Riyad Nadwi – 0.4 Actionable Tafsir Dars 4
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So that was the review
with a bit of extra commentary. Now today,
I want to begin at the beginning. And
the beginning is with the greatest Surah in
the Quran. We know the Surah as Surah
Al Fatiha.
Welcome to our 4th session in
this Tassir series in which we are
pondering the
verses of the Quran
with a view towards purifying our hearts and
minds
and beautifying our conduct and character.
Drawing from the established Usul,
the normative principles of exegesis,
and also from modern discoveries in cognitive science,
we are aiming to
bridge
the
gap of time and language that separates
us from the 1st generation of Muslims.
In our previous session,
there were several
points to keep in mind. And the first
was
the 15 adab,
the etiquettes.
When engaging with the Quran, we are reminded
to
approach it with etiquette, with adab.
Because
as the great
Muhammad
says
that whosoever belittle, whosoever
does not pay heed
to adam,
to etiquettes,
then that person will be
punished
with being deprived of sunnah. And
whosoever
does not pay attention to sunnah, then that
person will be
deprived of for a'id, of of compulsory things.
And then and whosoever
is
not careful, not does not pay heed to
for the compulsory things,
that he will then be
punished. He will be deprived punished punished with
the deprive being deprived of
which is
He will not get he will not earn
the knowledge of Allah.
He will not recognize Allah. So that
list
of adab that we had included Tahara,
Tawwud,
which is claiming us
seeking refuge
with Allah
from
Shaitan,
with the mindset of a refugee.
Refugees
see themselves as stranded,
helpless.
So if we are truly seeking refuge, then
there should be no room in our hearts
for
arrogance, pride, or doubt when approaching the Quran.
To seek the right intention was the other
adept. And then it goes on it goes
on talking about,
qalamulquran
from qualified
sources, etcetera.
Take your Quran from people who are who
are qualified in a in a chain because
that whosoever speaks
about the Quran or speaks
translates or interprets the Quran without knowledge, then
he should prepare for an abode of fire.
And another rewire,
it says that whosoever
speaks of the Quran with his opinion, then
he should also prepare for an abode of
fire because when
and even if he arrives at the correct
opinion
by fluke,
he's or he's still committed
a grave mistake
without knowledge, without proper training in this.
So
this is very dangerous thing.
So and then there were several others
about the miswak.
I gave you the beautiful hadith about the
miswak where,
told us about the angel standing next to
you. So this is a sunnah that we
should aim to practice
and several others about following the,
tardim of the Quran, not to read shad,
divergent
recitations of the Quran, etcetera, etcetera.
Now the second point was that human beings
are in need of guidance. We emphasized that.
We went into detail.
And we said that without that, we will
potentially
stumble in the dark
as we see with the oscillating moral positions
throughout history.
Take the example of, cremating bodies in Europe,
where
most of Europe,
this
has now become it's now returned to accepting
of, cremation.
And this has happened after several 100 years
of it being completely haram. It was prohibited
in Europe, in Christian Europe, for 100 and
100 of years
because of the belief in resurrection.
But now, that has all changed. And in
fact, it changed since
1963
when the pope,
allowed it.
So the purpose of guidance is to
keep people on a straight path where you're
not oscillating between, like, a person who is
in the dark bouncing from one corner to
another but you are moving in a direction
with following a guidance. It's not you're not
doing it from your own experience and you're
not getting,
hit from one side of a wall to
to warn you to go into a different
direction but you're guided.
That's the purpose of prophets. The purpose of
divine guidance is to guide you towards a
straight path that's why it's it's emphasis on
on being straight. If you're you're heading towards
Allah to connect you. The purpose the principal
purpose of guidance
is to
connect you with Allah to
connect you with your creator and to teach
you how to
remain in his worship while
living in this world as a test. This
world is a place of test. Allah
says,
that we have not created men and jinn
except
for worship.
Now, more on this later, we'll come back
to this point.
The point number 3 was that moral chaos
the world is in currently, we all are
suffering from this is
which is the chaos that we're engulfed in
over
Palestine.
This is a symptom of a
wider
maze, a moral maze.
Where the fictitious beheading, as I said, of,
babies,
a fictitious
news of beheading of babies has more
purchase of the mind than actual slaughter of
1,000 and thousands of children.
And,
this sort of will be explained that this
intransigence,
this belligerence that we see
is
there is something behind it and before, and
this is new. What we are witnessing now
is new, whereas in the past, people used
to prevaricate, you know, double speak. Now it's
clear they're saying, no, we,
want this to happen.
And the reason for this and, of course,
this is only in one quarter of the
world, but
the reason is that there is now hope
in a new plan and that's what we
emphasize that there is a new plan in
place and the hope is for 2 things.
1 is that the plan will succeed,
the plan
of,
for
the destruction of resistance,
and also,
the plan,
the the destruction of resistance and then the
implementation of
the,
Abrahamic,
accord.
And in then they also aim to
for hope, placing hope in the fact that
human beings have short memories and will forget
about the slaughter, that that that will happen.
And so that
there'll be no resistance to the occupied lands
and the total
capitulation
of Muslim,
rights to Masjid al Aqsa. It's an old
plan, as I said,
that started to succeed in the Trump era
with the normalization of,
Muslim states, with Israel.
It's called the Abrahamic Accord, in which the
Palestinians would be given a substitute land in
a place called Abu Dis
in exchange
for goods for Jerusalem. That's the plan.
And the plan has two parts. The parts
is the Abraham Accord, which is the political
part and then it has a religious, a
theological
part and that is the Deen al Ibrahimi,
the Abrahamic House,
which is a global project with branches all
around the world, including the UK.
But the headquarters is in the UAE
in a complex,
as I said, where there's a mosque, a
church, and a synagogue.
And the basic idea is that, given that
Ibrahim
is accepted by all 3 faiths, Christianity, Judaism,
and Islam,
that they'd be that they could use that,
the personality of the
patriarch, Abraham
to get Muslims to accept
a new theology,
a new theology of combining
the reading of scriptures,
not openly saying that we are going to
join the scriptures but we'll combine
the reading of the scriptures. That's the thing.
And now this might seem farfetched, you know,
who would accept this. But if you look
at what's actually happening in the UAE and
Saudi Arabia, it's beginning to spread in
small pockets, but
with the pressure of
political
subjugation and all the,
other,
forms of coercion that's happening, people are saying
this is the only way to engage
with with this issue.
This is the same Saudi Arabia for where
mister Kushner, Jared Kushner, just returned.
And he he's just given the interview in
where he says that he felt safer in
Saudi Arabia than he would on a university
campus in in America.
