Qur’an 30 for 30 | Season 6
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Juz 11: Who You Follow Shapes Your Hereafter | Dr. Tesneem Alkeik
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Who are the best role models worth following? If you've sinned so much, is there still hope for redemption? What’s your legacy?
Join Dr. Tesneem Alkiek with hosts Dr. Omar Suleiman, and Sh. Abdullah Oduro as they delve into juz 11 of the Qur’an, exploring the sacrifices of the first believers, the doors of mercy that always remain open, and the lasting impact of every choice on our Hereafter.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.In every single one of these firsts, in every single one of these sahaba, you see someone who resembles you in terms of their dispositions, but they maximize their potential. I\'m fasting, maybe the first time I\'m fasting in my life. I\'m doing extra good this Ramadan. Acknowledge that in the people around you. You should never be afraid to give advice. You know, even if you\'re a community member, don\'t say, well he\'s the imam, I saw something. No. Give them advice, but with a good heart insha\'Allah ta\'ala. As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to Qur\'an 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah, we\'re on Juz 11 now. We are joined by a very special guest, Dr. Tesneem Alkeik. Alhamdulillah. One of the Yaqeen firsts, alhamdulillah. Also, we talked about Shaykh Tahir holding like too many positions to remember, so you\'ve held too many positions to remember in Yaqeen, alhamdulillah. But I think that people have related to your content in multiple ways, more than the Habit series, right? So everyone obviously resonated with the Habit series, but you\'ve done a lot of work in Hamda with Yaqeen behind the scenes, been our director of content strategy, assistant director of research. Can you tell people what it\'s like working at Yaqeen behind the scenes? As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, jazaakum khairan, excited to be here, alhamdulillah. Let\'s say, let\'s just put it this way, Yaqeen keeps me on my toes in the best of ways, alhamdulillah. Every time I think I\'ve learned and mastered what I\'m doing in the projects that I\'m working on, a new opportunity opens up to work and to contribute. And so it\'s really cool because there\'s so many talented people on the team, alhamdulillah, and I get to learn from everyone, work with all the different departments, so I think I get the best of it all, alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. I\'ve got a question for you that fits today\'s theme. So the theme that I\'m gonna be talking about is the first. Alhamdulillah, would you be comfortable sharing why you named either of your two daughters what you named them? Yes. So I have, my first is a Nusaybah, Nusaybah bint Ka\'b, and subhanAllah, even before I had kids,
I always wanted a girl just to name her Nusaybah. And my recent second one is Safiyyah. We decided we\'re going to build a family of warriors, inshallah. So we want to name all of our kids after role models they can look up to. And alhamdulillah, Nusaybah bint Ka\'b was famous for defending the Prophet (ﷺ) on the battlefield. And to the point where the Prophet (ﷺ) later recalled, like I\'d look to my left, I\'d look to my right, I\'d look everywhere, and all I could see was Nusaybah defending him. And I always make du\'a that inshallah my daughter Nusaybah becomes one who goes to defend the Prophet (ﷺ) in her words and her actions. And Safiyyah as well, bint Abd al-Muttalib, the aunt of the Prophet (ﷺ), also defended the Muslims. And maybe one day we\'ll be joined with other warriors, men and women, but alhamdulillah, just want to raise a generation of people who are strong and confident and can defend our religion. SubhanAllah, people always talk about Safiyyah, Umm al-Mu\'minin, the wife of the Prophet (ﷺ). But Safiyyah bint Abd al-Muttalib, the aunt of the Prophet (ﷺ), the mother of Az-Zubayr, the sister of Hamza, she was so close to him. A lot of people don\'t know much about that Safiyyah, but she was something else. The Prophet (ﷺ) would call Az-Zubayr ibn Safiyyah, the son of Safiyyah. So may Allah ﷻ bless them and allow them to indeed grow up in that spirit and make them defenders of the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) in everything that they do. Allahumma ameen. Just be careful because they might turn that warrior spirit against you in this entire process. We\'re a bit nervous about that, but inshallah. May Allah ﷻ bless your family and elevate them. Allahumma ameen. Shaykh Abdullah, while we\'re at it, mashallah, you\'ve got how many kids, 18, 19 kids? No, no, no, no, no, four. Four, mashallah. You were about to say five. Feels like five sometimes. Feels like five sometimes, yes. You want to give a story about why you named any of your kids what you named them? Oh, I mean, when I got married, I just told my wife, the first one is,
