Tom Facchine – The Unshakable Courage of Prophet Ibrahim

			As we have entered the Hajj season and we're approaching our second or either either outside, or
thoughts naturally go to the pilgrims that are making their way to Mecca. Right at this very moment.
And our thoughts also naturally go to our Prophet and forefather Ibrahim alayhi salam
		

			Ibrahim alayhi salam has an extremely important status in our faiths as Muslims. Ibrahim alayhi
salam is the standard by which faithfulness can be measured. Allah subhanaw taala said were made out
of a military Ibrahima in them and so he Sufi Hanif sir, well I call this the Fae now who fit dunya
were in who fill it let me know Saudi Hain and whoever finds themselves averse. Whoever finds that
they're not happy with or they're not pleased with the religion of Ibrahim alayhi salam, that person
is making a fool of themselves. And about Ibrahim alayhi salam we had chosen him in this world and
indeed, certainly he in the hereafter will be among the righteous. One could ask what is it about
		

			Ibrahim alayhi salam that made him deserve this lofty status as the standard by which we judge our
own faith, our attitude towards Ibrahim, do we find attracted to his example? Or do we find
ourselves turning away from it? The answer is in the very next verse, Allah subhanaw taala says is
da la hora boo as slim or as slim to lira Bill al Amin. When His lord said to him, as slim submit,
he said and replied, I have already submitted to the Lord of All the Worlds The thing that made him
the standard. Why did Allah subhanho wa Taala choose him was because of his submission and his
immediate sum and total submission to Allah subhanaw taala Allah subhanaw taala also tells us that
		

			Ibrahim alayhi salam was the best in religion. He says Subhana woman asks no dienen min min s lemma
waterhole Illa who are Marcin? Whatever I'm Allah Ibrahim Hanifa what type of Allahu Ibrahim and
kalila who could possibly be better in their religion than someone who submits themselves to Allah
subhanaw taala and they are someone who does good deeds and follows the faith of Ibrahim or they he
Sadam inclining towards truth. And then Allah subhanaw taala says something really special at the
end of that verse. He says, What tackle Allah Who Ibrahima Allah and Allah subhanho wa Taala has
taken Ibrahim alayhi salam, as a close and intimate friend and this is where we get the title of
		

			Ibrahim Khalil Allah, the close friend of Allah subhana wa Tada. Now, if we know that Ibrahim alayhi
salam is close to Allah subhanaw taala and we ourselves want to be close to Allah subhana wa Tada,
then doesn't it follow logically that we should want to be close to Ibrahim alayhi salam, that's
exactly what Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the Quran. He says Who are the people that are closest
to Ibrahim? The people that are closest to Ibrahim alayhi salam are the people of this own mother
Omar of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, ALLAH SubhanA wa Tada says Maracana, Ibrahim Oh yah
hoo, dia will learn us Rania. Well, I can kind of Hanifa Muslim man woman I can. I mean, I'm
		

			Mushrikeen Abraham, he wasn't a Jew, and he wasn't a Christian. In fact, he was someone who was
submitting inclining to the truth, submitting to Allah and he never ever worshipped idols. The
following verse Allah says in olan Naseby Ibrahim levena terbaru will have an Obi Wan levena Ave
wala who Allah you will not mean certainly the people who are most worthy of being tied up or
related to Ibrahim alayhis salam among all of the people past and present are those who follow him
in his submission to Allah. And this prophet, the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and
those who believe in Him the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and Allah azza wa jal is
		

			an ally of those who believe
		

			this connection that we have, and Allah is telling us here, that your connection is not based on
words alone. Your connection is not based off of the title that you give yourself. Anybody can stand
here and say, I claim that I'm close to Ibrahim, I claim that I'm close to the prophets. I claim
that I'm close to righteousness. What does Allah say?
		

