Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 3
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Juz' 21 with Sh. Yasir Fahmy | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 3
Sincerity and discipline in the soul pushes us to overcome the fatigue of the body, especially when it comes to performing extra acts of worship like qiyam al-layl. As we enter into the last 10 sacred nights of Ramadan, what better reminders can there be than those found in juz 21? Guest speaker Sh. Yasir Fahmy joins Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro to encourage us to set our intentions high for the last sprint of Ramadan—and to engage in jihad against ourselves for the splendor of unseen rewards.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wana. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. This is the webathon edition. A few hours before the webathon, alhamdulillah wa ameen. We're looking forward to having you all tune in. And we, you know, have this really interesting thing happening here. Sheikh Abdullah, where are you hiding? I'm just, I'm trying to my best, you know, for the sake of Allah. I'm like, some say I'm under a table. Just want to make sure that I tune in. Whatever it takes, brother, whatever it takes for the Qur'an. The backstories of the people are missing. Yeah, we spent, we spent, so we spent a good, you know, a few minutes just laughing. Because Sheikh Yasser, we just, we log in and we just see that table. And we're like, why is Sheikh Abdullah hiding under a table? Sheikh Abdullah is in training. You're in training camp. Last few days that it's coming. Sheikh Yasser Fahmy, alhamdulillah wa ameen. We are so happy to have you, man. Alhamdulillah, Sheikh Yasser. How are you? Alhamdulillah, I'm fine. May Allah bless you. It's good to be here. Alhamdulillah. You're like perfectly placed, mashallah, man. Like you've got a nice setup. Your head is, you don't keep any books behind your head. Look at that, yeah. That's so perfect, mashallah. My brother, my brother tells me, you know, my brother, you know, my brother. So he tells me, he's like, where's all your books? I say, all these other sheikhs, all their books, where are your books? I was like, you know, I keep it simple. You can't have those books getting in your head, right? You gotta have them. Yeah, I gotta keep them. So Sheikh Yasser is alhamdulillah wa ameen. Prophetic living, mashallah. If you're not following him on prophetic living, but also we're blessed to have you always, Sheikh Yasser. So forget about dad jokes, man. Egyptian uncle jokes. You're like the king of Egyptian uncle jokes. Really? As well, the WhatsApp jokes. And if you don't, that's another level.
Because see, Egyptian uncle jokes, like those Egyptian WhatsApp jokes are just mean. Like they're not nice jokes. Like they're actually pretty like, kind of make you want to cuddle up and cry for a bit. Trying to get into the Qur'anic spirit here. Then you take me somewhere very different. I'm trying to get in. You know, this reminds me of a Sa'idi joke. This is the guy who's trying to make tawbah. You know this joke? No, I don't know. This is the guy who's trying to make tawbah because, you know, he spent all his years making, you know, making fun of Sa'idi, you know, the southern Egyptians, right? This is the common, like there's a lot of many jokes in Egypt. So he's like, you know what, I gotta go to Mecca. I gotta make things right. I gotta, lazima tub ilallah. So he's like, all right, I'm gonna go. So he goes to Mecca. He's standing in front of the Kaaba. And ya Rabbi, ya Rabbi, tawbah alayya, all these years making Sa'idi jokes, making Sa'idi jokes. Ya Rabbi, tawbah alayya. He's standing like literally right in front of the Kaaba, right in front of the Muntazim. So then a guy taps him on the shoulder. He goes, yes, and it was a Sa'idi. And this guy goes to him, which way is the Qibla? So he's like, ya Rabbi, I came all the way to the Kaaba to make tawbah and you bring the guy. I'm supposed to control myself. Wow. I'll ask you a favorite Goha jokes. Goha or gohas, of course. Bilgeem or bilgeen? Goha, of course. Goha bilfasah. What's the best Goha joke? Listen, I don't want to get into the Quran mind. My mind's racing now.
