Seerah S01 E03 Part B – The Year Of The Elephant

So, how bra was defined of the look on the left and those who he probably came with and they went as the books of history say and took refuge by the mountains we know McKay's a Montana it's a mountainous area we know McKay's. They went to take refuge in the mountains of Panama, look at these people who associated idols, they associated partners unto Allah. But with regards to protection of this carrabba, they believed that they went to the protection, right? And then abraha decided to move this elephant that he was on some of the books of history say this elephant was named Muhammad or something praised. And this elephant kneeled and refused to move any further. Subhan Allah, Allah

Allah, so he instructed that he be lashed and beaten, but nothing that he did, made this elephant move. Thus the army was stuck. The leader of the army cannot move. Where's the rest of the army gonna go? And then Allah subhanho wa Taala, sent the famous Adobe, odd the birds with pebbles and

an effective airstrike took place. Right? These pebbles fell, and the army of abraha was destroyed. Allah subhanho wa Taala says in his book, lm Takeda for our buka bs habil field, I let me add your al Qaeda houfy tell me what he

told me him. It means he g fed Yahoo. Kasim. akula, Allah subhanho wa Taala reveals and says, Have you not considered, oh, Mohammed, how your Lord dealt with the companions of the elephant? Did he not make their plan, a plan of misguidance and failure, and he sent against them birds in flocks, bye beds in flux, striking them with stones of hard clay. And he made them like eaten straw, lava destroyed, he destroyed them. Right now, believe it or not this incidence of Han Allah, it caused the Quraysh to gain greater traction in terms of their prominence in this peninsula. Because he mentioned the people what they saying now, he said hold on a second here

abraha was a Christian, the Christians are more nobler than these ideologies. And Allah subhanho wa Taala, destroyed Abra this army of Christians they were destroyed. And also the saying that the Eurasia in charge of the offense of the Kaaba, right, the Eurasia in charge of the affairs of the Kaaba, and Allah has caused this miracle to be four birds with with clay, pebbles, and these pebbles hit their targets with precision, no collateral damage, like we see with drones and so on and so forth today. Allah Allah Stan, Allah protect the own man. I mean, right? proceed such precision. They said, they attributed this incident and this miracle to the nature of the Quraysh and the

family of the parade and the nobility of the parade. So this gain traction for the duration this region, Allah subhanho wa Taala through this incident for those who ponder, prepared the dour scene for Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because think about it, think about it. When Where did his Dawa, start it start with the Quran?

Right? If you start at the top, and the top falls, the rest follow like dominoes, right? Everybody is looking at the porridge does Why? Because they already respect the coloration. Now, the respect has just gone this much more because of what's happened. They see that, you know, these people get divine

assistance, right. So the Quraysh or the other

tribes, they were in all of the correction will touch on these points. As we move on. Now, this particular incident of the elephants took place in the year 571. Ad. And the historian say that we could say it was

towards the end of February beginning of March this period. Why? Because it happened in the month of Muharram. Right? And this incident is said to have happened a month and a half before the birth of Rasulullah sallallahu. And he was in a month and a half. Everything is related. I'm also panda who is always a month and a half before the birth of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Now

what are the benefits from the story as I said this

Many, and before the red card comes out, I see the referee has arrived. Let me run through these lessons. These lessons as I said, Subhan Allah, Allah made me realize so many benefits from from this particular story that I just said today's discussion

to cover this particular story. So seeking Allah subhanho wa Taala. This assistance let's discuss the benefits Firstly, brothers and sisters.

As we said earlier, this story highlights the noble lineage of of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Because Abra even though he wasn't from this region, he heard about these people. He heard about these grandfather's of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam. So, the unreliability and nobility of this of the lineage of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam transcended the Arabian Peninsula, right. So this further adds detail to how Nobu. This lineage of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was number one, number two, it was a mercy upon our beloved Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to come from a lineage as noble as this, to be part of a tribe that belonged to a

well respected clan.

