Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 4
6 / 31
Juz’ 5: Ust. Youssra Kandil | Gender Roles & Upholding Justice
Surah al-Nisa not only focuses on the rights of women, but also of orphans and other vulnerable people in different situations. Sh. Abdullah Oduro and Dr. Omar Suleiman are joined by Ust. Youssra Kandil to reflect on these key themes that better our worldview, including the importance of unity, honoring gender roles, and upholding justice.
Download our FREE eBook “Qur’an 30for30: Judgment Day Edition”.
0:00 Intro and dad joke of the day
2:42 Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on unity and settling disputes
3:15 The dangers of division
4:17 Allah tells us an inevitable problem and gives us the remedy
6:00 Reconciling by changing your mindset and believing in the Unseen
7:39 Accountability as an individual and as a community — Reflection on Uhud
10:00 Uphold justice even when it holds you and your parents accountable
12:22 Ust. Youssra Kandil reflects on gender roles
14:38 The importance of honoring our gender roles
17:00 The honor of motherhood
19:05 Preserving the rights of vulnerable people
20:31 Sh. Abdullah Oduro reflects on the rights of orphans and women
22:13 Guidelines for how to care for the orphan
24:08 Being a slave of Allah to be the best version of yourself and avoiding envy and jealousy
26:52 Asking Allah humbly for your rights
29:55 Reflections
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulullah wa al-alihi wa sahbihi wa man walah. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. We are on Juz 5 Alhamdulillah Arabil Alameen. And we have a first time guest with us, but inshaAllah it's not the last time. Ustada Yusra Kamil Qandeel Alhamdulillah, who mashAllah does a lot of amazing work, especially online, connecting people to verses of the Qur'an, to the seerah of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, to very practical lessons on how to live our lives while keeping Allah and the Messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam ahead of every other pursuit. So we're very blessed to have you with us Ustada Yusra. How are you? Alhamdulillah, Jazakumullah, khul khair Ya Rabb. The honor is mine to be here. Walhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. How's your family? Alhamdulillah, they're doing great. They're very excited. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. InshaAllah ta'ala you'll be a regular. And of course we have Shaykh Abdullah Adur, walhamdulillah rabbil alamin, always, mashAllah, emanating just pure nur, mashAllah man. It's the Ramadan spirit. I feel like this Ramadan, Shaykh Abdullah's really into it. Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin. How you doing Shaykh? I'm good, I'm good, alhamdulillah. You even have a whole tafsir of dad jokes. You even prepared your dad jokes this year, right? Yes sir. No, they're already there. They've already been in the khazana, in the treasure chest. Alhamdulillah rabbil alamin. So what you got for us today, Shaykh? Is it your turn or is it my turn? I think it's your turn. It's my turn? Okay, I did yesterday. Bismillahir rahmanir rahim. So I'll try not to be super lame here, but I'll try one that I actually, I actually did this one with my kids, so I'll do it with, alright, so let's see. Alright? Okay, bismillah. What did your plate say to you last night? What did your plate say to you last night? I actually did this one with my kids. Trying to get it. Hold on, it's coming.
What did your plate say to you last night? Yeah. Don't leave on an empty stomach. That's really good, but that's not the answer. But like, I give like Islamic jokes. So, if the daughter's on me. That was, you got two, that was good, man. That was good, mashaAllah. MashaAllah. JazakAllah khair. I'm getting better. The first night, you broke my heart with the psychopath ones. I've been trying to like up my game since then. That was a good one, man. MashaAllah. JazakAllah khair. Allah ibarakikum. I'll take the win, inshaAllah. We'll move on. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. InshaAllah, we'll go ahead and we'll get started. And as we get into Juz 5 now. And you know, subhanAllah, just a reflection. I was looking at the previous Quran 30 for 30. And there has been zero repetition from any of the guests. And that shows you the beauty of a tadabur. The beauty of reflecting on the Quran is that it's as if it's the first time you're reading it every single time. Alhamdulillah. But as we're doing the Muslim worldview, the last Juz, if you remember from a community perspective, starts off with this injunction to stay united, to hold on to the rope of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala together, and to not be divided. Now, we talked about how there are inevitable differences that will happen. But wala tatharraql, don't let those divisions be based out of lowly desires, nor lead to divided sects in the community. There's a difference between the natural arguments and the natural disputes that take place. And there's a remedy for them. So it's human that you're going to differ at times, and you're going to have those arguments and disagreements. And Shaykh Abdullah actually spoke about that last time. But don't let that materialize in actual sects amongst you as a community.
