Zakariyya Harnekar – Lecture 02032018
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AI: Transcript ©
And alhamdulillah, it is in great honor for
me to introduce our guest speaker for today.
It is, Nannan Lalandyoung Amolane Zakaria Anikar.
He is one of the graduates of,
Darul Olam Al Arabiya
in Strand
as well as one of the teachers and
the lecturers there as well and also one
of the Khatib at Hitfil
Majid as well inshallah.
I think you further see what we can
give after the lecture inshallah. So without further
ado, we call upon Molina Zakaria.
How's everyone today?
Alhamdulillah.
We start off as we always start
by saying Alhamdulillah.
Praising Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, thanking Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala
with the divine words that he taught us
of Alhamdulillah.
Its meaning comprises of 2 parts.
1 is that of praise
and the other is that of gratitude.
We praise Allah
and we say
purely because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the
one to whom that praises due.
I always like to give the example of
a Ferrari and I say it all the
time.
You may see a Ferrari driving past and
you say, oh, wow. What a nice car.
You praise the car. The car didn't do
anything for you. Maybe it doesn't belong to
you. You probably never even gonna get to
drive in the car.
But because you see it as something that's
praiseworthy, you praise it. So in reality, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is the only one to
whom true praises due.
Thereafter, for all the bounties
and niyam that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has
bestowed upon us, we say alhamdulillah for that
as well.
If you were to try and count the
favors of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you would
never be able to do so. Thereafter, we
send salawat and salaam upon our beloved Nabi
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
For it is through him that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala taught us how to traverse through
this journey of the dunya to attain the
good abode in the year after.
That we may journey through this life
and we may attain Jannah in the next
life.
That all our pleasures will be met there.
All of our desires will be fulfilled there.
And Allah
chose this guidance to come through our beloved
Nabi Muhammad
So we start by saying,
Thereafter, into our topic for this week,
you know, thinking of a Jumwa topic is
always something tricky you have to take into
mind the audience who will be listening.
And you hope that the Nasiha will be
pertinent to those that are listening because Nasiha
isn't just me preparing a lecture and coming
to stand here and convey some words to
you. No.
It's supposed to be that a message gets
passed from my heart to the heart, my
heart to the hearts of those that are
listening.
That perhaps Allah
may confer
through that his blessings upon me and upon
everyone else and those who listen as well.
And so I reflected throughout the week what
to speak about.
And one reflection that your mind
is that oftentimes,
for us as youth I'm still very young.
I know that things said senior lecturer. There's
no way I'm a senior lecturer. I'm very
young.
Alhamdulillah.
But one reflection that came to mind is
that we as youth oftentimes
view piety
as something distant from ourselves.
We view being a a chosen slave of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala as something that's distant
from us, that's something that's not for us.
Not only the youth, but in general, people
view it as, you know, something specific to
those people with long beards and big turbans
that sit and make, dikr the entire day.
And oftentimes,
this misconception that we have, it creates within
us a despondence.
It makes us think that we cannot ever
achieve that state of being close to Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, of being the friend of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
But Islam,
our beautiful way of life, is not a
way of life of despondence.
It's not a way of life
of giving up hope.
It's not a way of life where I'm
merely to think little of myself at every
moment in time. While, yes, I may think
little of myself because of my own shortcomings,
but it's not a deen that lets me
linger there and languish in that, despondence. No.
It's a deen where my hope is connected
to my belief in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So I thought that, you know, addressing a
jama'ah that comprises largely of youth,
I wouldn't do my, what I'd normally do
in choosing a a topic and having some
facts
and presenting a topical jumwa.
I thought to share with the Jamah today
some
kisos
or some
real life narrations
of people that lived within this ummah
who will be examples for us
for the for time in memorial
of how we should place our hope in
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And so I perused through some books.
Of the great scholar,
Ibn Khudama al Maqdisin.
Therein, they mentioned
some stories, real stories, true stories
about some of the uliya of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. And you would be amazed
to read what is,
kept in those books.
What gems and jewels are hidden therein to
give us guidance and to inspire us with
hope.
And to give stories, this is from the
sunnah of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. We find
the Quran replete
with stories, divine stories that are given to
us to inspire us with hope, to console
us,
to make us journey through our weaknesses,
to overcome them with hope in Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala.
And so the first one
that I thought to share is that
of
the Tawba of Malik
bindinar.
Some may know the name, others may not.
Those who know the name know Malik bin
dinar as a very pious person.
