0:01

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa

0:03

Barakatuhu. This Ramadan,

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we at Qalam are working to

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support the Human Development Fund in

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their One Ummah, One Plate Global

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Iftar Campaign. Their

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mission extends beyond borders, reaching families

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in need across Africa, the Middle

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East, and Asia. Countless

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families in those regions, including refugees

0:23

and the improvists, struggle daily for

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basic nourishment. To

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your assistance, there are teams on

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the ground providing essential food packages

0:32

to families in countries like Kenya,

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Yemen, Somalia, Gaza, Pakistan, and more.

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Ramadan should be a time of peace and reflection,

0:41

not hunger and hardship. HDF

0:43

is dedicated to providing daily Iftars

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and food packages to families, each

0:47

designed to sustain them for the

0:49

month of Ramadan. This

0:52

act of kindness has the power to

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multiply the reward of your own fasting,

0:57

offering much more than temporary relief. It's

1:00

a step towards breaking the cycle

1:02

of hunger and poverty. This

1:04

is your Ummah in need of your support.

1:07

Please visit hdfund.org

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to learn more about our global

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reach this Ramadan and choose where you'd

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like to direct your support this

1:18

Blessed Month. As-salamu alaykum. As-salamu

1:26

alaykum. This is Abdurrahman Murphy, and you're

1:28

listening to The Roots Community Podcast, Heart

1:30

Work, being anchored to Allah.

1:33

In this series, we discuss a very

1:36

well-known and very important hadith narration from

1:38

the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, in

1:40

which he gives essential life advices

1:42

to Abdullah Ibn Abbas, radiAllahu Anhu.

1:45

If you've benefited from the podcast that we've put out and the

1:48

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1:50

consider supporting our work by becoming a

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rootsdfw.org/sustain. All

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really appreciate anything that you can contribute.

2:03

Dazakmul-Okhayran, wa salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. As-salaamu

2:06

alaikum wa rahmatullah wa salaamu alaikum wa

2:09

rahmatullah. Wa

2:11

ala'ala a'lihi wa as-sahabi hajma'im. Welcome home

2:13

everybody, alhamdulillah. Those of you who are

2:15

outside, we're making dua for you, that

2:18

it doesn't rain. Jalla. There's

2:22

like one guy with an umbrella. Everyone's

2:24

gonna get underneath, mashaAllah. Welcome

2:27

back alhamdulillah, where this is our first session,

2:29

the last time that's Ramadan, where

2:33

we have been going through a beautiful

2:35

hadith of the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, a

2:38

hadith in which he advises

2:40

his student and his

2:43

close companion, Abdullah ibn Abbas

2:45

and his relative, his

2:47

nephew really, I mean his cousin, but I mean at

2:50

the status of a younger

2:52

person, the son

2:54

of his uncle, Al-Abbas. And

2:57

the narration is quite long.

2:59

We've been going at it, you know, for a

3:01

little bit, Alhamdulillah. I'm just pulling

3:03

up the entire narration here, where

3:05

Ibn Abbas is riding on

3:07

an animal behind the Prophet,

3:09

SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. So they're sharing

3:12

this moment together. And

3:15

the Prophet, SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, he says

3:17

to him, let me give you some

3:20

advice. And

3:22

when he gives him this

3:24

advice, he tells him a few

3:27

things. Number one is he says, remember

3:30

Allah and Allah Ta'ala will protect

3:32

you. Remember

3:35

Allah and you

3:37

will find him always in front of you.

3:41

So be mindful of Allah and Allah will be mindful

3:43

of you. Be mindful

3:45

of him and you will always find him before

3:47

you. And then

3:49

he continues, and the next part of the

3:52

hadith, he says something that is the next

3:54

section for us, which

3:56

is know Allah in

3:59

times of evil. If

4:01

you remember him in times of ease, then

4:04

Allah will recognize you in your times

4:06

of hardship. So

4:09

this next layer of advice now is kind

4:11

of adding to the expectation, but it's also

4:13

adding to the implication. He says

4:16

to him, not only is your relationship

4:18

with Allah about protecting that relationship, but

4:21

it's about protecting the relationship unconditionally.

4:25

You know, everybody feels motivated

4:27

by different things in different times. Some

4:29

scholars talked about how people sometimes feel

4:31

motivated by good times, by times

4:34

that are easy. And some scholars

4:36

actually wrote and said that sometimes when

4:38

things are easy, it actually

4:40

is an obstacle for people's iman. That

4:43

when things are too comfortable, people start

4:45

to struggle. On the

4:47

flip side, we know that when times are difficult,

4:50

it is one of the things that will humble

4:52

us. You know, when

4:55

you feel the weight on your shoulders as

4:57

the saying goes, like the only place to go is

4:59

down into sujut. And

5:01

so some people, their natural

5:03

disposition is that I

5:05

remember Allah when times are tough. Okay, let's do a quick

5:08

show of hands. How many of you find

5:10

yourselves remembering Allah more when times are good?

5:15

Like when times are smooth, you

5:17

remember Allah. Oh,

5:19

interesting. How many of you remember Allah more when times are bad?

5:21

Oh, wow. Okay. Well,

5:23

that actually exactly proves the point that I

5:26

was trying to make. I was actually hoping

5:28

that there'd be some people

5:30

that raise their hand for the first one, but I think nobody did. Well,

5:34

that's not good, but the

5:37

numbers don't lie, right? So why?

5:40

But the point is going to

5:42

be self-evident. Why did the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi

5:44

Wasallam tell him then, remember

5:46

Allah in times of ease and

5:49

he'll remember you in times of difficulty. It could have

5:51

been the other way around. Remember

5:53

Allah when times are tough and

5:56

he will remember you when times are easy. It could have

5:58

been, right? It's also a true statement. Or

6:00

he could have just said remember Allah all the time and

6:03

just gotten you know the whole thing over with But

6:06

he made it very clear to him not bass That

6:08

one of the special traits of those people that worship

6:11

Allah and they worship him sincerely is that?

6:14

Nothing in life can derail

6:16

a person from remembering Allah

6:18

if they are truly a servant

6:21

of his Nothing and

6:24

in fact, it's not only that nothing can derail

6:26

that person But that

6:28

person can actually turn any situation

6:30

at all into a motivation

6:32

to remember Allah You see

6:35

when we all raise our hand for the second

6:37

question But we didn't find ourselves

6:39

raising our hand for the first question. It

6:42

doesn't mean that we're not true Muslims But what it means

6:44

is that we have some work to do Because

6:47

good times are also signs

6:49

of Allah Right

6:51

bad times pull us back to Allah because

6:53

we feel that desperation that urgency Right

6:56

when you are afraid you're gonna get

6:58

laid off You're not gonna get accepted into the

7:00

program the proposal is not gonna go this way

7:02

That is out all these negative thoughts that are

7:04

swirling. It's good We talked about this

7:06

last night in the hot era for

7:09

the last ten nights. We talked about the army

7:13

Of Taulute Going up against

7:15

the light Goliath right and David the

7:17

young shepherd steps up out of nowhere. What was there

7:20

do ah? Robana a free

7:22

Elena sub run with a bit

7:24

of kadamana when Suna ala

7:26

komil kafirin the do I was

7:28

full of what? Concern doubt

7:31

even right maybe some

7:33

fear Oh Allah make us patient

7:36

Give us the strength to remain

7:38

firm make us courageous and allow us

7:40

to become victorious So bad

7:42

times it's almost like a one-to-one easy

7:45

jump right bad times remember Allah

7:47

It's kind of easy, but

7:50

good times the issue is Prosperity

7:52

can oftentimes read a sense

7:54

of negligence When

7:57

times are easy we feel like

7:59

nothing's gonna go wrong wrong. When times are

8:01

easy, we feel like we've done everything

8:03

right. When times are easy, we feel like nothing

8:05

can change the momentum of positivity

8:07

that I'm experiencing. I mean even

8:10

think about how you spend, right?