This is the same person who oversaw
the moving of the American Embassy from
the from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
as a sign of saying that Jerusalem now
belongs to Israel. It's not it's not us.
It's Kurds.
Now, 1,000,000 and 1,000,000 of dollars are being
pumped into this new theology of Abrahamic unification.
They have Du'at. They have missionaries
working all over the world pushing these ideas.
I told you also about Sheikh Al Azhar.
This is to keep it's an interesting thing
to keep in mind that,
doctor Ahmed Tariq, who was leading the leading
figure in the project, he was a figurehead.
He was a Imam al Akbar. He was
in in this project.
But then when he realized what it was,
he pulled out and said that,
this is,
the Musaddah who will reiterate Adul Eema and
that this is this is something that is
designed
to
confiscate the freedom of belief and faith and
choice. That's what it was.
So he he he and not only Sheikh
Al Azhar but,
many scholars around the world have responded to
this very,
strongly
and the International
Union of Muslim Scholars Day, Itihal,
Itihal
al Adami y Alamehil Uslimin, which is a
worldwide
organization, they also issued
a thorough rebuttal,
point by point, 10 point rebuttal
which is available. You
can access that. It's, it's on the Internet.
So we've spoken about this but I believe
that when the war is over,
we are likely to hear more about this,
about the Abraham,
the Abrahamic Unification Plan,
because this is a plan that many people
are waiting for and hoping, as I said,
to, for the memory of the slaughter
to fade, the memory of what's happening right
now in Gaza to fade.
Point number 4 was that we need to
keep in mind
the
verses of the Quran that
explain this away
from the from the
spin that he's putting on that's being put
on it. And the first verse of that,
as I said, was
that he was not a Jew nor was
he a Christian.
That he was inclined with truth and Muslim
that that was his name Muslim.
That
he was he was not about the polyist
the polytheist.
The next verse we need to keep in
mind is
and in the final Hajj in,
on Yomg Al Arafat, Jum'ah, he said to
him that I've completed your religion for you,
and
I have and I've chosen for you Islam
as your religion.
And the prophet himself
used the term Deen
with the definite article. The word Deen,
when it's used with definite article, then it
means this way. It means it means the
religion of Islam. It means the faith of
Islam.
And so the prophets himself used it with
the definite article, the Sahaba used it with
the definite article, and
the Tabirim,
those who followed also used it. We have
Hadith Rasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool
Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool
Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool
Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool
Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool
Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool Dasool, and then we
have the the saying of,
the Ibisiri telling me, he's saying that in
in the other Deen, Fandur in the other
realm
in the other realm of
Deen.
This is Deen.
So be careful of who you take your
Deen from.
These,
Tabi'in and Sahaba, did not wait until 17th
century for the Europeans to come up with
the concept of religion. No.
Which of course is that this whole idea
that religion was invented in the 17th 16th
century is a postmodernist
deconstructionist
myth. This is something you need to understand.
The postmodernist
have a a way of approaching,
every concept and deconstructing it and this is
what they've done. And it's it's nonsensical. It's
a,
it's a myth,
that the word,
religion
was,
you know, invented in the 17th century. It
it it's the etymology of it is back
to the Latin which is religio
and religio means it's, it's something which is,
which,
denotes obligation, bond, and reverence which is very
close to the Arabic word from which
deen comes from. Dane yadineu
which means in the old in the,
in the,
Jahibie poetry,
the pre Islamic poetry, they use this word
dimnaon kamadan
in the poetry that we rewarded them as
they reward you. This is the bond
of repaying.
This is where the word comes from, from
deen, deen, adeen is derived.
And in addition to this, we also have
the word faith in English with synonymous denotation.
It's not we only have
one word for religion. We have religion and
faith as well. Faith is used,
to describe the state we have And
in in antiquity,
you will find if you look on to
the antiquity, you'll see that there are, the
Zoroastrian
faith, the,
the Confucian faith and religions of the previous
civilizations.
Now, so so that's the first thing is
that this is very clearly something that established
in Islam in Hazeddin.
And the second word is Islam, which has
two meanings, the verb, which is Ist Islam
and and this is in general sense,
in in general sense, the the verb is
this the word Islam, Ist Islam
is is to submit to the guidance of
any prophet before us. So that's the two
meanings of it. The it's Islam. Islam as
a verb is is to submit, and that
is used to describe all the
prophets, all the obedience to all the prophets
prior to Islam,
prior to the coming of Rasool Allah ahi
wa sallam,
in as a verb. But when it's used
as as a noun when when this word
is used as a noun then, with with
the definite article attached to it, then it
has become specific to
it's primarily to
the guidance that was given to Rasool Allah
SAWA,
the Muhammad and the final prophethood
that abrogates
all previous
shah.
All the previous codes are abrogated with the
arrival
of the source code. This is this is
this is the source code
of all guidance, the Quran.
So it's like it's like what a you
know, when you have a a new currency
comes out and the old notes are becoming
valid. That that's what this is in. We
could there there are Sharah and we
could
we give you all the the Minhad, the
Sharah, But the Quran is definitely not
the 5th chapter
of a bigger book. This is something that
has to be very clear in your mind.
The Quran
is not a 5th chapter
in a bigger book. And mind you, I'm
not passing fatwa. But to say such a
thing is bordering an apostasy. Ask any Muslim,
you'll find this. A Muslim
is required to believe in the Quran
as a complete book of kindness.
A Muslim is is required to believe in
the Quran as a complete book of guidance.
This has to be very clear in your
mind. This is part of our aqeedah. We
don't see this as a we don't see
the Quran as, you know, as part of
some other. This is a chapter in a
bigger book. No, no, no, no, no. That's
completely wrong.
And in fact, the Quran is the quintessence
of all revealed scriptures. It precedes all the
books.
Repeating this, the Quran is the quintessence of
all revealed scriptures.
It precedes all books. Rasool Allah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said,
In Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
Quran
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
read from the Quran.
Read from the Quran. Right? He's reading from
Quran. Surah Yaseen and Surah Yaseen
U Ta'al. This is from the Quran that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
read from the Quran.
2 1000 years before He created Adam
he read from the Quran.
It's Hanaf. He read Yaseen and and
Watubaaliadwafin
taqmilluwada
and blessed will be the empty chest that
will carry this.
So this Quran therefore is not a postscript.
This Quran is not a postscript to previous
scriptures.
It is a source
script to all scriptures. That is how it
has to be seen. The Quran is not
a postscript
to previous scriptures. It is a source script.
When Allah
is reciting from the Quran
2000 years before he created Adam
and even though Moses called towards Islam and
Islam which is in the general sense he
says,
He said, oh, people,
oh, oh, nation, if you are in Quntum,
if you believe in Allah, if you believe
in Allah,
so put your trust
in Allah in Kuntum Muslimeen that if you
are a Muslim,
in other words, if you submitted, if you
submitted.
