Zia Sheikh – Jumuah 4152016
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
from those extremists and then there is pressure
from the politicians talking about Muslims in a
negative way, talking about curbing Muslim immigration and
stopping Muslim refugees from coming into the country
and again that is another aspect of the
pressure.
So, as Muslims how do we deal with
this negativity and how do we deal with
these problems?
The alarming thing is that these politicians whenever
they want to boost their poll numbers they
bring Muslims to the forefront and the more
alarming thing is and the most scary thing
is that why after using that type of
negative rhetoric against the Muslims their poll numbers
get boosted and they become more popular in
society.
That means that society in general has a
negativity towards Muslims and Islam.
So, how do we deal with this and
what do we do when we feel this
kind of pressure surrounding us from all sides?
We go back to the Quran and the
Sunnah of the Prophet and the Seal of
the Prophet to see how he dealt with
these challenges and one of the most awe
-inspiring stories that took place with the Muslims
was the story of the Ghazwa of Khandaq
otherwise known as Ghazwatul Ahzab.
It was known as Khandaq because of the
fact that the Prophet took the advice of
Salman al-Farsi and dug a trench around
Medina to protect the attack from outside and
it was known as Ghazwatul Ahzab but because
the Ahzab is the plural of Hizb it
means the Confederates Confederates meaning all of the
disbelievers basically got together in one huge army
and decided once and for all that they
are going to attack Medina and get rid
of the Muslims and kill them once and
for all.
So, that's why that Ghazwa was known as
Ghazwatul Ahzab.
So, if you can imagine the tension that
people would have had in that type of
scary situation.
Allah SWT, He says in Suratul Ahzab and
this obviously this Surah is named after that
whole episode and incident that took place and
the majority of the Surah or a big
part of it talks about that Ghazwa.
So, Allah SWT starts off by reminding the
people that it was a blessing of Allah
SWT that they should remember.
Not the challenges, not the difficulty but the
fact that that Ghazwa was actually a blessing
of Allah SWT and Allah dealt with those
Confederates in such a way that they had
no way and no option and no avenue
to fight with the Muslims and to harm
them in any way, shape or form.
Allah SWT says يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا
نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَاءَتْكُمْ جُنُودٌ O people
of Iman, remember the blessing of Allah SWT
when the armies came to you.
So, then what happened?
Ultimately, after many many days of the armies
camping outside of Medina and not allowing any
type of food and drink to get into
Medina, Allah SWT sent a wind to destroy
the encampment and they had to run for
their lives.
فَأَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِيحًا وَجُنُودًا لَمْ تَرَوْهَا We sent
upon them a wind and armies that you
could not see.
وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرًا Allah SWT was
watchful over everything.
So, similarly Allah SWT is watching everything.
Allah is still aware of what is going
on.
How do we react to these challenges?
This is what Allah SWT is watching.
The next ayah says, إِذْ جَاؤُكُم مِّن فَوْقِكُمْ
وَمِنْ أَسْفَلَ مِنْكُمْ They came from above you
and from below you.
وَإِذْ زَاغَتِ الْأَبْصَارِ The eyes became wide with
fear.
وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرِ And the hearts reached the
throats.
A person when he is in suspense, when
he is afraid, it feels like his heart
is coming to his mouth.
So, Allah says, وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرِ The hearts
reached the throats.
وَتَظُنُّونَ بِاللَّهِ الظُّنُونَ And you started having misgivings
about Allah SWT.
You started having thoughts about Allah SWT.
هُنَٰلِكَ ابْتُلِيَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَزُلْزِلُوا زِلْزَالًا شَدِيدًا Allah says
that in this incident, in this incident, the
believers were shaken.
They were tested.
And they were shaken severely.
And what type of shaking was it?
First of all, the armies are surrounding Medina.
Secondly, there is no food to eat.
So much so that the Sahaba and even
the Prophet SAW had to tie stones to
their stomach.
And this suspense is such that the people
in Medina, they started having disputes amongst themselves.
And this is actually what happens when people
have weak faith.