8:12

If you get paid on the 1st and the 15th, you

8:15

generally are a lot more generous and a

8:17

lot more willing to go shopping on

8:19

the 2nd and on the 16th, right? Then

8:22

you are on like the 12th or the

8:24

28th. Toward the end of the month,

8:27

right, in the beginning you're going out to

8:29

dinner, you're having nice things, you're going to

8:31

Dave's, you're going to Noodle Wave, right? You

8:33

might even pay for a friend, you'll share

8:35

your food, you're generous. Toward the

8:37

end of the month, you're just eating Dave's sauce. You're

8:40

eating ketchup packets, right? You're like because

8:43

why? Because that constriction, it

8:45

causes you to think a little bit. So

8:48

the true believer, and I

8:50

don't mean to say we're not true believers, may Allah

8:52

make us true believers. The true believers,

8:54

are you ready for this? They

8:56

are able to be with Allah

8:59

the same in

9:01

times that come naturally to them as

9:04

they are in times that don't come naturally to them.

9:06

I'll give you an example of this that's a little

9:08

bit different, okay? Umar, Radi Lohan, the great companion of

9:11

the Prophet A'isaat al-Salaam, right? The

9:13

2nd Khalifa after him, A'isaat al-Salaam, Umar,

9:15

the you know,

9:17

al-Faruk, the strongest

9:19

in faith, right? So strong that

9:21

when he walked down the street,

9:23

Shaitan would go the opposite way.

9:25

Umar was incredible man. And

9:28

Umar, one of the things that people don't give him

9:30

credit for, because

9:32

they don't know too much about him, like you read the

9:34

biography, you really learn that he

9:36

was an incredibly soft-hearted person. He

9:39

was so soft hearted. For all the reputation of

9:41

Umar for being a tough guy, he was

9:44

so soft in his inner

9:46

disposition. And one of

9:48

the times, you know,

9:51

he gave this beautiful statement. He said,

9:53

I actually don't like

9:55

it when people praise me.

9:58

And he wasn't trying to be like, you know, you

10:01

know, he wasn't trying to make a joke or be funny.

10:05

He was just saying like, I don't like when people praise me. Now

10:07

naturally we know as human beings, like we all love to

10:09

be praised. It's part of our

10:12

fitra, like we enjoy when people recognize if someone

10:14

says, hey, you look good, you smell good, you

10:16

look nice, right? You

10:18

smile a little bit, right? You say, oh, thank you,

10:20

right? Mashallah. But

10:23

he said, I don't like that. And he had an

10:25

interesting reason. He said, I

10:28

would prefer for people to give

10:30

me criticism because

10:33

he says praise doesn't make me better. Praise

10:36

just reinforces what I already am,

10:38

which is fine, but criticism changes

10:40

my negative into a positive. Now

10:43

let me pause here for a second. That

10:45

is not a fatwa for everyone here to be like, I'm

10:47

never gonna praise you again, I'm just gonna criticize you. Sometimes

10:50

people who criticize others, they're like, don't you

10:52

know what Amara said? Okay, Habibi, that's for

10:54

you. You're supposed to

10:56

be criticized, right? You're not supposed to walk around

10:58

reminding me, all Amara said he loved criticism. So

11:01

I'm gonna criticize you. No, that's

11:03

not how that works. He's reflecting, right?

11:05

Description, not prescription. He's not saying

11:08

walk around because the Prophet

11:10

Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said what? Bashiru wa latu

11:12

na firu. Yesiru wa latu

11:14

asiru. Give good news, don't give bad

11:16

news. So we know

11:18

it's from our religion that we shouldn't be

11:20

too tough on people. But Amara

11:22

is saying for me, for myself, I

11:26

prefer when I'm with a friend

11:28

of mine that that friend comes and tells me like, hey, you

11:30

know what? I know that you

11:32

do this and Mashallah, that's good, that's good, but

11:34

you should work on this part. Because

11:36

he says that makes me better. And then he

11:38

has another statement that summarizes this where he says,

11:41

your iman, your sincerity will not

11:43

be complete as a Muslim until

11:45

praise and criticism to you are

11:47

equal. Are equal. It

11:50

doesn't matter what you tell me. And

11:52

some companions and even some scholars that

11:55

followed, if somebody criticized

11:57

them, they would actually give them

11:59

a gift. And they would say

12:01

thank you. Imagine like somebody comes up to you

12:03

and they're like, hey you prayed wrong and you're like, hold on one second.

12:06

And you give them some money. They're like, what's this for? Because

12:09

you just corrected my salah. Like

12:11

that's how pious they were. May Allah give us

12:13

that, right? They always saw it as an opportunity

12:15

for growth. So what I'm trying

12:17

to say is, a believer doesn't have

12:19

a dichotomy between these two categories.

12:23

When a believer sees goodness,

12:25

they still remember Allah. And

12:28

they still have fear of Allah in that good time. Just

12:31

like they would when the

12:33

times are bad. Just like

12:35

they would. There's a companion by

12:38

the name of Abdur-Hmambin Awf

12:40

Radilah Quran who was very wealthy. Ahmambin Afan,

12:43

also very wealthy. They were known to

12:45

be incredibly wealthy companions. They

12:47

had a lot of money, right? And

12:50

some of the companions, they

12:53

would oftentimes aspire to

12:55

have a lot of wealth. Because

12:58

why? All of us, who here would

13:00

like to have some more money in their life? You raise your

13:03

hand too fast. Never be

13:05

the first, right? You always got to be like, eh, maybe,

13:08

you know? So

13:13

wanting more money, right, is a natural human

13:15

disposition. Allah says, you love wealth. We all

13:17

love money, right? But

13:23

if you use that money in a way

13:25

that's improper, inappropriate, that's bad for

13:27

you, then that money can actually become something

13:30

that's a liability now,

13:32

spiritually, on the day of judgment. All

13:35

of that money that I spent for

13:37

those bad reasons now becomes actually a

13:39

punishment. So,

13:41

Awmambin Awf Radilah Quran, he used to

13:43

say, again, it goes back to him somehow, some way.

13:47

He used to advise, don't

13:49

make Dua'af or more wealth unless you

13:51

can handle it. Because

13:54

he says, you might get that more wealth, and

13:56

that more wealth might actually destroy you. as

14:01

if you did have a little bit of

14:03

difficulty, like that little bit

14:05

of stress every two weeks, paycheck to

14:07

paycheck, it sounds like

14:10

a curse, but it's actually a blessing because

14:12

those constricted moments are reminding you that you

14:14

need Allah. What's the dua

14:16

that we say, or what's the statement we say

14:18

in our dua? Oh Allah, you are the one

14:20

that is completely free of need. Oh

14:24

Allah, and we are the ones that are totally

14:26

and completely, we are absolutely in

14:28

need of you at all times. That

14:31

recognition is very, very important. Right?

