Okay. Okay. Assalamu alaikum. Welcome home everybody. It's good to see you. It's cold. You guys cold? Yeah, it's okay. It'll get warm inshallah once... Sounds weird saying it once all the bodies start heating up the space. We ask Allah Ta'ala to accept from us, inshallah, our gathering. Tonight we're going to be continuing, inshallah, the discussion of Surah Qaf.
The Slido is open, so if you want to go to slido.com and type in any questions that you have during the session, we can do that. So far, in the Surah, which is the 50th chapter in the Quran, we've... roughly gone through what I would say about five verses. And there's a few different themes that we've covered. Most recently, we spoke about the challenge that the Quraysh
were giving to the Prophet ﷺ, that those people that were rejecting Islam were providing or presenting as sort of like a means of pushback. And that challenge was based in... um like a material a scientific materialist challenge that was that you know at the time of course they would bury people who had passed away
and then if they ever had to which is the custom by the way they would oftentimes reuse graves later on so what they would do is they would bury them there'd be a certain amount of time and then they would cycle through the graves and they would move the bones to another place So they were familiar. They were like intimately aware with the fact that when people pass away and they're buried, there would be nothing left of them. So based on this observation, this scientific observation,
when the notion of resurrection was taught to them or was preached to them, their challenge was purely physical and scientific. They said, how is it going to be the case that we will be resurrected when we know? that when we dig up a place where somebody was buried, there is no body there. There is no material there left. And so this was one of their ways of trying to challenge the Prophet ﷺ.
Now, the interesting part about this challenge is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he doesn't just outright reject it and say like, oh, you don't know what you're talking about. He actually entertains the question. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala... responds by saying that we know exactly what happens when somebody passes away. Like there's no contradiction between what Allah is saying and what happens to the person.
We know what the earth takes from people. We know that. Because Allah Ta'ala is the one who created the systems of science. So he understands, of course, with perfect wisdom, how these things happen. But what is being brought to our attention... is that whenever people want to reject something, they will utilize whatever argument they can in order to build their argument because they think that that's going to be what's going to get them off of the hook.
And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he says, look, scientifically, that's not a shocker to anybody. That's not a surprise to anybody. وَعِنْدَنَا كِتَابٌ حَفِيظٌ But what will be a surprise is when you are resurrected, when you do come back on the Day of Judgment. In whatever form the soul takes, you will see that every single deed that you did do with your body will still be present. And that's the ultimate lesson that the Prophet ﷺ is trying to teach these people.
That you live in a world and a place where you don't believe that the afterlife is a thing. And I'm trying to get you to understand that in fact the afterlife is in fact a thing. So Allah Ta'ala, He gives that. And then He says, بَلْ كَذَّبُوا بِالْحَقِّ لَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ فَهُمْ فِي أَمْرٍ مَرِيجٍ
That the problem, the core issue, the infection that all these people are struggling with is not whether or not these things scientifically make sense. And I actually want to like offer this as a reflection, a point of reflection. there are many, many people, right? And some of them, you know, you could even count yourself amongst them at some point, maybe in your life or even right now. There are many, many of us that when we struggle with accepting something,
we divert or deflect the attention onto something else. And in my experience, it's been the case that whenever anybody struggles, I guess we just like one light on.
Whenever any... If you bumped into it, you can just turn it back on. It's a switch, inshallah. Whenever anybody struggles with the articles of faith, what ends up happening is that they'll end up trying to create a roundabout discussion, a roundabout argument as to... why they struggle with that or why it's wrong or that and it always goes in this sort of circular logic very tertiary arguments right
So if I go to somebody and, you know, they reject, for example, something from Islam, oftentimes it'll end up being something very, very fringe, not even really truly core to the Islamic texts, maybe like an experience. 99 times out of 100, when I've dealt with somebody that has struggled with belief, it has nothing to do with the actual text itself. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here is providing the reason as to why that is.
He's saying that whenever a person receives the truth and they reject it on its face, like I'm not going to investigate, I'm not going to be open-minded, I'm just going to reject it, then Allah Ta'ala says, فهم في أمر مريج They will always be in a confused state. Nothing will make sense to them. Nothing at all. This is the punishment, some of the scholars say, of a person that's not willing to listen to the truth.
Some things will make complete sense to some and others the same discussion will make no sense at all. You know, it's interesting that the Prophet ﷺ, when you look at his life, it's not just those people subhanAllah that... rejected him early on that were like his community members but some of them were from his closest family members you could argue that some of them would have had like just as much knowledge of language of
tradition of this and that as the Prophet ﷺ himself. But when he becomes a messenger of Allah ﷺ, it was the people that were humble that were given Islam immediately, that were given Islam first. The Quraysh used to actually make fun of the Prophet by actually saying, it's only the weak and the poor people who follow you. Like, none of the people who are high in status, high in society, none of them follow you. It's only the weak and the poor. This was like an argument that they made.
But what they fail to realize is that their mockery was actually an indictment against themselves, which is that because you put so much value in this stuff, you're not humble enough to see the truth of it. But those people that had meek... humble provision, they don't have that arrogance. They don't have that arrogance. I was just speaking today earlier with Sheikh Abdul Nasir Mufti Kamani about the story of Qarun in the Quran. I don't know if you guys have heard of this name Qarun.
It's a really interesting story because it's like the evil villain origin story. You know, when you hear a story, sometimes we talk about the hero. We say, okay, how'd they become the hero? But now it's actually like a new... kind of trend that movies will start to highlight. You know The Joker? You guys watch The Joker? Yes? No? Salk for Allah. Okay, no, but you watched it? Okay, so the origin story of The Joker, right? The one with Joaquin Phoenix.
that's the origin story and it's people love to find out like how did this evil person become this person so we have like for example we have shaitan's origin story like we know that right from the quran And there's some other origin stories in the Quran that we get. Why? Because it helps us understand the slippery slope. Qarun is one of them. Qarun, interestingly enough, so Musa, Prophet Musa had...
Somebody on the outside, right? Firaun. But Qarun was actually somebody on the inside from his community. The Quran actually says from the people of Musa, meaning that he was from his community. And some... Some explainers of the Quran, they say that he was actually Musa A.S. cousin. They were related. And some even say that he was a scholar of the texts, of the religion. So he was a...
scholar who was a cousin of a prophet. But Allah Ta'ala tested him with one thing. What did Allah give him? Allah gave him immense wealth. That was his test. And because of that wealth, the wealth itself is not a problem. Wealth in and of itself. Because you had Uthman bin Afthan, the companion of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. You had Abdul Rahman bin Awf.
