Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 3
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Juz' 2 with Sh. Osman Umarji | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 3
When you think about your purpose in life, how much do you think of Allah, ask Allah, and contemplate Him? What does it mean to trust Him? Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro are joined by Dr. Osman Umarji to reflect on the second juz of the Qur’an.
Download the new eBook "Qur’an 30for30: Seerah Edition" here.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. You are experiencing the joy of getting back into your reading, your tarawih, your fasting. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la accept it from you all. Allahumma Ameen. Just a reminder before we get started tonight inshaAllah Ta'ala. Number one, to please consider Yaqeen Institute amongst your donations this Ramadan. Alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen. This is the season and we depend on Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la first, and then your generosity to continue to grow our resources, which will always be free and accessible to the public, bismillah Ta'ala. And I hope you're seeing not just the increase in production quality through the Ramadan series and benefiting. I hope you're watching that at suhoor and watching 30 for 30 at night, but also just all of the resources that have been published over the years, alhamdulillah. So if you go to just our main website right now, yaqeeninstitute.org, you'll see the e-books from the last two seasons of 30 for 30. The first one being a summary of each juz' of the Qur'an, basic summary of each juz'. The second e-book which was just released being the seerah, components of each juz'. And then inshaAllah Ta'ala also the du'as workbook for Dr. Tahir Wyatt, Shaykh Abdullah Aduro's convert resources, Dr. Tasneem's habits, curriculum, new papers, new podcasts, new infographics, a lot alhamdulillah over the years. And all of that is because of how you have invested in Yaqeen's work. So jazakumullahu khayran to all of you for that. And alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen, we are back now. Shaykh Abdullah, how are you? Alhamdulillah, I'm good. Glad to be here, mashaAllah. Alhamdulillah Rabbul Ameen. As I was saying before we started, Dr. Uthman is here. Dr. Uthman is the guy that could beat Shaykh Abdullah in basketball without a doubt. I have no doubt at all. He's like, I don't want to use like a 90s reference because then it's going to, I'm going to look old. So I got it. I was going to say like Allen Iverson, but people probably don't even know who Allen Iverson is anymore. But Dr. Uthman is our point guard. How's it going Shaykh? As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. Alhamdulillah, it's going well. But Shaykh Uthman, man, don't cause fitna, man. Maybe, maybe, maybe. No, it's not a problem. I'm not causing fitna.
Maybe it's your fasting brain. You're fasting, I think you're getting a little bit like, you know, your brain cells, like your perception of reality is off, man. Shaykh Abdullah is going to slam dunk you, man. Here's the good thing. If Shaykh Abdullah could dunk, which I doubt he could, could you dunk, Shaykh? Are you, are you sure, man? If he could, look, I'm just saying, if he could, he would break the glass first time. And then we would just say, you know, we just call it disqualification. And that's a game. We win. So, win-win situation. That's how they play in the NL. That's how they play in the NL, man. That's the Valley Ranch rules. That's our rules over here. Oh, man. Oh, man. JazakAllah khair, Dr. Uthman. It's good to have you. Alhamdulillah. Shaykh Abdullah, as always, Bismillah. We'll go ahead and get started, inshaAllah ta'ala. Of course, this year we are focused on the Akhirah, the Hereafter. And that is where I am focused on. And so, you know, last night we talked about the way that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala introduces belief in the unseen, belief in the Hereafter, belief in the reward or the punishment. And he talked about those who sold their guidance and purchased misguidance, those who sold their Hereafter and purchased this dunya, purchased this material world, and those who sold the forgiveness of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Achtarawu al-maghfirah, al-adhabu bil-maghfirah. They sold their forgiveness from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they purchased his punishment instead, his anger and punishment instead. So, continuing along those notes, I wanted to actually elaborate in that context on when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala takes us to one of the most famous verses in the Quran, wa minhum man yaqoolu rabbana aatinaa fi al-dunyaa hasanaa wa fil-aakhirati hasanaa waqinaa a'adhaab an-naar When you get to verses 200 to 202 in Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah mentions that there are people who say, you know,
they ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for things of this world, and they don't want anything from the Hereafter. They have no concern for anything of the Hereafter. But Allah says there are those who say, rabbana aatinaa fi al-dunyaa hasanaa wa fil-aakhirati hasanaa waqinaa a'adhaab an-naar O our Lord, grant us the best of this life, the best of the Hereafter, and protect us from the torment of the fire. SubhanAllah, if you think about the power of this for a moment, right, and in context of what we spoke about, Allah mentioned those ash-shataru wa-dhalalatu bil-huda, those that again sold guidance, and instead they purchased misguidance. The implications of that was that they had to make a trade-off then. Everything that was given to them that could have bettered their situation in the Hereafter, they sold it in trying to better themselves in this life, but they instead khasiru al-dunyaa wa al-aakhirat They actually lost on this life, and they lost on the Hereafter. So they thought that by selling off the currency, or the reward of the Hereafter with the currency of the Hereafter, and purchasing the life of this world, they thought they would be happy. They thought they would find expense. Instead, they found constriction. Instead, they found the worst of this life, and they found they will find the worst of the Hereafter. So ash-shataru wa-dhalalatu bil-huda, those people who did so will not get the hasana, will not get the good of this life, nor will they get the good of the Hereafter. Waqina a'dhabu an-nar, and protect us from the torment of the fire. Those were the people who of course purchased the punishment, the a'dhab of Allah with his maghfirah, with his forgiveness. Now this verse is one of the most famous verses, one of the most famous du'as that we have, and for good reason. Now what a lot of people I think don't really appreciate is that it came down around Hajj.
It came down around Hajj, and remember in Jahiliyyah, in the days of ignorance, they continued the Hajj, but they continued the Hajj with severe deviations, things that were not in the spirit of Hajj, not of the way of Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, and certainly not in accordance with tawheed. And of course, part of the purification was clearing out the idols and directing people to worship Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala alone. But one key distinction between the worship of idols and the worship of Allah actually is also in what the ask is, not just who you're asking. Obviously you can't ask Allah through idols or whatever it is, right? You ask Allah directly, and that is clear with tawheed, but here also, what are you asking for? You see, what do you think the people who were prostrating themselves to these idols were asking for? They were only asking for worldly things, and we know that for a fact, because they didn't even believe in a hereafter. That's one of the ways that these people have lost their way in Jahiliyyah, is that they completely negated the existence of a hereafter. The people of the book, of course, did believe in some notion of the hereafter. Most religions actually do. These people had completely denied the existence of an akhira. They thought that once you die, you die. So what are they going to ask the idols for? They will use the idols for this world, and they will ask the idols for this world, but it's going to stop there. They're limited in the ask because that's what their focus is. And by the way, subhanAllah, that's why this dua is specifically legislated as a sunnah in tawaf. It's a game changer, subhanAllah, out of all of the duas. When you do tawaf, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la write down for us hajj and umrah. Allahumma ameen, and accepted hajj, accepted umrah. Allahumma ameen.
