Nouman Ali Khan – Your Struggles Are Temporary – Powerful Imagery from Surah Al-Kahf
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AI: Transcript ©
So actually, Allah designed this life to constantly
go through changes.
So those of you that got uprooted from
your home, and you're in a different place,
and you say, I miss my village, I
miss my home, why can't I just go
back, why can't I do this, why can't
I have that old job back, why did
I have to do that, you know, why
did we have to move to this neighborhood,
why did I have to...
There's why, why, why, I hate change, I
hate change.
Allah says, He made life full of change.
You can't keep anything the same.
Anything that Allah's command came into, like the
water that came into a fruit, if you
look at that fruit, what's happening slowly, it's
losing its water, and it's getting dry, and
it's eventually gonna die.
Allah says, وَضْرِبْ لَهُمْ مَثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا Give
them the example of worldly life.
And this translation of الحياة الدنيا as worldly
life is very common, but the word الدنيا
is actually the feminine form of أفضل التفليل,
in the mu'annath form of الأذنى.
And then أذنى in Arabic means the lowest.
And so actually literally what's being said is
the lowest life.
And that's Allah's way of saying that life
has higher and higher stages, and we're actually
at the lowest stage.
There's better and better coming in our future.
So there's an optimism that's suggested.
As tough as life may be, it's not
gonna get worse than this, it's only going
to get better.
It's actually, especially for a believer, that's what
it's meant.
Somebody might say, but what about hellfire?
What about the punishment of Allah?
Actually Allah doesn't even consider hellfire life.
He says about hellfire, لا يموت فيها ولا
يحيى.
He doesn't live in it, He doesn't die
in it, He doesn't live in it.
Actually it's not even considered life.
And the next life, the life after يوم
القيامة and the life in Jannah, Allah calls
it لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانَ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ That's the
real life if they only knew.
So this life is actually the precursor, just
a preview of what's coming in Jannah.
Just a brief comment about that before we
go back into this ayah.
Allah in the Qur'an describes Jannah like
no other religion describes heaven.
And since I was here, I took the
liberty of going to the Mormon library and
spoke to a couple of the elders and
had some interesting conversations with them about their
beliefs and their concepts.
And this is something I try and do,
to understand other perspectives and how they see
faith.
One thing you'll find unique about the Qur
'an, the description, the specific description with which
Allah describes heaven is not found anywhere else.
You'll get general words like garden.
That's what you eat, the garden of Eden.
That's all you get.
What Allah will tell you is fruits, and
لَهْمِ طَيْرٍ مِمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ The flesh of birds,
you're gonna have some kind of chicken barbecue
or something, that's gonna be there.
There's gonna be all kinds of drinks that
are being served.
There are servers that are charming, that are
serving drinks.
There are friends sitting together, talking about how
life used to be tough and what they
went through, and how things used to be
tough.
They're having a reunion, believers are having a
reunion.
You know, all kinds of descriptions, very vivid,
picturesque descriptions are being given of Jannah.
But many of them you will find, are
things that are easy to imagine.
Friends hanging out together, people enjoying drinks, servers
bringing drinks, beautiful trees, waterfalls, cushions, carpets.
These are all things we find in this
life.
And there's a reason for that.
Even though our Prophet ﷺ told us, مَا
ذَا عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ وَذَا أُذُرٌ سَمِعَتْ وَمَا خَطَرَ
عَلَقًا بِبَشَرٍ No eye has ever seen, no
ear has ever heard.
And no imagination has ever imagined what heaven
has to offer, what Jannah has to offer.
However, if you read the Qur'an's description
of Jannah, it looks like very easy to
imagine.
Palm trees, and beautiful mansions, and spouses, and
all that stuff, right?
So why is that?
It is actually because this world is made
a preview of what is coming.
This is supposed to give us a glimpse.
You know, Muslims see this life very differently
than other faiths.
And many other faiths, this life is actually
a curse.
We were sent here as a punishment.
In the Qur'an, we were not sent
on the earth as a punishment.
خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا جَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ
فِيهَا مَعَايِشًا قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ In this world,
He put things for you that you can
live well with and enjoy.
How little you show gratitude.
You don't put someone in prison and say,
be grateful.
You put someone somewhere nice, and you show
them the beauty of this world, and that's
what makes you want to be grateful.
This is what Allah does in Surah Ar
-Rahman.
He talks about, وَالْحَبُّذُ الْعَصْفِ وَالْرَيْحَانِ فَبِأَيِّ أَلَاءِ
رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَ Like, look at all these beautiful
things I've made for you.
Look at the scent in the air from
the crop that comes to you.
