3 Powerful Lessons from Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)

In Alhamdulillah nama Do you want to start you don't want to still fiddle when are all the biller Himanshu Rudy and fusina woman say Dr. Molina Mejia de la who falam will be La la la mejor lil fella Haryana watershed one La Ilaha hula Sharika wa shadow Anna Mohammed Abdullah who are pseudo? Yeah, you are Latina man otaku la haka to party. Walter Mutanda Illa. One to Misty moon. Yeah, you are Latina man otaku LA, while Tango Neff Sama, fundamentally avoid WhatsApp Allah, in Allah forbid on Bhima tomorrow. All praise is due to Allah the Exalted, we praise Him, we seek His help, his guidance and his forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our sins and the evils

within ourselves. Whomsoever Allah guides because they are sincere, none can misguide. And whomever he rightfully causes to be led astray because they are not sincere, none can guide and I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone. And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam Peace Be Upon Him as His servant and final messenger.

Allah the Exalted reminds us for our own benefit, our own success, our own salvation, what is translated as all believers, be mindful of Allah as he deserves, be conscious of Allah as he deserves, as is his right upon you, and do not die, except that you are in a state of worship.

And if you want to die in a state of worship, you must sincerely live upon it as well. May Allah subhanho wa Taala allow us to sincerely live upon Islam and to die upon Iman Allah Mermin.

As we all know,

at this time every year, we tend to emphasize and share and spread the legacy of Ibrahim Ali Salam

story storey to storey to storey to storey the objective of stories in the Quran and Islam

is not that they are for a mere entertainment. They're not there to entertain us. They're not there for leisure. The objective of these real incidents in history, these real people in history is for us to take real life lessons to make real changes in our lives. So yes, we are reminded of Ibrahim Ali Salam every year, and we commemorate the sacrifice every year. But the objective is for us to change for the better. And as a result, when we change and our families change, our communities should change and society should change.

But if we are reinforcing or rather remembering the story of Ibrahim Ali salaam every year and we are not changing, we are missing something in the equation of transformation and we ask Allah subhana wa Tada to make us from amongst those who take lessons from the stories so that we are fulfilling the objective.

As for our hotbar today, for the sake of time, we want to talk about and extract three powerful lessons from the legacy of Ibrahim Ali Salam, Abraham, peace be upon him, in order for us to make real change. And the way the way we'll do that in sha Allah is by relating it to some experiences that we have.

Number one, Ibrahim Ali salaam, searched for the truth, the truth of the truth of life, the purpose of life, he searched for the truth, and he did not give up until he found what he was looking for, until he gained or attained the up clean conviction in that truth.

How does this relate to our lives today? And is this even for Muslims?

We're living in a times in which for most people, it is a post truth world. What does that mean post meaning beyond truth? Many Muslims may not be aware of this. And many Muslims, especially if they grew up in Muslim majority countries may not be exposed to this. But the reality of the ideologies in society today and the philosophies that people believe in different forms, of course, is that many people today especially the next generation, and the one after that,

do not believe in an absolute or objective truth in terms of the reality of life in terms of a divine reality.

And this may seem

can be confusing to those who hear about it for the first time, what do you mean you don't believe in a truth?

It's not a matter of talking about preferences or emotions. We are talking about the objective truth which yes can be proven, which yes can be intellectually proven.

Ibraheem Alehissalaam did not give up until he found the unclean conviction in that truth.

When we live in a post truth world,

especially today, we find that one form of liberalism that is widespread and increasing even in the Muslim community is that people are feeling certain things, desires shall want and rationalizing without any consistent reasoning certain things and then coming to the conclusion that that is their objective. That's what they should pursue. So desires shallot and Al Hawa. Enough's becomes the deity for this person, the chase and the pursuit of happiness for many people, happiness is equated to what I desire, even if the desire leads to harm in the short term or in the long run.

