Light After Darkness – Moving in The Right Direction

Alhamdulillah nama do who want to start you know who want to start fiddle, when I will do bIllahi min Shruti and fusina woman say TR Molina mejor de la who Fela Mobley Allah wa my yield lil fella her the IANA watershed one La ilaha illallah Hua hula Shetty kala. Why should you under Mohamed Abdul hurrah sudo yeah you Alladhina mono top and La haka to party. Walter Mutanda Illa Juan to Misty moon. Yeah, you're Latina. I'm an otaku. La Welton lorem ipsum Pandem actually avoid what type Allah in Allah hubiera en de matar maroon, 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 within

ourselves and the evils of our sins. Whomsoever Allah guides because they sincerely seek guidance, none can misguide. And whomever he rightfully causes to be led astray because they do not sincerely seek guidance, none can guide and I testify, and I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone. And I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam peace be upon him, is His servant and final messenger. Allah reminds us in the Noble Quran, what is translated as all you who believe or believers, be conscious of Allah as he deserves, and do not die except in a state of worship. May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us from amongst elements of cleaning

those who live upon God consciousness and die upon it as well. Allama I mean,

we find in the Quran different mentions different references, to statements and principles that we can extract that if we were to apply this one principle or these two principles, depending on the passage, we would find a change or reformation, in our hearts, in our homes, within our families, in our relationships, and of course, at the societal level. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us from amongst the believers who don't just read the Quran, to recite on the tongue but are are moving their hearts are engaging their hearts are living by these principles for these principles are made for guidance for humanity. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us a source of guidance we find

in the Quran, a specific reference that helps us to think on a daily basis in Surah, two in more depth. But before we talk about this reference, I want to give you the context of the ayat where Allah subhanaw taala begins this passage, the second half of Surah, two in more depth and by swearing a person, when Allah swears by something, for example, well last, Allah swears by time, while Doha Allah swears by specific time when Allah says, well infested, and so on and so forth while column so Allah swears by certain things, and it's for multiple reasons. One of them is for emphasis. One is for a literary device. Another reason is for you to pay attention to the

significance of that thing. And another reason is so that the thing that is being swarmed by has a connection to the response. So usually there's a person a swearing an oath in the Quran, and then a response to that customer Joab. Now, in this passage, Allah subhanaw taala swears by after mentioning, one of the disbelievers, one of the opponents of Islam and Walid and so on and so forth. Allah mentions that person's punishment and then moves on to this oath, can one comma one Layli is about us to pay the US for Allah swears by the moon, he swears by the night as it retreats, meaning as it becomes dark at night, and then was sub hated us for by the morning as it become as it becomes

bright. So the bright rising of the sun. And I want us before we move into the principle that that's the crux of our hotword today, to first reflect on this person, this oath, where, for example, a brother shared a story about a family member, a sister in his family, she was going through one of the toughest times in her life, a severe amount of emotional pain and so on and so forth a trial and as she was going through this trial, and she was reciting Quran, she reached this iron or soapy that spot on she was reading like the translation and TIF seat at the same time, the meaning of the IET and she said she paused at this idea, to the extent that it's as though she never heard it before.

Even though this is a Surah that they had recited many times before, was sold at the US for by the morning, as it brightens right after mentioning the darkness of the night. A reminder here for us on a daily basis, that no matter how dark things get, no matter how difficult things are. After every dark night there is a rising of the sun.

There's always light, there's always a new day. And this is a reminder one of many in the Quran that serves a psychological framework for the believers for those who worship God, that they are not just worshiping God in terms of rituals, they're given an entire way of life in terms of how to think how to cope, how to deal with the difficulties, that you know, when you go through any hardship, whether you're old or young men, women all around the world, no matter who you are, that you know that when you go through that pain or that hardship, number one, there's a purpose for it. Number two, there's a reward for your patience and number three, no doubt. It is not permanent. It is not a permanent