And don't let your desires drive those divisions. And so subhanAllah, that's the beginning of Juz 4. Here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, Ya ayyuhal ladheena aamanu ati'u allaha wa ati'u alrasool wa ulil amri minkum O you who believe, obey Allah, obey the Messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam, and then those who are given leadership amongst you. So Allah azawajal gives you a mechanism by which you pull everything back. And this is the beauty of the Quran, is that it speaks to the inevitable, but then it gives you the solution. So for example, believers are going to fight sometimes. Wa in ta'ifatani minal mu'minina qtataroo fa aslihoo baynahuma Allah says if two groups break out amongst you, then you play the role of reconciling. And then Allah even tells you what happens if they refuse to reconcile, or if one party goes rogue. Fa in baghat ihdaahuma AAal al-ukhra fa qatiloo allatee tabghee Right? To then unite against the one that refuses to abide by the reconciliation. So subhanAllah, that's in Surah Al-Hujurat, but it speaks to a constant process in the Quran where Allah gives you the problem, the inevitable, and then the remedy. So here Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is saying, you bring it back by going back to Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. And then of course even then, right, when you go back to Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, sometimes there are going to still remain disagreements. And this is one of the fawa'id, one of the benefits of this verse. At that point, there is a hierarchy that exists, whether it's at a community level, or a collective level, or at a state level, political, religious, social. There is a hierarchy, there is a concept of an ameer, there is a concept of a shura, a concept of consultation. And what that means is that when you have exerted yourselves to try to get back to Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, then at that point you default back to the structure that Allah has put in place.
And Allah says, fa inta naza'atum fee shay'in faruddoohu ila Allahi warrasool in kuntum tu'minoona billahi walyaumil aakhir SubhanAllah, this is amazing. Allah Azawajal says, and when you have that niza' see, wala tafarraqu don't cause division to where you actually start to form sects in the communities. But there is naturally going to be niza' you're going to have moments of argument. fa inta naza'atum fee shay'in So when you have those types of arguments, go back to Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in kuntum tu'minoona billahi walyaumil aakhir if you believe in Allah in the last day. So this is a powerful connection to the spiritual mandate to believe in the unseen and to act in accordance with that belief. And to not let lowly material seen pursuits distract you from the ultimate pursuit of the unseen. So what's the spirit in which you're going to come back to Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and let that be your unifying mechanism? Because you believe in Allah and you believe in the last day. That's what makes you different. And this is very important because a lot of times people sloganeer. They'll use the slogans of going back to Quran and the sunnah and they'll bring in all the ahadith in the midst of a dispute that fit them. And they'll bring in all the ayat that fit them. But the problem is that it's still baghiyaan baynahum it's still ego, it's still pride that's driving the dispute. Here you have to go back to the Quran and the sunnah in the sense of the shari'ah, the legislation, in the sense of the word, in the sense of the spirit. You go back to it because you are trying to achieve the goal of pleasing Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and following the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So that's one from a community perspective and it matches with the previous juz. Then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in verse 79 in Surah An-Nisa maa asabaka min hasanatin fa min Allah wa maa asabaka min sayyi'a fa min nafsik Whatever good comes to you is from Allah
