Tom Facchine – How Envy Destroys Nations

Tom Facchine
AI: Summary ©
The use of "rowley" in the Bible is discussed as a way to indicate a person in a relationship with someone, and it is noted that people may not realize its negative impact on emotions. The importance of being aware of one's jealousy and envy is emphasized, and serving people in one's home and community is emphasized as a way to prevent similar behavior. The speaker also emphasizes the need to be grateful for people's actions and not trusting their own will and influence to heal from jealousy.
AI: Transcript ©
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So, we have حَاسِد and حَاسِد means the

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envier.

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It is اسم فاعل.

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Notice when Allah uses nouns versus when He

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uses verbs.

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When Allah ﷻ uses verbs, it indicates an

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action that someone is doing, but it might

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not be an essential unchanging quality that they

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have.

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Okay?

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When Allah ﷻ uses nouns, it means that

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this is an essential quality that this person

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has.

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It is like جامد.

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It is like ثابت.

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Right?

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So, when Allah ﷻ says حَاسِد, it is

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the envier.

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It is somebody who is gripped with envy.

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Somebody who, envy is a consistent, relentless part

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of what they do.

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They are in the clutches of envy.

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Allah ﷻ could have had us ask for

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protection from many things.

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And a few things are mentioned in Falaq.

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So, He chooses very specific things.

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One of them is this, envy.

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Why envy?

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Why not like murderers?

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Why not like, you know, burglars?

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Why not like, you know, genocide cheerleaders who

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teach at Columbia University?

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I don't know.

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No, He had us ask for protection from

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the envious.

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And it is really interesting because envy, within

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the Qur'an, is, it is almost like

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a medicine.

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It is a sin that leads to many,

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many other types of sins.

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The first story that Allah ﷻ tells us

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in Surah Al-Baqarah is the story of

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Adam ﷺ and Iblis.

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And essentially, the story of Iblis is a

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story of envy and jealousy.

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Why does Iblis reject Allah's commandment?

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Why does Iblis, after having been raised due

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to his own merit to be hanging out

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with the angels, why does he go through

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the fall and become so disgraced, because of

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his envy of Adam ﷺ and the pride

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that he demonstrates in other Surahs, like Surah

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Al-A'raf and other places where he

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says, how can I bow to this one?

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I'm better than him.

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I'm created of fire.

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He's only created from clay, etc., etc.

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Now, the other interesting thing is that why

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do you think after telling the story of

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Adam and Iblis, Adam ﷺ and Iblis, in

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Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah ﷻ goes right to

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the story of Bani Israel and most of

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the Surahs taken up with the story of

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Bani Israel, because Bani Israel is also affected

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with hasad.

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Allah ﷻ says elsewhere in the Qur'an

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that the reason many of the people of

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previous prophetic nations have disbelieved in the Qur

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'an and disbelieved and rejected and denied the

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Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is because they're jealous, is

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because of their envy, that they thought that

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they were special, God's chosen people, children of

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the light, you could say, because God gave

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them revelation and prophets at a certain point

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in history without realizing that the point of

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being given revelation is to follow God's guidance

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whenever and wherever it comes.

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And so if a new prophet or a

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new revelation emerges, I should say a new

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prophet emerges or a new revelation is sent

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down, your relationship with Allah ﷻ is such

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that you follow that guidance, you follow that

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prophet, whether he's from you or not, whether

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it's from your chosen group of people or

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somebody outside.

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But if you are in the clutches of

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jealousy and in the clutches of envy, that

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becomes impossible.

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You can't do it.

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You can't bring yourself to do it.

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You will be prevented from following the truth

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because the jealousy and the envy has wrecked

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your heart.

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And so it's a big deal, which is

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why Allah ﷻ has us, قُلْ وَمِنْ شَرِّي

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حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ You say it.

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Ask Allah ﷻ for protection from the envier

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when they envy.

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Abdullah asked, do you think there is a

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relationship between envy and bigotry?

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Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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The coward and the person who is envious

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at the end of the day is prone

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to this sort of totalitarian streak.

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They can't tolerate any sort of difference.

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And we see that play out over and

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over and over again.

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Yeah.

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Iblis was the first bigot technically.

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And by bigot we mean you're taking characteristics

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that are not chosen, you don't have any

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control over, and you're claiming supremacy based off

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of them.

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So this is Zionism, right?

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Zionism is a specific example of this.

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How can you heal your heart from jealousy?

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There are several ways.

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One of them is to spend time with

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people who are lower than you.

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Spend time with the poor.

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Spend time with those who are injured in

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such a way where it is a debilitating,

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permanent injury, paralyzed people, things like this.

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Spend time in their service.

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Okay?

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Because at the end of the day, jealousy

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is tied to ingratitude.

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And so if we're jealous of somebody else,

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we're not grateful for the ni'ma and the

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ni'm, the blessings that Allah ﷻ has given

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us.

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And the Prophet ﷺ said, make sure that

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you do not look to those people who

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are above you, look to those below you,

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so that you do not belittle Allah's blessings.

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So spending time with people who are worse

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off than you is extremely important.

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Serving, khidmah, is the second thing.

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Serving people, and that could be serving people

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in your home, in your extended family, in

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your neighborhood, at your mosque, whatever it is,

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spending your time in service is one of

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the most important, humbling things that's out there.

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Yes, 100%.

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So Seamus brings up a point that when

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it comes to not being grateful, it's also

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not trusting Allah's qadr and your own naseeb.

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What is your rizq?

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What has Allah decreed for you?

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You're basically saying you're not happy with it.

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Right?

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And this is, I mean, bil munasaba, right?

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Like we're talking about, some sins are like

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meta sins, like sins of the heart, and

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they can trickle down to other sins.

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People who resort to magic, people who resort

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to sorcery and fortune telling and black magic,

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what's the vast majority of people, what are

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they motivated by to do such a thing?

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They're not happy with Allah's decree for them.

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They're not, usually with a relationship or with

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kids or with a job or something like

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that.

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They're not content with what Allah has decreed

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for them and they want more or they

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want different.

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We can also make, sure we make dua.

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Thank you very much.

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I forgot that one.

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Make dua for the one that you're jealous

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for.

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Excellent.

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Very good.

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Abdullah says, is there a healthy kind of

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jealousy?

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Like I wish I was more like so

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and so.

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Yes, the Prophet ﷺ actually said that jealousy

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is permissible with two things.

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With the Quran, right?

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So you're able to be like, man, I

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wish I was a hafidh like that guy.

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I wish I could recite like that guy.

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And with someone who spends wealth in the

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way of Allah, someone who spends wealth in

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a way that Allah likes in charity and

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the like.

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Now you can say, oh, I wish that

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I was wealthy like him so that I

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could spend my money in the way that

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he spends it so that I could help

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the ummah so that I could, you know,

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feed the poor, this sort of thing.

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