Safi Khan – Soul Food for College Students What is Guidance
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AI: Transcript ©
Today, we're gonna be continuing our study of
Suratul Qasas.
It will just be me today, Insha'Allah.
So today, we'll cover verses 51
through 56,
inshallah. So we'll be covering about 5 verses
and these verses are very,
beautiful. They're very important for us to cover.
We're gonna jump right into it because just
because they have so much packed into it
and I wanna be able to to make
sure that we cover all of it. So
previously,
we talked about, the previous versus last week.
And in those versus last week, we we
had myself and stat stuffy. We have such
an amazing discussion in regards to you know
the previous nations and also how allah's talk
to people how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala called
people who were coming who, you know, refused
to come. What was the responsibility of the
prophet and how the Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
console the prophet
In the verses this
week, we we see that Allah
is continuing halfway continuing that conversation.
So Allah says,
Allah
says, he says, we have we have cause.
Okay. He says that we have caused our
word
to come to them so that they may
be mindful. Okay.
We have caused our word,
We have caused the word
to arrive to them, to come to them
so that,
la'allahu, perhaps they will be yet to be
turned on people who are mindful, people who
think. And what's interesting here is that these
verses
are implicating
that,
for the guiding people that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has continuously
provided guidance. That these verse are this this
verse is showing that Allah has continuously
provided guidance. You know, sometimes we think that,
okay. Well,
like, in in certain situations where we're talking
about the guidance and the message that was
upon that was bringing down, and we're talking
about the Quraysh and we're talking about so
many people, sometimes we think that was never,
maybe it's possible that this is the first
time they're hearing the message. Maybe it's possible
that they were never familiar with this message
in the 1st place when that's not true.
You know? So that's how sometimes
when it came to the Quraysh, they were
familiar with certain points. And it may be
that those points weren't necessarily
that they were familiar with certain things of
Islam that Islam brought forth. And it may
not be that they completely understood the depth
of it, that they completely understood everything that
it entailed, but they were very familiar with
it. Like, for example, they were familiar with
the stories of Luqman the Wise. You know,
they were familiar with, you know, Jews and
Christians because Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, had previously
brought down scripture. He had previously presented the
oneness of Allah, the monotheistic
faiths. So Allah Subhanahu
Wa
Ta'ala
says
that we have caused our word to come
to them. You know? Was on us in
the past tense, that we have caused our
word to come to them.
So perhaps that they they will be mindful.
And this is these are talking about
those who are,
this is talking about the word coming to
those
who actually had their hearts open to it.
Okay? They actually had their hearts open to
accepting the message in which I was gonna
tell you, was bringing forth to them. That
they were familiar with it. They had heard
it. They had this very familiar this really
close familiarity with it. They had heard it
many time and many times, and they weren't
people who were going to close the door.
They weren't people who were gonna slam the
door in the face of these messengers that
will come to teach you more about the
religion. And now once, continues in I number
52, he says,
though to those to whom we gave the
scripture
before believing it. You know? So Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says, you know, ate nahum
umul kitaba is referring to the righteous people
amongst the people of the book.
That these people
have been given the the scripture before, that
they have been given the book, and they
believed in it. K. We gave them the
scripture before they believed in it. Like, they
they were given the picture the scripture, and
they both believed in it. And this verse,
it shows
the how some people
who were
who were against the Quran,
that there were some people, the creation, some
other people from the Quran who were against
the Quran. And them being against the Quraysians
was not because of any
true will, you know, any true reasoning. They
didn't have any true reasoning to be a
guest upon. Rather, they were just,
they were just averse to the crime for
the sake of just being averse to the
crime. They didn't have any true stance
there, that it was what the crime brought
forth, the things the crime was saying, the
things that the prophet was bringing,
the values that they were bringing, that these
were such things that they were actually familiar
with, that it wasn't something that was completely
out of the water. It wasn't a way
that they were completely, you know, not familiar
with it. And another thing that we realized
is that Islam came as a reformation of
the heart. It came to make people better
people. It came to make, you know, to
make a society that was as wretched
as, you know, terrible, as
horrible
as the society of Mecca or the Arabian
Peninsula
to make it a better place, to make
people's hearts better. And so here you see
that was is saying that these people, they
had
a they had a,
they had an attitude that they are ready
to adopt the Quran by the time that
the Quran gave came to them. And the
thing is, it's emphasized here where Allah says,
that this is that they will say that
this is the truth from my lord, and
we'll talk about that in the next ayah.
