Safi Khan – Soul Food for College Students 01 March 2024
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of learning about Islam's teachings and finding one's own success in life. They emphasize the importance of belief in oneself and avoiding giving oneself too much of a favor. The speakers also emphasize the importance of learning to deal with anxiety and doubt, finding one's own success, and finding the right person to speak to. They stress the importance of acceptance and blessing oneself in life, and mention a focus on addressing people in one's life.
AI: Summary ©
Alright.
We're gonna go ahead and,
get started.
Everybody. How's everyone doing?
Welcome home. Welcome to,
another Thursday evening.
The blessing of community,
the blessing of togetherness,
just,
about a week
and a few days away from the month
of Ramadan.
I know that everyone, Masha'Allah, is getting into
the
the mode. Everyone's
getting into the zone
Hopefully, everyone is,
already thinking. And if not, you know,
starting this week,
about what they want out of this coming
Ramadan
Right? That Ramadan is one of those months
that
will give you as much as you give
it. Right? That if you put an effort
in the month of Ramadan, Allah
will, you know, easily take you the rest
of the day, based upon the effort that
you put in
So,
it's gonna be an exciting month. We're all
excited for it.
Tonight,
we are gonna aim to finish our,
conversations
on Surah Al Hajjurat.
It's been an incredible journey
from start to finish.
We began,
obviously, you know,
2, 3 months ago with this Surah. We
were talking about the idea
of of of, you know,
the status of Allah and his messenger in
in your life,
how you view Allah and his messenger in
your life. What does Islam mean to you?
Is it just a religion that we were
born into,
or is it really something that I really
take ownership over? I actually read a really
incredible article today about how even Muslims who
are born into Islam have to find their
Islam. Right?
It's not just kind of an automatic thing
that just because you are born into a
Muslim family that you automatically fully understand,
right, the ins and outs of the religion.
You
a a a lot of times, in fact,
every group of people have their own circumstances
and challenges. Right? The challenge of,
new Muslims, Muslims who accept Islam is obviously
learning about the faith, you know, a cultural
change, a change in lifestyle,
family, social challenges.
The challenge of a person who was born
as a Muslim is sometimes you take the
greatest blessings in your life that are right
underneath your nose for granted. Right?
And sometimes you have to rediscover that love
that you have for something that you've somehow,
someway always had. And so
hopefully that this conversation series that we've been
having on Thursday nights
has has opened the doors of that. So
we're going to aim to finish. So what
are we gonna aim to finish today versus
15, 16, 17, and 18. Okay? A little
bit of a task, but I think we
can do it. Because next week, next Thursday,
I'm going to
host our final soul food, session before the
month of Ramadan, and we're gonna focus completely
on a Ramadan session.
Because by next Thursday, we'll be basically 3
days away.
So I really wanna make sure that next
Thursday is completely and utterly focused on our
Ramadan game plan, what we aim to achieve.
The the prophetic Ramadan is actually what we're
gonna call it. How did the prophet
spend his Ramadan? How do we prep for
that next week? So we're gonna aim to
finish the Surah today. So
Allahi
begins
this particular section of the Surah. He says,
He first he starts
to describe who the believers are. And, by
the way, just kind of like to point
something out to you guys.
In the translation you see up here, it
says true
in, in, like, the the the colons and
the hyphens.
Why does it say true? And this is
not just random. It's not just, like, the
translator's choice that they chose to put the
word true within this translation. The
the the the reality that there is an
alif and alam
before
Right? That word that translates out as believer.
There's a difference between when you have like
like, right, or
or It it means kind of like any
believers,
any group of believers.
What alif lam does, it puts like a
v before it. Okay. Like, translation wise. So
when Allah says
he's not just say
He he he's Sorry.
He's not just saying that any group of
believers. He's saying the believers.
The believers. The exemplary ones. The people who
you want to be like. If there's like
a if there's like a like a upper
echelon
of worshipers of Allah,
this is what Allah is talking about.
These are the people that you wanna aspire
to be. Now who are these people?
Know that this religion, 1st and foremost, is
not rocket science. Okay?
You, as a Muslim, Allah has put depth
to this religion,
but at the same time, Allah has made
this religion accessible for everyone.
A person who is incredibly
educated
and has gone to, you know,
schools and has degrees and whatnot,
they will appreciate this religion. And people who
may be extremely simple people, they might not
understand the intrinsic ins and outs of the
faith, they will appreciate the religion. Why? Because
the qualifying factor for this faith is,
Okay? They 1st and foremost, they believe
by Allah.
By the way, the the letter
doesn't just mean you believe in Allah.
Is almost like a like a word that
means by Allah, with Allah, through Allah. Everything
that re that that that relates to Allah,
this person understands it. Okay? So the decisions
they make, they run it by Allah.
Right? The times that they go through difficulty,
they go through that difficulty with Allah.
Right?
The the the the belief that they have,
they believe in Allah.
Every preposition that you can think of,
that's relatable to
They have Allah and his messenger in their
life along the way.
Through thick and thin,
through
ease and hardship,
through highs and lows.
And this is human beings. Right? Human beings
have gone through every roller coaster that they
can think of in their lifetime.
You've gone through acceptances
of schools.
You've gone through rejections of schools. You've gotten
acceptances from jobs, you've been rejected from jobs.
You have had to
break off friendships,
and you've had to kindle friendships. You've had
to make friendships. I mean all these different
components of a human life,
they necessitate
so much
of what Allah and his messenger
can do for them.
Because if you have Allah in your life,
the moments of hardship do not break you.
When you follow the example of the prophet
through the footsteps, Sheikh Mikael is teaching a
beautiful class on Wednesday nights called in the
footsteps.
