Yasir Khan – Seerah Session
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AI: Transcript ©
Especially we see what's going on outside. We
see in the media. We see the morals
of the Muslim going down. And subhanAllah,
as Alir radiAllahu anhu would say that if
Allah
saves
1 person through you, it is better for
you than this entire world. Right? So it's
a great moment for us to welcome somebody
to our family. So inshallah, we should,
you know, be honored by this moment and
inshallah,
after he takes his shahada, all the brothers
are requested to greet him, say salaam. And
I know we have our today.
We will delay that a little bit. We'll
shore in it at the end. So I
hope you guys don't miss that, but we
will say salaam to our brother and, then
we will continue to see rahalaqa.
So brother Isaiah here, he was, praying earlier
with us, and we know we know brother
noticed him and I noticed him, and so
we started talking to him right now for
a little bit and, you know, just asking
him some questions.
Brother Isaiah has been learning about Islam since
August.
And right now, we just gave him a
short brief explanation
of what Islam is, you know, to believe
in the oneness of Allah, to believe in
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He
was sent as a messenger to all of
mankind
along with all of the prophets and messengers
that came prior to him to deliver the
message of Tawhid. So he said that he
he feels ready. He wants to accept Islam,
he wants to take that step and and
become a Muslim. So inshallah,
I'm gonna ask you to to repeat after
me. We're gonna do it in Arabic and
then we'll do it in English as well.
Okay?
Say
And Mahalu is his last and final message.
It's his last and final messenger. Takbir.
Takbir.
We could come and, congratulate our brother Isaiah.
Subhanallah, you see the sire of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
it was nothing but all converts. People who
just accepted Islam. It wasn't like many of
the people were born into Islam, but it
was people just like him. And we ask
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow brother Isaiah
to stay steadfast on this deen.
And all of you could play a role
in making sure that he stays by making
sure you guys,
in, you know, exchange your phone numbers to
be there for him beyond this hug. He
should it should not just be limited to
this hug, but it should be your help
should be there beyond this hug, inshallah.
The most hugs you're gonna get in your
life.
Enjoy them.
Yes.
It was a great, memory
to have this and see.
When you read the seer of the Prophet
you actually realize that everybody was a convert.
And you realize when they used to accept
Islam,
what type of happiness used to be on
the face of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, what type of happiness, you know, different
peoples Islam brought to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. For instance, when Hamzah radiallahu alaihi
wa sallam, who accepted Islam,
the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was in such
joy that you cannot imagine.
Why? Because today, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave
hidayah
to his blessed uncle.
Right? And so, Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam had
concern for every single believer.
Right? And that's why these moments for us
are very important.
But one thing that's extremely important is that,
you know, when you see
from the Sira that when somebody accepted Islam,
it wasn't just like takbir and hugs and
that's it. It went beyond that. And one
thing it went beyond that too is that
it was constant help,
constant,
you know, even before you accepted Islam actually,
like we know the story of Udar Al
Ghaffari radiallahu anhu.
When he went to Makkah to find out
about Islam,
Ali radhiallahu anhu, who was a young kid
at the time,
he hosted him for 3 days.
For 3 days, come, sit in my house,
eat, sleep, everything.
Did not even ask him why you're here.
Did not even ask him who you are,
what you're doing or anything like that. But
it was after those 3 days that he
asked, what are you doing here? What's your
purpose? And then he said that, you know,
I'm interested in Islam. And he started to
show take him to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam and accept. So, you know, subhanAllah,
the greetings and the hugs and everything that
we do for new converts today,
up to that much was done for, like,
not even
a Muslim at that time.
So what is our duty after somebody becomes
a Muslim?
Our duty is to help them, to ease
the process for them,
not to overwhelm them, To take their number
and tell them that you're ever in need,
let me know. I'm here for you. Right?
Sometimes they you know one thing, subhanallah,
you know, the the Muslims like to do
is they like to go and advise and
teach.
