Qur'an 30 for 30
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Juz' 23 with Dr. Zara Khan
Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Dr. Zara Khan, explore gems from the 23rd Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Alhamdulillah, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wa ala radwani ila ala al-alameen. Wa ala aqibatu ila al-muttaqeen. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baraka al abduhu wa rasuluhu wa sallim wa ala alihi wa sallam. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. And we want to welcome, alhamdulillah, our distinguished guest, Dr. Zahra Khan with us for the first time, alhamdulillah. Who's a research coordinator, senior fellow at Yaqeen, has written wonderful things. And we pray, sister Zahra, that the baraka of the Northeast will stabilize our internet. We've been having issues. So may Allah keep our technology well and firm tonight as well. But we're looking forward to hearing your insights. And very grateful to be joined by you. And of course, alhamdulillah, as always, jazakallah khair for being with us tonight. And inshallah ta'ala, I will just get right into this next section of the Qur'an. We're now in Juz 23. We pray that Allah azawajal accepted this night of prayer from us. That Allah azawajal enable us to worship him with sincerity and gratitude in these moments inshallah ta'ala. And I remind everyone that this is very likely or could, there could be a high possibility that this would be Laylatul Qadr. Because some of the scholars, of course, pointed to beyond just the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam pointing to the odd nights. But some of those that specifically say the 23rd, as in the narration of Ibn Abbas Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and others. So please do worship as much as you can. And may Allah azawajal enable us all to do so this night and allow us to catch Laylatul Qadr wherever it is. Allahumma ameen. This is one of my favorite ajza' of the Qur'an because it merges the most hopeful ayat or the most hopeful ayah, arja' ayah bil Qur'an.
The most hopeful ayah in the Qur'an is Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Asad is in this chapter. And the surah that follows it is surah Ghafir, the forgiving, which is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's name, the forgiving. And it is the section in surah Az-Zumar where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Qul yaa ibadiyya alladheena asrafoo alaa ansusihim la taqnatoo min rahmatillahi innallaha yakhfiroo aldhinooba jameeAAa innahu huwa alghafoorur raheem Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the importance of us maintaining that sense of drawing close to him. Now before we get to that, and surah Az-Zumar technically is divided into two, so you have surah Az-Zumar as it shows up within the first part of it which shows up in juz 23, and then the second part of it which shows up in juz 24. You think about the build up to that ayah, arja' ayah fee kitabillah, the most hopeful ayah in the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We get to that when we get to surah Ghafir. We come off of surah Yasin where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us this imagery of the universe, kulloon fee falakin yasbahuun, everything in perfect order as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has commanded it to be. And then surah Saad, and there are many mentions in surah Saad of the hellfire and of the punishment as well as the rewards as they come. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, if you turn to surah Saad from verse 51 to verse 58 and 59, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the people that are being driven into the hellfire. And as they're being driven into the hellfire, and the torment is there, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that this is the torment that they were driven to in a group,
we have to realize that the next surah, Allah azzawajal tells us about the groups of believers and the groups of disbelievers. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing us in this section of surah Saad, those that did not pay attention to the consequences that they're warned about in surah Yasin. Remember the messenger speaking to the people and warning them about surah Yasin, warning them about the punishment of the hereafter, and inviting them to the jannat of the hereafter, and they kill that man, they ignore that man. And here, if you pay attention to verse 61, what are they saying? What are the people saying about those that drove them to the hellfire, those that called them to the hellfire? SubhanAllah, they killed the man who called them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that man said, ya layta qawmi ya'lamoon, if only my people would know better. If only they would know the benefits of belief in Allah azzawajal and the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the jannat, the paradise and the gardens that await them. And then, now you have that man who's been killed, who is obviously in the jannat and enjoying the rewards of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the promise of Allah when he had no one around him to prompt him towards belief. And here in surah Saad, you have verse 60 and 61, the conversation, the argument between the leaders of disbelief and those that follow them in their disbelief. And they're arguing in hellfire, and what are they calling out? SubhanAllah, it's frightening, but it's also, it's so beautifully tied into the surahs before and the surahs that will come after. They're calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they're asking for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to double the punishment of those that led them to this position. To give them double the punishment, to give them the torment, allow them to taste the torment of what they brought us to double.