Right? Why? Why in the footsteps? Because when
you walk in the footsteps of the messenger,
Allah says,
That verily in the blessed life of the
prophet was a beautiful example.
When you follow that example of the Prophet
Messenger
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
all of a sudden,
the decisions that you have to make, you
go back and think about how he dealt
with those moments in his own life. How
did he deal with loss and tragedy?
How did he deal with the loss of
children in his life? How did he deal
with the loss of parents?
How did he deal with an entire community
literally
rejecting him, casting him out of his home.
How did that how did that take place?
Did he just did he just fold?
No. He, he he he he he worked
through it. I was having a conversation literally
on, what what day was it? I think
it was on Sunday or Monday. I was
having a conversation with a brother here, who
works out of the coffee shop,
and he was sitting and he was doing
some work. And I know him, alhamdulillah, and
he he you know, just catching up. And
I was like, how's your break? And he
said, well, we went to Umrah. I said,
oh, nice. Masha'Allah. How is that? And he
goes, we walked the hijrah.
And I was like,
what do you mean?
What do you mean you walk the hijrah?
He goes, no. No. No. We walked the
Hijra. We started in Mecca,
and we walked by foot. We camped out
in the middle of the Arabian desert, and
we got to Medina 10 days later.
I was like, there there's no way you
did that. And he was like,
it was one of the most eye opening
experiences I've ever had in my life.
Because at the end of the day, you
know, you live through
the the stories
and the narratives, right, of the prophet's life.
But he goes,
I I I you know? And even then,
there are things that we couldn't feel. Like,
when we were walking the footsteps of the
hijrah,
we were walking towards a Medina that we
knew had those beautiful white minarets
that had that green dome on that masjid.
The carpet smelled so beautiful. There were a
1000000 Muslims that were in that city waiting
for us. You know, we're gonna pray when
we get there.
Imagine when the prophet
he left from Makkah and he was walking
towards Medina.
He didn't know what Medina was.
It was called Yathrib.
It It was called a different city. It
wasn't called Madinah.
It was a place that was known for
people going there and getting sick. That's literally
what Madinah was. The prophet
father, actually. If you know this, prophet father,
Abdullah,
he became sick because he went to Medina
during one of his travels, and that's how
he died.
Could you imagine that? Like, could you imagine,
like, you never got to meet your father?
And the only thing you heard about him
was that he passed away because he traveled
to a city.
And that city was known for, like, everyone
who goes there, they get sick.
And your your command you got from Allah
was that you're gonna go to that city
and try to raise a Muslim community there.
You already have, like,
almost, like, unfinished trauma there. My dad passed
away because of that. I don't wanna go
there. Why would I wanna go there? That's
the reason why he may have gotten sick.
But the prophet
the beauty of his life is that, again,
He believed
so
beautifully in Allah
that he was able to put his own
inhibitions
and his own
anxieties. I want I want you guys to
think about the anxieties you have.
Think about any anxiety you have in your
life. Is whether it's social,
whether it's career related, whether it is, you
know, when it comes to your family. Maybe
it's a personal anxiety that I have in
the way that I am.
Think about all those anxieties that you have,
and I want you guys to memorize the
phrase, If
you can deal with those anxieties
with Allah,
by Allah,
through Allah,
and believing in Allah,
oh, you you have an incredible,
incredible
ecosystem around you.
Okay. So these are the people.
Now this is one of the greatest,
descriptions of a believer.
That
they, 1st and foremost, believe in Allah and
his messenger. Yes. We've established that. But
then afterwards,
after that,
they don't doubt in their belief.
They don't doubt in their faith. Now there's
a very profound reason why Allah put this
particular verse in the sequence that he put
it in. Because
in Arabic isn't just random.
Means that there's, like,
There's, like, a there's, like, a sequence of
why Allah mentioned the first one and the
second one. The first one is to just
believe in God and his messenger. That's your
bare foundation. That's your bare minimum. That's all
you that's what you have to do to
come into the folds of this religion.
And then after
that, you start to grow your religion in
a way where you start kind of
shutting that doubt that you had before.
And one of the most beautiful points about
this, the alama they talk about, is that
when a person
discovers Islam,
oh, they will have doubts.
They will have doubts. How many times have
you guys doubted your own selves? Even when
you, like, decided something. You made a decision.
Right? Like, you're like, okay. I'm gonna I'm
gonna live here.
I'm gonna I'm gonna be friends with this
group of people. And then you go home
that night, and you're tossing and turning into,
like, 3 AM, and you're like, oh, man.
Like,
what did I what did what did I
just do? Right? Like, that first day that
you got, like you know, like, you're you're
happy. Right? You're happy you made that decision.
You got into SMU or UTV or UTA
or UNT, whatever it may be. But then
afterwards, you're like, oh god.
I gotta drive to Denton every day. I'm
just kidding. I oh my gosh. Like, I
I don't was this the right decision?
Was this the right decision? And by the
way, the prophet
also in his community, there was examples of
this. During the battle of Uhud,
the there was a big conversation whether they
should stay in Medina or they should go
out and meet
the the army that was coming from Mecca,
closer to Mecca? Should they go out and
kind of get people away? Could should they
get there? Should they sanctify the city of
Mecca or the city of Medina and and
and and stay and keep the battle away
from the the the city itself? Or should
they just kind of, like, let them come
up to them and be like, no. We'll
meet them here. And
the younger sahaba,
they were like,
We wanna go out there. We wanna go.
We wanna go meet them head on. We
don't wanna wait for them to come over
here. And the elders of the community, they
were like, no. No. No. No. Beta,
please. You know?
