Qur'an 30 for 30
30 / 30
Juz' 30 with Sh. Yaser Birjas
Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Sh. Yaser Birjas explore gems from the 30th Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. It is our final session of Qur'an 30 for 30 and I know that we've enjoyed, alhamdulillah, our online gatherings over the last month and I pray that Allah allows us to have developed a deeper connection to the Qur'an inshaAllah and allow us to really carry on this connection with the Qur'an beyond Ramadan. So, before I get to our amazing guest inshaAllah ta'ala, there's a survey that I want you all to fill out inshaAllah and I have some good news for you which is that after Ramadan inshaAllah, we'll take a few days off and Yaqeen is going to be having a special connect with the Qur'an, stay connected with the Qur'an, month long inshaAllah ta'ala of programming that's going to start. So, we'll get back to it inshaAllah, not to the same level, but we'll continue to stay up to date inshaAllah ta'ala and continue to stay connected with the Qur'an. So, after Eid, we'll take a few days off inshaAllah ta'ala and there'll be more information on that, but for now, we'd love to hear back from you inshaAllah ta'ala on the survey. To remind everyone inshaAllah ta'ala to please keep us in your du'a and keep the entire Yaqeen team in your du'a that did really a lot behind the scenes to put on all of this programming and alhamdulillah rab al-ameen, so may Allah reward them all, so please keep them and their families in your du'as and keep each other in your du'as inshaAllah ta'ala and make sure that you stay connected beyond the month. Now, we still have one more session alhamdulillah and we have the one and only Sheikh and Chef Yasser Brajass. Sheikh and Chef Yasser, my dear colleague, brother, someone that represents so much of Ramadan to me because every Ramadan over the last, almost over the last decade, we've been holed up together in a masjid.
So, this Ramadan, one of the biggest bulls**t I've had personally this Ramadan is not having the personal companionship of Sheikh Yasser throughout the month. May Allah reward him. He's been doing a lot here alhamdulillah and throughout to guide our community on how to worship and how to cook alhamdulillah. So, Sheikh Yasser, welcome to our last episode of Khitamahumisk, the final episode of Quran 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah, may Allah reward you and give you the opportunity to be part of this beautiful experience, beautiful project alhamdulillah. There's no doubt, there's nothing better than really serving the book of Allah. So, it's a great pleasure to be with both of you over here and it's interesting because we're all neighbors, right? Now, we're speaking virtually right now. Yeah, as they said, in our fundraiser, remember they said, Shabab al-Har. Yeah, so for the benefit of the audience, all three of us live within 10 minutes of each other. But subhanAllah, social distancing, Allahumma sta'an. Sheikh Abdullah, I think before we continue also, JazakAllah khair for being such a refreshing and knowledgeable and wise presence alhamdulillah every night. Alhamdulillah, everyone has enjoyed your insights every night. May Allah reward you and bless your family and give you the best of this life and the next. Ameen, ameen, JazakAllah khair. So, inshallah tonight, we've got Juz Amma and this is obviously the most familiar Juz to everyone. And we're going to summarize and reflect, but I'm going to make my summary a little shorter inshallah so that we can have some time to reflect together. While Sheikh Yasir and Sheikh Abdullah will go into some very specific portions inshallah, but we'll have some time to discuss and to reflect together bi'idhnillahi ta'ala.