But when Rasulullah, when the Prophet
saw Umar and when he see him, when
he saw him reading not reading from the
scriptures, Umar
had some of the scriptures, the previous scriptures.
He saw it with it. And what did
he say to him?
He didn't say, oh, well, you know, find
out what they're saying because we're following Milit
Ibrahim and his son the same thing. No.
He said you don't do that. He said
don't do that because
Allahu anna Musa kadhayen
that if Musa was alive today,
Moses, if he was alive today, he would
have no choice but to follow Me.
Number 5
was to recognize that the drift into moral
chaos does not only lead to mayhem in
the world, but it also creates
turmoil within. As we said,
When a person,
who
does not recognize the existence of God and
accountability in the hereafter,
they suffer from an internal turmoil of inconsistency,
which is
observable through the external activity on the skin.
I I told you about the experiments
where people who are found where atheists
were tested and found that their skin was
telling an entire different story from what they
were claiming. They were claiming that they were
not afraid to say, oh,
I dare God to do x, y, and
zed, but then their skins were telling a
different that that the,
sympathetic nervous system was firing,
because they were afraid. And that coincides with
what we know about this what the skin
the skin will speak
on the day of judgment. It will will
will speak and it will say things. It
will say it will tell what you have
done.
So and, of course,
we have created the human being and we
know what his soul whispers to him. What
what what is what is inside?
Should we should he not know and he
has
he the created he is the one who
understand
the finest
mysteries
as well as and he is well acquainted
with all that good them. Who is created?
Did he not create? He created and he
knows everything in it.
Right. So that was the review
with a bit of extra commentary. Now today,
I want to begin at the beginning.
And beginning I want to begin with the
beginning and the beginning is with the greatest
Surah in the Quran.
It is described in the words of Rasulullah
Did Allah not say that
you should
respond to Allah and his prophet when he
calls you?
And then he said to me,
shall I not teach you the greatest Surah
in the Quran
before
before you leave the mosque, I will tell
you. Before you leave this Masjid.
Shabaan will tell you that? And I said,
yes.
I wanted it.
And then later on when he was about
to go out, he had my hand and
I'm about to go out.
Did you not say
that this was the most that you will
teach me and you will tell me what
is the greatest surah in the Quran? And
then Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
that
he is the
7 ghosts of repeated
and the great Quran
and let he to what I was given.
That is the greatest Surah in the Quran.
Now we know the Surah as Surah Al
Fatiha
and we know that it has other names
but
they these names are not often salient in
our minds
and I want to change that for several
reasons.
I want to focus the discussion
on the names of the Surah. This is
the first discussion about Surah Al Fatih. I
want you to focus on the names because
it's not without reason that we have named
multiple names.
If you remember in our 1st and second
session, I spoke to you at length about
the importance
of labels,
the importance of names, words for things,
labels for categories of information,
recognitions in the mind. So
if one's label for a particular thing
in the world is absent or poorly configured,
then one's ability to recognize and to relate
to that concept or category
will be impeded. You would you would have
difficulty
recognizing that thing. You know, the Piraha people
in the in the Amazon,
they they do not have
many numbers. They have 1, 2,
and many and that's a that's about it
in their their numeracy. So they
after they were,
being,
cheated every time they were trading their Brazil
nuts with people, they they're they're often,
so so so some psychologists and some
scientists tried to teach them through through,
numbers, but it didn't get too far because
the their their origin their their mother tongue
doesn't have that. They they don't have currency
and money, so so they are cheated.
And
in some ways,
that is exactly what will happen if we're
cheated of the word of Islam for religion,
for our faith
that,
because
one has to be very clear
clear in your mind that if they accuse
you of playing,
you know, identity politics
then say, yes, I'm satisfied.
I'm satisfied with this name and I'm satisfied
with identity
with this identity for my faith
because it was given to me by my
creator.
I'll repeat that. I'm satisfied with this name
because it was given to me by my
Creator. Allah says very clearly in the Quran,
Huwa
Huwa. Allah says, Huwa sammaqumal
muslimeeninqabluwafi'ada
that Allah
is
to name something. Right. And Allah uses
Allah
is saying that He
named you Muslim in this scripture and before
and before in this one in Tumya before
and in this one as well. Allah named
you Muslims.
He did not. Allah did the naming sammaqum.
So don't be quick to agree with those
who want to replace this name with Allah,
with any other name that this is a
name given to you by Allah. So if
there is any extension of names, it has
to extend
backwards, not forward, not to bring something that
is abrogated forward, but taking something that is
valid backwards. What does that mean? Is that
we're taking a name that is valid now
in the valid Quran
backwards, which is Muslim. We can take that
backwards. Now you're all Muslim. Yes. That that
if you follow, if you follow the law,
if you follow, if you believe in Allah,
you believe in all the prophets, you believe
in Muhammad, then you are Muslim. You can
take that backwards into history. But to bring
a new name to replace Islam from history,
that doesn't go. That doesn't work. Right.
In the same vein, I gave you the
example
of people who are unable to recognize certain
colors because the the absence
of a label in their language
for that particular point in the color spectrum.
If the word in your language does not
exist
for that point,
then recognizing the color will be difficult for
you. You know, you have a color spectrum
and to recognize that particular point, you you
will not be able to if you don't
have a label, if you don't have a
name for it.
There there are several cognitive experiments that shed
lights,
on on this phenomena.
Right? So a famous one is the,
the the the Russian word,
the words,
for blue and light blue. It is
and
it's,
the Russians have
2 different words for blue and light blue.
And they're they're they're independent
colors. They're not variations of the same as
we are as we have in English. These
are 2 different colors completely.
Now
when we hear this, when I say blue
and light blue
and I translate that into English, you think,
oh, problem solved. And this is what most
people say. They say, well, you know, they
they
there's nothing wrong with language specificity,
in that
it is not significant because we can easily
translate these words into other languages. For example,
the Gullah boy translated as light blue in
English.
Now there are two answers to this. 1st,
there are experiments in the brain and brain
scans that,
activations
in the brain
are consistent with color with independent color recognition.
When you when you show
a a person a red color, a blue
color, a red and a yellow color in
English an English speaker, you will see a
flash of color recognition in the brain that
look they're recognizing
distinct colors. But when you go when you
do variations of colors like
a a a blue and then light blue,
then you don't get that same
oh, new color, new flat, big recognition. But
with with Russians
in in Russian speakers, when you do that,
you get a complete clear view that, look,
they are recognizing a brand new color. It's
not light blue, it's not a variation of
a color, it's a new color.
And now that's the first answer to the
question of,
translation being
okay.