And as because as we said, if this clan fell, all the clans would fall, right, all the clans would fall. And this is what this is well documented in the Sierra, in many instances. In many instances, we see the other tribes saying, you know what, we also confused with regards to this messenger who says to Mohammed who says, he's the messenger, and the fight of the Polish, but what we will do is, we will observe,

if Mohammed wins, we will accept we will accept him as a prophet. And if the Quran is win, then we have been destroyed our relationship with the most noblest of class, we still

will be in the good books, right? So everybody was watching what the Quraysh would do. This was a mercy to the devil of Rasulullah sallallahu wasallam. Imagine if he's that was started at the bottom, and he would have to convince this clan that wouldn't have affected the rest, the rest would have said, Well, that's a weak clan. And then the process would have to start again with a new clan, and then was another clan, and then with another clan, right, but if you start at the top, and the top falls, what happens? Everybody comes through immediately in waves. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says this in his book, Allah says either Jaya and also Allah He will in fact, when Macau was opened,

when Macau was opening, the Quraysh foul. And now the caliber and the hygiene the affairs came, the affairs of the Kaaba came within the remit of the Muslims, what happens? Allah says what I eat, and NASA had Hulu and Avi de la he of wotja, to Pamela, when the Cornish foul, the other clans said, That's it, they stick the way of Muhammad, right. 23 years to drop one clan, imagine, imagine if you had to do it for multiple, multiple clans. But you drop one clan, it took you 23 years and the rest followed through immediately. This is a lesson brothers and sisters, for you and I in our day.

For you and I in our tower, how we should strategize how we should conduct the hour, where should we start? This teaches us that you and I should think before we invite towards Allah subhanho wa Taala when we open up an organization, and we want to inject a project into the community, what projects should we start off with? We should think we should

you know, we should practice what what the corporate world called due diligence, right? We run due diligence, see what the community needs, see, what's the best way? Not everything, which is beneficial is right. Remember this brothers and sisters, not everything which is has benefit is the right thing to do.

It might be something beneficial. But if it's not the right time to do that, it's not the right thing to do. Remember this, right? You could have a community and you're saying, Well, you know, I want to start up. I want to build the masjid. I want to build the school. I want to start up weekend classes. I want to start up a feeding program and so on and so forth. Right? This is noble. In all these elements, there's benefit. But does it mean all these things are the right things to do know that now it doesn't mean that because the right thing is doing what you supposed to do at the time you supposed to do it with yields the greatest results. This is efficiency. How do we work out

efficiency in business? Right. Right. you prioritize you prioritize, right. So there our starting with the Quraysh was a priority. It was the right thing to do. It was common sense. It was the

best use of have the resources at the time Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was 14, he passed away at 63. He just had 23 years to do this. Right? So where would you start, you start at the place, or what you and I would call the pressure point that if we drop this pillar, the entire building will come down, is this pillar that's going to give legitimacy to everybody else, and all the other tribes and all the other clans, if we bring this pillar down, it's going to bring everybody down. Right? Instead of me in 100 years, going clan, to clan, to clan to clan, in 23 years, I can get all these clans, isn't that efficiency, good use of time, good use of wealth, good

use of human resources and manpower. We learned this from the story of the elephant, tell me which management book or strategic management book tells us about the story of the elephant? Perhaps they should, perhaps they should. So this is a benefit that that we're starting at the operation, how Allah subhanho wa Taala set the scene for the courage to become this prominent

figure in the Arabian Peninsula. And this issue, or this incident of the elephant helped gain this great attraction for the koresh and help them remain in this prominent position. Also from the benefits brothers and sisters.

Just before that there's a famous English statement that comes to mind. Have you heard the statement which says, For every 100 people plucking at the leaves of evil, there's one person chopping at its roots? Have you heard that statement? This is a famous statement. And it's used to teach different meanings, right? We can we can use this statement and derive a lesson for it.

Which is appropriate to our discussion. Right. And that is,

when we look at 100 people plucking at the leaves of evil. Is that being efficient? What is the best way to drop even chop at its roots? But how many people are chopping at his roots, as opposed to the people plucking at the leaves?

How many Muslim organizations do we have?

How many schools do we have?