So sometimes you have 30 people coming and
advising do this, do this, do this, do
this. You don't actually realize
how
overwhelmed the person feels.
Realize that, you know, in the seerah also,
Insha'Allah, we're going to learn that when a
person accepts Islam,
he's choosing a whole different lifestyle.
He has to leave his father, he has
to leave his mother, he has to leave
his old ways of life, he cannot eat
what he used to eat before, he cannot
sometimes even live with the same people that
he used to live before with. And it's
an extremely
overwhelming period of time,
and that's the time that we need to
be there for for these people, and to
be able to help them, to be able
to support them, to be able to direct
them to the right people. You might not
be able to teach them by yourself, but
maybe what you can do is connect them
to somebody who can. That's why, alhamdulillah, when
somebody usually converts, I connect them with Yusuf,
because we know Yusuf accepted Islam, and now
he's studying in the madrasah. This is his
2nd year. He's gone through the process.
He knows what it feels like
to be on the other side. Unfortunately, most
of us, we don't know what it feels
like. And so we might not realize that
what we're doing to them might push them
away. So it's important to realize that. This
is also from the seerah of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam
that when you see a situation
and it's time to teach the companions through
that situation
that we teach through them. Right? I'll give
you another example. I was gonna go to
Sira, but I guess for the consistency we'll
keep it a lecture, InshaAllah, we'll go on
to Sira next week. But
just to give you a few pointers about
Shahadah, I was in New Jersey,
that's my hometown,
about a few months ago,
and one brother wanted to accept Islam,
and one of the board members wanted to
help him. So he took the mic and
he went to the stage to give him
Shahada,
and you know, before he ex you know,
told him to say repeat after me or
anything, he asked him the question. He said,
why do you want to why do you
want to accept Islam?
And immediately the person who was trying to
give the shahada, he was like, woah. Why
are you interrogating me? Why are you asking
me questions? He felt kind
of attacked,
kind of felt targeted.
And then the whole masjid, the masjid is
packed. Right? Felt helpless, like what do we
do? It's the guy is like, you know,
like you're interrogating. I don't I don't wanna
talk to you anymore. And so now the
person's Shahadah is at risk, and some people
are like, man, this is embarrassing.
So a few people who knew they're like,
Sheikh, you go and just take him out
of the situation or do something. And I
went and I took the mic, and I
simply told him, listen. Repeat after me.
And I just said,
and
the English translation, and I said, you're a
Muslim. That's it. That's enough.
As far as why you want to accept
Islam and what's gonna be your name and
what's gonna be your, you know, like, all
of that stuff.
Trust me, it took you all these years
to come for 2 times to the Masjid
for salah, and you want this guy to
become like Abu Bakr and Omar radhiyallahu as
soon as they become Muslims?
You have to understand
that even the companions being in the company
of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, it
took them years decades
to come to certain level of iman.
To come to a level where they were
able to take what the prophet said
and said that that's it took them time.
And so it's extremely important for us to
learn these few things. And the reason why
I wanna focus on this is every single
person in this room
should know how to give a shahada.
You have
no purpose
of being in America
except as an ambassador
of deen.
Yes. You may work. Yes. You may do
whatever you want, but you are an ambassador.
And the minimum an ambassador needs to know
is how to give shahada.
Somebody comes to you in your job and
your this and your that, you don't need
to go all the way for a sheikh.
You don't need to wait because you don't
know if the person's gonna live till tomorrow.
The basic idea
of explaining the very basic principles of Islam
and how to give the Shahadah,
that every single person needs to know.
And then afterwards, even to teach them the
very basics, you should know that. But if
you can't, then in that point, you could
come connect us connect them to the students
of knowledge, connect them to madrasah, connect them
to a share, connect them to the masjid,
connect them to all of that, and let
them grow like that. But the minimum is
that much. And then the second thing I
will emphasize is once they're Muslims,
it is now your responsibility.