That they will say that this is the
truth from our lord. So when when they
got these verses, they didn't turn away from
the prophet. And this is con continue a
continuous
consolation to the prophet, because remember, we started
off the story talking about the prophet, making
hijra, and talking about how things were very
difficult for him and how, you know, the
story of Musa alaihi wasalam came as a
way to teach the prophets as a way
to show the prophets that difficulties does happen.
Difficulties do happen, but it doesn't mean that
we stop there. And so now, as Panta,
I've shown the prophets that there are people
who turn to you. There are people who,
when you recited the Quran to them, that
they believed in what you recited.
When it's when it is recited upon them,
when it's recited to them,
they say,
We believe in
it. That indeed this is the truth from
our lord.
Word.
That before it came, we have already devoted
ourselves to him. We have already submitted ourselves
to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so here,
we're show it's showing us that the people
of the book,
that they have believed in the Quran even
before the the revelation
or the prophecies were found. There's another surah
there's another verse in surah to Baqarah where
Allah
says,
that those we gave
we gave scripture.
Okay? Those we gave scripture
know it as well as they know their
own.
Knows knows it as well as they know
their own sons.
And but some of them hide the truth
that they know. That they know the scripture
is the truth. They know that this Quran
is the truth. And they know it as
well as they know their own sons, but
they decide to hide the truth. And so
here, Allah Subhanahu is bringing the opposite group
of people. That these are the people that
as soon as the verses are recited upon
them, that they believe in the Quran. But
what they're saying is that we've always believed
in one God. We've always believed in in
one messenger. And so it's showing that there
are people of the book who believed in
the prophet,
believed in the message that the prophet,
and were not averse to the message in
which the prophet,
was not averse to the scripture, the Quran
that was brought to them. And Allah
then says the reward of these people.
Allah says they they will be given their
reward
twice over.
They will be given their reward
twice over.
For what they were steadfast or what they
were patient against. That this wasn't an easy
process, that they were patient. They were set
steadfast.
And they they they
they
they repel the the evil with good. Okay.
They repel
the They took out the evil. Okay. They
took out the evil with good. And then
Allah
says, and out of what we provided for
them, they would give. Now
let's let's stick on this aya a little
bit because this class is primarily for college
students. And the thing is that sometimes when
we talk about these IS, we don't as
as college students, stuff like that, we don't
know how they would,
apply to us. We don't know how they
would, how we would use them in not
everyday life.
Allah says that these are the people that
they will be given 2 rewards,
because of how they were patient,
and they repel evil with good. That they
they get rid of the evil with good.
This is something that every person could do.
Okay? This is something that every person could
do. This refers to
the the,
making sure that they up this refers to
those who came in the past, how they
oppose
their ancestors when they will say something bad
about the religion, when they will say something
bad about Islam, when they were in try
to insult the prophecy, the prophet of Islam,
when they were trying to, you know, be
a certain when they were doing certain bad
things, then they will show true decency and
they will show for your friends. So they
were chose true decency and they will defend
their religion. For us, how can we put
this into practice? Well,
the first thing is that when people come
and try to abuse our our religion, when
people come and say things, you're in college,
people are gonna say things. They're gonna say
things about, you know, you wearing a scarf.
They're They're gonna say thing about about you
praying. They're gonna say all kinds of things.
How do you
deal with those things that are being said?
Do you become a nasty person as well
and say bad things towards that person as
well? Do you decide to use, you know,
foul language as well? How do you repel
the evil that is coming towards you? How
do you deal with people who are negative?
How do you deal with people who bring
about bad? How do you do that? Well,
you do it by dealing with people in
a decent way. That having true decency. That
it doesn't require for us to get our
point across to to defend our religion and
things of that nature. We don't have to
become people who are foul. We don't have
to become people who are who are nasty.