The only dua that we have going around the Kaaba is between al-rukn al-yamani, between the Yemeni corner and the black stone. Rabbana aatina fi al-dunya hasana, wa fi al-akhirati hasana, wa qina athab al-naar. Because it orients you in this pinnacle of tawheed, this act which is the pinnacle, which is just the most beautiful expression of tawheed. It orients you to not just worshipping that one God, but what you should be asking that one God for. So this is really a game changer in perception, in the paradigm of the believer now, who's no longer calling upon the idols and Allah, or just the idols, but they're calling upon Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, and they're asking Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, not just for things of this world, they're asking Allah for things of the hereafter as well. Now, Imam Hassan al-Basri rahim Allah Ta'ala, he says to us, by the way, that fad-dunya hasana, realize you're not asking Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for quantity, you're asking Allah for the best of this life. Sometimes the best of this life is less. Sometimes the best of this life is what is quantifiably not so pleasing, but it has barakah and it has blessing. Sometimes the best of this life is actually to be withheld from certain things so that you don't compromise your hereafter in the process. And so what do we mean when we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la for the best of this life, the best of this life and the best of the next, and to protect us from the fire? Protecting us from the fire is straightforward. The best of the hereafter is Jannah, and all that leads up to Jannah. A paradise-like experience, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la grant us an easy day of judgment and a smooth and quick entrance into paradise without any form of questioning and any form of accountability. Allahumma ameen. So that's clear what asking Allah for hasanah in the akhira is. As for the dunya, however, the answer is
ilm an-naafi'ah wa risqan tayyiba wa amlan mutaqadala You're asking Allah for beneficial knowledge, for pure sustenance, and for accepted deeds. Imam Hassan al-Basri rahimahu Allah is saying that's what it means when you say Rabbana aatina fi al-dunya hasanah So what this shows us is that the best thing you could ask Allah for in the dunya is actually what brings blessing to you both in the dunya and in the akhira because ilm an-naafi'ah, good beneficial knowledge, benefits you here and in the hereafter. Risqan tayyiba, pure sustenance, benefits you here and in the hereafter. And if Allah accepts you, amlan mutaqadala, then that benefits you here as well as in the hereafter. Finally I end with this one narration which I shared in a khutbah recently, subhanAllah, which is so beautiful about this verse. It's the opposite of how people usually approach the life of this world and the life of the next in a skewed way. Usually people are too dunya oriented, not enough akhira oriented. Here, Anas radiAllahu ta'ala anhu says Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam visited one of his companions who was suffering from severe illness. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said to him, hal kunta tada'u bishay, it's as if you were asking Allah for something. Were you asking Allah for something? Were you making dua for something? Because he had such an unusual illness and the man said, I said, I was making dua, Allahuma ma kunta mu'aqibni bihi fil akhira fa ajjil huli fi dunya. Oh Allah, whatever punishment you intended to punish me with in the hereafter, punish me with it now. Let me get it over with now because I don't want to face it on the day of judgment. And the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said, subhanAllah la tu'tiquhu. He said, you would not be able to handle it. SubhanAllah, don't do that. He said, fa hal laa qult rabbana aatinaa fi dunyaa hasanaa wa fil akhiraati hasanaa wa qinaa a'dhabin naar.
Instead, why not say, Oh our Lord, give us the best of this life and the best of the next and protect us from the fire. So have husna dhan in Allah, a good expectation of Allah. But let your good expectation of Allah mean that you meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with the practical part of those deeds. So when you say rabbana aatinaa fi dunyaa hasanaa, Oh Allah, give us the best of this dunyaa, then only pursue the dunyaa with halal. And when you say, Oh Allah, give us goodness in the hereafter, then pursue the hereafter with a'maal, with your good deeds. And when you say, Oh Allah, qinaa a'dhabin naar, protect us from the fire, then avoid the deeds that are the deeds of the people of the fire. May Allah protect us. Allahumma ameen. And inshallah ta'ala with that, I'll pass it over to Sheikh Abdullah. Tadho Sheikh Abdullah. Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'du. MashaAllah, that's a beautiful dua. And those of us that have made umrah and made hajj and made this dua, it's very, very important that you contemplate over life. Really, whenever you talk to Allah and call on Allah, whether reciting the Quran, reciting the duas of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, which is divinely inspired by his creator, our creator, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, always think about your life, what you have done, what you are doing, and what you plan to do. And think of the beautiful names and attributes of Allah. Think of the sunnah of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam. You know, I remember when I was growing up, there was a sticker and it was always said when we were in churches, what would Jesus do? You know, we really have to look at what Jesus would do and what the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam and all the prophets would do, particularly when it comes to their belief in Allah and how they would actualize it in their life. What I want to talk about are the verses in the chapter of Al-Baqarah, verses 207 to 209, roughly. Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala addresses the reality of human beings, because earlier in the verses, he's talking about different types of people and from them that are aggressive
and from them that are argumentative and they may believe in Allah but their actions are not indicative of that. But then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, abta'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim, wa minan nasi man yashree nafsahu btigha'a mardaatillah, wallahu ra'oofun bil'ibad. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, but there is also a kind of man who gives his life away to please Allah, and Allah is most compassionate to his service. yashree nafsahu btigha'a mardaatillah That he or she gives their life away to please God. And Sheikh Omar mentioned that today and also yesterday when he spoke about that yesterday as well. I want to capitalize on the next verse where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, ya ayyuhalladheena aamunoo dukhulu fissilmi kaafatan wala tattabi'oo khutuwati shaitaan innahu lakum adooun mudheen Verse number 208, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala calls out to those who believe. Remember when Allah calls out to the believer, he is calling out to the one that believes in Allah and believes him as well. They believe in the oneness of God, that he's not like his creation. He doesn't have a son, a father. He is not like anything that he has created. Subhana, glory be to him. We magnify him when we think about him, when we speak to him, when we talk about him. That he is greater than anything. And all of the names and attributes that we start with, even in al-Fatiha, those five names that we talked about yesterday, it's important to always contemplate over it. That's why salah, the minimum of the obligatory salah is five times throughout 24 hours. You think about these beautiful names and the actualization of that in your life. How Allah implements his mercy, ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. How Allah is the Rabb. We think about this consistently. Allah says here, O you who believe in these beautiful names of God, believe in God's qualities, his capabilities, Udkhuru fissilmi kaafa, enter into Islam wholeheartedly. This is so important. SubhanAllah.
Enter into Islam wholeheartedly. Those of you that have converted to Islam, you left another faith or a non-faith, and you decided to make that choice to become a Muslim. Not because of what we see in society, it's because your heart was yearning, yearning to come closer to something greater than it that had ultimate control over it and over everything else, i.e. creation. When you found that, it was like what one of my friends said, the smoke is clear. I know my purpose. I know why I'm here, because the one that created me and brought me here gave me the framework. And that framework is Islam. And that's why it says, enter into as-sillmi. And some scholars say as-sillm or as-sallm, meaning that it's Islam, or it is something that you give up to yourself, you submit. And we know the name Islam, Aslam, and Yuslimun, the ones that submits themselves and surrenders to Allah, meaning, partially meaning, the will of Allah, what Allah intends. But then he also says kaafah. And kaafah means wholeheartedly or wholesome or all of you. As some scholars mention here, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned kaafah meaning all of you, allatheena aamanu, or haala idkhaal al-imanikum or idkhaal al-Islam. The situation in which you enter Islam should be wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly, as we say in English, your whole heart. But it's meaning with total devotion. With total devotion, oh Allah, I'm ready to surrender myself to your will, regardless of anything in the dunya. That's the contract that I have now. When I embrace Islam, whether I was born Muslim and I had an epiphany from a person, place, or a thing, or I'm someone that embraced Islam because I finally understood what Islam was, it finally came to me, I'm doing this wholeheartedly. That's the initial intent that we should try our best to have.
