Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 3
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Juz' 27 with Dr. Jinan Yousef and Dr. Usaama al-Azami | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 3
In the twenty-seventh episode of this Ramadan series, Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guests, Dr. Jinan Yousef and Dr. Usaama al-Azami, explore gems from the twenty-seventh Juz’ of the Holy Quran.
Download the new eBook "Qur’an 30for30: Seerah Edition" here.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi man wala. SubhanAllah, here we are now going into the 27th and obviously a time where people prepare themselves and there are many texts that indicate the special nature of this night. We pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accept from us Laylatul Qadr, whether it is tonight or any other night. And Allah forgive us for any shortcomings. Allahumma ameen. A reminder before we get started inshaAllah ta'ala, please as you are thinking about your sadaqa and various good deeds that you could do, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala you see the value of the work that we have been putting out at Yaqeen and you find yourself inshaAllah ta'ala moved to contribute to it as well as the many other wonderful causes that are out there inshaAllah ta'ala. So if you'd like to contribute to Yaqeen bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, please click the link inshaAllah ta'ala. And if we don't hit our fundraising goal, Shaykh Abdullah Adura will be paying you a personal visit. Yeah, he put the fist up too. Alright, mashaAllah. We're happy to have it, alhamdulillah, as always. What kind of fist was that one, Shaykh Huzoor? This was the threat, but this was the hope. Yeah, okay. Targheeb min targheeb, mashaAllah. We got to do hope and fear, you know. But we're blessed, alhamdulillah, today we have two first-time guests with us, alhamdulillah, Dr. Osama Al-A'lami and Dr. Jinnan Yousuf. Dr. Jinnan, of course, mashaAllah, has authored quite a bit at Yaqeen already, especially on the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And it's not the only place that she authors on the names of Allah, but it's certainly, we are blessed to have your work on the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And some of the other things that you're working on, Dr. Jinnan, how are you? Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, very well, and jazakumAllah khayran for the opportunity, of course.
Dr. Jinnan, what name of Allah should I call upon to beat Shaykh Abdullah Aduro in ping pong? Al-Aziz. Al-Aziz. See how quick that was? See how quick that was? Shaykh Abdullah, I'm screaming across the ping pong table, Ya Aziz, as I'm hitting the... Ya Nusir. So maybe we'll see how this goes. We'll see how we can make use of the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But on a serious note for everyone, please check out the series. Actually, the last paper, I believe, was As-Samir, right, Dr. Jinnan? You and Dr. Taha co-authored As-Samir? Yes, it's one of my favorite papers and one of my favorite names, definitely. So please check out the names of Allah series, As-Samir being the last one. Dr. Osama, how are you? Alhamdulillah, it's just wonderful to see the brothers and sisters. Alhamdulillah, barakAllah khayran. So Dr. Osama, in the UK, do you call it ping pong or table tennis? We call it table tennis. Ping pong sounds a bit funny to me. Is there a Bengali version of it? I think even in Bangladesh it would be called table tennis. And yes, I think we actually used to play in Bangladesh. I can't remember. I lived sort of a year of my life in Bangladesh as a 10-year-old. And yes, I think it would be considered rather popular in parts. But definitely called table tennis, not ping pong. I need one sentence from you because we had Dr. Farah Islam. She showed some love to our brothers and sisters from Bangladesh. I've been working on my Urdu. I asked you for poetry. You didn't give me any poetry yet. But I tried, I need something that's a little bit more detailed from you. Can you give like a nice word of advice and love to our brothers and sisters from Bangladesh in like a sentence?
I will try. One of the mixed blessings of being someone who's been devoting his life to the ulam shari'ah for the last 18 or so years is that my Arabic is far better than my Bengali. But I think it's one of the duas that I make quite often in Bangla, which is a translation of a dua which I make in Arabic as well, is Allah shahadu wa kura dik. Which means may Allah make things easy for you. I mean, it's not necessarily for you, it's for anyone. Allah shahadu wa kura dik. And yes, so I hope that that as a message for all of us that may Allah make these 10 nights easy for us in terms of really devoting ourselves to ibadah inshaAllah. Sheikh Abdullah, you and I need to practice Bangla. Extremely important. I must say that the world's population on a global scale, Bangla is one of the languages which is up there. Just by virtue of the number of Bengali speakers there are in the world. Allah bless you all that are tuning in from all over the world. InshaAllah ta'ala we're going to go ahead and get started. Dr. Usama of course will be writing inshaAllah ta'ala for us this year, so we're excited to see your first public leasings at Yaqeen as well. Bismillahir rahmanir rahim. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa rasoolil laahu wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So being in Juz 27 now, subhanAllah there's so much that we could talk about that relates directly to the hereafter and builds off of some of the themes that we spoke about in Juz 26. Juz 26 of course we ended off at this notion of victory in this life and victory in the next life. Al-Fatih and then having the hujurat, the adab with the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam
and ultimately the reward that comes in the next life. And so you have al-Fatih in this life and then suddenly you have al-Waqi'ah in the next life, which is very hereafter focused, the reality. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in Surat al-Waqi'ah Wa kuntum azwajan thalatha wa ashabu almaymanati ma ashabu almaymana wa ashabu almash'amati ma ashabu almash'ama wa assabiqun assabiqun unaika almukarrabun fi jannat alna'eem thullatun minal awwaleen wa qaleelun minal aqireen This is a very powerful portion. As I say in the Judgment Day series, Allah Azawajal frequently divides us into three groups. And we often find that even when we talk about the Ahwal, different stations of people on the Day of Judgment, that there are three groups in the way that they are being dealt with and then subgroups within those three groups. But here, wa kuntum azwajan thalatha Allah Azawajal praises ashabu almaymana, the people on the right side, and how blessed are they. And then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the disgrace of the people on the left and how miserable they will be. So the sorting out of the righteous and the wicked. And then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wassabikoon, assabikoon And those who are foremost in faith will be foremost in paradise. So those who are foremost to his obedience in this life will be foremost to his reward in the next life. And Allah says, oolaa'ika almukarraboon Verily, they are the nearest ones to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala fi jannat alna'eem in these gardens of bliss. Now I wanted to stop here for a moment and I'll go into the last two here. This idea of qurb, being close to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala May Allah make us amongst the muqarrabin, Allahumma ameen. May Allah make us amongst those that are close to him, amongst his awliya. Anta wali fi dunya wal akhira This idea that Yusuf alayhi salam when he said, you are my wali in this life and in the next.