Like, relax.
Right? Like, they were like, no. No. No.
Let's let's think about this. Right? Let's let
them come. We know this place better than
they do. It's like homecourt advantage.
But the prophet you know the decision that
he chose to take? He chose to take
the decision of the younger sahaba.
He liked their charisma. He liked their excitement.
So he said, okay. You know what we're
gonna do? We're gonna go and travel. We're
gonna go to this area called Uhud. Because
Uhud is like, you can see it from
the masjid, by the way, today, but it's,
like, far enough where it's, like, okay. We're
not inside the city. You know what I'm
saying? And so when the prophet was, like,
putting on his, like,
his his armor, he was getting his gear
ready, a group of younger sahaba, they came
to the prophet
and they said,
like, we feel really bad.
He's like, what do you mean? Because and
maybe maybe the elders were right. Maybe we
should have just, like, kind of, like, you
know, respected their decision and chosen to, like,
you know, go with the plan of having
the Quraysh come to Medina, and then, you
know, we'd have the home court advantage here.
We we we got too excited. We stepped
out of line, and we spoke about, you
know, we should go out there. We we
we we're we're having doubts.
You know what the prophet, he said? He
said,
once the messenger of Allah puts on his
armor, there's no turning back.
There's no turning back.
You don't go back on that. How many
times have you guys, like, made a decision
and then you're like, oh my gosh. Like,
having major buyer's remorse. Right?
Even though you thought about it a lot.
Right? You thought about it a ton, but
then you'd pull the trigger and then you're
like, oh my gosh. I don't know if
that was the right decision to make.
Islamically,
one of the traits of a believer is
not to
ponder
and just, you know, drown yourself in what
ifs.
You've made your decision. Trust Allah now. You
know, there's a very beautiful aya. Allah says,
Once you've made your decision,
you've you've exhausted yourself in terms of your
planning. Right? You've, like, made the Google Doc.
Right? You'll you you you made the Google
Sheet. You listed out the pros and cons.
What would happen if I went here? What
would happen if I went there? What would
happen if I got this job or that
job? You did everything. You did due diligence
to the thought before you made that decision.
Then you prayed.
You prayed to Allah. You made dua. You
did istikhara.
You stayed up nights making dua.
And then you made the decision.
That doubt that you have after that is
just shaitan trying to get you to abandon
your confidence in God.
Because you know that you've done your due
diligence. Now a person who hasn't thought it
out, that's different.
That's different. Like, you made, like, a, like,
a, like, a, like, a freestyle decision. You
didn't really think about it. You kinda just,
like, improv ed it. That's different. Yeah. Sure.
That's, like, human like, that's, like, nuffs.
You're gonna have you're gonna have anxiety because,
like, you just didn't think about the decision
that you made. But a person who who
thinks about it
and then
they have a little bit of doubt. And
this is why, by the way, Allah says,
Yartab, by the way, raib. It comes from
the word raib, which is found in Surat
Al Baqarah.
Right? Allah describes.
Right?
In the Quran which there is even no
small doubt because raib means small doubts.
Not like big huge doubts.
It's small doubts, raib.
And that's what shaitan does. Doesn't shaitan do
that? Shaitan just kind of just
kind of implements small little doubts in your
head.
Tiny little ones.
And once those begin to pile up,
then all of a sudden,
the doubts become,
like, huge.
They just become overwhelming.
And you cannot think about anything besides the
doubt that you have.
So Allah, He
says that
when when you believe in Allah and His
Messenger,
you you you make that decision to believe
in Allah and his messenger,
then you start working on those small doubts
that you have. Whatever small doubts they are,
you start working on them. Because if you
can tackle those smaller doubts a little bit
at a time, they're not gonna pile up
on you anymore. But when we start to,
like, kind of push away how many procrastinators
do we have in here? Right? Like, assignments
due. Right? Assignments due, like, at the end
of, like, April.
It's, like, February 29th right now. Oh, yeah.
That's, like, 2 months away. We're good.
Oh, no. No. No. It's okay. Like, I
still got a month left. End of March.
Right? Oh, no. It's Eid. I don't wanna
work on Eid.
Right? Like, oh, no. No. No. I'm still
on that Eid mode. Right? Like, I it's
like no. It's like a mid April. And
then all of a sudden,
your assignment that's, like,
massive is due in, like, 6 days. And
you're like, oh my god. I've I've bit
off more than I can chew. I'm not
a biomedical engineer. I can't do this anymore.
Right? Like, you go through all that stuff.
Why? Because now those small tasks that could
have been achieved over 2 months are now
too much to handle in a matter of
4 days.
Don't allow your doubt to pile on top
of one another.
If you have a small moment of doubt,
that's fine.
You're a human being
but guess what
this is why you have the masjid,
this is why you have like sheikh Mikhail.
This is why you have astar Abdul Rahman.
That's why you have people here in this
building who are, hey, I I have to
go to roots man. I have to go
because I'm not feeling good today. I gotta
go. I gotta I gotta reenergize.
The moment that a believer decides to to
fold it in, to say, like, you know
what? Like, this is already a bad week.
I'm just gonna finish off Thursday by just
sitting in my bed and just sulking because
I I don't I don't feel good. No.
No. No. That's when shaitan wins.
That's what shaitan wants you to do. Shaitan
wants you to miss 4 prayers in a
day, and say that Say to yourself that
you've already missed 4, so you might as
well not even pray Isha.
But if a person says, no no no.
I know that I missed 4 prayers, but
I'm going to pray Isha.
