Sarah Sultan – Conviction
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Alrighty.
Welcome to day number 12 of Ramadan 360
with Almagrib Institute.
It's amazing as always to have you guys
join in early.
Many of you have gotten into the groove
of things. I see Abdul from Italy, Jazakam
Alakher,
Akinwande
from Nigeria, Alani from the Philippines,
Angela from Canada. Where in Canada? Anna from
Manila.
We've got Aziza from Trinidad and Tobago.
Brother, Iman, of course, from Nigeria. Let me
get those cameras on. I've just activated your
abilities to turn them on as well. Jazakam
alaher once again for being our consistent crew
joining us before we officially officially start for
our daily sessions for Ramadan 360. Shout out
to Hadra. I think first person who popped
up on my screen. Brother Hassan, sister Bilqis,
Aisha, Carey, Shefa. I feel like we've memorized
your names by now.
With that, we're jumping into our session today,
and I'm excited. I was hyped yesterday when
I was telling you and I was introducing
you guys,
to our topic. Our topic is conviction, and
our speaker is Sister Sara
Sultan, who is our latest SPE mail instructor
here at Almagrib Institute. You guys may have
had the opportunity and the blessing of being
able to benefit from Sister Sara in previous,
you know, like bonus sessions or experiences. She's
a licensed mental health counselor and a licensed
professional counselor,
So she brings
a really beautiful, a really unique perspective to
our gatherings and to our the the the
topics that a mugger teaches, whether it's on
the fiqh of women, whether it's about marriage
and divorce, whether it's about mental health issues,
whether it's about death and dying and loss
and grief. Masha'Allah, she has, Masha'Allah, just really
revitalized,
the audience and really give brought a really
unique perspective, alhamdulillah, to their learning experience. So
I'm really excited for you guys to experience
her. Honestly, half of I think she's one
of the few things that got me through
COVID, Masha'Allah.
Listening to her videos and her talks and
her reassurances,
in the way that she kind of reframes
a lot of unhealthy thought patterns and makes
them, you know, kind of in line with
the deen and the way that we should
think. Alhamdulillah, and I love, love, love many
of you who probably benefited already,
her contribution to the inside out, outside,
in course with Almagrib Institute. We have a
course on mental health in Islam, again, that
we launched in COVID because of the crisis
that was kinda happening within the community.
And it's on the Islamic solutions for mental,
physical, and spiritual well-being. I hope that you
guys have had a chance to benefit. If
not, look out for it in the future.
But she is an incredible speaker. So I
can't wait for you guys to see what
you have in store with Sister Sara Zoltan.
And I love that it's a duo today,
alhamdulillah, we both have, we have, 2 female
speakers, Sister Thaimia, who's our second almagrib female
almagrib instructor, and Sister Sara, who's our latest.
And look out for her on-site because, insha'Allah,
she's gonna be launching in that realm as
well in the States and hopefully globally. So
keep an eye out later this year hopefully
for her first course launch with Almagrib on-site
as well. For those who aren't familiar, just
FYI, I know Ramadan 360 brings a very
diverse audience. Sometimes it's our OG folks who
are kind of really familiar with Almagrib experiences,
who take classes throughout the year, who might
be all access pass students, who take every
single class throughout the year,
or who, you know, have just been following
us for on-site or through virtual classes or
through, Quran Revolution or Faith Essentials, a lot
of the amazing programs that Almaguir makes possible,
you know, with our mission always having been
to make Islam easy and accessible, and to
reach people where they are, and to give
them access to Islamic knowledge in a way
that's relatable,
accurate and interesting and, you know, educational and
a little bit entertaining as well. Alhamdulillah.
So what sister Sarah Alhamdulillah class that I
just mentioned, she teaches an online on demand
class. So for those who aren't familiar, on
demand classes are a way to kind of
study in-depth topics at your own pace. Each
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who give you kind of answers to questions
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that or maybe a bit more of a
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and you guys have made that possible. I
remember back in the day there was somebody
who donated
the first kind of set of cameras that
we utilized for our pre, you know, COVID
classes and those we always make the offer
that one individual who made that kind of
journey possible for us. So jazakamalakar for those
who continue to make, you know, you know,
Amalakar part of your legacy and part of
the benefit that you provide to the Ummah.
I see so many folks who are still
joining in, so welcome, welcome, welcome.
For those who are coming into our session
for day number 12 of Ramadan 360,
with Sister Sarah Sultan.
Of course I just introduced her. We'll do
another run through, inshallah, for those who are
not familiar, but, it's great to have you
guys back. I think we've at this point,
I was thinking I had a dream last
night,
which is I think this is a safe
one to share, where I was sleeping and
for some reason I couldn't, you know, I
woke up right before the session I couldn't
unmute myself. So I unmuted you guys and
you guys were making the plugs for me.
I can't remember who it was who was
making it, but I was like, one person
was talking about Give Daily and one person
was talking about the hedge program and one
person so I was like, Raghad, you are
I know you were one of them. That
was that I do recall.
But it was just really funny. I think
you were talking about Give Daily.
So it's it's so ingrained in my psyche
now that this is Ramadan 360 overdose in
the best way possible. Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
So once again, if you're joining us as
a return student,
make sure please that you do share the
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remembering us in your dreams as well. Make
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course, they can go through the recordings of
previous sessions, and they can continue to benefit.
Obviously, we have jam packed a couple weeks
ahead of us as well. I hope that
you guys have been enjoying the 10 day
Quran challenge with Imam Wissam Sharif. That's been
amazing. Alhamdulillah. And that you're looking forward to
our webinar tomorrow on O You Who Believe
kicking off at 1 PM EST.
We're excited to inshallah have that topic and
have 13 instructors giving you really inspiring content,
to push you through this middle kind of
slump of Ramadan and to to give you
that extra little dose of motivation, inshaAllah.
But with that, I do want us to
get to to get us started. I'm very
excited for us to jump into today's topic
insha'Allah
of of Yaqeen, of conviction, Alhamdulillah.
And just a reminder, as with every session,
to please support the folks who make Ramadan
360 possible year after year. I know I've
just been sharing some of their names. I'm
looking forward to sharing more of the work
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now, just so that you're kinda given that
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and that you're keeping them in your Daa'az
and and and your donations is the USA
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Please continue donating generously to their campaigns, and
please continue supporting Almagrib as well through our
give daily campaign on mugrib.org/givedaily.
And we hit our goal, alhamdulillah, of I
think 750 we're at. So we gotta we
gotta ramp it up, masha'Allah. The The more
folks and I think it's easier now because
we're kind of the first 10 days are
gone, so there's less days to give. So
if you wanna make sure that you're maximizing
your efforts and you're making that automated as
well, please make sure that you do sign
up at amalogram.org for Skype/giftdaily,
and that should be in your chat there
as well. With that said, let us start
to jump into the session. I know I
think his sister Sarah is with us.
So we're gonna start jumping in, but I
did mention for those who missed the intro
and who missed my little chatting in the
beginning of this session, that I would reintroduce
and give you guys an opportunity to to
to to learn and to know sister Sara
a bit better. So for those who don't
know, Sara Sara Sultan is a licensed professional
counselor and a licensed mental health counselor. She's
obtained a master's degree in mental health counseling,
and she's practiced therapy for over 10 years
now. Alhamdulillah.
She's both a research fellow at Yaqeen Institute,
a teacher at Mishka Institute, and now she's
been one of our latest female instructors here
at Maghrib teaching online, teaching during these bonus
experiences that we have through Ramadan 360 and
others, and eventually inshallah coming down, on-site with
us as well. She's got a commitment to
her work and a fascination with the intersections
between Islamic Spirituality,
psychology, and counseling. She brings a unique insight
to the field of knowledge that we, Alhamdulillah,
facilitate, and it's really absolutely critical that we
find, for the Muslim community,
in the modern world to have access to
this. For being part of Ramadan 360 once
again, sister Sara Sultan. Assalamu alaikum
So nice to see you again, Hafsa. How
are you doing?
Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
I am well.
This is of course a very difficult and
estranged Ramadan, I think, for the entire community,
but we're all getting through it together. We're
all trying to maximize the effort and the
good that we can do, as a collective,
and we're looking forward to benefiting,
from you as well. Sisara, how have you
been? How's your Ramadan been so far?
Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. You know, I feel like this
Ramadan was so needed this time around. You
know, like, I know it doesn't have the
same feel of, you know, the decorations
and the and the the, you know, like,
the too many of those if thoughts and
things like that. But but just in terms
of knowing that, you know, our dua is
being heard in such a strong way and
that we can increase our worship and grow,
I I it's a we really needed it
this year.
A 100%. Alhamdulillah. We have so many people
who are now experiencing Ramadan for the first
time brought to, you know, brought together because
of all the craziness and all the Yes.
You know, the the the difficulty that's happening
around the world and the genocide that's happening.
But, alhamdulillah, there's good in in in every
bat in every difficulty, and we're here together
to benefit from you today, Sister Sara. So
I wanna jump into your talk topic of
Yaqeen, of conviction. I think that's so necessary
right now. So let's jump right in, and
I will be there with you at the
end to ask questions.
For joining us today, everyone. So happy to
see you all here.
I think that this topic, the topic of
nurturing,
nurturing conviction and certainty in our faith is
so timely
because this is what has drawn so many
people to Islam right now is
witnessing the
and the faith that our brothers and sisters
in Palestine
have been
showing us through social media, through their their
horrific experiences.
And I heads up. I keep touching this
because these are my, AirPods because there's some
noise in the background.
Otherwise, they fall out if I don't. So
if you see me doing this, it's just
because of that.
But I just I I was really excited
to talk about this topic. I think that
this is, something that's really been showcased by
our brothers and sisters in a very powerful
way, and it's been something that has inspired
us as Muslims and then a lot of
people to learn more about Islam, to wonder
what's the magic formula. The panel that has
allowed people to undergo
so much
pain, hardship,
suffering, tragedy, starvation,
all of these death and dying and grief
and trauma
and still turn and say that
or
that Allah is enough for me. It's it's
incredible. SubhanAllah to see it. So I wanted
to explore this topic with all of you
today, the topic of how we can nurture
conviction and certainty in our hearts. And the
first thing I wanna mention is that we
naturally, as human beings,
really struggle
with uncertainty.
We try to avoid it in our lives
on a daily basis. Right? Whenever I'm going
to pick up my kids from school or
whenever I'm driving them to school, I tuck
the traffic
because I want to alleviate whatever uncertainty
that I can. I wanna check if there's
an accident on the road that I,
that I typically I see that there's a
message that you're hearing. Yeah. There's somebody mowing
the grass outside, which is why I have
my AirPods in.
Can you all hear me clearly?
We can hear you. The echo comes in
and out, but, hamla, we can hear you.
Okay. Yeah. Okay.
I hope that the will move will move,
you know, a little bit closer to my
neighbor's house,
such as.
So,
as I was saying, you know, as human
beings struggling with, with uncertainty is something that's
normal in our lives. We check the the
traffic report to see if we're, you know,
gonna how much time we have to allot
to for to get to a daily destination.
We check the weather on a daily basis
to know what we should wear, what we
should put our kids in. This is the
nature of how Allah created our lives is
un uncertainty
and a little bit of a struggle and
some anxiety with uncertainty is normal, but uncertainty
is inherent in every moment of the day
even if we don't realize it.
Even if we don't realize that our lives
are filled with uncertainty, they are. And so
building uncertainty tolerance, the ability to tolerate uncertainty,
is a psychological principle that is really, really
important in our lives because the people who
are able to embrace uncertainty, the people who
learn not to fight uncertainty,
the people who recognize that they're not in
control of everything around them, everything in their
lives, everything in the world, those are the
people who are best able to cope and
function in their lives.
And that's what Yaqeen offers us. That's what
conviction offers us. It's an armor for our
hearts.
It literally means, linguistically, to be settled, to
be locked in like a huge tree. If
you've ever seen those huge old trees
where the roots are so strong and they're
so rooted in that even, like, concrete can't
get in the way. Like, the concrete's getting
lifted. The concrete's getting broken through because they're
so firm and stable.
That's what yakin does for our hearts. It's
an armor for our hearts so that circumstances
can't break us. And we ask Allah to
help increase us, nurture this yakin in all
of our our hearts.
This is especially needed
during moments that shake our faith.
So during trials that we experience,
that test whether we're going to turn to
Allah or whether we're gonna turn away from
him.
Having a sense of conviction and certainty gives
us grounding. It gives us a solid,
unshakable foundation. So even when everything else in
our lives are shaking,
that certainty that we hold in our hearts
doesn't.
And so we're going to explore how to
nurture yaqeen, and we're gonna do it through
the Quran.
And the way that I did this, you
know, in case you're all curious,
I searched for the verses that have the
word
in it. Like those who are certain in
their faith, Those who have conviction in their
faith and who have certainty.
And so I looked up the different verses,
and through that,
I tried to find
certain antidotes to uncertainty. So that's what we're
gonna explore together. But the foundation, the premise
of being able to build uncertainty tolerance, to
be able to tolerate uncertainty,
the antidote is one thing. The antidote to
uncertainty
is having certainty in one thing, and that's
having certainty in Allah.
And having certainty in Allah's You don't need
to have certainty in your personal abilities. You
don't need to have certainty in the big
in the people in your life or in
scientific research and whether it supports certain things
or not. You don't have to have certainty
in being able to make sense of the
world, especially when things are so
nonsensical.
What we need is certainty in Allah
and his promises.
We need certainty that Allah knows and we
don't know, certainty that Allah gives us what's
best, certainty that Allah's plan is better than
what we plan, certainty that Allah's gonna give
us what we need in order to handle
the circumstances we face.
Because these are the promises of Allah. And
if we can have certainty in that, that's
the grounding that we need to get through
anything,
to get through anything that we go through.
So let's go through the antidotes.
I'm I'm gonna talk about 4 different antidotes
that, that that stood out particularly to me.
I encourage all of you to look through
the Quran and find more verses that might
resonate with you, but these are the 4
that really resonated,
the 4 antidotes that really resonated with me.
And these are the antidotes to uncertainty that
I found in that I I found really
powerful in the Quran.
The first one, you see a verse in
Surat Al Ad. This is the 2nd verse
in Surat Al Ad that Allah
says,
That it's Allah who raised the heavens without
pillars.
That you can see that. Right? Like, you
look at the sky, and you see that
there's nothing holding it up. Like, today here
in Houston, we had
a a a day filled with just blue
skies, no clouds. And,
it's blue as far as you can see.
And that's in Surat Alrad,
Surah 13
2.
And nothing's holding it up,
And then Allah said,
and then he established himself on the throne.
That Allah subject to the sun and the
moon
And everyone is orbiting for its appointed time.
So that every day is 24 hours, every
year is 365
days,
that the moon goes through its cycle of
the new moon to the crescent to the
full moon. Right? We experience this every month.
And then Allah continues the verse saying,
So here,
is the word that stands out, that he
makes the signs clear so that you may
be certain of the meeting with your lord,
that you may be certain, having this certainty.
And Allah also says now in Surat Al
Jathiyah, this is surah number 45 verses 3
to 4. Allah says,
in that indeed in the skies and the
heavens and the earth, there are signs for
the believers.
Again,
in this verse. And in the creation of
yourselves
in the creation of yourselves,
and what he disperses of moving creatures are
signs for people who are certain in faith,
who have certainty, are signs for people who
have.