You have Khadija radiallahu anha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ. All of them had money. But what was it is that the money made Qarun feel what? That he was better than others. And eventually allowed him to... develop the feeling of rebellion towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the Quraysh, what they are struggling with is their rejection of Allah.
is not based in any sort of argument. It's just based on what their power and their status and what they're holding on to. They're not even entertaining it. They're not even engaging with it. Because why? Because when they did actually entertain and engage with it, their hearts were won over. We won over the story of Omar and how he would go listen to the Quran. There's another story I didn't tell because I forgot about Abu Jahl. You know, Omar has like a happy...
you know, like ending to his story where we feel good about Omar because we know he converted. What about Abu Jahl? Abu Jahl was the premier enemy of the Prophet ﷺ. Like that was it. That was his... His, you know, archenemy. Abu Jahl used to go and listen to the Quran. Isn't that so weird? At night he would go and he would hide and listen to the Prophet ﷺ. Abu Sufyan as well, who later became Muslim.
And another person, Akhnas bin Shureykh, who did not become Muslim. So you have two of these guys who ended up passing away as enemies of the Prophet, and they're listening to the Quran. And the interesting thing about them is none of the three knew that the other ones were there.
So this is like an individual thing. They would bump into each other and this happened like three nights in a row. As they're leaving the Kaaba, the Prophet ﷺ in the middle of the night, he's sitting there reading the Quran, reviewing the Quran, and Abu Jahl...
and Abu Sufyan and Akhnas, they bump into each other. And they kind of, in the beginning, they're a little bit startled. What are you doing here? And they kind of, you know, make up something. And then later, after a couple times, Abu Jahl, he just admits it. He says, we all know why we're here. Like we all know because this revelation, this speech that Muhammad, peace be upon him, is reciting, it's magnetic. Like it's unlike anything we've ever heard.
So then Akhnas, he asks, he says, is he a prophet? Is it truly the message of God? And Abu Jahl responds with the craziest response ever. You know what he says? He says, of course it is. Of course. That's not what you expect. No one here reacted. Maybe you did expect that. When I first read this narration, that was the last thing I expected him to say because we're so used to him being the enemy of the Prophet ﷺ.
How could somebody who was an enemy of the Prophet ﷺ admit that he's a prophet? Makes no sense. Until you understand that their rejection of the Prophet was not based off of belief. It was based off of their... desire to submit versus their desire to take care of their own desires, like to please themselves. So the Quran now is getting to the base, the layers of this problem, which is what you will never be able to submit if you keep rejecting the truth.
This is why, as Muslims, we know that we're not perfect. We're flawed, right? That's part of the nature of who we are. Even in the Quran, Allah never expects perfection from anybody. He never does. Never asks for perfection. The Prophet says that there will always be a sin or sins that a person struggles with until they die. Maybe the sin changes from year to year, from decade to decade.
But there will always be something. There will never be a time in your life when you will be able to say, I did not make a mistake today. It's just part of who you are. It's a human reality. Okay? But the one thing that we cannot do as Muslims... is that if we struggle with something, we cannot make the guilt from that struggle become the reason why we would reject it altogether. If I struggle with something, I have to own it. I have to say, you know what, this is...
something that Allah wants me to do, but I have to get better at it. I have to get better. I'm not going to make excuses, I'm not going to justify, and I'm not going to reject it. I'm going to say this is me, a weak person. And I hope that Allah gives me the strength to be able to do that. Right? May Allah Ta'ala give us all strength. So Allah Ta'ala says, otherwise, you will always be in a state of confusion. Alright, now Allah Ta'ala, He calls upon...
the people who are reading, who are listening, who are reflecting. And he says, أَفَلَمْ يَنظُرُوا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَوْقَهُمْ كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا وَمَا لَهَا مِنْ فُرُوجٍ Allah SWT brings forth the call. and the imperative and he asks us we talked about this a little bit last week he says do they not look at the sky above them and see how perfectly constructed it is do they not see that like when you look at the sky
you don't see any ridges, you don't see any fault. And how Allah made it a beautiful, perfect construction. But not only that, because some things are constructed, like they're functional, but they're not beautiful. So for example, if you go into like a warehouse, There's a roof over your head and there's walls that protect you, but it's not necessarily the nicest place. Right? So Allah Ta'ala says, كَيْفَ بَنَيْنَاهَا وَزَيَّنَّاهَا That this sky
is not only a protective thing. And by the way, this is 1,400 years ago. They didn't know that the sky had protective function. You understand? We know that now because if there's, for example, like... you know whether it's like the the layers the ozone layer protecting us from the the different rays that are coming in or whether it's like a meteor that's heading towards earth and it's disintegrating because of the protective layers of the earth they didn't know this in the time of the prophet
They didn't know all this. But the idea was that this thing is a protection. It's something that protects us. And now, as time goes on, we're learning more and more about how, subhanAllah, the construction of the earth is to protect us. And of course, we are... destroying it. Great. Great work, everybody. Okay. So, وزيناها. And Allah Ta'ala made it beautiful as well. This is what we talked about, the Texas sunset. It's about the only good thing that we got.
It's about the only thing that we got. We got to ride that until we can't anymore. And Allah Ta'ala says, and there's no cracks in it. There's no rift in it. It's a beautiful expression of creation. What do we take from a verse like this? Number one is that Allah asks us to look at the creation around us and to reflect about its functionality. To think about how we are the beneficiaries of the creation and also to think about the beauty of it.
And then he continues. وَالْأَرْضَ مَدَدَنَاهَا وَأَلْقَيْنَا فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ وَأَنْبَتْنَا فِيهَا مِنْ كُلِّ زَوْجٍ بَهِيجٍّ And Allah Ta'ala, He spread out the earth in a beautiful, like flat way. And he placed mountains into the earth. You guys know the geographical reality of mountains? Do you know how much of the mountain are we seeing? Do you know that there's mountain, part of the mountain is what? How much you say?
10%? I don't know the answer. I'm asking genuinely. I know that there is a ratio. I'll take your word for it. 10%, okay? Anyone know for certain? Do we have a geologist here? Hey, Siri, it's 10%? Okay. So, hey Alexa, how much of the mountain is? It's 10%. And Allah Ta'ala actually describes it. Allah Ta'ala says that we put mountains on it.
And we pegged mountains into the earth. Again, no way for the Prophet and for the companions and for these people of that time to understand the depth. Like when you hear the word peg, you guys ever put a tent up? Of course you haven't, right? You just Airbnb. When you go camping and you take a tent and you hammer the peg into the actual loop, the fixture that's holding that tent into the ground, you're trying to create it.
to be strong, to be able to withstand elements like wind and to be able to be your shelter for whatever time. You can't put the peg in the ground by like one inch or whatever. The peg itself is like almost a foot long. And you have to put the entire thing into the ground so that the tent remains affixed and firm and strong. Allah Ta'ala is giving the same example, the same idea behind the structuring of the earth.
that the earth has been laid out and the mountains have been placed onto it now remember though let me interrupt myself for a second here i grew up in a place where May Allah Ta'ala reward all of our community's founders. Sammy. But there would be some people on the member who their field was not Islamic studies, but it was like science.