I gotta have my Mu\'adh and Umar. Mashallah. I mean, I love fiqh and, you know, usul al-fiqh, so while I was studying Islam, or studying the sharia in the jamia, university, Mu\'adh is one of my favorite companions. So I said, give me Mu\'adh. And obviously, Umar ibn al-Khattab for his authoritative nature, so mashallah. Not after this guy? No. Oh, well, maybe. If it wasn\'t for Mu\'adh, Umar would be destroyed. Just remind, since you got Mu\'adh and Umar, remind your Umar about how Mu\'adh is his... Oh, he\'ll take so much advantage of that, Mu\'adh. So, alhamdulillah, today, my reflection is actually on this ayah, Surah At-Tawbah, verse 100. My lesson is, only the first are worth following. Only the first are worth following. SubhanAllah, this is a beautiful ayah. Allah, Azza wa Jalla, says, Allah, SubhanAllah, says, as for the foremost, the first of the immigrants, being the muhajireen, and the ansar, and the helpers. And then Allah, SubhanAllah, says, and those who follow them in ihsan, those who follow them in excellence, Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him, and Allah, SubhanAllah, has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers flow, to stay there forever and ever, and this is the ultimate success. Now, SubhanAllah, this sounds a lot like the verse at the end of Surah Al-Bayyinah, right? Where Allah, SubhanAllah, is talking about His being pleased with the believers, and Allah, SubhanAllah, is saying that He will please them as well, and enter them into paradise beneath which rivers flow. Here though, the first thing I\'m going to address before I get to the life lessons, SubhanAllah, is who\'s better, the ansar or the muhajireen? This is actually a discussion that the scholars have.
Who is better, the ansar or the muhajireen? The Prophet (ﷺ) praises the ansar in Medina so much, and the muhajireen are praised so much, so who\'s better? And the scholars say, well, if you look at the way that the ayat are spoken about, Allah, Azza wa Jal, always mentions the firsts first. Allah mentions the muhajireen first. There is an order here, where Allah is talking about those who came into Islam first, and you think about popular trends, and the bandwagon, and people that jump on the bandwagon. However, the thing about the ansar is, they were the first to take the Prophet (ﷺ) in, so they\'re also firsts in their own right. But you look at the ayat, Allah, Azza wa Jal, says, Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala, has certainly turned in mercy towards the Prophet (ﷺ), as well as the muhajireen, and the ansar who stood by him (ﷺ) in his time of hardship. Those who stood by him (ﷺ). So the muhajireen were with the Prophet (ﷺ) in his hardship. The ansar were with the Prophet (ﷺ) in his hardship. There is a common link there, right, about standing with the truth when it\'s unpopular, and being willing to incur hardship because of what you believe in. And this was the case of both categories of the muhajireen and the ansar. So the scholars say, of course, Allah, Azza wa Jal, will give each individual the reward accordingly, and there is no doubt that there are gems in every generation. And amongst the greatest generation, there are gems in the beginning, and there are gems in the middle, and there are gems in the end. But at the end of the day, there\'s only one category for us that exists in this ayah. So I want you to think about it. Look at the ayah. Look at it literally on a page. Say, where do I fit in? So, I can\'t be from the muhajireen. I can\'t be from the ansar. Those ships have already sailed. But Allah, Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala, says,
Those who follow them in excellence. That\'s where you fall. You want to be included in these categories? By circumstance, you cannot be amongst those who suffered with the Prophet (ﷺ) in Mecca. By circumstance, you cannot be amongst those who received the Prophet (ﷺ) in Medina. But you can be amongst those who follow them in ihsan, who follow them in excellence. And that means identifying what made the muhajireen special, what made the ansar special, and then modeling your life after those individual qualities. And SubhanAllah, one of the things that I love about teaching the firsts is that you can always see someone\'s eyes twinkle, like, wait a minute, that sounds like my personality. That sounds like my personality. And so in every single one of these firsts, in every single one of these sahaba, you see someone who resembles you in terms of their dispositions. But they maximize their potential. And that\'s actually the point for us is, all right, this person was quiet. This person was not so quiet. This person was imposing in their physical stature. This person, not so much. This person was from a powerful class. This person from a, you know, humiliated in terms of physical circumstances, downtrodden class. This person is this. This person is that. Sounds like me, but then that\'s the best version of me. That\'s the best version of me. And so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, that you should follow them in excellence. Just like at the end of Surah Al-Bayyinah, Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala. And Allah Azza wa Jalla has promised them paradise beneath which rivers flow. So we ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala to allow us to identify in them what is the best version of ourselves. The Prophet (ﷺ) being the greatest example from which all of those rivers flow. Like SubhanAllah, look at this ayah and I think of the imagery of rivers flowing. If you think of the Prophet (ﷺ) as an ocean,
and then you think of all these streams. How many streams? Hundreds, thousands of streams that all emanate from Khayru Khalqillah (ﷺ), the best of Allah\'s creation, who had the best of character. So identify your stream and always trace it back to the ocean and try to go back to the Prophet (ﷺ) and be that complete person and follow these people. May Allah make us amongst them. With that, we turn it over inshallah. Dr. Tesneem. So my lesson today is, we\'re in this together. And I\'m talking about the verses right after the ones that Sheikh Umar just discussed. So verse 101 of Surah At-Tawbah, starting off there. We\'ve got these first, we\'ve got these incredible forerunners. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, There are some among the Bedouins, there are some among the people around you that are hypocrites. That, you know, we have these leaders in our community, but there are still people who are persistent. That they\'re persistent in their hypocrisy, no matter what you\'ve done, no matter how much you\'ve tried to communicate, they continue in their hypocrisy. That\'s one group of people. The very next verse, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala talks about others. There are others, they know that they did some wrong, they admit to the wrong doing. That they mixed up some good and bad. This verse honestly is talking to every single one of us, that all of us have done that. We\'ve mixed up a little good and bad. And many of us, especially during this time of year in Ramadan, we\'re starting to really recognize that, you know what, I\'ve done a lot of good in my life, but I\'ve done also a lot of bad deeds. I\'ve done things I regret. And now you\'re starting to admit to this to yourself, that you and I, we want to be those who acknowledge the wrongdoing that we\'ve done in order to seek Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala\'s repentance during this month. For us to make tawbah, to seek his forgiveness. That we\'re now starting to stretch our heads and think, that\'s me, right? This verse is speaking to me. And Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, there are those who do that, right? They recognize that they\'ve done a little good, they\'ve done a little bad. And now they\'ve admitted to it, that perhaps Allah will forgive them. And this is talking about a very specific incident, at least when these verses were revealed about a group of people who deserted the Prophet (ﷺ) in one of the battles. But think about how the universality of these verses now speak to us today. That we\'re still among those people who have mixed up the good and bad. We\'ve admitted to it, we\'ve come to this place, and now we\'re telling Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala, we\'re asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala, especially in this month, may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala make us among those who are forgiven for these sins. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala instructed the Prophet (ﷺ), for those of the Bedouins who came to the Prophet and asked for forgiveness, خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُطَهِّرُهُمْ Right? Take O Prophet of God, wealth from these people, do in order to purify them of their sins, right? The idea is that they committed something that was wrong, that they mixed the good and the bad. How do you rectify that, O Prophet of God? In order to help them be purified, take from their wealth, allow them to give in sadaqa, right? Allow them to do good deeds in order for them to come back within the fold of the community. And the verse that I really wanted to focus on is this verse that comes after, وَقُلْ اعْمَلُوا وَقُلْ اعْمَلُوا And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, and do, there\'s no maf\'ool, there\'s no object here, not do good, not do specifically charity, not do your salawat. And some scholars of tafsir say that it\'s open-ended because there\'s so many opportunities to do good. وَقُلْ اعْمَلُوا فَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is going to see that good that you\'re doing. فَسَيَرَى اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ This is what I really want to focus on, that do good, do this endless good that I\'m not going to even identify what that good is. Who\'s going to see it? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is going to see it, the Prophet is going to see it, and especially the believers. You know, I\'ve read this verse
maybe a thousand times in my life, and someone had mentioned it a few months ago, just in passing. And I remember thinking to myself, why is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala including the believers in this conversation? What does it matter that the believers are seeing this? And it\'s two things. Number one, it\'s a matter of holding ourselves accountable. It\'s not just between you and God a lot of the time, right? It\'s not just what the Prophet (ﷺ) would have thought about your actions. We as a community of believers, we hold ourselves accountable together. It\'s not you do you, it\'s not just about, you know, don\'t judge. We actually want to cultivate a sense of community. The believers, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says the believers are also seeing what you\'re doing, that we want to hold each other accountable. We want to hold each other to standards of good. That\'s one aspect of it, that this is something that we want to rethink about how you see yourself in light of others within the community. And within this context specifically, recognize the good in others, that people are trying, that if I\'m coming, I\'ve mixed the good and the bad, and now I want to replace that. I\'m going to Taraweeh tonight, I\'m fasting, maybe the first time I\'m fasting in my life, I\'m doing extra good this Ramadan. Acknowledge that in the people around you. Acknowledge the person that\'s the first time they\'ve come to the masjid, and rather than thinking, oh now you\'re showing up to the masjid this Ramadan, don\'t think to yourself that I\'m here as a believer, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says I\'m going to testify on the Day of Judgment. You are trying to follow up whatever bad you might have done in your life with good. That this is your opportunity to come within that fold, join us in our community. This is your opportunity. Every single time, in so many verses of the Quran, so many ayat, the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ), that follow up your bad deeds with good deeds, right? And so this is an invitation. You are tasked as a believer in this community to welcome those who are coming in, who are following their bad deeds with good, see this as an opportunity to really embrace them and as a new path, and think of that for yourself.
