- Seminars and Lectures abroad / ٠01 Masjid At-Taqwa- Morning lectures 1
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- Masjid At-Taqwa- part 1
Allah says: "…and whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them…"
Dear noble brothers, before I start with today's topic, I have a comment with regard to the Ayat we have read in Salah.
﴾Then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.﴿
What does this Ayah mean? It means that there shall be no fear on them in the future, nor shall they grieve over the past.
﴾ There shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.﴿
This Ayah is mentioned repeatedly in the Quran. Allah addresses the believers, and He meant to say to them, "If you follow My Guidance, then you do not have to worry about the future, and there shall be no fear on you, because you are in the Paradise of the worldly life."
﴾ But for him who [the true believer of Islamic Monotheism who performs all the duties ordained by Allah and His Messenger Muhammad , and keeps away (abstain) from all kinds of sin and evil deeds prohibited in Islam and] fears the standing before his Lord, there will be two Gardens (i.e. in Paradise).﴿
There shall be no fear on them in the future, nor shall they grieve over the past. The second Ayah is the following:
﴾ Then whoever follows My Guidance shall neither go astray, nor fall into distress and misery.﴿
By putting the two Ayat together, we come to a conclusion that the one who follows Allah's Guidance shall neither go astray, nor shall he fall into distress and misery, and he will not regret anything in the past, nor will he fear what is in the future. What could be more rejoicing than this whether in the worldly life or in the Hereafter?
Happiness lies in being affirmed by Allah that the one who follows His Guidance shall neither go astray nor shall he fall into distress and misery, and that he will regret nothing in the past, and will not fear anything in the future.
The different types of people and nations:
Dear noble brothers, today's topic is about the different types that are introduced to us in the Quran through which Allah gives us an accurate description of the believer and the disbeliever. The descriptions that are given in the Quran are reference human examples, for the characteristics of the disbelievers, the believers and the hypocrites are the same regardless of the era. This is very clear in the opening Ayat in Surat Al-Baqarah, wherein Allah the Almighty describes the believers, the disbelievers and the hypocrites.
As for the Ayat that are related to examples of disbelieving nations, let me tell you that for the time being some nations are just like the disbelieving ancient nations mentioned in the Quran.
I was once in the United States, and so when I came back to my home country someone asked me, "Where have you been?" I said to him, "I was in the country of the second 'Ad."
﴾ And that it is He (Allah) Who destroyed the former 'Ad (people),﴿
This means that there is another 'Ad, so who are they? Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ Did you (O Muhammad) not see (thought) how your Lord dealt with 'Ad (people)? Who were very tall like lofty pillars, The like of which were not created in the land?﴿
The West now are the second 'Ad, for they excel in everything; they are advanced in industry, in farming, in constructions and in weaponry.
An example of people:
The first Ayah describes how good they were in constructions:
﴾ "Do you build high palaces on every high place, while you do not live in them? "And do you get for yourselves palaces (fine buildings) as if you will live therein for ever.﴿
The second Ayah describes how excellent they were in war:
﴾"And when you seize, seize you as tyrants?﴿
The third Ayah describes how advanced they were in science:
﴾Though they were intelligent.﴿
This superiority in constructions, industry and war was accompanied with arrogance.
﴾And they said: "Who is mightier than us in strength?" ﴿
When the believer excels, he becomes humble, but when the disbeliever excels he becomes arrogant, and he looks down on people.
﴾And they said: "Who is mightier than us in strength?" ﴿
This is but arrogance.
The main point is that whenever Allah the Almighty tells us about a nation whom He destroyed, he mentions that nations who were mightier than them, and how Allah had destroyed them, save 'Ad, for when He destroyed them He said:
﴾See they not that Allah, Who created them was mightier in strength than them.﴿
This means that they reached a point of superiority and mighty that made only Allah Mightier than them. This is the former 'Ad
In our era, there is the second 'Ad, which is the most powerful country in the world (i.e. USA). She is dominant and arrogant, she has the upper hand everywhere and her decision is the only one that comes to pass. What she approves will take place, but whatever she rejects will never happen. Not to mention, she pulls all the strings in the world, so if there is a conflict in an a country, then she is behind it, and if there is a regime downfall in another country then she is the doer. This is but the second 'Ad.