The second proof is that if you look
at some other languages,
the same color terms like, take Polish,
the word for
the same 2 the same phenomena, blue and
light blue, is Gran Torwe and Ibi and
Ibiieski.
Do we have any Polish speakers
now?
No. Okay. Yeah. Anyway,
Gran Tove and Nierbieski
are the same two words
in Polish. Right? Now what you find in
Polish is that these two words
from they they are also,
when if you translate them as light blue
and and that you find that they they
come with qualifiers. You would have qualifiers with
the with these individual words. So the light
blue that we are translating as light blue,
they have,
other thing, the Yasnon Nirbirsk which is light
Nirbirsk,
light light blue.
So that's how we will have to translate
it. If they say Yasnon Nirbirsk,
and it will become that. And then we
have a further problem. They have a qualifier,
c and non near BSC, which is,
dark light blue.
So where would you end up with that?
They have a dark light blue and then
escarod
near BSC.
And,
the if you if somebody comes and says,
a scar
near the ESK,
a a a a a scroll a scroll
near the ESK, which is bright light blue.
So what this shows is that, yes, you
will you'll be able to translate what's going
on, but you wouldn't be able to perceive
it. You wouldn't be able to perceive it
in your language because it's it's a completely
different,
way of interacting with that phenomena in the
world, and that's the point.
Now what this tells us is that translations
are only
approximations
but to perceive categories of language of another
language
is not as easy as we tend to
think it is and this is the reason
why
translation one of the reasons this is one
of the reasons why translations of the Quran,
can never be considered as Quran. They can
only be pale approximations.
Another interesting
example
is of the color orange.
Do you know that the color orange did
not exist in Europe
until
the early 16th century?
Yeah. You didn't know because they didn't have
a label for it. Yes. They didn't. The
word orange is derived from the Arabic word
naranj, not in geo. That's where it comes
from. It's an Arabic word.
But
the,
when the Portuguese it it was first brought
the fruit was for the orange orange was
first brought to the Iberian Peninsula
by the Arabs.
And the interesting thing about this is that
when the Iberians when when when Portuguese
discovered that
orange and citrus in the citrus in the
citrus food prevents scurvy because they were on
these long sailing
journeys that they had. They would
they
sold and
exported lots of orange around the world. So
many many countries now call orange,
bortigal,
bortigal.
And the in Arabic, the word for the
color orange now
is is
is is.
That's the that in modern standard Arabic. But
the
even though there is a there is a
word in Arabic for orange for the color
orange, it's called the Alkorbato.
Imay Sarai Bebe describes it. He says that,
it is,
Alkorbato,
lernan, it's a sofraton total way lahumbratin that
it's
a yellow that that pitches towards the red
and that is literally orange or how we
describe it, it's a govato.
But
the other interesting thing about this is that
they that the
and this is what cultural approach appropriation and
then sending it back to you. What they've
done is that they
the Arabs brought the the orange to the
Iberian Peninsula,
the the Portuguese took it, they cultivated it
and then they resound it to the world
and so even to the Arabs and then
got them to rename not only the fruit,
but their color to Portugalia.
And guess what is the
label? And we know this. We know that
the origin
of oranges is actually
from the Arabs who brought it to the
Iberian Peninsula. They are the ones who brought
it to Spain and in that whole area,
because the word for orange in Portuguese
is still lavender.
It's the Arabic word.
In Portuguese language, they have the it is
the Arabic. So
that's an interesting piece of information about color
that
the way this works is that you will
see it, you know, in Europe in 16th
century, up to 16th century, they didn't have
a name for it, so they didn't know
the skull. They have something about saffron needs
to talk about red,
about red yellow.
But that's
similar to what I'm saying of light blue.
Anyway,
that's a bit of a diversion, but I
I think it's it's important to show you
that that there's irony in this is that,
you know, the the the the,
the the appropriate
appropriation of something and then so and so
that in today's modern standard Arabic, the word
for orange is is.
Anyway, the point is that if you don't
have a name for something in your language,
then you will have difficulty in recognising it,
in perceiving it and thinking about it and
revaluing it. That is the point.
And also the more labels you have for
something in your language
is the more profound
the mental purchase of that thing will be
in your mind and heart.
The more labels you have,
the more profound it will be in your
mind and heart.
So if it happen if you have happen
to have a multiple word multiple words for
one thing, your mental and cognitive engagement with
that particular thing will be deeper. It will
be richer and it will be more profound
in a variety of ways,
including
your perception of that thing, your recognition of
it, your memory activations, your feelings,
your emotion, your sense of awe, your sense
of grandeur, your sense of benefit, your sense
of attachment,
your sense of relation, your sense of connection
and your affinity to that thing will all
be influenced by the number of labels through
which you recognize it. In other words, labels
and words play significant role in influencing and
fashioning
and coloring
of the way we see and relate to
the world around us.
That is the point.
As a Muslim, a Muslim should aim to
color themselves through and through their mind and
heart to the coloring of what?
Where should our coloring come from?
The coloring of our mind and heart has
to come from the Quran
because that is exactly what Allah says.
The coloring of Allah.
Who is better at coloring than Allah? This
is this Quran is the coloring.
It is the is the is the is
the word that's used also
for
baptizing.
What happens when you're baptized? You're dipped into
liquid. And this is taken from what you
do when you dye,
cloth in this color. When you dye your
daughter with color, you immerse into into it
so that you immerse the cloth
into the color so that the color will
penetrate each
every fiber of that cloth to change its
entire appearance. That's what happens. That's what Simba
is. So we're we're we're we're we're aiming
to immerse ourselves in the Quran,
but the Quran will color our perceptions, our
actions, our aspirations,
our felt and challenge, our our worldview
will be colored by the prism of the
Quran.
Now the training for this, the training
for
this coloring
starts
with the labels. It starts with the terms.
It starts with the words, the names
that we use to name things in the
world.
Because the first thing that Allah
taught Adam
was what?
And he taught Adam all the names.
He's that's the first thing he taught him.
That's the first knowledge. It's the names.
And the more names you have for something,
the clearer your recognition for it will become.
And it is with that good reason
that Allah
has shared with us 99 names,
99 of his beautiful names so that we
can recognize and know our creator, know AbakAllahu
promising us at the same time that if
you memorize it, promising us on the tongue
of Rasool Allah
and Abhuramatahu alayhi Allahu Anhu Waal. Lillahi tisatumwatisayna
isma that Allah has 99 names
that no one will memorize them on until
except that he will enter into paradise. He'll
gather them. Who will follow who will follow?
Who will know the names knowing Allah? 99
names.
So the more names, the more profound the
recognition. That's the theory.
The more names, the more recognition.
