Lecture
44 / 84
17
Social Justice
Islam, A Coherent Social Justice Tradition | Omar Suleiman | 16th MAS-ICNA Convention
22
Jurisprudence (fiqh)
Appreciating Scholarship: Intro to Islamic Law - Tesneem Alkiek | Yaqeen in NY
26
Islamophobia
How Yaqeen Heals Internalized Islamophobia - Dalia Mogahed | Making Principled Progress
29
Education
How Yaqeen is a Resource for Our Community - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Making Principled Progress
34
General Psychology
Spiritual Personality - Zohair Abdul-Rahman | 2018 Yaqeen/MAS Academic Conference
35
Social Justice
Conflict Resolution: The Line Between Justice and Peace - Sh. Omar Suleiman | Lecture
47
Identity
Keeping Masculinity from Trending Toxic - Dr. Jonathan Brown | Reframing the Gender Question
Gift Giving | Episode 5 | To Know Him is to Love Him
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. And here's the next reason, which also speaks to or about Allah's name, Al-Karim, the most generous, gift-giving. Now take all of that and say, whoa, that's me. I'm the recipient. If I wasn't, it wouldn't have been enough. Now what happens when I am? Because you know, like when someone gives you a gift, you fall in love with them, even if you hated them. That's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, tahadu tahabbu, exchange gifts, you will start loving each other. Watadhabu shahna, and hard feelings, grudges will go. You know, like even when you're upset at someone, then they give you a gift, you're upset, they gave you the gift because you don't want to forgive them just yet. Right? But you feel like, oh no, now I'm getting a soft spot for them. Because just gifts do that. That's why the Qur'an speaks so much about Allah's blessings, doesn't it? Because it draws you to love Allah through the gifts He has given you, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's not just like the things you ask of Allah either. You know the ayah that says, wa ataakum min kulli ma saaltumu wa in ta'uddu ni'matallahi la tuhsuha. That's a very often repeated ayah. He gave you from all that you asked for. And if you were to count the favors of Allah, you'd never be able to list them all. Meaning if you sat from today till the day you die, just counting the favors of Allah, you wouldn't be able to. They are too many, aside from those that you don't even recognize as blessings. Like, did Allah only give us what we asked for? Like that ayah says, He gave you from all that you asked for. But that's not the only thing He gave us. He gave us some things we didn't even ask for yet. Did you ask to exist? You didn't ask to exist. That would be a circular philosophical argument, as they say. Right? And then He gave you the inspiration, the guidance to ask Him. Right? Which is better than whatever you're asking for, by the way.
And then He gave you from, not all, from what you asked for. Meaning from His blessings is that He filters some of your requests and doesn't give you except the good that you asked for, that of it which He knows to be good for you. Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But you know the greatest gift He gave us is what? The greatest reason to love Him through gifts is what? Tell me. Islam. Absolutely. The gift of Deen. The gift of guidance. You ever thought why you say in Al-Fatiha, Surat Al-Ladheena An'amta Alayhim, give us the path of those whom you favored? Because the only true ni'mah, meaning absolute ni'mah, is the ni'mah of being guided to the straight path. Every other ni'mah could be for you or against you. It's relative. Like your kids could be for you or against you. Your money could be for you or against you. Your health could be for you. It's like a relative ni'mah. For some, but not always for others. Could come back to haunt others. But guidance is the ni'mah that's a ni'mah from every angle. It's not relative. Like imagine you were the most well-off person and the most outwardly generous person in the world. Abdullah ibn Jud'an. It was said about him that he was so generous that no one ever in his life asked him for something except that he gave it to him. Okay? Aisha, Radhiallahu Anhu, said, Ya Rasulullah, Abdullah ibn Jud'an was just like such a philanthropist. So generous with people. Will that benefit him on the Day of Judgment? He said it will not benefit him because he rejected God. He saw God's message. He knew God's revelation and he rejected it. He never once said, Oh Allah, forgive for me my sins on the Day of Resurrection. He refused to believe in resurrection. Ibn Jud'an. But you are someone that Allah had chosen to lower your head to him in prostration
and get to benefit from that, by the way, even here in this world before the next. You know, the biographers of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Rahimahullah, said that of the supplications he used to make, he would say, Oh Allah, just as you have honored me above lowering my face to anyone but you, protect me from having to ask anybody but you. Right? Allah has protected you from both of those. The one who lowers their face to Allah raises their head in front of anybody and has no need to humiliate themselves when they request from anyone. And then also, when you stand in Salah, like if you ever want to feel like just the sheer, sheer, infinite blessing of being guided to pray to Allah as he desires, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Imagine the amount of people between you and the Kaaba. Right? The central place where all Muslims pray. How many people are there in front of you, Baha' on your right and on your left, who are not doing this, who didn't get up for Fajr? And Allah chose to erect you, to stand in front of him, like all those that do not, just leave that alone for a second. Just trust Allah's justice for a second. Don't let that blur your moment, your sweet moment with Allah. But he chose you. He pulled you close. He opened the door for you to do that. Above everyone else, despite most people not doing it, he chose that you be of those who do it. The ability to do deeds that he will continue to repay you for without end, forever. You know, Sa'ad ibn Abi Waqas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, he said something, the uncle of the Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, that is very profound.
