Qur'an 30 for 30
17 / 30
Juz' 17 with Tesneem Alkiek
Sh. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Tesneem Alkiek, explore gems from the 17th Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I would ask may I know she follows you miss him now. I mean, whatever we want to do. I mean, what about to do? What's the pain? Allah was telling us a little about it. I think I was really come home and then saw a lot. I mean, I don't know. I mean, what's the problem? Just to see them. I want to welcome you all back to the 30 for 30. Our first repeat back by popular demand. Sister Tasneem Al-Qeith, Alhamdulillah, is with us tonight. And I want to remind everyone just before I get started, inshallah ta'ala, that we have officially launched our last 10 nights campaign. Insha'Allah ta'ala. So if you click the link and you put in the salakah amount that you'd like to distribute over the last 10 nights. Remember that the amount that you put in will be the nightly amount inshallah ta'ala. And bid'nillahi ta'ala it's a way of catching Laylatul Qadr and also supporting the work here at Yaqeen Institute. So may Allah bless you all and reminding you that we will have our last 10 nights telethon inshallah ta'ala. Our finished strong telethon on May 13th inshallah ta'ala from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern. The end of which will be a du'a that we can all join in inshallah ta'ala as we go into the first of the last 10 nights, which will be that will be the 21st night of Ramadan, bid'nillahi ta'ala. So we get into just 17 inshallah ta'ala. SubhanAllah, today as I was preparing for this, it gave me a whole new perspective on it. And that's been the beauty, I think, of hearing reflections from Sheikh Abdullah and from our guests every night. As we're sort of telling the story of Islam through the Quran in this particular way. Suratul Anbiya, this surah of the prophets. And it comes at the end of the Meccan period, similar to a lot of these surahs, but it doesn't focus on one prophet. It gives this whole scope of all of the prophets. And in fact, it mentioned 17 prophets by name in this surah. And it gives you a snapshot of each one and it kind of gives you the end result of each one of those prophets da'wah.
So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala making the way out for all of those prophets, sort of the final relief that came to each one of those prophets. And the only one whose life we get some depth with is Ibrahim Alayhi Salam, the journey with his father and with the idols in particular, where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is also in a similar situation now leaving Mecca, not having been able to convince his people at that moment due to the arrogance that came from the elites of Mecca, that the idols were of no benefit to them. So the rest of the prophets, you're kind of getting a snapshot of each one of them. And we'll talk about how that plays out in the surah. The surah starts off with, Iqtarab al-in-nasi hisabuhum ahum fee ghaflatin mu'ridhun that the reckoning that people have been pushing off, it's coming towards them, and they are continuing to push themselves into heedlessness, meaning Allah has given them enough of a chance. And of course, the hisab that Allah is talking about is the day of judgment, the way that the reckoning is coming towards them. Now at the end of surah Taha, which is the previous surah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la talks about the way people are disoriented on the day of judgment. The disbelievers are disoriented on the day of judgment. Waman a'ra la'an bikri fa'inda lahum ma'ishatan dhanka until the end Allah talks about people that have a constricted life because of their rejection and because of their arrogance, and then they're raised up on the day of judgment blind. And then they complain, lima ha-shartani a'ma wa qad kuntu basira Why did you raise me up blind? I used to be able to see. Allah gives us the scene of them running around on the day of judgment, looking for an out. And Allah is saying that the out has been here the whole time, but you haven't been taking that out. Now, the nature of surah Al-Anbiya is consoling the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that you are not the first one to go through this. And that's actually something that is very powerful here because you think of some of the claims that were made against the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