and whatever harm comes to you is because of your own deeds. Now this is another powerful lesson here because remember we said last juz that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam made dua and Allah protected this ummah from ever being wiped out from an external enemy. But you have to do your part internally to abide by what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has given you that penetrates the hearts and that fosters the most coherent and cohesive community. And so be accountable as a community now. Be accountable as individuals and be accountable as a community. And when good comes to you know that that's from Allah. And when bad comes to you do not attribute that to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. That is from our own deeds and that's where we have to get back to the original blueprint of the Quran and the sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Now realize this is in war context. This is in the context of after Uhud now where some of the Muslims have slipped. You come back to Allah. You come back to the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Don't blame Allah for the loss at Uhud. Because at the end of the day I mean in a very material way had the injunctions been followed had the 40 archers not come down, right? And you don't say if, la taqool karimat law, because at the end of the day there was a wisdom to this happening. But just from a pure command perspective what Allah commanded you through the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was to hold your ranks. So when things actually end up going wrong at that point you go back to istighfar, you go back to tawbah, you go back to repenting and seeking forgiveness from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. The last thing I'll mention in this regard is verse 135 because this is a beautiful foundation to build on that we've been given here. Obey Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and those who have been given leadership amongst you. And when you dispute go back to that. Go back to what Allah and the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam have given to us. And then at the same time be accountable.
Don't blame Allah for your misfortune. Return back to Allah in your misfortune. Don't blame Allah for your misfortune. And then finally verse 135 Ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu, koonoo qawwameena bilqist. shuhadaa lillah, walaw alaa anfusikum, awalwalidein, walakrabin Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, O believers, be upholders of justice and bearers of witness to truth for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la even if it's against yourselves. walaw alaa anfusikum means even if it's against yourself. You can't get more accountable than holding yourself accountable and assigning blame to yourself when things go wrong. And what's the hardest thing to do other than that? awalwalidein, even if it's your parents that are wrong. You know Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la when you talk about family breakdown and I know that Ustadh Yusra and Shaykh Abdullah will both be talking about this. When you talk about the breakdown of family, how many times is it because someone will wrong their spouse? Because their parents told them to wrong their spouses. Now a lot of times the spouse tells them to wrong their own parents and you can't ditch your own parents for the sake of your spouse. Your parents always have that daraja. But you also can't let your parents make you wrong your spouse. So you have to establish the huqoq, you have to establish the right of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. So Allah is saying be for justice even if against yourself, even if it's your own parents, and even if it is your own kinsmen. Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la in a tribal society you're being taught you never resort back to, well that's my brother, that's my sister, that's my tribesman, and so they're always right no matter what. And when the slander of Aisha radiAllahu anha happens, that's where the fitna once again kicked in. Awsam Khazraj once again. And tribalism can happen in many ways and I'll actually say this specifically to the social media warriors. We have social media tribes, right? The Muslim Twitter, Muslim Instagram, Muslim Facebook, Muslim YouTube, Muslim TikTok and none of it is very Muslimish at all, right? But you got these clicks that form.
