Tom Facchine – Power & Politics In The Quran #01 King Saul -Talut

Tom Facchine
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The speakers discuss the controversial topic of politics and power in the Quran, highlighting the significance of "monster" titles in the book and the importance of providing one piece of information to help those who fail to do so. They also emphasize the use of Sy effectiveness in the Islamic community and the importance of keeping it in mind. The speakers stress the need for small groups to stay in power and obey the spirit of Allah.

AI: Summary ©

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			Thank you all for welcoming me into the
		
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			wonderful community of Lehigh Valley. It's been a
		
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			treat.
		
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			Very honored and privileged to be here. I
		
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			was asked what I would like to
		
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			as a theme, to ex expound upon,
		
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			and I chose the most controversial,
		
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			unsettling theme possible,
		
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			politics and power in the Quran.
		
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			And so this is a a a and
		
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			a large amount of trust that I've been
		
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			given by,
		
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			by the sheikh and by the, administration of
		
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			the masjid, so I appreciate that. And I've
		
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			been told we have a hard stop at
		
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			45 minutes, so I'll make sure not to
		
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			go over.
		
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			Alright. You guys are still awake.
		
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			That's good.
		
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			Every generation
		
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			and every nation
		
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			has to return to the Quran and the
		
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			sunnah and the salif and the works of
		
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			our scholars and our scholarly tradition
		
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			in order to not reinvent the wheel, but
		
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			to apply
		
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			what we have in our tradition
		
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			to the things that are going on in
		
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			their time and in their area.
		
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			Right? To to make it applicable
		
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			so that we understand how to move. And
		
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			if there's one thing that we've reflected on
		
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			in the past 5 months, perhaps with everything
		
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			that's going on in Fiddlesteen and Gaza, may
		
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			Allah
		
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			free our brothers and sisters and give them
		
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			victory.
		
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			It is that we need to go back
		
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			to understand
		
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			something about,
		
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			yes, politics and power from the Quran. So
		
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			without taking up too much time,
		
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			should should I be standing somewhere else? That's
		
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			good.
		
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			I'd like to draw your attention to the
		
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			second half of Surah Al Baqarah tonight where
		
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			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells the story
		
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			of Tawlut, who is known,
		
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			in English as Saul.
		
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			Now in just 2 pages of the Quran,
		
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			Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
		
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			packs lessons
		
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			about politics and power into this story. I'm
		
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			gonna try to hit on just 4 of
		
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			them,
		
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			time permitting, Insha'Allah.
		
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			The one thing that's really interesting so the
		
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			setup here is that this is Bani Israel
		
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			post Musa, alayhi salaam. Right? They've been taken
		
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			out of Egypt. They have this sort of
		
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			cycle where they're given prophets, and they are
		
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			sort of trying to fulfill what Allah, subhanahu
		
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			wa ta'ala, wants of them. Now there's a
		
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			people that's in a situation
		
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			where where basically they find themselves having been
		
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			wronged and oppressed,
		
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			and they ask their prophet that is with
		
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			them for some type of leader. They're basically
		
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			saying, hey, we really wish that we could
		
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			fight in the way of Allah. We really
		
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			wish that we could put ourselves out there
		
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			and sacrifice.
		
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			And the only thing that we're missing is
		
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			a leader. Sound familiar?
		
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			Alright. They're looking for a savior.
		
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			And
		
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			the prophet that's with them warns them. He
		
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			says, okay,
		
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			but if you get a leader, are you
		
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			really gonna fight? Are you really gonna uphold
		
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			what you said you were going to do?
		
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			And they, of course, they swear up and
		
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			down, like, yes, of course we will. And
		
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			actually they start to indicate by pointing to
		
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			the motivation that they have and how they're
		
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			on the right side of history that we've
		
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			been turned out from our homes. We've been
		
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			oppressed, us and our children,
		
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			as almost a proof to say, look. All
		
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			we're missing is this one piece.
		
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			Just provide for us this one piece and
		
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			we will do what Allah wants and we'll
		
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			fight and it'll be glorious.
		
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			Now, of course, what happens
		
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			is that they're given that one piece. They're
		
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			given their leader,
		
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			and they turn away except for a few
		
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			of them.
		
