Yasir Khan – Weekly Seerah Session The Year of Grief The End of Makkan Phase
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AI: Transcript ©
Inshallah, we're gonna continue with the seerah of
the prophet
and we're coming to basically the end
of the Maqan phase.
As we know the Maqan phase is,
a phase filled with torture,
a phase filled with oppression,
and a face filled with,
you know, the prophet
really establishing the foundations of Islam. And it's
very important for us to recognize and focus
on the Maqan phase.
Why?
Because really today when we look at our
situation today,
we realize something very,
you know,
similar to what has happened at that time
and what is happening,
today all over the world as well. Sometimes
we may read
some surahs, some ayats,
some asira or hadith, and we think it
has no application to what's happening today. But
it's actually very very similar
to all that is occurring in the world
today. And one of those things is that
in, you know, in the Makkan phase, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala
revealed.
He revealed Surah Al Fil. He revealed
Why is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sending a,
surah that talks about what Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has done with the people of the
elephants?
And when we realize,
we actually see not only at the Makkan
phase, but even today,
this has so much relevance because what is
the surah, in essence, talking about?
We might think that, okay,
and incident happened all the way at the
birth,
year of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
and, you know, it's a good incident and
that's it. It's just a story. But, actually,
it's extremely applicable to today.
I'm not gonna get into the details of
it and I'm not going to mention
every single thing specifically, but if you start
to think about it, you will put the
puzzle pieces yourself together.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, when he sends this
surah,
you know, he says
he doesn't use past tense, rather he uses
future tense. He doesn't say
Rather Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
Right? He doesn't say He says He doesn't
use the past tense, he use the future
tense. Why is it that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is talking about a story that has
occurred already,
something that has been done already, and he's
using future tense and he's using,
you know, something that is occurring again and
again.
Well, because, you know, whenever this is used,
a future tense, it basically goes to show
us that this type of incident is gonna
happen again and again. And when we look
at what happened with
what happened in the whole story,
we will realize that actually the same incident
happened multiple times throughout history and in fact,
it is happening today.
What was Azhab ul Fil? Azhab ul Fil
was basically
Abraha,
who was the governor or the president of
Yemen, you could say, at the time.
And he wanted to establish himself politically.
He wanted to establish himself
economically.
He wanted to make Yemen
the place of economic
development.
And so he built this huge church
to bring the traffic
of Makkah, to bring the traffic of Hajj
all to Yemen.
And now he wanted to do that. However,
the people are gonna go to the Kaaba,
nobody is going to come to this big
church that he built.
So he needed an excuse,
and the excuse he used is that, okay,
one person came and he defecated, did number
2 over there. Even if somebody did that,
although never something like that should be done,
even if he did that, one person's doing
does not require you to go and kill
the whole entire nation,
to go and kill multiple tribes, to go
and, you know, destroy a place of worship,
but it was actually just used as an
excuse.
It was used as an excuse
to go and to invade,
to go and to destroy.
So he used that as an excuse,
and now
another thing we learned is that he's gonna
bully. It's a strong developed nation.
They have a lot of military power. They
have a lot of military equipment to show,
and at that time, you could make the
equivalency of a elephant to an F 16
fighter jet or something like that. And so
they have all these elephants, and they have
all this strength, and they have all this
power, and they're trying to go and destroy
a comb that has nothing
that has nothing. And so the concept of
a bully nation, a concept of an unjust
nation, a concept of an oppressive nation
going
to destroy a nation after they found or
made up an excuse for themselves is what
the story of
is. And we might think that, okay, today
the imams have read
with a big, you know, high tone and
a low tone and a squeaky voice and
a deep voice. But for us, it's to
learn what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala trying
to communicate to us. What is Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala communicating to the people of Makkah
at that time and what is he communicating
to the people of Irving in Texas today?
To the people of Mecca at that time
is that, yes, this Quraysh,
they have strength over you, they have power
over you, and they're trying to all come
over you and attack you and oppress you
and, you know, all of that. But remember
that somebody else in the past tried to
do that and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, destroyed
them, such destruction that they became a lesson
for the mankind.
That was to the people of Makkah.
To the people of Irving,
to us what is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
saying? That don't worry, this is a repetitive
thing that a nation is gonna come, they're
going to oppress, they're going to bully, they're
going to have strength, they're going to have
power, but you need to have your strength
and you need to have your faith and
your strength in your faith and know that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will respond.
Know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will respond.
