Surah al-A’raf contains the most vivid scenes of the
hereafter. In fact, it is named after a specific station on the
Day of Judgment. Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah
Oduro are joined by Sh. Ismail Kamdar to reflect on those
verses from juz 8 of the Holy Qur’an, including the
importance of not belittling deeds and the qualities
mentioned in the beginning of Surah al-Anfal that we should
aspire towards to increase our faith..
Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala
Rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala So
alhamdulillah rabbil alameen You know, usually I make this
announcement I really don’t need to because the guy that’s
joining us today has the books literally on his bookshelf back
there So Shaykh Ismail is very passionate about the books,
alhamdulillah I always remind everyone to download the
resources The e-books, the convert resources, the du’a
book, the habits book And of course to donate, you’ll see the
fundraising bar if you’re watching on YouTube If you’re
watching on Facebook Wherever you’re watching, inshallah
ta’ala, of course you can go to the link to donate as well But
Shaykh Ismail, talk to us about the e-books, man Because I
know you really want to talk about them Assalamualaikum,
alhamdulillah So, alhamdulillah, we have a huge variety of
books We started last year with the Qur’an 30 for 30 reader
Which I printed out and put on the shelf behind me But now
we have book 2 in the Qur’an 30 for 30 series Which is the
Sirah edition We have the du’a book We have the final Proofs
of Prophethood book We have the Habits journal All of there
are free download available on the jfln website just go to
jfln.academy org.out ’ll find the e-books right at the top of
the page available as free downloads Download them And
just a reminder, when you want to share So they can see
what other resources we have as well Don’t share with them
the PDF through WhatsApp So that at least that way they can
see what else is available And if they want to something else
They can see our full book list, inshallah I like how you said
that with a smile You know you’re really angry about it You’re
like, you’re trying to disguise I don’t like when you’re stealing
the PDFs And putting them on WhatsApp You’re taking away
I’m responsible to report to you how many books are
downloaded If it’s getting downloaded through WhatsApp
How am I supposed to report that?
So Sheikh Ismail is particular By the way everyone, Sheikh
Ismail is from South Africa Are you born and raised in South
Africa, Sheikh? Yeah, 5th generation South African
Masha’Allah, Masha’Allah That’s great, Alhamdulillah I need
you to take a flight over to Ghana And tell Sheikh Abdullah’s
family That he’s giving me a hard time over here, man Yeah,
Americans make it sound like Africa is one country It’s like
Ghana is on the other end of the world for us Sheikh
Abdullah, you pulled out your mom’s accent A couple of
episodes ago By popular demand Can you give us that
again? Can you tell people to download the book, please?
That was epic, man That was epic, Masha’Allah Oh, you’re on
mute, Sheikh Is that on purpose? Yeah, we’re muting you Uhoh You gotta unmute yourself, Sheikh I’m unmuting, okay.
Now we can hear you, yeah That was just by chance When I
was just explaining the lesson That my mother says, yeah
But do you want me to tell them to download the book?
Please, that was epic, man I gotta get in my zone, man It’s
gonna come natural You need to download the book, please
How was it, Sheikh Ismail? Native? I love it He’s cringing
again He doesn’t even believe you But it’s okay It’ll come
back, insha’Allah Of course, it’s something natural Maybe
when you’re yelling at me You know, when I’m beating you in
ping pong 20 to 5 It’ll come out naturally Wow It’s gotta be on
live or something When we do this, man They got the whole
world to see….