One of the things that I was thinking about when I was looking at this Juz and how we can sort of give an overview of it, is that it's really beautiful that all of the elements of Juz Amma are found in Surah An-Naba. So, Surah An-Naba gives us sort of the overview. It starts off with letting you know that this is important news. Amma yatasa'aloon an an-naba ila'adheem, that this is important news. And it's important news both in terms of its gravity and in terms of its consequences. The consequences of accepting or rejecting this news is severe. And that's why you start to see that those consequences play out in some of the stories that we'll find in this Juz. The very next one, the consequences to Fir'aun. What did Fir'aun do when he heard the news? Allah Azawajal gives us the imagery in Surah An-Nazi'at of Fir'aun pacing and losing his mind because of the potential of losing his power or his false sense of power as the news has come to him now, has been delivered to him. And then you have the story of those that have been oppressed, like Ashab ul-Ukhdud, the people of the ditch, that were slaughtered in pharaoh-like manner for embracing this news and refusing to relinquish their commitment to this news. And so you have the stories of people in how they react to this news. And then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells us that the great news is the day of resurrection. And the fact that Allah Azawajal focuses on Yawm al-Qiyamah as being the focal point is that everything that we read in the Qur'an, whether it is the stories of people, or it is the stories of prophets specifically, or nations that have been destroyed or preserved, or the laws of inheritance, or the laws of contracts, or the laws of family,
all of it is to be oriented towards the Akhira. The Akhira is the ultimate recourse. It is the ultimate day of reckoning. It is the day that Allah Azawajal sets everything right that we did wrong, or that we did right in this life. So Allah Azawajal frames the entirety of it in Yawm al-Qiyamah, and of course that is a core trait of Surah al-Mufasal as a whole. But here in Surah an-Naba in particular, really framing it from the perspective of Inna Yawm al-Fasl, the day of decision, the day that everything will be sorted out. So the Pharaohs will be sorted out, the oppressors will be sorted out, the oppressed will be sorted out, the believers, the disbelievers. The rewards that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la promises in this surah, in this juz' that are so profound, amongst them Laylatul Qadr, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst those that observed it. Allahumma Ameen. So the rewards Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la promises, the punishments that Allah promises. So Allah Azza wa Jal calls it Yawm al-Fasl, the day of decision, the day that everything will be sorted out. And then how does Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la point to the sorting out on the Day of Judgment? Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la starts to talk about the order of the universe, how everything is so properly sorted out, whether it is night and day, or the stars and the moon and the sun, everything is so perfectly sorted out. And so do you really think that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will not bring us back on the Day of Judgment and sort things out in that regard? And of course the ultimate sorting is the people of Paradise and the people of Hellfire, which Surah An-Naba ends with. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la make us amongst the people of Paradise. Allahumma Ameen. And make us amongst those righteous. Allahumma Ameen. So then it goes to Surah An-Nazi'at, the story of Fir'aun and Musa, alayhi salam, the sorting out there. Surah Abasa, the Prophet ﷺ being admonished to not ignore a man like Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoum, the blind man,
in favor of people that have pharaoh-like qualities, the elites of Mecca. If they reject this news and they reject this message, then they will be rejected and humiliated. If you accept this message and react properly to this news the way that Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoum radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu does, then that will increase you. And so focusing on the Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoum of the world and not paying heed to the oppressors and the arrogance and the elite of this world. Allah Azza wa Jalla talks about Surah Al-Infiqar, which is again about the sorting out of creation. Surah Al-Mutaffifin, which is that we keep our contracts properly in place, that we don't cheat with the weights when we go into our business contracts, that we are righteous in our business dealings as well. And why would people cheat in their contracts? Because they think that it will give them some sort of worthwhile benefit. And SubhanAllah, the next surah is Surah Al-Inshiqaf, which is talking about the world being torn up. So if you were trying to cheat with your contracts so that you could gain some sort of benefit in this life, well, that will be torn up as will this world. Literally, Inshiqaf, it will be torn up. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us. Allah mentions in Surah Al-Buruj the persecution of the believers and the shuhada' from the believers. And Allah mentions in Surah Al-Tariq the very next surah, Innahum yakiduna kayda wa akidu kayda famahilil kafireena amhilhum ruwayda They plan and I plan. And so Allah Azza wa Jalla reminds us that His plan is greater than the plan of the disbelievers and the oppressors. Next, Al-A'la and Al-Ghashiyah, two surahs that talk about the preference of the hereafter to this world, which ironically we would recite on the day of Eid to remind ourselves, wa la al-akhiratu khayrun laka minal ula that the hereafter is better than the life of this world. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala reminding us of the different ways that people will look at Al-Ghashiyah.