Maybe you can think about the Goha joke at the end. I've got a Goha one too, but I'll give it at the end. Sheikh Abdullah, have you heard the Goha jokes, by the way? It's not Goha. It's Goha. Goha. I'm sorry. The Muslis who are watching this show are loving this, man. They're like, we finally feel like Quran 30 for 30 has taken us into consideration. Goha. Properly done it. Sheikh Abdullah, have you heard of those Goha? Goha. Goha. Goha. When I was in the jamia, when I was in university, I remember some of the teachers would say it. I'm like, who is that? But after that, no. We'll save the best one for the end. And then maybe at the webathon, you can pop another one, Sheikh Yasir. Alhamdulillah. Two of those jokes, alhamdulillah. On a serious note, of course, before we get started, remind everyone, please tune into the webathon. We, of course, have a goal. We want to be able to reach people donating in the last ten nights, inshallah ta'ala, but also benefiting from the numerous gems. Alhamdulillah, we have topics, we have gems that every speaker will share that we pray you all benefit from. And we hope you share it, inshallah ta'ala, and you're a part of it as well. And we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows us to go into these ten nights strong. Allahumma ameen. So inshallah ta'ala we'll get started. Bismillah walhamdulillah. So I pulled the Sheikh Ismail and I went a juz' ahead yesterday. I went from juz' 20, unfortunately. I went to juz' 21 and I started talking about Luqman al-Hakim. But Sheikh Yasir, inshallah, will talk about Luqman alayhi salam from a different angle. I actually wanted to come to a beautiful portion, subhanallah, that is so related not just to the akhira, but related to the last ten nights in particular.
It's one of the most powerful excerpts of the Quran in regards to qiyam al-dayr, in regards to tahajjud. And biidhna alahi ta'ala it will help us, inshallah, see it through the akhira lens, the hereafter lens that we've been talking about. Surat al-Sajdah, 16 to 20. Of course, Surat al-Sajdah is the Jum'ah recitation of the Prophet ﷺ as well as some narrations mentioned reading it on a nightly basis. But in verse 16, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, tatajafa junubuhum AAanil madaji'i yad'uuna rabbahum khawfan wa tamaAAa wa mimmaa razaqnahum yunfiqoon That they abandon their beds, tatajafa junubuhum AAanil madaji'i Like they're fighting with their beds with their sides so that they can actually get up and pray qiyam al-dayr. And I know that this feeling subhanAllah is so vivid, especially when we talk about, you know, the idea of the last 10 nights where you'll see some people doing everything that they can to spend the entire night in prayer. And as they spend the night in prayer and reflection and du'a and recitation, they get into the situation where, you know, they have work in the morning and they're still doing what they can, right? To worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to the best of their ability for a few hours or whatever it may be. And that's part of their ibadah, that exhaustion is part of the worship, right? That you're trying. tatajafa junubuhum AAanil madaji'i yad'uuna rabbahum khawfan wa tamaAAa They call out to their Lord with hope and with fear, with fear and with hope. wa mimmaa razaqnahum yunfiqoon And they spend from what we have provided for them. If you go back to the very beginning of the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions those who believe, alif laamim dhalika al-kitabu la rayba feeh hudan al-muttaqeen allatheena yu'minoona bilghayb wa yuqeemoona al-salah wa mimmaa razaqnahum yunfiqoon Allah azawajal mentions those who believe in the unseen.
And because they believe in the unseen, they establish the prayer and they spend out of what we have given to them. They spend in charity. The ilmah mentioned subhanAllah something very beautiful here that that is talking about iqamatus salah here. The establishing of the prayer is talking about the fara'at, is talking about the obligatory prayers, the mandatory prayers. Right. And so that drives them. The belief in the unseen drives them to perform the mandatory prayers, to establish the obligatory prayers. And as they establish the obligatory prayers, they also give in a mandatory charity. But here Allah is talking about the maqam, the station of ihsan, the station of excellence. And these are people that are praying qiyam ul-layl. These are people that are praying in the night. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst the people of tahajjud inside and outside of Ramadan. Allahumma ameen. That apply this ayah, that stand up at night and call upon their Lord in hope and in fear. Right. They have been moved and driven. Qulubuhum wajila, we've spoken about them right in these previous chapters, their hearts tremble with the mercy and with the mention of the most merciful, Ar-Rahman. And so they're getting up at night. They're fighting with their with their bodies and enjoying this calling out to their Lord and spending extra, giving extra. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says what? Fala ta'alamu nafsun ma ukhfiyah lahum min qurrati a'yun jaza'an bima kano ya'manoon. And no soul knows, no soul can imagine the delights that have been kept in store for them as a reward for that which they used to do. Qurrati a'yun, that which will cool the eyes, the coolness of their eyes. And subhanAllah, here you have the situation, the coolness of the eyes. Right. Where you're not just talking about belief in the unseen.