You want to look at the reward of the hereafter as an extension of the relationship you've built with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in this life. As Imam Ahmed rahim Allah ta'ala said, if you want to know your station with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala then look at his station with you. If you want to know how much Allah loves you, look at how much you love Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Look at the way that you have qadr of Allah in your heart. How much, you know, due estimation you give to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala with your heart. And look to what that translates into in terms of actionable deeds that bring you close to him on a consistent basis. A trajectory of closeness to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Qurb wa ma taqarraba ilayya abdi You know the hadith Qudsi, my servant does not come close to me with anything more beloved to me than the fara'id. And then he continues to come close to me with the nawafil until I love that person. So the trajectory is there and the trajectory is one of qurb. The trajectory is one of closeness. And subhanAllah there's one of the salaf who mentioned that he asked Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in a dream, how can I come close to you? And Allah Azawajal said utruk nafsak wa ta'al Leave behind your nafs and come close. And so forsake the nafs, which is the barrier between you and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, the ego and the self and the lowliness of the self. And aspire for something higher in closeness to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But Allah has not shut that door for you. Come close to him. And as-sabiqoon of course are people who are quick to the call of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. You have to measure your hesitation versus your eagerness. There are some that hesitate towards good deeds but are quick to sin. There are some that are quick to loopholes but very slow towards clear obligations.
And there are those that when they hear Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala calling upon them through the messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and through this revelation, they immediately rush towards it. And so you want to look at the hesitation that you have. What do you hesitate towards? Do you hesitate towards his ta'ala? Do you hesitate towards his obedience or do you hesitate towards his disobedience? And the believer of course seeks to be amongst those that quickly respond to the call of Allah and they respond with all of themselves, with their hearts, with their faculties, with everything, when the call of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is made and they give it their best effort. These are as-sabiqun, as-sabiqun. And so these people will naturally be quick to paradise on the day of judgment and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala will advance them forward in every single station of the day of judgment. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Then Allah Azawajal says, thurlatun minal awwaleen wa qaleenun minal aakhireen that there is a multitude of the earlier generations and a few from the later generations. Now SubhanAllah this is where you find the balance of the message so beautiful and how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam talked about the incentive to be from as-sabiqun. On one hand the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made it very clear that the best generation of this ummah is the generation of the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Even if you spent uhud in gold you would not be able to equal the rank of the companions. You cannot be of the rank of the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as a collective generation. They are the best of the best. They are the cream of the crop. Not just the best generation of this ummah. The best generation that has ever walked the face of the earth is the generation of the companions of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And the companions amongst themselves are not equal in rank. Right? And Allah Azawajal will tell us in Suratul Hadid, SubhanAllah you find it right after in Suratul Hadid la yastawee minkum man anfaqa min qabla alfatihi wa qatil
ulaika a'adhamu darajatan min al-ladhina anfaqu min ba'du wa qatilu wa kullan wa'adallahu alhusna That those of you that believed, and this is verse 10 of Suratul Hadid also in this juz, that those of you who believed, who spent before the fath, are not like those who came after the fath. Right? Wa kullan wa'adallahu alhusna, but then what does Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala say? All of them are promised their own fine reward. Right? So even those that became Muslim much later on, if you've been watching the first when we talk about Suhair ibn Amr radiAllahu ta'ala anhuwa man, who was a staunch enemy of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam but strange, strange, in that he resembled the firsts in his ibadah once he became Muslim. I mean really like exceeded SubhanAllah in his ibadah. This wasn't a person who merely accepted Islam at the end and politically aligned with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So you have people, kullan wa'adallahu alhusna, Khalid ibn al-Walid radiAllahu ta'ala anhuwa later on, right, he becomes Muslim much later, but look at what he becomes, Ikram ibn Abi Jahl look at what he becomes radiAllahu ta'ala anhuwa. So you have people that accepted Islam later on even in the span of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, but the muhajirun were always the muhajirun the ansar were always the ansar, the people who made the two hijras to Abyssinia and then Medina were always the people of ashab al-hijratain, they were the people of the two hijras. The people of Badr were always the people of Badr. No one could equal their rank collectively. So even in the generation of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, he made these distinctions in terms of those that came earlier. Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhuwa was always Abu Bakr, whether he was the only person next to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam or there were a hundred thousand people next to him. Ali radiAllahu ta'ala anhuwa was always Ali radiAllahu anhuwa.