So what's the lesson that I I personally
withdrew? What's the antidote that I personally withdrew
from these verses is
to search for the signs of Allah.
When you search for the signs of Allah,
you will find things that amaze you. You
will find things that there's no way that
they could have been created except by Allah.
So look for things that amaze you. Look
for things that connect you to your creator,
that instill gratitude in your heart, that instill
awe in your eyes and in your heart
as you look at nature. As you look
at here, Allah says that even in the
creation of yourselves
are signs for people who have certainty, for
people who have
where you look at the things that your
body is capable of.
Right? Recently, just the past couple of days,
I had a a cough, like a bad
cough.
And
it makes you appreciate those moments of being
able to take in a deep breath and
exhale it in ease.
The things that you take for granted.
Right? So these are the signs of Allah
where you learn about the amazing creation of
Allah, and that helps to instill yaqeen and
nurture yaqeen in our hearts.
So looking for the signs that Allah talks
about in these verses. And, you know, in
psychological research, there is so much research,
a huge body of research about the benefits
of being in nature.
There was one study that used,
neuroimaging, so taking pictures of the brain,
brain scans, that showed that people who took
a walk in nature versus people who took
a walk in an urban environment, like a
city environment,
that there was a much lower activation in
the brain area that's responsible for fear and
threat, which means that they feel restored. They
feel calm. They're more attentive.
They're less depressed. They're less anxious.
Right? So the we see even in this
are signs for those who believe.
Right? Listening to the birds. I see somebody
typing something about birds here. Listening to the
birds and knowing that every every,
tweaks that you hear, every bird song that
you hear is them praising Allah
binds for those who believe.
Right? So all of these are things that
we should look at. And then when you
can transform this
into a gratitude to Allah
That's powerful.
That's very powerful, and that also helps to
increase us in certainty.
When you are able to look at the
signs of Allah through a lens of gratitude
and thank Allah
for them, you are more and more certain
of your connection and your relationship
with him.
There was another research study that I'll mention
where there were, a group that all the
participants struggled with anxiety and depression.
And in this, they split them all into
3 groups. All 3 groups received counseling.
1 of these groups was told
to write a letter of gratitude to someone
every week for 3 weeks.
Another group was told to write about your
deepest thoughts, your feelings, your negative experiences,
And then the 3rd group
was given no writing activity.
What they found was the ones who wrote
gratitude letters
reported a significant
improvement in their mental health, not just after
writing the letter,
but for 4 weeks, 3 months
after the writing exercise had ended.
And so
when you are grateful,
it increases your mental health by shifting your
attention
away from more,
difficult emotions.
Things like resentment, things like envy, things like
like, like,
jealousy and sadness and all of these different
emotions because you're writing about your gratitude. This
is a this is an exercise
where they're writing letters to people. Imagine
how powerful this would be if you addressed
these letters to Allah.
Imagine what that would be like. Right?
And so, like, being able to address this
gratitude to Allah
that link between you and Allah is another
path to increasing us uncertainty.
So now,
antidote
number 2.
The one one that I found in the
in the Quran,
as well. So this verse is in Surah
in Surah Al Jathiyah.
Again, Surah 45. This is verse 20 for
anybody who who wants to just, make a
note.
That the Quran this Quran
is enlightenment
for mankind and guidance and mercy for people
who have.
That the Quran
is a is enlightenment for us, and it's
guidance, and it's a mercy for us
if we have faith, if we have conviction
and certainty and in our
faith. So the antidote
in this verse that I that I extrapolated,
right, is to turn to the Quran and
build a relationship with it. When you have
a relationship with the Quran,
when you have a relationship with the direct
words of Allah
that helps to nurture certainty, that helps to
nurture conviction. Because we live in a world
that constantly pulls us in multiple directions. Everybody
says live your truth.
Right?
But that's such a misleading statement
because
one person's truth is different than another person's
truth is different, and your truth can change
from day to day. And so we live
the truth that we find in the Quran.
Excuse me. To nurture.
Give me a moment to pop this out.
I'll be right back.
Maurice, take a second
to everyone who's joined us since the session,
who has benefited so far. Any gems that
have popped up for you guys, that you
can share from Sister Sarah's
first 20 minutes,
of today's session on yakin, on conviction.
I see the some amazing comments. This is
amazing.
I'm enjoying this.
What is this? The Quran is an insight
for humanity, a guide and a mercy for
people of sure faith.
And, yes, please do share your gems on
the student led padlet tablet,
padlet that's also been created, by Sister Suri
from Australia. The beauty of nature, Sister Sakina,
part of the is to always remember that
the Quran is talking to me. Tip and
insert your name in in the ayat. And
I think I hear
sister Zara is back. I'm back. Awesome. Just
like it. Love it. It's so much easier
to just cough it out and be done
with it and start trying to cough it
out. Rest of my talk. Yeah. Yes.
All you need for your patience. Much appreciated.
So like I said, living that we live
the truth that we find in the Quran,
and this is a way to nurture
our certainty. To realize that we have guidance
at our fingertips, which takes the guesswork out
of life.
It gives us purpose.
It's also an antidote to anxiety and depression
as well where it can really help. Research
has shown that even just listening to the
Quran
can release endorphins, which are like happy chemicals
in your brain. And so it helps to
navigate negative emotions.
It helps to increase your threshold for stress
so you can deal with stress better,
and it helps us to relax. And so
viewing the Quran as a source of guidance
and turning to it will help to nurture
certainty for us, as well.
Okay. Antidote number 3.
So here,
there are some verses in Surat al Ma'ida
where,
a group of people came to the prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And they were, like, from the noblemen, the
scholars, the chiefs of the of a tribe
of Jews.
And when they came to the promised, they
said, you know, if we follow you,
the Jews were gonna follow,
what we do, and they're not gonna contradict
us. So, you know, if you want a
big following,
then, you know, we can we can get
that for you, basically.
But here's the condition.
We have a problem with some of the
people in in another group of us. So
when we come to you, we're gonna ask
for your judgment on this matter
and make sure you rule in our favor
and against them, and then we'll believe in
you.
So they kept the and they offered this.
And the prophet refused this offer because Allah
sent verses
telling him to judge between them by what
Allah has revealed and do not follow their
desires.
Do not follow their desires. And beware so
they don't lure you away from what from
what Allah has revealed to you.
And then if they turn away from Allah's
judgment, then know that it is Allah's will
to repay them for some of their sins
and that many people are indeed rebellious.
Then Surah Al Maida verse 49.
And then in verse 50, Allah asks a
very powerful question.
And here we see a the a beautiful
antidote to uncertainty.
He asks,
then is it the judgment
of ignorance
that they desire?
What kind of judgment do we want? Do
we want judgment
based on ignorance?
And then Allah
continues and he says,
But who is better than Allah in judgment
for people who have?
For people who have for people who have
conviction in their faith,
who's better than Allah in judgment?
Whose judgment? Whose standards are better?
And so we see that the antidote,
the uncertainty
is to block out the noise. Right? I'm
not talking about the lawnmower. Right? But block
out the noise
of people who don't deserve our attention, of
information,
of opinions, of standards that don't deserve our
attention.
Do as carefully what and who deserves your
attention.
And
Allah promises us in Surah 30
verse 60.
So be patient
because indeed the promise of Allah is truth.
And don't be disturbed by those who are
not certain,
by those who don't have Yateen in faith,
who don't have conviction in their faith. Don't
be disturbed. Don't worry about them.
Don't worry about the people who don't have
this conviction.
We're surrounded by temptations to make choices based
on instant gratification,
pleasing the people around us, taking the easy
way out,
living our truth. Right? People normalize choices that
are displeasing to Allah and
they look down on the choices that bring
us closer to him. So if you wear
hijab, you might feel excluded by some people.