I totally submit my desires and my misconceptions that I may have, I submit them to your will, meaning the word of the Quran. And then after that he says, walaa tabi'oo khutuwati shaytaan. And it's interesting here, because when Allah mentions enter wholeheartedly, but also know that there is an enemy. You're trying this righteous path, there are some friends that may try to call you away. Social media, people, places, or things will try to call you away from that effort that you're making. The month of Ramadan, many of us have fasted from electronics, fasted from certain people. Those 11 months, we look back and we say, wow, subhanAllah, I'm here now, alhamdulillah. I want Ramadan not to be seasonal in my good deeds, but to be a catalyst to one good deed. To where it carries over the 11 months and then I have another good deed. But initially I want to do this, I want to give all of myself to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's why the khutuwat, as some scholars say, the khutuwat are steps. It's steps that's leading you somewhere. Where is it taking you? We know where shaitaan wants to take you. So do not follow those footsteps of shaitaan. Why? Because he is a clear enemy. innahu lakum aduwwun mubeen That verily he is for all of you a clear enemy. Following those footsteps of shaitaan is a clear enemy. Knowing that shaitaan only wants, only wants, misguidance for you. That's all he wants. So it's important for us to understand, as he mentioned, aatina fid dunya hasana in the dua, Rabbana aatina fid dunya hasana What is the hasana? It's important for the Muslim to understand what Allah views as hasana. And what Allah views as sayyia, what he views as good and beneficial. And what he views as non-beneficial. It's important for the Muslim to have the Islamic worldview.
To weigh everything against Islam and not to weigh Islam against something that we may hold wholeheartedly that is foreign to Islam or outside of Islam. So it requires a level of learning who Allah is and who he is not. To where you can condition your desires by consistent mujahidah, fighting the self, the nafs, and the shayateen from the shaitaan that may try to come and influence you. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala after that recognizes a reality that we all have. And this is what I love. I love about Islam for all of us that are trying our best. It's important for us to put, look in the mirror and ask, am I doing my best? Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says after that, fa in zalaltu min ba'di ma ja'atukumu albayyinatu fa'lamu anallaha a'zizun hakeemun Allah says, and if you slip after the clear evidences have come to you, know that Allah is the Almighty, the All-Wise. So it's beautiful here, fa in zalaltu, zal means to slip, zalatu al-lisan, as they say, slip of the tongue. But this slip is literally a mistake. How do we know that? ba'di ma ja'atukumu albayyinatu after the clear evidences have come to you, the clear proof has come to you that Allah says this is permissible, or says, you should try your best to stay away from it. After this has come to you, and then that desire that you have, you obey it. It's a human reality. Hence, Allah mentions this right after the amr, the order or the advice, when you, and if you were to slip after the clear evidence has come to you, there's a level of accountability. As you see with the Day of Judgment series that MashaAllah Sheikh Omar has brought this year, there's a level of accountability. When we say Maliki yomiddin, the owner of the Day of Judgment, that should remind you about accountability. If you are a father or an authoritative element or a guardian, you have to bring a level of accountability to those you have authority over, or those that are in your care. And at the end, Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala says, if you slip back after the clear proof has come to you, know that Allah is the Almighty, the All-Wise.
Azizun hakeem, azizun fee shariati. That He is the Almighty, that He has legislated these clear proofs to you, and He is al-hakeem, He's the All-Wise, that He chose to punish you or reward you in that regard. So may Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala make us of those that this beautiful, beautiful life that we have, that we've made it to this day, healthy, conscious, able, spiritual, having that device that Allah has given us being our heart to do our best and to stay away from it as much as we can. As the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, and I will conclude, ma nahaytukum a'anhu fajtanibu wa ma amartukum bihi fa'tu minhum astata'tum. Whatever I have prohibited from you, stay away from. And whatever I have ordered you to do, do as much of it as you can. Brothers and sisters, the month of Ramadan is coming. Month of Ramadan is here. Try your best because you don't know when Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala will take you or take someone other than you that can really tamper with our stability of our soul. May Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala make us of those that stay firm upon this beautiful path. Ameen. JazakAllah khair. Wa alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuhu. JazakAllah khair. I think SubhanAllah, the idea here is that you can't halfway attach to Allah and then expect that an enemy whose full-time job is to lead you away from him is gonna fail. You know, so it's like, wadukhulu fasil mikaafa. Unless you come in all the way, even those that try to come in all the way are gonna have issues, right? Because no one is ever safe from the Shaytan. But if you're only trying halfway, then you're bound to get pulled back, right? So you've gotta try your best, go in as much as you can with your full heart and your limbs and soul and eyes and everything. You do so knowing that, you know, there are gonna be times that even then you slip. So may Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala protect us all from not putting both of our best feet forward and at the same time,