And your guy is always right, and the guy that you hate is always wrong, right? There's no justice, there's no adl here. And Allah is telling you establish justice, be accountable, and go back to Allah and the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, and then your world view and your world structure will fall back in a way that is pleasing to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and pleasing to you as well. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la allow us to return back to Allah and to the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam in every way. Allahumma Ameen. And to be just and to be united. Allahumma Ameen. InshaAllah Ta'ala I'll hand it off to Ustada Yusra. Tafadhal. Bismillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah Rabb ishraqli sadri wa yassir li amri wahlil aqda min lisani yafqahu qawli Rabbi zidni alma Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh First of all, I want to thank Yaqeen Institute and Dr. Amr of course for their generous invitation and for having me here on 30 for 30 and I am truly honored and humbled to be in the presence of like two pillars of our Ummah Dr. Amr and Sheikh Abdullah Allahumma Barik May Allah increase you both in all the good that you do. And I pray Rabb that everybody who is joining us is having a very blessed and fruitful Ramadan. Now, I'm supposed to be highlighting gender roles and as we delve into the fifth juz' and continue Surat An-Nisa I can't help but think being a woman but of the name, right? An-Nisa, the woman the woman of this Ummah who when they have a proper understanding of how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala honored them and that they are in no need whatsoever of seeking validation from the Khalq from the creation when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Al Khalq Himself has honored you, right? Or to follow guidelines set by mankind or to search for definitions or terminologies that we can kind of fit in between their boundaries These terminologies, SubhanAllah, that are being thrown out at us there
by different people or by human beings, right? Especially at us as Muslim women trying to define for us who we are what kind of rights we should have or try to strive for when we understand how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala honored us and how He Subhanahu wa ta'ala preserved our sanctity specifically in this surah in verses 24 and 25 be it through establishing women's rights to have dowries or to marry in a respectful and dignified manner that upholds one's reputation and how Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Himself defined for us our responsibilities as well as our rights and when we filter out all that has seeped into our beautiful deen from culture and tradition under the name of Islam when it has nothing to do with Islam and understand that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala created us men and women to complete one another not to compete against each other It is not a race, right? It is not a man versus woman race as they are trying to teach us these days and make us believe Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala set for each gender an honorable and I'm going to say again honorable and unique role and He highlights it here in the surah specifically and neither gender can fulfill the role of the other maybe in some aspects but definitely not fully in any way, shape or form when we fully comprehend this then we can say we have successfully diagnosed the cause of all ailments in our ummah because it comes down to our homes to our families, the building blocks of this ummah and how we honor these roles within this small institution the family can only lead to one out of two outcomes it's either success in this dunya and in the akhira
or God forbid failure in the dunya and in the akhira and Allah tells us in verse 32 وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ لِلْرِجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُ وَلِلْنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِّمَّا اكْتَسَبُ وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِن فَضْلِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا Don't crave what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has given some of you over others Men will be rewarded according to their deeds and women as well equally, right, according to theirs Rather, ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for his bounties Surely Allah has perfect knowledge of all things And yes, this verse is talking about a weakness of the nafs, jealousy, right? Or wishing for what others have Perhaps, how come this person has this wealth and I don't? Or how come this person has this pleasant spouse and I don't? Or this knowledge and I don't? But it's also talking and addressing genders, right? Don't wish for what each of you has been given by Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Why can my husband do this and I cannot? Why can my spouse or my wife do this and I cannot, right? Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has honored each one with a very specific role So just honor that role that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gave you And know that your role is vital It is vital for upholding society And I want to share something very quickly if you'll allow me Many times when I meet new sisters specifically and I ask them, what do you do? And if they're not working outside the house They will literally just kind of smile, you know, in an embarrassed way and mumble I'm just a stay-at-home mom As if SubhanAllah, it's something to be embarrassed of or ashamed of Just a stay-at-home mom, that's an amazing role, right? And here SubhanAllah, we realize how society has impacted our worldview Of our roles as mothers or women in general, right?