pain or a permanent trial. And we ask Allah subhanho wa Taala to grant us that hope when we recite the Quran and to extract the sources of optimism that are provided for us Aloma Amin was to pay the US for and another gem here by the way, was to pay the US fell us for meaning brightens or bright or radiant elsewhere in the Quran. Allah subhanaw taala says about the believers on the day of judgment would you who Yo Ma Edie most Pharaoh their faces will be a some faces on that it will be radiant bright meaning with the light of happiness law HCA to Mr. Schirra, they will be laughing with the glad tidings that they were given. And so the one who lives by A by A and the light in this world

meaning the light of the Quran, the light of Allah will experience the light of the Day of Resurrection. We ask Allah subhanaw taala to make us from amongst them Allama Amin and then Allah Subhana Allah continues in

the year old version, this was referring to a previous iron ore in the Surah referring to the Hellfire in the highlighted Kubernetes Iran little Bastion, it is a warning for mankind. It is a warning for mankind. And then Allah subhana wa Tada says, and this is the crux of our hutzpah Lehmann Shah, I mean, come a yatta yatta. So you have a warning from the One who created this universe a warning and as we've discussed in previous hookless, oftentimes people think a warning is a negative thing, you know, a warning is out of love for you so that you don't end up regretting your actions so that you don't end up falling into consequences. And we have many examples like this

in our lives where a father may or may warn his two year old don't go near that fire, that warning is out of love. It's not a negative thing. So it's all about how we frame it, how we think about it. Allah subhanaw taala gives us in the Quran, and he sends to people, prophets and messengers, and we have the final messenger, the final message until the end of times, but she had on one of the glad tidings and also warnings, the warnings are perhaps more useful for the one who needs the warning and the glad tiding is more useful for the one who needs the glad tidings. And at times, you might need a little bit of this and a little bit of that and equilibrium of sorts. In this case, the

discussion was on someone really evil, someone who was plotting against the Prophet sallallahu sallam. And so the discussion was yes, in the context of a warning and the Hellfire is a warning so that we don't end up in the Hellfire we are given out of the Mercy of Allah, all the tools to avoid that. And the wise person is the one who takes the warning seriously. Now the Iran deal, Bashar Lehmann, Sherman comma yatta yatta, for whomever amongst you wants to move forward or move backwards. And so our Hooka is about the direction we're moving in the direction you're moving in the direction that you're choosing to move forward towards or backwards as well. Lee mansha mancom,

whoever amongst you wills. So the first thing we take from this is that you have freewill, you have freewill, it is your responsibility. We cannot old or young, we cannot be blaming parents for the way that they raised us society for the things that they are doing that are immoral or wrong, or friends or peer pressure or tests and trials, we cannot be blaming and shifting the blame to others when it comes to our own decision making. And so the very first step in terms of recognizing where you're at is accepting responsibility for your decisions for your actions that I am choosing to do. So I am doing the wrong thing, or I am doing the right thing. And this is what I need to do to move

forward as a PA Oh, yeah to occur, meaning, what are you sending ahead? And where are you moving towards in terms of deeds and in terms of your life? And we look at different contexts. And I want you to think about how this can be applied in different ways. How do you define moving forward? How do you think about the concept of success? Because many parents the way that they talk, and they teach their children about success, for the most part will determine for those first few years in their lives, what they think is successful or a failure. For example, if someone were to come to the masjid and say, My parents told me if I don't go to medical school, I'm a failure. What does that

mean? That means the definition of success that this father or mother gave to their son or to their daughter, is that if you pursue any other field than you are by definition of failure, is this necessarily true? So this is what they taught their son or their daughter. And this is a common example, by the way, and it's very unfortunate. And so when we think about definitions, it's important for us to think about where these definitions are in terms of hierarchy, the priorities of each definition. Here's an example. A young man, one of the youth in one of the community

He's was bragging about how he like excelled in one video game. So he said, like, I went to the next level, like my stats were higher. So in accordance with a video game that he was playing, he was successful and he moved on to the next level or his stats were raised or his XP went up, whatever it may be, when you're playing a soccer match, for example, you're playing basketball, the way that you will define success. Usually, most people say whoever, whoever scores more points wins, right? So that's success. When you're taking a college exam, you have criteria for success. And so one brother mentioned at the end of the semester, he's posting on social media Hamdulillah, I got a 4.0. I took