﴾See they not that Allah, Who created them was mightier in strength than them. And they used to deny Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, revelations, etc.)!﴿
How did Allah the Almighty destroy them?
﴾And as for 'Ad, they were destroyed by a furious violent wind; Which Allah imposed on them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so that you could see men lying overthrown (destroyed), as if they were hollow trunks of date-palms!﴿
Glory be to Allah, this country (USA) is very mighty, yet Allah afflicts its people all the time with tornados and hurricanes. One hurricane's losses were more than 30 billion dollars, and it was only few hours before all the buildings, resorts, beautiful beaches, factories, industrial facilities, farms, might and arrogance were turned into wreck.
It happened once that there was power cut in one of its cities for 24 hours during which 200.000 robberies took place. They abide by laws due to the electronic surveillance (not due to morals). There are billions of goods in the big malls, and if someone tries to take something without paying for it, a beeping sound will be heard, so people there avoid shop lifting, but does that denote trustworthiness? No, it does not.
Some people pay their debts, because there is a documented paper against them, so there is no heroism in paying the money; lest they do, they will be brought to court, and their money will be seized. Heroism lies in paying people's money though there is no paper to prove the debt, and this is trustworthiness. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾Who did transgress beyond bounds in the lands (in the disobedience of Allah).﴿
This is exactly what the most powerful country in the world does, for their pentagon is behind all the destruction around the world, and Hollywood is behind all the corruption. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾Who did transgress beyond bounds in the lands (in the disobedience of Allah).﴿
Allah does not say that they transgressed in their land only, but He says "lands" which denotes a prevailing mischief.
﴾And made therein much mischief. So your Lord poured on them different kinds of severe torment. Verily, your Lord is Ever Watchful (over them).﴿
What catches the attention is the following Ayah:
﴾ And that it is He (Allah) Who destroyed the former 'Ad (people),﴿
It is like when you pay someone money he owes you, so he says, "This is the first payment", which means that there will be other payments. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ And that it is He (Allah) Who destroyed the former 'Ad (people),﴿
Using the word "former" here means that there will be a second 'Ad.
"Read" means to search for the truth and to believe thereof:
Allah the Almighty says:
﴾Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists),﴿
Scholars said that there are two kinds of readings: The first one is to read in order to find the truth, and the second reading is to read out of deep faith.
﴾Read! In the Name of your Lord, Who has created (all that exists),﴿
Due to the first kind of reading, man seeks knowledge in general. Allah instills in man's brain the ability to cognate which leads to acquiring knowledge, and this distinguishes man from all other creations. Inanimate objects occupy a 3D space, while plants occupy a 3D space, but they grow. Thus, they are different from inanimate objects. Animals occupy a 3D space like inanimate objects, they grow like plants, but they move which distinguishes them from plants.
Concerning man, he occupies a 3D space like inanimate objects, he grows like plants, he moves like animals, only he thinks. If man inactivates his cognitive power, if he stops seeking knowledge, and if he does not pursue the truth, he will descend to an inappropriate rank. Because you are a human being, you are given cognitive power with which you should seek knowledge.
The one who seeks knowledge by coming to this Masjid and listening even for 10 minutes uses his cognitive power, which makes him privileged. Some people seek the other kind of knowledge and might acquire a major in a very rare field, like nuclear physics. However, as long as their knowledge does not lead them to Allah, they will not be considered wise; they are just intelligent people.
It is said that not every smart person is wise, so who is the wise man? He is the one who knows the purpose of his existence, and he knows why he was created by Allah.
﴾And I (Allah) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).﴿
He knows that this worldly life is as described in the following Hadith:
(O people, this worldly life is a place of crookedness and is not a place of straightforwardness. It is a place of grief and is not a place of joy. Whoever recognizes this will not feel joy at [the achievement of] some hope [because, he knows it is temporary] or feel grief at wretchedness. Allah has meant for the worldly life to be a place of trial, and has meant for the Hereafter to be a place of ramification. Hence, He has made the adversity of the worldly life a reason for the reward in the Hereafter, and He has made the reward of the Hereafter a compensation for the adversity of the worldly life. He takes to give and afflicts to reward.)