And as they're arguing with one another, and as they're throwing blame on one another, in the very next surah, what we're going to see is that the regret that's established when Allah azawajal talks about the believers and the disbelievers, and those that are arguing on the day of judgment from verse 53 onwards, which is almost as central to what we see in surah Saad. The very next place, they are calling out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they're saying to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that we wish we would have responded. And had we had another chance, we would not have been from as-sakhireen, we would not have been from those who mocked. We would not have been from those who mocked. And then the next verse, they say, this is verse 57, that if we had another chance, then we would be from the muttaqeen, we would be from the pious. We would be from those who are mindful, who paid attention. And then the next verse, law anna li karwa, if I had another chance, laakoon ana minal muhsineen, I would be from those who excel and do well. What did Shaykh Abdullah talk about last night, or actually today in the redo as well? We just talked about this a few hours ago. Shaykh Abdullah talked about the categories that are given to us in surah Fatir, right? Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, zalimun min nafsi, the one who wrongs himself, who kind of goes with the flow, the one who's muqtasid, the one who stops at just the place that everyone else stops at, right? Kind of who does what they need to do to get by, a person of taqwa, and then a person who is sabiqun bil khairat, a person who runs forth. And so surah Yasin, you have the person that is called to jannah, that is killed by the people. And then you have in the next scenario that's given to us in Saad, the people arguing with each other in hellfire about who led us to this destruction.
And then you have surah Az-Zumar, and they're being called, or Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is calling us to repent and not to despair in His mercy, and Allah azawajal, again, replaying the scenarios to us of which people will call out for destruction for themselves because they didn't pay attention. They didn't listen to the call. So people swearing that if I had another chance, then I would be from the good doers. And subhanAllah, you do have another chance by virtue of you reading the ayat, right? The fact that you're reading the Qur'an, and Allah tells you, la taqnatu min rahmatillah, don't despair from the mercy of Allah, means you have another chance to not fall into those categories that are spoken about. And then the next surah, which we'll talk about tomorrow inshaAllah ta'ala in greater detail, is when Allah azawajal, surah Ghafir, tells us about His forgiveness and His mercy, and what it looks like to actually turn that page and not be from those groups. So there's a lot about the arguments that take place on the Day of Judgment between groups of people that supported one another in tughiyan, supported one another in disbelief, and the comfort and the reassurance of those who did what they were supposed to do, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala compensates far beyond every type of pain or hardship that they would have experienced in this life, with the blessing of the hereafter. And inshaAllah ta'ala, I'll hand it off to Sheikh Abdullah with that. JazakAllah khair. ArikAllahu feekum. Wa alaikum salamu ala rasool Allah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Rabbishrahli sadri wa yasli amri wahnu nuqadatan min nisaani yafqahun qawli. What was just mentioned, i.e. what I just said was Rabbishrahli sadri. This was a statement that was mentioned by Musa alayhi salam in the Quran, when he was chosen to proclaim the message of Allah to Fir'aun wa qawmihi wa malaihi, and Fir'aun and his council, and also to his people at that time, Musa and his people.
He said, Ishraq, qaala Rabbishrahli sadri, O Allah, expand my chest. Basically, give me the tawfiq, give me the strength. So when we see the word Ishraq, it's exactly what I want to make an interlude with, because in the chapter of Az-Zumar, verse number 22, is exactly a verse that I want to capitalize on. And this verse, SubhanAllah, whenever I read this verse and another verse in Surat Al-An'am, the Surah of the cattle, and Zumar means groups. So here, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about a certain group of people. And it's very interesting. I will mention a story that occurred with me when I used to teach in a community college in SubhanAllah. One of the instructors walked in, and she was so happy. She was so elated. And she walked in, and she said, Alhamdulillah. I said, why are you so happy? She said, well, my daughter became a Muslim. I'm like, but you're Muslim. She said, no. My daughter turned the age of 18, and she had the right to choose any other faith, but this was the day that she voluntarily chose to be a Muslim. And that just hit me. A lot of times we think of the conversion or reversion phenomenon is only a phenomenon of those that were Christian, Jew, Christian, atheist, Hindu, Baha'i, whatever faith that it was, that they voluntarily come to Islam. But in actuality, the conversion is just changing of lifestyle. When we say reversion, conversion, it's no big difference. Reverting is being that you acknowledge what you already had being the fitrah, the natural inclination that there is a Creator, and you should worship Him by Himself. Conversion is the four pillars, changing your lifestyle that is conducive to that first pillar, and that coincides with what Allah wants within the law-abiding system, the Sharia, okay?
