Tom Facchine – O Muslims Are We Safe From This
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of understanding words of Lord Azza wa Jal and avoiding negative actions. They give examples of students and youth's experiences with the "locks" on the heart and how they should be treated. They stress the importance of giving everything and avoiding suffering until succeeding.
AI: Summary ©
And one of the biggest blessings that you
can have as a Muslim is to understand
the words of your Lord, Azza wa Jal.
The words that He chose.
Because when you're standing behind the Imam in
prayer, you don't know what inspired him to
recite the ayah that he chose.
Maybe Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala is talking
to you.
Maybe He's sending you a message that you
need to hear.
And if we don't understand it, year after
year, decade after decade, then the message is
lost.
Surah Muhammad, the 47th chapter of the Qur
'an has amazing, amazing lessons.
And today we're just going to go over
a few of them, the main points.
One of the main points of Surah Muhammad
is that the believers and the deniers are
not equal.
Those who believe and those who reject faith
are not equal, they're not the same.
Now this might surprise some people, especially in
North America, we're talking about inequality and we
don't mean something bad by it.
The political history of Canada and the United
States is tied up with calls for equality.
We talk about gender equality, we talk about
racial equality, socioeconomic equality.
And those were very important movements and continue
to be important movements when it comes to
righting the wrongs of the past.
However, we have to make a distinction.
We're talking about equality between things that you
can't choose versus equality with things that you
can choose.
If you treat people equally, according to the
choices, no matter the choices that they make,
then this actually is unfair.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells
us in Surah Muhammad that to treat the
believers and the deniers the same would be
profoundly unfair.
And so we have three major ways or
three important ways that those who believe they
are not equal to those who reject.
First Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
treats our deeds differently, our actions.
He says, Subh'anaHu, الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَصَدُّوا عَن
سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَضَلَّ أَعْمَالَهُمْ Those who reject, those
who deny and turn away from Allah's path,
Allah's going to waste their deeds.
A bit later Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la says, وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا فَتَعْسَنْ لَهُمْ وَأَضَلَّ
أَعْمَالَهُمْ Those who reject, those who deny, they
will have misery and He will waste their
deeds.
Meaning their deeds are going to be worth
nothing, absolutely nothing at all.
Why does Allah waste their deeds?
He tells us, He says, ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَرِهُمَا
أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأَحْبَطَ أَعْمَالَهُمْ That's because they didn't
like what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la revealed.
They had distaste for it, they had contempt
for it.
And so as a result, He took their
deeds, worthless.
Allah says that their good deeds are worth
nothing.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to us
in Islam, you know, we talk about niyyah,
we talk about intention.
And we all know the hadith of the
Prophet ﷺ, إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ That every single
deed will be judged and rewarded according to
the intention that was behind it.
Well, what about somebody who doesn't agree that
they have to believe in the afterlife?
What about somebody who rejects Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la, rejects his faith, rejects
revelation, rejects accountability, denies all these things with
full knowledge.
Does that type of person have sincerity with
the things that they do?
Even if they help other people.
I want you now, because this is an
obvious scenario, but every single person in the
room right now, ask yourself.
Is this a quality that's reserved for non
-Muslims alone?
Is this an attitude that is reserved for
people who are non-Muslims?
Or can we fall into it as well?
Is it possible for Muslims to turn other
people away from Islam?
You bet it is.
رَبَّنَا لَا تَجْعَلْنَا فِتْنَةً لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا Is it
possible for Muslims to dislike what Allah Azza
wa Jal sent down?
Unfortunately it is.
We see it all the time.
We have the stores, the corner stores, they're
selling drugs, they're selling alcohol, they're selling lottery
tickets.
Somebody will say, but Allah said this, but
the Prophet ﷺ said that.
And sometimes you will actually hear people say,
I don't care.
Sometimes you'll have a couple that is arguing
or a marriage that's about to happen and
the marriage is against the rules of Islam
or something happening inside the relationship is zulm,
it's oppression.