We will We got it We’ll figure it out, restream or zoom Name
the platform, Sheikh Name the platform you want it to be live
on Ooh, okay, okay Your platform Oh, you want it on my
platform? Okay, we’ll do it on my platform Put a Bismillah on
it I can delete it if you’re beating me too bad I can delete it
Yes Alhamdulillah What juz are we on, Sheikh? Juz number 8
So we’re a week in May Allah bless everyone’s Ramadan I
pray that you had a good first week And your Ramadan will
be blessed as well Bi’idhnillahi ta’ala So inshallah ta’ala we’ll
go ahead and get started Inshallah, Bismillah,
walhamdulillah, wa salatu was salam wa ala rasulillah wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala So subhanallah, this is
actually one of those sections where you have one of the
most vivid scenes of the hereafter actually brought forth In
fact, the entire surah is named after a scene of the akhira
which is not common in the Quran So the surah is named
surah al-a’raf which is referring to a very specific situation, a
very specific station on the day of judgment And I want to
actually build up to the section about al-a’raf with some of
the other verses within the surah First and foremost, you
look at verses 8 and 9 in surah al-a’raf, Allah Subhanahu wa
ta’ala says wal-waznu yawma idhni alhaqq faman thaqulat
mawazinuhu fa-ulaika hum al-muflihoon waman khaffat
mawazinuhu fa-ulaika allatheena khasiroo anfusahum bima
kanoo bi-aayatina yawtulimoon That the weighing on that
day will be just as for those whose scale will be heavy with
good deeds, only they will be amongst the successful and
those whose scale is light, they have doomed themselves for
wrongfully denying our signs So Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala
starts off with the..
Right, this idea that if the mizan weighs, you know first of all
that the mizan will be just right, that Allah Subhanahu wa
ta’ala will not wrong anyone with the mizan, with the scale
and that it will be precise and so if your scale is heavier with
good deeds, then you will be from the successful and if your
scale is light then you would have doomed yourself for
wrongfully denying the signs of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala so
this is the way Allah Azawajal introduces the entire concept
which is very pertinent to the story of the people of Al-A’raf,
then Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says when you go to verses
38 to 39 Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala mentions the groups of
people that are entering into the fire, may Allah protect us
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says kulla ma dakhalat ummatun
la’anat ukhtaha hatta idha daraku feeha jamee’an qalat
ukhrahum li ulaahum rabbana ha’ulai a’dalluna fa aatihim
a’dhabin dhi’fan minan naar qala li kullin dhi’fan walakin na
ta’alamun Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says that as every
group is entering into the punishment they curse the
preceding one until they’re all gathered inside so as the
groups are going in they’re cursing the group that went in
before it and this is what ukhtaha means here by the way
and then the followers who are following their leaders are
saying our lord they misled us so multiply their punishment
they misled us so multiply their punishment so the followers
are invoking curses upon the leaders that led them into
doom and Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala’s answer is that it’s
being multiplied for all that the multiplication of the
punishment for them, for those that they led astray is for
them but everyone has to be responsible for their own
deeds, for their own deeds, wa qalat ulaahum li ukhrahum
so the leaders then respond to the followers, fama kana
lakum alayna min fadlin fadhuqul a’dhabin bima kuntum
taksibun you were no better than us..
So taste the punishment for that which you used to do so the
leaders are saying to the followers don’t blame us this was
all on you you had the same scale that we had you could
have thought for yourself, you could have figured it out for
yourself and there is some truth to that right? There is some
truth to that that you should have taken responsibility for
yourself you shouldn’t have just followed along but rather
you should have taken responsibility for your own deeds now
Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la then verse 43 gives us the
opposite of that which is the people of paradise, may Allah
make us amongst them and Allah says wa naza’na ma fee
sudhoorihim min ghirlin tajli min tahtihimul anhaar wa qalul
hamdu lillahi lathee hadana lihaza wama kunna linahtadia
lawla an hadana Allah Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says
that when the people of paradise enter into paradise we
remove any grudges, any bitterness they had in their hearts
towards one another and as the rivers are flowing under their
feet they say Alhamdulillah they don’t praise the leaders,
they praise Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la because everyone
was accountable for their own deeds and anyone that is
blessed with guidance attributes that guidance properly to
Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la so they say Alhamdulillah all
praises be to Allah for guiding us to this we would have never
been guided if Allah had not guided us to it. Fast forward to
verse 46, this is where you have the people of Al-A’raf Al-A’raf
is the plural of the word Urf which means an elevated piece
of land and so as Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta’ala Anhuma as well
as Ibn Mas’ud radiAllahu Anhum and several of the
companions narrated the people of Al-A’raf are a people
whose good and bad deeds are equal on the scale and so
their sins prevented them from entering into paradise but
their good deeds prevented them from going to the fire so
they’re standing on top of this wall, this barrier..