So this woman was so happy, this sister was so happy that her daughter converted and it hit me. A lot of the young professionals, human beings may have converted to Islam, but they have been called Muslim their whole life. They never really knew what Islam represented. There was one time a brother was in a parking lot after giving a khutbah. A young man comes up to him and says, I want to take my shahada. The brother was perplexed because he looked like, you know, he said, I thought you were Muslim. And he tells him the following, you know, the last khutbah that was given, plus your khutbah, SubhanAllah, the religion of Islam was articulated to me so easy, and it was so simple, I never heard that from my parents. I never heard that from my family. So I want to take my shahada now. So the brother was happy and he said, you know what? Let's go back inside, it's Juma, it's traffic. Let's go back inside and let everyone hear. He said, no, no, everyone thinks that I'm Muslim. I just want to take my shahada with you now. How many, how many, how many youth, young professionals have that doubt in their mind and they have not yet embraced Islam? SubhanAllah. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions it in this beautiful verse, and it's beautiful how he articulates it, which ties in what I was talking about earlier of sharha as-sadr, of opening the heart, the statement of Musa alayhi salam. He says after audhubillah minash shaitanir rajim, afaman sharhallahu sadrahu lil-islami fahuwa ala nurim min rabbih fawaylulil qasiyati qulubuhum min dhikri Allah ulaika fi dhulalim mubeen We're going to split this into three parts. First part, afaman sharhallahu sadrahu lil-islami fahuwa ala nurim min rabbih Is it not, do you not see that Allah sends, or excuse me, so is the one whose breast is expanded for Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for Islam, where he is upon nur, light from his Lord? This is a first portion, or it's a rhetorical question,
because the second portion is coming up. So Allah is asking the question, is the one that Allah has done sharh, he has expanded his chest for Islam, his or her chest, and they are upon light from their Lord. So the first thing is the word sharh. Sharh means to open something, to crack something open. The word sharh was actually used for a butcher, because they would crack open the lahmdi meat to where they could expand it. The only way it could be expanded is if it is layyin, if it is soft, if it is willing to accept malleability. So when the chest is open for someone to accept Islam, they're open to the truth, and more than that, as Taha Ibn Ashur says so beautifully, Rahimullah Ta'ala, that they're open to this truth, and it is only the truth that gives them happiness, tranquility, contentment, honor, all of these characteristics that one has for sharh al-sadr, to the degree that SubhanAllah, to where they feel, if I don't have the practice or the elements of Islam in my life, I feel like I'm at loss. In our own khatab, it's said, Islamu yakfili. He said, Islam is enough for me. Wallahi, it's enough for me. I don't need anything else. So this leads us to the question is, what do we value in our lives? Because whatever you value, you will hold dearly, and what you hold dearly is what your heart connects to. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, fahuwa ala noorin min rabbi, is the one that Allah has opened and expanded his or her breast to Islam, or chest to Islam, and they are upon light from their Lord. So, the light that he puts in your chest expands it to where you are increasing in that iqbal ala Allah. You're increasing in that remembrance of Allah and that turning towards Allah, meaning you're turning towards anything that pleases Him. That's your main thing because you value it. Then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala continues on to say,
fawaynu lilqasiyati qulubuhum min dhikri Allah. Then woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah. And this is important here. When we hear it in English, it just doesn't really hit home as it would in Arabic. So, he says, fawaynu lilqasiyati qulubuhum. And woe to those, we're gonna get a little Shakespearean here for a minute, just bear with me. Woe to those whose hearts are hardened from the remembrance of Allah. So, in other words, when you hear the Quran, when you hear someone say, inshallah, God willing, when you hear someone say, I gotta go pray, when you hear someone say, let's turn this off, let's go pray, when you hear someone say, I don't date, I don't do these things because it may not be that conducive to me as a Muslim because I'm trying to get married and that's what I practice as a Muslim. When you hear someone associate their practice with something that deals with them trying to please God, you don't like it. You don't like to hear it. The more that you do that, the heart becomes hard to the message. And when something is hard, nothing permeates. The message of Allah, the message of the Dean of Islam, the message of morality and ethics in the Islamic code, when you hear that, it makes you sick. Just, I don't wanna hear that now, man. I'm tired of that stuff. The more you do that, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is saying, wait, it is the opportunities, plural, that you have to accept that message, to try your best. It's not saying that you should be sabikum bikhayrat as soon as you come into Islam or as soon as you accept Islam, but as long as you accept what you know is right and you try your level best. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la continues, says, ula'ika fee dhulalin mubeen. Those are upon clear misguidance. So in conclusion, when we see this beautiful verse of Islam, it goes for those that are Muslim and consciously Muslim, but those that, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, when I think about this, it's for those converts to Islam.