14:35

So let's talk a little bit about this. What does it

14:37

mean for a person to not

14:39

become distracted or deluded by

14:41

times of ease? In Mar-Rajab

14:43

he says, this means that

14:46

the person's iman and their

14:48

spiritual state does not waver

14:51

and they are mindful of Allah just as

14:53

they are when they need him desperately. No

14:55

one else can help you. No one else

14:57

can solve your problem. No one else can

14:59

get you the job. No one else can

15:01

get you on that flight. Whatever it might

15:03

be, when your heart

15:05

yearns for Allah and breaks down all

15:08

of the walls around it and you

15:10

humble yourself before Allah, Ibn Rajab says

15:12

that you can experience that same level of

15:14

humility when Allah ta'ala gives you something. How

15:16

many of you have ever been given something

15:18

and you felt, I don't deserve this? That's

15:22

a good feeling. That's what

15:24

he's talking about. When a person

15:26

receives something from Allah, they've

15:28

been given some gift or some risk and they say, so

15:31

I don't deserve this. You

15:33

know, Alhamdulillah, but what? This is

15:35

too much. I don't deserve all of this. And

15:38

look at the situation we've been

15:40

witnessing since October. I

15:43

mean, there's no reason any of us should feel

15:45

deserving of anything. We didn't

15:47

do anything to be born in a place in

15:49

a situation where bombs are not dropping on our

15:51

heads from an oppressive regime. We didn't

15:53

deserve any of this. So

15:55

we are constantly submersed in blessing from

15:57

Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Ibn Rajab says

15:59

that says that we should be just

16:01

as aware of that as we are when

16:03

we are in need. So he said number

16:06

one, this person has the same relationship, the

16:08

same fear of Allah, the same concern about

16:10

not oppressing or aggressing against the limits of

16:12

Allah, that the person uses

16:15

whatever good Allah has given them to

16:18

go and do the things that are good for

16:20

them. You know,

16:22

it's funny, like everybody starts to think about

16:24

how they're going to change their life when

16:27

they're like sick. You

16:29

know, you get sick and you're like, I should really go to the masjid more.

16:32

Right? Or like you get really busy and you're

16:34

like, I really want to go to Isha tonight. But

16:37

when you're free or when you're

16:39

healthy, there's like all these distractions. There's

16:42

all these things that can kind of veer you off of that

16:44

plan. And

16:46

what he's saying here is, see if

16:49

you can be as committed to those

16:51

actions when you do have the time.

16:55

Who you are when you have provision, when

16:57

you have prosperity and comfort, who you are

16:59

in those moments is partially how

17:01

you can see who you really are. Because

17:04

everybody, when they're tested, will do all the right things to make

17:06

sure they get out of the test. But

17:08

once you're in a state of prosperity, and

17:10

by the way, the scholars

17:13

didn't reserve the word test

17:15

for bad times. They

17:18

use test for bad times

17:20

and good times. They

17:22

would say Allah will test you. And

17:24

the Quran, Allah ta'ala says, wala

17:27

nabulu an nakum, Allah ta'ala will

17:29

test you with

17:31

things from what? From wealth,

17:34

from fear of losing wealth,

17:36

from children, from provision, from

17:39

all types of things. Allah ta'ala

17:41

will test you with every single thing. So the day you

17:43

got your paycheck is as equal of a test as the

17:45

day you lost your job. How

17:47

you handle both situations tells you a lot about

17:49

yourself. Okay? Now, what

17:51

if a person does this? What

17:54

if a person is able to do this? Well,

17:57

number one, Allah says

17:59

about this. person that they've

18:01

conquered themselves. One of

18:03

the greatest you know points of strength that a

18:05

person can have. This is why fasting is so

18:07

remarkable. You know we're on day number what 23

18:09

now, right? Or day number 22. We're heading into the

18:13

23rd night inshaAllah.

18:16

This is the this is like one

18:18

of those the last 10 nights where

18:20

you're fasting and you're doing Ramadan and you're

18:22

praying. You feel the sense of really that

18:24

you've accomplished something, right? Like

18:26

you I've been able to do this. I've been

18:29

able to actually keep going around. So

18:31

Allah says, He says, He says, we created

18:33

you and we

18:41

know exactly what your

18:43

soul whispers to yourself. So

18:46

all of Ramadan, right? You're

18:48

battling those whispers. Some of those whispers are coming throughout

18:50

the day. Man, this is so difficult. Why

18:52

do I have to do this? Some of

18:55

those whispers are coming to you after Fajr has come in. You're

18:57

like, I don't think it's Fajr yet. Give

19:00

a little couple bites, right? You go to your prayer

19:02

app. You start messing with the prayer time. So like

19:04

which one gives me the latest Fajr? Right,

19:07

but then that one affects your mugger. You're like,

19:09

ooh, touche. You're like, I

19:11

need the latest Fajr and the earliest mugger, right? We

19:14

call that Beni Israel. Anyway, so okay, that's

19:17

exactly what they did. So leaving that out on Friday,

19:19

collect them on Sunday. A long story. Anyway, so we

19:21

don't mess with the religion like that, right? So Allah

19:24

says, Allah says, I created you. I know that you're

19:30

battling yourself every day. Okay, but

19:33

then after that verse, he says what? But human beings

19:35

need to know as much as

19:41

your soul is whispering to you, Allah

19:43

says, but they need to know that we are closer

19:45

to them than their jugular vein. Where's your jugular vein?

19:48

Right here. You guys heard this verse before? Allah

19:51

is closer to using your jugular vein. You may have

19:53

heard it in the Chudba. You may have seen it

19:55

tweeted by somebody. You may have even come across it

19:57

on TikTok. May Allah protect us, right? God

20:00

is closer to us than our jugular vein and

20:02

you're like that was deep who said that they

20:04

probably should have quoted instead of Quran right Here

20:07

if you didn't know I'm here to tell you that it's from the Quran The

20:10

mufasa the people who explained the Quran

20:12

they say why did Allah? Tell

20:15

a person tell us that he's closer to

20:17

us than our jugular vein well,

20:20

because the thing that Allah tada is trying to remind

20:22

us of is that the

20:24

Nafs who we are right is We

20:27

kind of see it as being centered around here,

20:29

right? This is who I am whenever anybody says

20:32

me they go like this, right? This is who

20:34

I am but Allah tada says

20:36

the thing that gives you life Your

20:38

jugular vein right that

20:40

is the thing that actually will give

20:43

you the ability to breathe Which

20:45

is tenefas in Arabic Nafs self comes

20:47

from tenefas You can't continue breathing if

20:50

this thing is not working and

20:52

Allah says I'm closer to you than this This

20:55

is literally inside of you Allah says I know exactly

20:57

what you're going through So

20:59

as a result of that when a person is going

21:01

through life How can you forget

21:03

the one that is closer to you than your jugular vein?

21:07

You know we say in English when we miss something and it was

21:09

really close to us. We say what it was right in front of

21:11

my Eye Allah

21:13

is like it's not even in front of your eyes Your

21:16

sight of Allah in good times doesn't even

21:18

require your senses. It just requires your heart.

21:20

That's it You just have to

21:23

realize that he's the one who gave this to me. He's

21:25

the one that provisioned this for me He's the one

21:27

who sent this down to me. Okay

21:30

now Everybody

21:33

has their lapses. No one's perfect Everybody

21:36

is going to have to be reminded sometimes Let me

21:38

tell you some stories of some reminders and

21:40

for they who is a great scholar He

21:43

one time met this woman who

21:45

was known to be very pious Her

21:48

name was Shatwana. Shatwana was a very

21:50

pious woman. You guys know like that

21:52

one grandmother Who's

21:55

like please make do for me, and she's like I got you and

21:57

then it comes true My mom

21:59

by the way Any draw that she

22:01

made for me and I can't

22:03

say against me, but I'll say about me Became

22:06

true to the point where la he

22:09

were like I'd be leaving the house without

22:11

a jacket and she's like Why are you going out without

22:13

a jacket? What if it rains? I'm like, it's not gonna

22:15

rain sunny I walk outside and I

22:17

start driving I get out of the car. So I was pouring She

22:20

texts me like I told you and

22:22

I'm like, that's not fair. You made do offer

22:24

that you can't do that Right, you change the

22:26

weather like it's not it's not fair right unfair

22:28

advantage for mothers, right? May Allah give us all

22:30

the good duas of our parents. So Foude

22:33

the good ones so full there. He

22:36

asked this this this woman who was known to be

22:38

very pious Now listen

22:40

to her response. How many of you in here

22:42

have ever asked someone to make duah for you?