And while people worshipped idols at the time of Ibrahim Ali salaam, there are still idols today, people still do worship different forms of idols today. Now, in particular, here, we want to focus on the fact that for many people when they struggle with faith, and this is not just about non Muslims looking for the truth, when Muslims as well struggle with faith or have doubts,

often times before they actually look for the truth, and a satisfactory answer and go to the actual proper resources and people rather than just googling what they're thinking about.

Oftentimes, they will come up with subconscious excuses. These are based on real case studies, excuses, their desires will arise. And their including their laziness, and they will decide then that I didn't find what I was looking for. There was no satisfactory answer. I have this intellectual doubt about the truth. And there's no answer out there. And Wallah, He that is a lie.

It is a lie.

Because the truth can be proven.

And if you believe in an objective truth, meaning a factual truth, you should as a Muslim in the 21st century, at least know the question of why why Islam. There are many Muslims who are raised Muslims and they are very practicing their Eman is very high. Alhamdulillah. But if a non Muslim were to ask why Islam they might not know how to respond, they might not know that the Quran is miraculous, or Jazel Quran you're looking for a sign from God that is miraculous. Here's one on his terms, his speech, which is preserved, timeless, and if you study our Jazel crown, you'll see the many facets of images that have been the reason and the cause for many, many non Muslims to leave,

atheism and agnosticism of Christianity and many other things and to embrace the truth of Islam, as well as della Enugu are the proofs of profit. You need to know that Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was truly a messenger of God. When you search for truth, you are going to search for it in proportion to how sincere you are. That's what it comes down to.

I'll give you two examples from two real stories. One of insincerity, a young man who said that as an atheist, he said he wanted to see why Islam show me the evidences that Islam is the truth. And he was in a very argumentative mode, as is the case for many people when they go through that phase. So I said, No problem. I actually have a lecture on atheism coming up, can you join us? He said, Sure, I'll be there the time works for me, so on and so forth. He didn't show up.

And when I followed up afterwards, I said, How are you doing? What's going on?

He said, I was tired. Okay, fine benefit of the doubt.

I said, How about we read this article, I sent him an article, and let's just have a video call. Let's talk about it. You're looking for the truth. You claim to be pursuing the truth. Something that Muslims at times are claiming and non Muslims as well. But we don't really tune into how sincere we are. What are you really looking for? Or do you not feel like facing the truth?

He didn't read the article, maybe for several months. And then finally, he's like, I don't feel like reading the article. I prefer talking. I said, Okay, fine. Each person has their own format of learning. But if you are in the pursuit of truth, you actually you would read the article. And this has been the case for many people who converted or other reverted back to Islam.

I gave him one last chance in these conversations. And I said, Fine, how about this? I'm teaching a virtual seminar. It's online. You can you can access it from anywhere in the world. It's a weekend seminar. It's 16 hours and it is exactly on this topic, God, atheism and the pursuit of truth. This is exactly what you claim to be looking for. I'm signing you up to this three credit course as my personal friend. So he joined the class on

The roster, and also the classes recorded, and he didn't show up for a single hour of the 16 hour seminar on a topic that he claimed he had been looking for his entire life.

I followed up after the seminar ended, and he said, Oh, I mixed up the times I thought it was at night said you didn't say anything three weeks ago. What do you mean? Said I just got tired, I forgot to follow up. I said no problem. It's actually recorded. Here's the file, here's the folder, you can watch the recordings, let's talk

of the 16 hours, he watched zero hours, nothing.

And then he stopped responding.

I I've spoken to in the last 10 years, at least at least 1000, atheist one on one Hamdulillah. And for the most part, we can start to tell as human beings when we really want something, and we don't assume people's intentions, because again, benefit of the doubt. But if you really want it, if you really want conviction as a Muslim, and even we say to our non Muslim family members, community members or classmates or colleagues, people in society, if you really claim you're looking for truth, and you're sincere, ALLAH SubhanA wa Taala promises that you will be guided to it. It is a promise from Allah. But if you're not sincere, then no amount of evidence or classes or articles

will help you. A young man called from out of state and he said, I'm coming to Michigan, and I need to talk to you.

