Sikander Hashmi – Deep Space to Deep Faith KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters, my young
friends,
We begin by praising Allah
the creator, the lord, the nourisher, the sustainer,
the protector of the universe,
and of everything that it contains.
And we begin by sending peace and salutations
upon his beloved and final messenger,
Muhammad, the son of Abdullah
My brothers and sisters,
one of the great
human achievements
of this past century
is
the ability
to go into space
and send large objects into space,
such as
spaceships and rovers, satellites,
and large telescopes.
This was something which was not possible in
the past.
Of course,
people
going back all the way to Sayna Ibrahim
alaihis salam will look at the sky,
will look at the sun, will look at
the moon, will look at the stars,
and they would ponder and they would reflect.
But there was no way for human beings
physically
to travel
into the sky, to travel into space, and
to send objects
and develop mechanisms and tools
to be able to observe
from outside of this earth.
Today, my brothers and sisters, and in the
past few days, we are just
getting to see
the amazing images, the stunning images
from the new James Webb Space Telescope,
which was designed
primarily
to conduct infrared astronomy.
The beautiful images
that it has relayed to earth
are simply mind boggling if you understand what
you are looking at.
If you don't understand what you're looking at,
it looks like some sort of desktop wallpaper
someone created,
you know,
using Photoshop or whatever,
right, that someone generated,
and
looks like nice
sci fi type of art.
But the reality is
the art that we look at and the
images that we look at are actually the
creation of
Allah And they show us just a little,
a tiny glimpse
of deep space,
of galaxies,
of regions, of objects
that are or were
likely
tens of 1,000,
perhaps even 1,000,000,000
of light years away.
We're talking about light years. And what light
one light year, meaning the distance that that
light travels in a year,
is 9 trillion kilometers.
How much?
9 trillion kilometers.
And we're talking about galaxies
that are tens of thousands.
In one case, 8,500
light years away.
Others
that are perhaps billions of light years away
and one light year is
9 trillion kilometers.
According to
NASA, the image covers
a patch of sky.
Like when we look at the sky, the
image that the telescope is sending back
covers
a patch of sky approximately
the size of a grain of sand hand
held at arm's length. So if you were
able to pick up a grain of sand,
which is incredibly difficult, but if you're able
to able to pick up one grain of
sand,
and if you were able to hold it
like this at arm's length, and you pointed
it towards the sky,
the amount of space that it would cover
that one speck,
that is how much
this telescope has covered.
Subhanallah.
And it reveals thousands of galaxies. This
is what NASA says. Reveals thousands of galaxies
in a tiny silver of vast universe.
So the sky that we look at seems
big. Right?
Just a speck. Look at one little
dot in the sky.
And that is the amount of area that
this telescope
discovered, which is incredibly
small. It's Panama.
And in that
little speck
are these countless galaxies
that are
100
and 1000
and built up to 1,000,000,000 of light years
away.
These are entire galaxies with their own spiral
arms
containing perhaps billions of stars with perhaps trillions
of worlds and moons, planets, and different things
inside. In each one of them.
That the glory is to Allah
and praise is to him by the multitude
of his creation.
My brothers and sisters
and by the way, this is something that
I like doing and I encourage everyone to
do, especially when the weather is nice and,
the sky is clear. Go out at nighttime,
especially in the summertime,
and you just look up at the sky.
You don't even need a telescope. Just look
at the sky with your eyes.
And
you start noticing
as your eyes adjust to the darkness,
you start noticing more and more and more
stars just with your eyes. We're not even
talking about expensive telescopes
on the ground or in space. Right? We're
just talking about your eyes that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala has given you. And from that,
you can just look up and reflect
at what is up there.
And most importantly,
who has created
it and who knows everything about it
and is sustaining it.
It should be noted, my brothers and sisters,
that the foundational work of this achievement or
for this achievement
was done
by the Muslim scholar,
Ibn al Haytham.
Ibn al Haytham over a 1000 years ago,
and he's known as the father of modern
optics.
He's known as the father of modern
optics.
He was the first person to crack
the code about how we perceive light, and
he also actually developed the scientific method as
well that the entire world relies upon.
So the foundational work for this, and even
now there must be Muslims. Even NASA is
filled with many Muslims as well. Right? There
are the foundational work
was done
by Muslim scholar in Haifa.
Now the question is, my brothers and sisters,
when there is a scientific achievement of this
sort,
what sort of effect should it have on
us?
This is an important question.
Right? We all
enjoy technology.
We use technology. It has changed our lives.
Right? And there's various
advancements and achievements
that are being made and continuously
you know, will continue to be made.
But the question is,
what effect should it have on us?
Now many will be
will be indifferent to it.
Right?
Saying, what difference does it make to me?