22:45

Raise your hand you met someone you thought was

22:47

like pious or please make duah for me, right? Okay

22:52

Foude goes to this woman says please make duah for

22:54

me you're pious. I

22:57

need your duas She looked

22:59

at him and she said full day What's

23:02

the matter with you? He was shocked.

23:04

He's like what they do and

23:07

she said you don't realize how close

23:09

you are to Allah You don't need me to pray for you

23:11

pray for yourself Like

23:14

you know, why are you asking someone else to pray for you? When

23:17

national acrobat you may have illa Allah's right

23:19

there Allah is

23:21

constantly with you Well,

23:23

who am I a comb a nama kuntum? He

23:26

is with you wherever you are This pious

23:28

woman is saying to him the most powerful

23:30

do odd that can be made for a

23:32

person is From that person

23:34

if they're sincere But

23:37

to try and go and like offload hey make

23:39

do offer me make do offer me man You might

23:41

walk away having told a hundred people to make

23:43

draw for you If you just spent ten seconds making

23:45

do offer yourself It might be more powerful because

23:47

really that person is praying for you and they're good.

23:49

They're pious But do they care about

23:51

you and your life as much as you do? Are

23:54

they able to connect if you tell

23:56

that person like this is why there's an etiquette to that

23:58

statement by the way You go

24:00

and you ask the people who like they

24:02

care for you. They empathize

24:05

with you. Maybe somebody really knows

24:07

how difficult life has been for

24:09

you for something. Maybe

24:11

like marriage, work, parents, whatever. They know because

24:13

they've been with you the whole way and

24:15

you look at them. You say, please pray

24:17

for me. Please make duos for me. That

24:20

person, that's fine. But

24:22

to go and just spread, hey, make duos for

24:24

me, like you're handing out stuff like

24:26

your Oprah, right? You get

24:28

to make duos for me and you get to make duos for me. You

24:31

are, you are deluding yourself

24:33

into thinking that prayers are being made

24:35

for you when in fact, walaahi, you

24:37

are actually obstructing your own success because

24:41

Allah is so close to you, right?

24:43

Seeking him in that moment. So Foudel,

24:45

he was shocked and

24:47

she said, if you pray to him,

24:50

that's what she said to him. If you

24:52

pray to him sincerely, he will answer you.

24:54

And Foudel said, I started to cry so

24:56

profusely that I had to sit down. I

24:58

was so ashamed. I was

25:00

so ashamed that I thought that somehow, someway Allah

25:02

was not close to me. Allah's

25:05

power into Adah. Is

25:07

there even in moments when you don't realize

25:09

it? I actually have this really

25:12

crazy story that I've, I'm going to share with

25:14

you. It happened to

25:16

me three days ago. I was driving on the

25:18

road, one of these small, smaller roads, not

25:20

like the highway. And Dallas,

25:23

you know, I think you

25:25

guys saw the statistic, right? Dallas is one of the worst

25:27

places for drivers. None of us,

25:29

though. We're cool, right? We're the

25:32

good ones, all of us. Mashallah. Allah

25:34

protect us all. But Dallas has some

25:36

pretty bad drivers. I mean, you know, they were riding like

25:38

horses just a few centuries ago, you know, a few decades

25:40

ago. So to get like something

25:42

else, you know, like a car, it's obviously difficult.

25:45

I was on the road and I

25:48

was, as I was driving, I was finishing.

25:51

I was turning out of my house, actually, and

25:53

I was hitting on my, on my maps, like where I was

25:55

going to go. So I just tapped in, boom. It's a one

25:57

stop shortcut. It's go like that, right? This

25:59

person behind me, was like speeding up to me and I

26:01

wasn't going any faster and

26:03

he started honking his horn like crazy right

26:08

and I said I was like man like what's going on there's

26:11

two lanes he sped around me

26:13

Mesquite I try not to laugh

26:15

it's really sad but you're

26:17

all gonna laugh he sped around me

26:20

and he floored it tried to

26:22

cut in front of me kind

26:24

of over corrected and then his car

26:26

went and hit the curb and his tires exploded

26:28

that's

26:31

why you don't mess with me but anyways okay

26:34

no no so I look well this is all

26:36

happening in like five seconds and

26:39

I'm sorry if it was you and you're here okay so so I

26:43

look and I'm like because it

26:45

was like you know the phrase it's not that serious

26:47

that's literally what I was thinking I was like it

26:49

really like it didn't need to be this way like

26:53

you chose this okay all

26:56

happened in five seconds and his tire

26:58

exploded but pride right

27:00

and his rim is bent his his hubcaps

27:02

just explode 150 feet away

27:05

and he just keeps driving and

27:08

you hear it he

27:12

just keeps driving down the road well I heard him like a mile

27:14

away I was like is that still him and

27:17

I thought to myself again like may a lot make

27:19

it easy I don't know maybe that was a protection

27:21

or something but he ruined definitely his day probably

27:24

his week and maybe his month and he lost

27:26

thousands of dollars probably but popped his axle who knows

27:28

right but I thought to myself whenever

27:32

a person has a moment

27:34

like that and they attribute it to

27:36

themselves right like oh I was careful I drove carefully

27:39

I made sure that I didn't get in that

27:41

accident you know someone the other day was

27:43

telling me like I was driving on the highway there was a big

27:45

accident in front of me and I was able to maneuver

27:47

through it and then they corrected themselves

27:49

they said maybe Allah protected me you

27:53

see how it's such a different mindset it's

27:56

not about what you did what I did we

27:58

were there and Allah Al-Sabhanu wa

28:00

ta'ala facilitated our protection. So I was

28:02

telling the story of the Sheikh Mahmoud

28:05

and he said, man, who knows, Jibriel al-Asad could

28:07

have been there and just bumped that guy's car

28:09

to the curb. And I

28:11

said, well, why you're right? Well, why you're

28:13

right, maybe because I prayed Fajr that morning, Allah

28:16

says the one who praised Fajr in Jama'a

28:18

fee thematil la, filiyom.

28:21

They're in the protection of Allah that day. So

28:24

if a person praised Fajr in congregation, they're

28:26

walking around and Allah has protected them.

28:28

And who knows if Allah ta'ala, those

28:30

near misses, right? But it's about

28:33

remembering Allah when the good things happen. It

28:35

wasn't because of me, it was because Allah

28:37

Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. So there's

28:39

a story that's narrated about Hassan, Radi

28:43

Allahu Anhu. And he was actually running

28:45

away from a tyrant. There's a tyrant, he was a

28:47

Muslim tyrant, but he was a tyrant. And

28:49

he was actually persecuting certain people, his name was

28:51

Hajjaj. And Hassan

28:54

came to this one individual and he

28:56

said, please save me. Because

28:58

Hajjaj was persecuting certain people. It was a

29:00

really unfortunate time in Islamic history, but this

29:02

is what was happening. So he

29:04

goes to this guy, I want you to imagine this by the

29:06

way, you're being chased by like a tyrant. Okay,

29:09

you have like a, there's like a fugitive. You're like a fugitive,

29:11

you're being chased down and like killed. And

29:13

he goes to this person named Habib

29:15

Abu Muhammad. Again, known as the very

29:17

pious person. And he goes,

29:20

Abu Muhammad, please save

29:22

me, hide me. And

29:24

this really pious person, Habib Abu Muhammad, he

29:26

looks at him and he goes, I'm

29:29

really embarrassed for you. And

29:32

Hassan goes, why? And he goes,

29:36

how can you ask me for help when Allah is the one

29:38

who will help you? Why

29:40

are you coming to me as if I'm gonna somehow be able

29:42

to help you when Allah is the one who can help you?