He had to memorize the Quran at a young age. And when he got to college, all I knew from his family was that he left Islam. And yes, I am mentioning the story out loud and I'm sharing his story. Because this is something that many Muslim parents are unaware of that is occurring for many college students. This is the reality when there's no foundation, foundation of belief when society is living in a post truth world.

He called on his own and said, I want to talk I want to be convinced. We met at a cafe in Dearborn. We talked for almost three hours, it was very casual. He was very straightforward. Right to the point found out exactly what the issue was. It was not intellectual. There was no doubt.

It was a personal desire he had for a girl and a girlfriend and relationship, and He covered it with a shaitan does oftentimes to people who fall into that trap. Instead of instead of leaving the sin, He doubled down on what he was doing and covered it with what he thought was Schubert's intellectual doubts. But there are no pseudo there are no actual intellectual doubts. There are pseudo intellectual doubts, they aren't real. What does that mean? It means there is a response for every doubt an intellectual response that we have access to, that we can respond to. But are you looking for it? Are you looking for your clean? are you worshiping Allah until the alien comes to you? While

I'm on the road back to Kenya clean? Yeah, clean here meaning either conviction in another interpretation also means your death until death comes to you. worship your Lord until you gain conviction and also until you die. This young man left that three hour gathering. And the very next day that fidget his family informed us in fact, he's 21 years old. His family informed us that he took a shower, and he left for the masjid for fidget prayer for the first time in three years came back to Islam hamdulillah now why, why do we see two very different stories here and both similar background, same kind of colleges same kind of environment, same kind of American culture? If you

sincerely look for truth, Allah promises you will have it. When Latina Jaha Delphina learner Dr. Nam Shula Anna Allah says those who strive in our cars, we will guide them to the path where ladina Tada za home, who then will tell them to calm and those who seek guidance and are guided, Allah will increase them in guidance and God consciousness. The question is, are we sincere? Are we really looking for that feeling that we have 100% conviction in the truth, truth here with a capital T?

Number two, and this is where we address most of our community as Muslims as well. Prophet Ibrahim Ali Salam did not just look for the truth and he didn't give up. He kept looking and looking until he found that conviction. Prophet Ibrahim Ali citta advocated for the truth with all of his community members.

Where's peer pressure that we talk about and we tell our children be careful, people will influence you. Studies show that adults as well love to conform, and at times adults do not like to stick out. And most studies find that psychologically when there is an inferiority complex. When you don't think that you have something of value or worth or you think, or their ideologies or ways of life or lifestyles are better than what you have. You will start to hide your Islam. You will start to change your name you will change your appearance you will never talk about religion. You will be afraid to pray in public. These are signs

If we do not have comfort and pride and conviction in the truth, and not only are we not advocating for it with others, we are ashamed to show it to others.

When it comes to the matter of truth, an idol worship, they all worshipped idols at the time of Ibrahim alayhis salam. Today, what do people worship, the prevailing ideology? If you don't know this, you have to know this. The prevailing ideology is not only the worship of money, like we see with a NEO liberal or capitalistic society, we see many people worshipping money. Now, they may worship in different ways they don't worship like we worship Allah subhanaw taala. But believe it or not, they do worship money. And some people will be willing to give up all their principles if they have any, for the sake of that dollar.

And there are people who worship fame. We're living in a social media era. And so for many young people, they are being taught that your validation your self worth is equivalent to how many people know you whether or not you are an influencer, whether or not you have a following, go ahead and do silly things online. So that people will like people will share people will follow people will laugh, people will sponsor you.

And other people are looking for power.