You know when the prophet salallahu alaihi wa
sallam moved to Madinah,
what was the first thing he did?
What was the first thing that he did?
First thing he did was build a Masjid.
Okay. Alhamdulillah, we have a Masjid. What's the
second thing that he did? He did what
was called
is he basically partnered 1 ansari with 1
muhajir
and made them into brothers.
And the reason for that is because the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam knew
that these people have left their homes and
their wealth and their families and everything,
and they came over here, now they need
that support.
They need to be taken care of.
And so he put them together
and they became brothers and sisters and they
were helping each other out through the process.
Now of course, the akham of that and
everything of who inherit and who doesn't, all
that change over the time, but the concept
of creating that brother
brotherly relationship
to help each other,
right, to be there for each other,
that doesn't end with one hug.
That doesn't just end quickly and done. Right?
Like, subhanallah, yes. Today, masha Allah, everybody hug
this brother. Tomorrow when this brother is going
to be in a situation,
how many numbers is he gonna have in
order to call?
Not many.
Tomorrow when he comes and he says that,
hey, I'm in this situation. Who's going to
be ready to take care of him?
So this is also as we study the
seerah of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
I want everybody to pay attention to how
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam took care
of his companions
when they accepted Islam,
and how the other companions took care of
each other when they accepted Islam.
Right? So this is also part it's a
seerah lesson. Yes. We're not going chronologically,
but it's a seerah lesson.
Can I just cover one small story of
the seerah?
Right. This is one. So now the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam being in the age
of around 13, 14,
what happens? The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
as we know, he used to live with
who?
He used to live with Abu Talib, his
uncle.
Abu Talib, as we know, he was the
custodian of the Kaaba,
but and he was, masha'Allah,
a very respected,
honorable
man.
He had a lot of kids, but he
didn't have so much wealth.
In fact, he took a lot of debt
from Abbas radiAllahu anhu.
Right? He took a lot of debt from
him. And so now, when the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam when Abu Talib, when he's
taking care of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, The prophet salallahu alaihi wasallam reaches the
age around 13, 14,
and he realizes
that this uncle of mine is taking care
of me. He doesn't he's not doing so
well financially,
I need to do something.
And at that time he gets up, I
need to look for a job.
He doesn't look at what type of job,
I need to, you know, get an IT
job or I need to get that. Whatever
job he's able to get, he get. And
what is that job? He became a shepherd.
He started to graze other people's cattle,
other people's sheep and goats.
And subhanAllah,
he used to get very
small amount of money for that, but he
did not feel embarrassed to take that job
Because he did not wanna be a freeloader.
He did not want to just sit at
Abu Talib's house and just eat for free,
sleep for free, everything. No. He said I'm
gonna help out. In fact, he said, you
know what? I'll take care of one of
your sons to his Abu Talib, to his
uncle. And he started to take care of
Ali radhiallahu anhu as well.
Right? So the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
subhanAllah,
he used to go and he used to
graze sheep and, you know, subhanAllah, prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam said that not a single
prophet came
except that he was a shepherd.
Not a single prophet came except that he
was a shepherd. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has put so much hikma in this. Because
a person who is a shepherd, he's out
in the forest, out in the mountains.
He's busy he's away from the busy life
of the city,
and he's able to ponder over the creation
of Allah. He's able to seek. Let me
ask you a question. When was the last
time one of you guys saw a star?
When was the last time one of you
saw a star?
Subhanallah, these are the creations of Allah that
we're supposed to look at.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has named Surah after
these creations.
We're supposed to look, reflect,
and as we see it's supposed to increase
our iman.
And so the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
is able to be in this environment where
he's able to look at the creation of
Allah. He's secluded from the busy life of
this dunya,
and he's
able to think. The second thing is taking
care of sheep. Subhanallah. It's not an easy
task,
like taking care of madrasa kids.
Right?