29:46

And then he said that in that moment, I

29:49

supplicated to Allah. And then

29:51

he said, enter my house. And

29:54

he said, he entered my house, had judged

29:56

the tyrant was walking by that neighborhood and

29:58

went through every house. He said,

30:00

well Allah, He looked right through me. As

30:02

if He didn't see me, I was standing right there in the

30:05

corner of the house and I was hiding. And He looked and

30:07

He said, okay, this house is empty, let's keep going. Couple

30:10

of things from the story that I think are interesting. Number one is

30:12

that we should probably not

30:15

do that. If somebody's asking for help, we're like,

30:17

hold on. I'm embarrassed for

30:19

you. We're not

30:21

at that level, okay? But interestingly

30:24

enough, when

30:26

He reminded the person to make dua and the person made

30:28

dua, then He said, enter my house. And

30:31

this is a very interesting thing, by the way. Allah

30:34

might make you a reason

30:36

why someone else's dua is

30:38

accepted. You

30:40

get my point? Allah might put you in the

30:42

path of somebody else. And

30:44

you are a part of the answer to their dua. Maybe,

30:48

maybe this person really, really is looking for

30:50

a job and you happen to know the

30:52

hiring manager. And they've been begging Allah

30:54

for weeks, oh Allah, please open up my doors of risk

30:57

for me. And you know

30:59

somebody. Don't ever, don't ever take an opportunity where

31:01

you could help somebody and discount

31:03

that. The Prophet SAW said, lata

31:05

kiranam illa almaa rufi shayaa. Don't diminish

31:07

any good that you could do. Your

31:11

assistance, your aid for somebody

31:13

could be something that they prayed for, that

31:16

they begged Allah for. And Allah

31:18

placed you in that person's life to open up

31:20

that door for them and facilitate it for them. So

31:23

this guy hasn't is running asking for help.

31:25

And this person now is saying, come to my house

31:28

but make dua for Allah first. And

31:30

this is also another very important spiritual

31:32

note. Is that we

31:35

should always encourage our friends and our family

31:37

when they're in difficulty, not

31:39

only to take the means of the dunya, but

31:41

also to seek from Allah first. Ask

31:44

Allah, have you asked Allah? Allah will open that door

31:46

for you. And then when

31:48

the person asks Allah and you start to

31:50

see the doors open, make sure to remind

31:53

them of the connection between their duaas and

31:55

the door opening for them. Because

31:57

as soon as the door opens, what do we say? I

32:00

did it. That resume,

32:02

that LinkedIn upgrade helped. 60 bucks

32:04

a month. Your boy's working

32:06

now. It wasn't

32:08

the LinkedIn upgrade Habibi. You're

32:12

still flying Spirit, right? It

32:15

was Allah. No offense, right? Spirit's

32:17

nice. They really have Spirit O

32:19

Allah. It

32:22

wasn't the LinkedIn upgrade. It

32:24

wasn't even the person that

32:27

you met who networked you, just because they

32:29

have that hiring hashtag on their profile picture.

32:31

It wasn't even that. It

32:33

was the fact that Allah gave you the

32:36

tawfiq to stumble upon this person in the

32:38

first place. That Allah

32:40

gave you the tawfiq to be

32:42

able to find that house in the first place, or

32:44

that apartment in the first place. That

32:46

was what it was. And

32:49

every movement that is happening

32:51

around that moment of success

32:54

was given, not earned, was

32:56

positioned, not placed. Allah

32:59

Ta'ala put that for you there, so

33:01

that you could succeed. But only the

33:03

lucky ones who see Allah in those

33:06

moments are able to understand how it

33:08

all worked. I want you to

33:10

think about the story of Yusuf Alayhi Salaam. We went over

33:12

Yusuf a few months ago. Yusuf

33:15

becomes the minister of Egypt.

33:18

The agricultural minister of Egypt. How?

33:21

Because he had a dream. He had

33:23

a dream that he could see

33:26

that there was a drought coming. And

33:28

because he saw the drought was coming, he

33:30

was able to position the economy in a

33:32

way where they could grow during the years

33:34

of prosperity, and they could save, and

33:37

then they could ration during the years of drought. Do you

33:39

guys understand the story? He's in

33:41

charge of making sure everyone has food. And

33:44

he knows that there's going to be years of goodness

33:46

and years of difficulty. So what he does is, during

33:48

the years of goodness, Allah gives him this dream, right?

33:53

And you know the dream about the cows, the fat cows, and

33:55

the skinny cows. And he says during the years of goodness, sorry,

33:57

he doesn't have the dream, sorry, the minister has a dream. He

33:59

interprets it. the dream for him and

34:01

he says this is what's gonna happen. He's

34:04

given this position and he saves all of Egypt.

34:07

Hamdulillah, right? I'm Egyptian. I wouldn't

34:09

be here for him. Okay,

34:13

but what was it? Let's go back a

34:15

little bit. What was it that

34:18

gave Sayyidina Yusuf Ali Salaam the

34:20

ability to even interpret that dream

34:22

in the first place? It

34:24

was everything he had gone through up until

34:26

that point. Everything. He

34:30

when he was a kid, he also had a dream

34:32

and that dream was the source of his troubles. He

34:35

had a dream that what? That his brothers and

34:38

his mother and father in the form of stars and the

34:40

sun and the moon were bowing to him. When

34:42

he told his father this dream, Ya'aqub

34:45

al-Ahsanah, his father recognizes that this is

34:47

prophethood and he tells him don't tell

34:49

your brothers because they might not like

34:51

this. His brothers find out, they plot

34:53

and plan and they try to leave him for dead in

34:56

the middle of the desert. Yusuf

34:58

gets picked up by a caravan. That caravan

35:00

is supposed to be his salvation. They end

35:02

up selling him into slavery and to where?

35:05

Into the house of the palace of the

35:07

minister. He's made

35:09

it. Now the minister's

35:11

wife thinks he's attractive, tries to

35:14

seduce him. He refuses because

35:16

of his refusal. Eventually it's put in prison.

35:19

As he's sitting in prison, the

35:21

dream of the minister makes its way down

35:23

through one of the people that he's helped

35:25

out. He gives that dream interpretation and he's

35:27

given this position and he saves all of

35:29

Egypt. To the untrained eye, none of that

35:32

stuff is related. To

35:34

the average person you're like, what does any of that have to do

35:36

with any of it? But to the

35:39

person who understands that first dream

35:41

when he was a kid led him

35:43

to that dream when he became the minister of Egypt. And

35:46

for us as Muslims, our

35:48

iman is only as strong

35:51

as much as we're able to see Allah in

35:54

everything, in every single moment. Why

35:57

did Allah delay that flight for me? It's

36:00

kind of a fun game actually. It

36:02

actually grows you closer to Allah. Why

36:05

did Allah do this to me? Why didn't Allah do

36:07

this for me? And instead

36:09

of making it a point of contention, a point

36:11

of resentment, a person starts

36:13

to think, okay, let me start

36:15

with the absolute fact, the truth that

36:17

I know is absolutely the truth, which

36:20

is what? Allah would never do this

36:22

because he hated me. Allah

36:24

would never do this because he abhorred me

36:26

and wanted my life to be difficult. No,

36:28

Allah loves me and so I'm going to

36:30

understand everything in my life

36:32

under that frame. Getting

36:35

the job, getting laid off, getting married,

36:37

getting divorced, getting the house

36:39

and losing it. I still have to understand

36:42

all of it from the frame of Allah's love.