They thrive on power. It may seem to be minor, they're looking for positions in something local, or it may be something major on a national international level. But some people worship political power and authority, it makes them feel good, that I have authority to do things. May Allah subhanaw taala purify our hearts, but the foundation, the deepest, the deepest form of idol worship today. And the root of all of this is the worship of desires of our eater, many tougher the ILA who Allah says, Do you not see the one who takes his desires or her desires as a God, as a deity as an idol? Now, many people say what does that mean? I don't see people worshiping their desires. Most people today, and

this is one of the conclusions of liberalism are looking for, and pursuing whatever makes them feel satisfied at a base carnal level. They're not looking for truth, they're looking for that satisfaction of a desire. Now we all know, especially as Muslims, that people have desires that sometimes are good, and other types of desires that lead to harm. People have desires in society for intoxication and drugs, vaping and smoking and weed and alcohol and so on and so forth. Does that mean because you have a desire that it's equivalent to truth that it's a good morally speaking? We know the answer is of course not. We see the harms of alcohol, it from all facets, psychological

harms the medical harms the physical harms the relationships, we know we already see this, the wisdom of this one is crystal clear.

When people worship their desires, it means that they will be willing to sacrifice anything and even anyone in the pursuit of what they desire. They'll be willing to give up the athlete or the hereafter if they even believe in what they'll be willing to give up their families and their relationships. They easily cut off ties, they'll be willing to give up principles if they hold any, in the pursuit of desires. Now we ask, Who is the enslaved one and who is the liberated one, the one who takes their desires as a god as an idol, or the one who submits to Allah subhanho wa Taala following a morality and a moral code that will lead to Jannah forever. What kind of idol worship is

it when people think and feel and then follow whatever they feel that that's somehow equivalent to the truth. There's a difference between the truth and one's desires. And remember this principle and we advocate for the truth in society, and we are not ashamed and we are not afraid to liberate others from their own self worship, because it helps them it benefits them, it leads them to Jannah

remember that the truth is greater than your desires, the truth is greater than your desires, the truth is greater than your desires and the true love of Allah if you say I love Allah subhanaw taala and the true sacrifice for ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada is for you to choose Allah over your desires.

Again, the true love of Allah and true sacrifice for his sake, is for you to choose Allah over your desires. Whether it's the desire to sleep in and Mr. fidget a prayer or the desire for a person to break their fast or the desire to hold back on the car you should be giving or the desire to look at something listen to something you should not be looking at or listening to. Whatever the desire may be. The truth is greater than that desire and remember this gem from tough seed, Allah subhanaw taala says in sort of the path Lahoma Yasha wound ifI Hawala, de na mozzie

either the people of gender will have whatever they desire, whatever they wish for and Jana, how long forever and with Allah is more more than gender more than the rewards of gender we know about a seeing Allah subhana wa Tada.

You choose the truth in this world, the truth in this world over your desires for a limited time a temporary world limited desires in quality and quantity. And Allah grants you a Jana with a limit list on imaginable desires as long as you want with no limitations whatsoever. Is there any comparison in this business transaction? Allah subhanaw taala tells us in Allah has Shah, Mina Mina and Fusa humble and wild on Vienna who will Jana Allah has purchased from the believers, their lives your soul and your wealth. In exchange, he will grant you Jana, is this equal one for one you're giving $1 for $1 You're giving a year for a year there's no comparison between the two. It's a drop

of water to an ocean of paradise and beyond. We ask Allah subhana wa Taala to allow us to see that with wisdom and clarity and to pursue the truth over our desires on a daily basis. Alana Ameen. Ibrahim alayhi salam went against his own father who manufactured idols, that's not easy to do. But the truth is greater than your desires. Ibrahim Ali Salam called people to the truth, worship Allah, these idols don't do anything for you. Even though he was the only one advocating for that truth. And on this note, when it comes to social justice causes and issues in America and all around the world, once again, we should be at the forefront of all of that, choosing to liberate people from