And you know, in those days, the Munafiqeen,
they were the biggest of those people that
contributed to this difficulty and contributed to the
rift that was taking place.
Allah SWT says that وَإِذْ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالَّذِينَ
فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضٌ مَا وَعَدَنَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ إِلَّا
غُرُورًا The Munafiqeen and the hypocrites and the
people that had a sickness in their hearts,
they started saying statements like Allah and His
Prophet, they just gave you false promises.
All of those false promises that you are
going to conquer the Roman Empire and you
are going to conquer the Persian Empire and
you are going to have riches beyond your
imagination.
All of these promises, where are they?
We are stuck in Medina and we are
surrounded by armies, we are facing death and
we are still relying upon the false promises
that have been made to us.
So the Munafiqeen, they contributed towards the rift
that took place amongst the believers.
And then the second category of believers, still
believers but weak of faith, they ran away
from the situation and they started making excuses.
وَإِذْ قَالَ الطَّائِفَةٌ مِّنْهُمْ يَا أَهْلَ يَثْرِبَ لَا
مُقَامَلَكُمْ فَرْجِعُوا وَيَسْتَأْذِنُ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمُ النَّبِيَّ يَقُولُونَ
إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَةٌ وَمَا هِيَ بِعَوْرَةٌ إِنْ يُرِيدُونَ
إِلَّا فِرَارَ This group, they started saying, O
people of Yathrib, which was the old name
for Medina, there is no position for you,
there is no place for you, go back.
And a group from amongst them, they took
permission from the Prophet that we need to
go back to our houses because our houses
are exposed.
Allah says, وَمَا هِيَ بِعَوْرَةٌ Their houses were
not exposed.
إِنْ يُرِيدُونَ إِلَّا فِرَارَ They were just wanting
to run away.
So in this very difficult situation, if you
can imagine, these disputes are taking place, acquisitions
are flying left and right, how did the
Prophet a.s. deal with it?
You know, there was a group of believers
that Allah SWT describes them right at the
very end of the whole incident that they
said when they were exposed to these things
that Allah SWT has promised these things to
us already.
That لَقَدْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ Allah and His
Prophet has told us the truth that we
are going to be challenged by these things.
لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُصْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ
لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ
كَثِيرًا وَلَمَّا رَأَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْأَحْزَابُ قَالُوا هَذَا مَا
وَعَدَنَا اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَصَدَقَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ وَمَا زَادَهُمْ
إِلَّا إِيمَانًا وَتَسْلِيمًا This is how the believers
reacted.
True believers who were strong in their faith
who had a firm conviction when they saw
the Ahzab when they saw the Confederate Army
they said that this is what Allah and
His Prophet have promised us that is going
to happen.
It's going to happen.
You will be faced by challenges again and
again in the Quran Allah SWT tells us
that difficulties as believers will come to you.
أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُتْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنَّا وَهُمْ
لَا يُفْتَمُونَ Do people think that they can
simply say we have Iman, we have faith
and they're not going to be tested?
وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ فَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ
صَدَقُوا وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ الْكَذِبِينَ Allah says we've tested people
before and most certainly Allah will find out
those people that are telling the truth and
those people that are lying.
So how will Allah SWT find out?
How we react to these challenges?
How we react to these difficulties is what
defines us as believers.
So how are we reacting?
That's the thing that we need to ask
ourselves.
Are we becoming firmer in our faith?
Are we getting closer to Allah SWT?
Or are we getting into our shell?
And we are ashamed to call ourselves Muslim
in front of other people.
That's the question.
We need to really become firmer in our
conviction.
We need to proclaim our faith much more.
We need to practice our Islam much more.
Not only the ritual worship, but the akhlaaq,
the manners and everything that shows that we
are positive contributors to this society.
One of the incidents that took place during
Ghazwatul Ahzab, very interesting situation.
Jabir ibn Abdullah r.a, he saw that
the Prophet SAW was going through hunger.
And he saw that he had stone tied
to his stomach.
So he went home and he said to
his wife that do we have anything to
eat that we can ask the Prophet SAW
to come and join us?