Allah Azza wa Jalla brings us to Surah Al-Fajr, that a person comes to the final reward and punishment that takes place in the hereafter. And Allah talks about the soothing death of the believer as they are coming out. An-nafsul mutma'inna may Allah make us amongst them. Allah goes to Surah Al-Shams and Al-Layl, again the sorting out of the sun and the moon, the day and the night. And of course I'm skipping through very quickly here. Surah Al-Duha, a message of hope and daylight, which Shaykh Yasir will talk about. Surah Al-Sharh, Allah Azza wa Jalla expanding the chest to ease our difficulties, whether that is in this life or in the next. And it continues and continues and continues. And SubhanAllah, as you go through the surahs, there are mentions of the proof of Allah, mentions of death, mentions of life. I'll just end with the very last part of this, which is the tarteeb, the ordering of the last few surahs of the Qur'an, from Qul ya'ayyuha al-kafirun onwards. Qul ya'ayyuha al-kafirun is the negation part of la ilaha illa Allah. La ilaha illa Allah is negation and then affirmation. La ilaha refers to what is referred to in Surah Al-Kafirun, la a'abudu ma ta'abudun illa Allah, which is the affirmation, is Qul huwa Allah wa ahad. And that's why there's something so profound about reading these two surahs together. And what's situated in between these two surahs that we read together are Surah Al-Nasr, where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la talks about the improbable victory of those who were oppressed and persecuted and downtrodden. The improbable victory according to the sight of people, those that upheld la ilaha illa Allah against all odds and Allah honored them. And the very next surah is Surah Al-Lahab, where Allah talks about the humiliation of the one who initially stood up and said,
what should we make all of our aliha, all of our gods, one God? And he said, tabban laka to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, may you perish to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So Allah talks about his humiliation. So SubhanAllah, what is between negation and affirmation and those that upheld la ilaha illa Allah is the affirmation of the Ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the ultimate negation and degradation of the Abu Lahabs of this world. Finally, Allah gives us the two mu'awidat that we seek refuge in Allah from being led by the worst of his creation to the worst of ourselves, where we could end up in a situation, SubhanAllah, where we end up being the Abu Lahabs and the Abu Jahls and the Fir'auns of the world or the bystanders that did not do right because they let the whispers of shaitan or the soothsayers take them away from the inevitable reality of the day of judgment and this irresistible faith. So it's important for us as we read this, do not always assume that you are the hero in the story. Aspire to be the hero in the story, but also seek refuge in Allah from the qualities of the villains in these stories as well. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us amongst those that are protected from the evils of the whispers of shaitan and protected from the evils that come our way, whether the source is other people or whatever it may be. And may Allah Azawajal allow us to remain focused on Him, protected from anything that takes us away from Him and to elevate ourselves to reach that. Allahumma ameen. InshaAllah Ta'ala I'll hand it off to Sheikh Abdullah. Jazakum Allah Khayran. Bismillah wa salatu wa salam ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Rabbish rahli sadri, wa yasli amri, wahlul nuqadatan min lisani, yafqahu qawli ya rabbil alameen. What I want to talk about is the chapter of Ashams, but it's just a couple of ayats in Ashams. It's actually the first, the last two verses of the first ten.
Being at the first ten, primarily talk about a particular subject matter, but I want to capitalize on the last two roughly. And it's a general theme being that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has created us in a fashion that is subhanAllah, unlike any other. Rather, He is the creator of everything other than Himself. So with that being the case, we understand that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is Al Khaliq, Al Razik, Al Mudabbir. He is the creator, the sustainer, and the one that has control over all affairs. He has control over every single thing because He created it. When one thinks of that, they understand their responsibility, because the responsibility is how you respond to something. So that's your responsibility. How do you respond to knowing that Allah is Al Khaliq, that He is the one that brought you from nothing, and He is Al Razik. He is the one that provides you after He brought you from nothing, and He is Al Mudabbir. He is the one that has ultimate authority and monitorship over all of your affairs. So when looking at this beautiful chapter of Ashams, we see that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala swears by a number of His creation, a number of items of His creation. And when Allah swears by His creation, firstly, He has the authority to do so, because He is the one that created it. And secondly, we cannot make an analogy by saying that we as human beings, we swear by Allah. Therefore, Allah's swearing does not have that right. No, we say Allah can do what He wills, when He wills, how He wills. And the reason He swears by creation is to show you that it is something that is important. Firstly, that He is the creator of it, and Him swearing by it is to show you that what comes after it from whatever He is speaking about is important. So here Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says in the chapter of Ashams, after A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim Washshamsi waduhaha wa alqamari itha talaha Firstly, He says, by the sun and its brightness, and by the moon and when it follows. So first mentioning two opposite things, the sun and the moon.