The list goes on and on, right, Ali radiAllahu anhuwa being that one person that heard the call of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam on as-Safa and who always stuck with him. So they remain in their rank with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in every way. Now, what does this mean for us? And I'll end with this because it can be a little demoralizing, right? Okay, well, then does that mean I don't have a chance? That's where you find the narration, the narrations of Abu Tha'liba. For example, where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions that inman wa ra'ikum ayaam as-sabr that behind you are days of patience, that to come later after you are days of great patience. Days in which holding on to faith is like holding on to a burning hot coal. And for the reward, the reward of those people is like 50 of you. SubhanAllah, and I'm paraphrasing the hadith because of time. Or when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentions alladheena aamanu bi wa lam yarawni those who believed in me and they never even saw me, that that's such a beautiful reward for them, right? A special unique reward for them. And then fi kulli qarrin min ummati sabiqoon every generation of my ummah has people who are forerunners. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. There's not a generation of this ummah except that Allah has placed sabiqoon amongst them, forerunners amongst them, mujadids, revivers amongst them. And of course, you know, my favorite in this regard, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says my ummah is like the rain. I don't know which is the best of it, the first of it or the last of it. Meaning there will always be these special, there will always be these special raindrops. This is the rizq of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la upon this world that he will always sprinkle the raindrops of this ummah throughout the entire lifespan of the ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And some of the best Muslims, there's one narration that says, by the way, the best are the first and then the last of this ummah. And then between them, there's the iwaj, there's the crookedness. So the people that are with Isa Alayhi Salam at the very, very end, right, are of such a special rank with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and of course with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
So we should not be demoralized by this because we know that we can be sabiqoon in any generation that we are in. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. Sheikh Abdullah inshaAllah will pass it off to you. Fadlulah Sheikh Abdullah. As-salaamu ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'd. MashaAllah that was a lot that was covered, very beneficial. But you know, just looking at the point where you mentioned how one should not hesitate and be a sabiqeen, to be of those that rush towards the good deeds and do not procrastinate in doing the good deeds and asking the real question, particularly in these days and this night, which one do I rush to more? Do I rush towards the good deeds or am I hesitant? Because those can be signs of the iman progressing, redressing, and that can be a sign of weighing ourselves and holding ourselves accountable. That is one method. When I see the goodness of Islam or I hear something from Islam that calls me to do something or to stay away from something and both of those are good deeds, am I hesitant? Am I hesitant? But when you look at the sabiqoon, you look at them, they're sabiqoon because they were not hesitant. They were not hesitant because they knew who Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la was. By knowing his beautiful names and attributes, understanding the meanings and how they are actualized in their lives, and with that, there's really no turning back. You don't want to turn back. You want to go, you want to encounter those beautiful names and attributes and the manifestation of them and embrace them at every time. And from that, you'll be of the sabiqoon because you realize what the true value is of life and that it will end and that there is another life. What I want to talk about is that next life, inshaAllah, of being in Jannah. I want to talk about a couple of verses in the chapter of Tur where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la talks about even in waqia, and as he's mentioned, these surahs, these chapters are beautiful because Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is talking about the future. He's talking about Jannah.