Those moments, I know, especially the time of deep reflection, you think to yourself, what\'s the point? I\'ve done so much bad. Why should I bother praying tarawih? Why should I bother fasting? Why should I do any good when I have this record haunting me? Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is using this as a reminder that there\'s always the next phase, that follow up anything you\'ve done with bad, with good deeds, and allow yourself to testify to others\' good deeds and be a testament to yourself as well. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala make us those, to admit our faults, اعترفوا بذنوبهم, we admit our sins, and follow up our bad deeds with our good deeds. And that\'s important, subhanAllah. I mean, amongst those that remind people of that are the ones that Allah has entrusted or have put themselves in that position or the community has put them in a position of leadership and influence. There\'s a huge responsibility with that because the more knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala you obtain by the permission of Allah, there\'s more of a responsibility. And that\'s what I want to talk about, particularly of the title being, what kind of investment is your influence? I mean, all of us sitting here and many others out there, whether you\'re a father, mother, uncle, or someone in the neighborhood, there\'s a level of influence that you have. And with that level of influence, there\'s a responsibility that you will carry, or you must carry in order to allow that influence, particularly as Muslims to be, have barakah, and to be something that is blessed by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala speaks about a particular kind of leaders in this case, of those who are spiritual leaders from the Jews and the Christians, when he says, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is talking particularly about the rabbis and the monks, but it\'s very important as a scholar say, that the, that even though it\'s talking about a particular class of people, there\'s still an opportunity
for you. And I do use opportunity. There\'s an opportunity for you to say, am I in this general category of people? So here we\'re talking about the level of influence and responsibility, the imams of masajid, the boards on these, on these masajid, a public speaker of someone that has a level of influence. I mean, I\'m almost sure each and every single one of us, there\'s people that\'s come to you after you\'ve given a lecture or since you said, you know, you changed my life. You know, that lecture, that verse you talked about, or it changed my life. I know whenever I hear that from someone, I get kind of frightened to be honest, because it\'s like, you have to look at yourself and say, wow, am I deserving of that? And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is talking about here, those believers, he\'s saying believers, many of the rabbis and the monks wrongfully devour mankind\'s possessions and hinder people from the way of Allah. And there are those who amass gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah, announce to them the tidings of a painful chastisement. This is what, this verse is scary because firstly, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is talking to us, oh believers, for you, it\'s for you to pay attention, to pay attention and to ponder. So then he\'s saying here, many of the rabbis and monks wrongfully devour mankind\'s possessions. So some scholars mentioned how they wrongfully devour these possessions is from false fatawa, like religious verdicts. They may give a verdict only in their favor, or they want to please someone that has authority over them. In this particular case, some financial authority or power, you\'re doing it to please the powers that be. And it\'s going against your own integrity, rather what you know to be the truth. And that\'s very, very important because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is saying here that they wrongfully devour these possessions. Another one is that they judge for other than the truth, gather charity and keep it for themselves. They gather this money and this charity and they keep it for themselves. They don\'t dispense it in a way that is honorable.