If you don't watch a certain show because
it has content that you just don't feel
right about, that it's not befitting for you
to watch, And everybody's talking about it in
school or at work, and you can't be
involved in the conversation.
If, you know, you see everybody, you know,
around you is finding a sneaky way to
cheat on finals, and you're worried you're gonna
be at a disadvantage.
That's the judgment and the standards
of others.
But isn't the judgment
of Allah
and the standards
of Allah better for those of us who
have
conviction?
So be cautious about who you surround yourselves
by because our values are naturally gonna assimilate
to who we spend the most time with.
The prophet said that you're that you're upon
the religion of your best friend. So be
careful. Be careful who you befriend.
And be careful the information that you ingest.
Look at your social media feeds. Look at
the the the influencers that you follow. Look
at what people are promoting.
Is it consumerism?
Are you experiencing experiencing,
like, social media envy
where, you know, the the that your your
judgment and your standards are changing gradually little
by little because of this.
Right? So be careful of what you're ingesting.
Right? Now the final antidote and then a
brief story if we have time, inshallah.
Allah says in the first five verses of
Surat Luqman,
Surah 31, he says,
that these are the verses of a book
of rich in wisdom. These are the verses
of the Quran, rich in wisdom.
That it as a guidance and mercy for
the doers of God.
Those are who establish prayer.
And they have
They have certainty
in the hereafter.
That it's they're the ones who are truly
guided by their lord and they're successful. So
we see the the reward
of having this certainty in the hereafter is
that you're successful and you're guided by by
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But what do we
see here?
In this verse that talks about
conviction in the hereafter, we see that Allah
is saying, the people, the doers of good,
the ones who pray, the ones who give
zakat.
So action
is linked
to building conviction.
Take action
in order to nurture yaqeen in your hearts.
So certainty when we are certain of Allah's
promises, when we have and Allah's promises in
this conviction,
we can see that in our actions.
So if we're certain on the promise of
Allah that we're gonna be held to account
for our deeds and the punishment of Allah
is true, we're gonna stay away from what
he's forbidden even if it's
hard. If we're certain of the promise of
Allah's that we're gonna be rewarded if we
do good, even if nobody's watching, even if
we can't see the tangible wordly gain for
what we're doing, we're gonna still do it
because we have conviction in that promise.
If we have conviction in the promise that
our Allah is Al Mujib, he's the responder
of God
and that he responds to our prayers. We're
gonna continue to make God even if we
don't see the fruits of it in the
way we anticipate.
In the same way,
that certainty
will result in actions.
Our actions can help to inculcate certainty.
When we choose actions
of
when we choose actions of certainty and conviction,
the more
our certainty will grow
and the more certain our faith will become.
So if every time you have a doubt,
you open the Quran,
certain that you're gonna find an answer there.
If every time you see an opportunity to
donate, you pull out your wallet, certain that
this is a a loan to Allah and
he's gonna replay it multiple,
but how can you certainly not grow?
Every choice that we make is a vote
for who we're gonna become.
Our emotions are really difficult to control,
but we have autonomy over our behaviors. So
choose the actions that are gonna increase you
in certainty,
in conviction, in.
And so,
I wanna share a small story from
the story of Musa alaihis salaam that
just ties all of these antidotes together. In
one one part of his story, you see
all of
these antidotes to uncertainty unfold,
and that's how we're gonna end inshallah.
This is the moment that the children of
Israel, the people of Musa, are told to
escape the persecution of their own.
And they journey into the night, and they
find themselves with an army behind them and
the Red Sea in front of them.
And so when they see this, they say,
we're overtaken for sure. Like, there's no way
that we can get past this.
And Musa,
he responds, no. Absolutely not.
That my lord is certainly with me. He
will guide me.
You see already. You just see conviction. You
see certainty.
Right?
And look at the difference between these two
two people.
One, this group faced the exact they faced
the exact same circumstance, but they face it
in such a different way. One way comes
from a place of uncertainty
looking at the situation from the lens of
human possibility,
and Musa alayhi salaam comes from a place
of full certainty
viewing the possibility
as limitless
because
Allah ability is limitless.
And so we see the antidote here
that we talked about. He didn't allow the
judgments and opinions and standards of others to
sway his heart.
Musa alaihis salam had complete faith in Allah's
power and his cape his ultimate capability,
his justice, and his wisdom. He realized that
nothing is insurmountable because we have Allah.
And then the other antidote that we see
is, look.
You see the Red Sea split in front
of you, right, where Musa al Salam splits
the Red Sea.
And
the people of Israel, Ben Israel, they still
disobeyed Allah after that. And you think to
yourself, how can you see a miracle like
that
and disobey Allah when you have such certainty,
when you see such a miracle like that?
But let's ask ourselves,
what are the big signs that we ignore
in our own lives?
What are the things that exist in our
daily lives that our great grandparents, our old
grandparents could never have imagined?
A cell phone? You have the entire world
in the palm of your hand.
That in a split second, you can talk
to somebody across the world or research whatever
you want.
They could never have imagined that. We have
self navigating cars. We have huge metal birds
that fly in the sky.
They're signs.
They're signs, but we take them for granted.
We see signs in front of us today,
and we ignore them.
Would we have seen the Red Sea splitting
as a miracle for as the miracle that
it was?
Do we see the miracles in front of
us now? So looking at the signs of
Allah, that antidote,
we see that in this story.
And then the other antidote is to focus
on the truth.
The truth which we find in the Quran.
One thing that's so powerful that Musa alaihi
salaam does is instead of thinking, okay. We're
all stuck. I've driven them to their deaths.
We're trapped. No.
Instead of allowing his, like, despair filled or
fear filled thoughts to take root,
focus on the truth.
We focus
on that my lord is certainly with me,
he will guide me. That's a truth.
Our minds often focus on fear, not facts.
But when you have a connection with the
Quran, you have a connection with the truth,
you have a connection with facts, and so
you can create
a narrative in your mind
based on strength. We have a lot of
voices in our heads. So
choose the truth of the Quran,
the absolute truth, and that allows you to
to face whatever challenge that might might come
your way even if it's as big as
the Red Sea.
And then the final antidote that we see
in the story of Musa
is to take action.
Allah inspired Musa. He said, strike the sea
the sea with your staff, and the sea
was split each part like a huge mountain.
He took action.
Never underestimate
the impact that one small thing can do
to change everything.
The Red Sea is a 174,000
square miles. That's a 100 that that's a
huge body of water.
And Allah
allowed one small step
to part
an impenetrable an impenetrable
barrier.
So take one step, one small step today
to nurture conviction, one of the antidotes, any
one of the antidotes that we talked about.
Choose 1,
take a small step to take action,
and imagine what Allah
is gonna do to nurture that in your
heart through that one action.
May
Allah grant us the armor of yakin to
protect our hearts,
guide us to the qualities and actions that
are most beloved to him, help us in
our worship of him, and help our brothers
and sisters all over the world who are
suffering and end their suffering.
Sister Sara for that beautiful reminder, and I've
already got questions that I'm trying to to
keep up with in the chat. So for
those who submitted, please just resend them to
me because I've I think I've lost them
in the m means.
But we have some questions already, so I'll
I'll go to the first one that I've
already got saved to the side. So the
first one is,
are there any ideal types of recitations to
listen to to promote this release of endorphins?
That's a great question.
I, can't remember in the research study if
they had a particular one, but I will
say
that it's not the
recitation of of it of course, it's lovely
when you listen to a beautiful recitation. There
are certain ones that will touch your heart.
There are certain ones, like, I went to
a masjid far far away recently because the
reciter who I used to pray behind in
high school and college was coming to Houston
for, like, one day. So I went and
dealt with the traffic and everything because it
brings
a memory up for me personally. Right? But
everybody's touched by by different verses, by different
recitations.
But the the main thing is it's not
about the recitation, it's about the Quran. The
Quran is the word of Allah.