And so we've all heard like the khutbah, scientific miracles in the Quran. Brothers and sisters, I'm going to go over the millions of miracles in the Quran. Now look. I'm not here to tell you that there are no miracles or there are. What I am here to tell you is this. The Quran is not a science textbook. So I want everyone to get one thing clear. Allah Ta'ala here is not giving diagrams. There's no illustrations.
There's no percentages, no fractions, none of that. The Quran is a book of guidance. And what Allah does in the book of guidance is He calls upon different experiences in your life, different faculties, to get you to realize... that this is not an ordinary message and so there might be an occasional reference to science there might be a reference to for example spiritual reformation there might be an example there might be a social
issue that Allah Ta'ala solves. There could be references to history. There are, we know. All of them are geared to get the person to be reflective. It's a book of reflection. So Allah Ta'ala says that the mountains are there.
And Allah Ta'ala caused every type of beautiful plant to grow from this same earth. He continues, تَبَصِيرَةً وَذِكْرًا لِكُلِّ عَبِدٍ مُنِيبٍ All of this, all of this creation that you witness every single day is an example of a reminder of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and is supposed to bring that servant back to Allah to turn back to Allah. Allah continues, وَنَزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً مُبَارَكًا فَأَنْبَتْنَا بِهِ جَنَّاتٍ وَحَبَّ الْحَسِيدِ Allah says, and we send down rain from the sky.
Everyone has been aware of the fires that have been ravaging California. May Allah ta'ala make it easy. May Allah ta'ala protect those who are innocent in there. May Allah ta'ala give our brothers and sisters who have lost their homes in the masjid. I don't know if you guys saw that there was a masjid there that got burned down.
and then like they raised the funds for it back in like 30 minutes because everybody was like let's do this and then they raised what they needed and then once they finished raising it the meshe committee was like all right we might be able to do something nice
So they upped the goal. They're like, we raised our goal, but we're going to raise it. And I think they hit their goal two more times, mashallah. So we're about to have a nice masjid, I guess, over there, inshallah. But ajeeb, right? It's interesting. And it's interesting how...
In Islam, we have this prayer known as the rain prayer. Because we realize that there are times and there are moments when we need rain. We're like at the mercy of rain. We need rain to come down, whether it's a drought, whether it's a fire, whatever it might be.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala brings nature to the forefront of the conversation to remind you that although you are a human being who walks around the earth proudly, you need to realize something, that you actually are part of an ecosystem. You're part of an ecosystem. And if one fraction of that ecosystem is removed, your entire life as we know it changes. Your entire life as we know it changes.
I want you to remember this verse about water because at the very end of this surah, Allah Ta'ala references it. And I want to bring it back to that point. But you can imagine, subhanAllah, how the desert-dwelling Arabs, when they're reading this or when they're...
listening to this, they're thinking to themselves, yeah, rain is the source of life in abundance. Allah Ta'ala is listening one after another, one after another. فَأَنْبَتْنَا بِهِ جَنَّاتٍ وَحَبَّ الْحَصِيرٍ And Allah Ta'ala causes gardens to grow. And you're allowed to harvest the grain from there. And the date palm tree. The date palm tree, we're talking about, I guess, California a lot tonight, right?
the date palm tree is a unique structure you guys know what a date palm tree looks like very very skinny in its trunk generally but the trunk is actually incredibly tough the trunk is like a fortress And then you go all the way to the top and that's where the actual leaves of the tree and that's where the bushels of dates come from. So in order to harvest dates, somebody actually has to climb all the way up. I just saw this when I was at Umrah.
They have a crane and they put somebody up on top and the person goes and pulls the bushels and throws them down. It's so interesting subhanAllah. Allah Ta'ala, every single creation has a purpose.
I actually say this, by the way, to my kids and myself whenever we see like a bug. And they're like, kill it. I'm like, Allah created everything with a purpose. And they're like, what purpose does this have? I'm like, I don't know. Quite frankly, it's annoying. But Allah created everything with a purpose. And there is a theme here. Allah is naming different forms of creation to remind you all of them have a purpose. And they know their purpose. So then the question is what?
Why don't you know yours? Like, why don't you know yours? The sky knows its purpose. The mountain knows its purpose. The earth fulfills its purpose. The rain fulfills its purpose. The harvest fulfills the trees. Everything is doing its job. Except for the human being. May Allah forgive us. Allah Ta'ala does this over and over again, by the way. In Juz Amman, the final section of the Qur'an, the 30th section.
Allah describes how the rain and the clouds and everything is following its own order and then He says, why don't you follow your order? The human being is the only one that stands up against Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala out of all the creation and says, no.
May Allah Ta'ala forgive us. Rizqan lil'ibad. You know, it's subhanAllah. One of the greatest moments of... humility a person can have is when they are reminded how much somebody else does for them you know when you're younger i think one of the challenges especially of like our age our generation is that we grow up And every kid, you know, has challenges. I'm laughing because... So last week I had a really funny experience. So my son...
I bought him a Kyrie Irving jersey. Because Kyrie is obviously Muslim, so it's almost like a Muslim thobe. It's like an American thobe. Kyrie Irving jersey. I bought him a long one. He can wear it with a kufi. So I got him a Kyrie Irving jersey. I'm not a Mavs fan. I mean, I lost how to protect us all. But you got to support your brother, okay? So, and as you know, jerseys can be expensive, okay? So...
I get him this jersey, and it's one item. Granted, it's an expensive item, but it's one item. My daughter, she was not feeling well, and so I bought her... These, she loves these little mini toys. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? It's like the mini version of real life things. It's the most bizarre, like, I don't know. Okay. So it's called mini brands. Like literally you open it and there's like mini croissant, mini plate.
Mini lemonade and she just sits there and she's like pretending which is fine. That's good. It's creative, right? And so I bought her now each of these things is like six dollars seven dollars So, and she was sick, you know, so I bought her a few of them. I got three of them. It's like 20 bucks. And I went, I brought the bag in and I'm calling my daughter. I'm calling my daughter because I want to like tell her.
And I told my son, by the way, I said, hey, this is not for me. This is from both of us, right? Like, you know, trying to give him, trying to teach him how to be a big brother. You know, this is from you too. And he goes, oh, okay, okay. And then he sees that we got her three. And what does he say?
