The Coming Harvest

Next in Surah Yunus, Allah azza wa jal reminds us to be grateful.

Who will levy you say you say eurocon Ville very well Baffa Hepta either quantum field fully ki wajah Reiner be him very hidden by ye batin well 30 Hobi Hijjah at her EVO na now so if what mode mean accordingly McCann well no no Homer Hey Bobby him there are a lot more famously unilevel team leader in jet lag and and Jay Turner I mean heavy heel and Conan Lemina shaking a lot as well. Jal centers it is He Who enables you to travel on land and sea until when you are in ships that sail with them by a good wind and they rejoice they're in there comes a squall and the waves come upon them from everywhere and they assume that they are surrounded, praying to Allah sincere to Him in

faith. If you save us from this we will surely be thankful.

Allah subhanahu wata Ana directs our attention to transportation, as he often does one of Allah's miracles, one of his signs that he loves us, that He is merciful toward us is that he made it possible and relatively easy to move around this vast earth. Like Allah azza wa jal says, well out of love for us, Nah, man doing it. And the earth we have spread it out. How excellent is the one who made it smooth.

We get into the car. And we don't even think twice about it. We go to work. We go shopping, we visit relatives, never once do we think, will I make it? Will the road to be impassable? Will there be sinkholes or cliffs that get in my way? No, we don't think that way because the road is flat. You might have to drive up and down a hill or two. But for the most part, it's so flat that you never even think about it. And this isn't just because of our manmade roads. Even before roads existed. Only about 25% of the Earth's land is covered in mountains, most of it is flat. And that's where most humans have traveled and lived for 1000s and 1000s of years. This is a blessing, a blessing so

automatic to us that Allah azza wa jal doesn't bother making his point using our travel on land, he goes right to our travel on water. That's a different story. Not so automatic, a little bit scarier, which is why we have books and movies and television shows about shipwrecks and all the terrifying things that can happen by sea, Allah azza wa jal draws our attention here. What if you were at sea, and a huge storm descended upon you, you would feel scared, you would feel vulnerable, you would experience the awesome power of a loss of Hannah. And in that moment, you would turn toward him in complete submission in complete sincerity, because deep down, you really know he's the only one that

can save you. Not your contacts. Not who you know, not your bank accounts, not your intelligence, not the superstitions that you do in the safety of your own home.

All illusion of any other power other than Allah azza wa jal has vanished. We turned to him. But then what? For alumna and jahaan either whom we have a wound or feel we avoid?

Yeah, you had nurse in lovely inform Allah fusi con Matera I'll hire to dunya thumb Elayna Moto G ro calm. Do not be welcome to tap my moon. But when Allah does save them, immediately they commit injustice upon earth without having any rights to do so. Oh man, unkind, your injustice is only against yourselves.

It's only enjoyment of this worldly life, then to us, you will return and we will inform you of what you used to do. Now this verse is interesting, because the analogy ends a little bit differently than it does in other parts of the Koran. It still has to do with ingratitude. It still shows how people in moments of Christ

ETS can become fully aware of ALLAH SubhanA and feel close enough to him to call out for help. And then when crisis is over, people neglect that relationship and distance themselves from Allah. But in other places in the poor and the emphasis is on worship, people go back to their superstitions, people go back to worshipping other things or not worshipping at all, once that crisis has passed. In this verse, however, Allah subhanho wa Taala emphasizes our justice, or lack thereof of when we are saved from danger. And Allah subhanahu wa ala ties that injustice to how we enjoy or consume the pleasures of this world. Let's add another dimension to what Allah is talking about. Before a very

recently, people didn't just travel the world for fun.