Look at the grain that grows, the crop
that grows.
What more are you gonna be in denial
of?
You should be grateful.
So, Allah did in fact make this world
beautiful.
And you guys happen to be very fortunate
you live in a state of Utah where
you're surrounded by beautiful mountains.
You get to appreciate Allah's beauty even when
you're stuck in traffic.
At least you have something to look at.
I come from Dallas.
There's nothing to look at, you know.
So, you know, there's this constant beauty that
surrounds us.
Anyway, coming back to this ayah.
He says, just give them the example of
this lowest life.
And everything you experience in this life, every
joy you experience, it is the minimal joy.
The joy of a new baby is the
minimal joy.
The joy of marriage, the joy of seeing
a beautiful waterfall, the joy of a beautiful
sky, the joy of a delicious meal.
All of these are the lowest.
Like, there's way more upgrades available.
And can you imagine, we were like, oh
my god, that's my favorite restaurant.
I can't, I haven't added in so long.
I need that shawarma or whatever, right?
And that's your thought of joy.
Or this vacation, this place you wanna go
to, or this car you wanna drive, or
this neighborhood you wanna get a home in.
Or whatever, we associate joy with these things.
And all of that is just the bare
minimum.
That's the rahmah of Allah.
وَضْرِبْ لَهُمْ مَثَلَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا كَمَا إِنْ أَنزَلْنَاهُ
مِنَ السَّمَاءِ If you get some, if you
want to get a picture of what this
life is like, it's something like water that
we sent down from the sky.
I'll translate quickly, then we'll contemplate these words.
فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ Then that water, because
of it, the grains in the world and
all the material in the soil, anything that
can grow is called nabat.
Grass can be called nabat.
Trees can be called nabat.
Fruits can be called, flowers can be called
nabat.
Nabat is the word for all vegetation, all
greenery, all plant life, you can call nabat.
So the water mixes with all of these
nutrients on the earth.
فَاخْتَلَطَ بِهِ نَبَاتُ الْأَرْضِ And of course, when
rain comes from the sky that Allah is
talking about, and the earth becomes green, flowers
grow, grass grows, trees grow, farm grows, all
of it grows, then you would think Allah
will next talk about how beautiful it gets,
how colorful it gets.
And He talks about that in other places.
But here, He says something else.
He says, فَأَصْبَحَ هَشِيمًا تَذُوبُ الرِّيَاحِ Then that
same crop that grows, He didn't even mention
the crop, He says it mixes with the
soil, and eventually it becomes this word hashim.
And hashim in Arabic is المحطم.
It's something dried up that has no moisture
in it, and can easily break and is
stepped on.
Basically what He's describing is dried up leaves.
Dried up leaves and twigs that fall off
of a tree, or grass that dies, that
you step on and makes crunchy sounds, and
it's worthless.
And the wind just blows it off, and
actually creates dust, and pollen problems, or allergies
for you.
All of that stuff is coming from the
dirt, and the broken up leaves, and all
of that stubble that's around in the world.
So He's describing now, this life starts off
with water from the sky, and then eventually
it just turns into just broken up leaves
that people step on, they don't even realize.
If you were stepping on something valuable, if
you were stepping on your new phone, you
would be like, you wouldn't put your full
weight on it, the moment you felt a
little bit of the crunch.
But you don't think twice when you step
on a leaf.
You don't think twice when you step on
a pebble.
It's just worthless, right?
And it's blowing around.
If cash was blowing around, you would have
a heart attack.
But if leaves were blowing around, you don't
think twice about it.
This is worthless stuff.
And that's why in the Qur'an, things
that blow with the wind are considered worthless,
like haba.
And other images in the Qur'an, when
things blow in the wind, they're actually considered
weightless and worthless.
And one of the scariest descriptions of Judgment
Day is, some people, their deeds will be
scattered like dust or ashes.
فَجَعَلْنَهُ هَبَآءًۭا مَنْ ثُورًۭا Allah describes.
So we seek Allah's refuge from our deeds
being turned into scattered dust on Judgment Day,
and not having any weight.
But anyway, coming back to this remarkable parable,
how is it that I can benefit from
this example?
Other than just saying, well, Allah gives life
and then we die.
The plant grows and then the plant dies.
Great, now what?
But actually if you dig a little deeper,
and you contemplate especially the end of this
ayah, وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مُقْتَدِرًۭا Allah
has been in complete control over all things.
And the word for Allah's control, you find
three different words in the Qur'an.
You find قَادِر, you find قَدِير, and here
you find actually, سِرَةُ المُبَالَغَىٰ in a sense,
from اِقْتَدَر, it's مُقْتَدِر, مُقْتَدِر.