He says, you only got me one thing. And he's like wearing it. And he's like, you got me one. I could have gotten Luka and Kyrie and he's naming the players. And each jersey is like ridiculously expensive, right? And I look at him and I'm like, you know, when can I do the Arab dad thing where I'm just like, you know, the Egyptian mom thing? Three fingers, right? Wait till later. Three fingers, right? Wait till later.
I look at him. And again, this is like happening in front of his sister. I'm like, don't ruin her moment. He's like, you didn't get me any. You only got me one. So then finally, like I sent her upstairs and I'm like, okay. I said, each of those was $7. He's old enough to do math. How much is that? $20. He goes, $21. I said, okay, your jersey was $90, bro. Okay, I asked if they had financing. Like, what is wrong with you?
And then I'm like, let's do the math. How many times does 20 go into 90? He's like, no, Bob, I get it. I said, no, how many times does 20 go into 90? And we started going, and I said, you can't complain, right? Because, look, we're all... Like kids, we all have that, oh, it's unfair, it's unfair, it's unfair. SubhanAllah, you know, we mentioned Qarun earlier. One of the things the people said about him, his community,
It was, oh man, if only God gave me what he gave Qarun. Like people looked at Qarun and they were like, oh, if only I have what he had. It's natural, like it's a human weakness. We look at what others have. And instantly you're just like, oh, I wish I had that. I wish I had that. It's not from the human disposition behavior to like default to being in a state of gratitude. And that's why Allah Ta'ala reminds us.
You know, he has to bring us back, bring us back to the state of gratitude. And so Allah Ta'ala lists all of these amazing things. I mean, think about it. We're all at the age now. Where like maybe you're focusing on exploring the world. Everybody who meets for marriage is like, what do you like? Travel? Everyone says it. I haven't met one person who's like, I like to stay in Dallas. Right? Everyone's like...
I like to travel. Why'd you move to Dallas? Nice airport, easy to travel, right? So we're all at the age where like you want to get out, see the world. You want to go to the mountains, you want to check out the beaches, you want to see the forest, you want to see everything, all of Allah Ta'ala's creation. So in one passage in Surah Qaf, he names basically everything. He lists all of the different beautiful...
formations of creation that He gave us. And that when we see these pictures, when we witness them, either in front of our eyes, on our screens, or in real life in person, we become enamored by the wisdom and the beauty of Allah's creation. And you know what he says right after that? He says, رِزْقًا لِلْعِبَادِ This is all for you. And it's not the same way that parents say it where like, you know how much I do for you? Not like that. It's like that.
It's like that desperate plea of realization. Rizqan lil'ibad. This is all for you. You didn't make any of it. Rizq, by definition, that word. has the indication in meaning that you are the recipient of something sent down to you. Everything in your life that you have, not just money. Money, when we say risk, if we say just money, it's very short-sighted.
Everything that we have is a form of the provision that Allah sent. That's what rizq means, provision. To the point where, how many of us want to have inshallah, inshallah in our lives, a happy, fulfilling marriage? Raise your hand.
If you want to have a happy, fiftling marriage, inshallah. Okay, this is like, okay, let's, you already have one. Raise your hand if you want to continue that one, okay? I saw people like looking around, like my wife's over there, like, okay, we get it. This doesn't mean that you don't have one. When the Prophet ﷺ was talking about his love for Khadija, his first wife that passed away, he says what? رُزِقْتُ هُبُّهَا I was given as a provision, love.
Like her love, basically. It was rizq for me. So the Muslim doesn't only see their provision as financial. It's not income-based. Because Allah Ta'ala can increase the blessings of your life through things like health, through things like relationships. You know, what do they say? It's not about your net worth, it's about the net worth of the people that you know, right? People who are trying to become entrepreneurs.
Relationships matter. People that give you sakina. There's a lot of people that do very well financially, but they're very anxious and they don't have the circle around them, the friends and the loved ones. that can keep them in a good state. May Allah Ta'ala give us that. So all of this is rizq. All of this. And once a person starts to see that everything Allah Ta'ala has given you is a form of His provision, there's no logical response to that realization except gratitude to Allah.
That's it. There's no other response. Because every single thing I have is from his rizq, is from his provision. رِزْقًا لِلْعِبَادِ وَأَحْيَيْنَا بِهِ بَلْدَةً مَيْتَ كَذَلِكَ الْخُرُوجِ Allah SWT says, All of this that I just gave you. That earth, those trees, those plants, those rivers, the rain, all of it. He says, all of you know that every summer...
After spring comes summer. After summer comes fall. After fall comes winter and then comes spring again. And we witness it every year with our own eyes. We see the fullness of the trees coming in spring. We see the peak. of it in the summer, we see the harvest coming in the fall, and we see the death of all of this in the winter. And it restarts every single year. Allah Ta'ala says, كَذَلِكَ الْخُرُوجِ
That's exactly how your death and life will be. So the first claim of the Quraysh was what? You think that we're going to die and be dust. ذَلِكَ رَجُعٌ بَعِيدٌ and come back? It took Allah, this beautiful, it didn't take Allah, but Allah Ta'ala spent nine verses painting this beautiful picture, painting this illustration.
That you guys know, you see it around you. You look outside and all these trees are barren. There's no leaves on any of these trees. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says what? That is exactly how you will be brought back to life. Just like... the land that died, we brought it back to life, you will be as well.
كُلُّن كَذَّبَ الرُّسُولَ فَحَقَّ وَعِيدٌ Three verses, but they all have a very similar theme. Okay? Another example that Allah SWT does, and this is something that I think is very, very important. and our generation struggles with this a lot how many of you at some point or another either with your fashion with your music and movie choices or just your personality felt like you were really unique really different
My dad is so funny. My dad is like a classic, you know dad jokes? Like my dad is like a classic dad jokes, like classic dad jokes guy. And so my dad would always be like, you know, everybody wants to be so different. They all end up looking the same. And I was like, that's actually very, I was a kid and I'm like bars, you know, I'm like seven. That's very profound. He goes, everybody strives to be so different in life that they all end up at some point or other looking exactly alike. Right?
And we strive for this difference like really hard. You know, people gatekeep because they don't want people to like bite off their style. You know, like everyone asked me where I got my clothes from. I'll never tell you. You're never going to find out. Okay. I'm a Muslim first and a hater second, okay? No one is getting my passion. No, no, I'm joking. But that is a real thing, right?