At least not usually, neither were their families so spread out that they would have to travel great distances to visit them. Again, at least not usually what motivated most people to take long trips and face the dangers of traveling over the water was a teacher. commerce, trade business, Allah subhanaw taala actually says this in the Koran and so on. So as Rob Rambo Kamala D use de la kumin photocopy the battery leads habitable minimum funding in naval academy coma Hema, it is your Lord who drives the ship for you through the sea so that you may seek His bounty. Indeed, he is ever to you merciful and so let's uh Makara in a few healthy summer wealthy while they were still laughing

they want to hurry. Well filthy. Let's see it says refill baffling the Malian fountain Ness, indeed, in the creation of the heavens in the earth in the alternation of the day and the night and in the great ships with which sail through the sea, carrying what benefits people.

This relates directly to what Allah is trying to make us understand. We traveled these long distances for our livelihoods. We can even appreciate this in the pandemic. Look at how prices have skyrocketed for imported goods. And some imported goods like computer chips for cars are in short supply. We travel over the sea for a certain quality of life and 99% of the time Allah subhanho wa Taala allows it to go smoothly regardless of whether we are being thankful or not, regardless of whether we are being just with the livelihood that Allah allows us to make from it or not. But then that 1% of the time, Allah subhanho wa Taala throws a wrench in our plans to remind us how dependent

we are upon him.

We can only spare a few passing hours of genuine connection and thanks to our Creator when this happens just in the moment of crisis then we go right back to our heedlessness last and consuming the fun things that Allah Subhana Allah has provided and facilitated for us a pool of only how that was tough in a lot Honeywell a call money certainly mostly men and equally them the best of you in the whole awful rockin.

Hamdulillah he

was talking to he wants in anyway. You know how long black tubular sciatica Lehman they shut me off show and then the Vienna will say it and then we'll hammer then I'll do what to sue as Barry Diller Dhwani so although very early, he was happy he was when he was selling motors Lehman cathedral.

In the next verse, Allah subhanho wa Taala gives us a parable, an example and the parable is directly addressing the situation in the previous day, the spiritual state of heedlessness of ingratitude, and of injustice in nama method hieratic dunya come in and the Navajo Minister Matty farofa Mahina. That's when I'm the mayor to NASA and I'm

the example of this worldly life is but like rain, which

We have sent down from the sky that the plants in the earth absorb from which men in life livestock both eat have either forgotten or those of rooferhow was a unit one and a half all the ruinart, a

Runa, Leyland owner, Helen.

See you then

tell them

until when the Earth has taken on its adornment and is beautified and its people suppose that they have control over it. There comes to our command by night or by day and we make it like a harvest, as if it had not flourished just yesterday, could that eco fasudil Arca call me and affect your own? Thus do We explain in detail signs for people who think

the spiritual malpractice that is going on here is the failure to live for a higher purpose. We travel around we commute by land by seed, and by air now, and Allah subhanahu wa taala makes it easy for us. And we act as if we are entitled to it. We act as if it's a law's obligation upon him to do it for us because we make our money. And then we spend our money without a second thought. Without hesitation. Allah subhanho wa Taala facilitated all of this for us. So that we would stop and think who's responsible for this? Who's responsible for all the beautiful fun things in the world? And our ability to enjoy them? And here's the key. Once we do figure out who is responsible, what do we owe

them?

Not because they need to be repaid. But because we need to stay grateful and appreciative. And it's more than just being thankful in the moment. Right before you consume something, say this Mala? Yes, that's something.

But being truly grateful means making gratitude a part of our plans.

We asked our graduating seniors for example, in high school, what are your plans? Are you going to college? Are you going to trade school? What do you want to major in? What career Do you want to have? What's the type of life that you envision for yourself? We call this your future? Haven't you thought about your future? And there's nothing wrong with this. It shows that we are carefully planning for financial security. But is our future limited to our financial security?

No, we're ignoring the security of our soul after we die. What good will your financial security Do you? When you're down in your grave? Nothing if you did not use that financial security toward spiritual goals. This is our blindness today.

Why aren't we asking our youth? How are you going to contribute to the local machine? How can you use your career to represent Islam in a positive way? How are you going to benefit the ummah?