So now names of Surat al Fatihah.
Now
when it comes to the Surat al Fatihah,
we're blessed with a
multitude of labels. Each name
carries a nuanced and distinct flavor,
each evoking its own galaxy of meanings and
messages.
And so instead of just
skimming through the list we often do, you
know, oh, it's this, this, this, this. No.
I want to I want us to stop
and ponder on each name as we build
our recognition, as we build our perception
and our appreciation for this, the greatest Surah
in the Quran.
Keeping in mind, of course, that
one of the main tasks in this series
is to restructure perceptions. We are attempting to
bridge the chasm
of time and language that separates us from
the 1st generation of those who first read
this book,
understood
it and brought it its teachings into their
lives.
Now the name of the Surah can be
divided the the the names can be divided
into 2 categories, 2 broad categories,
Tawfirki and Ijtihadi.
The first list is Tawfiri, which are the
revealed names, names that are,
confirmed in solid chains of narrations. And the
second list is Ijtihadi. They are derived names
listed in by the Mufassilin,
the scholars of Tawfzi, etcetera. So
so now starting with the first name. The
first name
that we know, which is al Fatiha.
Right? Fatiha tirkita. Fatiha tirkita. This is where
it comes in hadith where,
Rasool
Allah said to Abu Rayra that,
that he should go out and proclaim.
There is no salah
except with Faatihaalkitab.
So naming it that that's what it means.
Faatiha
is Faatihaqulishaay
abalahuwalaabdahuwalaabdahuwalaaljarno
faatiha. The
the the beginning of everything is it's it's
Faatiha of something is its opening, the beginning,
where it starts. So Fatiha means beginning
and it is the first surah to be
written in Lawhul Matfus,
in the in the preserved tablet, that's the
first surah in the preserved tablet. It is
the 1st complete surah to be revealed. The
Qur'an begins with it and your pair of
prayers begins with it. So that's part of
the beginning that's attached to it, the fatiha,
but it is also
for the one who recites it, an opening.
It's an opening. It's a fatiyah to a
whole new world,
fatiyah. This
is away from the world of darkness, confusion,
chaos, greed, deception,
turmoil.
You are now seeking refuge. Remember what you
just did? What did you do? You just
sought refuge, didn't you? You sought refuge. You
said, a'ud billahi minashaitaan al projeem. So you
are now a refugee.
If you're seeking refuge, you're a refugee. And
what do refugees seek?
A refugee seeks a place of safety and
solace, and that is it.
There is no place of safety. There's no
place for safety and solace
except with Allah.
And you're now looking for that opening
to that, to alfatiha, the opening of the
door
to all safety and salvation. This is your
alfatiha. This is your opening to all qayr.
It is your opening to all that is
good in this world and the next.
So our sense of emphatically
has to become
our opening,
the opening to a new world of higher,
to all things that are eternally good. That's
the first name.
Now the second name is
Severul Methani.
Severul Methani means 7 Methani.
Salai is the number 7. And then Methani,
this name is, of course, a double construct.
It's double construct. It's 2 words,
that
comes directly from the Quran where Allah
said in Surat Al Hajjim,
We have given you the 7 of most
received the 7 of the received in recited
verses and the great Quran.
Also, in hadith, it's repeated
and and and
the way in the card and the Quran
and the way in the card and the
Quran and Nabi
That he read through Rasool Allah and he
said to him said to him, walani nafsi
biyehmi
ma'unzilat
fittawrati
walafi il injeel walafi zaburi walafi il forkali
mislah
that there is nothing like it that has
been read. He read Surah Fatih and he
said that there is nothing in the in
the in the Torah nor in the Injeel,
in the bible, nor in the Psalms of
David, in the Zaboor,
not in the Quran, no no other pa
no other book that has this in the
like this. That there is nothing like it
in Qur'an
Bismar.
And it is the 7.
And,
there are
several reasons that,
have been given
about
explaining
what does
Masani says. Masani means because Sara refers to
7
as in the Hadith,
but
the the construct of Nathani,
here
the
several explanations about what it actually means.
We've translated it as off recited
but it it has other meanings as well
that it means because it is Mostafa
and because it is unique among the heavenly
boats. Number 2 is that because it is
seconded
with a surah in the first two rakats,
you it's it's
seconded so using the the word mataani
and then also because it is repeated in
every rakah, so it's twice reported
and also because it it is it was
according to one opinion of Mufassir, of the
scholars of the Sahaba,
also
there's reports from the Sahaba that this surah
was revealed twice,
once in Mecca and once in Dunedin. That's
an opinion.
And,
many scholars agree with this.
Now far farther than these meanings, here again,
we need to appreciate the honor of having
this opportunity to benefit
from something that is
truly unique
in the entire universe.
Yes, I'm saying this truly unique in the
entire universe.
In hadith,
it was reported by Sahih Muslim, Rasulullah
says, Bayna Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam, Hindu Jibril is Samiaynatee damminas mibapapi.
The Jibril, ayesulallah, was sitting with Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam and then they heard a sound
from above.
And. So Jibril look like angel Gabriel looked
up to the heavens
and then he said,
that look, a special door, a door is
open now of the sky.
It
was never ever opened ever it will never
it's opened, it will never open it. This
door, some special door is open and then
then a special an angel came out of
that door Fatim Nabi
and he came to Rasulullah
and he said,
Abshur bin urayin,
said, I bring the glad tidings
of 2 lures, urayin, of 2 lights,
that you are given that you have been
given
that no prophet has ever been given this
that
that you are given the
And this is the Saba al Muthani. This
is why Saba al Muthani
is the special gift. It's a special gift
that we have to see. So in addition
to this surah being an opening to a
world of success,
it is also a unique honor for you
to be able to recite it,
to see yourself as it's an opening,
it's it's the greatest it's the greatest surah
because and it is Saba Al Mathani. It
is unique to in the universe.
Now the next name
is Umul Quran or Umul Kitab.
Whoever
said Adi Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, man salat
and lamtukraf.
Lam lam yakrafiha
bi umil Quran
forhuahhitaj
say that it it is Rehutan.
That whosoever recites a salah
without Surah without Umul Quran, without the of
Quran,
that the mother well, literally it would be
mother but it means essence of Quran.
Quran. The the and it is it is
it is incomplete.
Now the great
writes he says that,
that
this is,
in it's named
because the Quran starts with it in the
Musaif in in in in the text. Wa
yamdaawgikratilatihafi
salaf and it starts and salah starts with
it as well. Waqira in the masumiyad darika,
lirujurimaniil
Qur'an kullluhu ilaamatulamalatul.