It's for those that are new or renewed Muslims, those that are on the basics of learning and practicing Islam, whether you've been Muslim 10 years or if you're Muslim two days. I congratulate all of you that have made that step and become Muslim, or those of you that are making that step currently within these days to try your best to come towards Allah and trying your best to be your best for the one that created you and enabled you to be your best. So we're looking at this beautiful verse. We just remember the blessings that Allah has given you to put something in front of you, and then the blessing to enable you to make that right choice, that window for you that has a choice to make that right choice, to accept the expansion of your heart and your chest, to accept further beautiful messages of Islam. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la bless all of us and make us strong in this month of Ramadan, and may He make those that are in their beginning stages of practicing this beautiful faith, keep them strong and make them resilient and make them thankful for everything that's in front of them. JazakumAllahu khair. Sheikh, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, the word waw shows up a lot in this juz, a lot. It's actually, if you read through this juz, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, the amount of times the word waw, waw to, waw to me, waw to you, comes up is extraordinary. Surah Yasin, they're being awoke, they are waking up on the day of judgment from their graves. Ya wa'ilana man ba'atana min maqadina Woe to us who woke us up from our sleep as they wake up to what they see on the day of judgment. And then in the next surah, which I didn't get a chance to talk about, surah Tasawfat, ya wa'ilana hadha yaum ad-din, verse 20. Wait a minute, so this is it, woe to us. This is what we were talked about, what we were told about. This is the promise of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And here, the way Allah Azawajal is saying to us,
or to those that have hard hearts, may Allah protect us, woe to those whose hearts are hardened from the remembrance of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Before you say woe to me, listen to when Allah says woe to you, right? Listen to when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is giving you these warnings, not to terrorize you or terrify you, not to cause you to despair because the next surah is coming, surah Ya'ibadi al-labina asrafu ala anfusihim la taqnatu min Allahi wa ta'ala. Don't despair from the mercy of Allah. Turn back and you will find that rahma, that mercy from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Dr. Zahra, please do help us bring it all together, inshaAllah ta'ala, jazakumAllah khair. JazakumAllah khair. Bismillah, walhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu, everybody. I want to share a reflection on the 23rd juz' of the Quran, namely that the sincerity of a believer is a secret between that person and Allah, and that in order to cultivate sincerity in faith and sincerity in our belief in Allah, that we have to retreat, part of the process is we have to retreat to that private, quiet communion with Allah, deep in our heart of hearts, and to cultivate that sincerity there. So I'll begin with verse number 76 of surah Yasin. Allah says, speaking to Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but speaking to all Muslims, past, present, and future as well, therefore, let not their speech aggrieve you. We indeed know all that they conceal and all that they reveal. And speaking about the disbelievers, as human beings, we reveal much of what we do in our outward life, our deeds, our words, our actions, and people are able to observe all of these. And this is very important. This is the realm of the Sharia and of the law of Allah. And we observe all of the positive commandments. And this has a very important role, but there's also the innermost part, the heart part. And this is what is concealed by the grace of Allah from other people. So it's a blessing from Allah that the deepest secrets in our heart
are not made known to everybody, but Allah knows them. And so Allah's knowledge encompasses our inward and our outward. Allah's knowledge encompasses what we hide and what we reveal to others. And the disbelievers reject the truth now, but Allah says that in time, in a very short time, he is going to make it manifest for them. He's gonna make it outwardly shown and obvious to the point where even that inward rejection deep in the heart is not going to be of consequence. And even the hearts will come to accept that. Allah says in Surah Yasin that they're but waiting for one deafening blast that will seize them while they are disputing. This is in verse 49. And so when we're involved in disputations and in contentions in the world, part of life, we are turned outward. That is not a form of cultivating the inner, the hidden, the inward