How many mattresses do we have? How many, how many? How many, but how many

are working in a way that ensures quantum change?

Not just big change, we're talking about taking quantum leaps, how many? How many are chopping at the roots, how many have prioritized so well that they're doing the right thing at the right time. And succeeding in doing that is going to set the way for immense progress. It's going to explode once organization onto the downswing and make this organization and organization of high impact. Where every dollar spent is spent with the greatest amount of efficiency. We always say return on investment ROI. Right? Who, who's who's in the corporate world here and listens to these things? Who's the entrepreneur and as the business, you're working out your efficiency, right? companies,

every quarter hold us back? What's the efficiency? And let's look at you in your own. Right. How well have you achieved the target set to you last last year in this quarter, you were 60% efficiency this year, you had 40 you are 30? What's the problem? And everybody's looking at return on investment because you receiving a salary. If you were 60 last year and 40 this year, there's a problem. You hemorrhaging the resources of this organization or this company return on investment. The same thing we say to the DAO organizations learn from the story of the elephant and how Allah set the scene and said Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam to the Quran, this is the greatest use

of resources.

Right? So we have to ponder, we have to ponder, we have to ponder and being efficient starts off with the vision and the discussion.

detailing this concept of vision is beyond the scope of this particular classroom, or class, but perhaps we need to come together one day for at least four hours and just talk about why we should have a vision right. So this is from the benefits of the story of the elephant. Also from the benefits of this incident, the incident of the of the

elephant is how and pay attention to this brothers and sisters is how honor and recognition can be attained through perception creation and not actually being that being perceived.

Everybody is a bit rolling the eyes. What did I just say? Was that Latin? No, that was English. That was English.

It was not Latin.

This is a very important point.

Let me introduce let me give you an introduction for you to understand this. We have two traits, we have the personality trait, and we have the character trait.

The personality trait is the trait that this century is big on personalities, fans, being perceived based on appearance. If a rich person walks through this door dressed as a pauper,

not a poor poor, a poor boy is a fruit pauper, meaning a poor person.

He's dressed as a poor person, sorry, he's, he's just as a poor person, but he's actually rich. What would 99% of everyone in this must you'd say about that person, rich or poor?

And if a

poor person walked into this question,

with designer clothing, what would we say immediately rich or poor?

Rich.

This is who we are today, brothers and sisters. And this is dangerous. This is a dangerous trait. This trait yes has its benefits. It has its benefits, but its harms are far greater. Why? Because it's the type of hypocrisy you put out an image. And people see you for the image that you put out, because they too shallow to ever think of anything else. We have been, we have become shallow people. Right? Because the 21st century, secularism, and in particular consumerism, and capitalism, has made us has made us people who are big on the personality trait, it's all about the height we create. It doesn't matter what it what it really is. As long as the beat from the box is strong. It

doesn't matter how small the boxes, nobody will care. Everybody will say it must be a big box because that sound was deafening. This is how it is. But the personality trait has a huge flaw. And the huge flaw in the personality trait is that when push comes to shove, your true character comes out. Your true character will always show

when you are out of your comfort zone, the character comes out I mean, keeping up appearances is hard. We know this keeping up appearances is hard. who you truly are will come up.

Islam My dear brothers and sisters nurtures us to be people have character

to understand things based on character not on personality to understand things based on their realities and not how they look.

I'll give you an example. Allah subhanho wa Taala will not judge us to have observed the follow up because we looked like we were praying Sunnah know, Allah subhanho wa Taala will judge us to have observed the Salah if the character of the Salah was present, the intention, the intention in normal

there's nothing about your actions, except the intentions that are present when you observe those actions. I might perceive you to be Mashallah pious person performing sada but Allah subhanho wa Taala will not judge you to be that person if your intention

is not in its right place. Does this make sense? Does it make sense? But Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in Nevada young guru ella soracom Walla

Walla kirienko illa kulu Kumar Malika. He said some Allahu alayhi wa sallam that Allah subhanho wa Taala does not look at your outer appearance and your bodies. He looks at your heart and your deeds. He looks at your character, not at your personality.