And the nature of those claims is similar to the claims that were made against prophets that came before. So for example, when they said, why can't you do some sort of superhuman, immortal thing? Why don't you bring the angels and pull off these feats? Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in verse eight, wama ja'alnahum jassadna la yakuluna ta'am wama kanu khalideen that those that came before, the messengers that came before were not immortal bodies that didn't need food. They were just like you. Remember the claim against the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam that what kind of prophet is this that walks in the marketplace, that uses the restroom like we do. Allah is saying all of the prophets that came before were full human beings and you are not an exception to that. And on top of that, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in verse 25, wama arsalna min qablika min rasoolin illa noohi ilayhi annahu la ilaha illa anafa abudoon Never did we send any messenger before you to whom we did not reveal, there is no God but me, so serve me alone. So both you in your nature and the call that you have in its nature is exactly the same thing as the prophets that came before you. You are going through the same trials that they are going through. And this is probably one of the most beautiful set of ayat here in terms of consoling a person. Surah Yusuf is consoling in its entirety. But if you go to Surah Al-Anbiya and you really pay attention tonight inshaAllah in your tarawih or when you're reading, from verse 41 onwards, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, walaqad istughziha birusoolin min qablika fahaqa billadheena sakhirun minhum maa kaanoo bihi istahzi'oon and other messengers before you were mocked. They also went through the mockery and the slander that you went through, but those who scoffed at the messengers were overtaken by the same punishments that they had mocked. Then Allah talks about the story of Ibrahim Alayhi Salam, how he was thrown into a fire, but Allah protected him. Then Allah talks about Lut Alayhi Salam, how he was turned away by his people,
rejected by his people, and his people were destroyed in a very unique way, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la entered him into his mercy and wrote him from the salihin, from the righteous. Then Allah talks about Nuh Alayhi Salam, Sheikh Al-Anbiya, the elder of the Anbiya, the prophets. 950 years of da'wah, of primarily rejection, and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is saving him. Then Allah talks about Dawud Alayhi Salam, and Suleiman Alayhi Salam, and Ayub Alayhi Salam. So this is one of the two parts of the Quran where you have the story of Ayub Alayhi Salam. Ayub who was tested with enormous tests in every way possible, his health, his wealth, his family, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la rescued him as he turned back to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And Allah reminds the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam last about who? About the first prophet that we started off with, Yunus Alayhi Salam, who was swallowed by the whale and who supplicated to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in his trial, and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la rescued him and pardoned him. So it's like a full string of prophets, 17 prophets all at once saying to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, every prophet that came before you went through what you're going through to some extent, and the claims, the substance of the claims that were used against them, that oh, this is for personal gain, oh, gain, this is mock, this is sorcery, this is so that you can take power, this is to divide the people, this is this, this is that, why are you not superhuman? Why don't you show us this? Why don't you show us that? It happened with every single prophet before you, so surely it will happen to you as well, oh Prophet of Allah. And you can think of the comfort that that gives to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, that you are in the league of Jesus, Moses, Noah, Abraham, all of them, Alaihimu Salaam, peace be unto them, all who went through this. And this is just the continuation of that, but Allah says in all of their situations, look what the end result was. And so the end result for you will be the same. Now let's go to Surah Al-Hajj.