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			And so we see here that, you know,
		
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			as we go through the Quran, especially the
		
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			first
		
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			10ajza,
		
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			and Allah will talk in Surah Al Imran
		
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			about situations where you're truly oppressed with no
		
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			power whatsoever, and in that situation you're not
		
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			blameworthy.
		
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			Right? But here is a situation where
		
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			they have the capacity,
		
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			they have the motive and the motivation, they
		
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			have everything on their side, they're on the
		
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			side of truth and yet
		
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			they fail.
		
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			They fail because of their cowardice, because of
		
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			their hypocrisy.
		
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			And this is the height. This is peak
		
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			humiliation.
		
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			So
		
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			one reflection that we have on this is,
		
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			subhanAllah,
		
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			we live, alhamdulillah, we live in a country
		
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			where we have a lot of freedoms,
		
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			and we have the ability
		
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			to, to organize ourselves and to organize our
		
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			money and to organize our action and do
		
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			certain things. There's people living in Egypt or
		
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			in Jordan or in other places, Saudi Arabia,
		
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			that wish that they had the political freedoms
		
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			that we have here in the United States.
		
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			So if we're in a situation where we're
		
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			a 100%,
		
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			our hands are tied and we can't do
		
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			anything, okay, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is rafur
		
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			Rahim, forgive us and he'll understand.
		
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			But
		
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			if we're not doing everything that we can
		
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			to help our brothers and sisters, all the
		
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			means that we have available to us, then
		
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			what does that say about you and me?
		
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			What does that say about us? What does
		
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			that say about the state of our hearts?
		
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			Are we too attached to the dunya that
		
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			we're not exhausting
		
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			our legitimate means tying our camels, so to
		
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			speak, and taking the means that Allah Subhanahu
		
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			Wa Ta'ala provided? May Allah guide us to
		
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			what he loves.
		
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			The second lesson from this is that what's
		
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			the type of leader that they're granted? They're
		
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			granted tallut.
		
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			Okay? Now Talut is not the type of
		
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			leader that they expected.
		
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			He's not rich. And this is, I think,
		
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			very important for us because
		
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			especially in a society that's very materialistic
		
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			and very consumer based like the United States,
		
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			a lot of times we associate
		
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			money with power.
		
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			And this is actually the same mistake
		
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			that they make. They they look at Talut,
		
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			he's got, he's strong, he's smart, but doesn't
		
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			have a lot of money.
		
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			And so they're basically like, this guy's gonna
		
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			be our leader? He's not rich. Where's his
		
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			Maserati?
		
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			Where's his Bugatti?
		
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			Where's his, you know, his swimming pool? Where's
		
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			his mansion in the suburbs? He doesn't have
		
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			it. And the thing that Allah shows them
		
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			through this is that you're looking for the
		
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			wrong things.
		
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			Right? Power is not in money alone,
		
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			and we've seen this. We've seen this because
		
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			in the United States of America, generally speaking,
		
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			the Muslim community is not extremely poor. Not
		
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			to say that there aren't pockets of us
		
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			that are poor or struggle with this sort
		
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			of thing, of course. But overall,
		
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			we've got funds.
		
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			Look at the wonderful facilities we have. Look
		
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			at the programs we're able to do. Okay.
		
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			So
		
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			if that's not where power is, then where
		
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			is power?
		
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			Power is in sacrifice. Power is in discipline.
		
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			Power is in organization,
		
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			and we'll see this in a sec. 2
		
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			quick final lessons, and then we'll get back
		
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			to the salah.
		
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			The next thing that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
		
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			brings your attention to in the story is
		
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			the Tabut.
		
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			Okay? It's the Ark of the Covenant.
		
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			And it's almost kind of it's usually a
		
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			part of the story that we skip over
		
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			because we're like, okay. That's cool, but I
		
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			don't really get the significance of it. This
		
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			was something that they used to, Benny Israel,
		
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			used to carry around from battle to battle
		
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			and it was a symbol.
		
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			Right?
		
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			Symbols are really important,
		
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			especially in a struggle, especially if you are
		
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			trying to accomplish something, because symbols remind you
		
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			of your purpose.
		
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			Symbols help you make sense of everything and
		
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			what everything means.
		