They\'ve been given a position of honor, but are they living up to that title that people may call them? Or when they\'re in front of the people, how do they act? And when they\'re alone, they devour that money. They use that money to use it for themselves and not to spend it in the way of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala. And that\'s where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ How do they hinder people from the way of Allah? Some scholars mentioned, they do ta\'weel of some of the verses. They have their own interpretation and that interpretation is driven by a desire to be liked by someone that is greater than or a desire to gain more of the belongings of man. And that\'s why it\'s important for us as Muslims in particular, because Allah is speaking to us. يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا He\'s speaking to the believers when he\'s saying, those of us that have been put in a position like us at Yaqeen, many organizations that gather money and take the money of the people. It\'s important to know that that money is some hard-earned money from someone and we have a responsibility and amanah. And amanah means trust, that we are entrusted to use this hard-earned money that they\'ve struggled to get in a halal way and to use it in a way that pleases Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala. To tell people about Islam in many different ways and manifestations based on the mission or the vision of that particular organization. And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says here, وَالَّذِينَ يَكْنِزُونَ الذَّهَبَ وَالْفِضَّةَ وَلَا يُنفِقُونَهَا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ فَبَشِّرْهُم بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ And then he also says, He says, and there are those who amass gold and silver and do not spend it in the way of Allah. Announce to them the tidings of a painful chastisement. يَكْنِزُونَ They gather and amass, and it reminds me of You\'re gathering things in abundance حَتَّى زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَ until you visit the graves. The contextualization of that with the people of knowledge of the people that are supposed to be leaders and an authority, they gathered this money and it is only for their personal interests.
It is not as you mentioned Shaykh, that to being selfless and giving yourself up for a greater cause and willing to face whatever comes with that. It is the total opposite. You are expected as the leader to be the first one to exemplify that, to model that, but if you are not, what does that leave the rest of the community? And that\'s very important for us as leaders, as fathers, as mothers, and as people that have a level of authority over others that we are entrusted with to look at ourselves and ask, okay, my deeds, how is it having an influence on people? How are the khutbahs that I give have an influence on people? Is it a good or is a bad influence? The lectures that I give, the people that I\'ve known in my community for a long time, when they look at me, what do they say? What do they say? And what is Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala going to say about me? And that\'s why this verse is so powerful, particularly for all of us sitting here and those that have any type of influence, particularly in regards to religious knowledge, knowledge of Allah, which is the most noble of knowledge, that anything that we say, we are held accountable for it and people may take your words and work off of those words. People may take, you know, their money and give to you and your organization and your effort. And it\'s important to know that we will be asked about that. And that\'s why SubhanAllah in the next verse, we don\'t have time, but when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is talking about those that gather in abundance, he uses the same verb, you know, he uses the same verb when he says, and just mentioned here, he says, هذا ما كنزتم لأنفسكم فذوقوا ما كنتم تكنزون He says, this is the treasure in which you hoarded for yourselves. Taste then the punishment of what you have hoarded. So that money that you\'re hoarding, and that\'s why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala says, يَأْكُلُونَ أَمْوَالَ They eat and devour. That which you have hoarded, make no mistake, that investment is going to an investment that you are not going to like. And you are not going to like it. And the more that you have the لذة,
the taste of, you know, of, of, of, of, of, you know, you\'re feeling yourself to be grand or you\'re, you\'re benefiting from the fruits of other people\'s labor and you\'re not investing it in a way that is مبارك, that is blessed. You\'re only investing it in yourself and you know what you\'re doing is wrong, or it is immoral, or it is dishonest, or it is, uh, is, is, is lack of honor. You\'re going to see مثقال ذرة. You\'re going to see all of it on the day when you stand in front of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala. هذا ما كنزتم لأنفسكم The same verb, which is so profound to me, you\'re going, that is what you\'re going to see. فذوقوا ما كنتم تكنزون So taste then the punishment of what you have hoarded. And this verse is from العدل. It is from the one that is just, it is impossible for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala to be unjust to anyone or anything. So looking at the أولون and looking how we form the community, looking at ourselves, we have to ask ourselves, what am I doing? And am I being just to myself and being just to others in whatever has been given to me from Allah and given to me from others. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala knows best. There\'s actually, funny enough here, SubhanAllah there\'s so much overlap because we talked about good examples. Follow those firsts because they are incredible examples of Ihsan, of excellence, which is what they took that knowledge. They manifested that knowledge in excellent deeds. And that\'s where you can follow them in the pursuit of those excellent deeds. And then you mentioned Dr. Tasneem, this community of people that acted and Allah and the Prophet and the believers saw their deeds and they see their deeds. And so what ends up happening is that you have these incredible firsts and we are seeing their deeds until now, we\'re still celebrating them SubhanAllah for the effort that they put forth and the way that they set an example. On the other hand, you\'ve got people who had knowledge, but they use that knowledge to pursue the treasures of this world. And instead of having Al-Fawzu Al-Azeem, instead of having great success, Bashirhum Bi Adhab Al-Aleem,