You're talking about this person that finds in the salah their qurrati a'yun, the sweetness of their souls, the coolness of their eyes, thinking about that which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has prepared for them. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam mentioned that prayer has been made qurrati a'yun, prayer has been made the coolness of my eyes. Right. Prayer, salah is what gave the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam such peace. It's the coolness of his eyes. And so again, this is maqam al-ihsan. This here is the station of excellence. And so not only do they believe in the unseen in a way that causes them to pray the mandatory prayers and to give the mandatory charity. They are actively working for the unseen and offering voluntary prayer. And their soul finds delight in what is still concealed from them. The thoughts of al-jannah, the thoughts of the reward of what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has in store. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make that our reality. And when the soul has that type of inclination and that type of connection to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, then they start to find that it's easier for them to abandon their beds with their bodies. It's easier for them to abandon their beds with their bodies. They find that the drive of the soul overcomes the fatigue of the body because the reward of the hereafter is a greater driver than the reward of this life. And so it's driving them, even though they can't see it in a way that they will compromise the scene, the scene, comfort and luxury of this world for the unseen comfort and luxury of the next. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Afa man kana mu'minan kaman kana fasiqan la yastawoon. You know, we've been talking about these two groups of people. Is the one who is this believing righteous person equal before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Then this rebellious person, la yastawoon, they're not equal. SubhanAllah, this is really something very interesting. And the ayat go on,
Amal ladheena aamanu wa aamilu salihati falahum jannatun ma'waa nuzulan bima kanoo ya'maloon wa amal ladheena fasaquoo fa ma'wahu unnaar. And until the end of it, right? So Allah mentions that those who believe and who work deeds of righteousness have this beautiful paradise, jannatun ma'waa, this eternal residence as an accommodation for what they used to do, for the deeds that they used to do. And ask for the fasiqoon, ask for the rebellious, then they've earned the punishment. Now, I think the point here that needs to be made, which is very significant, is that subhanAllah, when you're talking about the justice on the Day of Judgment, right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy on the Day of Judgment, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, is this person who stands up lovingly, who abandons their bed at night, who calls out to their Lord in hope and fear, equal to the one who does none of that? And in fact, Allah azawajal is not just mentioning the one who is complacent with their sleep and not performing voluntary prayers, but a person who is negligent. Like, is it fair that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala deal with the two of them in the same way? You know, is it fair that when we invoke the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, wouldn't that be a deficiency in mercy towards that person that was calling out in mercy, you know, seeking Allah's mercy all of that time? So is it fair? na yastawoon, these two people are not equal. They're not equal. You would not reward them equally if they were doing something. If you had two employees and one employee was acting in this way and the other employee was completely negligent, would you reward them equally? And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, you know, that this person who is acting out of hope and fear, striving, will not just have something, they will have beyond what they could ever imagine, what they could ever encompass with their minds and with their eyes and with their hearing. And the soul will continue to crave those night moments with the Lord because it will discover in those night moments with the Lord
what the body and the soul cannot find in anything else that this world has to offer. The Jannah of Yaqeen, the true paradise of certainty in the heart. Nothing in this world can give you that. No sleep, no party, no compensation, no garden, no property. Nothing can give you the sweetness of those moments of conversing with the Rahman, conversing with the most merciful in the darkness of the night, in the secrecy of the night. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying they are not equal people and you should not treat them as, you would not treat them as equal. Why do you expect Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to treat them as equal? So we pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala judge us with his mercy, but make us amongst those that invoke his mercy day and night, that stand up in prayer. And that will be completely blown away by the Jannah that he has prepared for his loving servants. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala count us amongst them. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not count us amongst the rebellious, the transgressing, and those that turn away from his eternal and all-encompassing mercy. Allahumma ameen. Bi dinahi ta'ala, Sheikh Abdullah will pass it off to you. JazakAllah khair. Bismillah, salatu wassalamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'd. Recognizing this beautiful verse in sajda that inshallah we hear on a weekly basis, or at least we hear it consistently, you know, talking about those individuals that get up out of their beds to sajjafah, junubuhum anil mudhajiya, meaning the place of rest. And they go and they worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, putting their hands up, thinking about Allah, thinking about their creator, looking at their life, and then associating the beautiful names of Allah with things that happen in their life. This is a struggle and it's a test. And I love how he mentioned the last 10 days as an introduction, being that the last 10 days are coming up, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of those
that do our best and fight ourselves, against ourselves for the betterment of ourselves. And that is exactly the term that we hear that is misused a lot of times, jihad. The jihad of the nafs. Jihad comes from struggle. And that struggle is a struggle that is a beloved struggle. Each and every human being, Muslim or non-Muslim, religious or irreligious, has an internal struggle with themselves, and doing what they may view is right. But Islam, being that it comes from al-istislam lillah, that one voluntarily submits to the creator of the heavens and the earth, that voluntary submission is a struggle in and of itself. Firstly, knowing who your creator is, understanding why you are here, understanding from why you are here that there is an ultimate purpose beyond your physical self, beyond the tangible life that we're living now, because you know who God is and you know the message that he has brought to you. Although that knowledge is there, it's important that as Ibn Abbas, he says on this particular verse that we're going to cover, which is the last verse of al-Ankabut, the last verse of al-Ankabut, the spider web, where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, والذين جاهدوا فينا لنهدينهم سبولنا وإن الله لمع المحسنين Ibn Abbas says in this beautiful verse that is translated to be, And those who strive in our path, we will surely guide him or her to our way, and verily Allah is with the doers of excellence. Wallahi, I love this verse because I always tell my children, I tell myself, tell my children, tell new Muslims, tell Muslims that are just trying their level best, which should be all of us inshaAllah wa ta'ala because we have that concern. Allah says in those who strive in our path, we will surely guide them to our, those who strive in our path, we will surely guide them to our ways, and verily Allah is with the good doers.