manifestation. Allah goes on in Surah As-Saffat, verse number 170 to say, now they have disbelieved in it and in time they will come to know. So again, the same theme. We can reject something now and have disbelief in our heart, but very soon Allah will reveal it to us, to everybody, and then it will become outward and manifest. Again, in Surah As-Sa'd, Allah says in verse 88, and you will surely come to know of its ascertained news after a little while. So again, Allah will make it manifest. And so part of cultivating the sincerity deep in the heart, quietly and in secret communion with Allah is to accept the truth of that ahead of time. It's to accept and acknowledge if one day there's gonna be a day of judgment with the disbelievers, the liars, they don't believe it. They don't believe that they will have to stand and account for everything that they revealed and they concealed. But when you retreat, as someone who believes in Allah, you retreat into that quiet communion, you acknowledge ahead of time, you acknowledge now, you take yourself to account now because you know that Allah is ever watchful
and that nothing is hidden from him. This is part of what it means to make our religion sincere for Allah alone. Who other than Allah can know what is hidden in our hearts? Nobody, not even the people closest to us in our lives, not even our family members know that. And it's very striking to me, and there's just how many times Allah mentions this, making the religion sincere for Allah alone. In Surah As-Saffat in the 40th verse, Allah says, exempted are the sincere servants of Allah. And exempted meaning exempted from punishment, from punishment of the day of judgment. Again, in verse 74, exempted are the sincere servants of Allah. Again, in verse 160, exempted are the sincere servants of Allah. In Surah Az-Zumar in the second verse, Allah says, truly, we have revealed this book unto you by the truth. So worship Allah while making the religion sincere only for him. And in the very next ayat, in the third verse, truly, the sincere religion is for Allah only. And in this 11th verse, Allah says, say, I indeed am commanded to worship Allah making the religion sincere for him. And again, in the 14th verse, and in all of these verses, the word that's used, the words that are used, muhlisun, khalasu, or muhlisin, all come from khalasa, the word which means to be pure, unmixed, unadulterated. And it also means to arrive at something or to be freed from something. And so in this context, it means to give our whole heart to Allah, quietly, privately, when nobody else is aware of what we are thinking and feeling and speaking in our private communion with Allah, to give the whole heart and to not leave a portion of it, as the Shaykh was just mentioning about, what is it that we really value, to give the whole heart. And actually, Ustada Ruhi last week was talking about this in the context of Zakariya alayhi salam, making dua and retreating and crying out to his Lord in private. And Shaykh al-Shanawi a few days ago
reminded all of us about that distinction between the levels of approaching the Quran. So you can recite the Quran with your tongue and you can ponder the Quran with your intellect, and then you can open your heart to the Quran. And so the seat of sincerity for a believer is that opening of the heart quietly, privately, without wishing for accolades. In these surahs, Allah says to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, say to them, you know, I don't want a reward from you, right? I make my religion sincere for Allah alone. And so this is, I think, a great lesson that we can take away from these surahs. I'll close with two verses from Surah al-Zumar, which I think really bring this point home. In the seventh verse of Surah al-Zumar, Allah says that unto your Lord will you return. This is the latter portion of the ayat. It's quite long. And then he will inform you about all that you used to do. Truly, he is all knowing about the essence of the chests, the essence of the bosoms. Innahu alimun bidhatu s-sudur. And the sadr, the singular of s-sudur, is a word which means chest, you know, bosom. It means heart. It also means at its root word, sagra, to emanate or arise from something, to originate from something. So all of our deeds, you know, some of them are good, some of them are bad. May Allah protect us and enrich us. But they all arise and emanate and originate from the state of our heart. And that is where that secret with Allah has to be cultivated. Because, you know, a fruit is known by its kernel, its very element, its nature, its pith, its seed. And so the seed is that heart and the outward deeds, the ones that are manifest to everyone, those are the fruits. So most importantly, cultivate it at its very root, in other words. And again, not only is he aware of the sadr, of the s-sudur, but of, you know, bidhatu s-sudur, of the very, very essence, the very kernel, the very nature of that.