Why are we

you know, so how have I benefited this benefit from this story?

Well think about it. We've said time and time again, how the class how the other tribes how the Quraysh in high regard. Why? Because it looked like Allah supporting them by sending birds with stones. Did Allah support them or was Allah supporting his house,

supporting his house.

But when you are big on personality and big on perception, and big on understanding things, how they look and how they actually are, you can take this understanding, and it was for the betterment of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam because respect in the courage last even after the bathroom of better when they suffered immense losses. No tribe denounced the operation why they remembered the field.

The army of the elephants that was annihilated, annihilated by birds carrying clay, pebbles, they the perception they had worked in the favor of the DAO of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But you and I, in pondering over the story, what do we learn? If we work on character? If we work on character, we should never ever be, we should never, ever have

thought any better have the courage and rather thought, let's analyze the situation a bit more. Yes, these birds came, yes, these things happened. But

perhaps it was for some other reasons. look it over in the hopper, viola one, when he sought endorsement for somebody. And somebody said, Yo, I endorsed this person, he's a good person, what do you say? Have you traveled with him? Have you lived with him? Have you traded with him? Meaning Have you been with him? In his zones of discomfort? Because when you are with him in those zones of discomfort, his reality will come out. If you haven't, you don't know who he really is. Look at this habit, on the other hand imaginary. And like us, rich man, poor man just by the appearance. So take heed my dear brothers and sisters, not everything is as it seems. And we learn this from the story

of the elephants. We also learned my dear brothers and sisters of the importance of having strong beliefs in our world, in our aqeedah, in our theology, where do we learn this from? This person who went all the way to Yemen?

In it's hot, this is a desert. Right? It's a long journey. And he, even though he chooses to go You and I would say, who cares much he builds a church, you can do the football stadium.

Right? What is this got to do with the nobility of the camera? No, but the fact that this person took on this journey for so long, and experienced such difficulty, teaches us how important it is for us to have strong belief in our mortality in our belief system as well, for this person never did this except to support his belief.

Why would someone go ahead and put it and stained the walls of a church? Because the premise behind why this church was built was false. And he wanted to support his belief and his support of the Kaaba. Right? If this person did it, who associated partners with Allah? What about yourself and myself, my dear brothers and sisters, who, who declared Allah as one? Surely we need to get off

this whole concept of being an apologist and always apologizing for the deal. The hack is the hack. Why do you want to apologize? Why are you trying to bend and twist

and try and, and present the deen in a in in a manner that that that makes it lose the honor that it came with? Surely you should be the greatest advocate and support to have your monitor but I believe I'm not saying we should do this practice of staining somebody else's property. This is wrong. And Allah tells us not to insult the gods and the ways of other people for their in return Well, in South Allah subhanahu adad. I look at look at the the reaction of Abraham. He wanted to destroy the character and this is another lesson brothers and sisters that we let that be people who always look at the result of your actions, not just people who think this is what I want to do. I want to do it

now. No. Take a breath Take a deep breaths take a step back. Islam teaches us patience, and tells us Elijah being haste is from shaper. acting in haste is from shaper. Take a deep breath and ask yourself. If I do this, what will be the repercussion? Ask yourself. Many a time in our homes. We don't have this.

We get upset. We start screaming. Some people have anger issues Subhanallah they start banging doors banging walls. Firstly, they don't understand the repercussion of it, that they have lowered themselves in the eyes of Allah subhanho wa Taala. Because Allah subhanho wa Taala said in his book, that the that the people of taqwa are those who when they become angry, they suppress the anger. Yes, it's human nature to become angry. That's fine. But what you do how you react to yourself becoming angry, allow will judge you based on that. The people who suppress Allah mix them from the people of taqwa, the people who don't we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala his protection. I mean,

brothers and sisters,

how many countries I traveled through and there's female abuse in homes, children abuse in homes with where parents are beating their children, they threatening the children emotional abuse, emotional blackmail. This is another problem in communities where men husbands are beating their wives or

or holding their wives in a hot manner.

thinking they're men, Willa, you're not a man. If you do this, you're not a man. If you do this, you are the weakest of the weakest. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, lays a shadow to the surah. The heavyweight champion is not the one who can wrestle.