He's talking about that place that is everlasting. May Allah make us from the inhabitants of Jannah. Because Jannah, inside of it is what no eye has seen. ma la'aynun ra'at wa la'udhunun sami'at wa ma khatr ala alqalbi bashar That it is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and it is not fathomable. The individual cannot even fathom and imagine the reality of it. And that is something that should entice the believer in Allah. Because if Allah is enticing you towards it, you know that it is far more than you can even imagine. And that's what the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is saying. So there are some snippets that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gives in this chapter of Tur, and I want to start from verse number 21. But from verse number 17, he starts to talk about the people of Jannah. You know, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, he says, al-muttaqeen fi jannat an-na'een, those who are mindful of God are in the gardens of bliss. fa'kihina bima aataahum rabbuhum wa qaahum rabbuhum a'dhab al-jaheem Rejoicing in their Lord's gifts, He has saved them from the torment of the blaze. And then he says, kulu washrabu hani'an bima kuntum ta'amaloon Eat and drink healthfully and plentifully from what you have done. muttaqeen ala sururin masfufatin wazawajin ahum bi hurin ayn They are comfortably seated on couches, arranging in rows, and we pair them with beautiful-eyed maidens. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says here, which is beautiful, interesting here, because he mentions how they will be with their partners or with beautiful-eyed maidens. After that he says, wal-ladheena aamanu wattaba'atuhum dhurriyatuhum bi-eemaan alhaqana bihim dhurriyatahum wa maa alatnaahum min aamirihim min shayt kullum ree'im bima kasaba raheem Three parts I want to split this verse up into, inshaAllah. The first of them being, where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la expresses His name, Ar-Rahman, in Ar-Raheem, even for the believers. And then also Al-Waasi, that He is vast and gives in abundance. He is abundant and everything that He gives, if He wills, is in abundance with no end. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says here,
wal-ladheena aamanu wattaba'atuhum dhurriyatuhum bi-eemaan alhaqana bihim dhurriyatahum Allah says here, and those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith, we will join them with their descendants, ya'ni with their offspring. This is interesting because of the parents that are in Jannah, may Allah make us of those in Jannah, their children, inshaAllah, when they go to Jannah, inshaAllah, and they're at a lower level, Allah yulhiquhum bihim. And He will allow the children to go to Jannah. And He will allow the children to come up and to be with their parents. And SubhanAllah, it's amazing because this should be a reminder for us as parents, or those that aspire to be parents. Firstly, those that are parents, are we raising them on Iman? Are we teaching them about Allah? And Alhamdulillah, we have Dr. Jinnan here because she's written a book on the names and attributes of Allah. Wallahi, I always tell myself and others, if you want to tell people about your religion, about Islam, start with the names and attributes. Because it's such a universal playing field, if you will. If that individual that may not be Muslim or has questions about Islam, believes in a deity, start with the beautiful names and attributes. Particularly with the qawa'id, or the rules that deal with understanding those beautiful names. So when we say, for example, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is Ar-Rahman, the Merciful. Then we say Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is Al-Adl, He is the Just. His justice is couched in mercy. We say Allah is Al-Sami' and we say Allah is Al-Aziz, Al-Azim, He is Magnificent and Great. His hearing is Al-Azim, it is couched in greatness to where you cannot even imagine in totality the aptitude or the magnitude of His hearing. Even though Allah gives you snippets of that in the Quran. So when we look at the names and attributes, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala here, from His mercy, from His love, from His honor, from His fadl, from His virtue, here allows the children to be raised with the parents.
Bi-eemaa'nin alhaqqa naa bihim dhuriyatum Very interesting how He makes that qa'id, or that particular aspect that He wants to touch on and remind you with the eemaan. Those of you that are aspiring to be married, inshaAllah, may Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala zawajikum inshaAllah, righteous husbands and righteous wives, righteous husbands to where you will be in Jannah with your wife and your husband inshaAllah because of your deeds, or raise someone up because of your deeds. And as we know, the shafa'ah, the intercession of the individual inshaAllah, as even some people mention of the friend, al-Hadith of Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam So when looking at the whole concept of the individual's children being raised up to them, some scholars mention if it's the child or the individual that didn't have children themselves, they will be as a child, even though their age, there's no laykhal, no difference, they will be raised up to their parents inshaAllah ta'ala. So that is a sign of the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and the love of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala that He does this. The nobility of teaching eemaan is something that is held in high regard, that the eemaan should be taught to our children and to our family members, to everyone, because each and every one of us is a child, has been a child, and we always will be a child to our parents. The second portion is where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa ma alatnahum min amilihim min shayt and we will not deprive them of any of their deeds, them being the parents the ones that are in jannah. We will not deprive them because one may think that if my child is taking from the reward of what I have done for them, it will take away from some of my reward it will take away from some of my reward if they are raised up to my level Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says we will not deprive them of anything of what they used to do. And then He brings a general qa'idah that we should remember, kullu mri'in bima kasaba raheen