may Allah protect us from the slips and from letting those slips lead to permanent falls. Allahuma ameen. I'll go back to Uthman. Tafadhal shaykh. JazakAllah khair. Bismillah wa salatu wa salam wa rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. The verse that I was gonna pick fits perfectly into what both of you have mentioned. Shaykh Omar, you spoke about this idea of the human being. Rabbana aathinat dunya hasana. Like we are all looking for goodness in our life. Now, I think one of the challenges that we all have as human beings is how to discern what is hasana. And as Shaykh Abdullah, you beautifully mentioned, right? It is in all hasana that's gonna be found, all goodness is going to be found in submitting to Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala. So I'm gonna start to speak about verse 216 in Surah Al-Baqarah where Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala, He says, Kootiba AAalaykumul qitalu wa huwa qurhul lakum WaAAasa an takrahu shay'an wa huwa khayrun lakum WaAAasa an tuhibbu shay'an wa huwa sharrun lakum WaAllahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'alamun So Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala here in Surah Al-Baqarah, He begins by speaking about, there's verses that come before this and even after about fighting, where Allah says, fighting has been enjoined upon you, has been prescribed upon you, although it is something that you do not like. It is something that is detested or hateful to you. And SubhanAllah, when I hear this verse, one of the first things that comes to my mind is this idea of why does Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala tell us to do things that we actually don't like? And that is a deep challenge for the human being because we have been taught in this society, we have been shaped through our culture that we should do what makes us feel good, right? And we're told that we have, the human intellect is very supreme. It is able to discern right and wrong, which is why we have man-made laws all over the world. But Allah then explains so beautifully in this verse that look, hasana, which you want, goodness that you want, you cannot find it on your own. And there's a couple of reasons why. So the first thing Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala says, He says, Wa asaa an takrahu shay'an wa huwa khayru lakum
That look, there's things that you don't like, human being, that I'm gonna tell you to do. And the reason is because you don't like those things, but in reality, they're good for you. Wa asaa an tuhibbu shay'an wa huwa sharru lakum And there's things that you love and you want to do, your nafs is inclined towards, but they're bad for you. Wallahu ya'lamu wa antum na ta'alamun And ultimately Allah knows and you do not know. So there's two things that Allah is telling us here. Number one is our emotions. Allah has given us these emotions to enjoy life with. Right, we feel joy, we feel happiness, right? We feel all these different things we love, we hate, and it's part of the human experience. But Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala is telling us that those emotions you need to be careful about, because we are never going to be perfect at assessing where the hasana is at, where the goodness is at. And so we have this experience, we actually see this all the time in our lives. SubhanAllah, how many times we make a decision and then we ultimately regret it. And that decision that we made was because of something emotional. As an example, you might say, you know, I really feel like eating this thing, right? It's Ramadan, right? Someone presents you this wonderful dish, it's really sweet. And you're like, I know I shouldn't eat this, this is really, really unhealthy. But you just go in and you don't stop and you eat and you eat and you eat. And then you know that deep down this is actually unhealthy for you. And you go to the masjid maybe, or you can't make it to the masjid because your stomach is hurting, or you know that it's terrible for your health. So we know that as human beings, there's things that we love that entice us and they pull us. This is part of what Shabbali mentioned, the khutuwat of Shaitaan. Shaitaan's gonna tell you, this is desirable, don't you love this? And the human being wants to get closer and closer to it. And so what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is telling us is at the end of the day, do not let your emotions dictate where you think goodness is at. And the second reason is because it's also intellectual. Wallahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'lamun our shahawat are strong and our perception is limited. Sometimes we think that we've read a lot of books, right, we've studied, we've gone to college. We're able to discern ultimately what's good and what's harmful. But you look in the world today and you see all the global phenomena we have. We have global poverty, right, we have global warming.