36:45

And that's what he's saying here. Remember

36:47

Allah in times of good and he'll

36:49

remember you in times of that. Be

36:52

with him there in times of good. He'll be with

36:54

you in times of that. And

36:56

so some of these people,

36:58

these stories, they are reminding them, when

37:02

you're in good or bad, remember Allah subhanahu wa

37:04

ta'ala. What does this give you now? Number one,

37:07

when a person practices this and

37:09

they force themselves to be cognizant of Allah

37:11

in all times, number one is

37:13

that it gives this person the ability to

37:15

act modestly in front of Allah. What

37:18

does that mean? What it means is a person

37:20

doesn't make big, ambitious plans

37:22

without understanding that Allah is in control.

37:24

Do you know what disappointment comes from?

37:26

Like deep disappointment where you can't get

37:29

past it. Do you know where that

37:31

comes from? Anyone

37:33

here ever been disappointed before? Do you know where that

37:35

comes from? Deep disappointment? Expectations.

37:39

And where do expectations come from? A

37:43

lot of places. The Muslim is

37:45

taught to place all your expectations with who? Allah.

37:49

So if a Muslim truly puts all

37:51

of their expectations on Allah, that's

37:54

what we call in Arabic, tawakkul. I've

37:57

placed all of my trust. Tawakkal

37:59

tu. Al-Allah. And

38:01

then we say what? La haula wa la kuwa

38:03

ta illa billa. It's not just something that you

38:05

heard growing up. It's not just a phrase that

38:07

sounds nice. Tawakkal tu al-Allah.

38:10

I place all of my trust, O

38:12

Allah, on you. Tawakkal tu

38:14

comes from the verb in Arabic which means to

38:16

lean on something. You guys ever leaned on

38:18

something before? What do you lean on? You lean

38:21

on something you think can hold your weight. Right?

38:25

Like if you told me to lean on you, Habibi, I wouldn't

38:27

do it. I know that you're

38:29

strong, Mashallah, but I'm a little bit big. Right?

38:33

But if there were a few of you and you're like, you

38:35

can lean on me. I'm like, I would do an assessment. Right?

38:39

I would lean on you. Right? You

38:42

lean on things you think can hold your

38:44

weight. So if we don't trust Allah, if

38:46

we don't, no, let me put this backwards.

38:48

If we don't find ourselves placing our trust

38:50

in Allah and over exerting our own selves,

38:53

what does that mean? It means that

38:55

I say that I trust him, but I really don't trust him. I

38:58

don't think he can handle it. Right?

39:00

Just like when my son is like, let me help you up.

39:03

He comes over, he grabs me and I have to,

39:05

I have to lift myself up. I'm

39:07

like, oh, you got me. Wow. Right? Boy

39:10

didn't do nothing. Right? That

39:13

was all me. Right? I'm not bragging. It's

39:15

just real. The reality

39:17

is if I don't

39:19

trust him, which I don't because he said

39:21

then and he's like one

39:23

tenth of my size, not one

39:25

tenth. That's a little exaggeration. I

39:28

cannot expect that he can handle it. That's

39:30

okay. But to treat Allah like that

39:33

is not okay. To

39:35

treat Allah and say Allah, you can't handle it. What I do believe

39:37

that I can't put. I

39:39

can't put this on you when

39:41

I do believe that. Now, none of us would ever say that, but

39:45

maybe we feel it and maybe

39:47

that's why the dua don't happen. I'm

39:50

not going to make dua for it. Why? Because man,

39:52

Allah is not. If some

39:54

people Allah can't do miracles. No, literally, that's what he

39:57

can do. Absolutely. Right?

40:00

So number one, when

40:03

we work on remembering Allah in all

40:05

times, modesty

40:08

with Allah becomes part of who you are. You

40:11

become modest with Him. Shy,

40:14

right? I would never ever contest

40:16

you Ya'Allah. I would never ever

40:19

resent you Ya'Allah. I would never debate against

40:21

you Ya'Allah. I

40:24

submit Ya'Allah. I understand. And

40:27

even if I don't understand Ya'Allah, what I do understand is

40:29

that you're the one that I need to be with. Okay,

40:32

so number one is modesty before Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

40:35

Number two is

40:37

that Allah ta'ala will actually give

40:40

you the ability to

40:43

be saved. No matter

40:45

what the hardship or calamity is, Allah

40:48

ta'ala will give you the ability to be saved from

40:50

it. Now this is an interesting point here. I want

40:52

to really really hone in on this because

40:54

I think people misunderstand this statement. When

40:56

Allah saves you from a calamity, it doesn't

40:59

mean that you don't have calamities in life. Right?

41:03

But what it means is that Allah equips you

41:05

with the ability to handle them. Allah

41:07

equips you. If

41:10

a person is chosen

41:12

by Allah, let's

41:15

say there's one person that's chosen by Allah and

41:17

there's a person that's not been given this gift

41:19

from Allah subhana wa ta'ala, they

41:21

could both experience the same tragedy

41:25

or the same difficulty and one of

41:27

them would absolutely be broken by it. Can't

41:29

move forward. And the other person, you

41:32

may not be able to even tell that something happened

41:34

in their life that day. The

41:37

same people. Same challenge. Sorry, not

41:39

the same people. Same challenge, different people. So

41:42

when a person is good with Allah in good

41:44

and in bad and they

41:46

remember Allah in good and they're with Allah when

41:49

times are tough, one of the

41:51

things they get is they get strength. One

41:53

of our teachers, he said, Allah ta'ala

41:55

will never ever stop sending the storms,

41:58

but He will make your boat strong enough to handle it. handle them.

42:02

The storms will happen. It's just part

42:04

of life. I'm not trying

42:06

to scare the people sitting outside, but

42:08

the storms will happen. There's

42:10

two guys out there, they're ready. You

42:13

got their ponchos, the

42:15

roots, rainseeds. The

42:17

storms will happen. If a person

42:19

is expecting to not ever

42:21

have bad weather, then I don't

42:24

know where you can go. But

42:26

what you can do is be prepared

42:28

for it, and that's what iman does.

42:31

It gives you the preparation to handle

42:33

all of the calamities. Another

42:36

gift from this that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives

42:38

you is Allah subhanahu wa

42:40

ta'ala will give you the ability at

42:43

the end of the day to be thankful

42:46

to him and to trust him. This is what Ibn Rajab

42:48

says. When a person remembers

42:50

Allah in good times, they're more grateful to him

42:53

in these different moments in

42:55

these times. Let

42:58

me share with you some moments here from the

43:00

Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and from other prophets. You

43:05

guys know Prophet Yunus, what's he famous for? Prophet

43:08

Yunus, he made

43:10

dawah to his people. He tried to teach his people

43:12

about Allah and they rejected him. In that

43:16

moment where they kept pushing back on him

43:18

over and over again and rejecting him, he

43:21

effectively said, okay, you know what? You're on your

43:23

own. Like I've done my job. I don't

43:26

know what to do. I've done what I'm

43:28

supposed to do. Can't help you anymore. And

43:31

Yunus becomes frustrated with his people, Aishaah,

43:33

and he leaves. And

43:35

again, through this kind of roundabout journey,

43:39

going on a ship and pulling straws and all these

43:41

things, Yunus ends up eventually

43:43

finding himself swallowed whole

43:46

by a whale. Right?

