the pledge.
Describing good people, Allah says, I'll translate in
simple English, they fulfill the pledge.
What is the pledge?
Without going into a deep dive.
One meaning of the pledge is, we made
a pledge to Allah when Allah created us.
أَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَا Am I not your
Rabb?
We all said, yes, we pledge to Allah
that He's our Rabb.
Which means, we told Allah, we promise that
we will take care of our responsibility.
But I said there are two parts.
There's the responsibility you owe to Allah for
yourself, and there's another responsibility for others.
نَذَر has another meaning.
نَذَر means you came up with a promise,
you came up with a commitment you made
to Allah.
Let me explain نَذَر in easy words for
you so you understand this concept.
If a student, if I had a class,
and I had a student, I told him,
finish this homework, this homework, this homework.
Three assignments.
He finishes all three assignments.
But then my student comes to me and
says, Ustadh, I promise you, I'm gonna do
not three assignments, I'm gonna do five assignments.
I didn't ask, I only asked for how
many?
Three.
When he's doing three assignments, he's doing اطاعة,
he's obeying me.
But when he says, no, I promise you,
I pledge to you, I commit to you,
I will not do three, I will do
five.
That's نَذَر.
The نَذَر didn't come from me.
It came from the student.
It was initiated by the student.
They said, I'm gonna do it.
And if you understand that meaning in this
ayah, one part of the نَذَر is, we
made a pledge to Allah that we will
obey Him.
But then we went out of our way.
Some people went out of their way.
They joined this ummah.
And when they joined this ummah, they made
a pledge to Allah that they will represent
and they will bring goodness to the rest
of humanity.
It's not just about me.
I'm gonna help others too.
I'm gonna bring khair to the world too.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ We made an
additional promise to Allah.
Not just about...
So now, if you understand that meaning, I've
made a commitment to Allah that my life
is not just about me.
My life is not just about I better
make sure I eat halal chicken.
My life is not just about I better
get married and not be in a haram
relationship.
My life is not just about my family,
my needs, my requirements, my shari'ah, my
fiqh.
No, no, no.
My life is also about what am I
going to do for others.
And that meaning is then reinforced in the
next ayah.
وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًۢ وَيَتِيمًۢ وَأَسِيرًۢ By
the way, before we go to that ayah,
just look at this ayah.
يُفُونَ بِالنَّظْرِ They fulfilled a pledge.
Now they made a promise to Allah and
now they're doing everything they can to fulfill
that pledge.
But can everybody fulfill that pledge the same
way?
If Allah gave you the ability to teach,
then you can fulfill your pledge by teaching.
If Allah gave you the ability to fulfill,
if Allah gave you a really good business
mind, you're very good at building a business,
then you will fulfill that pledge by creating
halal businesses and halal work opportunities and other
people can earn legitimate rizq and you can
benefit your society and the economy and the
society by creating more businesses, you're fulfilling the
pledge.
If somebody else is an amazing writer and
they can contribute in the space of writing,
if somebody is a filmmaker, if somebody is
a doctor, whatever talent Allah has given you,
that's you have to figure that out.
Because according to the ayah, you made the
pledge.
You can't come to me anymore or anybody
else and say, Ustadh, I don't know what
I'm good at, please tell me.
When people come and tell me that, Ustadh,
I don't know what to do with my
life.
I say, shame on you.
Allah put a ruh in you that is
so powerful that the angels were told to
do sajdah and you say, your ruh is
so weak, you don't know what to do.
Why are you belittling, why are you insulting
what Allah gave you?
You don't have the power to figure this
out?
Why are you acting helpless?
Why are you acting weak?
What Allah gave the human being is very,
very powerful.
It's not something small.
It is not something small.
It's so powerful that while every other creation
of Allah just obeys Allah, this creation of
Allah went and made a pledge to Allah
that they want to do more.
That's how powerful this thing is.
So stop acting helpless.
I don't know what to do.
Maybe you're not being tough with yourself.
Maybe you're not asking yourself that question.
And whenever somebody does come to me, I'm
nice, mostly.
Somebody comes and ask me that question, what
should I do?
I say, I'm gonna come back to Malaysia
next year, inshallah.
And I'm gonna see you and you're gonna
tell me how you answered that question yourself.
If you have any respect for the work
that I do or I've benefited you in
any way, then you will answer that question
and you will come and tell me how
you answered that question yourself.
And not from me, from you.
يُفُونَ بِالنَّظْرِ But they're terrified also.
This is the last thing I'll share with
you.
They're terrified also.
You know the description of Jahannam and the
Day of Judgment.
There's many descriptions.
You know what the description is in this
surah?
كَانَ شَرُّهُ مُسْتَطِيرًۭا Its evil is mustateer.