			What about all those who follow him? What do your action say? That's how we measure who really is
entitled to call themselves the followers of Ibrahim alayhis salam, and those who are entitled to
count themselves among the righteous. So the connection that we have with Ibrahim alayhi salam has a
certain responsibility that comes along with it. And that responsibility Allah spawns Allah tells us
later in the Quran is about being a witness over people and over our society. Allah subhanaw taala
says what Jaya he didn't feel that he had a jihadi, who had tobacco. While masala is a confit demon,
how Raj militar be calm Ebrahim, who was American and Muslim in I mean, cabello we have Leah Kona
		

			rasuluh Shahid and Ali Khan. What Tacu shahada other nests for our chemo salata wire to the Cata
Wow. Tassimo Billahi. Who am I will come for me I'm millimolar one min na See, Allah says and strive
for Allah with the striving that's appropriate that's due to him. He has chosen you. He has chosen
you and has not placed upon you any unnecessary difficulty when it comes to your religion. This
religion is simply Allah saying the religion of your forefather Abraham. And Allah named you
Muslims. He named you muslims before in previous scriptures, and in this revelation, that so that
the messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam could be a witness over you. And so that you all he's
		

			talking to me and you, everybody who's here today, so that you all could be witnesses over the
people. What should we do then? So established prayer and gives the care and hold fast to Allah
Subhan he is your protector, no one else is going to protect you. He is your protector. And
excellent. Is he as a protector and excellence? Is he as a helper? What do we mean we say bearing
witness or being a witness? Allah subhanaw taala tells us, you can't claim to be close to Ibrahim
alayhi salam, and just sit on your laurels or sit on the couch and watch Netflix it comes with
responsibility. And what's that responsibility you have to be a witness? What does it means to be a
		

			witness? It means standing up for the truth. It means being the voice of morality and being the
voice of righteousness in your society, in your family, even if the whole society is lost in sin.
Even if your family itself your father, your mother, your children, your brothers, your sisters,
your aunts, even if they're all lost in sin. It means standing up for the truth and being a witness
for that truth. Allah subhanaw taala says what is called a Ibrahim Ali abhi he aza.
		

			Now we have a situation here. This happened to Ibrahima, the Sudan. He has to call his own father to
the truth. His father as was not only an idolatry, he made the idols with his own hands. That was
his occupation. And so Allah subhanaw taala tells us a story that he told his father Ibrahim alayhi
salam told his father Azur at a turkey to us Nam and Alia, do you really are you really making these
statues of stone and wood into Gods? In the Araca? We'll call them McAfee ball anymore been? So
Allah says and mentioned Oh Mohamed, when Abraham said to his father, as are, are you really taking
these idols as deities? Certainly I see you and your people to bury them. He separates himself from
		

			these people. I see you and your people in horrible manifest error.
		

			Abraham or incident Salam look at how he is dealing. This is a lesson for us today. He finds himself
in a similar situation as we do today, his whole society is lost in sin, even his family members,
his own father is lost in sin. And so let's pay attention to what Allah subhanaw taala expects from
him. The first thing that he expects from him is to distance himself and disavow and condemn the
wrong things that are going on. We saw it subtly. And how Ibrahim said that he's as cold neck, your
people, meaning they're not my people anymore.
		

			My people is not just the people that I'm born amongst not just my tribe, or my ethnicity or the
color of my skin. It has to do with righteousness. Who's following the truth? Oh, meq this is your
people. They're not my people anymore. But he goes beyond that. Ibrahim, he says, God, Allah Subhana
Allah tells us about Ibrahim, what was his attitude? How did he distinguish himself from the sin
that his people were surrounded in?
		

			Another area another surah Allah says called a candidate for two and a half minutes on vibrato he
		

			will let the no matter who is called Holy Cow me him in Bora. Men come what mean that's gonna mean
doing Allah? Can foreigner become ouabain and our beta Kumala to well above all evidence had taught
me to be law he was, there was already Allah says to us a good example for you. I've already shown
you the way and that way is in Ibrahim alayhi salam and those people who were with him when they
said to their own people who were lost in sin, certainly were far away from you. We got nothing to
do with you guys. We are disassociated from you and whatever you're worshipping besides Allah
subhana wa Tada. We've denied you. And there's going to be, let's say tension. There's going to be
		

			enmity let's just say we're not going to be best friends, between us and you forever. Unless, unless
you turn back from your ways and worship Allah subhanaw taala alone.
		