The heavyweight champion is the one who can hold his anger when he becomes angry.

Who can maintain himself and not create a catastrophe because of his anger?

How many people divorce their wives valaria to Billa

Tammany

because spur of the moment, heat of the moment, how many people cause the organization's to become so disrupted spur of the moment, don't think things through immediately take decisions, make decisions, hire people, fire people, we choose not to forgive? Immediately we want to redeem, we don't look at repercussions. I lose this person now. Maybe he needs to go but perhaps this is not the right time for him to go. It could be right. It could be that this is not the right time. The repercussion of him going now is far greater. And our sharing teaches us that there will master the market.

The prevention of a harm takes precedence over the attainment of a benefit. Well, luckily, there's much we can discuss but time is running out and I want to share with you some more

lessons inshallah before the end of today, there's something known as extra time, extra time, you know, sometimes 00 this extra time and penalties, right. So what do we learn as well inshallah we'll finish shortly. What do we also learn from the story of the elephants.

We learn brothers and sisters, the importance of growing our Eman in Allah and learning how to put our trust in Allah subhanho wa Taala we learned this, why look at

this person who accepted the Lordship of Allah and not the unity of Allah worship. He tells us that aha, I'm not worried about this house. It has a lord who will protect it.

Look at this beneath

in the Lordship of Allah and perhaps tomorrow we will start off talking about the Lordship of Allah and why people accepted the Ruby of Allah and not the olu here we'll discuss this tomorrow at the beginning of tomorrow's session inshallah. But the fact that this man can say look, I'm here for my candles, forget about the house of Allah this Kaaba has a greater being, who will look after this is our cool, this is putting one's trust in Allah. This is having a true belief in Allah, where are you and I? Allah He will even in the door as we make without Subhana Allah how many people make do I and doubt whether Allah will accept the dua. How many people ask Allah for forgiveness and doubt whether

Allah is forgiven them, how many people worship Allah subhanho wa Taala and doubt whether Allah has accepted their worship, how many? We have to grow? We have to grow our Eman. This this this story teaches us this and will lie he we should be ashamed

when we see the statement of a pagan idolater about his robe.

And when we look at our condition, and we are from amongst those that declared the oneness of Allah and accepted the prophecy of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so this is another lesson My dear brothers and sisters also also, we learn from this My dear brothers and sisters.

How the last thing I'll say, how our tongues make us or break us.

Our tongues? Where did I get this from?

From how Abraham

I held you in high regard. But when you spoke,

you became somebody debased in front of us. Our tongues make us and breakers. This this you have to understand this piece of flesh which is so small, this muscle.

It's a muscle right?

It's so small, but so sophisticated.

It is the means of making us in this life or breaking us and the means of making us or breaking us in the hereafter. We know the punishment for the liar. We know the punishment for the one who back binds. We know the punishment for the one who gossips and tells tales. We know the punishment for the one who slammed his mighty Kaaba in major sins, all related to one piece of flesh this tank Subhan Allah Subhan Allah and that is why Allah gave this tongue to gates,

our teeth and our lips

extra security

doesn't escape because if it escapes what's going to happen, your downfall in this world in the next your downfall in this world in the next Look, I mean, even you and I know that sometimes we sitting in a gathering somebody comes in they remain quiet.

And we feel a sense of respect for them. Not so

until

they open their mouth, say Allah subhanaw taala. This person is this dog because the mouth obviously, or it's what's inside, or it's what's inside. And we see that there's nothing but rubbish inside. In fact, there's a famous story of Abu hanifa Rahim Allah, Abu hanifa was with his students. And when you spend such a long time with your students, they become close to each other. So Abu hanifa when he would teach them one day, or when he would teach them, he would stretch his legs out. Well, you and I know stretching our legs is not appropriate when guests come free in our own environment, we can, but when guests come we sit with a bit of a gap of some man is right.