the problems that they have. Because Wallahi if all human beings in the world, were to submit to the truth of Allah subhanaw taala and follow it, we would not see people oppressing each other, we should not be seeing corruption in this country and around the world. We should not be seeing any kind of problem when it comes to wealth inequality. When it comes to systemic racism and discrimination, when it comes to foreign policies and bombs dropping on innocent people and our funding of countries or rather, armies that are killing innocent people, we would not be seeing that if people follow the truth rather than their desires. But this is the world that we are in. And

that's part of the test for the believer that you don't just accept the truth and you follow it, you must be advocating for it in society, you must not be afraid you must not be ashamed because you're not calling to something shameful. In fact, people who have no shame, no moral principles or compass, they're not ashamed to advocate for their lifestyles. They're not ashamed to advocate for a falsehood. So why would you be ashamed to advocate for the truth, when you know that the truth will liberate people, when you know that solving the problems in America that we see, cannot come about fully and properly, except through what Allah subhanaw taala brought down of objective morality?

Obviously, this will require tactics, a strategy coalition building, working with other people of different religions and backgrounds, but without ever compromising on what we know to be the truth. And we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to guide us and guide others through us along I mean, if you ever see a problem in your locality, whether you're from Farmington Hills or any of the neighboring cities or Dearborn, Detroit, anywhere in Michigan, or from from out of state, may Allah bless you as well. If you see a problem in your locality, as a Muslim, and there is a potential to change it. But it's not changing. It's likely because one of many factors, it's likely because not enough people

are taking that responsibility of advocating for the change, of stepping up or voicing their concerns of campaigning, of talking, and so on and so forth. We have the ability to change many of the problems we see. But not enough of us are doing that we don't engage enough politically.

And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to grant us the wisdom and the vision and the proper strategy in order to affect change in society alone me, Ibrahim, I sit down, pursued the truth. He advocated for the truth. He called others to worship Allah, He was not ashamed. He was not afraid. And in fact, this is why people eventually would believe in a truth because a person who believes in it does not give up on advocating for others. You're seeing people fall off a cliff, why would you not stop them? You're seeing your child run towards a fire, why would you not prevent them? You're seeing somebody hurt themselves? Why would you just watch and saying do whatever you want. I'm not even

going to make you aware that there's something better that there's something safer.

And number three, Ibrahim Ali Salam

was resilient and obedient to Allah. This is where humility and submission Islam comes in. When he was commanded to sacrifice his own son and we know the story. He was commanded to sacrifice his son. Can you imagine, especially for the parents here? May Allah bless you on your families and if you're not a parent, Miller's father, grant you righteous children, can you imagine being

commanded by Allah to sacrifice your son, your daughter,

Ibrahim Ali Salam was obedient and in fact his son was also obedient. Fatima took me to do whatever you were commanded by Allah.

And right before the sacrifice was to occur, he was stopped Ibrahim Ali Salam was stopped and prevented. And Allah subhanaw taala revealed to him they had passed this test. And in fact, an animal was brought down or animal rather, was given to Ibrahim Ali salaam to slaughter instead. And this is what we commemorate every year. However, don't stop in your impression of this story in this incident, don't stop by only thinking about the old hair that we give and the people who benefit and that's its own topic. The food that is distributed around the world, the meats that is given to many people who only eat meat once a year, during an era. That's not where the story ends. That's not

where the lessons end.

Ibrahim Ali Salam emptied his heart of everything, including his own family. He emptied his heart of everything and was willing to obey Allah's command, meaning what ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada in terms of the love of Allah filled his heart, and he was given his son back on the proper basis of detachment from everything of a dunya and the full love and obedience to Allah subhanho wa taala. And this is why his nickname is Hadid or Rama, the friend of the merciful Ibrahim Ali Hassan. His legacy is summarized by this nickname. And we take from this story another lesson. On a daily basis we all have attachments to certain things, and some people are more attached than others and to some things

you are more attached than to other things. You may be so attached to a lifestyle, something that is not guaranteed forever, you may be attached to certain material things that if it were to be taken away from you, you would react a certain way and you lose your composure and you become angry and so on and so forth.