			The first step is disavow. The first step is condemnation. The first step is speaking up and saying,
Hey, this is wrong. Why is this the first step and why is it so important? Because we have a duty as
the people of Ibrahim Ali he said, to clarify what is true from what is false. The next is Allah
subhanaw taala has us making this throughout rather than Allah Tatiana fit Salah Do you know Cafaro
wokefield Luna Robina indica antillas Ezel Hakeem, our Lord, don't make us a test for the
disbelievers according to one of the interpretations don't make us a test for the disbelievers. And
forgive us our Lord. Indeed, it is you who is the Exalted and mites and the wise. How could we
		

			possibly be a test for the believers? were Muslims were people who believe in Allah, and we pray and
we fast and we give charity, why are we making a dua to Allah, that we not be a test for the
disbelievers. Because if we don't stand up and speak for the truth, the truth and falsehood will not
be distinct. The truth and the falsehood will not be clear. People will be confused. People don't
have any guidance. They don't have the Quran they don't have the prophets have Allahu alayhi wa
sallam. If we don't stand up and say this is right, and this is wrong, the people are just going to
keep on going believing and what they think whatever they inherited, whatever they grew up with.
		

			That's our responsibility to be a witness for the people.
		

			But even disavow disavow is just the first step. Condemnation is the first step. But it's not
enough. We don't stop there. That's not the example that Ibrahim alayhi salam sets for us. There's
one step further, and that is to try to guide people to try to guide people to the truth. Remember
how Ibrahim alayhi salam dealt with his people. He went out and he already knew what he was doing.
But he went out and he looked at the stars. And he said, Oh, I'm gonna take this as my god. It was a
ruse. He knew what he was doing the whole time. But then they went down, and he said, Oh, they can't
be my god, they've gone away. And then the same with the moon. And then the same with the sun. All
		

			of it was an argument to prove to his people to guide them. He said, You cannot take as something to
worship, something which is here today and gone tomorrow, something that is not permanent, something
that is not fixed. And so he's trying to clarify to his people and convince them what was the other
thing that Ibrahim alayhi salam did? All of his people went out to one other crazy celebrations.
Maybe it was a parade, who knows? And he snuck into the room with the idols. And what did he do? He
broke them all. And he tied except for one, he left one, and he tied his instrument has actually
whatever it was, he tied it around the neck of the big one is Ibrahim IRA. He said, I'm just a
		

			troublemaker. is he somebody who's belligerent and disrespectful? No, he's trying to prove a point.
He's trying to get them to think he's trying to make an argument that they have to put two and two
together and come back to the truth. The whole thing comes from Ibrahim's sincerity. He wants to
guide them. It's not enough to just say you guys are wrong. And I'm right. He's trying to bring them
along with him to the truth. And so this is the way of Ibrahima. He said, This is our way. This is
the way of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who compared himself in a hadith to
someone who lit a fire and he said all of you are like mobs throwing yourselves into the fire. And
		

			it's as if I am grabbing on to your your belt, holding you back from throwing yourself into the
fire. That's how sincere the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam was, it was about guidance, not
leaving people alone to destroy themselves in their afterlife trying to guide
		

			people and show them the way.
		

			Is it easy?
		

			No, it's very difficult. It's extremely difficult. And if you look at the story of Ibrahim alayhis,
salam, you see that there's one quality that you absolutely must have if you're going to do this
work, if you're going to stand up and say, this is right and this is wrong, and if you're going to
try to engage in your people and say, I'm going to try to convince you that what I believe in is
right. And that is you have to have courage. You have to be fearless. We see a lost power with Allah
says and he's talking the words of Abraham out and he said, In what case call for
		

			a shock to Walter fauna and come as a shock to him. Billa mellem Yuna Selby, his alikhan soltana for
Al feria Pena hackable me input from Talmud, how should I be afraid of what you have invented what
you've associated in worship, and you're not afraid of Allah
		