Even if you're not hearing it, like, the
research was about listening to it. Now imagine
if you're reciting it. Imagine if you're looking
into the meaning of it. Right? There's, there's
a new project. I don't know if you've
all seen it. It's called the clear Quran,
but it's the audio version in English. It's
awesome.
So for those of you who are like
me, I'm not a native Arabic speaker,
and so it's beautiful. Like, it's beautifully done,
but there's nothing like the actual that's a
translation. There's nothing like the actual words of
Allah. And I'll mention one thing.
This reciter, I remember one day, I was
in high school or college, and there was
a a woman who's not Muslim who was
at the masjid, and she was sitting there
listening and she was crying.
And a woman next to her said, yeah.
I know his voice is so beautiful. Right?
She said, it has nothing to do with
his voice. He has a beautiful voice, but
there's something about these words. There's something about
these words. I don't know what they are.
I don't understand them, but there's something
that is so powerful about them. So it's
the Quran itself,
not the particular recitation,
that that is, so healing. SubhanAllah.
For that quick clarification. And, it's so funny
that you mentioned. I just came across that
a couple of days ago, and I was
binging because a lot of the Amalgam instructors,
their voices
are narrating it. So I was like, that
was so interesting to see. There's an app,
I'll share it on Telegram with you guys
as well. That was really interesting. So next
question that I have again, those who pre
submitted, please send them again in the chat.
I've been scrolling, scrolling trying to find them
all. The next question that I have is
conviction and tawako go hand in hand? Is
Tawakkal the outcome of conviction? Just wondering.
Oh, good question. Good question. I I'll answer
that from a psychological standpoint.
I'm sure that there is a very scholarly
Islamic answer to this,
but I'll answer from a psychological. So you
can ask one of the instructors about that,
Inshallah.
1 one of the other
instructors.
So
I think naturally,
when you have certainty in something,
it allows you to trust.
You can't trust
in something that feels uncertain. And so that
is a beautiful question because one of the
the tips that I have that I didn't
include as one of the antidotes
here, but,
but would be a beautiful antidote to uncertainty
is to get to know Allah.
You can't trust someone that you don't know,
and so you can't have certainty in someone
you don't know. Right? So they go hand
in hand. So start studying the names of
Allah. This Ramadan is the perfect time. So
look into even if you just pick just
a a couple of names of Allah where
you're looking at the meaning of it and
looking at how it resonates in your life.
I feel like a broken record. I say
this, like, all the all the time. It's
my, like, it's just my my go to
intervention.
But it helps with both building conviction and,
and
trust,
trusting in Allah SubhanAllah.
SubhanAllah. I don't know if you even know
this. This has been, like, the answer to
some of the key questions in, like, the
last 3, 4 sessions,
and
no plug, no ad, but like Alhamdulillah,
Sheikh Ammar Shafi'i has been doing a Names
of Allah series this Ramadan. That's been our
Ramadan series. So I feel like that is
the answer to everything. SubhanAllah, the names of
Allah, everything goes back to them. I was
so happy when I saw he was doing
that series, and I've been listening to it
And I'm really, really enjoying it.
Yes. I have I have my, like, Ramadan
series that I try to watch each year.
And, and this this particular one by Sheikh
Hamar, I'm really glad that he's making it.
I feel like it's something to revisit constantly.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
I actually saw a little message that that
touched me, subhanallah, when you're answering the Quran
through the question about the Quran recitation.
Maria was saying from Montreal that I'm a
revert from Columbia, and the first time I
listened to the Quran at the age of
15, I couldn't stop crying. Now I'm 23,
and I reverted February this year.
SubhanAllah.
May Allah reward
you and and and just give you a
life filled with with blessings and closeness to
him and grant you and your loved ones,
guidance and Jenna, and that's just so so
beautiful. My mom is a a revert herself.
So so it like, hearing stories like that
have such a very special place in my
heart. Yeah.
And the final question we'll take just because
of the time, Insha'Allah, is how can you
decrease negativity bias in light of Yaqeen and
Tawakkul and Allah?
Good question. So negativity bias
is basically where
you,
you tend to look at things through
a skeptical lens, like, if you imagine wearing
a pair of glasses that only allows the
negative things in life to filter through.
Right? And it's a cognitive distortion called filtering,
actually.
And so and and so a lot of
us can really struggle with that is, the
human brain naturally
searches for things that are wrong, like things
that go wrong, things that are problematic,
and everything. And so, so that's what negative
negativity,
bias is.
When you have
certainty and when you have trust in Allah
it allows you to let that guard down
a little bit to be able to
start searching for good and because when you
start searching for good,
it can feel very vulnerable. It can feel
a little bit scary because you're worried that
you're not gonna be prepared
for when the next shoe drops. Right? But
when you have certainty
that if the next shoe drops, if I'm
tested again, Allah is gonna give me what
I need to be able to overcome that
test. And if I'm tested again, that test
is gonna bring me closer to him. And
if I'm tested again, then Allah
has created this plan because there's good in
it for me.
Then it allows you to let that guard
down and you can change the glasses
and not feel so afraid that you might
miss something dangerous that might come your way
instead.
So so I think that actually having certainty
and having trust of Allah
is a huge antidote to being able to
manage those,
those negative thoughts.
Beautiful.
Sister Sarah. Once again, amazing to have you
back on the Ramadan 360
platform. We're looking forward to some amazing projects
and work with you inshallah in the upcoming
year with Al Maghrib, but may Allah put
barakan all of your efforts
in every capacity,
and grant you acceptance.
Amin It's amazing to have you back.
Oh,
for having me. It was, wonder always, always
wonderful to be a part of Ramadan 360.
We'll see you very soon. For now, take
care.
Alrighty, y'all. That was sister Sara Sultan,
the licensed professional counselor, latest, and one of
the newest instructors at Almagrib Institute on the
topic of conviction.
I hope that you guys enjoyed that and
that you guys have noted some of the
reflections that you've been sharing in the chat
to come into our Quran reflect session with
Ustadah Tamia Zubair. And yes, Masha'Allah,
she never disappoints. Alhamdulillah, I'm glad that you
guys got a taste of her experience. Look
out for her name in future programs with
Almagrib, and follow her if you don't already
on social media. She puts out some amazing
content there as well periodically, and we'll we'll
share those links here in the chat. Thank
you to Fassleen, who's been keeping up as
much as she can. Fassleen is one of
our staff members who handles your emails and
your inquiries and your chat messages, and I've
seen her, like, plug as many as many
links and as many answers as she can
to your questions. And to all of you
who've been supporting each other, in the chat
with questions, with support, with notes, with gems,
with links, with granted, you know, the ayat
that we've been covering, masha'Allah.
Jazakkum alikha to all of you, may Allah
make it heavy on your skills. With that,
just a couple of quick reminders. This is
actually probably the last time I can make
the reminder for the Amagrib Hajj that's opened
up at amagrib.orgforward/haj.
14 of our instructors are going to support
you on the therbia element of that experience.
It looks very different this year, and it's
all managed from, you know, the Saudi authorities
when it comes to your logistics. So there's
a lot of things to cover and a
last few, you know, opportunities to register have
opened up. So do take it. I think
it closes tomorrow, so or actually it's Friday.
It might have closed already. It might close
today. If if it still works, put your
interest in and they will guide you through
that process.
With that, tomorrow is gonna be a busy,
busy day with Al Maghrib. We have our,
10 day Quran challenge that's moved to 10
a 11 AM EST, sorry, 11 AM EST.
So please make sure that you're joining for
that. If you're registered already or if you're
in Ramadan 360, you guys are automatically registered.
Of course, we also have our oh, you
who believe webinar with 13 of our instructors
giving inspiring talks Insha'Allah from 1 PM EST
is when that will begin, so make sure
that you mark your calendars and you join
us, for that. And Ramadan 360 will continue
as normal inshallah.