The moon when it follows in its orbit, when it's day and night. And that's where He follows up and says, wal-nahari itha jallaha wal-layli itha yaghshaha And by the day when it displays it, itha jalla Jalli is something to be apparent or to be clear. wal-layli itha yaghshaha And by the night when it covers it, by covering it with dhulam, or with darkness, to cover up that sunlight. was-sama'i wa ma banaha wa al-ardi wa ma tohaha And then Allah says, and the earth, or excuse me, and the sky, and what He has constructed. The sky and what He has constructed within it. wal-ardi wa ma tohaha And by the earth who has spread it. Tohaha is like to spread it out. So all of these forms of creation, Allah is actually explaining to you the elements of the ecosystem. When we see the sun, the moon, and then we see what, even mentioning what comes from it, from light. And then also the darkness when it is covered. And then mentioning the earth and what He has provided from that which the sun and its light and its heat can affect that of the earth. Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala when saying was-sama'i, was-shams, was-shams, you know, all of these, He's swearing by them. In the Arabic when you use the word wa' means, and one of the meanings is al-qasam, which is swearing. If you ever hear, many of us have heard, wal-lahi, right? That is by Allah, I swear by Allah that whatever I'm about to say is the truth. So you're saying that whatever you're about to talk about is major, it is important, you should be taken seriously. walillahil-mathil al-a'la And Allah is a much greater example when seeing here, Allah swearing by these articles would lead the listener or the reader to say, what is He going to talk about? So next Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala continues on and says, wa-nafsin wa ma sawaha fa-alhamaha fujuroha wa taqwaha Then Allah says, and by the soul whom He has proportioned it, fa-alhamaha fujuroha wa taqwaha
and inspired it with discernment of its wickedness and righteousness. Alham is to have a feeling, but in here, it's kind of like an inspiration that has been inspired to do something. Lesser than a revelation, but it's an inspiration to do something. But here when Allah says, fa-alhamaha fujuroha wa taqwaha, basically, allamaha alkhair wa shshar He has taught it that which is fujur and taqwa. Fujur that we know is disobedience, wa taqwaha is the mindfulness which leads to God fearing in many attributes and actions of the heart. So in other words, He has given the nafs, dare we even say the fitrah, the natural element that He has placed within every human being that is universal, such as guilt, such as love, such as the feeling of wanting respect. All of those are characteristics of the natural ingrained characteristics of what is called the fitrah. And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has also guided it to firstly ingrain within it that which is good and that which is not. That which is righteous and that which is not. Every human being has that natural element within themselves. But what happens after that? Allah has placed that wiring, if you will, within the man, woman, and child even. Then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions the jawab al-qasam, mentioning basically what all of what he's swearing by, why is he swearing by it? What subject matter is he talking about? It's none other than the nafs. And that's where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala continues to say, qada aflaha man zakkaha wa qada khaaba man dasaaha And that's what we want to talk about. Allah says, He has succeeded who purifies it and he or she has failed who instills it. So here, just to touch on two minutes roughly, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala swore by all of these forms of creation to tell you that you have a responsibility.
And if you fulfill that responsibility to the best of your ability, you will be successful. So when looking at the one that says, Allah says qada aflaha, and here with the present tense form, it is surety. Those individuals are definitely successful if they have what is the right or the one that purifies the soul. As we know, zakat is anumu, it is to grant. So when one has the zakat of nafs, it is a purification of the soul, which further allows it to grow in ta'a, in obedience to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. But then Allah mentions the opposite. As Taha ibn Ashur mentions in his tafsir, you notice how the articles that Allah swears by are the opposites. So here he's talking about the opposite characteristics with the nafs. So the one that tries their best to purify it by doing actions of obedience, primarily the actions that are obligatory, that is what purifies the soul. But the one Allah says after that, wa qada khaaba khasir, the one that is lost is the one that, what, dasaaha, is the one that instills it with corruption, that continues to hide or cover the pristine nature of the nafs with sin. It is not just one time. We will all commit mistakes. We'll all make mistakes. But what happens when you recognize a mistake? What are you doing to rectify it? What are you doing to try to change it? That is the small window, and I say small window, of responsibility. Allah has given you the guidance. You make an effort to change your alarm clock one day, then the next day to wake up, or to close your mouth and say, or say, inni sa'im, or to say, you know what, I don't want to talk about that.