21 credits, it was so difficult Praise be to Allah, he's talking about success. And this is a positive thing, and Hamdulillah. And we think, again, about the criteria, the way that you define success depends on the time and the place. And it depends on some reference point. And so when, for example, when a professor gives you a syllabus, or you are the one giving the syllabus to your students, and on the syllabus, there's almost always a section that mentions the criteria to pass the class. For me, this was one of the first things I would look at what do I need to get 100% in this class? What are the things that are required? And so you might have four papers, you have to

write or four research papers, and that's all this class requires nothing else. Imagine that a student saying, You know what, I don't feel like doing that. I'm going to do other things, I'm going to give like random assignments, I'm going to participate in class, but I'm not going to submit the criteria that are required of me to get, let's say, 100%. Now, at the end of the semester, it should not be surprising to that student or to anyone else that they haven't fulfilled the criteria of success. Once again, how are we defining success now with the larger picture of life, because we know with specific examples, like the one I gave, or the ones that I gave, and jobs as well,

sometimes you have job responsibilities, you have projects, you have to meet certain deadlines, you know, what you need to do to succeed at your job. What happens when we take a step back, and we look at the bigger picture of life? What does it mean to be successful and to be moving forward or to be moving backwards, because if you're not fulfilling the criteria for that exam, and the end of the semester is there, and you've moved backwards, you know what you've done wrong, you have a reference point, when it comes to life, and the way we think about our lives and moving forward, and sometimes people become so powerless, so affected by something that they really wanted in a dunya, from a

worldly perspective, and it didn't work out. So they had to take a detour, a different career, different jobs, something didn't work out. And they feel at that point in life, because of all the things they hear from parents or communities, social pressures, social media, movies, TV shows, whatever it may be, in their minds, that thing was their success. And so now they think that young man, that young woman or older as well, they think what's my whole life is of no value, I am a complete failure, who said you're a complete failure. The definition of success in terms of your life comes down to two things in terms of the athlete, that you earn Allah's pleasure and that you

make it to Jana, if you lose everything of this world, and we don't want to, but if you did lose everything of this world, don't feel like it's the end of the world that you are a failure. And in fact, many people when they stumble, or they go through hardships, they find that standing back up and trying again or trying something else, or taking that detour may end up being better for them. Perhaps that's not what was best for you. And that's a topic for a different time. Lehman shirt, I mean, come as a fact them Oh Yatta How would you define moving forward towards Allah subhanaw taala on a daily basis, that you're doing what's required of you. So with the larger definition of life,

and in terms of success, it is to live to the purpose that Allah created you for now at the worldly level, we try our best and we ask Allah subhanho wa taala, to grant us the highest of the best of this life, the good of this life, it may not be in the thing that you desire, or the thing your parents said is successful, or the things that people in society define as success. That's not the definition of success that ultimately matters. That's not the thing that may end up entering you to Jannah. In fact, there may be something that causes you to be misguided. And so sometimes we need to re align how we think about being successful, from a worldly perspective as Muslims, and especially

if we look back, at the time of the companions, you look back later on, you're 750 to 1258. During the so called Islamic Golden Ages, we find that Muslims were advancing in their faith holding on to their faith and at the same time, contributing to worldly fields, worldly sciences, and there's no contradiction between the two. The problem is when you create in your mind a hierarchy that does not start off with the ultimate definition of success, but rather the most important definition of success for you becomes your job, or even relationships, or your wealth or your degree or the brand names that you wear. And later on is your religiosity later on is the purpose of life. And this is

backwards, we ask Allah to protect us from falling into that and this is very common when we're surrounded by rhetoric, dialogue conversations online and

offline and sometimes sometimes, unfortunately, even from one's own parents or community, to think of success in a very limited scope, and to make it a black and white issue that if you don't do this, then you're a failure. And if you do this, then you're successful. And oftentimes parents are praising their children's worldly success, but not commenting on for example, their progress with regards to their athletic, the thing that really matters. Now, why does this matter in terms of the larger definition? If you succeed at everything in this world, may Allah grant us all worldly success in terms of what's best for us? If you gain everything of this world, and you abandon Allah