That is erected and they have this view of the people entering
into paradise and they have this view of the people entering
into hellfire SubhanAllah what a view right? They’re watching
both sides, some entering into paradise, some entering into
the fire and they’re basically put on hold until Allah
Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la comes back to them so they’re left in
limbo in a way because they were equal in their deeds which
shows you the value of one good deed on the day of
judgment so Allah says Wa baynahuma hijabu ala al-a’rafi
rijalun ya’rifuna kullan bisi ma’hun wa na’du ashaab aljannah an salamun alaykum lam yadkhuluha wahum
yatma’oon so they’re on this barrier seeing the people enter
paradise and they recognize the people entering paradise
and they recognize the people entering the fire so they call
out to the people of paradise and they say salamun alaykum,
peace be on to you, they’re happy for them even though they
have not yet entered paradise while they are eagerly hoping
to be amongst the people of paradise then Allah says wa itha
surifat abusaruhum tilqa ashaab an naar then their eyes are
turned towards the people of the fire so they say Rabbana la
taj’alna ma’al qawmin dhalimeen, oh Allah do not join us
with these wrong doing people wa na’da ashaab al-a’raf so
now they call out to the people of the fire, so remember they
called out to the people of paradise and they said salamun
alaykum, peace be on to you and they congratulated them,
they were happy for them because they recognized them
and they wanted to be amongst them and now they’re calling
out to the people of the fire and they say wa na’da ashaab ala’raf rijal ya’rifoonahum bi simahum qaloo maa
aghna’ankum jam’ukum wama kuntum tastakbiroon they
call out to them and they say what did your arrogance what
did your large numbers do for you today, all of that and this
shows you as the scholars say that the people of the fire
have nasty traits that make them..
People that are not liked they’re disliked, so the people of ala’raf are people that were really a mixed bag but mixed to a
point that they equalized in evil and good but they’re calling
out to the people of the fire like these people were so
arrogant they used to talk so much they used to have so
much pride and they’re calling out to them and they’re
saying what did that all do for you now, where did that lead
you to now and they’re praying not to be amongst them and
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala eventually says to them udkhulul
jannah la khawfun alaikum wa la intum tahzanun Allah
Subhanahu wa ta’ala says to them enter into paradise there
will be no fear upon you nor shall you grieve, so eventually
these people are entered into paradise which shows you the
mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala exceeds his wrath and
then finally verse 50 wa nada ashabu al-nari ashab al-jannah
the people of the fire cry out to the people of jannah, ahlul
a’raf the people of a’raf are now the people of jannah too, so
this is now the people of al-a’raf have entered into jannah
and they are from the people of jannah and the people of the
fire are crying out to them collectively after they fought
amongst themselves and they say afeelu alayna minal ma’a
aw mimma razaqakum Allah, you know pour upon us some
water or some of the provision, the sustenance that Allah
Subhanahu wa ta’ala has granted you and they cry out and
they say inna Allah harrama huma ala alkaafireen, like no
this is too late for you it is too late for you, you should not
have waited until this moment to cry out and ask for some
bits and pieces, you could have been people of jannah as
well, right, you had an opportunity to be people of jannah as
well, subhanAllah these conversations are are stark and they
will happen, Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala is telling us these
are the conversations that will happen, so we are reading
these conversations now and we..
Ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala to make us from the people
of jannah that are being congratulated by the people of ala’raf not to be from the people of al-a’raf that have to wait
until the end, nor to be of course even the lowest of these
categories to be from the people of al-naaf, Allahumma
ameen but it’s stunning because it shows you the superiority
of Allah’s mercy, the responsibility of every person to try to
achieve that mercy and not to blame anyone else when they
go astray and the importance and significance of every
single one of your deeds, it could be that one good deed that
changes your situation and where you are in the
conversations on this page may Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala
make us from the people of al-firdaws al-a’la, Allahumma
ameen inshaAllah ta’ala I will hand it over to Sheikh
Abdullah, may Allah bless you Jazakumullah khairan
SubhanAllah, every time I read those verses it’s you know,
you ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala to make you from the
people of jannah because you can imagine you can’t
imagine to a certain degree of you know, just being in full
regret of hasra, as mentioned in another portion of the Quran
and being full regrets and wishing you could go back and
change things well now we are in that time where we can
change things, where we can actually ask for forgiveness and
be of those people that do the deeds, do the good deeds
inshaAllah that after the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala
will be a reason for us to enter into jannah inshaAllah ta’ala
it’s ultimately as we know, as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said illa an yataghamadani Allahum birahmatihi
that would enter him into jannah, except that the mercy of
Allah envelops me and covers me and allows me ultimately
into jannah. There will be situations where there may be
people as we have seen, as we have heard about and maybe
even watched, that have been in the middle of what we may
term as a wrath or something that be..
We would probably call it a natural disaster that some would
even call it something that happens to a group of people, a
nation of people and from them are the righteous this is a
question what about the righteous people that were
amongst those that were punished or that were doing that
abominable acts you know it’s interesting Allah Subhanahu
wa ta’ala in the chapter of Al-An’am verse number 132 which
I plan to cover right before that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala
calls out to the jinn and calls out to mankind and he’s asking
them the rhetorical question when he says after A’udhu
Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajim Ya Ma’a Shuraa Al-Jinni WalInsi Alam Yatikum Nusulun Minkum Yaqusuna Alaikum Ayati
Wa Yundilunakum Niqaa Yaumikum Hatha Allah Subhanahu
wa ta’ala asks them a company of jinn and mankind did the
messengers not come from amongst you and recite my
revelations to you and warn you that you would meet this
day what would they say Qalu Shahidna Ala Anfusina Wa
Gharratumul Hayatu Al-Dunya Wa Shahidu Ala Anfusihim
Anhum Kanoo Kafireen. They will say SubhanAllah, they will
say we testify against ourselves the life of this world seduced
them but they will testify against themselves that they
rejected the truth and then Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala says
right after that Thalika Al-Lam Yakun Thalika Al-Lam Yakun
Rabbuka Muhnikal Qura Bi Dhulmin Wa Ahluha Ghaafilun.
Your lord would not destroy towns for their wrong doing if
they had not been warned so now Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala
is telling you that there is no such thing as Zulm with Allah
Subhanahu wa ta’ala Zulm is putting something in its
improper place. Justice is giving everything its proper right
and Zulm is the opposite of that and Zulm is impossible with
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. Zulm only comes from someone
that has a deficient nature and that is of the human beings
and everything other than Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala. So
Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala addresses and he says..
That is because Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala would never
oppress a people if they were that he would not cause a
catastrophe or something to happen, destroy towns and the
people of them were doing the wrong do they were wrong
doing if they haven’t been warned. So Allah Subhanahu wa
ta’ala is showing them that there was a warning that was
given to them and if this takes place, if this punishment
takes place in whichever shape, form or fashion, it is
warranted. But then the question may arise as the Prophet
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned in an authentic hadith
that’s mutafiquna alayya, it’s agreed upon by Bukhari and
Muslim that Aisha reported that Allah’s Messenger Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam is saying that an army will set out to attack
the Kaaba but an extensive desert from but in an extensive
desert the first and last of them will be swallowed up and
then Aisha Radhiallahu Anhu asked the first and last of them
will be swallowed up and amongst them are people that
have markets and people who are not of their of their
number. Now we’re not with them when trying to make this
attempt. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said the
first and last of them will be swallowed up and then they will
be resurrected in a state agreeing with their intentions
yubAAathuna ala niyyatihim Umm Salama also asked the
same type of question when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said they will be destroyed and people are, there
will be a group of people that will be destroyed and then
Umm Salama said, afeehim salihoon that there will be
righteous people amongst them and the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said yes if there is much wickedness idha
kathur al-khabath so if there is much wickedness in society
and Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la brings his wrath may Allah
protect us from that ameen, that there may be of the
salihoon that are amongst them. The wrath does not mean
that they were of the people that did wrong but the wrath is
the way that Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la decides with his
wisdom and knowledge to punish a group of people if the
khabath, if the wickedness is spread. SubhanAllah it makes
the individual think about our times now, the wickedness
that is..