Ibn Abbas mentioned that this, هما الذين يعملون بما يعلمون Those are the ones that act upon what they know. When we think about this in our profession, when we think about this in any endeavor that we have, that we want, if we want something, we want to learn about it, to be better at it. Then the ultimate task is that knowledge that you have, the appreciation that you have for that discipline, or whatever the case may be, are you acting upon? When one gets married, and they know that in order to show my love for my spouse, I can give a lot of lip service, but if I'm physically abusive, verbally abusive, if I'm an individual that is not showing that love, I can say as much as I want to. But when it comes to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in this religion, Allah, being the beautiful names of Allah, we know that they are complete, and it's impossible to have a level of deficiency. So if Allah is العليم الخبير for example, He is the all-knowing, and He is the well-acquainted, دقة العلم as the scholars say, He has knowledge, but He knows the minutiae of everything. That knowledge is He's well aware of what your heart's conceal and reveal. He knows when you made the intention to at least from now if you haven't, let's start tonight, He knows if you make that intention, Oh Allah, the last 10 days, I'm going to go hard. The last 10 days, I'm going to give it 110%. The last 10 nights, I'm going to at least try to wake up. I go and I set my alarm. The 9 days have passed, you didn't do it. Allah knows that intention. And what's so beautiful about Islam is that we all know the hadith, إنما الأعمال بالنيات All of us know this hadith, and if we don't know it, it is verily actions are judged upon by their intentions. Your intention does hold weight in Islam, but it has to be a sincere intention. So that is the jihad, even with your intention.
You know, as Shaykh Muhammad mentioned a couple of days ago, that Sufyan al-Thawri, he was known, he was a known scholar, and subhanAllah, he mentioned that he كان يجاهد نياته He was struggling against his intention. And some mentioned that it was for عشرين سنة Something that he would consistently struggle with. You know, am I doing this for Allah? Do I really want Allah, all for Allah subhanAllah? Do I want a portion of the dunya? Am I doing this for people to see me? Am I reading the Quran so that people can say my voice is beautiful? Am I giving charity because I want people to see that I have money or that I'm rich, or that I am involved with this effort? Do I want my effort to be shown amongst everybody else's because I want to be appreciated and acknowledged? Or am I doing this because the one that has given me these faculties, I want to show gratitude to him? That is the jihad that all of us have. So when Allah says والذي نجاهد, the action, the struggle, and that's one of the conditions for an action to be accepted, the action that you're doing, is it in accordance with the spirit of Islam? i.e. with the individuals that Allah has sent, the prophets, particularly Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. Is it in accordance with that? فِينا وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينا And this is important as well. Ikhlas, sincerity, for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, not for anyone else. Because when you do something that you are sure of, you have yaqeen, that Allah wants you to do this, you're not concerned what other people think, say. And that is important. In a lifestyle, in life now where we're in social media, and if you don't get enough of these likes, something enters your heart. When somebody leaves a WhatsApp group, something enters your heart. When somebody says something about something you're doing, and they may make a facial expression, something may enter your heart. But if what you're doing is for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, and you're sure that it is for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, you're not concerned about that. Because you know that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى loves it.