that every person will have what she or he has earned. Every person for what he has earned is retained. And I love this word raheen because in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ that we know with the aqeeqah that when someone has a boy or a girl, then they should sacrifice an animal if possible. And the word aqeeqah comes from ya'qoob and that means to split or to cleave open. If we say someone is aq li awalidayhi, someone is disrespectful and not compliant with their parents, they say aq. la yatkhul jannahu aq as the Prophet ﷺ said. That the individual who does not enter jannah, if they are someone that is constantly disobedient, cleaving and splitting the relationship between them and their parents. Aqeeqah comes from when they split and cleave the neck of the animal that they slaughter for the sake of Allah ﷻ showing gratitude to the ghulam. The Prophet ﷺ he said in a beautiful hadith, al ghulamu murtahanun bi aqeeqatihi. The Prophet ﷺ said the boy or girl is mortaged by his aqeeqah. But he says murtahan. And the word rahan means that which is borrowed or pawned. So it is as though Allah ﷻ is giving you al razaq. He is providing for you al wahab bestowing upon you your child. But your child will come back to him. You have no ultimate control over yourself. What about your children? That is why iman, ultimate iman Allah ﷻ puts it in them but you have to play your part as the parent. In other words, as the one that Allah ﷻ has chosen for that child to be its guardian on this earth. As the one that Allah ﷻ has chosen to teach them the iman. And it's beautiful because remembering Jannah, I highly implore all of you to read these verses of Jannah, InshaAllah, Waqia and in Taur. Because remember it's something that we totally can't totally understand its reality. But that's the whole point
for you to desire it. There's a beautiful hadith and I'll leave it to the Prophet ﷺ A woman, an elderly woman comes to the Prophet ﷺ and she asks him to make dua for her to enter Jannah. And he tells her la yadkhulul jannah ta ajooz And the Prophet ﷺ said the elderly doesn't enter Jannah So what Hasan, radiAllahu anhu, he says that the woman started to walk off and she was crying and she was weeping. The Prophet ﷺ told him to call her back and then the Prophet ﷺ told her that she not know the verse, innaa in sha'naa hunna in sha'a. Allah ﷻ mentions in the chapter of Waqia that verily we have produced women in paradise of a new creation. That the concept of age is not even a concept there. There will be a new creation totally different than what we can imagine. And this is why we should not base the reality of the unseen with our limited physical intellect. Because it is limited. And Allah ﷻ when you're with Him it is unlimited. Haa li deena feeha abada. You'll be, have the fawakih and the fawakih is that which is even the enjoyment inshaAllah. May Allah ﷻ make us of those that are inhabitants of jannah and allow those that are in our care to be of those that desire to be with us in jannah. Allahumma ameen. Jazakum Allah khayran. Jazakum Allah khayran. We'll move straight to you Dr. Dinan. Jazakum Allah khayran. Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alameen. As-salatu was-salamu ala ashrafin al-da'am al-saleen. First, Jazakum Allah khayran Sheikh Omar for your insights. They were so beautiful and Sheikh Abdullah especially always linking it back to the names of Allah. Like it is so so important. Like it enriches everything. You know we love our relationships with our loved ones. And if somebody were to ask you about the person that you love you could talk about them for ages because you love them so much and you know them so deeply. And so Allah ﷻ when He reveals to us at least
99 names what does that say about Allah ﷻ inviting us to know Him in so many different ways. Inviting us to have this relationship with Him in so many different ways. So may Allah ﷻ make us of those who learn His names and who connect to Him by His names. And inshallah I hope also the verse that I'm discussing will also tell us about who Allah ﷻ is. So the verses that I'm going to be discussing are from Surat Al-Qamar and from verses 9 to 17. I'm going to do a quick summary and then I'm going to make four points bi-idhnillah. So these verses they're talking about Nuh ﷺ. And the story of Nuh ﷺ it's all over the Quran. And you know from different verses in the Quran we know that Nuh ﷺ was with his people for 950 years that they rejected him and they mocked him. And finally after 950 years of calling them Allah ﷻ you know the people you know they were drowned and Nuh ﷺ with very few people who believed with him was saved. Now Allah ﷻ in these verses He you know the words that are used I think these are it's like consolation for anybody who is suffering, for anybody who is broken and that you look to the story of Nuh ﷺ and you can take so much comfort in it. And so I wanted to like I mentioned make four points. So the verses start with, كذبت قبلهم قوم نوح فكذبوا عبدنا وقالوا مجنون وازدجر So the first point that I want to make is about going through a test for the sake of Allah. And these verses that I recited Allah ﷻ says you know before them the people of Nuh had denied the truth and they rejected our servant calling him insane and he was rebuked Nuh ﷺ. And so I want us to stop here because sometimes when we say the story of Nuh ﷺ it's like oh