Proper detachment at the highest level that we strive for, is to empty your heart of everything of a dunya and fill it with the love of Allah. Because eventually everything of a dunya will perish and we will all return to Allah subhana wa Tada in the law we're in a in a you're on your own. If you detach your heart from this world, ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada will grant you the tranquility and the sweetness of experiencing Iman in the next life of looking forward to the next life and will also give you the things of this world even though these things at dunya may be reluctant as the Prophet sallallahu sallam said, detach your heart from temporary things and attach your heart to Allah the

eternal. If you attach yourself and your heart to Allah subhanaw taala you will have consistency in calling upon Allah consistency in dua, that the one who responds to you is always there and will never disappoint. Whereas human beings at times may disappoint worldly things will come and go, what you have of wealth rises and falls in terms of profits and losses. And eventually everything will depart from us and we will depart to from this world. attach yourself to Allah subhanho wa Taala the eternal, how you will Are you the one who admits his servants into paradise. attach yourself to Allah subhanaw taala the one who forgives you every time you turn to when you ask him for

forgiveness, He forgives. And in fact the loss of Panatela loves to forgive and loves the servants who seek his forgiveness. attach yourself to Allah subhanaw taala by sacrificing your time your energy, your wealth, your health for his sake and you won't regret it. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us from amongst those who are attached to Allah and detached from dunya and we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to make us for monks, those who feel the richness of Eman through proper submission. Yeah you are nurse who unto modificado in Allah, Allahu Allah, Yun Hamid all mankind, it is you who stands in need of Allah subhanaw taala we stand in need of Allah and Allah is self

sufficient. And Allah is most praised. We ask Allah subhana wa Taala to forgive us, guide us and increase us ask Allah for forgiveness. Allah subhanaw taala is the oft forgiving the Ever Merciful a poor quality ha That was stuck feeling lonely when I confess stuff throw in a whole lot

of hamdulillah hula de nada Anna Lee ha ha McInerney, Natalia Lola and Hudson Allah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah. While earlier he was talking me woman water. In conclusion with these three lessons number one, seek the truth and do not stop seeking truth. Seek the truth and do not give up on it. You will attain conviction you have clean in proportion to how sincere you are. Now this requires for many of us to seek knowledge, beneficial knowledge, because knowledge is not all the same beneficial.

Knowledge that will lead to that light, that light in your heart and the light that will guide to Paradise by Allah's mercy. Remember to share the truth with others. It's not enough as a Muslim to just believe in Allah subhanho wa taala. And ignore your family to ignore your community when they have a right upon us, that we are to liberate them from things that are harmful to them. Share the truth with other people. And don't be embarrassed, don't be afraid there is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it is more shameful to hide the truth than to share it with others. May Allah subhanaw taala guide us and grant us the bravery and courage that is necessary to spread the truth in this

world. And if you truly want to benefit the world, then it is necessary that Muslims especially especially as minorities in this country, that we engage politically as much as we can, that we engage, and we work with other groups without compromising on a single principle of truth. We work on common objectives. We work on shared goals in order to reach a better place in order to overcome many of the forms of a morality and self worship that we see around us. In order also to spread objective morality, share the truth with other people. And number three, focus on your love of Allah. What are you sacrificing for Allah on a daily basis, focus on your love of Allah, and the

sacrifices that you make and the detachment that you're working on from worldly things, and continue to advocate on behalf of those who are oppressed, locally and globally. And we ask Allah subhana wa Taala to accept from all of us and to allow us to benefit from the legacy of Ibrahim Ali Salam in order to make real changes in our lives, in our communities, with our families and for the world. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to grant us His love and the love of every deed that brings us closer to him and the love of those whom he loves. And we ask Allah subhana wa Taala to grant us the highest levels of Jana, Alana Amin in Allahu wa Mala eco Soluna Allah Nabil. Yeah, are you Alladhina

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