There's so many catastrophes that are out there. And all of them at the end of the day go back to the fact that the human being has not submitted to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and has not internalized that, look, everything Allah is telling you is good. Oftentimes we do the opposite. People, SubhanAllah, it's part of the test of faith is that Allah will tell us to do things that we don't love. And if in Islam it would be so easy if everything that we loved, Allah said to do. And sometimes we do that, right? We try to make Islam fit into our worldview rather than changing our worldview based on what Islam says. And so the surah then goes on and enumerates all these things a human being likes. And that next page, right, Allah talks about people ask about alcohol and gambling. Human beings love these things. Allah explains how they're harmful. Allah talks about the laws of divorce. And again, people often feel like, oh, you know what, this is not fair. And I don't know about this, and I don't know about that. And then even goes into riba and talks about interest. So the human being is always evaluating good and bad using their emotions and using their intellect. And Allah is telling you, just be very, very careful when you're making this calculation because you don't have all the knowledge. You have a limited perception of this life. You have 30, 40, 50, 60, what, maybe 80 years of knowledge whereas Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is Al-'Alim, Al-Hakeem, Al-'Aziz, Al-Hakeem. He has infinite knowledge of these affairs. So, Al-'Izzat Abdu'l-Salam, he says something so beautiful I always just come back to. He says, everything Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has commanded the human being towards is either good for them in this life, the next life, or in both lives. And everything Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has forbidden us to engage in is either bad for us in this life or the next life or in both lives. And what I find so beautiful about this is to come to that realization that Allah is always looking out for our best interest. And that takes a little bit, that takes a lot of trust. Because sometimes we think that, of course we're looking out for our self-interest, that's what human beings do. And so I say to myself, it just makes so much sense that I do this thing. I mean, today we're really in a world
that's laden with interest everywhere, right? People say, I don't understand why I can't take interest, it seems like it's so good. And Allah knows that, He's made it something which people find desirable. But Allah, ultimately you say, He knows what's in my best interest, He knows what's in humanity's best interest. So despite the fact that I love it, I'm gonna abstain from it because Allah knows and I do not know. So this is kind of an orientation, it's a Quranic principle of life. We need to really fully absorb and attach ourselves to. And this goes with the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam because so many times what we end up doing is we're looking in Ramadan, we're looking in life, not just, when we submit, we're actually hoping that there's something we get in return for that submission. Of course we want Jannah, yes we want the Akhira, but we also want to feel that sweetness in this life. And the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is telling us how to find that. He said, Thaqa ta'mal iman man radhi billahi rabbah wa bil-islami dina wa bi-Muhammadin Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam Rasulah That if we want to find the sweetness of faith, truly find it, we're gonna find it only when we become fully satisfied and content with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la which includes everything he's told us to do. It includes everything the Quran tells us to do. It includes everything the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam told us to do, whether we find it to be emotionally desirable to us or not. And the flip side, that we are gonna abstain from everything Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la told us not to do, despite the fact that our nafs is telling us this is so desirable. This just looks so appealing. And all the shayateen are gonna convince you using all the means that are out there that this is in your best interest, human being. And we have to just go back and say, wallahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'lamu. Allah, you know what's in my best interest. That's why I'm submitting to you. So I don't have to do that work of figuring this out. And I have no idea, Allah. So we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to make us amongst those who submit to him