I'm going to. And I'll make up those
prayers because I know that Allah has allowed
us to make up prayers.
Oh, Shaitan is gonna be furious because he
can't break you at that point. There's nothing
he can do to to to shake you
up like that. If you can start knocking
out your doubts a bit at a time,
oh, he can't do anything to you.
Now Allah gives you
one of the
very easy to see qualifiers of a true
believer.
Comes to the word jihad.
Right? Everyone's scared. Jihad. Why? Jihad.
What does it literally in essence mean? Jihad
literally means to strive and sacrifice.
Now is there a part of jihad at
the time of the prophet that that that
involved the idea of defending Islam physically? Sure.
But that's not what the definition boils down
to in its essence.
Jihad literally here, Allah defines as
You strive, you sacrifice
with the 2 things that human beings love
the most.
What are those 2 things?
And your own self.
Allah
says
that once you believe in god, you believe
in his messenger,
then you start knocking out those doubts you
have in your life. Now how do you
get to, like, the upper echelon of your
belief?
You wanna crack, like, the top 10?
You wanna be, like, up there? Now you
sacrifice
your money, your wealth.
When a person is able to
shoo away the doubts, now they have.
They have istakamah.
They have steadfastness in Allah. They know that
Allah will be there for them. They know
that the prophet is true.
Now they begin to polish up the dunya
things. What are the dunya things? The dunya
things are money obsession.
Right? Materialism.
Our our love for our things.
Today, I I I I I my my
wife told me she I got home today,
during the afternoon, and she goes, alright. Today's
the day. I said, god. What did I
do wrong this time? And she's, like, today's
the day you're going to put
the clothes that you don't wear
in one of the lawn bags, and you
are going to donate it away. Today's the
day. No more.
And so, you know, anybody ever done that
before? Like, going through your closet, you're like,
alright. This is the thing. I don't really
wear anymore. I haven't worn this in a
couple of years. I haven't worn this in
a few months. I really don't need this.
And
all of a sudden, your nefs gets attached.
Like, I don't think I wore that shirt
in 5 years, but it's so beautiful all
of a sudden. Right?
I know I haven't worn that hijab in,
like,
like, 8 months,
but oh my god.
Like,
that's why I bought it. Right? Like, it's
better now than ever. So this is the
time where, like, again, that test comes to
you.
Right? Like the you don't you don't think
about that thing for like a year.
You had no idea he was even there
until you like moved the cobwebs. Right? Like
you have to tell the the spider, salaam
alaikum, move it aside.
Then you saw that shirt that you haven't
worn in years. But at the moment you
see it, you're like, oh, I kinda like
it.
I need it. I don't know. Like, maybe
there'll be a function that I'll wear it
one day.
And at that moment you know, one of
my masha'evs told me he said,
it is the moment in which you have
the greatest
the greatest
challenge in giving something away, which is the
evidence of why you should give it away
at that time.
Like, the peak,
the climax
of your hardship of letting something go, that's
when you know you should let it go.
It's like that leap of faith. You know?
Like, that jump into the pool.
Like, you try everyone tries to step in,
like, one foot at a time. Like, oh,
no. My feet. Oh, no. My ankles. Oh,
no. My shin. Like, they, like, go in,
like, a little bit, and it hurts.
It's all in your head.
But if you jump right in, you're like,
oh, this is, like, really nice. Like, 80
degrees heated pool. This is great. Right? A
second ago, you're acting like an absolute jundali.
Right? And and so when you, like, when
when when you look and you're like, oh,
no. I I I can't let this go.
Oh, this is mine. Right? Like this is
this is my shirt. This is my money.
I can't let that go.
At the heat of that moment, that's when
you know you should let it go.
Let it go.
And you'll feel good about it.
You'll feel so good about it
because you're doing it for Allah.
Next,
Let go,
and conquer, sacrifice
your own self and your desires.
Let it go. This entire Surah is about
letting things go, literally. If you wanna, like,
break it down, Suratul Khurjalat, it's all about
letting it go.
Backbiting?
Don't talk about them. Just let it go.
Having a bad thought about somebody? Just let
it go. Don't think about it.
Release that that pressure that you have in
your heart. Let it go.
So your wealth
because human beings, they wanna keep
whatever they want.
Their wealth, their ideas,
their ego,
the the the the things that we live
and die by. Right? Like, this is me.
This is my identity.
The moment you're asked to let it go,
it's like when your nafs gets like you're
like, woah. Why? Why should I? Right? Like,
I worked hard for this.
Why should I let it go? I don't
want to. This makes me feel good.
Allah says let it go. Why?
Because you're not doing it for yourself.
You're not doing it for yourself. You're not
giving money for yourself. You're not doing it
because it makes you feel good. Look at
Ramadan, that classic question. Why do you fast?
All your, like, non Muslim, like, classmates and
coworkers, like, why do you fast?
So good, like, right fasting, intermittent fasting. I
do that too. Right?
No. The the reason is you don't even
I I'll tell you something. This might be,
like, a little bit, like you know, it
might break a little bit of, like, the
the the barrier here, but, like, you don't
do it because you wanna feel how people
who are less fortunate than you feel. Like,
that's not why you do it.
That's not why you fast. I was one
time, I was talking to somebody, and they're
like, it's actually really, like, really condescending if
you think about it. Oh, I'm looking to
fast from sunrise to sunset. So I I
feel what you feel like.
Like, okay.
Thanks. Right?
No. No. That's not why we do it.
Is that a is that a reason to
build empathy? Sure. Right? To build empathy, to
build sympathy? For sure. No. That's fine.
But the reason why you do it
is the the reasoning is
You have to believe that.