And then Allah will guide you because you made the small effort. And when He guides you, it's repeating. It repeats. And that is the process of guidance. You make the effort, Allah will bless you, whether in this life or in the next. But do we believe in that promise? So in this beautiful, beautiful beginning first verses of the chapter of Ashams, Allah swears by all of these objects to let you know that we have a responsibility for ourselves because the worst enemy of yourself is yourself. May Allah make us of those that fight the elements of ourselves that can be our own destruction and make us of those that concentrate on purification of that. Jazakumullah khair. Jazakumullah khair, Shaykh. SubhanAllah. So you're going from, you know, that to seeking isti'adah again at the end of the juz' from the evil of the shaytan and the whispers in ourselves. May Allah reward you for that beautiful reflection. Shaykh Yasir, at-fadlah. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen, salallahu wa sallam, mubaraka an abina Muhammad, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam, taslimun kathira, thumma amma ba'd. SubhanAllah, Shaykh, when you spoke, Shaykh Omar, when you spoke about the summary of juz' amma, what was going through my mind really is a message of juz' amma. It's basically, yes indeed, juz' amma has everything that was already been covered in the Quran itself, but juz' amma, every single surah of its own, it has its own theme as well too. And each one of them focuses on one of those elements to like focus for people who are looking for a summary of one of those major principles of our deen. Like the people came to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and they would say, ya Rasulullah, inna sharaa' al-Islami qad kathirat alayhi. Like the rights of Islam are becoming too many for me. Tell me how to understand Islam. One thing I should ask you and ask nobody after you. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, instead of telling him, well you need to do this, you need to do this, you need to do this, he said just say, qul amantu billah thumma astaghfirullah.
Say I believe and then prove it. Prove it through your actions. When a man came and asked the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, ya Rasulullah, tell me something, you know, something I can do regularly. Qala, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, as long as you keep your tongue moist with the remembrance of Allah, subhanAllah wa ta'ala. The idea is that sometimes, you know, we need this kind of like condensed amount of knowledge within few words and very profound that can truly penetrate the heart and the mind immediately. So each surah in surah al-Juza Amma will have that kind of messaging. And one of them is surah al-Wadduha, it's one of my favorites really in Juza Amma because subhanAllah the message in surah al-Wadduha is very unique and specifically it's something that we need in this time of our quarantine, of people freaking out because of the COVID-19 and the virus and so on. Surah al-Wadduha gives hope for those who lost all hope. And the message of surah al-Wadduha indeed is a message of hope. What does that mean? Allah subhanAllah, in the beginning of the surah saying, I swear to you, like Shaykh Abdullah was talking about, So I swear to you by al-Wadduha. And what is al-Wadduha? Al-Wadduha is the bright time of the morning and that's when the sun is at basically the best and the day is the brightest. So Allah subhanAllah is swearing to us by this special time, I swear to you when time becomes so bright, when things become so bright in your life, like it is so bright during the Duha time, Allah says, The night is going to take over and cover. So that tells us exactly in our life, this is how it's going to be. We're never going to have a straight line in our life. Like everything is going to be awesome and good until we die. And nothing is going to be worse and bad all the time. It's going to be alternating things. Allah subhanAllah is saying that there will be a time when you see bright and clear. And then with time when you start seeing, subhanAllah, it's getting dark and you can't even see through. So it's just like a warning and a hope at the same time. I swear to you by al-Wadduha, that the night will come.
And the darkness will come after that. And just like the darkness is coming to take over, Allah subhanAllah in a subtle way says, Al-Duha is going to come after that. To understand the surah better, we should talk about the context of the tribulation. In Sahih al-Bukhari Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ, he fell ill for a couple of nights and a couple of days. He was unable to wake up for tahajjud. And obviously when he's not waking up for tahajjud, the people of Mecca, who always went to sneak a peek and try to listen, eavesdropping on the Prophet ﷺ as he was reciting and he was praying, they haven't heard him for the past two nights. So for them it's just like, what's going on? So Ummu Jameel, the wife of Abu Lahab, his uncle, she came to him. And she was one of those arch enemies that was mentioned in surah Tabat Yada' Abu Lahab and Wattab. So Allah subhanAllah, I mean the lady Ummu Jameel, she came to the Prophet ﷺ. She goes and said, I think your devil has abandoned you. Because he wasn't reciting for the past two nights. The Prophet ﷺ felt so hard that he was unable to do that and now the people are saying that his Lord has forsaken him. And that's one of the narrations obviously. So Allah subhanAllah is answering on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ to give him hope and make these people, you know, kind of like completely close their mouths about discrediting the Prophet ﷺ. So Allah says, I swear to you when things are bright, darkness will come. However, Allah says, ma wada'aka rabbuka wa ma qalama Even during the dark times, your Lord has not forsaken you, he has not left you, he has not left you behind. So that's a message to me and to you and everybody else really. When things get really hard and get really dark that we are unable to see through, unfortunately because of the darkness of the fitna and the trials, Allah is still there. Just because you're alone, it doesn't mean you're lonely. Just because things are difficult doesn't mean Allah subhanAllah hates you.