subhanaw taala, you abandoned the purpose that you were actually created for you abandoned Paradise by your own choice, Lehman shermin? Come it is your choice, then did you really succeed? You've succeeded for 50 or 60 years based on the limited limited time and limited scope of success. But in terms of the eternal success that has no limitations, you've lost that May Allah protect us, whereas the one who's moving forward is moving towards Allah subhana wa Tada. Now, we also take from this area. And he mentioned, I mean, a lot of them are yet to occur, that there's no place in between. On a daily basis, your actions are either contributing to your progress towards Allah, through your

acts of worship through your livelihood, as long as it's intended for Allah sake, through the way you interact with people through your care for your family. All of these things are a reflection of whether you are moving forward or backwards. There really isn't this idea of just staying where you are. Why? Because you have less and less time every day you wake up. And so when you wake up, if the day is not bringing you closer to Allah subhanaw taala, then there's an opportunity cost, then you will last that day and therefore you have moved back. Therefore you have regressed in some way. So which direction are you moving towards? Which direction are you heading towards? We ask Allah

subhanaw taala to keep us moving towards him consistently and constantly. Allahumma Amin, and again, once again, we emphasize Lehmann Sherman calm, whomever amongst you wills. And this is important to keep in mind why? Because oftentimes, when people are going through hardships, they start to link their hardships in worldly success, let's say they struggle with their jobs, relationships, people complaining, not not being married, not having children, so on and so forth. Because people in society and culture will tell them this is the definition of success for you. And oftentimes, for example, I should only Allahu Allah did not have any children. So having children is not the

definition of success. We know this being married is not a definition of success. We have many scholars and many people in the past, it was not decreed for them to be married, although it is a sunnah and you should encourage it. So the way we talk about success, and the way that we shape our minds and our hearts and our actions, and our even cultural practices has to go back to the Quran and the Sunnah. Why? Because if we take the right definition of success, then when we struggle with worldly things, we'll have more strength, we'll have more resilience, we'll be able to overcome the way that we talk about things even culturally, in terms of families, villages, communities will

change if the definition is more accurate. And also, most importantly, we will take more responsibility for the ultimate success, that you're building towards a eternal success using the things that Allah gave you in this world. It is your choice. Do not shift the blame to the way that you were raised to your parents do not shift the blame to society and say everyone is immoral. Society is corrupt. What are you doing with your life? Allah will question you about what you did. Are you moving forward? Even if everyone else is moving backwards? Are you doing the right thing even if your parents are not? And so we ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow us to focus on the

recognition, the acknowledgement of our choices, our freewill, our decisions, and that is the thing that Allah will question you about on the Day of Resurrection. And the next thing Allah subhanaw taala says after this link to it, couldn't do enough sin Bhima cassava Terracina every soul for what you pledged for the thing that you pledged meaning your deeds will be held hostage by it on the Day of Judgment, meaning, you will see the result of your pledge on the day of judgment. And we notice what when it comes to the concept of pledges when it comes to for example, when there's fundraising and then there's a pledge for a masjid like local masjid or Islamic organization. We find that when

we think about pledging we think about something we are giving for something in return. What are you getting in return? For example, when you give sadaqa to a masjid, you know that Allah will bless your wealth, you know that Allah will grant you more you know that you're saving that investment in your afro. So you know, there's a return on investment. There's no way to compare that to any worldly investment to any worldly transaction. You're dealing with a lawsuit Panama. Tada. What about the pledge of your time and your deeds, that I'm spending my time being a righteous person that I'm spending my time in this world doing what's right, that I'm spending my time focusing and

paying attention when I need to so that my heart is in tune with what's best for me. When we think about the pledge that people give with regards to their deeds with regards to their soul, you