He said, SubhanAllah and Alhamdulillah and La ilaha illallah and Allahu Akbar. Glorified is Allah, praise be to Allah, none is worthy of worship but Allah, and Allah is the greatest. He said, these four statements, they took me what, eight seconds to say? Are dearer to me, are more a fortune for me, than everything that is fed by the Nile and the Euphrates. I mean, imagine like you owned Egypt and Sudan and Iraq and you owned everything that produces. Okay? You're a trillionaire and beyond. That's all going to what? Crumble at some point. But SubhanAllah, I'll continue getting residual income for it, right? It won't stop. Just that one moment, gone. It's reward will never go. Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar. You know, even regarding charity, I'm about to do something historic, by the way. I hope you guys are ready. I'm about to recite a verse that you've never heard outside of a fundraiser. You ready? In Surah Al-Hadeed, Allah Azza wa Jal says, Man thallathi yuqridullaha qardan hasana, fayu da'ifahu lahu walahu ajrun kareem. Who is the one? He's trying to get you to move. He's stirring your competitive instinct. Not who are those, who is the one? Who's it going to be? That understands the worth and the value of getting up here. Who is the one that will loan to Allah a good loan? So that he may return it to him manifold, meaning in this world. Because then he said, walahu ajrun kareem, and he will have a great reward for it. A noble reward for it, which is the reward of the hereafter. Loan to Allah a good loan. Like, where do we get our money from to begin with? Allah, right? He gave you your life, he gave you your money. And then he calls it your life and your money. It's his. He gave it to you. And then he asks you to give a little of it back.
And then he says what? Return it to me? No. Consider it a loan, I'm going to return it to you, as if it's yours, right? Like, you know when you're trying to teach a kid to share? Tell him, here, give this to me. And he goes, no. Right? We do that all the time, don't we? That's why the other ayah in At-Taghab, when Allah Azza wa Jal says, In tuqridu Allah qadran hasani ba'ifu lakum yaqfir lakum If you were to loan to Allah a good loan, He'll multiply it for you and forgive you. walahu shakurun haleem And Allah is most appreciating, most forbearing. He puts up with so much resistance from us, as if we have any place to say no here, right? So this verse says, so He may multiply it for them manifold. He considers it a loan, even though it's His. And then He asks you for some of it only. And He has no need for that sum, just so He may return it back to you. Here, give me this, a part of it, so I can give you more. What a gift giver, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right? There's a hadith regarding this, it's very visual. Where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Inna allaha tayyibun la yaqbalu illa tayyib Allah is pure and blessed, He only accepts that which is pure and blessed. He says, wala yatasaddaqum ru'un bi idli tamratin min kasbin tayyib And no person donates half of a date. A date, you know the date fruit? Some people call them Muslim fruits. No one donates the equivalent of half of a date. From good, pure income, lawful income. illa waka annama wad'aaha fee yameena ar-rahman Except it will be as if He placed it in the right hand of the most merciful. Like, placed what? A date? Would you giving someone a date go very well?
They would be extremely insulted. Right? And then this is not a date, this is a half a date. And then who are you placing it with? Someone who has no need for anything at all. And then you placed it where? Where is the location? The most blessed place in existence, the hand of God. What goes there is not like anything that goes anywhere else. And that's what the Prophet ﷺ said, It will be as if you placed it in the hand of Ar-Rahman, fa yunammiha lahu And so he'll develop that charity, like he'll cause it to grow. He'll mature it for them. kama yunammi ahadukum faluwa huwa fa-sila Or the same way one of you develops their fawn, like their baby horses or deer, horse. The same way one of you takes care of their baby horse until it grows. He says, hatta takuna kaljabal Until it becomes like a mountain. Like, you placed it in the right hand of God, and that was it. Right? You died, but Allah didn't, subhanahu wa ta'ala. The living that never dies. So he continues to grow it for you until the Day of Judgment. And then you arrive on the Day of Judgment, and you find that your reward is like, unimaginable, unrecognizable. What is this? That's just for your hafidh. Is he not al-karim, subhanahu wa ta'ala? Is he not the most generous? And there are so many hadiths to this effect. Like, you know, when the believer performs, intends to perform a good deed, and he performs it, he gets how many rewards? 10 times to 700 times, ila ad-da'afin kibri, to many times more than that. There's no ceiling. And when he intends to perform a good deed and doesn't perform it, he still gets a good deed. And when he intends to perform a bad deed and doesn't perform it, he still gets a good deed. Isn't that what the hadith says? I'm not getting this out of my pocket, am I?
The Prophet ﷺ got this from Allah to tell us. And then the fourth scenario is if he intends to do a bad deed and actually does do the bad deed, then it's written as one bad deed.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