So this surah is revealed at that time
that do do you not see what Allah
has done to the people of the elephant?
And subhanAllah,
Allah
is showing that, you know, why is he
bringing the people of the elephant? This whole
story is about Abraha.
This surah should be called Surah to Abraha.
This should be called Ashabu Abraha, the people
of Abraha. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes
no zikr of him to show that this
person is so irrelevant
that we're not even going to talk about
him.
Right? But it was him as a tyrant,
as an oppressor,
as an in you know, a a advocate
of injustice who's coming to do this and
Allah is saying, listen to something, learn something
from this.
Right? Allah subhanahu wa taala is telling us
what did he do to them.
Allah subhanahu wa taala did not did he
not make
their is almost like a plan that's a
secret plan. Right? Did he make that did
he not make that go to waste? When
we look today,
how was
the plan of
the field secret?
Can somebody answer how was that secret? How
was that hidden? How was it?
In fact, when Abraha was leaving, he made
a public announcement.
Said, guys, we're gonna go destroy the Kaaba.
He didn't make it a secret. He didn't
go on a secret mission or see send
secret spies. He got a strong 60,000 army
and he got the f sixteens of the
time, the elephants and all of that. And
anybody who went, you know, on the way,
he did informed that this is what we're
doing and anybody's gonna fight us, we're gonna
fight you back.
So how is Allah
making this, you know, a ked? How is
he wasting this secret? How is this secret
in any way?
Well, it's to show that actually this is
what they claim.
We're going
to destroy the Kaaba, nothing else. We're destroying
the Kaaba. But what were they actually doing?
The secret plan was not that. It wasn't
that. It was to
basically bring back the religious significance to the
church
that Abraha has built in Yemen, to bring
back the economic development
to Yemen that he strove for, to bring
back political power and strength
to Abraha himself. That was the goal.
So you see sometimes people will put something
out there that this is what we're going
for. But in reality, what are they doing?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said that
Did we not make their plan go completely
to waste?
Right? So
over here, again, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
saying that this is what's happening to them.
What's shown over here? Which country helped?
Which tribe helped?
Which person helped?
Nobody.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has army in the
skies.
He does not need to use people. He
does not need to use nations. He does
not need to use anyone. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala can use whoever, however he wants. And
so what happened?
At this time, Allah
uses what? Uses birds.
Something we consider so insignificant for destruction.
We realize
later on in Sira is going to come
the Ghazwah Al Hazab.
All of the nations got together to go
and destroy Islam and Madinah. What did Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala use over there?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala used
he used such wind that the tents and
the the the pots and the pans and
everything was flying in the Quraysh are like,
we gotta run away.
What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala use in,
the story of Nuh alayhi salaam?
He used a flood.
And so Allah does not really need anyone.
It's just Allah is giving you a chance.
Are you going to stand up to injustice
or not? Are you going to do your
fair share or not? Right? Allah does not
say that, oh, don't you see that tribe
tried to help, that person tried to help?
None of that is
used. Right?
What is the process?
What is the strategic plan? Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has a plan. And that that is
that he he is sending
these rocks such in a such way that
when they go into this side of the
head, they come out from the back.
Right?
What's
is like a wind. Right? But is basically
when you see the wind coming, you see
the leaves on the tree, the leaves fall,
the leaves turn
dry and withers away and then the camel
or the animals go to eat it. And
then whatever is the remainder that falls from
the mouth of the camel or the mouth
of the animal, that's
That's what Allah has made them into.
He turned them into this.
That's what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does. And
so all of this is revealed at the
time of Makkah because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
wants to strengthen the faith of the believers
at this time to show them that, hey,
guys, don't lose faith.
Allah has an army. Allah knows about the
oppressor. Allah knows what they're doing and Allah
has a plan of how he will take
care of them. And that is how Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is strengthening our faith
to understand the seerah, to understand the context
of the surah, to know
that how today in the world can we
look at the world and understand it with
a Quranic worldview to understand that Allah
will destroy the oppressors. Allah
will help the believers. Allah
will preserve his faith.
Right? People will try.
They want to,
you know, destroy
Right? They want to go and extinguish
the religion of Allah, the Noor of Allah,
the light of Islam, but Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will perfect it.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala would light it up
with it even more. And so we see
this from the context
of Makkah.
I wanted to speak about that. Although last
week we have left off in Isra wal
Mi'raj,
and we we we we we emphasize the
point that Allah will never let you suffer
so much that you will be left out
there to dry.