The second verse in Surah Tazumar, to speak about this is verse number 18. And Allah says, those who hear the word and then follow the most excellent of it, it is they whom Allah has truly guided, and it is they who are the people of the heart. Ulul al-baab. And again, not to focus only on the semantics, but al-baab means heart, but it also means the core of the fruit. So the innermost part, the essence, again, and it's the very best part of the fruit. And incidentally, another related word, labba, means the upper part of the chest or the part of the throat where an animal is going to be slaughtered. And so when we retreat to our secret communion with Allah, inshallah, with the intention to cultivate sincerity for him alone, we have to do it with a sense that is balanced between having hope in him, but also having fear of him. And not to go only in one direction, not to be so afraid of admonishing ourselves that we only rely on the hope of Allah and only on his mercy and don't take care to admonish ourselves because Allah inspires in us the fear of his justice, but also the hope of his mercy. So Allah holds our hearts between his two fingers. And so that is like being held between hope in Allah and fear of Allah. And the secret communion of the heart to cultivate sincerity is the place where all of that can happen. I have just one more minute left, so I'll just briefly say that in this juz, we have three beautiful examples from the lives of some of the prophets of Allah, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all. And they give us examples of how to cultivate that sincerity quietly and privately in our hearts, through the hope as well as through the fear. So in Surah Yasin, we have the story of Isaac, alayhi salam, and his father, Prophet Ibrahim, alayhi salam, has been commanded to slaughter him. And when Ibrahim alayhi salam says to his son,
I saw this in a dream, what do you think? And Isaac alayhi salam says, oh, my father, do as you're commanded. You will find me, if God wills, among the patient ones. Clearly he had a secret with Allah. Clearly he had a fear of disobeying Allah's command. And at the same time, a hope that Allah will be with him and will give him the best no matter what. We also have the example in the same Surah, in Surah Yasin, towards the end of Prophet Jonah, Prophet Yunus alayhi salam, who Allah says was like a runaway slave. And this is a prophet. This is an exalted and perfected human in his faith. But Allah says he fled like a runaway slave because he fled from Allah's command. And when the fish swallowed him, he was still blameworthy. So these are very strong words for us to ponder. But he was one who truly glorified Allah. And so Allah delivered him from the punishment that had taken root. And so that truly glorifying Allah, even being in the billows upon billows of darkness, in the belly of the whale, at the bottom of the sea, under the night sky, to truly glorify Allah, Allah will deliver you. And that is a secret communion between you and Allah. So that is an example of the hope in Allah. And then the last example in Surah Saad, we have the story of Prophet Daud alayhi salam, David upon him be peace, who also had a secret in his heart to the point where he was able to recognize a sign that Allah sent to him. And the sign was that two contenders came to him, two men disputing among themselves. And they told him the story. One of the men had 99 sheep, ewes, and another had only one, but the stronger forced the weaker to be compelled to him and give up his ewe. And because Prophet Daud alayhi salam had that secret with Allah and had that sincerity of faith, he was able to recognize in that an admonition from his Lord, a warning from his Lord. And he read that sign correctly and he repented and his repentance was accepted and his is an excellent place of return. So JazakAllah khair for letting me share this reflection
with you all. I ask Allah to make us among those who are sincere in our faith to Allah alone. May Allah accept from us our worship this month. JazakAllah khair. Salam alaykum wa rahmatullah. Wa alaykum wa rahmatullah. SubhanAllah, I think that there's a beautiful tie-in between all three themes that we touched on. One of them is the hardness of the chest, the hardness of the heart that doesn't allow the zikr to penetrate, the remembrance of Allah to penetrate. The other one, there's a lot of noise that's being spoken about in this, just two of people disputing, the disputing parties and people that are so loud, right? Loudly calling away from Allah SubhanAllah, loudly challenging the messengers of Allah. And then what you just spoke about, which is cultivating that inner secret, which can only be possible if