We have come to a point where we see our value Our self-worth only through degrees And through titles of positions or jobs that we occupy And SubhanAllah, we have forgotten where, you know, that the Khaliq Subhanahu wa ta'ala Where he has ranked women specifically When he Subhanahu wa ta'ala selected you, my beloved sisters, right? For khalq, for creation to take, you know, place inside of you Al-Khaliq ordained that khalq takes place in your body, in the rahim But not just that, he entrusted you upon nurturing that little being And bringing forth to humanity what makes humanity To raise the great men and the great women of this ummah And of course, men have a huge role in tarbiyyah as well In addition to their role as Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala highlights in the surah Of providing financially But I have to again say that mothers, you know what you are capable of When it comes to your kids And if we have this understanding and work together in harmony, right? Each of us fulfilling their role the way Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala describes in Surat An-Nisa Wallahi, we can move mountains We can bring greatness into this dunya Just by fulfilling the role Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala set for us And knowing that he would never accept for us what would belittle us And in order to be able to maintain these roles appointed to us by the khaliq We have to focus on what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is highlighting in the surah From preserving rights, al-hukooq, and dealing with weakness in general Be it weakness of the nafs when it comes to inheritance Or preserving the rights of those who are vulnerable from the orphans and women And retaining or restraining, sorry, one's nafs during the process of talaq, divorce And controlling these emotions that can lead to very unpleasant and unreasonable actions
As we see earlier in the surah And I would like to close with a very very powerful hadith That fully aligns with Surat An-Nisa Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam says Allahumma inni uharriju haqqa alda'ifayn alyateem wal mar'a Oh Allah, bear witness I'll either prophesy or say something Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala to bear witness over what he says that I have issued Bear witness that I have issued a warning concerning failure to fulfill the rights of the two weak ones Orphans and women And I'm going to stop it there, inshallah BarakAllahu feekum, mashallah you stopped right at the time I hope if you have more to say it's okay inshallah No no, alhamdulillah We'll pick up the conversation afterwards inshallah Inshallah JazakumAllah khairan Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'al Mashallah just a beautiful beautiful highlights in regards to this beautiful chapter Being that as the sister mentioned the chapter of Nisa and the women And we see that this chapter is malik, it's full of these two, talking about these two demographics in particular The yateem, the yateem is the orphan, the one that's father has passed away before they reach the age of puberty Or the situation of puberty and also the women and family in general And that's what I want to capitalize on here Being that the sharia, the deen of Islam as we talked about what the word sharia means And I always want to mention the word sharia because sometimes we hear it in a bad light Or we think it's something dry But in actuality the sharia, I always say the translation of it or the meaning of it Because it is important for us to understand Which is that it comes from sharia means that it's channels of water that come to a water hole Ultimately to flourish or to nourish the fitrah
And as a result we understand that the sharia, the Quran, the sunnah, the Islamic culture or tradition Is there to nurture and feed the soul Feed the fitrah, feed our natural inclination That which ties into and agrees with naturally our carnal self or our fitrah, our natural state So the sharia is there to beautify and align it To beautify and align it Because sometimes we may do things that may not be befitting for us as human beings And sometimes we may do things that may go off track Off the surat al mustaqeem In this beautiful chapter we see that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives guidelines For how to deal with the orphan There are individuals where their father is not there Whether they died from war or they died before, you know, of natural causes The individual, the person, the man or the woman, the boy or the girl rather There may be some money that's left over from their father Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala gives the manners on how to deal with that For example in the sixth verse of the Quran Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says وَبَتَلُوا الْيَتَامَا حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغُوا النِّكَاهِ Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says And test the orphans until they reach nikah Small point I want to capitalize on here In regards to how we raise our children Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says to test the orphans until they reach nikah We know nikah to mean marriage But it translates to mean marriageable age Meaning that when they reach the age of puberty We as parents should prepare them to get married And marriage is one of the, if not the ultimate solution For bringing a community together How is a community established? By families How is a family established? By man and woman And a man is a man when he reaches the age of puberty Or the beginning stages of being a man And the same for the female as well