And with that, Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى answers this conditional sentence. It's a conditional sentence, Jum'ah Shafti, لَنَحْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا We will surely guide him or her to our path. And in Arabic he uses forms of surety here. It is as though he is saying, we will definitely, without a doubt, guide him or her to our path. لَنَحْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا Some scholars mention سُبُلَنَا is a سُبُل, the ways of Jannah, and some mention its طريق الجنة, the صراط المستقيم, the path to Jannah. But what I love about this verse is the very end. It's a verse of hope. It's a portion of a verse of hope. Some people may say, you know what, I'm not a night person. I'm a morning person. But there's going to be that time as the Prophet ﷺ said, تحرّوا في العشر الأوافق To try hard in the last ten days. We always like to say to ourselves, I am not this. Having a fixed mindset, withholding ourselves from accepting Allah's grace. We do it subconsciously sometimes. But to open that door and say, you know what, I'm able to and I'm willing to push myself for Allah ﷻ. Allah concludes by saying, and verily Allah is surely with the doers of excellence. الكمال لله Perfection is for Allah ﷻ. We're at different levels because of our جهاد النفس. The Sahabas made mistakes, but Allah says رضي الله عنهم because of their struggle. Ask yourself, and this is the perfect time now, what struggle am I going to put forth for the betterment of myself, for Allah, not anyone else. That is excellence. And إحسان is excellence, not perfection. To do your best. إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ So may Allah ﷻ make us of those that look at ourselves in the mirror consistently
and remember our own sins, our own mistakes, and allow those tears to be a means to put our hands up. When the tears come down, the hands come up for Allah ﷻ. And that's what Allah wants for you, just to do your best. And that is religiosity. That is a religious person. That is who Allah ﷻ is pleased with. So may Allah ﷻ make us of those, inshaAllah. Ameen. JazakAllah khair. May Allah ﷻ protect you, Shaykh Abdullah. Shaykh Yasser, bismillah. MashaAllah, mubarak Allah ufeequm. Karamakumullah wa Allah wa alaihi. Both of you spoke very eloquently and profoundly. Zadakumullah wa alaihi wa sallam wa ala rasoolillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala wa baad. SubhanAllah, as I was listening to both Shaykh Omar and Shaykh Abdullah, I was thinking about how powerful these ideas, this guidance, this wisdom that they shared is in our lives. Basic ways for us to comprehend life, think about life, and practice life in general. And this is why I wanted to highlight the verses 12 through 19 in Surah Luqman, which is this moment, this very powerful, beautiful, natural moment between a father and a son. When Luqman al-Hakim, who was identifiably not a prophet, according to the majority of opinions, nor a messenger. He was a simple servant who lived somewhere either in Nubia or Ethiopia in that general region. Majority say that most likely he was Nubian during the time of Sayyiduna Dawud. But the operative word, I think, that highlights something essential about this conversation is Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala affirming in verse number 12, وَلَقَدْ أَتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةِ That we have given Luqman, we've brought Luqman al-Hikmah, we have brought him wisdom.
And I just wanted to spend some time thinking about this idea of having wisdom. Because Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala in Surah al-Baqarah, He says, يُؤْتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَنْ يَشَاءَ Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala, He gives wisdom to whom He wills. وَمَنْ يُؤْتَى الْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِيَ خَيْرًا كَثِيرًا The one who's been given wisdom has been given an abundance of good. وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُولُوا الْأَلْبَابِ And those who truly remember Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala are those who possess the innermost hearts. The ones who really conceive and imagine and aspire and understand of Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala in the most profound ways. And so it's situated in this notion of Hikmah. And Subhanu wa ta'ala when Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala talks about the way of our Messenger ﷺ, he actually uses the word Hikmah. وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala says that we have sent down to you the Book and the wisdom. And the Messenger ﷺ says أَلَا إِنِّي أُوتِيتُ الْكِتَابَ وَمِثْلَهُ مَعَهُ That I was given the Book, but I was given that which was like the Book with it. And that is the way of Muhammad ﷺ. His path, his sunnah, the way he spoke, the way he ate, the way he drank, his actions, his acquiescence, all of it is wisdom. And so brothers and sisters, why is this discourse about wisdom so essential to us? Because the fact of the matter is we do live in the information age, technological age, the internet age, this time where information is a mass. It's everywhere. We can know, process, experience, think, synthesize ideas from all corners of the earth all the time. And it's all presented to us on an equal playing field. You can sit down and listen to Sheikh Omar and Sheikh Abdullah
