Yasir Qadhi – Advice for EPIC’s Newest Hufath – Commencement Speech
AI: Summary ©
The transcript describes the traumatic incident of Sirah's death and the importance of honoring the Prophet's teachings and implementation of their huffal. The interviewer emphasizes the importance of honoring the Prophet's position and being a member of the premier program, which is recognized as the most blessed program in the world. The speaker gives advice to graduates to honor their learning and work with the Quran, stressing the importance of learning and implementing the Quran to achieve their goals. They also give a positive statement about protecting their Islam with the gathering of their huffal.
AI: Summary ©
In the battle of Uhud,
one of the most traumatic incidents of the
Sirah, the Muslims weren't expecting what happened.
70 plus shuhada,
Hamza, the uncle of the Prophet salallahu alaihi
wa sallam,
severely mutilated.
Everybody
was in shock.
They couldn't understand and comprehend at that stage
what had happened.
And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam surveyed
the shuhada.
And
because there were so many bodies,
they could not give
every single person a unique grave. There were
too many to dig.
And so they had to combine 2 or
3 people in every single kabr.
Can you imagine at that time,
despite the shock the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam was in, despite
the heartbreak and tragedy,
When it came time to bury the people,
he paused at every single qadr,
at every single group.
And he
said, which one of these people had memorized
more Quran?
And he was told this one, because began
with him. And then he moved on to
the next batch, same question. Next batch, same
question. Until all of the shuhada of Badr
were buried. They're
already shuhada.
They're already the cream of the crop. They
have made it.
But even in the death of a shahid,
our prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam
wanted to send the message
that not everybody
is the same.
And one of the greatest
criterion that separates
people
in life
and in death
is
memorizing
the Quran.
And therefore, don't be surprised the concept of
hivd of the Quran.
The concept of memorizing the Quran.
It is one of the most
blessed
aspects of our faith. Allah mentions it
explicitly in the Quran.
Allah praises the Quran
as something that is memorized in the chest
of the people who have ilm. Allah literally
mentions the Quran as that which is memorized
in the chest. And our scholars mention, ibn
al Josi and others they mention,
Allah blessed the ummah of the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam to be the only
ummah that memorizes its book. No other ummah
memorizes its book from the time of Adam
alayhis salam until the coming of our Prophet
salallahu alaihi wasallam.
No ummah. And look around you, which ummah
memorizes this book? Which ummah memorizes
6 100 pages
in a language that is foreign to most
of our huffal over here? They don't speak
a word of Arabic. They don't understand
a word of Arabic. And yet miraculously
they have memorized
600 plus pages. More than 6 1,000 ayaats.
And I keep on saying, if this is
not a manifestation
of the miracle that is the Quran, then
what other manifestation is there? This is a
manifestation of the ijal Quran that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala blesses our youth. Some of them
are 8, 9 years old. And they have
memorized the entire book of Allah
And by memorizing it,
they have a Haqq over us. What is
that Haqq? Our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said,
Hadith is in Abu Dawood, and Muslim Imam
Muhammadun Taialisi, and others. Our prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam said,
A part
of showing
honor to Allah,
A part of glorifying
Allah.
You know Dhuljalali, Ijalal.
To show Ijalal
to Allah
is to show
Iqram
to 3 categories.
And one of them hamilal Quran, the one
who carries the Quran.
Our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam literally said,
if you want to honor Allah
then show iqram to the hafid of the
Quran.
So today we are doing the beginning of
our wajib.
This is the least we do to those
that have memorized the Quran. We honor them.
We respect them. And this is something that
the sahaba constantly did. They showed honor and
izzah to those who memorized the Quran. And
1 Umar ibn Khattab radiAllahu an
asked about a certain governor who had appointed
another person who was not known to the
Umar. He said, How could you appoint a
stranger? I don't know him. How could you
do this? The governor said that, Oh, Umar
ibn Khattab, he is a Hafid of the
Quran. He is a Hamid of the Quran.
So, Umr ibn al Khattab said, okay, if
that is the case, then Allah has honored
him. So I will also honor him. Simply
by knowing he's Hafid of the Quran. Armar
ibn Khattab said, You know what? Whatever position
you put him in, I don't mind. Even
if I don't know him, Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has honored him. And And Alhamdulillah Thum
Alhamdulillah, I have said this since I have
moved to this blessed community of epic that
our hivth program is our flagship program. It
is our premier program. It is what makes
epic, epic. It is truly the most blessed
program, and every one of us here, myself
included, we are servants to this program, and
we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for this
program. This program is our flagship bearer program.