People who say things that are not okay.
People who, you know, we don't have to
fight fire with fire. That we can deal
with people in a nice way. And then
it says,
And from what we have provided for them,
that Unficun, they spend from it. They spend
from what we have provided for them. Here,
there is no marker. It's not talking about
zakat. You know, zakat, there's a marker. And
in zakat with that marker, you have a
certain threshold that you reach and then you're
you're have to spend from there. But here,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling us that
you give
from what he has provided you for whatever
amount of money you have, whatever thing that
you have that you're able to to give
out, then you give out from it. Okay?
You give out from it. You don't have
to be the richest person. You don't have
to be the one who makes the most
money. You don't have to be someone who's
even working. That has given all of us
something, and we all have something that we're
able to give within our needs. And,
And then he continues about and and it's
explaining
how
how it is to be a person who
repels evil with good. Allah
says that when when they hear
this
frivolous talk, when they hear a loved one
means, like, talk that is just useless. Like,
talk that is just, you know, vowels, useless.
Nobody really you don't need to be listening
to it. Nobody really needs to be listening
to this. Okay? When they hear nonsensical
talk,
that they turn away from it. That they
turn away from it. Okay? When they hear
frivolous talk, when they hear people talking about
other people, when they hear people talking about
the religion, when they hear people just debating
and trying to just do things that debating
for no reason, debating just for the sake
of arguing, you know, talking just for the
sake of talking, talking about people, frivolous talk,
just straight love what, just straight
nonsensical talk, then they turn away from it.
They don't engage. They don't get trapped. Okay?
They don't sit there and start arguing back.
They don't try to fight fire with fire.
And they say
that for us is our deeds. We have
our deeds.
And you have your deeds.
Then peace be with you.
Peace be with you.
That we do not seek the company of
ignorant people. In Surat al Furqan, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala also talks about this when he
describes the Ibaldir Rahman, when he describes the
slave, the beautiful slaves of Allah, the beautiful
servants of Allah. And when he describes that,
he's talking about
Allah
says that when they hear
a person when a person comes to you,
comes to them who is
straight Jahir, who is somebody who is very
ignorant, someone who just
just is just a troublemaker.
When a troublemaker comes to them,
Do they say peace to that person? What
are we learning here? We're learning that Allah
is teaching us how to deal with the
people in the world. Allah is teaching us
how to deal with the different people in
the world. He's teaching us how to deal
with in Internet trolls. He's teaching us how
to deal with people who come to us
and talk to us in a way that's
not okay. He's teaching us how to deal
with people who don't have any weight in
the things that they're saying. They just wanna
say it. Okay? They they just wanna talk
to us and they just wanna say it.
They just wanna argue for no reason. Allah
is teaching us how we deal with these
people,
that we don't need to argue with every
single person.
When people are on the Internet and they're
talking bad about your religion or they're talking
bad about you or they're, you know, sending
sending tweets or whatever the case may be,
that there are some people that the the
best thing to do is just to step
away from the conversation.
It's just to step away from them. That
the best thing to do is to go
away. And then, Allah
here, what does he say? How did they
step away? How do I turn away from
these conversations?
You do you, I do me to each
film, And it's not in a condescending way.
It's not saying, like, oh, yeah. Like, you're
you're going to *. They're not this and
that. No. I lost one time as you're
saying that these people just leave the people
that they know that there's no getting to
them, meaning that you can be advising somebody
or you can be talking to somebody. Some
people just wanna argue.
Some people just wanna come to you, or
they just wanna continue to argue with you.
And in those things, in those times, with
those people, it's important to just say, okay.
You got it. I'm a do me. You
do you. Let's agree to disagree.
That they say peace upon them.
Peace upon you.
That I don't wanna be in the company.
We don't wanna be in the company of
those who are ignorant. We don't wanna be
in the company of ignorant people. And then
the last ayah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
and this ayah is so powerful.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
That you cannot guide you, oh, prophet
You cannot guide those whom you love. You
cannot guide everyone you love.
It is Allah who guides whoever he wills.
And he knows best those who will follow
the guidance.