And actually the way to translate that is,
actively in control.
Allah is actively in control, and overwhelmingly in
control over all things.
That's what Allah says at the end.
Now let's go back.
In this life, the first thing Allah wanted
me to think about is the fact that
He sends water from the sky, that mixes
with the soil.
So there's something happening with the sky, and
there's something happening with the earth.
Every fruit that you eat, every piece of
meat that you and I eat, every bit
of vegetation that you and I see, is
a result of water that came from the
sky.
You know what else comes from the sky?
What comes from the sky is always the
rizq from Allah, the command from Allah, the
guidance from Allah.
Everything that Allah gives us that is purposeful
comes from the sky.
The angels come from the sky with a
mission.
The angels that are here go up and
report to the sky, and they come back
from the sky.
The angels are descending, تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا
Right?
So, when Allah sends something from the sky,
it has a purpose, it comes for a
mission.
And so what does it do for a
believer?
What it does for a believer is every
leaf inside it is the command of Allah.
Every fruit, every orange has inside it the
water that came from the sky, that came
from the command of Allah.
And every time something comes from the sky,
it has to have a purpose.
So everything becomes purposeful.
And in everything I see, that it's related
to a command from Allah descending from the
heavens.
What does that have to do with you
and me?
Let's come back to that.
All of you have different crises.
Every one of you has a different drama
going on in your life.
And when I say drama, some of you
looked at the person next to you like,
this is the drama, I just drove with
them to Jumu'ah.
But on a more serious note, whatever struggles
we're going through, whatever we're experiencing in this
life, we have to first understand that none
of it would have been happening if Allah's
command wasn't there.
And there was some purpose, there was a
reason for which it was happening.
And everything we're going through, Imam al-Qurtubi
commenting on this, he said something so beautiful.
Why did Allah make me focus so much
on water?
Because water doesn't stay in the same place.
Water mixes with other things.
Water is constantly moving and changing.
And if you try to keep water in
the same place, it goes bad.
So actually Allah designed this life to constantly
go through changes.
So those of you that got uprooted from
your home, and you're in a different place,
and you say, I miss my village, I
miss my home, why can't I just go
back?
Why can't I do this?
Why can't I have that old job back?
Why did I have to do that?
Why did we have to move to this
neighborhood?
Why did I have to...
There's why, why, why.
I hate change, I hate change.
Allah says, He made life full of change.
You can't keep anything the same.
Anything that Allah's command came into, like the
water that came into a fruit, if you
look at that fruit, what's happening slowly?
It's losing its water, and it's getting dry,
and it's eventually gonna die.
Right?
It's gonna go.
So the experiences we have in this life,
the good that we have in this life
is temporary.
And the bad that we have in this
life is also temporary.
The tough stuff is also temporary.
And all of that is a command of
Allah.
So then if that's all temporary, then what's
permanent?
If everything's just gonna go, the good is
gonna go, the bad is gonna go.
What you think is a huge problem today,
tomorrow you'll look back like, oh my god,
I used to think that was a huge
problem.
This is a huge problem.
I prefer that problem.
Because that's gone now, and you have something
new to deal with.
You know?
But human beings forget that the beginning of
all that is, is water.
And what did Allah mention in the first
part?
He mentioned water.
And what did He mention at the end?
Completely dried up, right?
The lack of water.
So you know what?
There's something in between.
In between is the greenery, is the good
things in life.
It's the ups and downs of life.
It's the changes in life.
But you know what?
It becomes easier to deal with that stuff
when you go back and you realize, you
and I were just drops of water too.
That's all we were.
And eventually we're gonna be reduced to nothing
inside of the dirt.
That's the beginning and the end.
And everything else we're experiencing is just the
stuff in between.
This is just an episode in between.
Or multiple episodes in between.
And they will come to pass.
They will go.
Then what is it that's gonna actually last?
You know, you would think, yes, you would
think, الصالحات الباقيات.
But He actually says الباقيات الصالحات.
Good things that you do everyday, even the
smallest things, those are the things that are
actually going to last.
So whether we have an easy life or
a tough life, it is actually the good.
If I can find some way of doing
something good everyday, something that wasn't about me,
it was about someone else, it was for
Allah, something.
Then I have lived a meaningful, purposeful life.
And that's what water does.
Water doesn't serve itself.
Water serves everything else.
And so if we have the command of
Allah in us, the guidance of Allah in
us, we're not just there to serve ourselves
and our feelings.
We're there to be of service to somebody
else.
I hope you guys enjoyed that video clip.
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