She is a female until she reaches the stages of puberty When that takes place she is preparing to be a woman She's at the beginning stages of being a woman What's interesting here as well is Allah is telling them to test the yateem Until they reach the age, the marriageable age To show that we as Muslims should always have that in the back of our minds When they're younger but in the front of our minds And are conscious when they reach the age of puberty Because the yateem should receive their money Once they reach that age for the purpose of spending it For the sake of the family, for the sake of Allah Now when we look at the Deen of Islam It's important just to backtrack The most, the highest maqam and highest position For the servant of Allah, the human being All of creation is servants of Allah Rather I say slaves of Allah Is to be a slave of Allah The highest position for the human being Is to obtain abudiya Is to be a slave of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala We should attain and strive to be a slave of Allah And that is very very important Because when we look at what is going on today As was mentioned, sometimes you see these gender wars Making differences that are toxic You know between male and female or men and women And we're starting to dislike each other You know there may be ugly divorces And someone says you know I don't want to get married to men anymore Men are dogs and females are like this Islam does not deny the trauma But Islam also always wants you to raise the bar To be the best version of yourself To be the best female and the best male And when you're the best female and the best male That you can possibly be, that Allah has created you to be We see in the beautiful verse that was mentioned And I want to capitalize on it as well Verse number 32 Where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions the concept of hasad And hasad is envy But envy there are different types There's the envy to where you want good
You want the good that someone has As the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam He said la hasada illa fitnain There's no envy except for two people Rajulun ataahullahu alqur'ana fahuwa yakumu ana allayli wa ana annahar A man that has been given the Qur'an And he recites it all day and all night And the individual that has been given money And he spends it all day and all night In that which is khair You see this person say man if I had the money I would do what this person is doing This is a good type of envy But the bad type of envy is to where you don't want that person to have that blessing Or you want the blessing to be transferred over to you Both of these are terrible Now we have to stop and ask ourselves When we see someone that has this type of blessing Or when we see females may have a certain privilege That is within the realm of Islam Or within the sharia of Islam Are we angry at that? Or when we see that men have a certain quote unquote privilege Or what we think is a privilege Or no it's a privilege from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala And this is important A privilege that Allah has given them A right that Allah has given men A right that Allah has given women It is not for us to have hasad Because hasad, envy, is a sign Is an indirect sign of displeasure with what Allah has predestined And that's what Allah mentions here When he says after عُذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شِيْطَنَ رَجِيمٍ وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوا مَا فَضْلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ And do not, do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of you exceed over others Do not wish for that Do not wish for that which Allah has given Or for the blessing that has been given to them For it to be transferred to you Then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala continues on to say لِلْرِجَالِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبُوا وَلِلْنِّسَاءِ نَصِيبٌ مِمَّا اكْتَسَبْنَا Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says For men is a share of what they earned And for women is a share of what they earned وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ And this is so beautiful
SubhanAllah, I wish I had more time But it's very beautiful here Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says For men is a share of what they've earned What they've earned And for women is a share of what they've earned But then Allah says وَاسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ And the word fadl is so important Because fadl literally, if I was to have a glass of water and pour it There's still some water left over That in Islamic laws we call fadl, left over Meaning that whatever you are given by Allah Is more than you quote unquote deserved Know that that is the standard of the relationship Between you and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala This is why it's important for us When we think of our shortcomings When we think that Allah I don't deserve this Oh Allah I don't deserve this Oh Allah I don't deserve this When you think of the things that you've done To yourself and to others And Allah still gives you وَآتَكُم مِّنْ كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتِمُ Your eyes shed tears How many times has someone given you something And you know you don't deserve it Because you probably wronged that person And they don't even know yet Or they know and they still forgive you وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَى And Allah is a much greater example So Allah is saying here وَاسْأَلُ اللَّهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ If what you have as a female Or what you have as a male You're not pleased with it Ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala from his fadl And that is a sign of a slave And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala concludes by saying Verily Allah is the knower of all things Allah knows why he made you in this particular way Or put you in this particular situation What's most important is that you strive to be the amdullah To the best of your ability With the fact that you're going to make mistakes To maintain that family structure Not to show jealousy of your husband in front of your children Or vice versa Not to show jealousy of your wife in front of your children Because the children will be the ones that ultimately suffer in this And this can ultimately affect their servitude to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