			when you're worshiping other things that he never even sent down authority for you to worship, which
of the two of us is more right to feel safe? Which of the two of us is more right to feel unafraid?
Ibrahim on a Sudan was teaching us that if we believe in Allah subhanaw taala that we have
absolutely nothing to fear. This is the path that we're supposed to follow. Allah subhanaw taala
says, Hola. Hola. Lena Had Allah that'd be Hoda whom aka Teddy these are the people the prophets,
the people that we asked Allah subhanaw taala to put us on their path if then I said almost up in
said Alta Lavina and I'm Tyler him. The prophets those are the ones who Allah has guided so take
		

			from their guidance and example and be a guiding light to your people. Just like Ibrahim at a sedan
that colloquially how that was helpful Hola Hola, como se certainly Muslimeen I'm equally them for
stock Pharaoh in the whole of a photo Rahim.
		

			hamdulillah Haryana Sani well sugar Allahu Allah to FIFA. He wasn't in any white shadow and ilaha
illallah wa to hula surely you can a hotel Emily SHINee or shadow and an OB and so he didn't and
Mohammed Abdullah who was ruler who had their you know, elaborate one. So Allahu alayhi wa early he
was happy he was when he was suddenly motors Neiman cathedral.
		

			Brothers and sisters this life is just a test.
		

			Allah subhanaw taala reminds us time and time and time again that this life is just a test. Allah
subhanaw taala he sends you things in your life test after test after test. What's the point? Why
does he do this to us? He is giving us opportunities. He is giving us opportunities to prove
ourselves. He's giving ourselves opportunities to show that we're not just people of talk and talk
is cheap, that we are people who have principles and we are going to live according to these
principles and we are going to call other people to these principles. Are we going to follow His
guidance? Or are we just going to talk about it? This is why Allah subhanaw taala reminds us to
		

			repeat the words of the prophets called in solidarity oneness. Okay, well, Matt here Yeah, well, my
Mattila here, Abdullah Al Amin, say he wants to put it on our tongues every time you read this area.
Certainly my prayer, and my rites of sacrifice and my living and my dying, all of them are for
Allah, Lord of All the Worlds, it all belongs to him. Subhana it doesn't belong to you. Your life is
not yours. Your life is not your mother's or your father's. It belongs to Allah subhanahu wa Tada.
And he wants you to do something very important with it, that will please him.
		

			If you realize this, that it all belongs to Allah, that you are just an instrument that these things
are just tests and that at the end of the day, Allah azza wa jal is in control. This is what gives
you the fearlessness of Ibrahim alayhis salam. This is what gives you the courage and bravery of the
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam. And if you can get this inside of your heart, then you
will not be afraid of anything. Doesn't matter how strong the opposition is, doesn't matter if they
threaten your job or if they threaten your livelihood or if they threaten your safety or if they
threaten your legal status. Allah subhanaw taala is in control. He always was in control, he always
		

			will be in control. The only test is Do you trust him?
		

			Do you trust him? What are the
		

			Due to Ibrahim alayhi salam, they build a fire. A fire bigger than this MSG
		

			towering flames and they gotta catapults to throw him on it he slammed into the fire. And what
happened?
		

			Allah subhanaw taala said to the fire up cool.
		

			And what did Ebro Hemara? He said, say on the way flying through the air on the way to this fire. He
was approached by the angel Jibreel Alehissalaam and Gibreel said Do you need any help?
		

			And Ibrahim alayhi salam He said not from you.
		

			I rely on Allah subhana wa Tada alone and certainly assure enough he gets to the fire the fire is
cold.
		

			It's like someone holds a gun to your head. They click it the chamber is empty.
		

			Someone tries to cut you with a sword and the sword is dough. Allah subhanaw taala is in control.
		

			You're not in control your enemy is not in nitro Allah azza wa jal is in control.
		

			So if you're up against something, let them build their fire.
		

			Let them build their fire as high as they want to.
		

			Allah subhanaw taala will make it cool.
		

			Allah subhanaw taala will put it out. Allah Subhana Allah Allah is in control, and he is the only
true power La hawla wala Quwata illa biLlah