I hope that each one of us would seek knowing Allah the Almighty besides his profession, business, trading, job or following up the news. Do you know who are you? You are the most privileged one amongst all other creations. Do you know why Allah brought you to this life? He created you to worship Him.
﴾Verily, the most honourable of you with Allah is that (believer) who has At-Taqwa [i.e. one of the Muttaqun (pious)].﴿
Do you know what makes someone different from another?
﴾And I (Allah) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone).﴿
There are important facts in life you should have knowledge of so that all your moves and decisions will fall into place.
Conclusion
Dear noble brothers, 'Ad is an example of tyrant nations who repeat themselves over and over again by being superior in everything, by having the upper hand over all countries in the world and by being advanced in industry, constructions and science:
﴾Though they were intelligent.﴿
Such advancement comes with arrogance and haughtiness.
﴾And they said: "Who is mightier than us in strength?" ﴿
One of the presidents of America declared once, "We do not dialogue with other countries; we give them orders!" It is like the boss-employee relationship, for the former orders the latter. I repeat what he said, "We do not dialogue with other countries; we give them orders!" This but reflects haughtiness, and Allah the Almighty made an example of this nation like He did with other arrogant nations in the past.
Well, yes they own the nuclear bombs, so what do we have in hands in return? We have our own nuclear bomb which is our children, and each time I see a father with his son I say, "Our children are the only trump card we have in hands, so teach them and get them acquainted with this religion, the Islamic Ummah and the Quran". This is the only solution we have in hands.
Leaving our children as preys to the western culture will drag them away from this religion. What does the western culture teach our children? You all know the Barbie dolls, so there is this game where you finish every level of it by undressing part of its body until it is totally naked. This game is for little kids, can you imagine? A man made a scientific study about cartoons, and it was for his PHD thesis. After he came across lots of cartoons, he found out that the core story of all of them is about atheism and pornography.
The entire world now is heading towards denying the existence of Allah and towards dissoluteness by allowing people to do whatever they want to. This is the culture of the west, for they encourage everyone to do whatever he/she likes even if their acts are unreasonable. Though our countries are considered "The Third World", the advanced West lacks the domestic coherence we have in our families.
An American young man intended to get married to a young woman, so he told his father about her, but the latter said, "You cannot get married to her, because she is your sister, but your mother does not know". It seems that his father is a womanizer and that woman is his illegitimate daughter. Then the young man found another woman, but his father said the same about her, "You cannot get married to her son, because she is your sister, but your mother does not know that". The same happened when he picked a third woman. The young man was fed up with his father's words, so he went to his mother and told her about his father's reaction to his intention to get married, and to his surprise, his mother said to him, "You can marry any woman you want of all these three, because you are not his son, but he does not know that." This story represents the western society.
Dear brothers, there are morals in our countries, and I hope that each one of you will be able to see them, for we cherish the sacred marriage bond in our societies. When I was in America, I asked a social specialist while we were driving through a long street, "How many families in this street commit adultery?" He answered me, "If there are 100 houses, adultery exists in 70 of them." This means that out of 100%, 70% of the families commit adultery. In contrast, this percentage drops to 1% or less in our countries, and though some families in our societies are not religious, they have morals which prevent them from committing this crime. Thank Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, for the morals we have in our countries. Though these morals come with backwardness, such backwardness is sometimes one of the reasons behind discipline.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds
In the Name of allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful; and peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad, his Folks, his Companions, the trustees of his Message and the leaders of his army, and be pleased with them and us, O Lord of the worlds.
O Allah, O Allah, increase us [in Your Blessings] and do not decrease us, honor us and do not humiliate us, give us [from Your Gifts] and do not deprive us, be in favor of us and not against us and make us satisfied and be satisfied with us. O Allah, have peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad, the illiterate Prophet and on his Folks and Companions.