No offense to those who are stretching out their legs right now.

I see some people trying to fall in love lovers. There's no problem.

So if I stretched out his legs, and he was teaching, and one day, a person walked into his gathering

that looked wise, a stranger. So Abu hanifa immediately pulled his legs in.

And the days would go in this person would be present. And Abu hanifa

there's different versions of the story, the version I have, is that Abu hanifa rahimullah one day was teaching the book of fasting, what the heck of fasting.

And when he finished teaching, he said, Are there any questions and on this day this person raised his hand special regard because he was silent.

So when he said Go ahead, we on our guests go ahead with your question. He says I have a very important question.

Have I never said Go ahead. He said what happens

if the first of Ramadan happens to fall on the 10th of Dhul hijjah?

Because we know on the delivery, you're not allowed to fast. And first of all, you have to fast. So what what happens if the first of Ramadan happens to fall on the 10th of the hijab?

So if I said if the first off my mother

happens to fall on the 10th of Dhul hijjah. Then it's time for Abu hanifa to stretch his legs out again.

What happened?

What happened? The respect, the respect,

fell, this tongue makes us or breaks us brothers and sisters, we learned this from the story of abre even though Abra never had a case because of the look that he spoke about his cameras because he he had believed that Allah will look after the house but he his issue was this carbines your pride and you're not defending it, your speech dropped you.

When we look at the use of

when use via Instagram spoke to the king. What did the king say? The King says I want you to be from amongst my team. Allah says Philip can lemahieu when use when the king spoke to use of when they interacted verbally the king so this the tongue of us have made him a man from came from a prison. But when he spoke to us for America level Why did I was in a limo there's nothing access to requirement in the Quran. Allah could have said when the king met us.

He was impressed and he wanted us to be from is the one from his ministers. No, Allah says, Can lemon Colombo, Allah highlighted the fact that when he spoke to us, when you spoke to him, the king immediately raised him he ranted on and said immediately I want you to be from my view and for my ministers. How can you not be my team a man of your caliber, it made him so understand my dear brothers and sisters, the lesson of the tank and how to look after it. We learned this too, from Surah to reveal. The last thing brothers and sisters is and this is pertinent to this discussion before we shut it is we know that Allah subhanho wa Taala protected the Kaaba against this

oppressive person from Habesha but we know that at the end of time, someone who is a habit he will come and destroy the cab.

Right? This is what will happen before the AMA.

How do we reconcile this?

Our scholars with Allah hear him say

that when Allah protected the Kaaba, the Kaaba existed amidst people who exalted the camera, they honored the camera

and when Allah subhanho wa Taala causes the carpet to be destroyed.

The carpet will exist amongst people who will not honor the Kaaba, who will not respect the Kaaba. So out of respect for the care of Allah subhanho wa Taala will remove this clear, there's no contradiction in terms of how Allah subhanho wa Taala runs his affairs subhanho wa Taala and that is why I was calling to say they advise many times the people of Makkah, they advise them to be people of good deeds, to be people of charity, to be to be people of obedience to their parents, to be

worthy citizens of Makkah, and they advise the pilgrims and those who go for Umrah and Hajj, to be extra diligent to go there. Having made a strong intention to leave their rebar dealings, and to

make amends with family members that they might have disunited from and to ask forgiveness from their parents and so on and so forth because they're going to a land that hosts the Kava and indeed the Kava is honorable

Yama subhanho. wa Taala. Grant is the understanding. I love you all for the sake of Allah subhanho wa Taala is caring for your patients. Everything correct said is from Allah subhanho wa Taala and he is perfect. And any mistakes are from myself in SharePoint and I see colossal panda who attalus forgiveness. I hope to see you all tomorrow. As we discuss part four to our series. We will start off with the introduction that I said I would share and then we will discuss the cutting of the chest of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the lessons that you and I can benefit from this. This is our series called a blast from the past and indeed it has been a blast. salaam aleikum wa

Rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh Subhana Allah who will be having the Subhana Allah we haven't be connected to Allah, Allah Allah and that's the futile corner to boil.