One of the sides wants to go to
the imam and bring the imam in and
you will hear people say, I don't want
to talk to the imam.
I don't care what he has to say.
Is it possible for Muslims to dislike what
Allah has revealed?
You bet it is.
And that, brothers and sisters, is a type
of kufr.
It's a type of denial.
It's a type of rejection.
And if that describes you, then you need
to be very, very careful that your deeds
are also not made worthless.
So for those who deny their deeds are
worthless and those who believe on the other
hand, Allah says, وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَآمَنُوا
بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَهُوَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَبِّهِمْ
كَفَّرَ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَأَصْلَحَ بَالَهُمْ Those who believe
and those who do righteous deeds and believe
in what has been sent down to Muhammad
and it is the truth from their Lord,
He will remove their misdeeds and amend their
condition.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala implies something important
here.
He knows you're gonna mess up.
He knows you're going to make a mistake.
He knows you're not perfect.
He's already accounted for that.
He's already talking about the bad deeds, the
sins and the mistakes that you haven't even
done yet.
But what does He say about it?
He says, if you believe and you do
good deeds, you try and you believe in
what was sent down, you don't dislike it
in your heart.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala is gonna treat
you the opposite way.
He's going to take away those misdeeds.
Completely opposite treatment.
Those who reject, it doesn't matter what they
do, worthless.
And for those who accept, those who humble
themselves and submit even the bad things, Allah
subhana wa ta'ala will get rid of
them and fix them for you.
Why doesn't He treat them the same?
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا تَبَعُوا الْبَاطِلِ وَأَنَّ الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا تَبَعُوا الْحَقِّ مِن رَبِّهِمْ كَذَلِكَ يَضْرِبُوا اللَّهَ
يَضْرِبُوا اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسَ أَمْثَالَهُمْ That's because those who
disbelieve, they follow their falsehoods and those who
believe, they follow the truth from their Lord.
In that way, Allah subhana wa ta'ala
gives people examples and comparisons.
It was your choice.
It's their choice.
It's everybody's choice and it would not be
just to treat people the same.
We have a lot of students and youth
in the room today.
I always give this example to drive this
point home.
Imagine you come into school, first day of
class, September.
Your teacher tells you, December 21st there's going
to be a test.
Your whole grade is determined on this test
that you're going to take.
Prepare accordingly.
You've got a couple different types of students,
right?
A few students will start getting ready from
that day.
They're going to say, okay, I'm going to
organize my time.
I'm going to break it up.
Okay, this chapter this day and this chapter
this day and I'm going to keep it
so that I'm ready December 22nd or 21st.
I'm ready.
Then you've got the next type of student.
You know, they're going to say, all right,
okay, let me put it in my Google
Calendar.
I'm going to give it a few weeks,
give it a month.
Okay, but then I'll get around to studying.
Then you've got another type of student.
They're going to forget all about it.
They're going to walk in December 21st and
say, what test?
Now imagine this scenario.
Okay, December 22nd comes, everybody's taking their test.
You've got different types of students.
And the teacher says, okay, you know what?
I'm feeling nice today.
Everybody's going to get a hundred.
You've got people who rejected the test.
They denied the test.
They're saying there's no test or they forgot
about it.
Or what students always do, what do they
say?
Maybe if none of us study, then they
won't give us a test.
Wishful thinking.
Are they going to be treated the same
as the people who worked hard every single
day?
This is oppression.
This is oppression to the people who worked.
Oppression to the people who tried.
We think about fairness and we feel sad
for the people who get punished or the
people who suffer a negative consequence.
But we're not thinking about fairness to those
who tried.
Fairness to those who put in the work.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la does
not oppress anybody.
And He will not treat those who believe
equally to those who reject.
That's the first difference between those who believe
and those who deny.
The second difference Allah says, Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la is going to protect
the believers.