as they explore the Qur'anic meanings and the depth of the Qur'anic narrative. And you can listen to some thinker, philosopher, blogger, vlogger, whatever, on the internet as they just kind of muse around public issues, discourses, whatever. But hikmah is at the essence of, as Ibn al-Qayyim says, الحكمة فعل ما ينبغي على الوجه الذي ينبغي في الوقت الذي ينبغي Hikmah, wisdom, is doing what you need to do in the way in which and the style and the form in which you need to do it in the time that you need to do it. وضع الشيء في محله placing things in their proper measure. And this, brothers and sisters, is where we have to think about are we wise people today? Do we operate from a position of wisdom? Or do we operate from a position of arbitrariness? Because one of the profound linguistic indications around the word wisdom is the thing ما أحاط بحنكي الفرس The hikmah is that which is placed, the bridle that's placed in the horse's mouth. وسميت بذلك it was named hikmah لأنها تمنعه من الجري الشديد because it prevents the horse from an unrestricted, uncontrollable run. وتذل الألداب and it makes the beast controlled, disciplined so that it does not go and create all sorts of damage and ruckus eat from other fields that they should not be eating, gardens, etc. harm other animals. So hikmah is what really conditions and ensures that you are in an appropriate, good path,
a meaningful path. So here we have Luqman al-Hakim talking to his son. As Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, he was given hikmah, he was given wisdom أن يشكر لله The fundamental disposition of this Hakim is someone who is shakir وما يشكر فإنما يشكر لنفسه and the one who is thankful is thankful for their own selves. And those who reject and deny فإن الله غني حميد For those who are thankless, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is self-sufficient and He is worthy of all praise. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la does not need us but He has bestowed this wisdom, this guidance for us so that we can live a very meaningful, purposeful, rich, engaged life. Meaning that I don't have to live in this modern period a life that is full of anxiety and stress and pain and suffering and loss. Feeling atomized and disconnected. A lot of people today feel atomized and disconnected because there is a purposelessness. There is a detachment from truth, from value, from morals, from heritage, from history. That's why from the ulama when they talk to us about hikmah, they say hikmah is also a representation of experience and the wisdom that is bred out of experience and tradition. Tried and tested, proven models of living and being. So when he starts to talk to his son وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ بِنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ When the father is talking to the son and he is counseling him يَا بُنَي Now this language is subhanAllah I think it's the proverbial language of mercy and compassion and love. Oh my beloved son لا تُشْرِك بِاللَّهِ Do not associate partners with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala You know this first fundamental tried and tested proven wisdom that is a part of your inheritance that I pass on to you is don't compare anyone to Allah.
Don't place anyone on the same playing field as the Divine. وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ You know when we give this guidance to the people to be good to their parents and their mothers Be good to your parents. This is proverbial, you know, timeless wisdom. Respect and honor your parents. Look at what they've done حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَى وَهْنٍ Your mother strain upon strain taking all this year, two years to wean you and to serve you and to care for you and to love you and to shower you أَنِشْكُلْ لِي وَلِي وَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرِ And give thanks to me and to your parents. All will return to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says I want you to give thanks to me and I want you to honor and give thanks to your parents. This is timeless wisdom, right? The worship of Allah and the honoring of our parents. That's why disrespecting parents, dishonoring parents, being hurtful to parents, disregarding, neglecting parents, من الكبار These are from the grave sins. But this is from the timeless wisdom that is bestowed to us here in this sacred text. And then if they were to even, now look, look at how the wisdom is embedded. Now if this lofty being called your parent were to struggle against you, to associate partners with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, don't obey them, but صاحبهما في الدنيا معروفة Maintain beautiful company with them. Be gentle and kind and loving. So Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying even at the helm of evil, which is fighting your children towards polytheism, شرك بالله But you should not obey them, but be loving and kind. Have صحبة, companionship, واتبع سبيل من أناب إلي And follow the path of those who turn to Me.