1 of the uliya of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
But in the account
that ibn Qudamah gives of Malik bin dinar,
he says that Malik
listen to the story. I want you to,
to be attentive now. Malik,
he says
that he was a policeman,
But he wasn't a very good policeman.
He was a drunkard as well.
To that, people know him as a Wali
of Allah.
But Manik was a policeman, not a very
good policeman. He was given to drinking. He
was a drunkard. He used to drink wine
and become intoxicated.
And he was into the niceties of this
world, and so he he had a slave
girl, a very one that he valued very
much.
He thought her very beautiful.
He got a
daughter from this female slave of his,
and he loved this young girl very much.
He says, as she grew a little bit
older and she started cruel crawling, her love
for him increased
to an indescribable amount of love that he
had for her.
And what she would do is whenever you
put some intoxicating drink, some wine in front
of him, she would try and pull him
try and pull him away from that drink.
And at times, the drink would spill on
his clothing.
But still, he loved her.
At the age of 2 years old, that
daughter was taken away from him, and she
passed away.
Marek bin dinar mentions that 1 year,
on
On the in the night on the middle
of shaban which we know to be a
night of,
blessings from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
At a time when he should have been
performing his Aisha Salah, he says I became
intoxicated with drinking and I was knocked out
because of the drink.
I didn't perform Aisha Salah.
Look how bad he is. Alhamdulillah, sometimes we
still try to perform our salah. Most of
us aren't as bad as,
you know, people that drink alcohol.
But look at this man's state. He was
a drunkard on the night of Nuswam in
Shaba. And he says it was a night
of Friday as well. Laylatul Jumu'ah as well.
He found himself intoxicated to the point that
he was knocked out.
He drank so much wine that he fell
unconscious. He didn't perform aisha surah.
He says, in that sleep, he had a
dream.
And in this dream,
he saw that the trumpet was blown
for the day of Kiama.
He saw that the graves were being upturned.
He saw that everybody were was being gathered
on the plains of Kiama.
And he was amongst those people that were
being gathered.
Then all of a sudden, he heard a
snake behind him.
And out of fear, he started running away
from the snake. He said, the snake was
was so huge that you cannot imagine how
huge the snake was.
And it was started rushing at him, smitherening
towards him with its mouth open.
In a state of fear, he ran away
he ran away from the snake.
Who wouldn't fear a huge snake trying to
attack him, attack him?
He ran and he ran.
He said, as he was running, he came
by a pious looking man.
A old man that looked very pious.
And he asked the old man, old man,
please save me from the snake.
If you save me, then may Allah save
you.
The old man said,
I'm too weak to help you. That snake
will overpower me. I can do nothing for
you.
When he realized that he wasn't going to
get help, then he carried on running. He
says he ran and he ran until he
came to a cliff.
And on that upon that cliff, he overlooked
the pits of Jahannam.
He said, he could see all of the
terrors of Jahannam.
The fire burning people.
People's brains being burned because of of the
heat of the sandals that they wore.
But then he heard a cry from behind
him saying, oh, Malek, don't proceed. You are
not from its people. You are not from
the people of Jahannam.
When is he hearing this?
In a state of being knocked out from
drinking alcohol.
A voice calls out you aren't from the
people of Jahannam.
So he turns around and he runs back,
and he passes by the old man again.
The snake is still chasing him.
You ask the old man again, please please
help me. The old man says, I the
pious looking old man says, I can't help
you.
I'm too weak.
But he says to him, there's a mountain.
Go to that mountain.
You may find something in store to help
you over there.
So Marek, he says he turns, and he
sees 2 peaks of silver, mountains but made
of silver.
On that mountain, there are domes made of
pearls
that have silk coverings
covering the front of the domes.
And each of these domes have in front
of them pillars of red gold that are
barring anyone from entry.
He then runs towards the mountain
trying to seek help.
And as he approaches,
he hears a voice calling out,
open up your gates. Lift the veils.
Someone is coming for help. Perhaps there is
something in this mountain, in the stores of
this mountain that can help him.
The doors of the mountain open. This is
all happening in the dream of this wali
of Allah.
And outrashes
a
wave after wave of, of children.
The children rush out of this mountain. And
amongst the children that rush out, he sees
his little daughter there.
And his daughter calls out, wallahi abi. By
Allah, this is my father.
She then takes his
right hand with her left hand,
and she stretches out her right hand towards
the snake,
and the snake runs away.
The snake slithers away.
Malik is perplexed. He's
amazed what's happening.
How is this happening?