Whatever's happening up there,
they differ. Like, what you know? I'm living
in this world. I'm dealing with my life,
with my issues. So what what difference does
it make to me?
Some perhaps will become more curious
and will want more discoveries. They'll be waiting
for more pictures. They'll be waiting for more
discoveries, more information, more data,
and perhaps, you know, looking for something remarkable
like signs of life or, you know, finding
aliens or some other, you know, intelligent civilization
and so on.
For starters,
our brothers and sisters, as believers,
these discoveries
and images
for us are a reminder, and actually for
all human beings,
are a reminder
of Allah's majesty
and his greatness and his perfection.
Allah tells us in Suratul Mulk,
He is the one who created
7 heavens, one above the other.
You will never see any imperfection
in the creation
of Ar Rahman, in the creation of the
most compassionate of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So look again. Do you see any flaws?
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives humanity this challenge
that you will find no imperfection in the
creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
In the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has designed
systems
And the way that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has designed
the universe from the very small and the
minutest of his creation
to the largest and everything in between, there
is no imperfection
in the creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
look again.
Do you see any flaws?
They'll look again and again.
The challenge. Look once.
Look again. Look again and again, and your
sight will return frustrated and weary, not able
to find any imperfection.
And indeed, we adorned
the lowest heaven with stars like lamps.
So what we are able to observe
is what we understand most likely just the
lowest
of the 7 heavens, SubhanAllah.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us Suratul Safat,
ayah number 6,
Indeed, we have adorned
the nearest heaven
with an adornment of stars.
Number 16.
Indeed we have placed constellations in the sky
and adorned it for all to see. It
is beautiful.
It is an adornment.
Indeed
is beautiful, and he loves beauty.
It's not that people look at space and
look at stars and they say, oh, this
is so
ugly.
We don't wanna share pictures. We don't wanna
put it on our desktop. We don't wanna
put it on our phone. Who wants to
look at that? No. Allah has made it
beautiful, and he's described it as such.
Number 47.
Allah says, we built the universe with great
might,
and we are certainly expanding it.
This is affirmation
of the scientific observation,
which is known as
fact that the universe is constantly expanding. Allah
tells
us in the Quran.
It is
expanding. It is becoming
wider.
It is being made to expand.
We do not say that science has affirmed
what Allah says in the Quran, rather
the Quran is an affirmation of the scientific
observation.
We have to get our priorities right.
We have
to get our priorities right because this this
revelation
is
the basis. It is the foundation. It is
the standard.
It is
the source of knowledge which is complete
and has no doubt.
Whereas any human observation,
anything that human beings extrapolate,
any conclusion that human beings can come come
that come to, that
can always have an element of doubt,
and that can never be completely perfect.
There was always theories that change. Right? Those
who study science, you know that. Right? Here
are somebody the person came up with a
theory. Everybody believed them. They thought that was
the most perfect thing ever and that they
were proved wrong. This happened over and over
and over again. It will continue to happen
because this is based on human understanding.
Whereas the revelation of Allah is coming from
the creator of everything that exists, and there
can be no doubt and there could be
no imperfection
in what Allah
does.
Allah
my brothers and sisters wants us
to be people who reflect, who ponder,
not have this attitude of, oh, what does
it have to do with me? Why should
I care?
This is not the attitude that Allah
highlights in the Quran, but rather Allah
highlights in the Quran the attitude
that is described in Surat Al Imran
in verses 1 19191.
Famously,
many of us have heard it,
says, Indeed, in the creation of the heavens
and the earth
and the alternation of the day and night,
there are signs
for people of reason.
For people of reason. And what are the
qualities and the description of these people of
reason?
They are those who remember Allah. This is
interesting. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about
signs
in the creation of the heavens, of the
earth, in the alternation of night and days.
He's talking about, you know,
scientific things.
But then he links that first with
There are those who remember Allah
while standing, sitting, and lying on their sides.
And they reflect on the creation
of the heavens and the earth, and they
make dua
Our Lord, you have not created
all of this without purpose. Subhanak,
glory be to You. Our Lord, You have
not created all of this without purpose. Glory
be to You. So here Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala
gives us the attitude he wants us to
have
with regards to
the ayaat, the signs that Allah
has put around us in the creation of
the universe,
in the alternation of night and day, and
how
Allah has designed everything to work perfectly. And
we noticed that tafakkur
and regular dhikr go together here as the
qualities
of ulul albaab, of the people of reason,
people who are intelligent.
The dhikr and
the tafakkur, the reflection, they go together. And
it's actually very descriptive because Allah
says, he doesn't just say they do
dhikr. He didn't just say
but rather he describes the the state of
the dhikr or how,
in which state these people do the dhikr
of Allah.
So okay.
And you can say somebody could say, oh,
this is referring to salah because we do
qiyam and salah, we stand.
We sit in salah.