And the deniers, well, they don't have any
protection at all.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says,
Oh you who have believed, if you support
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He's
going to support you and plant firm your
feet.
And a few verses later, He says, That's
because Allah Azawajal is protector of the people
who believe.
And the disbelievers, the rejecters, the deniers, they
don't have any protection whatsoever.
Brothers and sisters, can we be cowards when
we know that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la is with us?
If we know that we have a protector
and that protector is perfect and that protector
is more powerful than anything in creation combined,
then where comes cowardice from?
Are we afraid of other people who try
to harm our brothers and sisters?
Or cause problems or mock our deen?
Are we so cowardly that we're just going
to try to fit in and assimilate?
Or are we going to actually give dawah
and invite people to the truth?
We have a protector and those who reject,
do not.
Third and finally, difference between those who believe
and those who deny.
The believer and the denier are not equal
because they have different destinations.
They have different destinies because of the choices
that they made.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says,
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدْخِلُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمْلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ جَنَّاتٍ
جَنَّاتٍ تَجَرِي مِّن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَرُ Certainly, Allah Subh
'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will admit those
who have believed and done righteous deeds into
gardens beneath which rivers flow.
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَتَمَتَعُونَ وَيَأْكُلُونَ كَمَا تَأْكُلُوا الْأَنْعَامُ
وَالنَّارُ مَثْوَى اللَّهُمْ But those who disbelieve, those
who reject, those who deny, they'll enjoy themselves
a little bit.
In this life, they'll eat and graze like
livestock.
But at the end, the fire awaits them.
So, are they equal?
Would it be fair to treat them as
equals?
No way.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says,
أَفَمَنْ كَانَ عَلَى بَيِّنَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِ كَمَا زُيِّنَ
لَهُ سُوءُ عَمَلِهِ وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُ So, is the
one who's on clear guidance from his Lord
the same as the one for whom the
evil of his own deeds has been made
attractive and follows their own desires?
There are certain times when treating people the
same is unfair.
There are certain times when treating people the
same is unjust.
This is one of them.
No, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
will reward the believers and punish the deniers.
They are not equal.
The next main point of Surah Muhammad is
that hypocrisy, nifaq, and denial, kufr, they are
moral failures, not intellectual failures, not cognitive failures.
What's a cognitive failure?
A cognitive failure means you didn't understand.
It means you weren't smart enough to get
it.
If Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
punished people for not getting it, then every
smart person would be in paradise and every
dumb person would be in hellfire.
But that's not the way it works.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says,
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ أَمْعَنَا قُلُوبٍ أَفْطَالُهَا Then don't
they reflect upon the Qur'an or are
there locks upon their hearts?
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la said
hearts.
He didn't say brains.
He didn't say your mind.
He didn't say your intellect, your aqidah.
He didn't use that word.
He talks about locks on your heart.
Look at how Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la describes going astray.
It's not that they weren't smart enough.
He says, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ ارْتَدُوا عَلَىٰ أَدْبَارِهِمْ مِنْ
بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْهُدَىٰ أَلشَّيْطَانُ سَوَّلَ لَهُمْ
وَأَمْلَىٰ لَهُمْ Certainly, those who reverted back to
disbelief after they had been guided, after guidance
had become clear to them, the devil enticed
them and prolonged the hope for them.
ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا لِلَّذِينَ كَرِهُوا مَا نَزَلَ اللَّهُ
سَنُطِيعُكُمْ فِي بَعْدِ الْأَمْرِ وَاللَّهُ يَعْنَمُ إِسْرَارَهُمْ That's
because they said to those who disliked what
Allah sent down, we're going to obey you
in part of this matter.
Yet Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
knows what they conceal.
It has to do with your heart.
It has to do with being attached to
the dunya.
What are you attached to?
What is your heart attached to?
If your heart is attached to the dunya,
the shaitan is going to find it very
easy to entice you.
He's going to find it very easy to
tempt you.