So let's never forget What Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala creates He does it for a divine wisdom Which is couched in divine knowledge And it's up to us to make the effort To be slaves of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala And show pleasure with what he has given us And not to show envy and hatred for the latter May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala bring our hearts together May he bring our families together To ultimately bring our ummah together Jazakum Allah khair Honestly, Subhanallah This probably requires another hour of discussion Because they're very profound reflections And when you're talking about world views Which is what we're doing in this reading of the Quran Contrasting an Islamic world view with other world views It's hard to speak about these things In a way that we can really redefine our world view And then redefine ourselves in accordance with that world view In a few minutes without being deeply self-reflective And saying, okay, I'm really willing to interrogate What I've been fed as an ideal And what actually is an ideal And I'm really willing to pull myself out of What I've been exposed to on Twitter or on YouTube Or whatever it is And actually think about Okay, like Fala wa rabbika la yu'minoon hatta yuhakimuka feema shajarabainahum What also is part of the surah That you believe when you go back to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam And you don't find in your heart any discomfort towards it You salimu tasneem and you submit towards it However, with all that being said I'm going to throw something inshallah ta'ala out there And I'm sure anyone who maybe even felt offended By something that may have been said Won't be able to think to themselves that There is anything but concern and compassion And what is coming from the both of you But I'll put something on the table It's kind of elephant in the room How do you uphold the virtue, the ideal? There's clearly a structure in Islam
There's clearly a general way in which There is a transfer of civilization There's clearly definition for everything Gender, roles, all of these things In an ideal default sense And of course just like with every other element of the sharia There are exceptions to the rule And there are considerations that are made Bil ma'ruf, culture With people's individual circumstances But how do you speak to the person Who, you know, got married and got divorced quickly Out of no fault of their own Was unable to have children Has been looking for marriage And has been unable to get married Because of maybe bad family dynamics Or bad community dynamics How do you speak to that person In regards to all of this While you promote the virtue of motherhood But you don't diminish a person that is not a mother Where you promote the virtue of family But you don't diminish the person That has not had that door open to them How do you speak to that person And still make them feel like they have A wholesome connection with Allah SubhanAllah, and a path back to Allah So I'm going to put this back out for discussion InshaAllah ta'ala So this has a brother and a sister dynamic Because we know a lot of young Muslim men And a lot of young Muslim women that can't get married They're having a hard time getting married And that's an institutional failure on the community And of course even ways that we can't remedy Bad marriages and problems within marriage And how divorces are handled These are institutional failures on the community And the Quran speaks to us as a community first But how do you speak to the individual That listens to this part of the Quran And listens to this tafsir and goes Where do I fit in? Woman or man So Ustadh Yusra as our guest Why don't you start inshaAllah ta'ala SubhanAllah, when I was actually preparing What I was going to talk about I deal with a lot of single moms Who have come out of very I would say nasty divorces
SubhanAllah, and when you look at these verses How Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling How we should try to remember The fadl baynakum, right? The good between you and how to fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala In the dealing I understand it's difficult, right? But when we discuss these ayahs We're speaking about the ideal, right? This is what it should look like But the reality is It's not going to always look like this It's dunya, it's not that utopia That we are trying to always achieve and reach We will be tested, Allah tells us We're going to be tested in our In everything that we possess, right? In our wealth, in those we love, in everything that we have And one of these difficult tests Is, you know, marriage And divorce, or your kids, or your spouse Or your parents, there's always going to be One test or the other, subhanAllah And when we look At the verses we were discussing Not looking at the, you know, wishing for what others have Perhaps someone has That very difficult test in marriage But Allah has blessed them with the love Of so many righteous people Or has given them such an Honorable rank amongst others Or has opened for them the doors of knowledge