So his daughter makes him sit down, and
she sits in his lap, and she starts
playing with his beard.
And she tells her father,
Has the time not come
for those who believe for their hearts to
crumble out of the fear of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala. Has the time not come?
SubhanAllah.
Marek is is amazed. He asked his daughter,
do you know the Quran? She died when
she was 2 years old. She tells him,
yes.
We know the Quran. We know it better
than you.
To cut the story a bit short as
I want to convey to you another one,
She asked he asks his daughter
what was happening over there? Who is the
old man? What was the snake? Why are
you all in this mountain?
She tells him that snake that was so
huge, that was your bad deed that you
were feeding and you were feeding and you
were strengthening all the while.
That old man, he was representative
of your good deeds that you starved and
so he was to help you.
And we, the children in this mountain,
we are placed here
waiting for our parents to come on the
day of Kiyama that we may intercede on
their behalf,
that we may try to bail them out
from the punishment.
Immediately, Malik
wakes up. He wakes up from his from
his sleep.
And he realizes at that moment,
now is the time for me to turn
back. Not tomorrow. Now.
So he turns back to Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. That drunkard person who was, you know,
for lack of a better word, he was
babalas.
And he just woke up from that. In
that state, he turned back to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Then he became known as people know him
today as Malik bin dinar, the wali of
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
A similar story is narrated of a person
who's called Bishop Ibnu Harith or Bishr al
Hafi. Bishr was also a drunkard. He he
was a person who lived a lavish life.
And it's mentioned by, Ibn Qudama in this
book as well, Kitabutaw Wahbim, that one day,
Bishr was busy in his house having a
party with some of his slave girls, and
he was drinking some alcohol over there.
Some pious man came to knock on the
door.
Some old man came to knock on the
door, and he asked
Because,
Bishop didn't come to the door himself.
A slave girl of his was supposed to
run an errand for him. She came to
the door.
So the old man asked her, is the
owner of this house a slave or free
man?
She told him, of course, he's a free
man.
He then told him, you are the old
man told the slave girl, you are right.
For if he was a slave, you would
have feared his lord.
The old man then went away.
And as the
slave girl returned,
Bishop asked her what took what, you know,
delayed you. She then told him, old man
came and he had this strange conversation with
me. Bishop had no shoes on at the
time.
But he wanted to see the old man,
so he ran to the door.
The old man had already left.
So
in that state, barefooted, he ran out of
his house.
He caught up with the old man. Some
mentioned it was Musa Al Khaldim.
He caught up with the pious old man.
And he asked the old man, what is
it that he told the slave girl?
He repeated to him the question. He asked,
is the owner of that house a slave
or free man?
Because
and she responded that he's a free man,
and he said then, well that's correct because
if he was a slave then he would
have feared his lord. Upon hearing, the suspicion
was so touched. He fell on his knees
and he said no I'm a slave I'm
a slave.
Knowing yes I may be a free man
in this world. I may be able to
party as I want to in this world.
But truly I'm a slave of Allah Subhana
Wa Ta'ala.
And so at that moment,
just after getting up from his table of
drinking alcohol,
he turned to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and
he made tawba.
Remember, he was barefooted at the time.
And that's
why in our books of history, he's known
as Bishr al Hafi.
Bishr the bare footed one.
Because from that moment, he refused to wear
shoes. He loved to be in a bare
footed state.
And he mentioned why
because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala saw it fit
to make me turn back to him in
this state while I'm bare footed. How I
love to be in the state that Allah
loved my tawba in. And so from now
on, I will ever be barefooted.
There's another account of his Tawba which mentions
that while he was drunk, he saw a
piece of paper with Bismillayir Rahmanir Rahim,
written on it, laying on the floor.
While he was drunk, he picked that piece
up. Seeing that the name of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala was on there, he went and
he bought some expensive perfume.
He then took that perfume and put it
on the page, and he put the page
in a high place.
At the same time, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
caused a pious person to have a dream
about him.
And in this dream, the pious person
was informed, was spoken to by Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, and he was told
that he perfumed my name, so I will
perfume his name.
He exalted me, so I will him.
He perfumed me so I will perfume him
in this life and in the next.
The pious person didn't give it any thought.
Everybody knew Bishop to be the party anymore.
But he fell asleep again and he had
the dream, the exact same dream twice again.
So he thought it must be true.
He went and he found Bisher in the
pub where he was busy drinking.
And he told him, Bishr, this is what
I dreamt.
That touched Bishr's heart so much.
