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Processing News and Seeking the One True Source of News | Daily Reminder
Sh. Yasir Fahmy encourages us to filter the types of news coverage we consume and advises how we should process it, while returning to the source of all news - Allah and the Qur'an.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillah walhamdulillah, wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi, wa man wala wa maad. My dear brothers and sisters, there's a great scholar from the 6th century by the name of Abu al-Qasim al-Samarqandi. And when describing the sources, the root causes of fitan, when you see mass hysteria, when you see chaos and inner turmoil within people and individuals, he says that it's usually rooted in three things. Number one, those who create news. Number two, those who convey the news. And number three, those who consume the news. And I think we can all agree, this is a very relevant guidance for us in this moment. In this moment, where many of us today, when we read a headline, we read something on Facebook or on Twitter, or one of our many familial WhatsApp groups, we tend to read that headline as if it's somehow relaying to me my qada'in qadr, as if somehow it is relaying to me my destiny and my decree. But the fact of the matter is, these akhbar, these pieces of information that we see, this is just nothing more than conjecture. Nothing more what people may perceive is going to potentially come to pass. But who knows with certainty what is and what will be, as we all with absolute categorical knowledge know, it is only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes it very clear in the Qur'an, مَا أَصَابَ مِن مُصِيبَةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مِن قَبْلِ أَنَّ بِرَأَهَا إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ لِكَي لَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَى مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ
لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٌ Everything that will come in terms of masa'ib, everything that will come to touch us, whether in the earth or whether in ourselves, is in a kitab, in a book. Before we bring it into existence, verily that is very easy upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so that we are not so sad about what may have happened and neither too happy with what will come. Allah does not like those who are deluded and arrogant. And so brothers and sisters, where do we take our akhbar? And by akhbar I mean our anba' I mean our news that is certain and categorical and true. We take it from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who sent to us anbiya' and these anbiya' one of the root definitions of the word nabi is the one who conveys the akhbar, the news. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brought us these anbiya' so that they can bring us the naba' an-naba'u l-'azim, the grandiose manifest akhbar and news. And everything that we need to know with certainty has been sent to us through the anbiya'. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Quran, قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُم بِالأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالَ الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيَهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنَعًا Should I not tell you with certainty of those who are truly misguided, those who whose actions are defunct, the ones who act in this world in a misguided fashion, thinking that they're doing something good.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us also to on the one hand, this is a type of naba', this is a type of news that is to warn us and remind us of the reality of our existence and where we're headed. And on the other hand, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us of the anba', of the rusul, right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, وَكُلًّا نَقُصُ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْرُّسُلِ مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهِ فُؤَادَكَ He told the Prophet Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam, we give you the akhbar, we give you the anba' of the messengers so that your heart would find certainty. So that you are confident and certain and reliant truly upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So brothers and sisters, what we need in terms of anba', which is the most important news, we need the Quran and we need the sunnah of Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam. And this thing that we call news today, this is something that we can take some good from and leave a lot of the fluff, a lot of the emptiness because it is so often that our anxiety, our fears, our worries are stirred up by this thing called news. And this is not the actual news that we need. We need the good news. We need the profoundly true news. We need the news that is categorical in nature and that is the anba' that come through wahi, the anba' that come through revelation. And that is the Quran and the sunnah of Habib salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So brothers and sisters, very practically speaking, if I want to know truth and certainty, then I go to sacred scripture. I go to divine revelation. If I need information that is actionable and beneficial, then I go to credible sources
that are relayed to by agencies that are verified and I get good actionable information, something that is going to benefit me in my day to day reality. I need to wash my hands, I need to social distance, I need to be mindful of the type of precautions that are put in place and limitations, etc. But all the other stuff and all the other fluff and all the other static and all the other noise, that is the stuff that we have to genuinely turn off. We cannot consume that stuff because as Abu al-Qasim al-Samarqandi has said, that is where chaos, that is where turmoil, that is where hysteria lies. It's in these akhbar. So I seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from all of this ilm that is ghayru naafi'a. Allahumma inna na'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa'a. We seek refuge in you from knowledge that is not of benefit. And we ask you, Ya Allah, for good knowledge, beneficial knowledge, knowledge that will make us upright, information and anba'a that will alter our states in a divinely prophetic reality where we are beautiful, bil qur'ani wa sunna, where we are doing the actions every day that are productive and meaningful. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, waf'alu alkhair, do good. Every day should be a day that is replete, that is full of goodness, of righteous deeds and actions in terms of worship and prayer and dhikr, in terms of others, in terms of caring for others, serving others. And time spent mulling over endless headlines that ultimately do not produce meaningful actions that is blameworthy. That is blameworthy. We seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from engaging in futile actions that are not
praised and beloved to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow this time to be a time of fath, a time of opening and increase in spiritual elevation for us all. BarakAllahu feekum wa jazakumullahu khair wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah.
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