Why aren't we asking ourselves these questions? those among us who are financially secure? This is something so noble, and so righteous, that we're actually allowed to be envious about it. Yes, you heard that right.

And being someone else's wealth is a sin. It damages the soul. It makes you ungrateful for the blessings that you already have. But if you envy someone else's wealth only because you want to put that wealth to work towards your spiritual goals that envy is not a sin anymore call him a beam some Allah who I think he was son in law has had in life if not attain Roger Boone Tahoe Allahu Malin for suddenly the other halacha TV Phil, Phil happy. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said do not wish to be like anyone else except in two situations. One of them a person who Allah has given them wealth and he spends it righteously.

If you inherited a million dollars tomorrow,

what would you do with it?

A foolish person would spend it all right away. You've got your vacation homes, your cruisers, the so called finer things in life. Even if they thank Allah subhana wa Tala, they say Bismillah when they're having fun, it's still foolish and the way

Just

someone who's a little bit more righteous, and a little bit more intelligence will take what they need for themselves and set aside some of it to do something positive for their community, they'll write the checks for this foundation and for that charity, and people will benefit from their financial support.

If they did this for the sake of Allah subhana, they will have an enormous reward in the afterlife. But there's another level beyond that.

Someone who is even more righteous, and even more intelligent, will try to build something permanent, something that will continue to benefit people long after they're dead and buried.

Our prime example is our men and even our fan, probably Allah who are angry. At the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he bought a well and the dates Porcher around it, he gave away the water for free.

And he also set up the dates orchard so that every single year all the profit from the dates would be split into two halves, one half would be given and charity and the other half would be reinvested back into the business. Then he made that business into a trust so that nobody could ever buy it or sell it. If you go to Medina today, you will find on the property deed is Earth Madhavan a fan His name is there. He has been benefiting the poor for 1400 years.

And there's no reason to expect that it's going to stop our community needs an Earth man, even our fan fund. Because it's not enough to just have a mastery of handling money. This community has done an amazing job raising funds for this new messaging. I've seen communities take 10 years to do what this community has done in to Alhamdulillah Allah has put blessing in it for us. But what good is a mystery no matter how big it is, no matter how new it is. If we can't afford to run programs, if we can't afford to pay staff, if we have to wait until Ramadan to discover whether we can afford the utility bills or not. And that's just the message if we shouldn't want more than MSG because our

community needs more than an STD a day care facility. A school a gym, a health clinic, a cafe Wallah, he, I swear by Allah it can happen here.

It can happen in this community.

If we plan like

if we do not plant like Earth man, we can't do it just by asking for more and more donations. Every Ramadan. We need to gather our resources together and invest in something that's going to bring a return something that will make money for the community and the masjid just like it was man did.

And I know this can work because this is what the other religions are doing. Right now. If you drive down Oneida street, you see the JCC. They have a gym. They run sports camps out of they have a quality daycare facility. How do they do it? They invest. They own property, they collect rent, they own stock, they have people in their community whose only job is to take the donations and to grow them.

We are the only religious group that covers all of its expenses by donations alone.

Until we plan like Earth min, we are going to be stuck worrying about the heating bill every single year. We have to live for a higher purpose and we have to have higher goals. This is the meaning of the parable that Allah azza wa jal made. We can't be be dazzled by the beauty and sweetness of this life, to the point where we think it's going to last forever. The harvest is coming. We need to be ready. Make your money and put it to work for you and your afterlife. Don't go to your grave. Without the peace of mind that you left behind something to benefit your soul. And as a community, we need to take advantage of our moments. We are in a very critical time and we need to be smart. We

can't just pat ourselves on the back once the message is complete. We need to move on to the next task. We need to look 20 years 30 years 50 years down the road.

Very rarely do these opportunities come along. We

We must put ourselves in the best position possible to become sustainable, just like Earth men are the Allah who aren't who did. As the law says at the end of this verse GoDaddy kind of hostile to the economy of the room. Last do we explain in detail the signs for people who think