We'll find on the Day of Judgment, the return on that investment and that's what you'll find. And so for those who are held back on the Day of Judgment they are detained for reckoning for Hasaan they are detained and this leaves out what the believers this leaves out to the believers so Allah subhanaw taala says in last homily, I mean except for those on the right hand or received their books in the right hands we need the righteous people the believers

the believers situation on that day because they worked hard because the direction they move towards was eternal was lasting was Jana was Allah's pleasure they will find the end result is that they are not going to be detained on that day in law was hardly I mean Fijian nothing yet as a loon and in moody mean masala comfy sofa. So the believers in Jana are talking and they remember some things that happened in this world. And some of the things that will happen in gender are mentioned in the Quran. And so as the people of paradise are talking to one another, we have some conversations mentioned in the Quran between the people of Paradise and the people of the Hellfire May Allah

protect us and our loved ones and make us amongst the people of Jana Allama Amin Fijian Natalia Tessa loon and moody mean, they're asking about the criminals, the people who rejected the message, the people who rejected the truth the people who opposed it's old or young does not matter. Masala confy suffer what caused you to go to hell? What caused you to end up in the hellfire? This is the question that they ask. And one of the scholars said the first idea that is a response to this is the shortest and most painful story we see in the Quran, called Lulu Munna, comida and Mussolini. They said we're not amongst those who prayed. They knew of the obligation. The first thing that is

mentioned is not that they disbelieved is that they did not pray. It is the rights of Allah subhanaw taala upon you that you fulfill the prayers. It is a rite of the crater. So if you claim you are a person of justice, that you fulfill rights, that you don't violate rights, there's no greater rights upon us than the rights of the Creator upon the creation. Hollywood I'm not criminal mousseline. And while the context before this was about an Majidi mean about people of evil, this is a reminder for the believers this is a reminder for us how many Muslims take the salah lightly how many Muslims attend Juma prayer late or they miss it and I'm talking especially pre COVID How many times do we

take it lightly but with job interviews were there on time when it comes to flights were there on time when it comes to other matters. Were there on time, quality when I'm not coming? mousseline? We were not amongst those who prayed. They abandon the prayer. And going back to the very first story chronologically mentioned in the Quran, the story of the bliss and how he disobeyed Allah with one such that one prostration five prayers a day. That's all Allah subhanaw taala is asking of you and the reward is Jana forever, five prayers a day. And we do so out of love we do so because we are in need of it. We do so for many other reasons in terms of servitude and arriba. The the the

prescription for the soul, call Unum la comida and mousseline. And then they said the second thing so there are four things they said very briefly, what I'm not gonna call him when miskeen we did not use to feed the poor. We did not use to take care of those who are poor in society. And I want you to reflect brothers and sisters on two parts of this. The first is direct that you knew someone who was poor, somebody begged you for money, you pass by that red light and you ignored even though you could help and you came up with excuses, maybe this person's drinking alcohol, maybe they're going to do the wrong thing with it. That's not your job. You get the money and you move on you got the

sadaqa you help the person you've done your part, follow laminar criminal mousseline. Well, I'm not gonna put him on Miskin. Another way people do not feed the poor is in terms of the social atmosphere, the social structures that we have, even at the political level. And this is why it is ridiculous for a Muslim to say that politics is separate from Islam. That siesta is not part of the religion. What kind of Muslim looks at society and sees homeless people as these people starving to death and people who don't have access to health care, and they're dying 60 to 70,000 Every year, because they don't have access to health care. And how many 10s of 1000s are dying just in the US?

Because they don't have access to food? And what about the millions around the world? What about the millions around the world who don't have access to food and clean water? What do you mean that politics is separate from Islam? Politics is taken care of people's rights. Politics is the structure that takes care of society that protects the one who is oppressed, that has a criminal justice system, of course, see us as part of Islam, we cannot separate the two in fact, this idea of separating politics. So yes from Islam is a modern phenomenon of those who want to hold on to their power and separate the masses from changing society for the better. And we ask Allah subhanaw taala

to make us wiser than that. There is a responsibility upon all of us to some capacity to some degree, when it comes to the politics that we can influence socially and locally, and yes, politics around the world as well supporting certain policies, foreign policies, and so on and so forth. But what can you do locally? What are things you can do here and now aside from just giving that money directly to the one who is poor, you can also work politically socially volunteer for causes income

panes that change the structures that oppress people, we should not be living in a time in 2021 in which there's a person starving in this world. We should not there is enough money