And it's always also named such because
all the meanings of the Quran return back
to Surat Al Fatiha. This is how it
is. That all the meanings in the Quran
you can trace it back to Surat Al
Fatiha
and it is the names it is named
such because of the meaning the entire is
captured by the
Quran. That the Arabs call any anything that
around which things gather that has tawad, that
has following,
anything that has following, has tawad bia, then
that thing is called
So that's the definition for the Arab. That's
how the Arabs use this word. You have
yani and the Arab some shayi ladi that
they are that that are the root and
and has branches to send me
That mothers are called
because the children flock towards her. They are
they return to her. Anytime they have a
problem, what do they do? When they're afraid,
when they're crying, when they need food, but
when do they do? They rush to mom.
So that's what that's what is.
So and, he's
assuming because they flock to him. And he
said that
they
and
and and so it is.
So his mother because children flock to it,
her. They flock to flock to her when
when they're when they need something, when when
they're afraid. And he says,
and so it's the Fatiha. The Fatiha
is
is also
named because it is the it all this
all this all all the cities of the
world, all all the all the villages of
the world spread from that. Binh Ghuriyat that
it was the first
settlement of the world,
Mecca. So and people come from all the
villages to all the cities towards that. So
it is known as called Tasdawari.
And
then there's another meaning of the word
that the membrane around the brain is also
called
And the great Basavie scholar said something amazing.
It's it's this is a beautiful
explanation and to keep in mind about this
word here.
And he the this
Abu Bakr in the the great,
he said that
originally is
the
flag that you stick on a on a
spear
in battle.
That that's so when
you're in the heat of battle, you need
to know where to run. If you're in
trouble, you run towards so you gather towards
your the the forces your the troops
gather towards this
riot, towards this
flag. And that's the point of gathering. So
his name,
that many of you have problems, you run.
You know where to run-in
the battle,
too.
So he's
saying,
So the name the name of the Surah
will come Al Quran laaanahu
Muzzaawahaliliman
ilahaalilhisurah.
So it is it is the place that
they run to. Surah Al Qur'an is the
place where the believers run to when they
are in trouble. When they have difficulty they
run. That is their own Surah Al Fatiha.
The defeated Islam, the Musa Al Iman Ilah
heard his Surah. They run towards the Surah.
Surah. Just like
the the the soldier runs towards his his
flag until we run towards that the Ummah
that this is the place. This is the
malja.
This is the refuge.
And he uses the word
which is translated exactly as refuge. Now this
is the place where you go to Rafatiya.
So, yeah, when people are in trouble, say,
well, Fatiya. Oh, we send Fatiya. We read
Fatiya for our long dead. We have everything.
This is our melujah. This is our rescue.
This is what we go. This is our
Qum.
So if those of you who have lost
your mother, then you have Qum. You have
you have Surah, Fatihah. So he's saying, this
is a Surah named on the Qum because
it is the refuge for believers just as
the flag is direction of safety for those
who are lost in battle. So when you
feel down, when you feel trapped, your opening,
your Fatiha is the Surah. It is your
honor. It is your
the place a child clings to when they
are in startled and afraid,
a place of refuge for the believers.
The first name of Surat al Fatihab is,
which is the one we were using in
the beginning.
And this is directly from the words of
the prophet
Because
it includes the
praising of Allah with all his
great qualities, with all his perfect his perfect
qualities, perfection perfection, what you learn here, his
magnificence.
And then it also includes
al Awamil, the commands and,
and worship and ikhlas
and sincerity.
And
then also
an acknowledgment
of incapacity
is in this Surah. What do we say?
That we will you are the only one
we ask. You alone we ask.
So it's it is it is acknowledgment of
incapacity.
You alone we have we seek help. This
is where our help will come from. Waal
Ibtihal
and then supplication, beseeching.
Waal Ilahi that
it is to Allah.
We we're seeking Hiday to Asuraatir Mustaqim.
So the essence of the message of the
Quran is encapsulated in Surah. With it, you
have the access to all guidance in the
Quran
and in that is a reassurance
to the one who is who feels lost.
There's reassurance for you. If you feel lost
and if you are trying to find your
way in the world, then this is the
best map a human being can have is
the map of guidance
towards everlasting success,
a map of towards Khayr al Abedi,
a map towards everlasting
success,
everlasting trenches in the hereafter, Al Quran La'odil,
the Great Quran.
So Surah
Surah is our Fatiha,
it's your it is your opening, it is
your it is your way out of confusion,
it is also the essence
of of the guide you have and then
the 5th name
which is,
Salah,
the Surah is also known as Salah. Right?
Salah.
And and the term is also from Hadith.
And
And this is the book this is the
book beautiful,
hadith about
the name naming of Surat al Fatiha al
Salah. That Allah himself and this is a
hadith would see that Allah is saying now
in the words of the prophet
there's Hadith there's Quran, there's Hadith Qudsi and
then there's Hadith.
You must understand the difference between this. Quran
is
wahi, it is revelation matlu. It is revelation
that is revealed
and by you can you you gain you
by reciting it, reading it is is is
a is a ritual
Ibadah, reading that. So that is known as
al wahiil matluw. You can read it for
Ibadah.
And then you have Al Wahi Il Matloo
which is the the Wahi Il it's also
revelation word for word Rasoolullah
is is relating what Allah says but it's
not matloo it is not matloo it's not
for you to read for Ibadah
it's not like the Quran it's different from
the Quran and then you have hadith which
he which is revealing which he interprets with
his own words. So this is hadith Qudsi
hadith Qudsi is the one where he's where
Allah where he's using the same words that
Allah uses but it's not Qudlu the Qur'an,
it's not Madlu. So he's saying
and
for my servant is that which he asked
whatever he asked When he says, Alhamdulillahi
rabbil 'alameen
be to Allah, all of the worlds then
kallallahu ta'ala. Alhamdulillahi abdi. Oh, my Lord, my
servant has praised me. Allah is responding
when you say it. When you're saying it
in when you're saying this salah, Allah is
responding and he's saying,
oh, my servant has praised me. That
that that when he says, he
says,
he he has thanked me. He has thanked
me. He has praised me and thanked thanked
me. And when he says,
then he has glorified me.
When he says,
he is he he has
forfeited his
he is
handed over his matters to me for me
to deal with it.
And this is for my servant
and for my servant is for my servant
is Bani Vaiyas.
So this is a beautiful
interpretation of the
label
of Surat Al Fatiha that it is that
Allah says that I have divided this into
2. So when you when you when you
refer when you think about Surat Al Fatiha
salah, immediately you remember this conversation that Allah
said, yes, he's divided the salah into 2.
And when I'm reading it, there's a there's
active reciprocal
conversation going on that Allah is speaking to
the angels about this. To know that in
your heart when you recite it is very
comforting,
it's uplifting,
it's actually fortifying.