She said we have very little.
We have this small animal outside and we
have some barley.
Maybe we can make food for a couple
of people.
So Jabir ibn Abdullah, he said, OK, prepare
the food.
I'm going to call the Prophet SAW.
And his wife told him, make sure that
you only call two people.
Because that's only the food that we have
sufficient for.
We have food sufficient for only two people.
So he went.
The Prophet SAW was told by Jabir ibn
Abdullah that there's food sufficient for two people.
So Ya Rasulullah, you and one other person
can come and you are welcome to come
and eat at my house.
The Prophet SAW, he called everybody.
Everybody that was there, he called them.
And he came to the house and said
keep on serving from the pot, don't uncover
it.
He put some of his blessed saliva inside
the pot of meat and also inside the
oven where the bread was cooking and he
said keep on serving it and don't uncover
the pot.
So people started coming and the food was
served and people came and they came and
they came.
They all ate to their fill.
They left and then they uncovered the pot
and it seemed like no food had been
removed from that pot at all.
So from this we understand and there was
also another incident that a woman, she brought
some dates to the Prophet SAW and she
put them on a sheet, a handful of
dates and she placed them in front of
the Prophet SAW saying that this is all
that I have.
So the Prophet SAW called people to come
and start eating from those dates.
And people came, they start eating, they start
eating and instead of decreasing, the dates started
increasing.
So much so that the rewired say that
they were actually overflowing from the side of
the sheet on which the woman had actually
placed the dates.
So from this we learn and we understand
that Allah SWT can put barakah in the
most difficult of situations.
We don't know where Allah SWT's help will
come, where his assistance will come.
So we should always rely upon Allah SWT
and always hope for the best, and just
continue to have that relationship with Allah and
never lose hope.
The other thing is that the Prophet SAW
being a leader, by example, he showed that
he would not have special treatment from anybody
else.
That was different from anybody else.
Unlike the leaders of today that live in
their air-conditioned mansions while their people are
starving and they are having luxury meals while
the people in their subordinates have nothing to
eat and they don't know where their next
meal is coming from.
The Prophet SAW, he stayed with the people
and he bore the same difficulties that the
people were bearing.
So much so that one Sahabi came to
the Prophet SAW and said, Ya Rasulullah, how
much longer is this going to go on?
And he lifted his shirt and there was
a stone tied to the stomach.
The Prophet SAW lifted his shirt and there
were two stones tied to his stomach.
So, he led by example.
He didn't try to get special treatment just
because he was a leader.
Rather, he wanted to be with the people
and he bore the same difficulties that the
people were facing.
Also, we have to be optimistic at all
times.
There was an incident that took place, a
very famous incident, during this Ghazwatul Ahzab where
the Prophet SAW was informed by the Sahaba,
Ya Rasulullah, there's this rock that has come.
We're digging the trench and there's this rock.
We cannot move it.
It's a huge rock.
Nobody can move it.
So, the Prophet SAW, he got into the
ditch himself and he picked up a pickaxe
and he hit this rock and it smashed
into pieces.
And when this metal hit the rock, sparks
flew out of it and he said that,
in these sparks, I see that we're conquering
the palaces of Paris, of Persia.
And then he hit it again and sparks
flew out and it broke into further pieces.
And he said, in these sparks, I see
that we're conquering Yemen.
And then the third time, he hit it
again and he said, I see in these
sparks that we're conquering, we are conquering Rome.
And basically, in this very difficult situation, again,
a person who was weak of faith, he
could have stood up and said to the
Prophet SAW, that how is it that you
are giving us these visions and giving us
this, you know, seemingly false hopes while we
are starving, we have nothing to eat and
these armies are surrounding us, we are facing
death that can come to us at any
instant and you're telling us that we're going
to be conquering the superpowers of our time.
It just doesn't make sense.
But even in that very difficult situation, the
Prophet SAW showed optimism and we also, in
our difficult situations, which are nothing compared to
what the Prophet SAW and the Sahaba faced,
we also need to be optimistic.
So, these are the lessons that we learn
from Ghazwatul Ahzab.