So be be be there with us at
5 pm. If you still have energy, we'd
love to see you continue the journey and
not miss another day, not miss a day
of the experience. With that said, let's jump
in and start our Quran
session with Usal Ataima Zubair. You guys have
been doing an amazing job the last few
days of having such powerful, concise,
strong reflections, and there's so much, you know,
material for us for today, so I can't
wait to see what everyone comes in with.
And, Usadetsemiya, I know that you've been attending
this session. How did you enjoy sister Sara
Sultan's session today? Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu
alaikum.
Assalamu
alaikum. Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum. I really enjoyed it, especially when,
you know, when she brings in
her,
knowledge of
psychology
and research. Masha'Allah. It's always so helpful. Alhamdulillah.
Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love that the comments
a lot of people are making is that
they found a lot of their healing through
their relationship with the Quran. And I think
that's what we're trying to facilitate through Quran
reflect is that getting comfortable, getting,
you know, into a groove and and and
building that connection with the Quran, it it
will change your life, and it will become
a source of healing for you. So, alhamdulillah,
we're kind of be able to facilitate that
through your sessions. So I can't wait for
more of that inshallah today. Let's jump right
in, miss Smyrna.
Alright. Let's begin.
To everyone.
So conviction,
certainty,
the word yaqeen
linguistically
is from the verb
and
is when,
when, when someone becomes
certain or sure of something.
And yakin
is described as
certain
knowledge of something. You need to know something
for sure,
and to know it
so well, to be so sure of
it that a person has no doubt whatsoever,
not even the tiniest, tiniest amount.
So it is
knowledge
that is
completely
free of any doubt whatsoever.
This is what differentiates
Yaqeen
from other types of
words, such as.
All right. Yaqeen
is such
in which there is no doubt at all.
And yakin
is something that brings
confidence to the heart,
and yakin
is also something that leads
to action.
You know, one is to understand something, to
know something,
but the other is to believe
with conviction.
When you believe with conviction, you have no
doubt at all. Then what happens? You actually
act on the knowledge that you have.
So what translates
knowledge or belief into action
is actually
It is conviction.
Now we see that in the Quran, the
word yaqeen
is used in many different ways.
It is used for 'ilm or certain knowledge.
It is also used for,
belief.
Alright. Belief and confirmation
of the truth
for Taslik.
It is also used for almushahada.
You need to to
see something firsthand
directly
because when you see something yourself, then, of
course, you have no doubt in it. Right?
And then the word yaqeen is also used
in the Quran for death.
Worship your lord until
yaqeen comes to you, meaning death comes to
you. Right? Meaning until you die. And the
reason why,
death is called yakin
is because it is the most certain thing
in life. Right? It's it's the most undeniable
thing in life.
Right? What is certain about every single human
being is that they're going to experience
death.
Now we see in the Quran that there
are actually levels of yaqeen.
Alright? The first level of yaqeen is
to know.
Alright?
And how do you know?
Because you have been informed by a trustworthy
source.
Alright? Like, for example,
your
mother tells you
that
this food is very spicy.
Alright? And your mom,
if she tells you something, you believe her,
especially when it comes to food because she
knows your spice tolerance level.
Right?
And you know that she's only gonna tell
you,
something that is true when it comes to
food. Right? Because she wants you to eat,
and and she wants you to eat well.
So she tells you that this food is
spicy.
So what do you do? Because you know
that that food is spicy and you're not
in the mood to have spicy food. Maybe
you have a stomach upset. What do you
do? You avoid that food. You don't eat
it. So you see how
leads to action?
Right?
Now how how do you know for sure?
Because
you have been informed by a trustworthy
source.
Right? So this is mentioned in the Quran.
Then the next level of yakin is
to observe
and see something for yourself
firsthand.
Because when you directly
witness something,
then you have no doubt about it at
all.
And this is the reason why Ibrahim alaihis
salam asked Allah
that, oh, my lord, show me how are
you going to bring the dead back to
life?
Allah asked him,
don't you believe? And Ibrahim
said, yes. I do.
Right? I want to see so that my
heart is at ease.
And that ease is what? It comes
after you see something for sure.
Right? You you know something is true because
you have been informed by a trustworthy source.
But then,
as the prophet
said
that,
that,
seeing something yourself is not like being informed
about it. When you see something yourself, then
you know for sure there is no doubt
about it at all.
And then there is
a higher level of which is.
Alright? Which is
absolute certainty of something because you have experienced
it.
Alright? You have experienced
it. Taking,
the example of the spicy food again. Right?
Your mom tells you it's spicy.
So you believe her. But then when you
look at the food and you see all
the all the green chile, right, and all
the red chile flakes, right, and the peppercorns
as well.
Right? You know, you see the spices.
Right? You need you you see the chilies,
and so you know that yes, it is
spicy.
But if you were to put a little
bit of it in your mouth, then what
would happen? Then you'd know for sure.
Right? There's no doubt at all.
So
is off levels.
Alright?
This doesn't mean that the first level is
not good enough. It is. And this is
the the yaqeen that we have.
And the reason why we
believe is because we have been informed of
the truth of the hereafter,
For example, by who? By Allah. By the
messenger
Right?
Now
how important is Yaqeen? We see that in
the Quran, Allah
mentions
that it is the people of Yaqeen
who
are guided
and who are successful.
In 3 places in the Quran,
Allah
mentions,
In Surat Al Baqarah, verse number 4.
In Surat Al Naml, ayah number 3. And
in Surat Luqman, ayah number 4.
Three places in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala describes the believers
who attain guidance, who become successful, and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions different qualities of theirs.
Right? The fact that they establish prayer, the
fact that they spend in the way of
Allah, the fact that they believe in revelation.
But when it comes to the hereafter,
Allah
says,
They believe with conviction.
They know
for a fact
that the hereafter is true.
The day of judgment is true.
They have no doubt about it at all,
and this is what
drives their,
their action.
Right? And
why would a person
get up so early, right,
sacrifice their sleep,
wash up, and pray?
Doesn't make sense. Why why would a person
do that? It's because they
believe. They know for sure that one day
they have to stand before Allah
and they will be asked
about their prayers.
Right? So they
believe in the hereafter
with conviction.
And we see the prophet
said that,
he said that people have not been given
anything better in this world
than Yaqeen
and Muirafat.
Yaqeen,
conviction, and Muirafat,
safety and well-being.
So he said
that
Ask Allah for both of these things.
And so this
this should be our you know, it should
be a part of our daily duas
that we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for
yaqeen, for conviction, and we also ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for safety,
for protection, for well-being.
And we see that when a person has
yaqeen,
then their sins are forgiven.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said that there
is no soul
that dies while testifying that there is no
god but Allah and that Muhammad
is a messenger of Allah,
but he testifies
to this with what? With
with
a heart that is convinced,
except that Allah
will forgive this person.
So it's not about just saying.
It is about saying this with
with a heart that is convinced.
In another hadith, we learned that when a
person,
that that the person who will meet Allah
while,
while
while being
convinced,
while being sure of
of what? Of the fact that Allah is
true, the fact
that the day of judgment is true, the
fact that Jannah is true, Anar is true.
* is true. Resurrection is true. Right? Hisab
is true. He believes in all of these
things, and he meets Allah with this belief,
with with Yaqeen,
then Allah
will,
will admit this person into paradise.
So this is how necessary Yaqeen is for
us. And we see in the Quran that,
Ustadh Sala mentioned this about how
it is the people who have yakeen
who benefit from the signs
that are around them.
Why? Because they approach
everything
that that Allah
shows us that Allah
has revealed.
They approach that with yaqeen.
They have no doubt in Allah. They have
no doubt in the power of Allah. They
have no doubt in the mercy of Allah,
in the wisdom of Allah. They have no
doubt
in in in the truth of what Allah
has revealed.