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			Okay? So for them to have the tavut,
		
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			to have these sort of this ark of
		
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			the covenant that holds the Torah in it,
		
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			carrying around wherever they go, it's a constant
		
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			reminder
		
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			that they are fighting in the way of
		
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			Allah, that they're doing Allah's work, that they
		
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			have Allah on their side, that Allah graced
		
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			them with revelation.
		
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			Now if you look at the last 5
		
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			months and all the jockeying that's been going
		
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			on, right, you see how symbolism is extremely
		
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			important. Everybody wants to fight over what does
		
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			it mean.
		
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			Okay?
		
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			Is this a religious struggle? Are we pleasing
		
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			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is this a secular
		
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			nationalist struggle? Is this this type of struggle?
		
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			Is it that type of struggle?
		
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			Symbolism is very important,
		
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			and it's very important to make sure that
		
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			you keep your purpose in sight so that
		
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			you don't forget why you're doing what you're
		
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			doing in the first place. And the last
		
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			point, and we'll close with this.
		
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			By the way, you know, Sami Hamdi used
		
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			to you know, he he promised that he
		
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			he doesn't do that on purpose. He said,
		
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			I'll close with this and then 30 more
		
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			minutes. No. No. They're really gonna close with
		
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			this very, very short.
		
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			Is on the next page,
		
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			when we have a sort of Talut and
		
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			his army, they're marching, and this is the
		
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			well known part of the story.
		
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			He wants to separate the wheat from the
		
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			chaff, as we say in English. He wants
		
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			to make sure
		
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			that only the most disciplined and motivated and
		
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			purposeful
		
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			fighters stay with him, that power is not
		
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			a numbers game, and we get this confused
		
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			sometimes. We think that we need to have
		
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			so many people. We say, oh, we're just
		
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			1%
		
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			of the population
		
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			in America. What can we do?
		
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			That has nothing to do with it. If
		
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			you have a small group of disciplined people,
		
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			if you have a small group of people
		
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			who are motivated by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
		
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			and they understand
		
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			and they're able to sacrifice,
		
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			so Thadud brings his army
		
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			across, and they're thirsty. They haven't maybe drank
		
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			water for a long time, and they pass
		
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			by a spring or by a river. And
		
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			he says the only people who are gonna
		
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			stay with me are the people who don't
		
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			drink anything or they only take a handful.
		
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			And so
		
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			most of the soldiers can't handle it. Most
		
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			of the soldiers, they, you know, they pig
		
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			out. They go crazy. They they're so thirsty
		
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			that they just start guzzling water.
		
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			And so
		
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			the materialist mind
		
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			would be afraid to say, how am I
		
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			gonna leave all these people behind? We're gonna
		
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			get whooped.
		
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			But no, Fouloud understands how Allah subhanahu wa
		
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			ta'ala works and he understands justice, and he
		
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			understands a just cause. And so he says,
		
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			no. You guys are gonna stay behind. I'd
		
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			rather take a crack squad of disciplined believers
		
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			that are ready to sacrifice, that know that
		
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			Allah
		
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			is in control
		
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			over anything than to try to just chase
		
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			numbers and get as many people as possible.
		
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			And sure enough, when it comes time for
		
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			the battle,
		
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			even those even that group of small, hardened
		
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			soldiers that are sort of ready to sacrifice
		
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			and understand their purpose,
		
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			they're still wavering. They're still in doubt. They're
		
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			saying, are we really gonna do it? And
		
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			Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reassures them and the
		
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			ulama among them reassure them how many times
		
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			has a small band defeated a larger band
		
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			by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's permission.
		
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			Then Allah
		
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			is in control. So when it comes to
		
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			our communities, both here locally in Lehigh Valley
		
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			and us larger across North America and the
		
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			United States,
		
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			don't worry about being
		
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			a small minority. Don't worry about being 1%,
		
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			or don't worry about, hey, I'm just one
		
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			person. Yeah. Change starts with 1 person.
		
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			Every ummah started with a prophet, and a
		
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			prophet was just one person. And look at
		
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			what change was was able to be had
		
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			because of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala's tawfiq.
		
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			If we obey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we
		
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			rely on him and we obey him as
		
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			he, as he commands. And Allah subhanahu wa
		
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			ta'ala knows best.