43:49

Allah and the Quran calls him Saarhibilhut.

43:51

He's literally the companion of the

43:54

whale. That's his title. Okay? It's

43:57

so interesting because it's such a deep emotional

43:59

story. But whenever you see like

44:01

kids books about prophets, they're

44:03

like Eunice and it's like a happy whale and the

44:05

whale is like, hi, and Eunice is like in the

44:07

mouth and it's like, no, that's not how this happened,

44:10

right? It was a very, very difficult moment for him,

44:12

okay? But you know, kids got to

44:14

learn. So,

44:16

the Haqq im Naqais, he

44:19

says, remember

44:22

Allah in times of ease and

44:25

he will remember you in times of

44:27

difficulty, okay? Continuing, he

44:30

goes, Eunice used

44:33

to remember Allah during

44:36

his times of ease when he was just, you

44:38

know, with people and out and about. And

44:41

so, when he was in the belly of the whale, Allah

44:44

subhanahu wa ta'ala remembered him and he

44:47

says, he quotes, he

44:49

says, Sala'u'llah

44:51

an-Nahuqana minl-Mussabihin,

44:55

if he were not from those people

44:57

that were praising of Allah, lalabi

45:00

sasihi baltnihi ila yoma

45:02

yoomi yoo biafoon, we

45:05

would have left him in the belly

45:07

until the day of resurrection. Meaning

45:10

what? That dua that he made would

45:13

not have been answered. But

45:15

because he remembered Allah in good times

45:17

when he found himself in the

45:20

most absurd

45:22

of challenges and circumstances when

45:25

he simply called out to Allah, you know, some

45:27

of the scholars, they say something really interesting. They

45:29

say, look at how powerful your dua is. Look

45:32

at how powerful dua is. Allah

45:34

heard the call of his servant,

45:36

Eunice, in darkness

45:39

upon darkness. What are the darknesses? Number one,

45:41

he's inside of a whale. It's

45:44

pretty dark from

45:46

what I understand. Number two, he's

45:48

in the ocean and

45:50

whales don't just chill at the top, right?

45:52

They like to go down. So

45:55

darkness upon darkness, because as you go

45:57

further down in the water, it's dark.

46:00

and this dua was made at night. So

46:02

sometimes you think to yourself like, I'm

46:05

invisible to Allah, I'm

46:07

unseen. There's so many people

46:09

here. I

46:11

was at the haram, I was in Mecca making an amal of my

46:13

family and I remember, I told Musa, I

46:15

said, make dua, Allah will

46:17

hear you. And he was

46:19

like, really? And I go, yeah, he

46:22

goes, there's so many people here. And

46:24

he got the Malaysians and the Turks and everyone's

46:26

making their dua's. And my son

46:28

was trying to process mathematically like, how

46:30

much, do I actually make an appointment? Like, how

46:33

much time do I have? I

46:35

said, no, just make dua, you're not limited.

46:37

Just open up your heart to Allah, whatever

46:39

you want. Pray for it,

46:41

Musa, pray, right? Seven years old. And

46:44

I'm waiting and I'm hoping. You know, some like people like

46:46

Imam Bukhari and others when they were children, they were super

46:48

pious. I was like, man, Allah, give me this, right? You

46:50

know, maybe. First dua out

46:52

of this kid's mouth. Oh, Allah, let me meet Ronaldo. First

46:57

dua. I was like, really? That's

46:59

it, you saw the Kaaba for the first time, you wanna meet Ronaldo? I

47:02

said, at least pray he becomes Muslim first, then you can meet him.

47:04

Or maybe you give him a shahada, inshaAllah,

47:06

right? So the Haqq, he said, if

47:08

you think that Eunice's dua was just

47:10

answered because it was just answered, he

47:12

goes, you're not understanding what led to

47:15

the answer of that dua. He

47:17

was consistent in his remembrance of

47:19

Allah all throughout his life up

47:22

until that point. So what's

47:24

the downside of this? The

47:27

upside is beautiful. The downside is this.

47:31

Many of us have seasonal moments in our life where

47:33

we make dua. It's

47:35

seasonal. Ramadan's one of them, right?

47:37

We have the Ramadan dua's, we

47:40

have the 27th night, we have

47:42

moments of difficulty in our life, things are

47:44

challenging, right? And

47:47

sometimes those dua's, we see them being answered

47:49

because all Allah's mercy, and sometimes we don't

47:51

see those dua's being answered. And it could

47:53

be because it's ultimately better for us, but

47:55

let me offer a proposal.

47:59

Perhaps the... the person blocking or the

48:01

thing that's blocking our dua is from

48:03

leaving this realm and going to the

48:05

heavens is nothing except

48:08

ourselves. The

48:10

scholars would say that don't

48:13

be a stranger to Allah all year long and

48:15

then find him to be a neighbor one night

48:17

of the year. Like

48:20

you know what I mean? You get that phone call from somebody who

48:23

never calls you and

48:25

they're like, hey, and you're like, what do you want? Now

48:28

Allah is not petty, but imagine,

48:32

you know, does that make Allah feel like

48:34

he is our rab? On

48:38

the other side of it, who was

48:40

the person that called out to Allah that

48:42

we know for a fact, his dua was

48:44

not answered? Firaan.

48:47

We have one person in the Quran

48:50

who we know, he called even shaitans

48:52

dua was answered. That's crazy for Firaan man. Imagine

48:54

when they meet in Jahannam. Firaan

48:58

is going to be like, dude, what? How did you

49:00

get your dua answered? Amai wasn't answered. That's

49:04

nuts actually. I just kind of stumbled upon that. That's

49:06

crazy. Firaan,

49:08

he actually made dua to

49:11

Allah when his

49:13

army was drowning and

49:16

he was being submerged in the

49:18

water after persecuting Sayyidina Musa al-Isra'im

49:20

and his people and they were drawn

49:23

into this well, you know, Sayyidina Musa struck

49:25

the water. It split. They made

49:27

their way through. Firaan and

49:29

his army are coming through and they're about

49:31

to be crushed by this water. Firaan

49:34

is being drowned by this water

49:36

and he calls out and he says,

49:38

I believe. I

49:41

believe right? This last ditch

49:43

like attempt. There's a narration that says that

49:45

at that moment, Jibril took sand and was like, shut up and

49:47

put it in his mouth. Like

49:49

you don't believe. We know you don't believe, you know, but

49:52

the Quran actually says this. He

49:55

says, Al-Ana, Allah

49:58

ta'ala Al-Ana. and

50:05

now you're saying this? Literally

50:07

all the way up until this point. You

50:10

did, I mean at one point you

50:13

said, أنا

50:16

ربُكم العلى, I am your Lord the Most High. You called yourself

50:18

the Rabb. But now, now that

50:20

you're drowning and you know what's about to go down

50:22

and you see the angels appearing in front of you,

50:24

now you're like, I believe, yeah,

50:27

of course now you believe because you see what you could never

50:29

see before. That's why, when are

50:31

the duaas, when are the deeds not accepted any

50:33

longer? When the day of

50:35

judgment begins? When

50:37

the sun rises, right? From

50:40

the west. At

50:43

that point, people are going to be like, what's happening? And

50:46

the hadith tells us that that's the point

50:48

when no one's faith, no

50:50

one can now enter in, no one's going to

50:52

have that moment. I believe, why? Because the test

50:54

of belief was, do you do it when you

50:57

can't see it? Because

50:59

as soon as you can see it, as they say, seeing

51:01

is believing. So

51:04

can you be good with Allah when

51:06

He gives you or do you have to see

51:08

the trials in order to be good with Allah?

