Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 5
12 / 31
Juz 11: What Motivates You? | Sh. Suleiman Hani
If I'm rewarded for just wanting to do a good deed, what if I sin, and I deeply regret it? What does it mean to sacrifice comfort? What are the things that weigh you down and are keeping you from Allah?
Join Sh. Suleiman Hani and hosts Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro as they reflect on Juz 11 of the Qur'an, discussing the context of the believers in Surah at-Tawbah, keeping the afterlife in mind, trusting in God, and embracing positive discomfort.
✨Test your knowledge of the Qur'an✨
There’s another name for Surah At-Tawbah, which specifically refers to it’s exposing. What is the other name for Surah At-Tawbah that the ulema mentioned?
A. "The Discloser"
B. "The Revealer"
C. "The Exposer"
Chapters:
0:00 Highlights
0:45 - Today’s trivia & introduction
3:17 - Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on verse 92 of Surah at-Tawbah
7:31 - How Allah rewards regret
8:29 - Sh. Abdullah Oduro reflects on Musa’s (AS) trust in Allah
10:37 - How Musa addressed his people
12:07 - The meaning of “Islam” and sacrificing comfort
13:52 - Sh. Suleiman Hani reflects on verse 38 of Surah at-Tawbah
14:31- how Allah reprimanded the believers
16:36 - why they were “clinging to the earth”
17:43 - modern application of the verse
19:35 - Reflections
19:45 - On comfort and complacency
22:41 - What weighs you down?
24:55 - Embracing positive discomfort
26:36 - Seeking divine sanctuary
Download the latest Qur'an 30 for 30 eBook: Qur’an 30 for 30: Thematic Tafsir.
Explore the daily juz questions and answers in the Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 5 Trivia.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We're essentially cutting ourselves off from the thing that will help us to detach, to stop being weighed back. There's something about the ayah, Shaykh, رَضِيْتُمْ You are pleased with the life of this world. So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, blaming the hypocrites of Medina, رَضِيْتُمْ You are pleased with the life of this world. And what did the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, promise the sincere believers of Medina, the Ansar, when they came to Mecca? Look, we're going to embrace all this discomfort. All of our alliances are going to be broken. People are going to come for our necks. We're going to lose all of our money. We're losing everything from this dunya to take you in, O Messenger of Allah, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. What do we get in return? Jannah. Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, did not give them any worldly promises, even though, if you think about the long run, the gain of Medina was huge, even from a pure worldly perspective. It becomes a world-class city with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, right? The Ansar go on to become legends, right? Of course, many of them were martyred and they suffered many difficulties, but those that lived, some of them really found comfort in the dunya we sense, in the worldly sense, after the death of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. But the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, wasn't giving them any of those promises. No, you get Jannah. And when they're coming back from Mecca and they're worried because they see the spoils of war going to some of the recent converts in Mecca, and the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, mentions to them the very famous story that, you know, they go back with the animals and the spoils and you go back with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as your share. They use the same word, Radina. We are pleased with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as our share. We're pleased with Jannah. We're pleased with Paradise. We're pleased with the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, as our share. So it goes back to what really pleases you? What really pleases you? And there's a natural pleasure, but there's also that divine pleasure, you know, that you seek, which starts to become, I think it takes you from a place of seeking safety, to seeking sakinah, to truly seeking tranquility, sanctuary,
like in the Qur'an, seeking sanctuary in the life of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and in what exists of a Jannah, and, you know, that promise from Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. May Allah Azawajal allow us to realize that promise, Allahumma. Sheikh, you reminded me of, I think, Ayah 111 is, إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ بِإِنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةِ It's amazing words of transactions that people are used to in this world because it's all material, financial, economic, back and forth. Allah has purchased from the believers their lives. Your whole life is for Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and your wealth in exchange for paradise. It's a very straightforward transaction, Subhanallah. Allahu Akbar. It's just the idea of you're dealing with Allah here, you're not dealing with human beings. Allahu Akbar. So it's a surah, Subhanallah, of a lot of transaction, much about, you know, how we turn to Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we have to know what we're seeking in order to endure what we are enduring for His sake, b'denahi ta'ala. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Suleiman. We talked about the gym. I think y'all need to have a match, like a jiu-jitsu match. Let's go. Yeah, he said let's go. You did jiu-jitsu. He said let's go. Anything you want. He's gonna grapple. All right, so Sheikh Suleiman is gonna take Sheikh Abdullah out back. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala bless both of you, and inshaAllah ta'ala we'll see you all tomorrow, b'denahi ta'ala. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. you know, it's probably not worth it. So there's an appeal that's being made, a direct appeal to comfort, and like you beautifully said, it has different connotations. In the case of Nuh alayhi as-salam with his son, right? Let me stand on this mountain. It's gonna protect me from the water. This is where I feel most comfortable. This is where I feel the most stability,
and the stability was actually the cause of his drowning, subhanAllah. So in this situation, the comfort was actually the cause of their destruction. And for us, I think that it's really important, you know, that it comes back to incentive. The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, one of the most powerful things that you really learn from the seerah is that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala took away Khadijah radiAllahu anha, who would embrace him sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam when he was in discomfort, and Allah took away Abu Talib, who would protect him. But Allah replaced that with Qur'an and Qiyam, where the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam found a different embrace now, right? If you think about it, you know, the embrace of Jibreel alayhi as-salam sent him sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam seeking the comfort of the embrace of Khadijah radiAllahu ta'ala anha, but now the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam misses Jibreel alayhi wa sallam. Now the comfort's in the Qur'an, the comfort's in following the command of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But you don't really believe that initially, right? Initially, you're kind of like, of course, in the case of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, it's different. I'm talking about us, right, where it's like, man, this looks like a tough journey. And I think, Sheikh, I'll bring it back to you. Converted to Islam, like, hesitation, scared. Yeah, yeah. This is really, really uncomfortable. But you know, it's funny. It reminds me of one of my friends, you know, he always says, man, I just want to go to heaven. He kept it very simple. And what you mentioned, what the Munafiqin said, what does Allah say right after that? Like, you're thinking about this dunya, okay, what about the akhira? And it's so beautiful, it's so eloquent. They're talking about heat. Which heat are you really afraid of? The heat of this dunya, the heat or the hellfire? So when converting to Islam, when thinking about life, man, I have to pray five times a day, like every day of my life. You have to be responsible. There
has to be a time in your life, you say, okay, what really matters? Do I want to go to heaven? Do I believe in heaven? Do I want to go there? What am I willing to do for it, right? So it's really that comfortability. And it's so beautiful, because heavy is thaqeel in Arabic. Like, what weighs you down, really? What is your anchor that holds you down, that you're willing to give everything for it, right? And that's what's so beautiful, that when you cling to the tangible things of this life, and you forget the intangible, you forget the next life, you see throughout the Sunnah of the Prophet, he's always reminding the companions about Allah, the next life, the reward in Jannah, the targheeb and tarheed. Reminding people, enticing people, and warning people at the same time. He's congratulating people, and he's warning people. And that's what is so important about the Muslim, because the purpose of life for the Muslim is transcendent. It is something that goes beyond this life. Rather, everything you do in this life is a form of gratitude for the one that created life. So the purpose of life is not only things in this life. That's why it's so beautiful in Surah At-Tawbah, because there's so many instances, even when we're talking about when they were, you know, giving sadaqah, you know, and Abu Bakr gave all of his wealth. Having the opportunity just to read that story, and you see how the companions, at any given moment, they're remembering the Akhira. And the remembrance of the Akhira is what manipulated, or not manipulated, or influenced them to give up anything in this dunya. And that's what it takes to reach that level. SubhanAllah, it's just a beautiful, beautiful story. Sheikh, you'd like this example. Years ago, I started going to the gym in undergrad. Properly, yes. Worked out for a good couple months, and then we had a friend who said, I want to join you guys. I said, all right, come with us. He's like, just tell me what to do. Literally, like we said, okay, the friend who was with me was more proficient. So he told me, these are your goals. These are the things you want to work towards. He talked to him for a while,
and then he's like, all right, let's start with the bicep curls. So his goal, I think, was like, eventually he wanted to get like 50 pounds or something. Anyways, he started first set, and he's like, guys, this hurts. What do you think we did over here? He's like, yeah, there has to be a better way. He sees himself as very intelligent. He's like, there has to be a better way, a shortcut. My friend told him the mantra everyone knows, no pain, no gain. He's like, if you don't embrace that discomfort, you can't possibly get to the next level. Of course, that's why I said earlier, positive discomfort, because we're not justifying every kind of discomfort out there. Rather, some things, everyone strives, but some things have a return, and they are worth it. People get up in the morning hours all the time. A lot of CEOs get up, and they talk about how they make billions or manage companies getting up early, but it's completely cut off from the purpose of life. If you're sacrificing, your sacrifice has to be worth it. If you're embracing discomfort, it has to be worth it. Know why it's worth it, and keep reminding yourself. It's remarkable to think there are some aspects of Islam that are mentioned just once or twice in the entire Qur'an, but when it comes to the afterlife and the motivation we are in need of psychologically, Allah mentions it hundreds of times, because we are in need of it. So, if we cut ourselves off from the Qur'an and those daily reminders, we're essentially cutting ourselves off from the thing that will help us to detach, to stop being weighed back. There's something about the ayah, Sheikh, you are pleased with the life of this world. So, Allah, blaming the hypocrites of Medina, you are pleased with the life of this world. What did the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, promise the sincere believers of Medina, the Ansar, when they came to Mecca? Look, we're going to embrace all this discomfort. All of our alliances are going to be broken. People are going to come for our necks. We're going to lose all of our money. We're losing everything from this dunya to take you in, O Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. What do we get in return? Jannah. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not give them any worldly promises,
even though, if you think about the long run, the gain of Medina was huge, even from a pure worldly perspective. It becomes a world-class city with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, right? The Ansar go on to become legends, right? Of course, many of them were martyred, and they suffered many difficulties, but those that lived, some of them really found comfort in the dunya we sense, in the worldly sense, after the death of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. But the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, wasn't giving them any of those promises. No, you get Jannah. And when they're coming back from Mecca, and they're worried because they see the spoils of war going to some of the recent converts in Mecca, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, mentions to them the very famous story that, you know, they go back with the animals and the spoils, and you go back with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as your share. They use the same word, we are pleased with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as our share. We're pleased with the Jannah, we're pleased with Paradise, we're pleased with the Prophet, as our share, peace and blessings be upon him. So, it goes back to what really pleases you, what really pleases you. And there's a natural pleasure, but there's also that divine pleasure, you know, that you seek, which starts to become, I think it takes you from a place of seeking safety, to seeking sakinah, to truly seeking tranquility, sanctuary, like in the Qur'an, seeking sanctuary, in the life of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and in what exists of a Jannah. And, you know, that promise from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, may Allah Azawajal allow us to realize that promise, Allahumma. Sheikh, you reminded me of, I think, Ayah 111 is, إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنْفُسًا هُوَ أَمْوَالَهُ بِإِنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةِ It's the amazing words of transactions that people are used to in this world, because it's all material, financial, economic, back and forth. Allah has purchased from the believers their lives, their whole life is for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and your wealth in exchange for paradise. It's a very straightforward transaction, subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's just the idea of you're dealing with Allah here, you're not dealing with human beings.
So, it's a surah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, of a lot of transactions, much about, you know, how we turn to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we have to know what we're seeking in order to endure what we are enduring for His sake, bid'nani ta'ala. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Suleiman. We talked about the gym. I think y'all need to have a match, like a jujitsu match. Yeah, he said let's go. He said let's go. He said let's go. He's going to grapple. All right, so Sheikh Suleiman is going to take Sheikh Abdullah out back. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless both of you, and insha'Allah, ta'ala, we'll see you all tomorrow.
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