Yasir Qadhi – Advice for EPIC’s Newest Hufath – Commencement Speech

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.