51:11

Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Firaoun was

51:13

the opposite of Yunus. Yunus

51:15

remembered Allah his entire life, so when he was

51:17

in trouble Allah gave him a way

51:19

out. Firaoun was horrible

51:21

his entire life and

51:24

so when he called upon Allah at the end, it

51:26

was clear that there was no sincerity there

51:28

and duaa in order for it to be

51:30

accepted, it needs even an Adam's

51:32

weight of sincerity. An Adam's

51:35

weight of that sincerity. Okay?

51:38

So Nalussadisi, he said, if

51:40

a person supplicates and

51:42

remembers Allah when times are easy, then

51:45

when something bad happens to them and they

51:47

supplicate, the angels gather around this person. You

51:50

know what they say? The

51:53

voice sounds familiar. And

51:55

you know when the voice sounds familiar, you know what that means? That's

51:58

like when you show up somewhere. and

52:00

they're booked out and they're

52:02

like, oh, but you know what? I know you. Wait

52:05

one second. So the angels

52:07

are like, oh, that voice sounds familiar. Let's go give

52:09

this to Allah. We remember him.

52:11

We remember her. We hear

52:14

them making dua all night long. We heard

52:16

her making dua when she was driving home

52:18

in the new car. We

52:20

heard her and him making dua when they

52:22

got married. Right? We

52:25

heard that. They didn't forget Allah in those moments.

52:28

I know that like, you know, the whole TikTok thing like, oh, they

52:30

got married. They pray to rock out together. It

52:33

is awkward. Everyone's watching. You're

52:35

like Allah. Imagine like

52:37

a vlaam meme. The girl's like, what? Are you serious?

52:40

She's like, I got to return the dress. You know,

52:42

like it's

52:44

cute, but I will say it

52:47

is beautiful to make it a culture for

52:49

us to remember a lot, even in the happy moments, of

52:51

course. Don't forget Allah in

52:53

those happy moments. And these, these, these gatherings sometimes,

52:56

I will say, sha Allah Allah Ta'ala gives us

52:58

all beautiful and sha Allah happy marriages. Make

53:01

sure that whatever you do at your wedding, make sure that it's

53:03

pleasing to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Make sure of that. Don't

53:06

forget Allah because he gave you something. Such

53:09

a strange thing, isn't it? Don't

53:11

forget Allah because he gave you what you've been

53:13

praying for. And Allah, you gave

53:15

me what I've been asking for. And so

53:17

now I'm going to totally just abandon everything.

53:20

You know, so it's a matter of fact,

53:22

as he said, when a person makes dua regularly and then something

53:25

bad happens, they make dua, the

53:27

angels are like, oh, I remember them. And

53:29

they take their voice up to Allah. But if the

53:31

person never ever supplicated to Allah, and

53:34

then they make dua, the angels say,

53:37

I never heard that one before. Never

53:40

heard that voice before. And then it's

53:42

a lot less angels that are delivering that

53:44

dua to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We're

53:47

going to go ahead and wrap up here in sha Allah because

53:49

the next section talks about something a little bit more heavy.

53:52

And I don't want to switch topics right away.

53:55

But we ask Allah to make us familiar with him at all

53:57

times, whether those times are easy for us.

54:00

Those are difficult for us. We. Ask a

54:02

lot to make us are your I was

54:04

in easy times, full of gratitude and full

54:06

of recognition of our blessings. And we ask

54:08

a lot to make our do. I was

54:10

in difficult times full of trust and full

54:12

of conviction that he will help us. We

54:14

ask a balance out a day. Accept from

54:16

us all of the from about all of

54:18

our prayers, all of our fasting, any of

54:20

the recitation that we've listened to or that

54:22

we've read. Any. Of the southern Ca that

54:24

we've given all of a good that we've done

54:26

or law all of the prohibitions that we've done

54:28

well with, we stayed away from all of the

54:30

holding back from all of the Sims that we

54:32

regularly commit or lower orders for all of it

54:34

all on Magnify the reward for us make a

54:36

greater than what it is your lucky Oh Lol

54:38

We are desperately in need of your generosity, were

54:40

in need of your mercy in your off my

54:42

were in need of your father and your grace

54:44

in your favor. Yeah, law or lie, you are

54:46

the one that is free of need and we

54:48

are steeped in media. Las Palmas are we need

54:50

you are. Lots of these grants are draws a

54:52

lot although. Every person in this room he our

54:55

loss. They have their own. Complex.

54:57

Very deep and very personal.

55:00

Needs. From New York Law. And. Even

55:02

though I can't say Allah because I don't know

55:04

Obama you are the one who knows what is

55:06

in the chest of everything. The person Yala please

55:08

granted out what is good for us and protect

55:10

us from what an evil from us Allah and

55:12

replace whatever is evil for us with what is

55:15

better for us yet from a rocky mean. I

55:17

will allow us to be those people that exemplify

55:19

and that represent and that demonstrates the beautiful character

55:21

of your profits on the lol I was a

55:23

lump all a grant us the ability to always

55:25

be near you and never let us drift away

55:27

from you. Our luck or lot allow the for

55:29

and to be our book not just in one

55:31

month. But in twelve months yeah I'll allow our

55:33

do out to be not just in one month

55:36

but and twelve months he are. lots of allow

55:38

allow us to be a community, not just in

55:40

one month, the Ah Lubber, all twelve months Yale

55:42

law or will not allow us to be reunited

55:44

engine they allow with your messenger some of our

55:46

asylum and our loved ones in a gathering Better

55:48

than the Fiala. all the allow those who have

55:51

passed away a lot. Whether they be here are

55:53

family, whether they be abroad, Whether they be anybody

55:55

from the Omagh, whether they be those who are

55:57

being oppressed like our brothers sisters in Gaza yeah

55:59

lot. Allow anyone who has passed away

56:01

to be instantly given your paradise. The a

56:03

lot with know he served with no accountability.

56:05

Our love. Those people that are being bombed

56:07

and are being killed and they're being tortured

56:10

and they're being upheld against their will. Ya

56:12

Allah or like give them early fiala give

56:14

them sick he may Allah give them victory

56:16

Allah. Although those people that have been injured

56:18

or have been made sick or are starving

56:20

or have nothing to eat a lot of

56:22

a lot give them really can be with

56:24

them. Ya Allah alla, give them justice yellow

56:26

in this life and next like a lot

56:29

and allow them to. Be victorious over the

56:31

oppressive regimes that harm the me a lot and

56:33

allow those oppressive regimes to be wasted. Yeah, a

56:35

lot and completely destroyed and completely removed such that

56:37

there is no trace of them left and everyone

56:39

will know that that is a sign of your

56:41

existence and your might. Yeah, my yeah. my outlook.

56:44

Although we ask me a lot to be with

56:46

the people of Gaza and to be with the

56:48

people Sudan and the people of Burma and the

56:50

Muslims in China. Yeah, a lot and all of

56:52

those that are being forgotten or lie you do

56:54

not forget. Although we may not know their faces,

56:56

but you know every single face and heart. Yeah,

56:59

although we ask you. Buy all of your

57:01

beautiful names and as we the a lot to

57:03

give them just to see a lot and to

57:05

give them your gender yeah a lot and to

57:07

reward them for the patients your loss. As you

57:09

said in your beautiful book. That

57:11

peace be upon you for what you endured

57:13

patiently and what a beautiful home gender will

57:15

be for than the a lot please make

57:17

this the greeting and these know that the

57:19

reward that the here on that day or

57:21

low and paradise yeah some raw means am

57:23

in Europe and other me.