you're able to break through the hardness of the heart and break through the noise of the people. And SubhanAllah, when people have that, whether it's Yunus Alayhis Salaam in the belly of the whale, he's able to get past all of the elements. How do you even come to a place to make zikr in those moments when you have so much to worry about, when you're being tossed and consumed in the belly of a whale to still call upon Allah SubhanAllah in that darkness? When you have Ismail Alayhis Salaam and his father about to slaughter him and the blade is on the neck of him, Alayhis Salaam, innahu kana sadiqal wa'id but he was truthful to his promise to Allah when he said to his father, you will find me to be from the patient. And so he's from the sovereign. And it's really interesting because at the end of this juz, the very last portion of this, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow because I love, probably my favorite portion of the Quran is to build on the end part of Surah Az-Zumar into a ghafir, which is what I alluded to today. But the end of this juz is Allah SubhanAllah saying to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, innaka mayyitun, innahum mayyitun that you will die, oh Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and they too will die, verily you will die and they too will die. thumma innakum yawmal qiyamati a'inda rabbikum taqtasimoon And then on the day of judgment,
you will be in front of your Lord disputing. And one of the reflections that I take from that, just tying these themes is that, at the end of the day, people need to be willing to be ulul albaab, to think deeper, to cultivate something deeper. And they have to get through their environment to be able to find the truth and to open their hearts to the truth. And when you open your hearts to the truth, it penetrates so sweetly, with such sweetness the way that Shaykh Abdullah was talking about. So SubhanAllah I just see a beautiful raabt, a beautiful tie in with all three of these themes. Preparing the heart, cultivating dhikr in the heart, and then the person who's able to see through the noise and doesn't find themselves on the day of judgment, looking outward and blaming this person and blaming that person, but instead, hey, Allah gave you enough to turn to him and to keep your heart tied to him. Does anyone else wanna share any last thoughts, Shaykh Abdullah, Dr. Zahra? No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I said Ishaq, but I meant to say Ismail Ali, Ismail, Astaghfirullah. That's fine, JazakumAllah khair. I figured, I think, SubhanAllah, but like you said, I mean, I think the point is still so valid, right? So do you have any thoughts, Dr. Zahra, just on the tie in of those three themes at all, or Shaykh Abdullah? Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah, mashaAllah. Well explained, I like how you tied it in, mashaAllah. It's very, very important. And our connection did not fail. I think we were all good, right? Everyone heard us. I heard you at the same time. Alhamdulillah. So we are honored to have you with us, sister Zahra. JazakumAllah khairan. May Allah subhanAllah bless you and elevate you. And for all of those that are out there, Dr. Zahra has written beautifully on the paradigms that exist today of human rights and philosophy on yaqeen. So please do check out her work on yaqeen as well. Alhamdulillah, we're very blessed to have her insights
and to have her coordinating a significant amount of our research. So barakAllahu fiqi. Shaykh Abdullah is actually working on a new and renewed Muslims project, which yaqeen will be launching soon, inshaAllah ta'ala. And I do have to end with this news. Today, SubhanAllah, three people took shahada that have been paying attention to Quran 30 for 30, separately. So you wanna welcome sister Kimberly, brother Jordan, brother Sergio, and we have another sister or brother that specifically asked to take shahada with Shaykh Abdullah, inshaAllah ta'ala soon. I think she's tuning in, inshaAllah ta'ala. So all of you that have accepted Islam recently and taking shahada, may Allah bless you and keep you firm. And may Allah subhanAllah open all of our hearts to that, which is most pleasing to him and keep us steadfast upon it. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllah khairan. I'll see you all tonight, inshaAllah ta'ala, at 2 a.m. for the next portion of Ibadur Rahman, the servants of the most merciful, inshaAllah ta'ala. So at 2 a.m. Eastern. And we'll see you all tomorrow night for Quran 30 for 30, inshaAllah. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Walaikumassalam warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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