Anytime hardship comes on you,
there will definitely be an ease coming to
you. I was just speaking to brother Pasha
as well that sometimes hardship comes on us.
Sometimes hardship comes on us just because Allah
wants us to get closer.
And so sometimes a hardship can come in
a disguise of what? In a disguise of
a,
of a blessing.
Should I mention your story?
No?
So
masha'Allah put him through a test.
Allah put him through a test. The very
you know, after after hearing the the the
incident that he's went through, it was a
pretty severe test. It it puts you in
grief. It puts you in all of that.
But after you go to the point where
you exhausted all your efforts, there's nobody there
to help.
Right? There's no escape for us. There's no
way for us to go to except to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. When we reach that
point, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends his help.
And we see this continuously with the prophet
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He's going to
the most severest point in his life, and
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will immediately send some
help. And so we need to bring this
to our life because when we are at
the weakest point,
don't give up. Don't think it's done. Don't
think it's all done. That is the you
know, it's like when you're picking up, you
know, weights.
You're picking up weights. What professional trainers will
tell you is if you're picking up, the
first 10 times you're picking up, you know,
it's nice and easy. But then
you start to go to, like, you know,
let's say you're doing 50 times. The 51
time, the 52 times, even though you did
50 times before,
what will really build your muscles
I'm teaching you guys, you know, how to
work out. What will really teach you guys
what will really build your muscles is actually
that time where your hands are about to
break and you're picking up at that time,
those last few moments
are more beneficial
and are more strengthening for your muscles than
the 50 times that you did before.
And so you might be going through a
test and masha Allah you're passing and you're
good and you're good and you're good. And
now a time comes where it's just so
hard.
It's at that time when you show strength
that will give you a certain level in
iman
that all those easy times that you went
through you were not able to get.
It's at that time when you're at the
brink of giving up, you're at the brink
of dying, you're at the brink of all
of those things, that will develop
more of your faith than perhaps
you doing all that you did in 10
years.
All that you've done in 10 years. And
the reason why I'm bringing this up is
to show that look, Allah has never ever
left anybody out there to dry.
Yunus alaihis salaam, even if he's in the
stomach of a whale, he's at the like,
come on. Can you imagine anything more severe
than that? But Allah brought him and why
he was that? Who has the highest level
of iman, the ambiya?
Why? Because they've gone through the hardest level
of pain.
Ibrahim alayhis salaam, what was the hardest level
of pain that he was going through? When
he was throw up not pain, but a
test. Although he said that that was probably
the best 40 days. Right? But what was
in test in in his in terms of
test, what was it? It was that time.
So when it comes to the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam, what was the hardest moment
of his life?
According to the hadith of Aisha
the hardest moment of his life was Ta'if.
Right? Why? Because everybody's rejecting and rejecting and
now he's kicked out and there's kind of
like no hope.
And now he finally comes. Do you see?
Now although the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
his iman is strong, his faith in Allah
we talked about his faith in Allah from
the du'a when in which when he was
returning back from
from Ta'if and he's like, Allah
I'm complaining to you of the weakness of
my strength. And the full on du'a. We
realized the level of his iman at that
time. On the way back, he's praying tahajjud.
He has the level of iman. He has
the trust in Allah. He has all of
these different things.
But despite that,
Allah
wants to give him the usra because that
is the promise of Allah. That is the
promise of Allah. Even though the promise of
Allah,
you could say, mashaAllah, he's still strong. He
can still go. Even then Allah is giving
him the usra and the usra is Isra
wal Mi'raj.
Isra wal Mi'raj where the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam is leading all the prophets in
Bayt al Maqdis and Masjid al Aqsa, leading
them in salah to strengthen his faith that,
yes, you are doing something great.
To go all the way to the different
skies in which he's meeting the prophet Adam
alayhi salaam in the first, you know, sky
and he's crying and he's affirming his
that, yes, you are the final prophet. And
he's going and, you know, it it goes
to show the symbolism over here, it goes
to show Adam alayhi salaam, he was the
first person to be in Jannah, and then
he was kicked out of Jannah, he was
taken out of Jannah, and eventually he was
brought back in.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to tell the
prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, you're in Makkah,
you might have to leave,
but Allah will bring you back. Don't worry.
Then when it comes to Isa, alayhis salaam
and Yahia, alayhis salaam, in the second level,
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to show the
type of torture that these two faced from
their own people. Yahia, alayhis salaam, was slaughtered
by his own people.