Because our striving to be different is so profound. It's so deep. We really, really do believe like a decade plus of Barney telling us you are special. implanted into our psyche. That you are indeed someone unique. SubhanAllah. But Allah Ta'ala doesn't take that away from us. He doesn't say that you're not unique. No. Allah Ta'ala actually says beautifully. وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمٍ
In another surah, Allah says that the son and daughters of Adam were given ikram, were given honor. And then they were created in the best of molds of fashion. Allah Ta'ala doesn't... He doesn't put you down. But one thing that's very important is when you read the Quran, because remember he just talked about the scientific side of it, now he's going to the historical side of it. He says what?
كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَأَصْحَابُ الرَّاسِ وَثَمُودٍ He says, you know what? The people of Nuh had the same reaction that you're having. He's talking to the Quraysh. Prophet Nuh came to his people. And they had the same reaction. Like you think that your reaction is so novel, so unique. You think that you're so cutting edge that you figured something out. Ah, we got him. No.
The Quran is filled with story after story after story. Different prophet, different time, different people, same experience. This is why when the Prophet ﷺ was going through the hardest year of his life, the hardest year of his life, What did Allah Ta'ala send him? Did Allah Ta'ala send him an army? He could have. Allah Ta'ala could have sent him an army. And he did it in Badr. In the Battle of Badr, angels came down.
You know, we had angels in the outfield. Try angels in the battlefield. Like, different experience, right? They came down. The angels came and helped the Muslims to the point where some of the human warriors, the Muslim sahaba, started falling asleep. in battle they were so at peace because the angels were there just taking care of business right i gotta speak in okay anyways so they were doing their it's angels all right so that
Could have been a solution Allah Ta'ala could have sent. Allah Ta'ala could have sent unending wealth. He could have been given a kingdom like Prophet Sulaiman. Right? He could have been given power. He could have been given like the ability to do all of these different things. But you know what Allah sent in the hardest year of his life? The year that he lost his uncle, Abu Talib, and his uncle did not become Muslim. The year that he lost his wife Khadija, his greatest support. The one who...
instantly SubhanAllah accepted him and understood. You know, he described her in a hadith later. They asked, why did you love her so much? He said, because she believed in me when no one else did. Like loyalty, right? Abu Bakr loyalty. When he was describing Abu Bakr he goes you know when I came with Islam and I talked to all of the people he goes every single person that I spoke to about belief in Allah
and the Day of Judgment and the Quran. He goes, they all, I'm not going to use the word hesitated because that's not accurate, but they all took a moment, like a second even. He says, except for Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr was instant. Okay? So the Prophet ﷺ had these people in his life, but he still had a very difficult year. Now imagine Khadija passes away, his uncle passes away, the Muslims are being...
harassed, bullied, attacked constantly. What does Allah sends? He sends Surah Yusuf. He reveals to the Prophet ﷺ the chapter of Yusuf. Why? Because different Prophet, different time. Same story. Same experience. Prophet Yusuf was hurt and was abandoned by his brothers. Who is leading the charge against the Prophet? Abu Lahab. You know who he is? His uncle. Prophet Yusuf was imprisoned. Prophet Muhammad boycotted a living prison with his community. The similarities are endless.
So every single prophet that was sent before, they have this fraternity of experience. They get each other. So Allah Ta'ala, when He's talking to Quraysh, He says, you know, you think you're so different. You think you're so cool. He says, He says, the people before you, the people of Nuh, they rejected just like you did. You look the same. Right?
and the people of Ras and Thamud. وَعَادٌ وَفِرْعَوْنُ وَإِخْوَانُ لُوتِ And the people of Aad and Pharaoh and the people of Prophet Lut. وَأَصْحَابُ الْأَيْكَةِ وَقَوْمُ تُبَّعَ and the people who dwelled in the forest, who are another nation, and the people of Tubba'a, they all rejected their messengers. And even though they were all different, different times, different places,
the truth of the promise still reached them, which is what? They all died. And in their death, they came to see the angel of death. And when the angel of death came to them, they found what? Wow, the thing that I rejected forever, it is in fact the truth. But at that point, when the angel of death appears to the person on their deathbed, there is going to be no changing of minds.
There's going to be no like, give me an extra day, give me an extra moment. That is the moment of realization and the moment of truth. And then Allah Ta'ala finishes this beautiful narrative with this wonderful question. He says, أَثَعَيْنَا بِالْخَلْقِ الْأَوَّلِ بَلْ هُمْ فِي لَبَسٍ مِّنْ خَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ He says, were we incapable of creating you the first time? When you look at your own creation, you actually have nothing to do with it.
Your creation, your state being right now, was not the result of your own effort or your talent or anything, no matter how much we think that we are here because of something we did. Allah Ta'ala brings us back to the pre-us question. What did you do to get here? You didn't do anything. And then if you go even further, I mean, you can make this really, really complex. Like, what did you do to deserve being in this state of comfort that you are in now? What did you do?
to achieve all of this. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, not only did he bring you here, but he brought you here in a state, in a place. I mean, subhanAllah, there's a brother that he's very, mashallah, talented. He's a handyman. And he comes to my house and he listens to the podcast. So he's definitely going to know this story. He's from Syria. May Allah Ta'ala give them thabat, inshallah. And protect Ahlul Sham, inshallah. So he's from Syria.
But he hasn't been back in like 14 years, he says. And he left there when he was a young, you know, like a boy, like a young man. And he came to America and he came through all this crazy route, right? Which is probably the case for a lot of us who have immigrant parents that we're sitting here in Dallas, Texas, which is like, you know, people wonder.
you know, after Mecca, Medina, and Aqsa, do I go to Valley Ranch Masjid? Like, what's the next, you know, what's the next holy city in the world? We're sitting here in Dallas, Texas. And subhanAllah, if you just do a little bit, you don't have to do like a deep dive, just a little like 20 year, 30 year history of Muslims in America and the experience and how they got here. Most of the Muslims probably landed somewhere in New York.
right who came here from from outside the country most of the muslims who immigrated landed somewhere in new york maybe somewhere else but there's some like my brother the syrian brother who's good mashallah he's a handyman he landed in the armpit known as Ohio. May Allah ta'ala protect us. Okay? Allah tests us all in different ways. So he landed in Ohio. And I want you to imagine coming from a place like Damascus, Syria, which is...
ripe with history and culture. I mean, you're literally sitting in the place of Imam al-Nabawi. and the place where Imam al-Ghazali was, and Ibn Taymiyyah, and all these incredible people, and you land in freaking Cincinnati. Like, can you imagine the letdown? You know? I remember when I first went to Turkey, and I was praying in a masjid there.