Just because you're unable to overcome that doesn't mean there is nothing better that's going to come afterwards. And Allah subhanAllah does a message right after that, he says, wa la al-akhiratu khayru laka min al-ula wa la al-akhira, which means the hereafter, or it could mean actually what is coming next. So it has two meanings. Whether Allah subhanAllah is speaking here about wa la al-akhira, which means whatever you leave behind in this dunya, what you're going to get in the akhira is still khayru laka min al-ula, better than what you leave behind in this dunya. That's one meaning. There's another meaning. Whatever you missed, what's coming is still even better. So it's giving people hope, like hey, if it's time difficult in the day, what's coming next is going to be better inshaAllah. Like tomorrow is a better day, tomorrow is a better day, tomorrow is a better day. So people always hope what's coming next is better inshaAllah. And Allah said, He's promised, wa la sawfa yu'tika rabbuka fa tarda. I promise you that I shall give you and shall give you until you're satisfied. Now I want to stop on this ayah a little bit here. Qawla Allahi ta'ala wa la sawfa yu'tika rabbuka fa tarda. Allah subhanAllah says to the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, and your Lord shall give you, and then which means he shall give you more, and keep giving you because sawfa fil mustaqbal, which means something in the future and it's going to continue to be there, until your Lord is going to continue to give you, until you're pleased, until you're satisfied. He didn't say until you're happy. What does that exactly mean? You see, Allah will give you. That's a given thing. You being pleased, that's your business. You being pleased with what Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala has given you, that's your business. Allah will give. You to be pleased, that's a great blessing subhanAllah, which is why a lot of people don't have happiness in their lives, and they're feeling depressed and anxiety and so on. They're never really satisfied. They're never pleased with what Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala has given them, meaning they were never content with Allah's rizq and provision and decree and qadr, whether it's testing them with something hard and difficult,
or something good that Allah blessed them with. When people are not pleased with Allah's judgment, Allah's qadr subhanAllah wa ta'ala, they're not going to be happy at all. So, happiness is not a goal to achieve. It's actually a reward you receive. And you receive it when you acquire and achieve this quality, ar-ridha, contentment. Allah will give. You want to be pleased? Alhamdulillah, you're going to be happy. If you're not going to be pleased with Allah's judgment, you're going to always be tired. And then here's Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala next reminding the Prophet ﷺ about what I love to call bright spots in the darkness of the night. You see, when things go bad and difficult, and I keep telling people, when things go south and south, things get really difficult for many people, we go through grieving moments and so on. Do people grieve over bad memories or good memories? No one really grieves over bad memories. We grieve over good memories. And even the bad memories after we're happy and satisfied and content, they become actually a reflection of good memories. Like, wow, subhanAllah, we used to be before and how we are today. And here Allah subhanAllah reminds the Prophet ﷺ with bright spots in the difficult times. He says, Al-li majidka itiman fa'awa, weren't you an orphan and Allah gave you shelter? Like He took care of you. As an orphan you could just go lost in the street, but Allah subhanAllah kept shielding you and protecting you all the way until you become an adult. Wa wajadaka daalan fa'ada, you were lost, He gave you guidance. You were looking for answers. You go up the mountains and He gave you answers. He gave you guidance. Wa wajadaka a'ilan fa'agna, you were poor and He gave you wealth and money and riches of the world come to your hand, salawatullah wa salamu alayh. So Allah subhanAllah is reminding us, whenever you go into difficult time and difficult moments, be grateful. Go into this shukur mode, this gratitude mode.
