Sadullah Khan – 25th Post Witr Talk Ramadaan 1444 2023

In our theme for the month of Ramadan,

moral guidance we learn from everyday observances and

everyday experiences,

We know that the glorious Quran is the

final divine revelation, send by Allah.

There have been revelations throughout history culminating in

the

final revelation to the final prophet.

And that revelation is a guide for humanity.

It's the ultimate ethical code,

and it is, of course, a primary source

of divine law.

But there's far more to the Quran than

the barakah

of reciting it and of course there's Baraka

in reciting it.

There's far more to the Quran

than reading Surah Yassin for the Taziyyah at

a funeral or thereafter

and that is good to do as well.

But one of the

tragedies of Muslim society

is that we have reduced the Quran purely

to a religious sense that is to do

with liturgy, to do with,

prayer,

to do with, blessings.

Not so much a book of guidance and

not so much an encyclopedia for life.

And Allah says in the Quran,

we have revealed in this book an exposition

of all things.

It doesn't mean the book is a Quran

is, the Quran is a book of science

but it makes reference to scientific phenomena.

It doesn't mean the Quran is a book

of nature, but there are 750

verses directly linked to nature.

And there are over 20 chapters titled

from Baqarah, al Namal,

al

Alfeel.

Numerous verses attur, al layl, alshems,

sun, the moon, the elephant, the ant, al

an kabud the spider.

All dealing with realities of nature. Things that

we observe.

And if you look at this Quran, it

was the primary source for people to become

inspired,

to be motivated

in the early days.

We find scholars and historians and writers and

scientists

Ibni Rusd and Ibni Khaldun

and people like Al Haythami

and Al Khawarizmi were inspired by the Quran.

They became mathematicians and scientists by reading the

Quran.

And therefore it's very important though the Quran

is a book of law, it's a book

of guidance, a book of barakah,

but we must be careful not to limit

it only to that.

So today I want to focus on a

particular verse in the Quran. You know we

are commanded in the Quran to use our

sensory, our conceptual,

our moral faculties

to appreciate the realities

around us and to be heedful of the

signs, ayatulah.

The ayatulah can be the book, the signs

of the book, the verses of the book

of Allah

and also in the creation of the heavens

and the earth are also ayatulullah.

So whether you look at the Quran and

read Allah's verses or whether you look at

nature, you see Allah signs, it's both ayatulah.

And from all of these we can learn.

And that's why Allah began the Quran with

ikhura bismirabbik.

Whatever you read, whatever you observe,

you do it with the observation of tawhid.

So wherever you look,

you will find the book of Allah somewhat

manifested not only in the book sense but

in the ayaat of Allah.

So there are numerous ayaat that heed us,

that calls upon us

to pay attention to the realities around us.

And among these verses

is a particular verse and there are more

than 1 but

Allah says in the Quran,

Do people not see the birds

controlled

in the atmosphere of the sky? We always

see how they fly in formation, thousands of

them and so on and so forth. So

Allah says, do they not see the birds

controlled

in the atmosphere of the sky?

This verse

explicitly

directs our focus

to birds in flight,

to birds

in flight. So let's reflect on this.

And I'll take 3 birds just to give

an indication among the millions of birds.

Just to make us understand when Allah speak

about the ayaat, yes we know the ayaat,

the birds and so on, just to give

us how much depth there is and what

there is in the creation of Allah, in

the majesty of Allah, we don't observe, we

take it for granted.

So 3 birds.

In 2022,

a bar tailed Godwit

was tracked

flying

13,560

kilometers

from the snow

snowy mountains of Alaska

to the warm weathers

of Tasmania,

the Australian state of Tasmania

without stopping for food

or rest,

breaking the record,

tracked for the longest non stop

migration by any bird.

Starting on the 13th October 2022,

sorry. And it flew through rain, through storm,

through snow, through the heat of the day,

through the darkness of the night without

feeding,

without drinking,

without sleeping,

without resting, without landing

for 13 days

and 1 hour

sorry, 11 days and 1 hour until it

landed in Tasmania

on the 24th October

2022.

Only one bird. Remarkable indeed.

There's a bird called the bar tailed godwit

which I've mentioned here now.

We peep people are not aware of the

superpower nature of this particular bird

And it has the capacity

to fly

autopilot,

make their heart and chest muscle bigger by

mid flight, to provide more energy and oxygen

so they can drastically alter their metabolism.

In other words, they can burn their fat

reserves

as they fly. And that is called autophagy.

And now recently it's a means of dieting

for people what they called, you know, not

eating for dieting through intermittent fasting. It's called

autophagy.

This bird does it in flight.

There's a bird called the bar headed geese.

It takes off also from Alaska

and goes to a height of 12 kilometers.

Why 12 kilometers?

Because there is where it takes advantage of

the jet stream and the jet stream is

the flow of air that flows at 400

and 42 kilometers per hour. Faster than any

car you know.

It goes around the earth so it goes

into the jet stream but that jet stream

is minus 57 degrees Celsius.

Now that same bird, if you cut it

put in the fridge, it will freeze at

minus 10 degrees. How does it fly

minus 57 degrees in a wind of 442

kilometers per hour?

The ruby throated hummingbird.

It flies from the Amazon forest,

from the Amazon forest,

migrates from South America

over waters.

In other words, it can't rest even if

it wants to. There's no place to land

in 1st place. Over the Gulf of Mexico

which by the way is the largest gulf

in the whole world,

gulf of water.

The size of this bird,

ruby throated hummingbird is smaller than the head

of a teaspoon.

Adult male weighs 4 milligrams.

Adult weight, adult adult

male weighs 4 milligram. It flies for 5,000

kilometers

beating its wings at 1,000 revs per minute.

It flies over

and days later it lands on the banks

of the Sur Piraba.

Now, how does it fly so far

through all the weather conditions

without eating, without drinking, without landing, without resting.

So we ask,

only of these 3 birds, forget the 1,000

and 1,000,000 others,

What directs the bar tailed Godwit?

Or the bar headed

geese

or the ruby throated hummingbirds?

How are they guided to the destinations?

Who facilitates their annual annual

arduous journey to and fro over thousands of

kilometers,

over many lands through the extremities of weather.

As we observe them flying above, well it's

just another bird,

indeed we ask

what holds them up in that sky

to be able to do these kind of

things?

Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. In Surah Tabara could

we read when people die?

In that Surah Allah tells us. You see

we read the surah never think about it.

It's a surah we read for dead people

and we leave it dead day wherever it

is.

Allah says

in the

Have people not observed?

It's a verse in the Quran. Not for

the scientists,

but for the Morvie and the Sheikh and

the ordinary guy and for everyone else. Have

people not observed

the birds above them flying,

spreading and fluttering their wings?

None

grants them the capacity

to be held up

doing what he does except who? Ilahur Rahman,

the Most Merciful.

Surely Allah looks out for everyone and everything

for Allah sees everything.

You see,

the birds make their efforts by the natural

innate capacity

that Allah gave them.

But ultimately they rely on Allah.

Ultimately

they must be relying on something.

They rely on Allah

and herein lies the lesson for us as

there are so certain hadith

documented for us by

Rasulullah said, if you were to rely on

Allah

as he should be relied upon,

then Allah would facilitate for you

as he provides for the birds.