he was rejected for 950 years. But we don't actually stop and think what does it mean to be rejected and mocked for 950 years. You know if we get one rejection somebody says one thing that's rude to us. You know maybe you're making da'wah to someone and they're just like leave me alone or maybe they say something islamophobic to you and you're just like oh my god I can't do this anymore. Right? Like you really feel but imagine for 950 years that you are calling people, you're calling people to what's good for them. This is not something for your benefit. Nuh ﷺ is not going to get you know anything. He's not going to become a king or become wealthy. It's because they're his people He loves his people. So can you imagine that you want something good for your own people. That you want to do good for them and that they are rejecting you. And it's not the type of rejection that's like look you know Nuh ﷺ we're good. Thanks but no thanks. Like that's not the type. That wasn't a polite rejection. Right? This is like Nuh ﷺ like waqalu majnoon like they were mocking him. They were making fun of him. They're just like this guy is crazy. So imagine the pain and it's not just his people. You know sometimes maybe your community is you know is rejecting you or rejecting you know your you have good initiatives and they're rejecting that. But maybe you go home and you find solace in your home because you have family. But we know that with Nuh ﷺ his wife, his son. You know Sheikh Abdullah is talking about you know like that we raise our kids with iman. Right? Imagine the pain of your son and you're just like you know you're trying to help your child and completely rejecting. So just think about the pain. And here Allah ﷻ he's telling us this and he's telling the Prophet ﷺ this. That like look when you are doing something good for the sake of Allah ﷻ persevere. Allah is with you. Look at Nuh ﷺ. But he persevered. He did this for Allah. And sometimes you know we know with Nuh ﷺ very few people believe with him. Right? And sometimes you know we
kind of we correlate outward success even if we just do it you know subconsciously but with Allah's pleasure. Right? And so you might think like I tried so hard and it didn't work. I'm trying to do something for the sake of Allah and it's not working. Is Allah not happy with me? Is Allah rejecting me? Now of course we have to take ourselves to account for doing things correctly or not. But if you're really sincerely doing something for the sake of Allah ﷻ but you're not seeing the fruits. Don't worry. Because what matters is that you are doing the sa'i. That you're doing the striving for the sake of Allah ﷻ like Nuh ﷺ did. And even the Prophet ﷺ you know he tells us رُبَّ أَشْعَثْ أَغْبَرْ Right? A person who's like their hair is messy أَغْبَرْ They're like dusty مَتفُوعًا بِالْأَبْوَابِ Like you know they're not received well لَوْ أَقْسَمَ عَلَى اللَّهِ لَأَبَرَّهِ If this person makes an oath. They pray to Allah ﷻ Allah will respond to them straight away. So and this person if you look at them if you like see them you're like Oh this person is not special. They don't have a lot of Twitter followers. They're not you know nobody really cares about them. Right? But it's like no this person is special to Allah ﷻ because of what they do for Allah ﷻ. So don't worry if it seems like your initiatives or what you're doing for the sake of Allah is failing or you know you're not seeing the fruits of it. If you're doing it for Allah ﷻ right? You're in good company. You're in the company of Nuh ﷺ You're in the company of the Prophet ﷺ. That when people rejected them but they persevered. Why? For the sake of Allah. And then to the next point Allah ﷻ and this I love this ayah for me like it just it shakes my heart right? So and then the ayah after it فَدَعَى رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ فَانْتَصَرُ Now I'm saying that we have to you know we should persevere for the sake of Allah ﷻ This does deny the fact that we're human and we get exhausted We get broken. Right? We get overcome. And so Nuh ﷺ he cried out to his Lord أَنِّي مَغْلُوبٌ I'm defeated Right? I'm overcome. I'm broken فَانْتَصَرُ So help me
And so this doesn't deny that yes when you're doing something for the sake of Allah You might be broken. You might feel that you're overcome You might feel that you know nothing is happening But you take that brokenness that broken feeling in your heart Don't let the test make you turn away from Allah. Let that test turn you to Allah ﷻ because sometimes that's the point. Sometimes maybe you're not seeing the truth because you want to have this inqisad, this brokenness before Allah this tadr going to Allah ﷻ. Right? And with everything you're being vulnerable before Allah. Sometimes you know with people you might go with them. You might say you know I told this person something and I cried in front of them but like I wish that I didn't because I can't trust them. Right? But with Allah ﷻ that's who you want to be broken to. That's when you feel defeated, when you feel overcome Right? You go to Allah ﷻ because that's where you're going to find your solace. That's where you're going to find your consolation. فَدَعَ رَبَّهُ أَنِّي مَغْلُوبًا فَانْتَصَرُ And sometimes that's the point. That you go and you turn to Allah ﷻ and all of your brokenness and the test that you're going through and sometimes even if nothing outwardly changes, the fact that you are there going to Allah ﷻ. Allah who is Al-Fattah, who opens what is closed. Allah ﷻ who is Al-Wadud, who is the most affectionate. Allah ﷻ who is As-Samee' he hears you, he's Al-Qareeb, he's so, he's close to you. أَنِّي مَغْلُوبًا فَانْتَصَرُ Right? So sometimes that is the point that you're just vulnerable before Allah ﷻ. And then what happens after? What happens after SubhanAllah? Allah says فَفَتَحْنَا أَبُوَابَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءٍ مُنْهَمِرْ وَفَتْجَرْنَا الْأَرْضَ عَيُونًا فَالْتَقَى الْمَاءُ عَلَىٰ أَمْرٍ قَدْ قُدِرٍ وَحَمَنَّاهُ عَلَىٰ ذَاتِ أَلْوَانٍ وَدُسُمٍ تَجْرِي بِأَعْيُنِنَا جَزَاءً لِمَنْ كَانَ كُفِرٍ So straight after, what happens? Allah ﷻ, He opens up the gates of the heavens, the doors of the sky with gushing, with gushing water.