This is the, as I said, the life
reciprocal conversation.
The 6th name is
a rupiah.
Arrukia.
Arrukia.
Arrukia is, translated in English as decantation
incantation.
It is saying words
that will then
have an effect
in curing someone either spirit a spiritual cure
or a physical cure, a rupiah a rupiah,
that that's what it is.
The story behind this is that,
we're out of time now, but, inshallah, we'll
come back to this next week.
Those these 6
were
the
6
togkivi.
I I told you there are 2 two
sets of words. There are 2 sets of
words for,
there are 2 sets of labels, names for
Sotag and Fatiha, the tolkifi and the isliari.
It these 6 were the tolkifi or the
tolkifi
ones, the ones that are that have,
sent reports back to Rasool Allah
or the Quran.
I will come back to these names inshallah
next week, but there's something else I wanted
to I wanted to to
touch on before we go today.
And that is the question, what is the
purpose of guidance?
We we need to be clear on this.
What is the prime purpose of profits with
guidance?
It is to bring success.
Is to is it to bring success in
in worldly terms
or this world or the next world or
both? What what is it?
Well,
this act this is a question that's been
asked.
And so the answer to this question, we
first have to to answer this question, we
first have to understand what is success. We
we've got to define what is what is
success in the terminology of the Quran because
we live in a world which is Darul
Bala, the abode of test.
Some people are tested with adversity
and some people in other words hardship, some
people are tested with hardship and some people
are tested with luxury. That is very clear.
Allah says this very clearly in the Quran.
So what is success? That has to be
that has to come from the Quran.
And Allah says
Every soul shall tears to death. But
that We will test you with both good
and evil,
good circumstances and evil circumstances
as a trial because this world is the
world of test. This is world of
bada. This is the world of test. So
we cannot judge success
or the flourishing of a people purely on
the basis of their worldly
positions or possessions. That is not what a
Muslim does. A Muslim cannot judge
success on the basis of position or possession,
worldly possession.
Because did the prophet
when he died, did he die a rich
man or a poor man?
His possessions were pawned.
Yes. Rasulullah
He didn't die a rich man.
Yet he was the most successful person in
on on the face of the planet by
the testimony of even non Muslims.
Most of the Sahaba were poor in worldly
terms but rich in akhirah terms. They were
poor in worldly terms but rich in akhirah
terms.
Fortunes, some of them, even when they were
buried, didn't have enough cloth to cover them.
And he said, rich Sahaba came, accepted Islam.
And then when they died, they had they
didn't have enough clothes enough cloth to cover
him. And then when they covered his feet,
his head will be exposed. And when they
cover his hand, his feet will be exposed.
And they asked Rasoolullah, what should we do?
He said, I'll cover his face and then
put,
leaves on his feet.
And this is the rich Sahaba who came
became Muslim.
So fortunes of this world will fluctuate. Allah
says in Surat Al Imran,
That if you have suffered if you suffer
a wound, then
they too have suffered a similar wound. And
these are days of the days in the
world of of fluctuating fortunes, which will cause
the fluctuating. Someday you for worthy fortunes,
this is with the risk. And sometimes
it comes, sometimes it goes. Sometimes it comes,
sometimes it goes. That that is a fluctuating
fortune. And then he tells us that
sometimes he gives people
a lot
as a punishment.
He gives you a lot of dunya as
a punishment. He said and in Surah Al
Imran, he said and
when they forgot the guidance, when they forgot
what they were
given as guidance, when they forgot the guidance,
when they forgot what they were reminded
of.
We open the doors for them for everything.
In other words, the doors of the dunya,
the doors of the riches, the doors of
pleasure and the doors of happiness in this
world.
That we then take them the task, we
then grip them, we then seize them suddenly,
and they were plunged into despair.
So Allah can give you give you riches
and and lots of doors of,
of worldly success, what it seems as success.
But
this is
not our measure. Our measure is how much
your dunya is
successful in the Akhir.
If it's successful here
and not there, then it is of no
use to you. It is of no benefit.
In fact, it could become warbad. It could
become
a source of
destruction.
So when they forgotten when they forgot them
and then again in Surat Al An'am,
Do not let their wealth and their children
impress you. Do not let the
Do not let wealth
in this world. Don't say, give me the
money or show me the money.
Do not let them do not let their
wealth and their children impress you, for God
seeks to punish them
through these things in life
of this world, through these things in the
life of this world
so that their souls
so that their souls shall depart while they
are still denying the truth. Because when you
when you are fully satisfied in this world,
when you are living in luxury in this
world and there's success in this world and
there's full of flourishing of everything, then you
forget God. You forget Allah. You forget where
you're going. You think you were here forever.
And that's the problem. So sometimes that could
be your test. That is that is the
thing that's that is that is where when
flourishing in this world is a test, so
you cannot use that as the only measure
to decide whether Islam is successful
or not.
And then in Surat Tawbah,
When you see them when you see them,
then
their outlook, their appearances
pleases you. You
have a job. There is you're very impressed
with their appearance. That look, look, look, when
they speak, you listen to them.
But there are nothing more. They are like
propped up blocks of timber, you know, not
the tree. When the tree stands, it's fun.
But if you prop up something, then that
falls. And they think that every shout, you
know, they they will go.
And they think that every shout is directed
against them.
Umla'adoo Fathoo.
Umla'adoo Fathoon
that they are the enemies, so beware of
them.
That the curse of Allah is upon them
and how and how they turn away. That
is in Surat al Munafiqun.
So it is the habit of the Munafiqun
to use the worldly status to judge the
value of guidance. This is this is a
standard thing if you look throughout the history.
When when Musa alaihis salam came, the Muraqqaqin
among him among his people, they said to
him they said to him,
that you that we were suffering before you
came and now when you came, you're also
suffering. That's what happens, and he's guiding them.
A person of good intelligence
is called in Arabic,
a person who is who is intelligent.
But someone who is of superintelligence, who very,
very intelligent,
who has,
who is cultured and wise, he is known
as Al Qaidis.
What's he known as Qadis? Yes. That's that
that's the that's the superlative that goes above
Aqir, al Qadis.
Now someone who is trained to be discerned,
cultured, respectable, wise,
Then the real Caiyas is the one, the
real Caiyas
is the one who controls his nafs. He
doesn't go after dunya. He keep he holds
his nafs. He controls his nafs. He controls
his desires.
And he prepares for what is
after death. He prepares for the life after
death.
And the one who is not
intelligent, the one who is
low, the one who is stupid, the real
stupid one is,
who makes the nafs the the way of
the measure. The the satisfaction of the nafs
is the measure. Then
and then he follows his desire. Desires become
his criteria.