Or righteous children There's always going to be something that Allah compensates with So it's not really Always that bad, you know, it is I know it's difficult, I'm not saying it's not, it's very difficult Because it's your life, right? Your partner or your children But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Like in Arabic, mu'awwid mukhlif, like He always Will give you the awwad, He will recompensate you In something else So the idea is that this is the ideal But what happens is Just a test, and we have to keep reminding Ourselves, we're all tested No one in this dunya Not a single person is not tested Wallahi, I meet so many people And their life looks perfect When you sit and you talk with them, you say alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah What I'm being tested with, alhamdulillah for that So we're all tested, and this is just dunya It's just dunya, wallahi it's gonna pass And the akhirah insha'Allah is that Hopefully, insha'Allah, ya Rabb, we attain
That awwad and that reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala So sabr jameel insha'Allah BarakAllahu fiki Sheikh Abdullah, I'll add a layer to it for you I work with Muhsin, right? People with disabilities Masha'Allah, like on a serious note You're talking about Muslim masculinity And courage and strength Undertaking all these things And again, some of these other difficulties So what do you say to someone that doesn't fit the mold In terms of what you're trying to give them as a path forward That's being sort of set out With a lot of these notions Within the Quran and the Sunnah Bismillahirrahmanirrahim I think it's very very important Firstly, that we have a level of empathy For their situation Because things that are very tangible That we see, you know They may have lost their vision Or a limb is not working Or something of this nature Or something within their anatomy and physiology That may take place that is not the average That we would see with The majority of society, for lack of better words But we look at the usool We look at the basis and the foundation Within our faith And firstly, that's why I mentioned it's important to be an abdullah A servant of Allah To know, to the best of your To know that Allah is the one Who allowed this to happen for a divine wisdom And it's going to be hard And to acknowledge that it's going to be hard To deal with that at times But what is your foundation In those regards The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam When he mentioned that if Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Takes his two eyes What is he saying? That he's replacing with Jannah Rewarding them with Jannah If we stop here We see that that's the message of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam That said that If we stop here, we're not going to be inspired by Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala What is our desire for Jannah In this regard This is what's most important here Is our relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala And what we really netamana What we really hope, want for and desire
And sometimes you'll find All of us as human beings When you're at the time of affliction When you're at the time of affliction And sometimes it's real quick But for other individuals, maybe a chronic illness As we mentioned, a handicap that they may have Preventing them from doing what they see The majority doing When you remind them about Allah at that time, they may not want to hear it They may not want to hear it And this is natural as human beings But when you're alone, each and every single individual There's a universal message Whatever situation that We may be in It's important that that connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Is there and to embrace those emotional Feelings that we may have And to be emotionally intelligent with that And for the relatives, the friends The imams Starting with myself To put ourselves in check and to say The fact that they are facing that And they may vent or they may have a certain question And it may seem a certain way We don't know what that's like We really don't And to be sympathetic and empathetic To that is very, very important in that regard But I would say initially That connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Is paramount, it's our milestone For us to return back to him Everyone will leave you Everyone will leave you but except Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Him being there for you at all times In secret and in open He'll always be there for you inshallah Jazakumullah Beautiful reflections, Jazakumullah And I think again, conclusion Subhanallah, there's a societal standard Allah sets And then there's the individual path To salvation that every one of us should strive for And you'll find that that looks very Different for each person once they fit Into that, so Allah does not lose the Societal structure, nor does he Lose the individual salvation And so you look at our At Asiya Alayhi Salam and you look at our mother Aisha radiAllahu Anha, our mother Aisha radiAllahu Anha Did not have children but we're all her children In that sense, right? And what's greater than that? You know, you look at Julaibib radiAllahu Ta'ala Anhu
Abdullah ibn Umm Maktum radiAllahu Ta'ala Anhu They don't, imagine when they heard all of And we see their feelings in the Quran When they were hearing these Calls to go out and fight for the sake of Allah SubhanAllah Ta'ala and these calls to battle And they felt, they felt lost Where do we fit in all of this? And Allah Azawajal Compensated them with something beautiful So JazakumAllah khair for the beautiful thoughts InshaAllah Ta'ala, we'll see you In the future again, bid'ah Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