I looked at the sign outside, and it said something like, this masjid was constructed in like 1600 or something. You know what the masjid's name is called? Literally, you want to know what it's called? New Masjid. Yeni Jami. Literally, it's called new masjid. I'm like, this thing is 500 years old. It's older than America. How is this new? So I want you to understand and imagine like when you come.
from a place like that and then you come to America, sometimes we forget that there is a deep historical context. There is a deep historical context. And Allah Ta'ala, I was talking to the brother who's a handyman, I don't want to use his name because I don't want to embarrass him.
and he said to me this is so ajeeb he said you know i came here as a young man from syria with not a lot of education in terms of like secular education i came here and i was able to go to school i was able to get a job and i'm able to get married and he said when i was a young man a young man in syria he goes i would never have imagined that this would be my life that i have a car subhanallah
And I have an apartment and I'm married and I have a job and I have this. He goes, I would never imagine that this would be my life. And he was just so overwhelmed. Like I could hear it in his voice because I was asking him about now that Syria.
has been opened. I said, are you going to go back? And he goes, yeah, of course I'm going to go visit. And he goes, but I can't imagine that Allah Ta'ala took me from where I was to where I am now. One of the greatest activities any person can do to come closer to Allah is think about how far you've come. Think about how far Allah has brought you. In many ways, spiritually, personally, financially.
in your family, all of these things. You think about subhanAllah, how has Allah been able to do all of this? Allah Ta'ala, He asks, Did you see that Allah Ta'ala had any difficulty or struggle bringing you to this position? No. Then Allah Ta'ala asks. He says, بَلْ هُمْ فِي لَبْسٍ مِنْ خَلْكٍ جَدِيدٍ No. بَلْ means absolutely not.
So what makes you think that the second creation, after you've died, after everything has fallen away, and we all become dust, he said, what makes you think that he won't be able to bring you back again? This first 15 verses of the surah is the opening argument. Okay? This argument is similar to like if you're playing, you know, a lot of my references are sports references.
So if you're playing like football or if you're playing like basketball or if you're watching a match like soccer or something, this opening passage is meant to be like a touchdown on the first play on kickoff. You know, like they kick the ball and all of a sudden they run it back for a touchdown or they open, you know, the match in soccer. And in the first two minutes, there's a goal. Everyone's kind of blanking out on me. I'm trying to figure out. It's like when Vela has a drop. Okay.
and and and within a minute everything's sold out like how do you feel right okay all the sisters are like huh okay or you're like in the first quarter of a basketball game and the other team makes like four threes in a row and it's only been like 30 seconds you're like It's meant to be just like a punch, like a gut punch. Allah Ta'ala is opening the surah with a deep realization, with a deep thought. It's like an exercise to get the spiritual heart moving.
Because these people are so far removed, so far away from that reflective state, that practice, that they can't get there. So Allah Ta'ala causes them to think a lot about these things. Now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions something. Really, really, subhanAllah, he switches gears. And instead of him asking you to look at the outside, he asks you to look inside now. So don't look at the earth around you anymore. Don't look at the sky above you, how beautiful it is.
Don't look at the trees and the mountains and all of those things. And don't look at the graves of people that have come before you and have passed away. Which by the way, there's a reason why the Prophet Muhammad would... visit the graves once a week there's a reason you know many of us we don't not only do we not visit the graves but like we avoid uh even driving by them and even if you think about like an american culture
Generally speaking, graves are not in places that are accessible. They're kind of hidden away. I remember in Chicago, I used to drive to school. I was commuting. And there was a grave, but they covered it up with a Dunkin' Donuts. Like they covered on the front of the road. It was like Dunkin Donuts and like Baskin Robbins. And then in order to get to the graveyard, you had to like drive around that, which to me is like the perfect representation of capitalism.
Just eat sweets until you die and then we'll bury you. Hajiib. Right? And the Prophet every Friday used to go and visit the graves. Why? Because there is something deeply profound. about going and walking and thinking and looking and reflecting. Now, in the time of the Prophet, there were no tombstones, right? They were just rocks or markers to let you know.
that this is somebody's burial spot to respect it we have in some ways in our own you know in this culture we're we're given the opportunity to see the names are one thing but to see the dates of the person and how long they lived. And one thing that I want to encourage everyone to do is the next time you find yourself visiting a grave, maybe it's visiting a relative who passed away, maybe it's attending a janazah, a burial.
Or maybe it's just you're just deciding, you know what, I want to start this practice myself, which I recommend. You know, when you visit graves, you know what happens? Number one, all of your problems seem smaller. Every distraction that you struggle with, every like dunya we... pain kind of it just kind of you lose focus of that for a second and you're walking through and the second thing that happened is you're going to see someone with like a name that kind of reminds you of yours
Or you're going to see a date that you were born on. A person your age. You're going to see 1990, 1980, 2000, whatever date you were born. And then you'll see the other side of that, which is going to be potentially the year that you're standing in right now, 2025, 2024. And then you're going to do the math and you're going to say, this person passed away at the same age that I'm standing here alive. And that person, just like you.
just like you, had hopes and aspirations and plans and dreams and thoughts about their future, just like you. But when you're standing there and you're looking, one of you... is above the ground and one is under. One of you your soul can still do things that will be given the forgiveness of Allah Ta'ala and the other one has to rely on their family and friends who are still alive to pray for them. May Allah Ta'ala make it easy.
So the Prophet ﷺ used to regularly visit the graves. Once a week. He didn't do any particular practice. He didn't do anything there that was ritualistic. The only thing he would do is make dua for them. He would say, Peace be upon you, O you who have entered into this abode from the believers. And then the beautiful phrasing,
وَنَحْنُ اللَّهِقُونَ You just went ahead of us and we are just following you. Like you know when you're walking in a door and there's someone who walks in in front of you? That's the metaphor that the Prophet ﷺ was putting forth with death. And then when you say the dua, We ask Allah Ta'ala for his forbearance and his grace, his forgiveness and his mercy over those who have passed away. So the Prophet ﷺ would do that. Now, the thing that has to be thought about...
when we go into this state of reflection, Allah Ta'ala tells us, وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَّعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُ This verse, by the way, is one of the most powerful verses in the Quran. So we're going to wrap up here, but I want you to really lock in right now. Allah Ta'ala says, وَلَقَلَ خَلَقَنَا الْإِنسَانِ We created, without a doubt, all of the human beings, all of humanity. You look around the room, you see every single person that has
existed, that is existing, that will exist, they're all from the creation of Allah . This statement sets the field at level. Allah is the one who is intimately aware with every... single thing that we struggle with, that we deal with, everything that we are going through. That's why He says وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوُسُ بِهِ نَفْسُ And Allah says we know exactly
what the soul of the person is whispering to themselves. One of my philosophy professors told us that there's three kinds of existences that you have. Number one is who you are in public. Number two is who you are in private. And number three is who you really are. Who you really are. In public, you behave a certain way. When you're with your friends, you're a little bit, you know, more, let's say, real.