His criterion for finding success in the world
is his desire.
And then he just places his wishes for
in Allah. He says, oh, yeah, you know,
Allah is kareem and has wishes, loads of
wishes.
That's all. That's it.
So this is what prophets came to came
to teach,
not how to get rich in the world.
You know, there was one man who was
going around in a fake shape, going around
in India a lot, telling people that if
you all practice Islam properly, you will all
become a 1000000 years. And if you practice
Islam, you become a 1000000 years.
And
it became
lots of people in the village just starting,
yeah, yeah, yeah, this is really good And
take him around and then finally met one
person who says, Well,
Then why haven't you become billionaire now?
And then everything fell fell apart.
Right? So you can use these catchphrases
to pull people in. But in the
verdict of the Quran, it's a completely different
story. It's a completely different story. The prophet
was offered
by Allah and said that, you know, I
will turn I will turn
the Araba 'ayn,
Rabi. He said that Allah
offered me
and
And
the turn of old valley in Mecca the
valley in Mecca, turn it into gold for
me. Yes. For for Rasool Abbasid. He said,
I'll turn I'll turn all this into gold
for you. And this is obviously a conversation
between Allah and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, but
the
moral of this, the lesson for it is
for the Ummah because Rasulullah
is not after gold. So he asked him
and said, right. I will turn all this
into gold for you.
And he said, la, you'ream, I don't want
it. I don't want this. What did he
say? He said, he said, what I can
that I want to eat one day and
I want to be hungry one day. He
said, that
when I'm hungry, then I will beseech you
and I will beg you.
I am talking about good life in this
world.
Is the world is in in good life?
Good life is the life in this world
that brings good in the next life.
Good life is good life in this world
that brings good life in the next world.
The Sahaba
were tying stones on their stomach to fight
the kinds of hunger,
and they were also they were successful.
There there were some who owned thousands of
camels, and they were also successful.
There were only possessions and status in the
world were not
ever the measure of their success. Their measure
of their success was their taqwa, their sacrifice
and their love for Rasulullah
and Allah.
Because success in this world
is defined in the Qur'an.
That the believers are those
the successful our successful believers are those whom
Those who are
those who have khushu in their salah, concentration
and they're not deviated in their salah, their
khaja and they're submitted they're submitted the haas
and wahim are submitted.
Wal ladinahun is zakatifayun
and who have paid zakat. Those are the
successful ones. Wal ladinahun nahiilamimahidun and those who
are
and those who are
and those who keep away from wastage of
time.
This and this is particularly
pertinent to our culture, the culture of the
modern world where you need to be entertained.
Entertainment that we are seeking entertainment all the
time.
And
those who protect their carnal desire, protect
themselves from from carnal
and from adultery,
protect their private parts. In other words, protect
yourself
from carnal from from the
pursuits of the part of the carnal desires
into haram.
Right? And then finally,
and those who fulfill their
responsibilities
and their trusts
and their oaths. Those are the people.
And if you really want
to do a analysis of our of the
worldly situation
that we are in today,
that instead of blaming ulama and their interpretation
of Islam,
we need to blame those who are in
positions of political responsibility. We have a problem
in our world where schooling and training has
created
a ruling class that is,
that that is plucked on top, that is
plucked and put to rule our country, to
rule the Muslims. The responsibility
is not it's
the the the
this that who use the wealth of these
are people
who sit
on the court seats, sit on the chairs,
on the thrones, and they use the wealth
of the Muslims to defend not but defend
the Muslims. They did to subjugate the Muslims
and to defend their thrones. You know, in
today's world,
in the Muslim world, we have
4,000,000
soldiers. There are 4,000,000 soldiers in the armies
of the Muslim world today,
of which a 170,000,000,000
is spent on them every year.
But why why is it never being used?
Because to protect Muslims, it's not being used
to protect it's used to subjugate. And the
reason for that is that we have a
we have a we have a very strong
ruling class, a strong elite class that that
takes hold of these
positions and are being supported by other,
nations.
And they they turn things around. Look how
much Saudi Arabia has turned around because of
1 person in the last few years. All
of this has just changed.
1 person
because and it's usually people who do not
deserve. This this is fitna. This is the
fitna. This is the fitna that that is
happening. So what we have to remember is
that,
you we cannot blame Olehama for the crime
of those who disregard the advice of ulama,
for those who imprisoned the ulama
and then turn around and blame the ulama.
We cannot do this. Remember
that Rasoolallah
says, fawallahi
mal fakhru mal fakhru akhsha'alaikum.
It is not poverty that I fear for
you and this is the hadith that you
have to really keep in mind with with
the kinds of discussions that are going on.
Keep this hadith in mind. That's Rasool Allah
SWAMI said, from Allah he mal fakhruh asha'alaikum.
It is not poverty that I fear for
you.
That I fear that the riches of the
world will open for you. That's what I
fear. He's saying this to the Muslims. He's
saying that time will come and the riches
of the world will open to you.
That you will then compete with each other
for this worldly
possessions, these jettles, and it will destroy you
as it destroyed those before you. This is
what he's worried about. This is what Rasoolullah
was worried about for this. What has happened
in the last few years?
Massive wealth. We have more wealth
than ever before.
We have more numbers of Muslims than ever
before. But the problem is that we have
Tannafus Tannafus. We have competition
with the wealth and competition
for the positions, the street, the thrones.
And this is the thing. This is this
is the real problem.
So may Allah
protect
our iman from the designs of shaitan
and his followers and keep us in the
straight path and protect us from these divergences,
these
digressions to confusion, to these balance.
Let us pray.
Grant us your refuge, oh, Allah. Grant us
your protection.
Oh, Allah, these people, these young people have
come here today seeking your mercy.
They are asking for forgiveness.
They are repenting.
They are returning.
They are seeking your love and your grace.
And with hands that are raised as beggars
do, we are begging you. You are the
kind one. You are the you from you
all love and compassion flows. Oh Allah, you
are the most kind. You are the most
merciful.
Do not turn us away empty handed.
Oh Allah, if you turn us away empty
handed, we will have no one to turn
to.
We have no one else to turn to.
You are our only Lord or Sustainer.
We have no protection except from you. Protect
us, oh Allah. Protect our brothers and sisters
who are suffering around the world
and in the land of Masjidul Aqsa. Oh
Allah,
our children,
our sisters, our mothers, our fathers,
our elderly, our sick,
our suffering tremendous pain
at the hands of those who have lost
all sense of care and compassion.
Oh, Lord, with these feeble hands
and these painful hearts, we beg for your
help,
oh Oh, Allah, we beg you. We beg
for your help, oh, Allah.
Allahumma'ilaiqatina.
Allahumma'ilaiqatina.