He's going to fill you up with false
hopes and desires and keep you spinning.
And then because you're so attached to these
false hopes, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta
-A'la sends down revelation that goes against
what you're attached to, you're not going to
like it.
You're going to want to resist.
You're going to want to deny.
You're going to want to reinterpret it in
some creative gymnastic way.
You're going to dislike what Allah Subh'anaHu
Wa Ta-A'la sent.
O people of faith, are we safe from
this attitude?
Are you and me, if your name is
Muhammad or Ahmed or Zainab, are you safe
from this attitude?
It doesn't matter what you call yourself.
It doesn't matter what clothes you wear.
Are you safe from this attitude?
Of course not.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells
us that what is Islam?
What is the essence of faith?
It's obedience.
Ya ayyuhal ladheena aaminu, ati'u Allaha wa
ati'u rasoola wa la tubutilu a'malakum.
O you who have believed, obey Allah and
obey the messenger and don't invalidate your deeds.
Don't waste them.
If you want to hold on to your
deeds, if you want them to count for
anything, you have to obey.
You have to submit no matter what you
call yourself or how much you do.
If obedience and submission isn't the foundation of
it all, then it's all worthless.
aqooloo qawli hadha wa astaghfiru Allaha li walakum
wa risaali muslimina min kulli dhan wa fastaghfiruhu
innahu huwa alghafoorun raheem alhamdulillahi
ala ihsani wa shukralahu wa la tawfiqihi wa
imtinani wa asharu an la ilaha illallah wa
ahdahu la sharika lah ta'zeeman li sha
'ni wa asharu anna nabiyana wa sayyidana muhammadan
abduhu wa rasooluhu ad da'i ila ridwani
salallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa ashabihi wa
ikhwani wa salim wa taslimin kathira The next
lesson from Surah Muhammad is that peace without
justice is no peace at all.
So don't be weak, do not weaken and
call for peace while you are superior and
Allah is with you.
And Allah will never deprive you of the
reward of your deeds.
You know I saw something on social media
the other week.
It said that falsehood will call for tolerance
until it has power and then it will
attack all the voices that oppose it.
How true.
Not all peace is actually peace.
Every single Muslim grasps this intuitively.
Palestine, Philistine.
Not all peace is actually peace.
They've been calling it the peace process for
decades.
What peace?
Anybody tries to do anything, you're breaking the
peace process.
You're setting back the peace process.
You want to live, you want to breathe,
you're setting back the peace process.
What peace is this?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says there's no
peace without justice.
If you have the upper hand, Allah tells
the Muslims here in Surah Muhammad and Allah
is with you, then don't stop until justice
is established.
Pursue your goal until the end.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes
to the last lesson of Surah Muhammad.
Don't hold back.
Give it all you've got.
Here you are, Allah says.
Here you are.
Those invited to spend in the cause of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but some of
you are greedy.
Some of you are stingy.
Some of you are holding back.
And whoever holds back, you're only holding yourself
back.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is free
from need.
He's Al-Ghanim.
He doesn't need your help.
But you all are poor.
You are the ones who are poor.
You need to give the help.
For your own soul.
For your own salvation.
Whether it's the masjid or your family or
anything else.
Who needs the help?
You do.
We worry about saving Islam.
Allah will save Islam.
Allah doesn't need you.
You need salvation.
The masjid doesn't need salvation.
The carpets don't need salvation.
The walls don't need salvation.
You need salvation.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us to
not hold back.
To give it everything you've got.
Life is short.
We're here today.
We're gone tomorrow.
Man is just a collection of seconds.
We think that these things are going to
take away from our wealth, take away from
our time.
You're only going to see it after you
die.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us to
give it all that we've got.
There's a poet in English who says, Every
man is guilty of the good he did
not do.
Every man is guilty of the good he
did not do.
And we might also add to that the
good that he prevented.
And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
to guide us in our hearts and accept
our deeds.