And the earth burst with springs and Allah ﷻ carried him on a craft of plank and nails and sailing before, بِأَيُونِنَا, eyes of our eyes, Allah ﷻ, a repayment for the one who had been denied. Sometimes, you know, we don't know which doors our duas have opened. We don't know. You are making dua to Allah ﷻ and you have no idea, right, which door Allah is opening for you through your dua and what water is gushing through. You don't know how your dua, Allah المجيب, that He responds, how He's carrying you through your dua. And so Allah ﷻ says, فَفَتَحْنَ أَوَابَكَ Straight away, the doors of the heavens are open. And so Allah might open for you the door in Jannah or a door in this life or both. We know with Asiya ﷺ when she says, رَبِّ إِبْنِ لِي عَنْدَكَ بَيْتًا فِي الْجَنَّةِ Right? Like she was killed by Fir'aun. This is not like a quote-unquote happy ending in this life, right? But what she saw her face in Jannah, Allah ﷻ opened for her that door. So don't ever stop making dua. Allah, you don't know, فَفَتَحْنَ أَوَابَكَ مَاءِ بِمَاءٍ مُنْهَمَرٍ You have no idea what door Allah is opening for you through your dua. And then finally, and this will be my last point, that Allah ﷻ says, وَلَقَدْ تَرَكْنَاهَا آيَةً فَهَلْ مِمُ الدَّكِرِ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عَذَابِ وَنُدُرِ وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا الْقُوَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِمُ الدَّكِرِ So in the final verses, Allah ﷻ says, we left it as a sign. So is there anyone to remind himself? And so how were my punishment and my warnings? And over here, it's like all of this is a sign. When Allah ﷻ is telling you something, it's not for no reason. It's not ta'abata, it's not purposeless. And Allah ﷻ also is not trying to scare you, you know, for the sake of trying to scare you. Allah is ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. We recite the Qur'an, بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ It's all rahma. When Allah ﷻ is telling you this, it's like, you have to take heed. Allah ﷻ doesn't want you to go to hell. So take heed, learn from this. But then what does that teach us?
That look at this was the punishment, but it also tells us, don't be the person who's on the receiving end of that du'a. Don't be the oppressor. Right? SubhanAllah, that Allah ﷻ He opened, you don't want to be the person who an oppressed person is making du'a against you because of what you did. Right? And Allah ﷻ responds to them, and there's no barrier between them. We always talk about, like, yes, I make du'a, but then it's like, but wait a second, am I also oppressing someone? Is someone making du'a against me? So the lesson that I take from this is if I'm broken, I go to Allah. Right? I persevere in doing good for Allah. I'm vulnerable before Allah, but also, I'm not of the oppressors. I learn from this to not be on the receiving end of a du'a against an oppressor. قول قولي هذا استغفر الله لي ولكم JazakAllah khayran JazakAllah khayran. BarakAllahu fi khayran. Very moving words, especially, honestly, the part about rejection. With Noah, alayhi salam, may Allah ﷻ send his peace and blessings upon his prophets and make it easy for all of us to follow in their example. JazakAllah khayran. JazakAllah khayran. MashAllah. Three people who are an extremely hard act to follow. So, JazakAllah khayran. Really, I could sit here and reflect on the reflections of the mashayikh. JazakAllah khayran for, you know, speaking about three different aspects of the juz' which remind us of just the richness of every single juz' of the Qur'an. And on this night, may Allah allow us to deepen our attachment to the Qur'an and make it a fath for us, a source of opening, inshaAllah, on this night for His mercy, for His beneficence, inshaAllah. I wanted to reflect JazakAllah khayran on a series of verses in Surat al-Hadeed which I'll try and somehow connect to the thoughts of the scholars before me.
In Surat al-Hadeed, we have a verse which begins, i'lamu annama al-hayatu al-dunya la'ibun wa lahum And if I had more time, I'd recite it in the Arabic. The cadences of the Qur'an are also something which people should really take joy from. In fact, it's so powerful in the Arabic that even the mushrikeen in Mecca at the time of the Prophet, for all their hatred towards the Prophet's message at the time, wouldn't be able to help themselves, but they would go sneak in the night and try and sneak a listen to the recitation of the Qur'an because of its beauty. And this is also a reminder for all of us to really invest in understanding the Qur'an's Arabic because whether you're Arab and you've grown up speaking a dialect to him, or you're non-Arabic, you can still speak Arabic, but you don't actually have access to Arabic to be able to understand the Qur'an. When you listen to the Qur'an and hear it directly and understand it immediately, that's a true blessing. And alhamdulillah, we live in a time where through sort of access to that sort of knowledge that allows you to read the Qur'an and understand it directly has been open to you. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give us an opening in that regard as well on this blessed night. So the first sort of part of these verses, and I'll go through them reasonably quickly because we are short on time, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, and it begins with the word i'lamu. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is conveying to us some ilm. i'lamu annama alhayatu al-dunya la'ibun wa lahum wa zinatun wa tafakhrun baynakum wa takathurun fil-amwali wa al-awladi ka mathali ghaythin a'jabal kuffaranabatuhu thumma yahiju fataraahum usfarra thumma yakunuhu thamma.
Know that the life of this world is nothing but play and entertainment and beauty, meaning sort of thing you're trying to acquire things of beauty in this world. wa tafakhrun baynakum and your mutual showing off to each other. This is for those of us, may Allah protect us from these lower qualities, who are really just preoccupied with the world. These are the things of the world that we may seek to pursue for their own, sort of as an end to themselves. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, it's zinatun wa tafakhrun baynakum, you're showing off among yourselves. Oh, look at my car, look at my home, or, you know, look at the fact that I'm able to sort of buy this, go on this holiday or, you know, get this from the dunya. wa takathurun fil amwali wal awlad. Look at how much money I have, look at how many children I have. And of course, awlad is something which perhaps we relate to a little less, but in the Arabian context of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, having boys specifically meant that you could strengthen your own family in, you know, matters of competition with other tribes and the like. kamatha li ghaythin a'jabal kufaran nabatu. And so just to summarize, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying that there is, you know, all of this pleasure that you can seek in the dunya, but ultimately it can be like the farmer sees their own sort of harvest and thinks, look at all this investment I've made and I'm reaping the reward. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends some kind of tribulation and it all goes for naught. Some kind of natural disaster occurs and suddenly the entire harvest has been destroyed and the person is left in a state of desperation.