That touched Bishr's heart so much that he
made tawba there and then. And he told
the people of that pub,
this is the last time you will see
me here.
He left that and he became one of
the uliaq Allah subhanter as well.
Why I tell you these stories is to
remind you, to give you hope.
Tawba is not for the pious people
only.
Tobah is for the sinful person.
Tobah is for the person
that does wrong by day and by night,
as well as for the pious person.
There is the door of Tawba is never
closed on you as long as you haven't
breathed your last breath and your soul hasn't
been removed from your throat.
No matter whether you be indulged in using
drugs,
No matter whether it be that your main
concern in life is attracting females,
and vice versa for the females.
No matter whether it be that you lack
all good qualities, Tawba remains an option for
you.
Just as it remained an option for the
drunkards who became the pious people of this
room.
Tawba remains an option.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala informs us by his
Rasool salallahu alayhi wa salam in a hadith.
That if the people were not were to
not sin such that they don't
make tawba, then I would have destroyed them
and replaced them with the people who sinned
so that they can make over.
SubhanAllah.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Quran
of people that commit the most heinous of
crimes who do shirk, who commit zina, who,
you know, do all kind, who kill people.
Allah subhanahu wa'hara tells us rightly that those
people will be in the hellfire
but he excludes a group he says
except those people who make tawba, who turn
back to Allah.
And, they believe in Allah and they do
a righteous deed. Allah says about him
For those people those people who did all
of those sins, but then they turn back
to Allah and they strive to do good.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will change all of
their bad deeds into good deeds.
No. Allah doesn't say that he will wipe
away their bad deeds. Allah says that he
will change the mountain of bad deeds into
good deeds.
SubhanAllah.
The door of hope is open for us
as Muslims.
We are caravans of hope.
But what does it mean to Mactobah?
What does it mean to have sinned and
to Maktoba?
Tuba means to turn.
To turn.
How does it relate to our relationship with
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala?
It is that I was once journeying away
from you, oh, Allah.
With my actions, oh, Allah. I was running
away from you, oh, Allah. But today, I
turn my life back to you.
Despite my weaknesses, despite my sins, despite the
fact that I may falter again. Oh, Allah.
I turn my life towards you again. It
is reported that Imam Shafi'i rahamalllahu ta'ala said,
travel journey to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala limping
and broken.
Journey to Allah, limping and broken.
Don't wait for a time when you think
you're perfect.
Because you're waiting for a time when you
are perfect, is futile. You'll never be perfect.
Strive to Allah. Run to Allah. Journey towards
Allah. Limping and broken.
What does that mean?
Despite being stooped in all kinds of wrong,
let us try and turn our hearts towards
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Let our focus become
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I don't mean by
that Tawba that after that you must sit
in the masjid the entire day and just
make the qurullah. No. Pursue
all kinds of things in this world. Study
hard.
Work
hard. Spend time with your family. Enjoy yourself.
Give time for your salah. Make rikrullah.
But at all times, do it with your
heart focused in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Work hard not so that you can attain
more pleasures of this dunya alone. Work hard
that you may attain wealth to help the
poverty stricken.
Work hard that we may better society and
give them ease.
Work hard that so through that we may
attain the help of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
None of us are perfect. But in our
simple small efforts to journey to Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, Allah will rectify us.
And so my message is for everyone, but
particularly to the youth.
You don't have to think yourself a pious
man to try and be good.
Just strive
despite the fact that you may be at
school to make your salah.
Just strive when your heart or your nafs
tells you to do something wrong.
To text that girl at night.
Tell yourself no.
Perhaps the one instance that you say no
will be the instance that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala looks upon you with mercy.
When your friends try to incite you to
take a puff of weed or cigarettes or
whatever it may be,
in that moment say no. Perhaps it's because
of that one no that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala will accept you.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guide us and
may he ever make us
may he ever make us living in his
hope.
May he make us reside therein. May we
be encompassed by his hope. But at the
same time, may we fear may we fear
the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It
is in the balance
of having hope in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and having fear of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
that we will tread lightly and we will
attain Jannah.
May Allah make us its inhabitant. May Allah
adorn us with beautiful qualities that in this
world we may become beacons of light for
those people who become despondent.
May Allah
make us be beacons
through which the light of Islam is spread.
We say shukran to Molena Zakaria Hanika for
his talk here today. Molena is a graduate
and lecturer at Darul Ulum and Misan Institute.
Molana has completed the 2 year full time
course at Darnein and has completed a bachelor
of science at UCT.
Molana is also the