But
undersides,
lying undersides. Is that a part of salah?
No. It's not. So here we understand
that this dikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
this quality that's being mentioned is not
just limited to salah. But rather, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is telling us that these Gulud
al Baab, these people who are able to
recognize these signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and they are reflective.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking highly
of them. These are people
who are constantly in a state of dhikr
of Allah
while they are standing,
while they are standing waiting for the bus,
while they are standing
in line at the checkout, while they are
standing
outside for whichever purpose. They are standing at
work. Wherever they are standing, they are remembering
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And when they are sitting, they are still
engaged in the remembrance of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. And even when they lay down on
their sides, when they lie down on their
sides, they are engaged in the zikr of
Allah
They the dhikr of Allah is something that
occupies them continuously and regularly.
K. Now you say, okay. Well, it's not
gonna be possible because I may be doing
something. I may be busy. How am I
gonna do the dhikr of
Okay. The key, my brothers and sisters, is
to engage yourself so much in the dhikr
of Allah in your free time so that
when you are busy,
even though your tongue may not engage in
the dhikr of Allah, your heart is still
engaged in the dhikr of Allah
And when you start an act, you do
it with the dhikr of Allah, and then
you get busy. And then when you finish
it, you still do the dhikr of Allah,
and it'll be counted, we hope, as if
you spent the entire time doing the dhikr
of Allah
So the more connected you are to Allah
my brothers and sisters,
the more deeply you will appreciate these discoveries
and the greater the intended effect
it will have on you.
The more you appreciate Allah
the more you connected you are to Allah,
the more deeply you will appreciate these discoveries,
and the greater the intended effect it will
have on you.
So brothers and sisters,
the great Muslim scientists
in the past, even today, people of faith,
when they make discoveries or when they make
discoveries,
right,
it led them
to a strengthening of their faith.
It led their faith
to become stronger
because they discovered the beauty of Allah's creation.
They discovered the complexity of Allah's creation.
How Allah
designed so intelligently
everything that they are discovering.
It didn't lead them to question Allah
but rather
it reinforced their faith. It strengthened
their faith. So the more connected you are
with Allah, the more deeply you will appreciate
these discoveries and greater the intended effect it
will have on you. If a person is
not connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
is looking for a sign, some of you
sometimes people say, okay. I understand what you're
saying. I understand the message of Islam, but
I need a sign.
I need a sign.
A lot of times, our brothers and sisters,
the question is, are we looking for the
right signs? Allah tells us in Surah al
a number 53.
We will show them our signs in the
horizons
and even within themselves
until it is clear to them that it
is the truth. Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us that the
signs are there. They're in the horizon. You
look up, you see Allah's signs. The signs
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The existence of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You look in yourself.
Do not look look at your own bodies.
You don't have to look for it to
find signs of the existence of Allah Subha'ala.
If you're looking to see Allah, it's not
gonna happen.
Just like there's so many other things that
you believe in that you cannot see.
But the signs are there if looking for
them, if you're paying attention, if you're sincere,
you find the signs of the existence of
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Suratul Baqarah ayah number
117 Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us,
He
is the originator. He, Allah, is the originator
of the heavens and the earth.
When he decrees a matter, he simply tells
it be and it is.
And there you have the answer about how
the creation of the universe happened.
How did the universe come into existence from
nothing?
How was there something from nothing? That is
the critical question,
and there is the answer.
Allah simply commands it to be and it
becomes and it is.
My brothers and sisters,
these things should make us reflect
and should lead us to Allah
especially his glorification and his remembrance.
And finally, the last effect,
it should deflate
our egos.
See a balloon.
Right?
What happens? You put a needle into the
balloon
or you puncture a ball.
All the air comes out. It's deflated.
Finished.
So this should deflate our egos and make
us realize
how small we are
and the magnitude
of Allah's favor upon us. The prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam told us,
Abdullah damasood radiAllahu anhu reported that the prophet
sallallahu
said, anyone
who has an atom's weight,
atom's weight, an iota of arrogance
in their heart will not enter Jannah.
So my brothers and sisters, we are tiny,
insignificant beings in this universe,
in this entire universe, and we are less
than a speck,
less than a speck
in the big picture.
And we know almost nothing.
Even collectively,
our collective knowledge as humanity is almost nothing
compared to the knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And there's so much more that we don't
know or we know so little
about. We have close to no power
or strength.
Our abilities are so limited.
So on what basis, my brothers and sisters,
can we question Allah? Can we argue with
Allah? Can we doubt the existence of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala in his guidance and consider
ourselves or our creation or other creation to
be as important or even as important than
Allah or or even more important than Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for
our ignorance and foolishness. May Allah
increase us in iman and in beneficial knowledge
and taqwa. May Allah
grant us deep faith.
So it'll take a few moments.