But the realist version of yourself is the one that nobody really knows. The thoughts that you have, the fears that you have, the regrets, the hopes. This is why when you hang out with friends, people that you think you're close with, best friends, right? Have you ever learned something new about somebody you thought you were really close with? You sit there and you learn, you're like, well, I never knew that you liked that. And they're like, yeah.
why didn't you tell me i don't know i didn't think it was important i'm kind of embarrassed why because that person hid the realest part of themselves for whatever reason right they're like i like pineapple on pizza you're like yeah keep hiding that I don't need that to become public, right? Allah Ta'ala says, He is the only one who knows you at that level. وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوُسُ بِهِ نَفْسُ Your friends don't know you like that.
Even your mom and dad don't know you like that. Your kids don't know you like that. My daughter said the funniest thing the other day. My wife was on the phone. She was going to Target. She goes, do you want anything? I said, yeah, can you get some ginger ale? I love ginger ale. So I said, can you get some ginger ale? My daughter goes, I knew it. That man loves fizzy drinks. She doesn't understand how speaker phones work in the car. So I go, Iman, I can hear you. She goes, oh.
But she knows me. She knows me. Like, apparently, my wife said that she said, when we're going to Target, she goes, we can get baba ginger ale. Like, she knows me. But even, I know, it's cute. I got her, you know, three of those things, though, by the way. Just FYI, right? A 12 case of ginger ale, $7. Do the math, okay? No, I'm joking. But subhanAllah, your kids know you, your parents know you, your friends know you. You think you know that person.
But you actually don't even know. Like the mountain is only 10% exposed, so are you. But Allah Ta'ala knows the deepness and the crevices of your existence. And He knows all of those things, those secrets that you don't want to tell people. He's not asking you to uncover them by the way. There's no place in the Quran where Allah says take everything about you and write it down and go ahead. Some of the companions said if sins had a smell you couldn't be near me.
We're not told to expose anything about ourselves. That's for you and Allah to know. But what Allah Ta'ala is trying to articulate to the reader here, and hopefully that we're receiving according to the... Mufassirun of the Quran, those people who explain it, is that the greatest delusion, the greatest fallacy a person can have is that they have something secret between them and everyone else and Allah doesn't know it. No, Allah Ta'ala knows.
And this is why the smart response to that realization is to submit to the one who knows everything. If somebody knows what it is that you're doing, what it is that you're thinking, what it is that you said, there's no point trying to resist anymore.
As soon as they say, hey, we know. We know, right? Have you guys ever seen like an interrogation? They're interrogating a criminal in a movie. They're like, we have it on video. They're like, all right. The criminal just submits. They concede. They give in. They're like, that's it. Allah Ta'ala says, We know exactly what is going on inside of there. We know exactly what's going on. You don't have to pretend with Allah. There's no appearances that you have to keep up with Allah.
Allah doesn't think that you're more religious or less religious based on how you pronounce the letter Ayn or Kha. Or what hijab or jilbab or thawb you wear. Allah does not, his knowledge of you doesn't change based on the knowledge.
of what people know. The problem is that we're so concerned about public appearances that we forget that there is something much deeper there. Now, what the Quraysh learned and what the prophet was trying to teach was that if you live your life obsessed with outward appearances you can only focus so much on one thing and so you end up becoming the shiny red apple with the rotten core
And the sad thing is and the scary thing is that all the mission of Islam is trying to accomplish with each Muslim is to make your inside as beautiful as you want your outside to be. That's why when the Prophet would stand and see his reflection, you know what he would say? Oh Allah, just like you've made my exterior beautiful, make my interior beautiful too. The greatest disappointment that a person will have.
is when they assume themselves to be one way, but then they come to a realization that they're not that way truly. When they see who they really are. This is why we need to make dua to Allah to make us as good as we are on the outside. You know, as beautiful, think about this. Do a little math experiment before we conclude, inshallah, with a little bit of Q&A. Ask yourself how long you spend getting ready for something that you're really, really, really excited for. How long do you spend?
I took my son to the basketball game. I swear to God, he was ready for like six hours. Actually, that morning, he had his jersey laid out. He was ready. He was excited. And that's how we are. When you're excited for something, you, I mean, many of us are like maybe looking at different vacations or whatever, and you're already thinking about, oh, I saw on TikTok this coffee shop, or I saw this restaurant, you know, the wedding, don't even get me started on weddings.
People getting ready for weddings 72 hours in advance. Right? There was a sister one time that was asking about getting her nails gelled. Which would, by the way, become very difficult to keep wudu. Okay? And then she was like, well, how long can I keep my will do? Basically is what she was saying. Because the hours of duration of getting ready is so crazy. Getting the makeup and everything ready at 10 in the morning for a 7 p.m. wedding. I'm not trying to hate.
May Allah Ta'ala give us all happy marriages. But now compare that to how long you take getting ready for Jummah. Or how long we spend praying. Like it's so weird, right? When it's something that we're really excited for. hours are like painful like oh we can't wait and we will invest those hours you know people will wake up at seven
for some basketball runs for pickup, and they'll play ball from 7 to 10, but they can't wake up for Fajr for five minutes. There is a problem there. So Allah Ta'ala says, look, You can hide all that from other people. But the one that you can't hide that from is me. وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تَوَسُسُ بِهِ نَفْسُ And that's when he gives this very powerful line. وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ
And we are closer to him than his juggler vein, which you may have seen on TikTok behind some really moody background and some humming. And all of those... Jokes aside, think about this. Allah Ta'ala says he's closer to you than the blood vessel that's literally inside of you. And think about what happens when a person gets nervous or anxious.
Their heart rate increases. Their heart starts pumping faster. So Allah Ta'ala is telling you He knows every single experience that you have, whether it calms you down, whether it scares you.
whether it makes you happy, whether it makes you sad, whether it stresses you out, whether it calms you, whether it gives you tranquility, Allah Ta'ala is there with you. Now, when the reader reads this verse, they can experience two emotions. Number one, for the Quraysh, of course, they're going to read this or...
For people distant are going to be afraid. And that's okay. That's part of the Qur'anic experience is that it's supposed to bring us back to Allah. But for those who are trying to get close to Allah, this verse actually also gives you a lot of consolation.
and a lot of comfort. Because people can be disappointing. People's perceptions or their incorrect perceptions or their judgments or whatever, all of that can be very disappointing. But you know who will never disappoint you is the one who is closest to you. You don't actually have to explain anything to Allah. When you make dua, you don't have to give the background, the context of the story. You make dua to Allah and all of the background is already known. Everything is already there.