ثم إلي مرجعكم Then you're going to come back to Me. So just say no, and that's I think proverbial here. Say no. We can say no to impulses and trajectories in society, isms and ideologies and philosophies that are compelling us down pathways, that are in contradistinction with this timeless sacred wisdom. We can say no, and say that's not what we do, that's not what we believe in, but صاحبهما في الدنيا معروفة But we have مصاحبة, we're good with people, we're loving. يابنيا إنها إن تكو مثقال حبّة Oh my beloved son, if even the weight of a mustard seed were hidden in a rock, or anywhere in the heavens or the earth, يأتي بها الله Allah can surely bring it, for He's all subtle and aware. يابنيا أقم الصلاة Establish your prayer, enjoy the good. So giving him that theological, that wisdom of what? Allah knows everything, so you can never hide from Allah. And I want you to proactively establish your prayer, enjoy the good. There's good and there's evil. And when you identify the good that has been passed down to you, you have to enjoy that good. You don't try to alter or reform that good, or hide that good away. No, you actually enjoy it. وَنْهَى عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ And you forbid that which is wrong and evil and displeasing to Allah. وَاصْبِرْ عَلَى مَا أَصَابَكَ And be patient in this journey. This is going to be the best way for you to live. وَلَا تُصَعِرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ And don't turn your nose up to people. And don't walk about the place arrogantly. God does not love those who are arrogant and boastful. In the modern world when we are constantly told to obsess over ourselves, self-aggrandizement, we live, as philosophers say, in one of the most narcissistic times in human history. People are walking around, everyone is asserting themselves
in the most aggressive and pompous way. Here is this timeless wisdom from a father to a son. وَلَا تُصَعِرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ Don't turn your nose up. وَلَا تَمْشِي فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا Don't walk about this earth in this arrogant disposition. Allah does not love this. وَقْصُدْ فِي مَشِّكَ This is the last verse. وَقْصُدْ فِي مَشِّكَ وَأَغْضُضْ مِنْ صَوْتِكِ Be moderate in your pace, lower your voice. إِنَّ أَنْكَرَ الْأَصْوَاطِ لَصَوْتُ الْحَمِيرِ The ugliest of voices are the braying donkeys. And SubhanAllah, today, we have standardized in our speech, loud, obnoxious, aggressive, in-your-face type of speech. That is so in contradistinction to these simple, profound, timeless wisdoms of being. And brothers and sisters, before I pass off the mic back to Sheikh Omar, I was thinking about this idea of Luqman al-Hakim as a simple man, who is not a prophet or a messenger. He's just a father who's speaking to his son. And he's passing off to his son the timeless wisdoms that he wants him to carry with him into life. I want to advise myself because see, there's young people, yes, in age, but we all within us have a young thing, and it's called the nafs. النفس كالطفل As the poet says, like this nafs is like a kid. If you let it go, it's going to be like a wild stallion, like a wild beast. رقد الوحوش في الفدى In a hadith, Prophet ﷺ says, if you leave yourself, you'll be like an unrestrained beast in the open field. We as people, we must not succumb to this idea of cutting ourselves off from this timeless wisdom, this sacred heritage, this inherited tradition, what is known according to our scholars المعروف المجرب
that is what is known, tried and tested. Young people be very weary of these impulses that we're hearing all the time to turn away from your parents. I know better than my parents. I know more than my parents. You may have more information, but you certainly do not have more wisdom. And that's the huge distinction. You may have access to a lot of data points, but that data point does not translate into a rich, meaningful, beautiful, robust life where you're not riddled with anxiety. So many ulamas, they would say, Oh Allah, let me die upon the iman of the aja'is of Nisabur, the elderly women of Nishapur, because it was their simple but profound, wise theological disposition that allowed them to live rich lives, free of anxiety, stress, worry, free of a sense of loss, jadedness, apathy. That's the beauty of the Qur'anic wisdom. That's the beauty of our tradition. May Allah help us to always be embedded within the sacred wisdom of our tradition and never cut ourselves off of it, but embed with ourselves within it. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh Yansad. Shaykh Abdullah, I felt like there were a few of those points that resonated. I want to give you a chance, obviously, if you have anything to comment on that. The parent, the non-Muslim parents, obviously you do convert resources, and that's a big part of what you do, right? The non-Muslim parent. So I saw you shaking your head, so I'm just going to hand it to you, inshallah. Yeah, no, exactly. The portion of the verse, JazakAllah khair, was talking about, you know, وَإِن جَاهَدَكَ عَلَىٰ أَنتُ شَكِّبِي and if they call you to associate partners with Me, then do not obey them. But at the same time, be good to them.
SubhanAllah, I was just thinking how, because in regards to Luqman, I remember Tahir bin Ashur, he goes in depth about this, like where Luqman was from, why he was called a hakeem, and subhanAllah, that is the epitome of wisdom. You always tell people that convert to Islam or the young Muslim that is trying to be religious, and you find that the parents may be holding him or her back. SubhanAllah, I mean, how many Islamist school teachers that I've spoken to, and because they had that level of influence on the student, middle school students particularly, they love practicing the deen when they're at school, but then their parents kind of serve as an antagonist. So it's very, you have to really be wise. And joining the two, like you said, saying no, but you're going to say no to me, I'm your mother, I'm your father, I raised you. But at the same time, you have that integrity in the deen, but also being nice, being wise. That's not easy. That's not easy. SubhanAllah. You know, Allah chose to have Luqman say this to his son because he is al-Hakim, and that is the epitome of hikmah. You know, rejecting with manners. Rejecting the ones that raised you with manners. That's deep. That's profound. You know, and it's a process. You know, I tell people that convert to Islam or the youth, you know, it's a process. Don't expect it to be over one night. You know, you may get rejected. You may get just totally kicked out of the house, whatever the case may be. The black sheep of the family, but still be wise. صاحبهم في الدنيا معروفة You know, show a level of connection with them that you still acknowledge them. You know, and it's difficult, but again, we want to please Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala in this process. May Allah make it easy. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Yassir.