When things go difficult, be hopeful because Allah subhanAllah before you go into this difficulty, He gave you all these good things. And then He is reminding us. So all of us, when things go difficult, instead of whining about what we are losing because of the COVID-19 and the quarantine, we need to think about what we have, alhamdulillah, to be grateful for. Allah subhanAllah reminds us towards the end on what you should be doing in this time. He said subhanAllah wa ta'ala, fa ammal yateema fala taqhar wa ammal sa'ila fala tanhar. As for the orphans, don't you ever overpower. Wa ammal sa'ila fala tanhar and the beggar, don't you ever scold him away. Why is He reminding us with this subhanAllah wa ta'ala? Because He is teaching us a lesson over here. You want to be happy? You want to find purpose? You want to understand what's going on in the world? Allah is saying when things go difficult in your life, think about other people. Completely the opposite of our culture. We are the culture of radical individualism. Nafsi nafsi. Everybody says nafsi nafsi in this world. And Allah is telling us the opposite. When things go difficult in your life, think about other people. Take care of the orphans. What about the beggars and those who don't have much, subhanAllah? And that's why He ended with saying what? As for the blessings of Allah, which is bestowed upon you, mention that. Speak about it. Preach about it. Basically Allah says be grateful. So surat ad-Duha really is just giving people hope when hope is completely lost. And in the darkest of our moments, we should always think and remember the bright spots and those beautiful memories. Help other people and be grateful. SubhanAllah. MashAllah. The hope element is strong in Juz Amma. For everything from martyrdom, in the case of Ashab ul-Ukhdud, like if there is hope even after being thrown into a fire and being brutalized in that way,
from everything from them to the hope that's required from clarity, to the Prophet ﷺ as he receives clarity, the message, after going to Hira, to the hope of the community in Mecca that was run out and probably if you told them that one day as you had, but surat an-Nasr in particular, subhanAllah, it gives me goosebumps because I think of the fact that if I was Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu in Mecca with a stone over me about to die being whipped and lashed, who would think that one day I would be standing on top of the Ka'bah saying Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. So the hope really comes and it transforms the lives of these people. So it's really remarkable because in many situations people don't get to see the story unfold. So they die in the midst of persecution. But for the Muslims upon whom this was revealed in Mecca, they got to see the breadth of this. Allah's plan unfolding with them from Mecca to Medina back to Mecca, subhanAllah. This is very, very, subhanAllah, very true, very refreshing. A lot of people, we would love to see when we watch stories and stories, we always look for these beautiful happy ending moments in which everybody reconciles and things become beautiful and so on. Which is subhanAllah, one thing about surat Yusuf, Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala, one thing very unique about surat Yusuf really is that everybody who was mentioned in surat Yusuf came out as a winner. Like even the villains, they came out winners. The wife of Aziz, she came out, I admit it's my fault. I just want you to know that he's honest, he's this and that. SubhanAllah, she came also true. She became, she reflected. He herself became so honorable in this moment.
Same thing his brothers, who to the last minute, they also came after him and they said, Yusuf, if he did that, he had a brother before who also used to steal. Talk about him and his face, subhanAllah. He just couldn't handle it. He goes, you are the worst people, basically. But then towards the end, subhanAllah, no harm, nothing done. It's shaitan that causes this problem to all of us, subhanAllah. So indeed, when we see the Quran, again, the surahs in surat Juz Amma, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is combining obviously between the threads in surat Al-Qari'ah and surat Al-Adiyat and so on. And also obviously giving people hope. And specifically like we said, surat Al-Nasr, it just like, it reminds me of the beautiful procession. You know the Quran, like a beautiful, beautiful procession. And towards the end, we come to the final festivity and final statement. Remember, when the victory from Allah comes to you, And you see people coming to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in surge and waves. He didn't say when they come, he said, and you will see them coming, of course, in surge and waves. It's time to glorify your Lord and praise Him, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So that now for us to seek forgiveness, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may Allah forgive us and accept from us. Beautiful reflection. Sheikh Abdullah. Alhamdulillah, I was just when you were studying surat Al-Duha, It was interesting how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminded him that he was an orphan. But then what did he tell him to do? And you remember where you were and give back just like you mentioned. You were like this before and Allah has bestowed upon you a blessing. So make it clear to the people. So when you see your state, Allah is reminding you of who you were and then reminding you to give back.