The first two verses of Surah Al-Hajj continue in response to the coming of the hour. So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gave us the beginning of Surah Al-Anbiya, a snapshot of what happens on the day of, or the idea of the Day of Judgment coming very quickly and being prepared for the reckoning. Here Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la addresses the believers as if those people are no longer even, you know, worthy of being addressed exclusively. But instead, here's a message to all of mankind. Inna zalzalata sa'ati shay'un AAadheem That fear the wrath of your Lord. Indeed, the shaking, the trembling of the hour will be an awesome thing. It will be a severe thing. Verse five, Allah calls us in Surah Al-Hajj to consider our own creation. So Allah talks about how we have been made from turab, from dirt, and then transfer to a drop of sperm, nutfa, and then from the clot of blood, alaqa. So Allah talks about the different ways that we come to be, from dust to the drop of fluid, to the lump of flesh. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la starts to go through the way that we go in our mother's wombs, and the way that we reach the stages that we reach. If you read Surah Al-Anbiya, it's really reflecting on the creation of the heavens and the earth. Here, there's a reflection on the creation of man. So for us to reflect within ourselves, and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentions in various parts of the Quran that we will show them our signs in the heavens and the earth, bil-afaq wa fee anfusihim in the creation around them and even in themselves, until they come to that conclusion of faith. But here's what I really want to get to. I think Shaykh Abdullah, you're talking about verse 11 today, right? So, you know, there's a test that's coming. Okay? And the believers have now been pushed to their edge. Surah Al-Anbiya, the first half of it is Makki, and then at verse 26, it becomes Madina.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says some people worship Allah on an edge. When the test gets too severe, they jump off, and that's what Shaykh Abdullah is going to be talking about. The believers have been pushed to an edge, and now they have migrated with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And I want to call your attention to just one beautiful thing about this, because I'm sure you've heard these ayahs about hajj many times. Allah is telling us from the very beginning of the Qur'an, the dream of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, the dream of Abraham, will be fulfilled. How will it be fulfilled? By his noble son, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, purifying the house that he built for his worship, and reestablishing Tawheed, monotheism in that place, and by extension, the whole world. And the way that the last days of the world play out, is Isa Alayhi Salaam, Jesus Peace Be Upon Him, making his way, saying, Labaik Allahuma Labaik, to establish Tawheed once again, to establish monotheism in the place that Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam set up, as a place of the worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala alone. So hajj is the focal point, right? Makkah is the focal point. When it is purified, then that is a sign of the purity to the world. What is the first thing that Allah addresses here? And what's the mindset of the believers? And I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine being a Muslim who grew up in Makkah your entire life. You've seen the Kaaba day and night your entire life with its idol worship. And now is the first time you've been run out of Makkah. You're in Medina, and you don't know when you're ever going to see the Kaaba again, if you'll ever see it again, and if it will be in a state of Tawheed again. Can you imagine the hardship that the Muslims felt in Medina? How much they yearned for hajj and Umrah for the Kaaba? Verse 26 to 29, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions to us once again, the story of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, Makkan al-bayt an la tushrika bi shay'a wa tahhir bayti al-ta'ifin, until the end,
where Allah calls Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam to purify his home from all of the idols. The previous surah, Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam was making an argument to his people about why the idols do no good. Here, Ibrahim is purifying the house in Makkah and removing the idols. And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, wa-adhin fin nasi bil-hajji ya'tuka rijana, publicly proclaim, call out for hajj and people will come to you from all over the world, on the backs of all sorts of animals, speaking all sorts of language, chanting, here we are, oh Allah, here we are. And think about the Muslims in Medina for the very first time, can't go to Makkah. And this is what Allah reveals to them. SubhanAllah, that Ibrahim, you know, this image of Ibrahim calling from an empty Makkah, and one day the people will come back responding to you. It's not now that all these people will come saying, la bayk Allahumma la bayk, but one day they will come. And now these Muslims in Medina are sitting there, and this is what they're hearing on the mouth of their Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the image of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam calling out for people to come and to do hajj. And so that tells them that one day you too will return to this home and it will be purified, responding to the call of your father Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam. So inshallah ta'ala on that, I will go ahead and pass it off to Sheikh Abdullah. Bismillah wa salatu wa salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'd. Jazakum Allah khayran for that beautiful message. What's important here, SubhanAllah, what makes the companions the companions and SubhanAllah what made the munafiqun the munafiqun, what made the hypocrites the hypocrites is that their worship was, or their obedience or their apparent allegiance was ultimately conditional. We should look at ourselves and ask ourselves, is our worship to Allah, our gratitude towards Allah conditional? Meaning that if I get what I want, or I feel that I deserve,
I'll give you what you want. That's very important for us to look at and evaluate ourselves. This is part of our evaluation that we should make on a nightly basis. I mean, even when we make our salawat, it's time for you to evaluate the actions previous to ask Allah from his names and attributes, depending on the subject matter. So for instance, you're making salatul dhuhr and you made a mistake in fajr, or from that time you say, Oh, yal ghafoori ghfilni, you know, you say, call his name and ask him to forgive you. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in the verse number 11 in the chapter of Hajj, a beautiful, beautiful verse that speaks about, you know, what some scholars would mention the munafiqun or the hypocrites or the disbelievers, and some would say, okay, we make an analogy off of those that have weak faith. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in this beautiful verse, what I want you to do when I recite it is to ask yourself the question, be self-accountable as soon as hearing this verse. Allah says, wa min an-nasi man ya'budu Allah ala harf fa in asabahu khayran utma'anna bih wa in asabatuhu fitnatun inqalaba ala wajhi khasira al-dunya wal-akhirata thalika huwa al-khusranun mubeen Verse number 11, Allah says, and from mankind, there are people that worship Allah on an edge. They're on the brinks of something. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la firstly says, wa min an-nasi, from mankind, not everyone, but there's some people, ya'budu Allah, they worship Allah on the brink or on the edge. And he says, ala harf, and harf in Arabic, as we know, means letter. And when they use the word letter, because a letter, when you take a letter out of a word, yusqutul ma'na, the meaning of the word is changed or it is compromised. So it is on the edge of the meaning, if you will, because when you take that letter off, it changes its state.
It's something totally different, whether not having a meaning or a totally different meaning. So when you are on the brinks of worshiping Allah, or you're only worshiping Allah just a little, and some small tribulation will take you off of that track, right? Maybe a family member, maybe, let's be totally honest, maybe a boyfriend or a girlfriend, maybe a husband or a wife, you know, that person that influenced you, mashallah. But then the final frontier comes if Allah takes that person away from you, whether it's taking their life or it's taking them away from you because of something that may have happened. It's a test for you now. It's a test for you. Because Allah has given the example. There are people that worship Allah based on the edge. And then he gives a tafsir and an explanation of this harf or this type of person. fa in asabahu khayrun itma an nabi If good was to afflict them, then they are good. They're fine. Oh yes, this is what I deserve. You know, Ibn Abbas radiAllahu anhu wa anabihi, may Allah have mercy on him and his father. He mentioned, this is in Al-Bukhari, that, you know, there were the a'rab. The a'rab would come to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam. The a'rab were the Bedouins. And when we say the Bedouins, these were the people that we say roughly, you know, people that were in the valley, that were in the distant places, not in civilization. And some would say nomads because they would travel from one place to another place in search of food. And as soon as they get it, they keep going. The disadvantage of this is because there's no civilization and there is ghilda fit ta'amil. There is roughness. They're rough people because they're not around a lot of people. They're not in a society or a civilized area. So when they would come, as we know, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, that one of them grabbed the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, you know, and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was very, very nice to him, even after he grabbed him. And that was something that he was used to. So these Bedouins, this is what they would do. When they would come and they would embrace Islam,
when they would go back to their area and they saw that their camels had babies and that, you know, mashAllah, families were pregnant, they would say, hadh ad-dinun sa'i. This is a good religion. Yes, I knew it. But if something, when they came back and there was no rain, there was famine, they would curse the religion. So when looking at this, it was conditional. It was based on a maslaha. It was based on a worldly benefit, something that they wanted. Because he says, if they were afflicted, asaba. And asaba means something that affects you outwardly and inwardly. If it was khair, any khair, that's why he uses the indefinite. khairun itma an-nabi, he or she would be fine. wa in asabatuhu fitnatun inqalaba ala wajhi But if they were people that were afflicted or tested, for lack of better words, with an affliction, fitna, a trial, inqalaba, and inqalaba means like to flip or to turn. That's where we get the word qalb from because the heart, as some scholars mention, turns from good to evil, from happy to sad, et cetera. inqalaba ala wajhi They would throw their hands up, oh man, I can't deal with this. It's the religion. The religion is the problem. When they say that, that's when they're worshipping Allah on the brink because when that bad thing happens to them, quote unquote, they can't take it. They don't hold on. Because it was based on something other than a strong foundation, knowing Allah and loving Allah. To know Him is to love Him, right? MashaAllah. When they have that foundation, when, not if, but when these trials come, are they worshipping on a harf? Allah Subhana wa ta'ala says, for those types of people, khasira dunya wal aakhira They lost in this life and in the next. And remember, a loss in this life, we don't only look at the tangible. They may have a car, they may have gotten into school, gotten into this program, so on and so forth. No, it's much deeper than that.
As we mentioned earlier, it's an internal experience and exercise that must be exercised on a consistent basis to make sure that the external is sound, regardless of what you see in most cases. So what we have to understand is that this ayah is calling for self-reflection. Am I an individual that worships Allah conditionally on what I think with my limited intellect is right or wrong? Or what I deserve? And this is what we should ask ourself in our dua. If our dua doesn't get answered, how do we act? Because if we are those that when we are afflicted with a trial or tribulation, we give up. That is not an example of the believer. But Allah Subhana wa ta'ala's mercy is always open for us to turn back before he takes our soul. So may Allah Subhana wa ta'ala reward us and make us of those that strive for his mercy and not to make us of those that worship him based on an edge or upon a hafidh. BarakAllahu feek. Ameen. JazakumAllahu khair. SubhanAllah, I should mention actually, one of the things that I wanted to mention. It's a powerful note as you're reading through Surah Al-Hajj in particular. It's the only surah in the Quran with two sajdas, with two prostrations. And it has such a stark difference, the first part being Mecca and then the second part being in Medina. So it's like there are two different realms, two different worlds that this is speaking to. And it's something really to think about. Sujood in all situations, you prostrate in good and you prostrate in hardship, you prostrate in Mecca when you're fearing for your life, you prostrate in Medina when you're starting all over, you prostrate and you do sajda in patience, sajda in gratitude. And that's the example of Ibrahim Al-Islam that everything drives him back to sajda. He gets driven back to prostration no matter what. And these people on the other hand are driven off the cliff. They jump off the cliff. As soon as something bad happens, we can't do this. And of course, as we mentioned, some Muslims in Mecca held back. They didn't make the hijrah. They said, this is too much. We didn't sign up for this. And unfortunately they missed out.
So inshallah ta'ala we'll now have sister Tasneem reflect on the portion inshallah. Salaam everyone. These surahs today are particularly difficult to reflect on because of the sort of the severity of what they discuss. Now, both Surah Al-Anbiya and Surah Al-Hajj start with this reminder of not the day of judgment, but that moment right before the day of judgment. So as Shukr said, Surah Al-Anbiya begins, iqtara bil nasi hisabuhum that this moment, this day of reckoning, this day that we're going to be held accountable is getting close to the people. wuhum fee ghaflatin ma'ridhun But yet, despite the fact that it's getting close, they're in this state of heedlessness. And the ayah that comes right after it, wama yateem min dhikrim min rabbih No matter what sign, what miracle, what is thrown in their face, there's nothing that will wake them up from this ghaflah, this heedlessness, and they're described as what? wuhum yalAAaboon They're playing, they're literally just messing around. And you see in Surah Al-Hajj how it starts off with, ya ayyuhal nasu attaqoo rabbakum O people, fear your Lord. Now, a lot of times this concept of ghaflah, of heedlessness is contrasted with taqwa, the state of constantly being aware of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and knowing that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is watching, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is hearing what I'm doing in every action that you do in order to seek to perfect that action. The exact opposite of being heedless, of forgetting that Allah is watching and Allah is always there. Surah Al-Hajj, the first ayah, ya ayyuhal nasu attaqoo rabbakum Fear your Lord. inna zalzalata al-sa'ati shay'un AAadeeb That again, not the sa'a itself, not the day of judgment itself, but the zalzalata al-sa'a.
Zalzala, the Arabic word for example, for earthquake is zilzad, right? Zalzala is this sort of like this rumbling before the day of judgment, the rumbling before the storm. It's coming close. It's there, things are starting to get shaky. You can almost, you can feel it. Iqtarabat an-nas It's getting so close, that moment of reckoning. And going back to Surah Al-Anbiya, so you have both of these surahs that really emphasize the day of judgment. Now going back to Surah Al-Anbiya, are honestly some of the most terrifying ayat for me in the Quran. Where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, falamma ahassu ba'sana Right when they sensed, like has, they could feel it coming, that our punishment, they could feel it coming. falamma ahassu ba'sana idha minha yarqudoon That they bolt. The day of judgment is not even here. They could just feel, they know it's again, it's like seeing those dark clouds on a stormy day. They know it's about to come, they're running. And of course, at this point, they know what's happening, where this is coming from, right? This is not that, this is something is off and now we're just going to run. They know it's from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, they know the punishment is here and they're running and they know they have nowhere to run. But because the fear is so immense, they don't care and they're running. What does Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la say in response to that? la tarkudoon Don't run. There's no place for you to go at this point. la tarkudoon warji'oo ila ma utriftum feehi Don't run. In fact, come back to everything you have been blessed with. Come back to everything you were neglectful of. All of this blessing upon blessing. warji'oo ila ma utriftum feehi All of these blessings you were drowning in. wa masakinukum
Your glorious homes, the shelter that I provided over your house. Come back to it. laAAallakum tus'aloon Because you're going to be asked about everything that you were given, everything that you experienced. Because what are you doing this whole time? wa hum yalAAaboon We're playing around. We're in the state of heedlessness. We're just living our lives. Going to the movies, we're binge watching shows, we're hanging out, we're getting salah as we're hanging out with friends. It's incredible how long we can go in a state of not even realizing, fine. Not realizing, doing basic things, remembering Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in your day-to-day actions. But to the point where we're drowning in blessings, there's so much that we have. And even then we're still heedless. And what's terrifying really goes on. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, don't bother running. In fact, come back so you can be asked about everything I've given you. What do they say in response? Ya waila, inna kunna zalimeen. Like, oh, like, I mean, oh, woe to us is the literal translation, but it's like, literally you grasping your head and thinking, what have I done? Like, we were wrong. And that feeling of just being so terrified that everything just hitting you like a ton of bricks. We were wrong. Honestly, some of the most terrifying ayahs in the Quran. Fama zalat tilka da'wahum. They kept repeating that over and over and over again. What were we thinking? What were we thinking until Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la wipes them out. Now, I know the times that we're going through, the times that we're experiencing, we're all trying to be optimistic.
We're trying to be positive, think about the good. But I particularly wanted to focus on something that is really terrifying to me in light of the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Because it's also important to really push ourselves with this fear of having wronged Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, having been neglectful. And hopefully that that fear pushes us to beg Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in these last 10 nights that are just around the corner, to not allow us to be among these people and to make us of the muktaqeen. And just very briefly, I think that this reality is ayats speak so much, they speak volumes in comparison to what we're experiencing right now. Because we're experiencing a worldwide pandemic, right? You go out, people are staying their distances, there's things barred off, places are deserted. You go on every news website, every blog, what is it being described as? It's like the end of times, right? It's like the, you know, that's it, the world is over. Every time you get that sense of fear, every time you walk out and you feel like this is creepy, this feels like this is weird, this is uncomfortable, this is not normal, I want you to think about these ayats. And I want you to think about that sensation, that fear that you kind of feel, think about the thousand times, the million times fold of that fear that you will sense when that zalzalah, that rumbling of the day of judgment is there. Really grasp, don't run from that sensation, because that's exactly what we're doing now. What happens? We get, we're nervous, we're scared, this is not normal, I'm not comfortable, right? And we're barely sensing anything. So what do we do? We run. How do we run? We run to our devices. We want to do anything to keep our minds from thinking about this reality, right? Anything to numb our minds, I'm just gonna binge watch shows, I'm just gonna scroll on Facebook all day, I'm gonna do whatever it takes
to maintain that state of heedlessness, of ghafla. I'm gonna play around, I'm gonna mess around just so I don't come to terms with the reality that this sensation is terrifying. It should be terrifying, but don't run. Don't run and think Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, do exactly what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la warns these people of doing, that thank Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for these blessings, be conscious of His presence, and especially in these last 10 nights, turn back to Him, run towards Him and make dua, beg Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la that we're not among these people and that we always remain in a state of consciousness. I'm sorry if I pushed anyone, but these ayat terrify me in a way that hopefully will push you and I to beg Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for His mercy and remain among the muzaqqeen. Ameen. JazakumAllah khayran. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la bless you. It's important for us, I think, to always, we have to make sure that we don't lean just in one direction of hope without the direction of fear sometimes, right? So I think it's important. Allah Azawajal would not give us these scenes unless there was some sort of reflection in them for us. And of course, the fear of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la only runs us back to Him, right? And that's actually the point that in this world, when you have that sensation, when you have those terrifying sights that are given to you, you have an opportunity to turn back to Him and to have complete safety in turning back to Him. The hereafter, when you run away, where are you gonna run? And so, what came to my mind as you were speaking, Hadith of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, la manja' wa la manja' min kayda ilayk. There is no refuge or shelter from you except to you. I can't escape Allah except by going back to Allah.
I can't shelter myself or seek refuge from Him except to Him. And so, He doesn't give us these ayat to paralyze us with fear. He gives us these ayat to activate us with fear. And fear is an important part of our faith. Not a debilitating fear, but may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la help us and forgive us. May Allah Azawajal allow us to have safety on that day. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allow us to be awake and mindful in this world and to be comforted by that mindfulness in the hereafter. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la not allow us to drown away when He sends us such a reminder, to drown ourselves away into heedlessness. And SubhanAllah, you're thinking, one thing that you touched on, all of these devices provide added means of ghafla as well, of heedlessness as well, right? So, where were you going to run in the past? Now it's much easier to find something to distract you. But at the same time, what we're seeing as well is that Alhamdulillah, all of these devices, if used properly like everything else in life, also can help us connect further with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and that they can keep us reminded InshaAllah. But I would encourage everyone to take what Sister Tasneem shared with us tonight and to bring it with you to your salah and your qiyam. And bismillah ta'ala, if we can all push ourselves to a moment of weeping, to a moment of crying. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said that there are two eyes that would never be touched by the fire. And one of them is an eye that remembered Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in privacy and then was filled due to that fear of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la was then filled with tears. So we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la that our hearts are softened and that our eyes are wet with tears and that our tongues are moist with the dhikr of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la these 10 nights and that we are amongst those
Allahumma innaka'afu wa-l-karimu wa-tuhibbu al-'afwa wa-fa'afu wa-anna Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, you are forgiving and you love to pardon, so we ask you to pardon us. I just want to give one last word, Sheikh Abdullah. I know I saw you reflecting as well on the very deep words that were shared tonight. So if you have anything you'd like to share. No, no, no, MashAllah, you shared enough, Ma'a Adnan. I think that it's really just being aware, self-aware of what's going on. And just like you mentioned, you know, and how she mentioned these devices can be a means. We just have to know how to use that to where it's a ni'mah as opposed to a hujja alayna. You know, it's a hujja alayna, inshAllah. An argument for us, not an argument against us. Wa alaikum wa rahmatullah. Jazakum Allah khair. This is Fitesh Naeem for joining us and Jazakum Allah khair, Sheikh Abdullah, as always. InshaAllah ta'ala we'll see you all tomorrow night. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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