you give them the announcement of a great chastisement on the day of judgment, a great punishment. And those that follow them in evil will get the same type of punishment. SubhanAllah, I was thinking about this. Um, you know, we mentioned Mu\'adh, your son is a Mu\'adh, your husband\'s a Mu\'adh. We have a lot of Mu\'adhs. MashaAllah. I think the most popular first actually is the Mu\'adh Ibn Jabal first. MashaAllah. Here\'s something I\'m thinking about. No one loves Mu\'adh for his ilm alone. It\'s everything he did. It\'s the deeds that he put forth. And that\'s the case with the Sahaba. It\'s not knowledge. It\'s not just scholarship that doesn\'t translate into deeds. It\'s when those deeds represent that deep scholarship. Mu\'adh was looking at a Mus\'ab, who in my opinion, SubhanAllah is like twin souls, you know, like Mu\'adh and Mus\'ab are like twin souls. May Allah be pleased with them both. Ameen. And it may be that Mu\'adh (رضي الله عنه) looked at a Mus\'ab (رضي الله عنه) and thought, alright, that\'s my, that\'s my example. That\'s my, that\'s my cut there. Right? And Mus\'ab is getting the reward of a Mu\'adh. And then you think of what Ibn Mas\'ud (رضي الله عنه) said about Mu\'adh (رضي الله عنه) when he read the ayah, Inna Mu\'adhan kana ummah, that Mu\'adh was an ummah. Right? Why was Mu\'adh a ummah? Allathee yu\'allimun nasil khayr. The one who teaches the people good. So you are examples and we are following examples and we will be followed examples by others. And all of that factors into how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala gives his ultimate assessment of us and our deeds. That\'s something deeply powerful. Because these sabihoonal awwaloon are still gathering the treasure of their good deeds. Like right now when we\'re talking about them, they\'re getting the good deeds. Their graves are expanding, the good deeds are coming to them. Every time we\'re talking about them and saying radiAllahu anhum, that\'s a du\'a for them. And the du\'a for the believer after they pass away is accepted by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala and the influence of the believer continues.
So their treasure is growing in that world. And as for those that set bad examples, and they try to compile the treasure or to accumulate the treasure of this world, they are only accumulating more sins for the bad influences that they\'ve left behind. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala may Allah Azza wa Jal protect us from being bad influences and make us good influences as well. Allahumma ameen. I think it\'s just remembering, you know, it\'s a reminder for us as people of knowledge and even as community members, you know, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta\'ala is the one that is worshipped. We should never be afraid to give advice. You know, even if you\'re a community member, don\'t say, well, he\'s the imam, I saw something. No, give them advice, but with a good heart inshallah ta\'ala. And particularly all of us, that\'s one beautiful thing I love about working with brothers and sisters and particularly people of knowledge and that are studying is that, you know, there\'s the adab and there\'s the etiquette of giving the advice, you know, but it never stops them from giving the advice. Because once you stop from giving the advice, I always tell myself, if I was that person, I would have want to have been told. And what can happen is when you find out that that person didn\'t give you the advice and they knew, shaitan can come in the way. So, OK, I don\'t trust that person. I don\'t trust that person, particularly when it comes to people of knowledge. So this verse also reminds me of that, that Allah SWT is speaking to us as believers. And just to remember that we have a huge, huge responsibility. To tie it all together, I mean, in order to testify about others and to follow them in ihsan and in order to be able to sort of serve as a good example, you have to be out of your home, right? Out of isolation. I think that\'s where our society and culture is trending towards, is doing everything on your own. It means going to the masjid. It means building a network of friends who share those same values, of believing in Allah SWT and trying to come closer to him. And that\'s coming from someone who\'s very introverted, that to really make an effort to be able to, maybe tonight you weren\'t planning on going to the masjid for salah, that you\'re going to set that as a goal for yourself, to really be able to engage with others, to be able to set that precedent for yourself, right?
I want to look for others that can inspire me or inspire my family. And I want to be able to inspire others. Even if you don\'t think you have that much good to offer, know that you have so many positive traits and qualities that you might not recognize that others see in you. And so it\'s really a giving, a cycle of giving, of community, of building that ihsan together. And that\'s what makes Ramadan so special, because we can really do that with our hands together. May Allah reward you. We enjoyed your insights as always. May Allah bless you and bless your family. May Allah accept them to be from the first in their character and make that the same for all of us and our families. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran everyone. We\'ll see you all tomorrow inshallah. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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