Because if you do it for your own
logic, guess what? You're you're always gonna run
out of logic.
Right? You'll tell yourself, oh, yeah. I already
gave I already gave donations this week. Right?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, man. I already stopped by.
I gave I I gave that person, like,
the other intersection. I gave them $5. So,
like, the next intersection I go to, I
see this person I know I should, but,
like, no. I already gave that $5
already. I'm I'm fine. That's logic. Right? But
what Allah says is no. No. No. No.
Sometimes your logic will fail you. How many
times has your own logic failed you guys?
Think about it. How many times has our
own logic failed us?
Because your own logic one day will see
a person who is very much in need.
They're, like, you know, meskeen in in in
Fukhara, and they're they're they're in need of
your your your aid. And you'll say, oh,
well, you know, I don't know. Like,
this person's always here. Right? Like, why why
are they always here? Like, we've always given
them money. Why are they back all the
time? Or will they use this money to
do anything good? Like, what if they use
it for something bad?
Again, Shaitan starts creeping in. What's the last?
Right?
And at that moment, you have to tell
yourself, I'm not doing this for my own
reasoning.
I'm not doing this because oh yeah like
I'm I've broken down my math and I've
chosen to give sadaqa because it makes sense
to me. No. No. No. No. You give
because fisa billillah.
And when you give
Allah will give you something. And, Subhanallah, you
know, one of the greatest quotes I've ever
heard in my life from one of my
teachers is when I was a kid, Sheikh
Jassy, may Allah
preserve him. He
taught us like, you know, like, those imams
that you teach you Quran when you're kids
and, like, you go they go the Sunday
school process with you. One time Sheikh Jassy,
one time he said, when you give or
when you do things
Allah
will give you a reward in return that
is also
Like, you're not gonna recognize the reward because
you've never seen it before in the dunya.
You do something for the sake of Allah,
Allah will give you something
by the sake of Allah that you have
never witnessed before in your life.
Because the deed has to match the reward.
The deed has to match the reward. The
intention has to match the reward. Right? And
then Allah says,
These are the people who are the truthful,
the the the the absolutely truthful.
And then Allah he mentions verse number 16,
He says here,
say And he's saying to the prophet, by
the way. When Allah says,
in this particular instance,
Allah is speaking to the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam directly. Because, you know what's funny?
It was interesting about Madinah. I'm gonna It's
gonna be so socially interesting.
You know,
after Allah establishes
the the the, elements of a believer. Right?
Right? And then they don't doubt. Then
Right? They sacrifice with their wealth and themselves.
These are all qualifiers of a believer. So
when a believer is reading that ayah, they're
like, oh, yeah.
Like, I'm good. Right? Like, I believe in
God. I believe in his messenger.
I I I I'm shooing away doubts in
my life. I've been able to give some
sadaqa in my life. I've been able to
give up certain things for myself. You know?
Like, I I I'm I'm on something good
now.
And then Allah just humbles you. He goes,
Are you gonna inform Allah about your level
of faith? Like you feel prideful over it
now? You feel prideful over it? And by
the way, you know what's incredible? He says,
He says,
the last here. Check this out. The name
that Allah uses to describe himself in the
end of 16 is what?
Aleem. What does Aleem mean?
The all knowing. He knows everything.
He knows everything. There's no doubt about his
knowledge. Allah knows everything. He will know everything.
He has known everything.
So here, what does Allah say?
Are you gonna are you gonna give knowledge
to the all knowledgeable?
It's a it's like a rhetorical.
Are you gonna teach Allah,
the one who knows everything?
Are you going to are you gonna give
Allah knowledge about things that he already knows?
Because this verse is
related to a person who begins to become
prideful over their faith. Not prideful in, like,
a like, a way where they, like, they
love it. They feel ownership over it, but
they feel prideful, meaning that, oh, yeah. Like,
I think I'm all that.
Oh, I'm a I'm a
believer. Y'all know people who, like, they they
they they they they've been Muslim long enough
in their career now to, like, not make
other people feel like they're rookies. Like, oh,
yeah. Like, I've been a Muslim now for
a while, man.
I go to this. I go to that.
And Allah says,
are you gonna are you really gonna brag
to Allah about your faith?
Are you really gonna sit here and boast
to Allah about your deen?
And why does Allah use deen? Allah uses
deen because deen is a word that encompasses
everything. Islam,
iman, ihsan, everything.
Because are you gonna brag to Allah about
everything?
And this is why, by the way, one
of the greatest,
reflections
the have had from this ayah, which is
you never talk to anybody about your level
of faith in terms of, like, bragging about
it.
Think and you know why? Because
faith, iman,
is something that Allah has made dhaib.
Like, it's hidden.
It's not like, imagine if you there were
some sort of, like, weird black mirror, like,
situation where you could see a person's level
of faith on their sleeve or something like
that. Right? Like, they're, like, checking this for,
like, you know, like, the whole, like, the
the the stupid Apple device that they made
now. Right? Like, you go around checking people's
EMAN level. They're like, yeah. MediQuest. Right? Like,
you like, you you're able to you're able
to see. Oh, yeah. Like, this person,
85, EMAN today. Sounds good. Right? I wanna
hang out with them. Then you see this
person who's, like, 34. Well, 34, brother. What'd
you do? Right? Like, you're, like, concerned.
Imagine if everyone could read each other's, like,
iman meter.
Alhamdulillah,
Allah has kept that hidden.
Allah has kept that hidden. Why? Because you
don't want people to know that.
You don't want people to know that because
your iman will fluctuate sometimes.
The month of Ramadan, everyone's gonna be on
a high. Right?