It's very hard. You go too hard, the
sheep breaks down. You go too lenient, they
go away. What do you do?
Right? You see when you go to a
farm, usually if you go to a cow
farm, they will have those, you know, metal
pieces that if a cow goes, it will
give it a small current and the cow
will come back. But you can't do that
for a sheep. You could do it to
a cow because it will, you know, alert
the cow and the cow will come back.
But a sheep, if it does that, the
sheep will be on the floor.
It won't be able to move after that.
So you can't go too hard, and at
the same time, if you go too soft,
so it's gonna go the other way. Right?
So what do you do? You have to
learn to be so soft.
And that's why you see the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
knew to be soft.
But at the same time, he knew, okay,
there's boundaries, you can't cross the boundaries.
He knew that he can't pick up look,
as a sheep, you always a a shepherd,
you always have to be alert.
You can't be like, I'm gonna go to
sleep. Next thing you know, your whole flock
is gone.
Right? So you have to be alert.
And these are all different dimensions that's straining
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam to take
care of the ummah.
These are all things that the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam is doing to take care
of the ummah. Then we also realize that
the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam later on
mentions that he was a shepherd. Some some
guys were passing by. The Prophet salallahu alayhi
wa sallam is like, hey, you know, you
guys should give this specific plan to your
to your sheep and goats. They're like, how
do you know about sheep and goats? He's
like, I used to graze them for so
and so family in the Banusad.
I used to graze them for a few
pennies, for a few darahim.
Right?
Like, oh, really? Prophet says yes. He's not
embarrassed to take ownership of his humble beginning.
Yes. I used to work in a small
little factory. Now I'm a CEO of this
company.
No. He's not thinking like, oh, now I'm
this big, gray personality and people are coming
to me. No. He remembered his past.
And he remembered that it's okay to start.
And subhanAllah, last thing I'll end off with
is that
you see,
even if you have a very humble job,
but you do it with trust,
you do it with honesty, and you do
it good with excellence,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is gonna change that
to more and more opportunities.
And that's what happened when the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam did so well in being
a shepherd,
this
gave him the opportunity
of
not only becoming a businessman,
but also getting married to the person who
trusted him because of this.
Right? So Insha Allah, we're gonna cover once
we get to that part, but just as
I said, even if it's a small job,
even if it's something very humbling,
even if it's something very minute,
do it with honesty,
do it with trust, and do it with
excellence.
If you do that, it will give you
other opportunities,
and it will allow you to get raised
in the ranks.
Even if you have the highest job, you're
the executive of the company, but you don't
have trustworthiness,
you don't have truthfulness,
you don't do excellence in your job, you're
gonna come down.
So we see this in the life of
the prophet as
a 13, 14 year old boy, subhanallah.
This is not somebody who went to Harvard
Executive Business class.
13, 14 year old kid. And so also
we should try to teach our kids these
small small things of responsibility.
Right? SubhanAllah
like sometimes they're 25 and they still don't
know how to shop for themselves.
Right?
Why? Because the parents spoil them so much.
So even if your child is small,
you could maybe give them an allowance.
Tell them, okay, you buy this. Let's see
how you do this. Let's do this. Let's
give them these small small projects,
and let them work with it, and always
emphasize in those small projects.
Emphasize
emphasize,
emphasize these
quantities
that the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam had.
And subhanallah, I guarantee that your child
will learn more from this than what he
could learn in an MBA course.
I know somebody
I'm not gonna name the organization, but I
know somebody who is the
very high position, one of the executive positions.
Right?
And of a big organization,
he did not go there through this degree
and that degree and this and that. He
went there through hard work,
through being trustworthy,
and through being
truthful.
Because of these qualities,
this person
got and got and went through the ladder
that somebody else could not have gone through
even with all the degrees.
So these are all qualities that we see
that we need to start to instill into
our kids from very young age. May Allah
allow us to understand the life of the
prophet
and allow us to implement the sunnah of
the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam.