Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 3
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Juz' 17 with Ust. Zaynab Ansari | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 3
The beauty of our world is not only a means of reflecting upon Allah and His mercy, but also on the cycle of life and death. However, there are those that are heedless and blinded by the grandeurs of this world that they forget the hereafter. Ust. Zaynab Ansari joins Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro to reflect on juz 17 and keeping the hereafter in mind.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wasalamu ala rasulillah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Alhamdulillah, rabbal ameen. As we are now getting into the second half of Ramadan, I wanted to remind everyone inshallah ta'ala about two things. Bid'innahi ta'ala, as you all have been following the Judgment Day series in Qur'an 30 for 30, our programming really kicks into another gear in the last 10 nights. And inshallah ta'ala, we start that off with a webathon. That runs for a few hours on the 21st day of Bid'innahi ta'ala to take us right into the 21st night. Obviously, we look for your support in that webathon inshallah ta'ala. And we also hope you benefit from it. If you've attended these webathons in the past, you know that there are just gems upon gems upon gems. So we actually do do topics and we divide them amongst a broad range of speakers similar to what we do on 30 for 30 to get us ready for the last 10 nights inshallah ta'ala. And so we ask you to tune into that webathon inshallah ta'ala. The information will be coming out. Now, of course, I'll be reminding you every night inshallah ta'ala until then. We will adjust the 30 for 30 programming when that time comes, bi'idhnillah. And then last 10 nights, we're going to have a nightly du'a with Sheikh Suleyman Ghani. We're going to have nightly late night reflections inshallah ta'ala with Sheikh Yasir Burjas and myself. So the YouTube channel will be running pretty much the entire day and night, especially throughout the night, bi'idhnillah ta'ala. Once we get into the last 10, we pray that it will all be beneficial and that inshallah ta'ala you continue to support our work bi'idhnillah ta'ala. With that being said, alhamdulillah, we have Ustada Zainab Ansari with us, mashaAllah, joining us from Knoxville, Tennessee from the Taisir Seminary. May Allah bless you and bless the work that's being done over there. How are you Ustada Zainab? Salam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah, I'm doing well. Good to see everybody. Thank you for inviting me. It's very exciting to be here again. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah wa barakato. We're blessed that you could join us. And I wanted to mention this because we've been talking about interesting suhoor.
So before I ask about food stuff, you're from New Orleans, or you were born in New Orleans, alhamdulillah rabbi. So a fellow New Orleanian here, alhamdulillah rabbi. How long did you live in New Orleans before you moved to, did you move to Atlanta after that? Is it New Orleans and then Atlanta? Is that the journey? That's correct, Sheikh Omar. So my mom very much being from Detroit and of that mindset was like, I can't stay here very long. So my parents ended up leaving New Orleans when I was about a year, I think a year, year and a half old, then we went to Atlanta. So, but it's still kind of stayed with me in terms of the food and the culture and those things. So what's your favorite soul food, suhoor, iftar? Like what does a Southern iftar, suhoor look like? You know, subhanAllah. So for me, it's actually, and this is actually from my mom, right? She's from Detroit, but there are Southern origins there because she's African-American. So our iftar just the other night was actually beans, cornbread, and a kale salad, which I think is a very Southern soul food thing. I don't know about the kale part, but the beans and the cornbread. But I can tell you're from New Orleans because you say New Orleans properly. You know, here's what happens with New Orleans is that you've got people that say New Orleans, and then you have those that try to be exotic, like Sheikh Abdullah says, Nolens or something like that. I knew it. Sheikh Abdullah, you went to New Orleans recently, right? Yes, I did. I tried calling you to find out about the cuisine with your brother, mashallah, he looked out for me. Oh, man. You weren't answering your phone. Alhamdulillah, it was beautiful, man. The shrimp spot, the shrimp po'boys. There you go. I forgot the name of it. Po'boy. There's nothing like it. It's a long line. Waited there for a long time. There's nothing like it. You go to those like 100-year-old restaurants, 150-year-old restaurants that serve those fried oyster po'boys, fried shrimp po'boys, there's nothing like it. Yeah, it was really nice, mashallah. See, that's my dad's favorite sandwich, by the way. Mashallah, really? So he is like, you need to try shrimp po'boys. This is like years after we leave New Orleans.
And then he was in Knoxville recently trying to find shrimp po'boys. We found this one restaurant, but the guy in his skin couldn't find any workers. He's like, do you have someone who can come and cook for us? Literally is what he said. Alhamdulillah, mashallah. Allah bless your father, bless your mother. Actually, every time I go to New Orleans, that's the first thing I do is I go to that spot that I sent Sheikh Abdullah to, to have my fried shrimp po'boy. It's like a sunnah of going to New Orleans, you know? Well worth it, well worth it. We apologize to the Hanafis that don't eat shrimp. As far as this program, it's like teasing upon teasing. Wait till Mufti Abdur-Rahman Waheed comes here to kind of mess with him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jazakumullah khairan. Tayyib, inshallah ta'ala, we will get started. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So we are now in Juz 17, and I just got signed out of my account. So I don't know what that means for us, but alhamdulillah, I mean, I'll probably have to read off my phone then, inshallah ta'ala, my notes. I don't know if Sheikh Abdullah just hacked my account. It might be good. But alhamdulillah, as we've been talking about the two different groups of people and what those two groups actually look like, when you come to Juz 17, you actually start to see once again that Allah Azawajal continues to talk about these two groups. And this is really a familiar theme when you get to Mecca Quran and realize that a lot of this is Quran that was revealed in Mecca or some ayat in Mecca, some ayat that were in Madinah. So you start to see the difference between the two groups. And we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to make us amongst those that have maqamul mahmudah, that honored delegation with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. SubhanAllah, the last episode yesterday on intercessors on the Day of Judgment, that is that honored delegation of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. It's actually one of my favorite episodes from the entire Judgment Day series.
May Allah make us from those who gain the intercession of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but also are elevated to a place where they can intercede on behalf of others. Allahumma Ameen. So look at the last part of Surah Taha, which is from the previous juz. Verse 122 is that verse, Wa man a'radha AAan dhikri fa inna lahum ma'ishatan dhanka wa nahshuruhu yaum alqiyamati a'ma Allah talks about the one who turned away from his remembrance, having a constricted life. And as we said in the beginning of the Judgment Day series, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam explained this as a moment in the grave, in fact. The constricted life in the grave and then being resurrected without sight and being completely lost and confused and wandering on that day and demanding the blessings that they took for granted in this life. And of course, as we said, they also have a constricted lifestyle here, constricted chests, constricted hearts, because they don't ponder the remembrance of Allah. And when they don't ponder upon the remembrance of Allah, they're not able to grasp the deeper meanings of life. And so that's how Surah Taha ends, right? Now I want to look at verse one of Surah Taha from the previous Juz and then go into verse one, the first ayah of Al-Anbiya and the first ayah of Al-Hajj, which is just very profound. Remember the very first ayah of Surah Taha was, Ma anzalna AAalika alqur'ana li tashqa Taha ma anzalna AAalika alqur'ana li tashqa illa tathkiratan li man yakhsha That this is not, the revelation was not meant to cause you distress. The revelation is a mercy from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. It's a cure, it's a healing. It was not meant to cause you distress. And if you look at the first verse of Surah Al-Anbiya, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, Iqtarabalinnasi hisabuhum wa hum fee ghaflatin mu'adidun That the people's hisab is coming close, the time of people's judgment has drawn near. Iqtarabalinnasi hisabuhum
So as it's coming closer to them, wa hum fee ghaflatin mu'adidun They are heedlessly turning away. They are immersing themselves further in heedlessness. And this is actually, you know, one of the great ironies as Imam Ibn Rajab Rahim Allah Ta'ala I believe mentioned, it was either him or Ibn Al-Jawzi Rahim Allah mentioned a profound point that, you know, as the world goes on, you find that obviously people's righteousness declines and corruption increases. And just by nature, the longer we are here, the closer we're getting to the day of judgment. But you find that the remembrance of the Akhirah becomes less and less. And the public manifestations of ghaflah, of heedlessness, of materialism, of self-worship, and all of that that takes people away from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, you find that that increases. So it's counterintuitive. You're getting closer to the end of times, yet you're acting like the hereafter doesn't exist collectively as mankind. But on the individual level, right, your hisab is coming closer, you're getting older, and you're getting closer to that day. But if you are insisting upon a path of ghaflah, if you're insisting upon a path of heedlessness and ignorance, then you are mu'idhun, you're turning away from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And when you're turning away from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, it's not that you're actually pushing away the day of judgment or the hereafter, you're just pushing away the Lord of this dunya and the Lord of the day of judgment. You're pushing away the guidance from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that is for your own benefit. And so, you know, the first ayah of Taha is reminding you why the revelation is here. The second, the first ayah of al-anbiya is reminding us that some people are turning away from what is becoming more and more inevitable to them. And then the first ayah of al-hajj, surah al-hajj, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Ya ayyuhal-naas attaqoo rabbakum inna zarzalata al-sa'ati shay'un a'zeem Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, O mankind, O people,
ittaqoo rabbakum, be mindful of your Lord, inna zarzalata al-sa'ati shay'un a'zeem that the trembling of the hour is a mighty thing. It's a mighty thing. And so, subhanAllah, you have here comparison, right? Where you have people that are in ghaflah, that are turning away and heedlessness. Heedlessness does not change the circumstances or the consequences of the deeds. It simply dulls your own perception of those circumstances and those consequences. So you are purposely closing your eyes. And taaha, you know, a person's complaining about blindness at the end of a taaha, and then you get into al-anbiya, and it's, you know, you are purposely closing your eyes to what is on its way to you. Taqwa is hyper awareness and consciousness. So taqwa being the opposite of ghaflah here, right? So the next surah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is calling for taqwa. It taqwa rabbakum, be mindful of your Lord, right? And when you're mindful of your Lord, then you won't be fee ghaflatin mu'ridhoon in a state of heedlessness and turning away from the inevitable. Now, subhanAllah, you see the multiple scenes here. And actually many of them that we're talking about in the Judgment Day series actually show up here. Surat al-anbiya, verse 47, the famous verse, wa nada' al-mawazina al-qista liyawm al-qiyamati fada tuzdalamu nafsin shay'a wa in kana mifqa'a l-habbatin min qardarin atayna biha wa kafa binaa hasibin Very famous verse, we will set up the scales of justice on the Day of Judgment, and no soul is going to be wronged in the least. And even if a deed, the weight of a mustard seed is done, then it will be brought forth. So Allah will bring forth the deeds on the Day of Judgment, but you won't be wronged. wa kafa binaa hasibin And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is sufficient as a reckoner, as an assessor. So here, SubhanAllah, you have the scene of the mizan, right? What are you putting in your mizan?
And by the way, SubhanAllah, as we get into the third part of the Judgment Day series, there's going to be a lot about the mizan, a lot about the mizan, and the details of the scale, the details of the mizan. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make our mizan heavy with good deeds. Allahuma ameen. So you have the scene of the mizan. And then I'm going to bring in conclusion to these last two ayat, this comparison between two, going from al-anbiya into al-hajj. In al-anbiya, verse 103, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, la yahzunuhum al-faza'u al-akbar wa tatalqaahum al-malaika hatha yawmukum allathee kuntum tumAAadun That they will not be disturbed. Allah is talking about the believers. They will not be disturbed or grieved by al-faza'u al-akbar, by the supreme shock. And the angels will in fact greet them and say, this is your day which you have been promised. So SubhanAllah, you have people that are completely at ease with al-faza'u al-akbar, the great shock, right? You're talking about the initiation. It doesn't get more terrifying than that of this day, right? But Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that the believers are going to be put to ease. They will not grieve. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst them. Allahuma ameen. And the angels will be comforting them and telling them, remember, this is the day you were promised. You know, you knew this day was coming. You were not from the people of ghaflah. You were not from the people of heedlessness. You were preparing yourself. So remember this day, you were told about it. You recited Quran about it. You acted towards it. You're okay. And you're being escorted in a certain way. SubhanAllah, what does Surah Al-Hajj begin with? What's seen from the day of judgment? Verse two, the very second verse, yawma tarawnaha tadhalu kullu murdi'atin amma arda'at wa tala'u kullu dhaati hamlin hamlaha wa tara'an naasa sukaara wa maa hum bi sukaara wa lakinna a'adhaab Allahi shadeed Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, the day that you will see a nursing mother abandon the child that she is nursing. And, you know, the shock of that day would cause a pregnant woman to deliver prematurely.
And you will see people looking like they are drunk, but they are not drunk. It is the gravity of that day. So the people just running around, confused, lost, looking for answers, looking for a path, and they don't find a path. Why? Because they were fee ghaflatin ma'ridoon what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in the beginning of this juz, fee ghaflatin ma'ridoon they were in heedlessness, turning away, whereas those that were prepared are being put to ease. It's not that the day is less severe, SubhanAllah, this is something that one of my teachers had mentioned in tafsir of this ayah. It's not that the day is less severe, it's that Allah Azawajal is sending you the angels to comfort you and let you know you're okay. So it's not that the scenes are, you know, not grave, right, as you're seeing them, but it's you're okay because you were ready for this. So don't be sad. Allatakhafu wa la tahzanu Don't be afraid, don't grieve, is what they say to you, what the angels say to you when you're dying. And on that day when you see, you know, al-faza' al-akbar, the great shock, don't worry, don't be sad, you know, this is the day you were promised. So SubhanAllah, waabshiru biljannati allati kuntum tuAAadoon at the time of death, that this is the promise of paradise that was given to you, being given to you now. And here you have the opposite of that, or here you have the second side of that, the other side of that realm, the promise of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala being realized of comforting the believer at that time. So inshAllah ta'ala with that, I'll pass it off to Sheikh Abdullah. Jazakumullah khairan Jazakumullah khairan Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu wa ala Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala Amma ba'du Within our religion of Islam, as you know, Sheikh Omar mentioned, is the belief that there will be a day that these events will happen. I mean, he just recently made a series over that day of judgment and the events that will take place before we actually go to inshaAllah, inshaAllah, to be with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in Jannah. But there are those that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses in the Quran, those that were negligent, or those that denied the truth that came to them,
or those that were combative. And all of these are elements of what is known as kufr or disbelief. Even linguistically, kufr means that which is an individual that is ungrateful. They realize a blessing and then they don't acknowledge it voluntarily after their fitrah, their fitrah. And this is what is important. Their natural self and inclination recognizes that blessing bil fardiyan, just naturally by default. They recognize that this is beyond their capabilities. From our belief as Muslims to believe that there is a day of resurrection, that there will be a day of judgment. As we say, maliki yawm al-deen, the owner, the malik, the owner or the king of this day of judgment, the day that you will be judged. We also believe as Muslims that there will be a ba'ath, there will be a resurrection, that you will come out of your graves and that you, your body or your spirit will come in front of Allah. Your soul will come in front of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and that is when the hisab will take place. A sequence of events. I highly implore you to watch the Day of Judgment series because inshallah, he will be touching on that. What I want to capitalize on is in the chapter of Hajj, verses number 63 to 65, roughly. Where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says in verse number 64 as an intro, when he starts off, before that he talks about how Allah is al-haqq, how he is the truth and how what all the other people call to is al-baltil. It is something that is a form of, it is not true in the sense that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is bringing the haqq and bringing the deen of Islam. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on and he mentions SubhanAllah after Audhu Billahi minash shaitanir rajim where he says Alam tara anna allaha anzala minas sama'i ma'an fatusbihul ardu mukhdarra inna allaha latifun khabeer This is verse number 63 where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says Have you not, Prophet, considered how Allah sends down water from the sky
and the next morning the earth becomes green? God is truly the most subtle, the most aware. Remember how I mentioned to you earlier, we've mentioned numerous times and Abdur Rahman Al Saadi, he mentions this 12th century Hijri scholar, he says how whenever you see names at the end of a verse, know that there is a munasaba, know that there is a relevance, know that there is a connection, that there is a contextual connection that is tied to those two names or one name and that whole connection is for you to be uplifted spiritually, i.e. for your iman to increase over preponderance. And this is the actualization of pondering over the Quran. This is what is wanted for the individual when they read or listen. When they hear these two names, they'll say what is the connection? So here, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala asks a rhetorical question. Do you not see? alam tara yani al tara Do you not understand how Allah sends or ponder over how Allah sends water from the sky and the earth becomes green? fatusbihul ardu mukhdarra And the fa here means attaqeeb, meaning that the earth will become green after a period of time. And as some imam al-sa'adi mentions even that subhanAllah, when we see from the dampness of the earth, from the rain that comes down and it soaks up the earth, how it becomes green over a period of time. And subhanAllah, here when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, inna allaha latifun khabir Okay, latif is the most subtle. Khabir is the all-aware. diqqatul ilm Meaning that his knowledge is very, very daqeek, very precise. He knows the precise, small, minutiae things. He has knowledge of it because he is its creator. He is al-khaliq. So how is he latif? He is latif because he is subtle because he extracts these fruits, this vegetation from the ground. And that is the lutfun bikum because he gives it to you for you to be sustained with it. And khabir, he is the all-knowledgeable of what fruits to extract and when. As we know that there are fruits per season. There are summer fruits and there are winter fruits.
His knowledge of the munasaba of when it is relevant for you, when it is good for you, when it is bad for you, is because of his khibra, of his knowledge. We don't want to use the word, we can say experience, but of his knowledge and his element, his knowledge of being all-aware of every single thing that he creates. Then what he militates with is not some big truck of fruit that is sent and picked up in the sea to go to nature, but how they connect with one another to benefit one another. And for us as human beings, how they benefit us in order to ultimately worship and show gratitude to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. So giving that example of asking the question, do you not see how the rain comes down and then this takes place because he is the most subtle, the all-aware. Then moves on after that and he says, lahoo maa fee samawati wa maa fee al-ardi wa inna Allah lahoo al-ghaniyul hameed. Allah gives two names again. He says, everything in the heavens and the earth belong to him, lahoo. God alone is self-sufficient, ghani, and worthy of all praise, hameed. Al-ghani, al-hameed. Okay, what's the connection? That he is everything in the heavens and the earth belongs to him. Okay, where is self-sufficient? Because if it belongs to him, he is not in need of anything. This is why the one that is rich is ghani, because they are not in need to a certain degree because we're humans. But Allah is al-ghani, he is a self-sufficient, and the proof of that is, lahoo maa fee samawati wa maa fee al-ardi. He is in control over it. It is all his, ultimately. And he is al-hameed because of his ghina. He is all praise because of his self-sufficiency. When someone is not in need of anyone, you praise that person because of maybe the hard work that they've obtained in order to reach that level of not being in need or being in need of lesser people than the average quote unquote person in a particular field and whatever the case may be. Knowledge of the religion, the ulama, the scholars, they will not need that many people to tell them about the religion as opposed to a person that is a layman.
And they are praised because of the hard work and the knowledge that they possess and the actions that emanate from that knowledge, inshaAllah ta'ala. So Allah is al-ghani and he is al-hameed. He is all praise, he deserves all praise, particularly in this particular context because of his self-sufficiency. Then Allah continues to say, alam tara anna allaha sakhar lakum maa fil ardi wal fulka tajree fi al-bahri bi amri wa yumsiku al-samaa an taqaa ala al-ardi illa bi-idhni inna allaha bin nasi ila ra'ufu al-raheem Allah asks the question again, have you not considered how God has made everything on the earth as a service for you, service to you, that ships sail the sea at his command, that he keeps the heavens from falling down on the earth without his permission, God is most compassionate and most merciful to mankind. He is the most compassionate, he is the most compassionate and the most merciful being that ra'fa bikum, the fact that he does not allow this quote unquote destruction to take place, he allows the ships to sail, he allows this to sail and to reach its destination in safety, all of this is mercy. In conclusion, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says here, making that connection with what was mentioned from agriculture and what was mentioned from Allah being in control of all things, he says here, wa huwa alladhi ahyaakum thumma yumeetukum thumma yuhyiikum inna al-insana lakafoor Allah says here, it is he who has gave you people life and will cause you to die and then will give you life again, but man is ungrateful. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la talks about giving life and death and life and even in the Quran where he talks about in the chapter of al-Ghafir, qalu, that the non-Muslims, they will say, the people that disbelieve in Allah voluntarily, they will say, qalu Rabbana amattanathnatayni wa ahyaytanathnatayni, that they will say, oh Allah, you have caused us to die twice and given us life twice. The scholars differ on what are these two forms of life and what are these two forms of death
and some of them will say that the two forms of life, the first death, amattanathnatayni, you have caused us to die twice, is when you are fee butooni ummahatikum, when you are in the wombs of your mother before the breath of life is breathed into you, okay, so that's the first death and then the second form of death is when we leave this earth, mufarqatir roohi liljasid, as Ibn Qayyim mentions, that the separation of the soul from the body, that's the second death. The two forms of life is when the breath of life is breathed into you and then the second form of life is when you are going to the next life, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us of those that are successful in this next life. So when seeing this, the connection is how when we look at plants in agriculture and I highly implore all of you just looking outside of your apartment in your house and looking at the seasons change and connecting that to your reality, that's what Allah wants. When you look at his ayat, use it as something that increases your iman and that's why everything other than Allah is an ayah. It is a sign that Allah is here and he will always be here and he uses these signs and connects them together for you to take ibar, to take a lesson from it, to ultimately be of those individuals who their iman and their faith is increased to where we'll be recognizing the accountability that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, that we will have in front of them. So may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us of those that recognize this connection of the agriculture and make us of those that recognize that there will be a day where we'll go in front of him, innahu wa liyyu thalika. JazakAllah khair. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Abdullah. Ustadh Zainab, bismillah. Please go ahead. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wabihi nastaeen. Wasalatu wasalamu ala rasulil kareem. Salamu alaikum again, that was excellent, mashaAllah. So much to reflect on. So actually just looking out the window here at my office, we have like a little garden we've started at TCR and it's just amazing. I mean, surely Allah Ta'ala, I mean, every year you can see that cycle of life,
Allah Ta'ala reviving the earth. So I wanted to comment. There are a couple of things that really stood out from your presentation, Sheikh Armada. And Sheikh Abdullah, thinking about, and I really, what I wanna do is really kind of tie this back to the Quraysh. I've been kind of thinking a lot about the Quraysh kind of as avatars of surprisingly modernity and kind of how they respond to the Prophet, peace upon him, how they kind of respond to revelation. And a couple of things. One is that the Quraysh are, the Quran is revealed to a people that they are very much kind of a part of this natural world they inhabit in terms of they're not disconnected from the celestial sort of signs and the kind of changing of the seasons and agriculture in the way that we kind of often are as modern people. However, if you kind of look at the way that the Quraysh respond to the Prophet, peace upon him, I always say to my students, when you look at the arguments of atheists, you can kind of see that these arguments are not novel arguments. These are arguments that the Quraysh are going to make that Allah Ta'ala refused directly in the Quran. And I was just listening the other day to I think some podcast or something, and there was someone, an atheist who was saying that the existence of hardship is primarily what prevents him from believing in Allah Ta'ala and SubhanAllah, I was thinking about what Sheikh Omar said about this idea of ghafla. And if we kind of think about ghafla or this condition of heedlessness in sort of psychological and emotional terms, I think about behaviors you might engage in like buffering behaviors. This is basically when we kind of engage in a behavior because we don't want to kind of deal with reality of what's in front of us. So we kind of find something to kind of occupy our attention to divert us from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So there's again, so much here that I wanna unpack, but again, thinking about the Quraysh, their response to the Prophet, peace be upon him, this idea that they really can only deal with what's kind of immediately in front of them. They don't wanna deal with the idea of the reality of the akhira. They're in constant kind of pursuit of the dunya and so on. And they really kind of epitomize what it means for a human being to not want to deal with things that are difficult and to be in the state of ghafla, the state of kind of buffering, just sort of not wanting to deal with these kind of heavy emotions and thoughts. And SubhanAllah, there's an ayah that I wanted to mention here in Surat Al-Anbiya, chapter 21, I believe. And in this particular ayah, here we are, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. We have, wa-itha ra'aka allatheena kafaru in yattakhidhoonaka illa huzuwan ahadha allathee yadhkuru alihatakum wahum bidhikru arrahmanihum kafiroon. So this is 2136, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. And in 2136, Allah Ta'ala revealed, and when those who disbelieve see you, O Prophet, O Muhammad, they take you not except in ridicule saying, is this the one who insults your gods? And they are at the mention of the most merciful disbelievers. So really this is like the ultimate form of ghafla because again, they're turning away from all these signs in front of them. They've been given this gift of a prophet and messenger, and this is their response. Their response is that they can really kind of only fixate on this idea of their gods, their deities being insulted, not taking the prophet seriously, alayhi salatu wassalam, and scorning the idea of the mention of the most merciful. So again, the Quraysh, they're very interesting in the sense that they have so much in terms of their own natural environment, and they can kind of connect to the signs of Allah Ta'ala through that natural environment, but they really are very much avatars, I think, for so many kind of objections to kind of religion and revelation
that we kind of think about in terms of modernity. So that's one thing that I wanted to mention. You know, the other thing too, kind of thinking about the signs of Allah Ta'ala kind of writ large, I was also really fascinated by the opening of the surahs, and this is something that Shaikh Omar mentioned. So we have the opening of surah al-Anbiya, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, iqtaraban lannasi hisabuhum wahum fee ghaflatin mu'ridun. So this is 21.1. The time of their account has approached for the people, but again, steeped in heedlessness, this buffering, not dealing with things, with what's heavy and with what's difficult, because they want to play and pursue frivolity. And then thinking about the opening of chapter 54, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, iqtarabat al-sa'atu wanshaq al-qamar. Right, so we know that in the time of the Prophet, alayhis salatu wasalam, these signs take place, like visible signs of the coming of the day of judgment, but still the Quraysh want to refute that, because again, their gaze is along the horizontal always, and never the vertical. So subhanAllah, I was really intrigued, because someone asked me, why is the term sa'a used in this context in the Quran? So I was really kind of intrigued by how Allah Ta'ala discusses time and related concepts in the Quran, whether it's sa'a, whether it's yawm, whether it's dahr, whether it's asr, and that in these particular ayahs, that Allah Ta'ala is conveying something about the last day with a sense of immediacy, because again, the mind of the Quraysh is that they cannot really accept this, they don't want to deal with this, they want to kind of put this off to some time that's very, very, very far off. And the usage of the term sa'a in particular, and the verb iqtarabat al-nas, I mean, this is frightening, that this is nigh, it's upon you, it's around the corner.
So there's something that I wanted to share that I found when I was kind of researching the usage of time in the Quran, and this is actually a book written by Barbara Stowasser on time in the sacred revelation, it's called The Day Begins at Sunset. And she writes that the Quran really beautifully balances time from really two perspectives. It's gonna define time in terms of a transcendent and omnipotent God, but at the same time, in the Quran, Allah Ta'ala gives us features of time that are richly concrete and practical to allow us to make the connection between Allah Ta'ala's authorship of all celestial signs and movements and their benefit to the human race to allow us to use these signs as ways to do what? Measure time, so that we can do what? Benefit from the time we've been given and not fall into that ghafla, into that heedlessness. So that's something that I wanted to share as I was trying to kind of put together my reflection for this, again, so much that Sheikh Omar, Sheikh Abdullah offered that I wanted to respond to. Another thing as well, right? Again, going back to the idea of the Quraysh and they can't deal with the idea of akhira and they're so kind of focused on what's immediately in front of them, you know, thinking a lot about the last days of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. And, you know, of course we focus a lot, not, you know, naturally, you know, on the da'wah, the mission, the ghazawat, the campaign to the Prophet, peace be upon him, but I've been thinking a lot about what are those last moments like? Because, you know, again, you know, the Quraysh might be easy to say, well, you know, I'm not like them. I'm a Muslim, I'm a believer, you know, but subhanAllah, I mean, there's something in terms of what Allah Ta'ala is telling us that be careful not to kind of have that mindset because their inclination was such that they were so,
which, you know, sort of just, what's the term, just tenaciously kind of attached, avidly kind of desirous of this dunya, they couldn't appreciate the idea of an akhira. So, you know, and this is part of human nature. I mean, we fear the unknown, we fear death because, again, all we see in front of us is this dunya. So when you look at the example of the final days of the Prophet, peace be upon him, I was just really struck by this. You know, he's with Sayyidina Aisha, this is at the very end, and, you know, it really is an example of how to not just live with beauty and grace and dignity and firm conviction and yaqeen, but how to pass away in that state. And so this is at the very last moment and he closes his eyes and he opens and salallahu alayhi wa sallam and she remembered that he said to her, Sayyidina Aisha radiallahu ta'ala anha, that no prophet is taken by death until he's been shown his place in paradise. So subhanAllah, you know, the Prophet at the end of his life is actually given that option between kind of having his life prolonged and having sort of some type of immortality or being with Allah subhanAllah ta'ala in the akhira. And I think about this again, back to the surah, chapter 21, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Wama ja'alna libashar min qablikal khuld afa imitta fahumu alkhalidoon And we did not grant to any man before you eternity. So if you die, would they then be eternal? I referencing the Quraysh. So subhanAllah, I mean, if the best of creation is going to turn down this sort of, again, tenacious kind of attachment, avid attachment to this world, right? What does that show us? Again, how to pass with dignity, with beauty, you know, with grace. And what's so beautiful is in that final moment, what the Prophet does, peace be upon him,
is that he elects to be with al-mala al-a'la, he elects to be with Allah subhanAllah ta'ala in the best of company. And he recites this ayah from 469, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. wama yut'i'allahu wa'l-rasool fa'ulaa'ika ma'al ladheena an'a'amallahu alayhim min al-nabiyyin wa'l-siddiqun wa'l-shuhada'i wa'l-saliheen wa'u hasna'u la'ika rafiqa And this is on his lips, peace be upon him, as he is passing away. So again, in every facet of his life, alayhi salatu wasalam, from beginning to end, a lesson to the Quraysh, a lesson, lessons for the Sahaba, and lessons for every single person that reflects upon his beloved seerah and is reading these ayahs in the Quran. So, alhamdulillah, this is an honor to be here with everybody today, and I pray this reflection is of benefit. Jazak'Allah khair. Ustaz Zainab, that was of immense benefit, subhanAllah, and I think it just occurred to me what you just mentioned about the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, seeing his place in Jannah. SubhanAllah, I mean, what, we see Asiya, alayhi wasalam, seeing her place before she's taken. There's no mightier place than the place of our Messenger, salallahu alayhi wasalam. May Allah azawajal allow us to be in his companionship. And for those who are in that, Allahumma ameen. As you are going through this and sort of talking about, I mean, you mentioned Quraysh, and I really love what you mentioned. You're as an avatar of modernity and sort of the opposite of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam. You have a group of people so deeply attached to this world that they're being blinded from the potential beauty of the hereafter. And then you have the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wasalam, who is the complete opposite of that, who the whole world is presenting itself at his feet, and he's so deeply attached to the hereafter in such a beautiful way that inspires us until today. Is there, subhanAllah, I mean, obviously, Sheikh Abdullah,
feel free to share anything else and reflect on that. Ustadh Zainab, was there anything about just the, anything further as you're reading through this juz, just about the mindset of the people, or anything further you'd love to share with us? SubhanAllah, this was such a profound reflection. Yeah, absolutely. So, another thing too, Sheikh Omar and Sheikh Abdullah, is I was thinking a lot about Abu Sufyan. So one of the things we do in our seerah class is I like to show little film clips. So there's the Omar series, there's the Risalah film. And there's this, it's almost this moment of epic trolling, if you think about it, when Abu Sufyan finds himself after what, how many years is this? It's like 20 years of opposing the Prophet, peace be upon him. And then Abu Sufyan of all people ends up doing what? He ends up going to Jerusalem, so he's in Al-Quds in the court of Heraclius, who's the head of Byzantium. And Heraclius by that time has received the letter from the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam. And, again, thinking again, thinking about the mindset of the Quraish and how Allah Ta'ala is addressing them throughout these two surahs, by the way, that they have this blessing and this mercy and this gift. I mean, that the Prophet is not, it was not sent except to be a mercy to them, a mercy, of course, to all the worlds, but this has given to them this gift. So after 20 years of fighting the Prophet and opposing him and trying to undermine him at every turn, of all people, Abu Sufyan ends up doing what? Going to Heraclius, Heraclius says, tell me about this man, who he looks at the group of Quraish that's there and says, I want to talk to the person who's most closely related to the person who sent me this letter. And now Abu Sufyan, I think, and I just think of this, like this is a case, like Heraclius, like that's like an epic troll. You're going to have Abu Sufyan now come and he's going to speak now in defense of the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam.
It's like the best moment ever. And I think about, subhanAllah, how this comes full circle. It's like you cast him out, you exiled him, you persecuted him, you tortured his followers, you tried to assassinate him. And now you are standing in front of like the head of the world's super, like one of the main superpowers at that time, defending the Prophet. And there's this amazing moment in the Armaar series where the actors really do a great job at this, by the way, you know, where Heraclius says to Abu Sufyan, this message that you kept rejecting, that you didn't want to hear and follow, so if you vote for Hiram, one of the stand-up comedians at the time and follow him around the world. It happens all the time. It's like what this bar�� cổ alleged that the black 干국인이 마치고 다 깨어나�That his pantomaniya related the secrets of Law of shadow spirit to Hero's chapter is like. There's a phrase, where this guy keeps giving false lectures about how to keep in the foreground so people don't take in charge of products that you found in the storehouse. What did this Prophet ask of you again? And Abu Sufyan falters and he stops and he thinks about it. He says, well, he asked us to believe in God and not associate partners with him and establish prayer and paid charity. And you're just kind of trying to in that moment kind of inhabit, you know, kind of what how he must feel in that moment. SubhanAllah, you know, comes full circle for the Quraish. And then he becomes Muslim and narrates the Hadith. Yes, it is from Abu Sufyan. Absolutely. So yeah, right out really right after this, he becomes Muslim. SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah, SubhanAllah. Allah is so merciful that I mean, the message still penetrated the heart of a man who 20 years rejected the Prophet ﷺ and tried to undermine him. SubhanAllah, becomes a part of actually sending that message down to us. May Allah bless you. Sheikh Abdullah, you got any reflection, anything that... No, Alhamdulillah, I think I've covered it all. MashaAllah. Yeah. Beautiful. This was very, very enriching. JazakAllah khairan wa salam alaykum. You had something else that you had to say? One more ayah if I may. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Fa in tawallu faqul azamtukum ala sawa wa in adri
akareebun an ba'idun ma tuwa'dun. I was thinking about this ayah in Al-Anbiya again, verse 109. But if they turn away, then say, I have announced to all of you equally, and I know not whether near or far is that which you are promised. To me, that's so beautiful. I mean, that the Prophet ﷺ exerts his utmost effort, right, whatever the outcome, whatever the response, he made sure time and time again to really deliver the message in the best way. Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. JazakAllah khairan wa salam alaykum. We really, really benefited from your presence. We hope to see you year in, year out. And inshAllah ta'ala more than just 30 for 30, we hope to always benefit from you. May Allah preserve you, protect you, and bless your family, and bless everyone there at Taysir Seminary. Please give our salam to Sheikh Hassan al-Ashhab, inshAllah, and all of the students there at Taysir. Absolutely, and just a shout out to Yaqeen Institute. It's like our favorite channel. So I want everybody to follow, donate, support, make du'a for our mashayikh, and a wonderful team of volunteers here at Yaqeen. JazakAllah khairan wa salam alaykum. Wa alaikum salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. InshaAllah ta'ala for the rest of you, we'll see you all tomorrow, inshAllah, and we'll also see you at the webathon on Wednesday, b'di'illah al-A'la. JazakAllah khairan wa salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa alaikum salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. that our responsibility to teach our truth to this generation is enormous, and it has to be done in fresh and innovative ways. In Islamic Studies Department, Religious Studies Department, we don't have access to lesson plans
like core teachers do. When it comes to other subjects, they have access to great academic research. Unfortunately, most of the research work that is available in the field of Islamic Studies isn't Arabic, and many teachers don't have access to the language, or they're not at that level where they can access Arabic books. And I guess that's where Yaqeen comes in. Curriculum such as Yaqeen's that comes complete with all resources, whether it's worksheets or lesson plans or objectives and standards, video resources, reflection questions. Best part about Yaqeen's curriculum is that it's very flexible, it's very fluid, it's not rigid. I assess the need of my student and then I customize it.
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