Everyone's gonna be on a everyone's like, yeah.
I'm going to the Masjid every day. I'm
going to Fazir. I'm going to Eisha. I'm
going to. I'm gonna give money. I'm gonna
do this. I'm gonna be nice to people.
I'm just gonna smile. My frown marks are
gonna disappear over the month. Right? Like, everything's
gonna be cool. And then all of a
sudden,
right, Shawwal,
and you're like,
here I am back again. Right?
It's like those memes about Shaytan coming back.
He's like, you know, those stupid TikTok videos
about Shaytan coming back after after Ramadan. But,
like, it's so it it's so interesting because
Allah keeps that hidden.
Why?
Because you don't want people to see that
in your low points, so don't brag about
the high points. It's like a person who
it's like a person who they they they're
they're weak in a lot of ways, but
the moments they hit strength, they're like, yeah,
man. I've benched, like, 350 the other day.
Heavy b. Like, relax.
Okay?
I remember, like, 4, like, 4 months ago
when you were, like, pounding plates of biryani
and, like,
barely able to lift, like, a 20 pound
dumbbell. Like, now you're bragging because you're finally
at, like, the the the the max, like,
you know, weight, whatever. Like, no. We like,
you don't you don't do that. It's just
not it's just not adab of a of
a Muslim.
We just don't do that. That's why
the the they say, you can tell people
about, like, the the the actions you've done
to a degree. Like, for example, oh, I
prayed. Like, they did you pray? Yeah. I
prayed. You don't have to lie about that.
Like, did you pray? Oh, I can't tell
you if I prayed or not. Why? Because
I have to hide my faith. No. No.
No. You can tell somebody that you prayed.
That's fine because it's actions,
but you can't be like, yeah. I prayed
Maghrib, man. I was, like, so into it.
And by and and it's scary how culturally
normal that's becoming now.
It's like, oh, yeah, man. I was fueling
my fast yesterday. It was so good. Like,
I think I might make, like, a TikTok
video about it, actually. Like,
no. No. No. No. No. It's okay. Nobody
needs to see that. Like, for real.
Like, I'm fine watching Mufti Menck and Shaikh
Omar on on my TikTok for you page.
Like, I'm cool with that. No. No. Like,
it it's it's serious, though, because the moment
that you feel prideful over that iman,
the sincerity that Allah gave you when you
felt that is gonna be gone.
Like, that moment was so personal for you
and Allah.
Like, you felt that moment between you and
God. Don't publicize it to a point where
now all the sincerity is taken away from
it.
Right?
And so he says,
Allah is the 1.
Allah knows everything in the heavens and the
earth.
Allah is the one who is perfect
in his in his knowledge. His knowledge is
complete.
And, so now,
we get to verse number 17.
Allah, he says
This is a profound verse. Check this out.
So this is about a group of people
who came to the prophet with a very
particular issue.
And not, like, an issue that, like, they
saw, but an issue that was apparent that
Allah had to address.
They came to the prophet and they said,
man, like, we're we we
joined your community, so we, like, strengthened your
community. Like, we, like, we we made Islam
better.
Like, we came and we joined you because
back in, like, Mecca, you had nobody to
roll with. And now you're in Medina, and
you got all of us. Like, so we
kinda strengthened Islam a little bit. Right? In
a in a weird way, like, if it
wasn't for us, like, you know, we wouldn't
have this ummah that we have today. And,
again,
that that feeling may not have been from,
like, a terrible intention,
but look what it manifested into.
It manifested into, like, a person possibly thinking
that, oh, yeah. Islam kind of, like, needs
me.
You know what I'm saying? Like, oh, yeah.
You know, like,
I was, like, a part of that core
team. If it wasn't for me, like, really
wouldn't be anything weird. You know? Like, I
I established it. You know?
One of,
I I was speaking to a colleague,
and we were talking about and and somebody
asked a really good question.
And they're like, well, like, what do you
envision roots to be like in, like, a
100 years, you know, like, after you're gone?
And
the answer was incredible
when somebody that I know very well, they
spoke. They said that
if
we did justice, if we did to, like,
roots,
roots
will be in better hands in 100 years
than it is today.
Like, if we do our job properly here
and
the next generations take over roots, you're right.
Waselda Abdulhaman is gone. I'm gone. Waselda Fatima
is gone.
You know?
If we did Haqq, if we did right
by this, this amana that Allah gave us,
then roots should be better. We should want
it to be better than it is today.
Oh, like, Thursday nights are awesome. Monday nights
are awesome.
Wednesday nights with Sheikh Mikael are awesome. But
if we but if we did right by
this amana,
we should hope that Allah takes what this
is and elevates it for years to come
even without us. And you want a great
example of that? The prophet.
There
was there was
a few 1,000 Muslims
at the time where he died.
Maybe 10,000, 15,000.
And now after his death, 1400 years later,
there are over 2,800,000,000
Muslims.
The prophet never got to meet any of
you.
He never got to meet any of you.
He never even got to see what his
masjid looks like today.
His masjid back when he was alive was
a very, like,
humble, small, little masjid. You know? It had,
like, you know, it had, like, dirt at
the bottom and had some leaves over the
top as a canopy over the the the
ceilings and the roof.
He never saw Masjid Nabawi with, like, retractable
roof.
He never saw
the Haram in Mecca
as this place where 3 or 4000000 Muslims
pray in every day. Never saw that once
in his life. He never he never
got to see
muslims
in America
saying
But it is because of his sincerity
that Islam is what it is today.
If the prophet
ever thought like well yeah Islam will die
with me.