Beautiful reflections, mashAllah. Sheikh Yassir, as always, alhamdulillah, brought great wisdom. Sheikh Abdullah, as always, mashAllah. Sheikh Abdullah, you know, you know, Hoodie Mellow? Carmelo Anthony, when he wears a hoodie. Like Hotel Sheikh Abdullah. Hotel Aduro. Hotel Aduro, huh? When you're in a hotel, you just brought like another level of beauty and wisdom, mashAllah, to the program. Sheikh Yassir, you got your guhajjok, you took a shot at Sa'idis. We showed love to the bees with Dr. Nazer, and then yesterday, Amir was hating on spiders. We have to apologize to the spiders in the audience. And now, Sa'idis, offending Sa'idis. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. You're gonna offend everybody. Hold on, Sa'idi, that's my blood, alright? I'm a Sa'idi at heart. I'm not Sa'idi necessarily by lineage, but I'm Sa'idi at heart. Most of my shuyukh were Sa'idis, so, you know, Sa'idi, ar-rasu al-ayn, as they say. But, you know, speaking of honoring the parents and respecting the parents, Joha, one time he left masjid, and he walked out, he couldn't find his shoes. So he says, where's my shoes? You know, where are my shoes? Someone bring my shoes right now. Illa, if you don't bring my shoes, I'm going to do exactly what my father did. So people started getting unnerved, like, you know, what did your father do? So then he says again, like, you know, really threatening with a voice, if you don't bring me my shoes right now, I'm going to do exactly what my father did. So they ran and they bought him brand new shoes. And then, like, he puts them on, he's walking home. So I said, tell us, what did your father do? He said nothing, he just walks home barefoot.
I love Muslim jokes. That's Joha. You see how compelling Sheikh Yasser, see, like, Sheikh Yasser gets you, like, captivated, man. Like, that's the art of Muslim storytelling. Yeah, you have to. You've got to, like, build suspense and then just. But, you know, I hope, I'm serious, no, I hope we really value what it means, like, the simple value and wisdom of following in your parents' footsteps, you know, subhanAllah. I just feel like there's such a strong impulse to detach from the inherited, sacred, simple wisdom of our parents. You know, it's a very powerful metaphor to turn against your parents. Right. It's like you're turning against heritage, you're turning against history. This impulse for, like, anarchy, the social desire, like, this throbbing for anarchy. It's like, but, you know, we are a people of our forefathers, you know, our parents, our forefathers, our tradition. That's what's sacred and timeless. And I hope we, as a community, preserve it, wallahi. Either way, you know, these Joha jokes, a lot of them, you can find them in the works of the ulema, you know, Ibn al-Jawzi. He has a book called Akhabar al-Hamqa wal-Mughaffaleen, the reports of, you know, the idiots and the ignorant. But, you know, a lot of them you see, like, subhanAllah, how they take just inherited meanings, ideas. He actually writes this book because he wrote a book on the adhkiya, like the intelligent, and now he wants to write a book on the other side of the spectrum. So he explores, like, the whole heritage of al-Hamqa in society. And it's such a beautiful idea. By the way, Shaykh Yasir, tonight, inshaAllah, we're starting for the last 10 nights, Shaykh Yasir Rajas and I are going to be reflecting on Sayyid al-Khattab by Ibn al-Jawzi. Really? MashaAllah.
Yeah, yeah. So every night we're going to have just different reflections on his writing. MashaAllah. Maybe we'll take a detour. Take some Akhabar from al-Hamqa wal-Mughaffaleen. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh Yasir. So for everyone, just a reminder, we're going to be, inshaAllah ta'ala, live with the webathon at 2pm Eastern, inshaAllah. So please share it. It's something that we want you to participate in, inshaAllah ta'ala. The automation of donations over the last 10 is certainly just something that we seek to encourage everyone to do, inshaAllah ta'ala, just to be a part of it. But we also want people to join live. It's a community that we've built over the last few years, alhamdulillah, in this online world. So is it 2.30 or, sorry, I forgot what it is. 2.30. Allah ha'an. I'm already forgetting. 2.30. Yeah, it's 2.30. So please do log on, inshaAllah ta'ala, and share the webathon with your family and friends. Tell them this is something to listen to, this is something to pitch into, inshaAllah, and just enjoy it. And we'll have Shaykh Yasir, Shaykh Abdullah back with us then, bismillah ta'ala. JazakAllah khair, and everyone, see you in a bit, inshaAllah. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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