and fully internalize that everything he wants from us is because he wants hasana for us. And everything he's telling us not to do, he's trying to protect us from harm for us. It's not random. Nothing Allah tells us is a random test. It is simply in the benefit of us for this life and the next life. I ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to give us hasana in this life and the next life and allow us to submit to his beautiful faith wholeheartedly and ask Allah to protect us of all of our shortcomings and our mistakes. Ameen. JazakAllah khair. May Allah keep us all beautiful. SubhanAllah, yesterday, we were talking about how you're asking Allah for hidayah, for guidance. The first request from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in the Quran, the first dua is a dua for guidance. And many people ask Allah for guidance, but they're not willing to deal with the answer to that request. If you want guidance, are you willing to commit to guidance? You have to be ready for what you're asking for. And this idea that the truth has commitments, the truth has consequences. And also that guidance sometimes is going to mandate that. I don't need to understand why, I just know that the one who is doing the guiding is doing what is best. And so whether that's halal or haram, I know that it's better for me to abstain from this in this life or the next or both. I know that what Allah has made permissible is good for me in this life, the next or both. And SubhanAllah, that is the unseen elements of the seen, because when we talk about al-ghayb, al-ghayb refers to all of the matters of the unseen. But when we talk about hidayah and rushd, that also includes the idea of seeing better
what you already think you see. Having more just perception, deeper perception with what you're actually looking at, with what's actually in front of you. And so you find this from the righteous predecessors that at times they would be able to even extrapolate worldly benefits. However, they would not have needed the worldly benefits to commit to or to abstain. That was just bonus and a means for them to increase in their gratitude to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Any further, inshallah, your last words of wisdom. Sheikh Abdullah, we'll start with you inshallah, and then we'll let Dr. Oshman end us off inshallah. Now, inshallah, I remember how you were mentioning the things that we may love and you touched on food. And that's important, especially when we're breaking our fast and having our breakfast. But I wanna know what y'all think about this tafsir. This may be a little far-fetched, but let me know what you think. Shaytan and sugar, they both begin with letter sheen. Inshallah yukum. All right, we're gonna have to cut this now because if you start this, I swear you Medina grew up. Think about it, just think about it. You're making your class look bad, man. They're gonna be like, what if we didn't get this? Very clever though. We won't call that, there's tafsir and ta'wil, right? And then there's just fawad. So that's a fa'ida for Sheikh Abdullah, right? From Sheikh Abdullah. Shaytan and sugar, sugar is shaytan. Don't drink shaytan's kool-aid, don't eat shaytan's sugar. It's sweet, but it's poisonous. There you go, that's the khutuwat, Sheikh. That's the khutuwat of sugar? No, no. Well, actually, if you took like all the sugar substitutes, they turn out to also be worse, right? Yeah, but sugar has no khutuwat, it's just bad. This is all bad, right? Yeah, but the sugar- Shaytan has awliya and sugar has awliya.
What's that? That's true. He said, shaytan has awliya and sugar has awliya. You know what's gonna happen now? And I think we should end now for real, because the sugar manufacturers are gonna try to down, they're gonna try to sink yaqeen. We had enough enemies. You went and you set off the sugar industry on us, man. Now we're in trouble. Allah bless you. Jazakumullah khair. I appreciate you, Dr. Othman. I appreciate you, Sheikh Abdullah, and everyone for tuning in. InshaAllah ta'ala, we'll see you all tomorrow night. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Waalaikumussalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Having a conversation is a transformative experience. It can take you to places in your own mind that you didn't even know existed. It's an opportunity to understand your own views and to see what someone else sees too. To talk with people instead of being talked at. A conversation is a chance to build a relationship with your child, your parents, your friends, even an acquaintance. That's why we created Yaqeen Conversations. One of the most common questions I receive from parents is, how do I talk to my teenager? And it's a legitimate question. It's hard. And it's not only parents with teenagers. At times, we all need help having conversations about faith. We created Yaqeen Conversations as a simple, structured guide to our research papers. It's designed to help you make sense of difficult faith topics through discussion. No prep required. Each conversation even includes a card deck to make your discussion more productive and insightful. You can use it during family nights, with friends, in an existing club, or any time you want. It's an opportunity for everyone on any faith level to build meaningful connections with people and a meaningful connection with faith. Visit yaqeeninstitute.org slash conversations to access the guide immediately. Yaqeen Conversations, have a transformative experience. Do I say hashtag experience conversations? All right.
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