And this verse is so beautiful because the
prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he was very
concerned.
He concerned himself very heavily
with the responsibility
that he was given. He concerned himself
very heavily
with the responsibility
that he was given to help the people
come to guidance,
to bring the message to the people. And
so Allah gives him all these verses first.
First Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala give him all
these verses. He says that,
that we have caused our word to come
to them over and over again so that
they may be mindful. But the ones who
did come,
those who we gave the scripture to before,
that they believe in the Quran. They believe
in it. There are some people who are
people of the book, and they they were
aware of it and they believe in it.
When the verses are recited upon them.
They say we believe. We
believe in it. We believe in the Quran.
This is the truth from our
And we were beef way before this. We
have already devoted ourselves to him. We have
already submitted ourselves to him. Will that if
you're doing that, I just got home routine.
And these are the people that will get
2 rewards. We lost several because of how
patient there were because of how steadfast they
were, because of how consistent there were. We
had to not own. I've been hesitant to
say the and they repel the the negative
talk, the evil talk, the nasty talk that
came to them, the things that people will
say about the religion, the bad things, all
the bad things they repel them with good.
They didn't fight fire with fire. They repelted
with good.
And that they
would spend, they would give to others out
of what
Allah had provided them. Okay? They would give
to others out of what Allah
had provided to them. And
when they would hear a frivolous talk, when
they would hear people talking crazy, talking, you
know, in a way that was not okay,
saying things just want to argue for the
sake of
arguing.
That they would turn their face away from
it.
They and they will say,
For us, it's our deeds. Like, we do
what we do.
And for you, it's your deeds. Every
every single one of us is gonna have
to answer to Allah.
I'm not gonna have this useless argument with
you because it's just that useless.
It's just that useless. These people don't wanna
listen. They just want to argue and they
wanna bring you out of your character. So
don't let them bring you out of your
character.
Peace be unto you.
We don't seek to be in the company
of those who are ignorant. We don't seek
to be in the company of ignorant people.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells the
prophet, you have these people. That's what Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala show the prophet,
you have these people who turn to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, who listen to the Quran,
who who really took it as the truth.
And and this is not,
the other people that don't want to be
guided.
No matter how much you love them, no
matter how much you care about them, no
matter how much you want them to believe,
no matter how many times you recite the
message upon them, it is not your responsibility
to guide anyone.
That that is the responsibility
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That only Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala can be able to guide
somebody.
That you do not have the ability
to guide someone even if you love that
person.
But Allah,
he guides to whom whomever he wills.
And
he knows best those who will follow guidance.
And this last verse that we're gonna cover
here today is so important for all of
us to really internalize and to think about.
That sometimes we think that arguing with people,
we think they're pulling out all of these
facts constantly,
bombarding them with, like, maybe WhatsApp messages and
forwards and things of that nature. That's gonna
make a person see our point of view.
That there are sometimes you do the best
you can in the conversation, and after that,
it's completely over. You'd say your point and
you keep it pushing. That you don't have
the ability to change someone's mind. You don't
have the ability to change someone's heart. That
that is only with the power of Allah.
Only Allah
has only Allah
can do that. Only Allah can change someone's
mind. Only Allah can change someone's heart. And
so when we are dealing with people, when
we're dealing,
you know, with people, when we're talking to
people, we should not go into these conversations
thinking that we can change people because we
can't.
We cannot change anyone.
But what we can do is say our
peace and what we can do is say
that we believe. And what we can do
is practice to the best of our ability
to give from that which we which Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has provided to us,
to when people want to argue with us,
when people wanna bring us out of our
character, don't allow them to bring you out
of your character. Don't allow them to, you
know, take you out of who you are.
Don't allow somebody to get you to the
point where you become, you know, a mean
or a vile person. Don't allow somebody to
do those things. That rather, what you do
is you hold on to those values and
things that God has given you and you
continue to be the best person that you
can possibly be. So I pray that Allah's
point of time allows us to be able
to act upon these verses. I pray that
Allah's point of time makes these people who
are steadfast. I pray that Allah rewards us
and gives us the best in this life
and the next.