No. No. No. No. What was the famous
statement of Abu
Bakr
when all the other companions, Umar ibn Khattab,
was having a moment of just, like, absolute
breakdown.
Umar was in such denial. He was gonna
he was basically saying that if anybody ever
says that the prophet has passed away, I'm
gonna beat them up. Like, don't ever say
that me again. Ali
ran home crying.
Abu Bakr was the one who stepped up,
and
he looked at the ummah. He looked at
the muslims
and he said, for those of you who
worship Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam
know that Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam has
passed away.
But those of you
who worship Allah, know that Allah is forever.
He's forever living and he will never die.
Islam was fine before you, Islam will be
fine after you.
And if you really want the best
for something that you love, your family,
your friends,
your work, your career,
whatever you stand for.
You want the best for those things?
You should hope and make dua that those
things are better even after you're gone.
Because if you if you want something to
fail after you're gone, that means that you're
only doing it for your selfish reasons.
I'm only doing it so I can see
it. I'm only doing it so I can
I can feel good about it? No. No.
No. No. Imagine on the day of judgement.
Imagine on the day of judgement Allah will
tell you, hey, you remember like that little
family that you had? Just you, your siblings,
you know. Guess what?
There are about a 100000 Muslims that came
from your lineage.
Could you imagine that?
You never had that in your mind.
I was like, hey. Remember that, like, $10
you gave?
Remember that that donation you made to Palestine
back in 2023,
2024?
You kind of were like, yeah. It's not
that much. $10. I'm like, what can it
do?
That $10 fed a kid in Palestine who
grew up to become, like, a scholar,
who now teaches
millions of Muslims.
And by the way Palestine's now free. But
can you imagine that? Like, the smile that's
gonna break, the tears that are gonna stream
down your face, and you thought, you're just
like, oh, it's just $10. Like, what can
it do?
This is what it means.
No. No. No. No
No no no. Do not regard
your islam as a favor to me.
Rather Allah has done you a favor by
guiding you to Islam.
You would be nothing without this religion.
You would be nothing without this Deen. You
would be nothing. Imagine
imagine if next month you had no
no
idea what Ramadan was.
You know, sometimes, like,
it's it's weird. Right? It's like one of
those, like, trippy realization moments where you almost
feel like, if I never knew what something
felt like, isn't that even like a sadder
depression?
Like even the feeling of knowing something,
it's like, at least I have memories of
it, and I can always maybe somehow go
back to it if I can. I can
think about it. Allah has given me sweet
memories.
But what if like I never even had
those memories to begin with?
Allah gave you the the sweetness, the halawah
of faith, of iman,
and He gave it to you for a
reason.
He gave it to you for a reason.
Just think about that. Allah made you Muslim
for a reason.
It is because of that reason,
that you benefit from so many of its
fruits.
And for a person to ever think that,
you know what? Like, I'm doing this a
favor. No. No. No. No.
You wouldn't have any favors in your life
if it wasn't for this.
It is only that It's only because of
this that you know what salah is. It's
only because of this you know what fasting
is. It's only because of this you know
what Ramadan is. It's only because of this
because you know that you know what Quran
is.
That's the favor of Islam.
And he says in kuntum sadiqeen and then
finally
Allah Ta'ala
he ends
the surah.
He says,
beautiful ending. He says,
verily,
right. Like a little bit of emphasis. He
says,
Now this is so interesting.
Why does Allah say this? Ghayb Asamawwat
Because Allah could have easily said, Inalaha
You Alam Mus Samawat Mafi Samawati Wa Arut
but He says ghaib what does ghaib mean
anybody?
It means something that is
hidden not seen,
right. You have like Almul Ghaib which is
like the knowledge of the unseen you have
Al Mashahadah which means the knowledge that you
can witness or or the the the the
things that you can witness.
But he says,
Allah knows things that are unseen.
This surah
is all about things that are unseen.
You can't see,
like physically see, a person's ill thoughts of
another person.
You cannot see
a person's doubts.
You cannot see
when a person is jealous of somebody. Maybe
it's harboring within the heart.
You can't see all these things.
But Allah reminds us, He says,
I'm the one who is You Alamuqaybasamaawati
walordi.
I see everything that you do not see.
So know
that this religion
is anchored
in the reality
that Allah knows better about you, than you
might sometimes know about yourself.
You can lie to other people. You can
even lie to yourself. I can convince myself
that I'm a nice person even though I
know Like deep down, I know that I
might not be.
I can convince myself, no, I'm a generous
person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm generous.
Right? Like, I don't I don't I don't
have ill thoughts of other people. No. No.
No. I'm good.
Allah reminds,
He knows truly what's hidden.
He knows what's truly hidden.
And you can keep what's hidden hidden for
a certain amount of time, but Allah says,
there will be a day
out of the athqala.
The earth will spill everything out
that it knows.
And Allah will ask you about who you
really are.
Now, we'll end with this reflection.
Allah, he uses one of the sifaat,
the attributes of himself that is incredible. He
says,
in Arabic means the ability to see. And
this is why, by the way, the two
greatest traits, the olamah they talk about is.
Right? The 2 things that if Allah blesses
somebody with
is the ability to hear and the ability
to see. Now
just because hearing and seeing is done physically,
doesn't mean that that's the only realm of
seeing and hearing.
A person who may be physically blind may
actually be more percept more and more perceptive
than a person who can actually physically see.
A person who may be physically deaf
can actually listen better than a person who
is actually physically able to hear.
So when Allah says,
Allah is the all seeing,
It's not that, oh, I see. Right? Like,
oh, I can I'm able to see this
person and that person. No. No. Allah is
all perceptive.
Allah perceives everything.