Right? And Isa alayhi salam will come back
as an of the prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam,
strengthening the faith of the prophet, salallahu alayhi
wasalam.
In the 3rd,
in the 3rd sky, he's meeting Yusuf alayhi
salam. And it's to show that who are
the people who did the most harm to
Yusuf alayhi salaam. It was his own immediate
family
to show that, yes, you have Abu Lahab
who's jealous.
Right? Abu Jahal is like, why can't I
be the prophet? Why do you say you're
the prophet? Right? Abu Jahal is like, why
does it have to be from Banu Hashim?
Why can't it be from our tribe? And
so what was with Yusuf alaihi salam's brothers?
Why the why is he more loved? Why
is he more this? Why is he more
that? To show the symbolism that, yes, you
have this as well.
Idris alaihis salaam in the 4th sky. We
don't know much about Idris alaihis salaam. The
only thing we know from the Quran is
that he was a pious servant of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right? And then we see
Musa alayhis salaam, and we see,
Harun alayhis salaam, and then the 6th guy
was Musa alayhis salaam, both of them to
show that both of their people,
they originally hated them and fought them and
oppressed them, and eventually they came back.
Right? And then lastly, he meets Ibrahim alayhis
salam because that is his obviously, even Adam
alayhis salam is his relative but that is
the closest connection that he has.
The Habibullah, the one who spoke to Allah,
all of that. And Ibrahim alayhis salaam is
there in Baytul Ma'amur. Baytul Ma'amur is almost
like the equivalent of the Kaaba in the
world. There's a place over there where the
angels are doing tawaf. Ibrahim alayhis salaam is
sitting over there. And as he's going, every
single prophet
is telling him that, yes,
you are the prophet, giving him the strength,
giving him the, you know, the affirmation
that, yes, please stay strong.
And he goes and there's a long history
of him seeing Jannah and the, you know,
all the people who will be enjoying in
Jannah and seeing Umar radhiallahu on whose palace
and all of that. Him seeing Jahannam and
even seeing the guard of Jahannam Malik. And
he says, like, do you ever smile? He's
like, he's never smiled.
He's never smiled. Right? And he's seeing that
and he's seeing the different people who are
getting tortured, the people who are gonna be
backbiting, the people who are gonna be doing
zina, the people who are going to be,
you know, making up stuff about other people,
false testimonies, and and prophet
is seeing all of that. And then we
know some of the major things that that
happened in the journey of Isra wal Mi'raj.
One is the 5 times salah. We know
that it was 50 times, and when he
told Musa alayhi salam, it went back and
forth and back and forth to the point
that it came to a total of
5th a total of 5 times. And that's
why some scholars say that when you add
it up actually, when you add up our
all of our faraids
17 and then you add up all of
the sunnah 12 times and then you add
up the tahajjud of the prophet,
8 rakas, and you add up all of
these, it comes exactly to 50. Right? So
we kind of make up for that, but
khair, it was reduced to us to the
5 time salawat as well. And then, the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, of course, when he
comes back,
what happens now? Do you think the people
will just believe him? And this is now
another thing. You see something, you know something,
you're truthful, and other people are like, nope.
You're not truthful. You're not this, you're not
that. By the way, also, I forget that
one part of the Quran that has been
gifted to the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam
at outside of this world is the last
2 ayats of Surah Baqarah.
Right? The last 2 ayats of Surah Baqarah,
and that's why we really need to bring
surah those ayats into our daily recitation of
morning, evening because those ayats are extremely special.
And so then the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
comes back and now what happens?
Do you think now everybody is just going
to accept?
Do you think now people will be happy
with him? Do you think now people will
be like, okay, now we believe in you?
Nope.
Remember what we said. There's a common pattern.
There's an up, there's a down. There's a
up, there's a down. And so we saw
that down was Ta'if. Allah
took him to the Usur. Now when he
comes back, it's the usr again, it's hardship
again. And insha'Allah, we'll pick up from this
part, but the minimum we learn is that,
look, when the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam
went through the deep pains of ta'if, he
did not stop his effort. And he went
through the highest level that a human can
reach in Isra wal Mi'raad, he did not
stop his efforts. So whatever situation we're in,
we're happy, we're sad, we're prosperous, we're struggling,
whatever it may be, we have a mission
in this world. And that is Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala's pleasure. And that is to connect
people to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that
is to establish the values of Islam in
our lives and by extension in the whole
world. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give us
the ability to understand and to implement and
to propagate.