He's different than anyone else. May Allah Ta'ala give us closeness to him. May Allah Ta'ala give us the ability to always relate to him. This reminder closes off the previous section and leads us into the next one which talks about the Islamic belief of accountability accountability taking ownership for your actions and your statements and realizing how those things affect our everyday
actions. We ask Allah Ta'ala to give us all of the lessons that we've heard today and more. We ask Allah Ta'ala to allow us to become people of Qur'an that reflect on it, that think about it. We ask Allah Ta'ala to make us those that do not reject based off our own weaknesses. but we accept and we own even those flaws that we have. We ask Allah to make us those that have firm conviction of the Day of Judgment, just like Allah allows us to witness.
the recovery of the life and death of things every year that Allah Ta'ala allows us to realize that one day we will come from our death back into life and answer for our deeds. We ask Allah Ta'ala to make us those that are reflective.
that we look around the world, that we see the mountains and the trees and the rivers and the stars and the sky, and we remember Him and Him alone. Ameen, Ameen, Ya Rabbil Alameen. Subhanakallahum bihamdik. Nashadu an la ilaha illa anta nastaghfirika wa tubu ilayk. Okay, a couple questions inshallah tonight before we break for Isha.
It shows in 10 minutes, so if you have to make wudu, now is a good time. But we'll go a few questions, inshallah. When something I want doesn't happen, how do I know whether it was not meant for me or if I need to have sabr and continue pursuing? I like how you hid the marriage question. So I will say this, okay? One of the important skills in life is being able to determine the difference between
a speed bump and a brick wall. Okay? And most people would be aware of what that is. But in case you're wondering... it would be wise for you to ask people that care for you, that are wiser than you, that can give you guidance on this, right? If you have friends who are a little bit older than you and you can go to them and say, hey, this is the situation I'm in.
Can you give me some feedback, some guidance? Do you think that this is a no or do you think this is a wait and see? Okay. And usually getting some shura, asking your friends or family for that consultation will give you some clarity on that inshallah. But how do you know that something wasn't meant to happen? At the end of it, it doesn't happen. Okay. Oh, this is an interesting question. Okay. God.
It got so many upvotes. Okay, as-salamu alaykum. Is reading, they put in quote, spicy novels, haram. I'm guessing that's not a cookbook. My wife has read and he wrote 250 this year. It's January 27th. We're going on 10 a day. Okay? No, but all seriousness, and I'm concerned it's negatively impacting her faith. So let me actually say something very... Let me make this question a little bit more general, okay? So, look.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran has prohibited human beings from what we call fawahish or fahisha. It's been prohibited, meaning this... concept of like a lewd degenerate behavior. Okay. And this is not medium specific. So this could be like movies, music. It could be poetry. It could be art. it could be a picture, it could be a painting. If it's considered something that generally would be graded as fahisha or from the fawahish, then
It's not acceptable for Muslims to engage in that. Whatever engaging looks like, like watching the movie, listening to the song, okay? Even listening to like podcasts that are built around that genre, okay? Now... What I will say is that Allah has given the human beings outlets for their desires in the form of marriage. And so if that is a part of a person's intimacy, that's not a problem as long as it's obviously reciprocated on both sides.
but engaging in content or literature or movies or music that is filled with references, whether they be explicit or whether they be frequent and implicit, that is of this nature. Allah knows best about the permissibility of it. My teachers, the way that we've had conversations about certain elements of art and of literature, they feel, wallahu alam, that this would be impermissible.
I would also like to, beyond the permissibility of it, I would also like to ask everybody to think about what it is that you are putting into your body. And I mean that by your spiritual body, like what are you putting into your heart? What are you allowing your mind to adapt as normal? And I think that's a really, really important thing to think about. Obviously, with things that are explicit content.
for sure we know the ruling for that is impermissible but i would even say what you think is normal and what you think is um what you think is normal and what you enjoy. You have to be careful to make sure that it's not morally questionable or reprehensible. But again, if this person is asking, I would say, you know, approach it in a way that's wise. I wouldn't make like a huge fight out of it. I would try to, I mean, 250 this year is impressive, but I would...
I would definitely try to work on that or at least have a conversation and seek counseling if you need it. Okay. All right. We'll do one more before Isha, inshallah. Is it haram for parents to not let their son marry the person of their choice because of non-sharia compliant things, i.e. family origin, place of birth? So the sharia actually gives the decision of...
who a man marries to the man, meaning that the son does not need the express permission of their parents to marry somebody. However, of course, it's always wise to make sure for Barakah that everybody's on board. But in this scenario that you're referencing where there's a prohibition that's being given, a family restriction that's being given for something that's not Islamic in nature.
then I would consider, of course, dialogue, dialogue, keep working through it. But if it gets to a point where it's sort of an absurd rejection for no other reason besides something that's not really wise or... or full of uh hikmah and again that's not your decision engage in shura ask people who know ask people who are older because they might be telling you no for a reason that you think is dumb but it actually might be very smart
It actually could be very, very intelligent. So it is good to seek advice from people who are wiser than you. But if you, after seeking Shura with scholars, with elders in the community... that it comes to the point where you realize that, you know what, this is just a cultural hang-up. You are not bound to marry or not marry somebody based on that, okay? And when it...
For a woman in this scenario, you can be given the ability to marry somebody if a judge or in this scenario in America, if there is a panel or a committee of scholars that comes together and rules that the prohibition is baseless. the same thing can be achieved. But generally speaking, there's no doubt that making sure that the family is on board for the wedding is the way, is the path.
forward inshallah and i hope that instead of it being like a snap call and just like a judgment that's made that a person can be inshallah patient and work through it Oh man, there's so many. What'd you say? Isra'a Maraj? Oh, thank you. Yeah. Okay. So this, insha'Allah, week... is the commemoration of al-Isra'u al-Ma'raj, or according to some of the scholars, it is. It happens in Rajab. Others held the opinion that it happened in another time.
Generally speaking, the idea of most scholars that it was held in RajabAllahu'alam, we're having an event, inshallah, this Thursday, bi-idhnillah, where Shaykh Abdel Nasser is going to go over the narrations about Al-Isra'ul-Ma'raj and...
talk about the lessons that we can take from that. It'll be this Thursday after Isha, inshallah, on the Musallah. Thank you for reminding me of faceless voice in the back. I really do appreciate it. Jazakallah khairan. So, inshallah, we'll go ahead and conclude with that. Barakallahu feekam, everybody. Take care, inshallah, and we'll see you next Monday for Heartwork.
Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Isha is in three minutes, so I would encourage everybody to head over there as soon as you can. Inshallah. Okay?