We need to be those people that stood
firm in their faith, they stood firm in
their conviction, understanding that as Muslims, we will
always face challenges and difficulties.
As the Prophet SAW said in a very
clear Hadith, أشد الناس ولاء الأنبياء ثم الصالحون
ثم الأمثل فالأمثل The people that face the
most difficulties are the Anbiya A.S. and
then the pious people and then according to
their status with Allah SWT, people will face
difficulties.
So we believers, we need to understand that
there will be difficulties in all of our
lives, throughout our lives, we'll be tested, we'll
have tribulations, but how we deal with those
tests and tribulations are what defines us as
believers and what will make us firmer as
believers.
So I pray that Allah SWT gives us
the ability to understand and practice what has
been said and heard.
We pray that Allah SWT keeps us steadfast
in the face of these trials and tribulations.
We pray that Allah SWT makes our Iman
stronger just like the Sahaba in these trials
and tribulations and we pray for our communities
that they are protected from the evils of
the people that want to do evil to
us and we pray for their guidance otherwise
we pray that Allah SWT removes them and
the evil that is directed towards us.
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh Dear brothers and sisters, my
name is Hafiz Qadeer.
I moved to Dallas community about 4 years
ago from Raleigh, North Carolina.
And actually let me start with Bismillahir Rahmanir
Rahim Rabbush Rahli Sadri wa Yassirli Amri wa
Hulil Muqtadam Min Lisani Yafqahun Qawli I just
wanted to share a quick story, a personal
story about a brother whom I had a
pleasure and honor of calling a dear friend
and a fellow community member in North Carolina.
We used to go to his house a
lot for MSA meetings, for barbecues, for pool
parties and just for brothers gathering there.
And I want to share just a quick
example of what kind of character that person
had.
Acts of kindness, they actually came very natural
to him.
It was almost like a reflex.
Once we were at a pool party and
we were eating after swimming and everything.
So I was cold.
He noticed that and without me saying anything
he just got me a blanket from his
room and he just covered me.
He said, you know, just hope you feel
better, hope you feel okay.
So this is just a small example of
what kind of character he had.
The Prophet ﷺ said, اُرْفُقُوا فَإِنَّ الْرِفْقَ لَمْ
يَكُنْ فِي شَيْءٍ قَدْ إِلَّا زَانَهُ وَلَا نُزِعَ
مِن شَيْءٍ قَدْ إِلَّا شَانَهُ Be kind for
whenever kindness becomes a part of something, it
beautifies it.
And whenever it's taken away from something, it
leaves it tarnished.
So this brother, he embodied and he lived
that hadith on a daily basis.
And the whole community knew that.
Does anyone know who I'm speaking about?
From North Carolina?
He's one of our three winners, Zia Barakat.
He and his wife and his wife's sister
were killed last year in February.
I'm sure you guys are aware of it.
He was a close friend of mine and
to honor his legacy, we're actually holding a
fundraiser through UMR, United Muslim Relief.
Sheikh Omar Suleiman is going to be the
keynote speaker.
It's going to be on April 23rd, Saturday,
at 6 p.m. And I will be
selling tickets outside in the lobby.
They're $30 each and for the kids it's
$10 each.
Please make the intention to come out and
support us and support their legacy.
And we're also going to have their families.
We're going to host them as a DFW
community.
We're going to host their families.
And Inshallah, pray for the Barakat in this
event and make du'a for all of
us and especially for them.
Barakallahu feekum.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
The funds are going to support their legacy.
They started up an endowment fund that supports
refugees and supports the poor and the needy
in the community and abroad.
And once again, it's through United Muslim Relief.
You can check out their website at umrelief
.org and all the details are on there.
I'm also going to be answering any questions
that you have in the lobby.
Bismillah.
Barakallahu feekum.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Allah akbar, Allah akbar, ash-hadu an la
ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu an la
ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu an la
ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu an la
ilaha illa Allah, wa ash-hadu an la
ilaha an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash
-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash
-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ash
-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu
an la
ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa
ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an
la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah, wa ash-hadu an la ilaha illa
Allah,
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