So this is why they're able to benefit
from the signs.
Which signs? Both
ayat koniyyah and ayat sharriyah. Ayat kaniyah are
the signs in the creation around us.
And ayat sharriyah are the verses that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has revealed such as the
Quran.
Allah
says in Surat al Dariyat, a number 20,
that
but for who?
In the Earth, there are signs,
but for who? Who who will benefit from
these signs?
The people who have conviction.
And the more they reflect on these signs,
the more they increase in their Yaqeen.
And this is why they're also able to
accept the decrees of Allah.
And
the people of Yaqeen are the ones who
are able to remain patient
in the face of hardship.
As Allah
mentions in Surah al Sajdah,
aya number 24,
that
That Allah
made them leaders,
alright, who were able to guide people according
to the command of Allah, the law of
Allah. But when were they able to lead?
When were they able to guide? When they
were patient.
And they used to be certain of the
signs of Allah.
So when a person has conviction,
only then they're able to remain patient, and
only then are they able to call people
to the truth.
And
That, oh, Allah, I ask you for such
iman,
for such faith that does not,
any leave.
Alright?
Give me such such iman, such faith that
that that does not leave.
And when
and then he prayed for other things as
well. So as the prophet
told us that is something that we should
be asking Allah
for.
Alright. Let's hear from you.
Take the mic,
and, again, try to keep your reflections,
to the point,
precise
and under 30 seconds.
Alright. Go ahead, Laiba.
I come again,
actually,
for me today, you know, the essence of
the whole of
lecture today was
that when you say,
you know,
the wait. Let me I just wrote it
down. What translates your knowledge into action is
your key. That was, like, just, you know,
mind blowing. I never,
reflected on it in that way. But exactly,
you know, it's just I do the actions
and I get the knowledge from everywhere regarding
Quran, regarding
religion. But I do my actions because I
have belief in that knowledge. Like, you know,
I have
that indeed what I am doing is right
because
there is not like, you know, this is
I hope you get the point, but I
did have mine. I'm sorry. It was amazing.
And thank you so much for this, line
because it's just changed a lot in my
mind regarding it.
Beautiful.
The next person I have in line is
Farzana. Go ahead, Farzana.
Okay,
when, sister Daimia said that
is something that makes makes you patient. I
was thinking about the people of Gaza Palestine.
Like,
they do not have those weapons. They do
not have that sufficient food. They are
malnutrition, everything, but still they have the.
Anyways, they are not losing.
Either freedom or martyrdom.
So this is the that the non believers
doesn't have,
and this is something that makes us hopeful
about
about the of the people of Gaza,
that this is our
At the end of the day, we will
win
either with martyrdom or freedom. But this is
the yakin. That was the sort of the
yakin of the magicians
when they saw that Mojiza of,
Musa alaihi salaam, and they just believed and
they've fell into Sarjada. And that was the
sort of that they were not frightened
of of, Firon Firon. Of the punishment.
Mhmm. Alhamdulillah. So this is the thing that
the world may say it's a genocide,
a massive killing, but we believe that it's
a victory inshallah to the end of the
day. This is the that's
that's
making us patient and hopeful.
Powerful.
The next person I have in line is
Suwiebet. Go ahead, Suwiebet.
My reflection today is that
I,
I
when I thought about, when
the,
stars as Sarah was talking about the names
of Allah, and I've been following,
Sheikh Amal,
YouTube,
the names of Allah. And ever since I
started to, like, understand
When he talked about,
Al Al Mujib,
everything he talked about just made me feel
like
it made me
assert in
my will, my
my religion, and that I I've I've I'm
not wrong.
And that knowing the names of Allah truly
gives
finding knowledge, actually, finding the knowledge, truly assert
in our. And that's that's that's my reflection
for today.
Why? For this opportunity.
What? Okay.
The next person I have is Solange.
Please go right ahead.
As a former Christian, I know that building
your life around something shaky, like the trinity,
for example, while your brain is screaming to
you that it doesn't even make sense,
building your right life around something shaky like
that that requires
actually brainwashing yourself.
And
the same with putting your trust in a
a hierarchy of men from the clergy.
These people that
it's hard to accept their authority,
and
their rules change from decade to decade proving
that they don't even have confidence in in
their belief. Putting your trust in that, that
requires brainwashing.
So in my opinion, the greatest gift that
we have is the fact that we can
have
that the Quran and the prophet
have
truly been sent by our creator. And this
is so clearly the truth, and we can
have 100%
confidence in that. No brainwashing
required at all. And when one finally finds
this after being in darkness for so long
and one can finally let one's breath out
and relax
and say, I'm in the right place,
nothing
made sense in life before that, and everything
now makes sense with
and and his deen and the that we
have.
Beautiful.
I mean what you Very well said, Solange.
And the next person I have is Aisha
Gamba. I should go right ahead
this
minute. My reflection for today is on the
fact that,
when sister Sarah and
were speaking,
what came to my mind was the purpose
of our creation in the first place because
we are told that we're not Allah didn't
create the mankind and the for anything, but
except to worship him.
And, also, looking at Sheikh Ammar's,
lessons on the names of Allah, you realize
that he mentioned that, indeed, Allah doesn't need
us, but we need Allah. So once we're
created to worship him,
and Yakeem tells us that we should put
our reliance and our total conviction in the
in the might and the power of Allah,
then I believe that this is indeed
the religion of truth, and we need to
enhance our ability. And, also, I want to
thank you all so much for this opportunity
because, indeed, this is a gem that's every
Muslim needs to be part of. And
for everything that you are doing.
Really well said. Really well said. Really well
said.
A little bit of, echoing. Let me see
if we can get okay. Perfect.
The next person I have in line was
Raghiatu
from US. Please go ahead. Assalamu
alaikum.
So, yes, my reflection for today
can you guys hear me? Mhmm. Yes.
It it comes to from both,
sister Sarah
and,
Justa Taima.
Like, say for example, I always get stressed
on over things that I have no control
over. So knowing that I have no control
over it,
Yaqeen of knowing that Allah knows best
and he's the one that guides what would
the outcome would be. I tend to just,
like, listen to the Quran specifically.
Surah,
Rahman. Just listening to it and reflecting to
the words of it, it gives me peace
and I stop stressing myself and get, like,
less anxious and just accept whatever the outcome
would be.
Really well said.
The next question sorry. The next that question,
remove that from your minds. The next reflection
is from brother Hassan. Brother Hassan, go ahead.
Okay.
Thank you so much. The next person in
line is Amna. Go right ahead, Amna.
Amna Zulfikar. Sorry.
Okay. So what I just learned today that
conviction is the key to unlock the treasure
of faith. And when we trust in Allah's
wisdom and reflect on his signs, our belief
grows stronger.
So I guess we all had fears around
or, like, the negative thoughts. So inshallah, I'm
gonna work on it to navigate
them. And as, like,
told that how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just
plated the seeds for the Musa.
So there's nothing impossible for him. So inshallah
inshallah, I'm gonna work on it.
Well, I said I'm gonna go ahead.
The next person I have is Zahra's iPhone.
Zahra, go ahead.
One more chance for Zahir's iPhone. If you're
unable to unmute, no worry. Oh, there we
go. We got you.
Hi. I just wanted to mention about,
Eliakim.
Because in my personal experience, I've experienced that
when I make dua,
like, in in my in my doubt of
me making dua,
is me doubting Allah's ability
to,
to answer my dua. So I found that,
like, when you reminded me of certainty and
the importance of certainty,
I I just wanted to say that the
most the the most certain
that you're the the most certain that,
basically, I want to say is is that
certain certainty is what comes into Dua. So
the less certain you are, then the less
possibility that the doubt is actually gonna happen.
