Sikander Hashmi – Fire Safety KMA Friday Message
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AI: Transcript ©
Respected elders, dear brothers and sisters, my young
friends,
My brothers and sisters,
as we live through this extreme cold,
we realize
the blessing
of one of the great creations of Allah
which is
the fire.
Allah
has given
us
warmth on this cool day on this cold,
extremely cold days
through fire and heat. Allah
has given
this as part of his mercy upon us.
Otherwise, if there was no heat,
you can imagine how life would be
or perhaps it would not even be possible
in this part of the world on days
like this.
The blessing of fire allows us to heat
our homes,
to cook.
And Allah
has made it one of the essentials
for survival.
Yet, just like with water,
just like the case is with water, which
is also essential.
It can be incredibly destructive,
if it goes beyond a certain limit.
This past week,
sadly, we have witnessed multiple tragedies
caused by fire.
For example,
in the Bronx, in New York City,
17
17 of our brothers and sisters perished,
including 8 children.
They were living
in substandard
housing,
in low income areas,
with not enough heat in their building,
things that they had and other issues that
they had complained about repeatedly.
And the fire was started
in
a continuously running heater
or started by a continuously running heater.
Closer to home,
we saw the tragic explosion and fire on
Maryville Road
where 6 people were killed
at a tanker truck manufacturing
facility.
There were 2 fires
yesterday in 2 homes in Ottawa.
And also yesterday in Brampton, 3 children perished
in a fire in their home. Their mother
had just gone briefly
to drop off one of the younger siblings
at school
and returned to find her home ablaze,
and 3 of her children now gone.
There was a fire in Mississauga
on Saturday
where a 18 year old rescued
5 children
from their burning home,
and he happened to be a Muslim.
We ask Allah
to grant comfort and ease
to all loved ones who are living through
this tragedy. We ask Allah
to shower his mercy and forgiveness
upon all of our brothers and sisters who
have perished.
Fire when it is no longer contained
can lead to tragic loss of life and
property. And my brothers and sisters, we know
that Allah
has put this quality of burning
in fire and it is subject
to Allah's permission
to burn.
When the permission of Allah
is revoked or denied,
then fire which can be so destructive
becomes cool.
Namrud, the king of Babylon, kindled a massive
place.
Perhaps for years, it is said.
To punish Said Ibrahim alaihis salam.
Yet, even in that massive fire,
even with that massive fire,
there was no harm to say that Ibrahim
Alaihi Salam Allah said
that we ordered all fire,
be cool and safe for Ibrahim.
And so the fire became cool and Ibrahim
Alaihi Salam walked out
to the amazement of everyone who was watching
without any burns, without any harm whatsoever.
Thus, we know my brothers and sisters that
we must always turn to Allah
for protection.
The only one
who is capable
of all things without exception.
Allah
is capable of anything and everything without exception.
And it is
upon him
whose,
that that permission
for every creation
or,
he is the
one to whom
upon whom every creation is dependent upon for
permission.
If Allah's permission is not there,
nothing can happen. No one can do anything.
The prophet
will make du'a for protection against various types
of tragedies and harms,
including
those caused by fire. He would say,
Oh Allah, I seek refuge with you from
falling
from a high place,
being crushed,
drowning,
and burning, and many other things as well.
Now believing that Allah
is capable
of all things,
believing in the power of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
should not stop us
from dealing with Allah's creation according
to the characteristics that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
has given to it.
The prophet
has taught us even about fire safety.
The
prophet even taught us
about fire safety.
Related that the prophet
said,
That do not keep the fire burning in
your homes when you go to bed. It
was reported by Muhari and Musa.
So do not leave an open fire. Do
not leave the fire burning
in your homes when you go to bed.
And the top causes of fire in Canada,
the top five. Number 1,
unattended cooking and cooking equipment.
You're frying something. You're frying samosas. You're frying
something. You get distracted and the heat is
high, and you come back and there's a
huge place. And by the way, when you
have a oil fire, you never put water
on it.
Normally, you put water on fires, but not
an oil fire because it's actually gonna make
it worse.
So number 1, unattended cooking and cooking equipment.
Number 2, space heaters and chimneys.
Right? When we have heaters that are plugged
in or we have chimneys. When I was
young, we had a fire in our house
due to the fireflies in the chimney, and
everyone was okay.
But space heaters and chimneys, number 2, caused
the fires.
Number 3, cigarettes and smoking.
Don't smoke. It's bad for your health. It's
haram. We're close to haram, and it'll protect
you from this too.
Number 4,
electrical
and
lightning
lightning equipment. You know, you plug in too
many things
into an extension cord or, you know, into
a, a wall,
outlet, especially the ones that duplicate, you know,
that add more sockets,
and it can't handle the load.
And there's an overload, and that can start
a fire as an example.
Number 5, candles.
Right? I'm going back to the hadith of
the prophet Do not leave
fire unattended
when you go when you go to sleep.
Now during the winter months, heating equipment,
like portable space heaters,
are the leading cause of home fires. So
please, my brothers and sisters, take care. Be
careful.