But he uses the same, subhanallah, types of people. You are a yateem, give back to the yateem. You are a'il, a'masaila falatanhar. Subhanallah, that reminds me of what's going through in our culture today. A lot of people, subhanallah, they tend to forget their roots. And the humble beginnings that they started with their lives, subhanallah. And once they reach that level of prestige, whether it's a fame or a name or a wealth or whatever that is, we tend to be blinded by that, subhanallah. Here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminding the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, Listen, you were orphaned so take care of the orphans. And you were poor, we covered your needs so take care of the other people's needs. Which is again, if anyone is looking for hope, if anyone is looking for purpose, if anyone is really looking to find peace and tranquility, I always recommend for people to go and help the needy. Alhamdulillah I got the pleasure of really working with humanitarian agencies and serving in Bosnia for four years, wallahi. These are the most, I would say, the most prominent and most important four years of my life. Because that experience working in humanitarian work in the field on a regular basis until you become a member of the community. You're not just there as an aid worker or a relief worker. No, you become a member of that community, subhanallah. You live their life, you eat their food, you just, subhanallah, be part of the community. An unbelievable experience. For those who would like really to find this kind of peace and tranquility, I highly recommend for them to volunteer and help the needy, help the poor, and be there for the people because the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, after all, he was a people's person. Salallahu alaihi wa sallam. Allah hafiz. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. Because we want to end on a light-hearted note. Shaykh Yasir, what's your Eid recipe? You got, like, somehow you made ice cream, date shake, sunnah. I don't know how you did that. We said a modern twist. We said a modern twist. There's that thing in it.
What's your Eid recipe, Shaykh? What are we doing for Eid? Yeah, what are we doing? We live down the street, Shaykh. Al-Jarqa wa al-Dar. We're neighbors. We haven't even tasted it yet. Allah musta'an. You'll get to share, inshallah. You know what? I was thinking of doing the date cake. Seriously. But yeah, date cake, it's awesome with coffee. MashaAllah. It's heavenly. Wallahi. It's amazing. It's a special recipe. My wife gave me the recipe, finally. So maybe I could do that. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. JazakAllah khair. Shaykh Abdullah, again, jazakAllah khair, man. I really enjoyed the Qur'an 30 for 30, co-hosting alongside you, alhamdulillah. Sorry for all the face palms. Can you give one more face palm? There you go. Yeah, just... Sorry for making you do that so many times, but I pray that Allah azza wa jalla accepts from you all your beautiful insights. And your service to the community has been wonderful. Absolutely inspiring. May Allah bless you for setting an example of leadership. Alhamdulillah for the rest of us to really observe and to follow along. And everybody out there, keep working until the very last moment of Ramadan. InshaAllah ta'ala tonight, we'll have the Ibadur Rahman session, our last session of Ibadur Rahman at 2am Eastern, inshaAllah. And as we get ready for the last moments of Ramadan and make du'a, we were here for you as Yaqeen before Ramadan happened and when COVID started. And we tried to be here for you as much as we could as Yaqeen throughout Ramadan, alhamdulillah. And we will be here for you inshaAllah ta'ala after Ramadan as well. So we're still going to be here and we're still going to have a lot of live programming after a few days taking a break inshaAllah ta'ala, refreshing and coming back stronger, bismillah ta'ala. So very excited to launch the program of connecting with the Quran throughout June,
which is going to have multiple live sessions and other means to connect inshaAllah ta'ala throughout the week with the Quran, to stay connected to the Quran, so we don't lose the sweetness that we got in this Ramadan, alhamdulillah. And by the way, last thing, I have to share this. I gave shahada to the 10th person over Zoom. Shaykh Abdullah gave shahada to two that came through Quran 343. So we've had people tuning in from other faiths. May Allah reward you, Shaykh Abdullah and all the team, because alhamdulillah, we actually had people that accepted Islam, embraced Islam. 10 people, subhanAllah, embraced Islam through Zoom over the course of this month, wa lillahi alhamd. And so for all of you that have been watching that aren't Muslim, please do feel free to reach out to you. And we appreciate your attending on a nightly basis as well. And that's just a wonderful piece of news. So jazakAllah khayran to all of you, inshallah. And see you tonight for Ibadur Rahman and everyone else, inshallah ta'ala. We'll see you later and an earlier Eid Mubarak. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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