And then the more certain you are, then
the more the the the more the the
possibility of the dua is more circular and
sorry. So the higher your certainty or the
stronger it it is essentially, it's it means
it, it reflects the dua actually
manifesting itself.
Great reminder.
And finally, we have
Suri Bismillah, our head Suri,
our tablet manager tablet manager. Sorry.
I just wanna say thank you to both
sister Sarah and Sazadamia
because I know I've been watching a lot
of sister Sarah's videos.
Me personally, I suffer from stress a lot,
and I think it's to do with my
job that I do and taking on responsibilities
that
over the years I realized
wasn't really mine. So I started making dua
and my dua became more and more with
conviction.
And with that, you know, I had started
asking myself, what's in my control and what's
out of my control? What can I fix
and what can I fix?
And then since finding that and, you know,
reaching to the Quran, looking for the answers
in the Quran, you know, breaking it down,
reading the tafsir, the verses that come up
every day in my Quran,
app.
You know, I reflect on that and I
and a lot of, funnily enough,
just syncs with what I'm going through. And
so ever since then, I've just found so
much more peace of that. And I think
for me and what I've found in this
session was
it just cements it even more for me,
you know, making those door like, believing in
it and putting it wholeheartedly
knowing that no matter what's in in front
of my way, Allah is there, and Allah
will always be there for me.
Thank you.
Really well said, Siri. The next person I
have is Zainab. Zainab, go ahead. Oh, wait.
I can't I don't have,
a microphone for you, Zainab, so I don't
think you'll be able to to speak out
loud.
You
might have to reconnect your audio, but I
don't have anybody after,
Zainab. Oh, wait. No. I got Rashida. Rashida,
we'll we'll go to you first, Inshal, and
then, Zainab, if you can try to connect
your audio.
I was just giving Zainab a minute.
I I found this first with thinking of
conviction. It's also
having that trust and also
recognizing
and and and using your eyes.
There's so many ways that La Sapona metallic
shows us that as far as the love
for us. And I think of it even
here,
and out in the world that we live
in. It's so many, as far as, like,
the foods that we have, the beautiful scenery
that we have, as far as that this
was not any punishment as far as other
religions,
trying to think about it, as far as
that for Adam. This is actually, you know,
it it can be a a paradise
in itself even in the in the in
the chastisement of it. So how much love
and how much it is of the one
that that created us for even for the
punishment for it to actually have been have
a lot of gifts there. So it's a
matter of just looking at your the
the all of the blessings you might and
and having your Wi Fi open to it,
so to speak. It's there. It's all around
you, but it's just being nice to recognize
it. And that's how you I think you
can build, tobacco and certainty in your life.
Gotcha. Super super well done.
While Zaydum still connects, I see Mariam. I
know you've been raising your hand in the
chat, so give it a try inshallah on
the mic.
Please go ahead and mute, miss Mena.
It's Mariamba.
Alright.
Okay.
What I learned
about Yakin today and thank you first. Thank
you because I learn a lot,
and
you guys are encouraging me to to learn
more. Okay. So what I was about to
say,
for me,
what I what I learned,
1st,
is about knowing Allah. It's about reading.
It's about
knowing what you're reading, the meaning of what
you're reading.
Okay?
And I'm gonna encourage all Muslim
to read, to know
what what is your faith,
what Allah is about.
Okay? Because if you don't know him,
you can follow him.
So
I my eyes is wide open because
before I was memorizing Quran, like, I memorized
listening
YouTube,
but it's been few weeks I try to
read. So when I see Bismillah
in Arabic, I know this is Bismillah.
And sometime when you read those word,
you don't know how to connect them. You're
reading it
because it's,
it's there, but you don't know
how to connect them, how to read them.
And more you read them and more you
know how to read the Quran,
it's like
it's like opening opening your eye is like
knowing Allah more. So sometime I was reading
some some Surah, but I don't know the
meaning, even the fatiya.
But now when I'm Mariam.
Mariam.
Mariam. Beautiful. Really powerful reflection. We're just getting
super close to the hour. We got a
few more people who wanna reflect. Sorry about
that. Sorry. No worries at all. It was
great to hear your voice. The opportunity.
Jazakamalakar.
Amazing to have you here. I see Zeynep's
got her mic connected, so we'll get we'll
take Zeynep and Usaida, maybe one more person
will close off. Yeah. Awesome sauce. Bismillah. Zaineb,
go right ahead.
Bismillah. That's Zena Mariam. Sorry. I should specify
with with the names we have here. Zena
Mariam, you can give it one more try,
and, Shala, see if you can unmute.
Me or somebody else? That's Zaynam Mariam.
Look.
Okeydoke. Okay. We'll just jump on to Carrie
Johnson, Inshallah, and we'll come back if we
can.
Miss Linda, go ahead, Carrie.
Okay. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Everyone. Just a quick reminder. Whenever you feel
worried about Allah, whether or not he is
going to answer your dua,
remember in Surat Al Araf,
Iblis asked for respite.
He said in verses 14 and 15, allow
me respite till the day they are raised
up. And Allah said, you are those respited.
He answered the du'a of Iblis.
So if he will do that for someone
who is has placed himself in direct opposition
to him, then why would he not answer
your dua? Just have patience.
Keep making those dua. Keep going.
Well said.
And finally, last person we have is Esma.
Esma, go right ahead and close this off.
Hello, Assalamu alaikum everyone.
I just wanted to share a personal story
that, really touched me on today's topic, which
is, which is, having certainty in the uncertainty.
Last year this time, I actually fractured my
ankle,
during Ramadan and, was a very scary and
dark time for me because,
I I wasn't sure what's gonna happen. And
I remember just rushing about,
having to go through surgeries
and being a cast. And I remember being
really sad because that made me feel I
could not,
do,
my worship during Ramadan. And I remember my
my mom telling me that, you know, this
did not happen without the knowledge and the
the
the barakah from Allah. So there must have
been a reason for it to happen. And
she she said that to have Yaqeen,
to have certainty in the uncertainty.
Alhamdulillah, I'm doing better now, and I'm going
for surgery to remove it this Ramadan.
So I'm very I'm very happy to to
see that,
that, whatever it is that happens to us,
whether it's an accident or non accident is
definitely on accident in Allah's eyes. So,
whatever it is to have that certainty and
let that lead your life. Thank you.
For sharing.
Alright.
And everyone
for your,
amazing reflections here for today's Quran reflect session
on the topic of conviction. You guys are
in full form, in the best form now,
Alhamdulillah. You're like, I love everyone personalizing these
stories of resilience and hope and what's inspired
you to
build up your conviction as well through the
guidance and through the some of the gems
that we've discussed today and your personal stories
as well, Alhamdulillah.
And for all the people who've been sharing
in the chat and motivating each other, and
after everyone shares, hyping each other up, love
that energy.
As you guys know, we've been mentioning tomorrow
is gonna be a very busy day. We
have 11 am Quran challenge. We have 1
pm,
the O You Who Believe webinar, and then
we have 5 PM, this, Ramadan 360 session
as usual.
Try to to get a lot of sleep
tonight. Make sure you drink some extra water.
Make sure you're in your best form tomorrow
so that you can benefit as much as
possible and use that to catapult your next
10 days inshallah or less than 10 days
before our final 10 nights begin of the
holy month of Ramadan. Please keep us all
on the staff and your da'az. I will
not be on your screen tomorrow. We have
some amazing co hosts and guest hosts who
are gonna be taking over, InshaAllah. So please
support them, hype them, be as beautiful as
you guys always are as a community inshallah.
And I'll see you guys back on Sunday.
And I'll be in the background to help
out, but I won't be there physically inshallah.
All right, take care now. Stay happy, stay
healthy, stay safe, and we'll see you guys
bright early at 11 am. For now, Assalamu
Alaikum Warahmatullahi