Good practices
for further protection
from house fires have working smoke detectors. Make
sure that smoke detectors are working in your
home.
Test them regularly.
And, also, it's a good idea to keep
a fire extinguisher
near the doorway of your kitchen. They don't
cost too much. Buy a pipe fire extinguisher.
Keep it in, you know, nearby.
So if something happens, you can quickly put
out the fire inshallah.
If Allah
decrees that a fire should occur,
then the scholars regard it as
as recommended,
advisable to say
while whilst putting out the fire.
And they say that saying
at the time of putting out the fire
will help in extinguishing
it and prevent
its harm. This is related from
Aas that if you see a fire, then
say takbir.
For takbir, we'll extinguish it.
He said, if you see a fire, then
say takbir for takbir, we'll
extinguish it. Ibn Qayyim
said, when the Muslim magnifies his lord, his
Takbir has the effect of suppressing the fire
and the shaitan who is made of his
substance,
so the fire is extinguished. We ourselves and
others have tried this and have and have
found it to be so.
Now whatever Allah has willed, my brothers and
sisters, will come to pass.
But our job is to have faith
and to take precautions. And many times, what
Allah has willed comes after we make a
choice,
or we neglect something that we were supposed
to do.
But while we talk about fire and protection
of our homes and the hadith of the
prophet
with regards to protection against fires,
there's a great lesson here.
And that is,
if we are to be cautious
about a small flame
that can destroy our home and belongings and
lead to loss of life,
how much more cautious
should we be
about
the much larger and more ferocious fire
that can destroy
our afterlife,
possibly for eternity,
forever?
In the hereafter, my brothers and sisters, Allah
will be the judge.
And he will judge according to his law
and his guidelines, not ours.
Whether we like it or not,
whether we agree with it or not, that
is the reality. On the day of judgment,
Allah
will be the judge for everyone. Doesn't matter
who you are.
Even if someone's an atheist, lost and doesn't
believe in god, Allah will be the judge.
Whether they like it or not, that's just
the reality.
And Allah
will judge us according
to his laws and his guidelines.
Because he is the ultimate judge, and he
will be the the the king, the master
of judgment on, he always is. But on
the day of judgment, he will be the
one deciding, not us.
And Allah
has already warned us, all human beings,
that his punishment in the hereafter is the
fire.
Whether for some time or for eternity,
punishment for what he considers to be crimes.
And for those
whose scale of deeds is heavier with deeds
that Allah considers to be bad.
Allah
has told us about this. He's warned us.
Allah
tells us.
That whoever obeys Allah and his messengers
will be admitted into the gardens,
into gardens under which rivers flow to stay
there forever.
To stay there forever, and that is the
ultimate triumph.
But who whoever disobeys Allah and his messenger.
Whoever disobeys Allah and his messenger and exceeds
their limits,
will be cast into the fire to stay
there forever, and they will suffer a humiliating
punishment.
May Allah
protect us our
Allah Allah tells us,
Oh believers, protect yourselves and your families
from a fire.
And then he describes that fire.
Whose fuel,
its people,
and stones.
Overseen by formidable and severe angels.
Angels
who never disobey
whatever Allah orders,
always doing as
commanded.
Allah
gives us a clear, direct warning and command
with regards to ourselves
and our loved ones.
So this is a huge terrible fire. There's
no comparison with any fire in this dunya.
You can think of the worst
volcano on this earth. The most ferocious fire
and compared to
the fire of the hereafter and there's no
comparison.
Yet,
the beauty of it, this is the mercy
of Allah that the smallest of actions
with sincerity and iman
can tip the scale
for a person
towards goodness and protect them from the fire.
So don't give up.
Don't give up and don't become despondent.
Keep perfecting your iman and keep doing good
because the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam told us,
Radiallahu
anhu related the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
guard yourself from the fire
even with half a date in charity.
You imagine the fire, a ferocious fire, the
fire of *, and half a date in
charity. How is this gonna protect you from
the higher fire of *? Yet, it's the
sincerity.
It's the weight of the sincerity.
And iman
that a person gives even that half a
date
in charity,
with which a person gives that half a
date in charity, and Allah can protect them.
And then the prophet said, because our religion
is universal. It's for everyone. What if someone
doesn't even have half a date?
If one cannot find it, if you can't
even find half a date, then with a
good word.
Protect yourself from the fire of *. May
Allah
bless the souls of our brothers and sisters
who are lost. May Allah
give patience to their loved ones. May he
protect
us all from the harms of
fires in this world,
and may he protect us and all of
our future progeny from the fire of the
hereafter. Amin
my brothers and sisters, we have some sad
news. The passing of the mother of our
sister, Rabia Qureshi, the mother-in-law of our brother,
children, Imam Khaled. She passed away in
and our brother. If I ask God, he
also just messaged to say that his grandmother
has passed away in Lester, England.
So make dua,
for for for them both and for everyone
who has returned to Allah.
Oh, Allah, please make this difficult time easy
for them.