You know what mustateer means?
Mustateer, the Arabs used to say استطار السيف
When the sword is inside the cover and
they pull the sword out, that act is
the pulling out of the sword from the
cover, that's called استطار.
كَانَ شَرُّهُ مُسْتَطِيرًۭا means they are afraid of
a day when the evil of that day
is going to come out like the sword
comes out of the shield, of the cover.
Meaning it's already there, it's just waiting to
come out.
And now what is the connection between their
pledge and the sword, the Day of Judgment?
What's the connection?
I made a promise to Allah and the
sword has already, every day that passes, the
sword is coming out more and more and
more and more which is Judgment Day.
I better hurry up and fulfill my pledge
because I'm terrified there's a day coming where
the Day of Judgment will be completely out.
It'll be in front of me.
So what do they do?
This is the last thing I'll share with
you.
In the next ayah you find that they
fulfill their pledge by doing something for others.
وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ مِسْكِنًۭا وَيَتِيمًۭا وَأَسِيرًۭا They
feed others out of love of it or
out of love of Him.
There's two meanings.
They give others food even though they love
food themselves.
That's one meaning.
So in other words, they don't just become
consumers.
Mine, mine, mine.
Now they're like, I love this but because
I love this, I love this for someone
else.
I want others to have it because I
like it so much.
Their mindset changes.
They're thinking helping others actually makes them happy.
Not shopping makes them happy.
Shopping for others makes them happy.
Not eating makes them happy.
Like, I love this burger.
This is my favorite burger.
You know what what يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ means?
When you give someone else your favorite burger
and you see the smile on it, now
I'm happy.
Because عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ I love it but now
I want others to have what I love.
And another meaning of that is out of
their love of Allah.
They just wanna help because of the love
of Allah.
For the young people here, just understand, you
might hear we have to provide a service,
we have to do something for the ummah,
we have to do something for humanity.
But nowadays, a lot of people that think
they're doing something for humanity are still doing
something for themselves.
I wanna create content for the ummah but
I just wanna make sure my channel is
growing and I find enough sponsors and في
سبيل الله and I wanna make sure the
right filters are on.
في سبيل الله I'm helping humanity with this
filter.
Right?
You're telling yourself that you're doing this for
others but actually it's still an expression of
love for yourself.
I have to be careful of that, you
have to be careful of that.
وَيُطْعِمُونَ طَعَامًا عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ Last thought of this,
I know my time is now up.
Is that when I give...
Allah says, they give food.
They give food.
Don't think this ayah just means you go
buy a sandwich and give somebody a sandwich.
Don't think this ayah means they take some
money and give somebody money and say, hey,
get yourself some food.
No, no, no, there's more meaning to this.
The deeper meaning here is if I went
to someone...
I went to a man who was hungry.
I went to a woman who's starving.
Instead of giving them food, I taught them
how to fix a car.
I taught them how to build a wall.
I taught them how to do some plumbing.
I taught them how to develop an app.
I taught them film production.
I educated them so they can learn to
make their own money.
And then they can feed themselves and they
can also feed other people.
So I created an entire machinery out of
يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامًا They feed food, meaning, a modern
way of looking at this would be, they
create economic activity.
They create economic activity.
They create job opportunities.
They create education that will lead to more
productive sustainability.
They lead to a better economic condition for
the people.
And as they do that, this is actually
يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامًا You know what that means?
That those of you that are thinking about
starting a business, if you're thinking like the
American capitalist, you want to start a business
and make as much profit as possible.
If you're thinking يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامًا you will make
profit for yourself, but one of your main
goals is you want your employees to have
decent salaries, and you want them to have
good housing, and you want them to have
a good Islamic environment in your business, and
you're actually feeding their bodies and their souls,
and their families, and creating a صدقة جارية
for yourself and them.
يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامًا عَلَى حُبِّ This is the نذر
we made with Allah.
That not only will we be good to
ourselves and be good ourselves, we're going to
create good in the world that can keep
producing more and more good.
And you, each of you, myself, we have
to think about what is it that we
are going to give to the world that
can create that good more and more and
more.
Instead of that good coming back to us,
it's going out.
And the more good that happens, the more
we feel happy, the more we actually love
it.
May Allah عز و جل make us people
that live up to the spirit of these
powerful ayat.
And may Allah عز و جل make the
audience here, especially in those that are watching
online, may Allah make this message something that
allows you, Allah blesses you, to create a
lot of good in this life for yourself,
and for others that benefits you in both
worlds, this world and the akhirah.
بارك الله لي ولكم السلام عليكم و رحمة
الله و بركاته I hope you guys enjoyed
that video clip.
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