It is our role model program. It is
what insha'Allah wa ta'ala will bring barakah to
this masjid and this community. So we must
support it in every single way possible. And
I can go on and on, but time
is limited. I would just conclude with 1
or 2 points. First and foremost,
an honest advice to our hafav, our new
batch of hiv graduates. And I speak to
you as an older brother and somebody who
wants and wishes the best for you.
Remember,
oh her father of the Quran.
Remember
that people might honor you and they should
honor you. But your honor will not come
by the people's honoring you.
Your honor will come with your relationship with
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And that relationship
will be based upon your relationship with the
Quran.
Never be deceived by other people's honoring of
you.
You know, and I know, and every half
of the knows. Just because we memorize the
Quran doesn't make us angels. We know this.
Everyone of us and you know this. Just
because we have the Quran, it is a
blessing from Allah but it is a test
and a trial.
A Hafid is
also mortal, also flesh and blood. And so
my advice and nasiha to you is do
not be deceived
by the honor of the peoples.
And strive to achieve honor from Allah
by honoring the book of Allah.
Allah will honor you if you honor His
book. And honoring His book means
that you never forget what you've memorized. You
constantly recite what you have memorized. You understand
what you have memorized. And that is the
journey you are just beginning. Maybe your parents
and your friends are saying, Masha Allah, you
finished. Let me say to you bluntly, No
Wallahi, you have just begun.
You have just begun because the real journey
is in understanding the Quran and in implementing
it. So honor the book of Allah not
just by reciting it, but also by understanding
it, and then most importantly
by implementing it. So this is my sincere
advice to all of you. And then I
conclude with a hopeful and optimistic
dua. Hopeful and optimistic hadith of our prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam reported in Bukhari and Muslim,
well known hadith in which the Prophet Sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
said to the angels
that go and find those that are doing
dhikr of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the
angels will go to the majalis of dhikr,
and reciting the Quran
is the highest form of majalis of dhikr.
The Quran is dhikr. And so our children
are in majalisuth dhikr every single day. An
epic masjid is one of the bastions of
majalisuth dhikr every single day. So the angels
will come back and they will say to
Allah, we found this gathering that is doing
your dhikr. We found this gathering that is
memorized in the book of Allah. We found
this gathering constantly doing dhikr. And so Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will say, what do they
want? And the angels will say, they want
your rida and forgiveness. They want your pleasure.
And so the Allah will say to the
angels, I'm asking you to bear witness and
testify.
I love all of them, and I have
forgiven
all of them. The angels will say, oh
Allah,
there's one person in that gathering.
He wasn't supposed to be there.
He was not supposed to be there. He
was just passing by and he happened to
sit down.
Allah will say,
the people who gather for my dhikr
They are so blessed
that somebody in their gathering
will never be harmed, will be benefited.
So my dua
and my request
and my humble
tamani and umniya
is that maybe we are not worthy of
that type of barakah and respect. Maybe we
are too sinful.
But because we're in the gathering
of huffal,
because we are
supporting
our huffal,
because we are doing whatever we can to
bring about this hil. Maybe perhaps
we are of those people
Even if we are not worthy, oh Allah.
Even if we have fallen short, oh Allah.
Then we ask and pray and beg of
you that make us of those people because
of the barakah of this gathering, you can
forgive us as well despite our shortcomings. May
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bless our huffal. May
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala protect them. May Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bless the parents of all
they have done. And I completely agree with
our amir sahab. It is really the mothers.
I know because my mother was exactly They
say my father only paid them all this,
but my mother was the one.
It's always the mothers that do it. And
I know this personally. So may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala reward all of you mothers for
doing all that you have done. May Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala bless our community
and continue to remain our flagship program under
Hafiz Sajjad and continue to bring more and
more rafal. And Insha'Allahu Ta'ala, Eptiq is going
to remain a bastion of preserving Islam in
this land.
Masha'Allah. Takbeer.
Takbeer.
Allahu Akbar. Masha'Allah. Most beautiful,
a very measured recitation. May Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala reward you sister Azra. May Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala bless the family, a very joyous
occasion. Masha'Allah. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
make it a source of blessings in their
home.