Because a human being who sees, they only
see what's in front of them.
I can't see what's going on behind that
wall back there. I can't see what's going
on past this street over here. I can't
even see what's happening past this door.
I have no idea, but I can see.
That doesn't mean that I'm Basirun.
No. No. No. Basir means that Allah is
able to see,
perceive,
understand,
know everything.
And that
perception, by the way, is a beautiful trait
y'all. It's a beautiful trait. Don't just be
a person who sees limited things.
Because the Surah tells you, don't backbite.
Don't think ill of people,
don't just judge somebody, don't have su'udan of
a person. Why? Because you just saw what's
on the surface. No. No. No. No. Assume
the goodness of them deep down.
Even though you can't see the physical goodness
of them, assume the goodness of them deep
down. That's what it means to be perceptive.
And you'll see it, by the way. There's
beauty to that. You can 2 people can
live a sim 2 similar lives. This person
goes to work 9 to 5. This person
goes to work 9 to 5. This person
has a family. That person has a family.
This person has chores. That person has chores
when they get home. One person, all they
all they do is, oh, man. I gotta,
like, I gotta drive 30 minutes to work,
man. My commute is so difficult. It's so
annoying every single day. Oh, man. I gotta
go home. Like, my family is like, sometimes,
like, they annoy me. They irritate me. They
they're complaining about their family. Oh my god.
The sink is full of, like, dishes that
need to be done. Like, I gotta do
dishes now. Oh my god. The laundry is
all over the floor. I gotta go and
fold the laundry now. The same other person
on the right hand side, they have the
exact same light. But what do they say?
Oh hamdulillah that I have the ability to
go and work.
Hamdulillah that I have a home to go
back to.
Hamdulillah that I have a family
to even strangely get into arguments with.
There are dishes in my sink
that are dirty, that's evidence that I ate
today.
There are there are clothes that I have
to fold, that means that I have worn
those clothes. I have clothes to wear.
These two people seemingly have the same exact
life.
One person is a person who sees much
more.
One person is a person who perceives much
more.
You wanna be that person.
The person who is able to take a
small blessing in your life,
and you're able to expand on it
to the point where,
you'll never doubt God ever again.
This is the goal of a Muslim.
This is the goal of
what the Surah is trying to teach us.
And Allah reminds us through this incredible, incredible
Surah, you know, the the the physical,
actionable items that one can partake in to
become better and also the Imani principles deep
down that no one will be able to
see, but only
you, you alone
can work on yourself because you know yourself
better than everybody else around you at least.
And this is something that inshallah,
we hope that Allah accepts
from us. So inshallah, we'll end with a
dua.
We ask Allah
to
accept,
the reading of the Quran from us. We
ask
Allah to allow these Thursday evenings to be
a source of blessing for us. We ask
to accept from all the khayr, all the
goodness that we have been able to engage
in for the past few months. We ask
Allah to accept from us. We ask Allah
to forgive the many mistakes that we've made
in our lives. We ask
Allah to overlook our faults and our sins.
We ask Allah
to allow us to improve
as human beings at every single day of
our lives. We ask Allah
to grow in our iman. We ask Allah
to grow in our Islam. We ask Allah
Subhanu Wa Ta'ala to grow in our ihsan.
We ask Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala to never
allow the Quran to be foreign to us.
We ask Allah Subhanu Wa Ta'ala to allow
the Quran to be something that is familiar
to us. We ask Allah
to never allow this deen to be a
reason
why we feel prideful over other people. Rather,
we ask Allah to make this deen a
reason we feel humble. We ask Allah
to allow
us to be beacons of light to attract
others to this beautiful religion. We ask Allah
to save us from ever being a source
of of of repelling other people away from
Islam. We ask
Allah to allow us to witness the month
of Ramadan coming up. We ask Allah
to allow us to better ourselves in the
month of Ramadan coming up. We ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala to heal the broken hearts
that have been harmed and hurt this past
year. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
heal those people. We ask Allah
to anybody who has gone through any sort
of sickness or any sort of impediment with
their health. We ask Allah
to make it easy for them and to
give them shifa. We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala to free the people of Palestine.
We ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You Allah,
we know that you are in control of
everyone's affairs. We know that you are in
control of the people of Palestine. You Allah,
they've been going through hardships for over 80
years now, you Allah, and even more intensely
over the past 4 or 5 months, Allah.
You Allah, we ask you to relieve them
in this month of Ramadan.
You Allah, we ask you, you relieve them
so they can fast with us and gain
barakah with us. We want to be like
them, you Allah. You Allah, we ask you
to end the occupation in the Philistine.
You Allah, we ask you to keep the
people of Philistine safe and secure. You Allah,
we ask you to bring the people who
have harmed your worshipers to justice for what
they have done both in this dunya and
in the akhirah. We ask Allah
to allow us to be people who benefit
from the iman of those who have been
tested. And we ask Allah
to allow us to enter into the highest
folds of His Jannah, His paradise. And we
ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to keep us far away from the punishment.
And we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to
accept from us.
Subhanahu
Wa bihamdikunashaduAllahuila
ilaha illa and nastaghu firoka wannatubirek.
Hamdulillah.
Obviously our
series is over now.
But
we will be having, a soul food session
next Thursday about a prophetic Ramadan. So come
next Thursday, we're we're gonna be doing a
lot of breakouts next Thursday
about Ramadan,
goals, aspirations.
We'll be going through a little bit of
kind of, like, you know, the the the
parts of Ramadan, how you can improve, what
the prophet did to really enhance his own
Ramadan.
We'll be sharing some advice on that
We'll see you guys next Thursday.