Why Me
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Where Was I Before I Was Born? | Why Me?
This story doesn’t start with you. It starts with Al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh, the sacred, preserved tablets that carry all of decree until the Final Hour. All of existence, our history, and our future, stored in one place.
The darkness of the world, and all of its light. If all has been written, how do I have free will?
Are my choices my own?
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Our lives are filled with moments that define us. Moments of pure joy that create memories for years to come. And also moments of hardship that eat away at our thoughts, our relationships, sometimes even our faith. It can be hard to sit with the cards we're dealt with. Is my life entirely my own if it's already been written for me? Why do some people struggle with immense pain while I'm given this blessing? Or why am I struggling with this hardship while others seem to have it so easy? Why is this happening? Why now? Why me? It doesn't start with your parents, or your grandparents, or even your ancestors. It actually all starts with a pen. Imagine the conversation. It was Allah and nothing else. No heaven and hell. No angels. No humans. No devils. Just Allah. And the Prophet ﷺ said that 50,000 years before he creates the heavens and the earth, he creates the pen. And he says to this pen, write. And then the pen asks, and what should I write? Oh my Lord. And he says, write everything decreed until the final hour. Write down my knowledge of my creation. And so the pen writes everything down in a These heavenly tablets that only Allah has access to. Ibn Abbas describes these tablets as made from red ruby,
extending from the throne of Allah. Imagine all of the stories of history in that one place. The empires and nations. The tyrants and heroes. In it is written, Fir'aun is from the people of the fire. Perished the two hands of Abu Lahab. But it's not just these grand episodes of history. It also has the stories of the seemingly most insignificant of people with every single emotion recorded. And then there's the special chapter with your name on it. And it has all the precious little moments that make up your life. Moments that are strung together in a way that only Al-Hakim, the most wise, could have organized. All so that you can get to know him. Look for the traces of the mercy of your Lord. Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala programmed us with this perception of him before he even brought us into existence. All so that we can get to know him and then worship him. So where were we before we got here? Our souls in this dunya are between two realms of souls. The realm of pre-existence that we came from. And then once we die, the realm of our graves. Now subhanAllah, what you'll notice is that both of these realms are dark. And they're only lit up either by blessed decree or by blessed deeds. The Prophet ﷺ said, Allah created his creation in complete darkness. Remember when your Lord brought forth the descendants of the children of Adam. And the Prophet ﷺ said, and imagine the scene that Allah creates Adam alayhi salam. And then he brings forth a batch of his offspring from his back. And Allah says, I have created these for paradise.
And they are going to do the deeds of those who go to paradise. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala extracts another batch from his back. And Allah says, I've created these for hellfire. And they are going to do the deeds of those who go to hell. Now I want you to imagine the site of every single one of your ancestors and all of their descendants lined up one by one until it gets to you. And we came out like these little tiny particles. And Allah spread us out in the valley of Ne'man, which is Arafah. Now think of the scene of Arafah and Hajj, but not just with a few million Muslims, but every single human being ever created like tiny particles assembled in that single place of Arafah. And that's why Arafah linguistically means to come to know your Lord, because we're renewing that original covenant every time we go. And what was that covenant? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala spoke directly to each one of us. And he said to us, Am I not your Lord? That was the first conversation you ever had with Allah. And we forgotten it, but its impact is hardwired into our souls. And that's why we believe everyone has an inclination to God and then chooses whether or not to follow it and to get to know him. Another profound connection about that pre-existence is that you'll notice it started with a question. Am I not your Lord? And what's the first thing we'll be asked in our graves when we cease to exist in this world? Who is your Lord? So that's the hardwiring. That's in every single one of us. Then the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, And whoever was touched by that light is guided and whoever wasn't goes astray. And in another narration, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, That Allah put between each of our eyes a portion of light,
but our light was not all the same there. Just like our light is not all the same in the grave and it's not all the same on the day of judgment. This is the light of your goodness. And I want you to think about how much light was on your forehead. And imagine Adam Alayhi Salaam walking around the gathering that day and looking at everyone with their light. And the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, And this is a man who is going to be distinguished with his future deeds of worship. A man who's going to pray the last third of the night. He's going to fast every other day. He's going to live a life of works of gratitude. So Adam Alayhi Salaam looks at his light and says, Oh my Lord, who is this? And Allah says, this is your son, Dawood Alayhi Salaam. And Adam Alayhi Salaam says, and how many years does he have? He said, he's going to live for 60 years. Adam Alayhi Salaam said, give him 40 of my years because he needs to live longer. So imagine Adam Alayhi Salaam walking through the gathering and then meeting you for the first time. Do you think your light captured him? Or do you think he just moved on? And then after that, imagine us meeting each other. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, That souls of a similar likeness are like these conscripted soldiers. You know that recognition of our light on the day of judgment where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that our wudu will shine from our bodies as will all of our good deeds. Even before we got here, that light guided righteous souls to each other. To the point that Ibn Mas'ud said that if a believing soul were to enter upon a gathering of a hundred people, 99 of them being hypocrites, he'd find that one believer. He'd be driven to that one believer because of that light. So who you're going to be and who you're going to meet has already been written. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, The pens have dried with the knowledge of Allah. But if that's the case,
do you have any say in what's written in your decree? Yes, because there are multiple forms of documenting decree. The document that never changes is Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz. But there is Laylatul Qadr every single year. In fact, every day, Allah Azawajal is decreeing. And when you were in your mother's womb, there was decree. And all of those writings can be changed based upon du'as and deeds. But all of that has already been taken into consideration in Al-Lawh Al-Mahfuz. Because Allah knows what will change and he already encompasses it in his writing. So then what's the point of doing good if you can't escape your written fate? The Sahaba asked the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam the same thing. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Do your good deeds and everyone will be facilitated to what they were created for. Because Allah does not force upon you a decree that you had nothing to do with. It's your decisions and your deeds that you will find written on the day of judgment. Not his tablet that already recorded what he knew you were going to do. His knowledge of your fate is perfect, but you have your own choices within that fate while never escaping it. The life he created for you is because he already knew how you would live it. But you have to live that life and proceed through the many unknown chapters ahead. Not a breath will you take except that a decree of destiny has made it go forth. And as your life and your destiny begin and you start to take control of your life, you'll find that Allah always knows best. And you may come to find that it still surprises you even when you least expect it. So what then is the purpose of your existence?
Why was this the moment Allah chose to place your soul on earth?
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