But this is not the sort of desperation that Dr. Jinnan was just talking about, where someone is turning to Allah munkasir in a state of objection before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala seeking their assistance. This is a person who has forsaken Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Allah in a sense is showing them mercy by putting that tribulation on them so that they might turn back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reminding us that this is the state of the dunya and we should know it, i'alamu. And then he concludes the verse by saying, wa mal hayatu al-dunya illa matau al-ghurur. What sort of pleasure do you get from the dunya except a delusional kind of pleasure? It disappears after a short while. We live, we tarry on this earth just for a day or part of a day, as it says in another verse in the Quran. But then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, okay that knowledge that I have conveyed, what action does it call for? In the next verse he says, sabiqoo ila maghfiratin min rabbikum wa jannatin arduha ka ardi al-samai wa al-ard wa'iddat li allatheena aamanu billahi wa rasulihi. That race towards a jannah, race towards forgiveness from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a jannah that is, whose expanse is greater than the heavens and the earth. And we live in a time where we can actually understand just the sheer expanse of the heavens. The fact that we actually don't really know how vast the heavens are. We have speculations but it really reminds us that we are so tiny compared to the vastness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's creation. And yet the jannah is the size of the heavens and the earth and beyond that. And so once again this is a reminder that that knowledge should bring us to this action where we're seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's forgiveness and we're seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's jannah, wa'iddat li allatheena aamanu billahi wa rasulihi, that has been
prepared for those who believe in Allah and his messenger. And then this is a reminder to what Sheikh Omar was saying that there are ranks even among believers and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us of that in the Qur'an. Thalika fadlullah yu'teehi man yasha'a waAllahu thul fadli al-'adheem. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has this surplus generosity that he gives to whomever he wishes. And it's a strong reminder for us that we really need to pray to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We need to be in that state of being overcome by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's tests that draw us near to him because those tests that draw us near to him are ultimately a blessing. And we should recognize that every single test that we experience that draws us near to him is ultimately a blessing. I wanted to just conclude very briefly with the verse, I use this as an epigraph in a book I've recently published. Ma asabakum min musidatim fil aldi wa laa fee anfuskum illa fee kitabim min qabli anna barahaa inna thalika AAala Allahi yaseer. Bikayla ta'asaw AAala maa fatakum wa laa tafraahu bimaa aataakum waAllahu laa yasir. Wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru wa laa yasiru inna qudio kommenillaa falan iluna kaabimun qabli anna barahaa inna in a time past. It's been predestined. And so we shouldn't be overcome by joy in an inordinate fashion when we get something good in the dunya, nor should we be overcome by grief when we suffer some sort of hardship. Because all of that is with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's ultimate guidance is that we should be people of patience in times of tribulation and people of moderation in times of ease bi-idhnillahi ta'ala. wallahkul la yuhibbu kulla mukhta'alin fakhur. It's a beautiful bit of ethical advice that we should be people of humility always. We should never be people of arrogance. May Allah protect us from this worst of qualities
with the best of qualities, the humility of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. jazakum Alla khairan khoruqa lihadha wa astaghfirullaha liy wa alaykum Jazakum Alla khairan, Zakatul aslam. Subhanallah, there is a lot in this chapter and I think we can summarize it by saying that Allah Azawajal gives us the ranks and then the drive towards those ranks. And so those that sacrifice al-la'ib wal-lahw wal-zeena wa tafakharun baynakum wa takathurun fil-amali wal-awlaan they are people that could have just merely spent their lives in play and amusement and in materialism and competition and quantity, but instead they chose to compete for Allah's Jannah with all that they have. And we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, He said, sabiqo, sabiqo, right? So a direct invitation to become from the sabiqo and from the forerunner. So we ask Allah to make us from the forerunners, to forgive us for our shortcomings. And we pray to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to exert ourselves in this blessed night and all of the 10 nights. It was a joy, Dr. Jinnan and Dr. Osama to have you both with us and Sheikh Abdullah as always. May Allah bless you for your insights. Jazakumullahu khayran. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Dear brothers and sisters, as we have been spending time together, alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, reflecting and pondering upon the day of judgment and going through the ayat, the verses that talk about the day of judgment and talk about the hereafter. I hope that you can all see that you are a part of an institution that nurtures belief in Allah and belief in everything that is going to grant us success in the hereafter, inshallah ta'ala. And it is every year in Ramadan and specifically these last 10 nights that we really depend on you to help build out our free resources, inshallah ta'ala. And so I want you to think about how much this work has meant to you personally in elevating your faith and how much more it could mean to someone else and contribute whatever you can, inshallah ta'ala, over these last 10 nights so that we can continue to grow this work, inshallah ta'ala,
and collectively grow our faith and collectively, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala, succeed in the hereafter. Remember, your actions echo for eternity. Act for your akhirah.
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