Spread and what could take place we never know, we never
know that’s why it’s always important as Shaykh Omar even
mentioned to never belittle any deed that you have, that you
do, any little deed that you do of khair or any little deed that
you do of of evil. As Ibn Abbas RadhiAllahu Anhumai said,
SubhanAllah that you know he said that verily do not belittle
the small sins for verily mountains are made of pebbles. So
never belittle any deed that you do and know that Allah
Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la is As-Sami’ Al-Mawsiya, that he is
the all-seeing and the all-hearing. But the verse I want to talk
about here is where Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says right
after that, it’s a verse of indirect hope and encouragement.
After he mentions that he will destroy the nation and is not
oppressed, he will not oppress those because they have
been warmed, he says after that, Wa li kullin darajatun
mimma amilu wa ma rabbuka bi ghafilin amma ya’manun.
Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says, Wa li kullin darajatun
mimma amilu and everyone is assigned a rank according to
their deeds. What’s interesting here, I want to kind of dive
into the Arabic here and then we will extract from that
inshaAllah. He says, Wa li kullin, he says, and for everyone,
and this is an indefinite usage showing generality. It’s
indefinite usage showing generality. Everyone. Darajatun
mimma amilu. Here he says darajat, and darajat means
ranks. But if we want to be more specific, there is darajat and
there is darakat. Darajat is that which is an elevated rank.
Darakat is that which is a lowly rank. Inni al-munafiqeena fi
darqi al-asfali minan-nar. Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says
that the hypocrites are in the lowest levels of the fire. Right,
and I think Shaykh Omar even mentioned the word darq
when he was talking about the story of the Ashab al-A’raf. So
in here, Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says darajat, and some
scholars mention..
That Allah uses darajat to motivate the mu’mineen because
they’re the ones that will have darajat. And it’s a level of
motivation for them that everyone is at their level, but the
ones that will have the darajat are the mu’mineen and the
believers amongst the people. That’s why Allah Subh’anaHu
Wa Ta-A’la says wali kullin darajatin mimma amilu, from
what they did. And this is important for us to remember that
everyone is different. Everyone is different. Do not look at
someone else and base your reality off of theirs. Because
many things can come from that. One can be jealous, one
can have envy, bad things can happen. So when one looks at
his or her deeds, look at his or her deeds, and then ask Allah
to make you firm, if it was a good deed, and ask Allah to
forgive you if it was not a good deed, if we fell short for our
shortcomings, that we will all fall short in. So here he’s
saying everyone has their levels based on what they did.
They are assigned a rank according to their deeds. Wa maa
rabbuka bi ghafilin AAamma yaAAmanoon And Allah, your
Lord, is not unaware of anything that they do. So here Allah
Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la negates ghafla. He negates any type
of negligence of what anyone does. Aamma yaAAmanoon, in
particular, here it was, as some scholars mentioned, the
mu’mineen, and some of them, they mention jamee’ahum,
jamee’al khalq, all of mankind here. But what’s interesting
here is a small benefit that I want to leave us with. As we
talked about before, you know, one in Ramadan may think,
how can I start to establish the relationship with God that I
never had before, or that I had the previous Ramadan. I
always tell myself and others, learn the beautiful names and
attributes of God. Learn what Allah says, the names that he
gives himself, learn what those names are, and then see how
they’re applied in your life. So here Allah Subh’anaHu Wa TaA’la says,
Wa maa rabbuka bi ghafilin aamma yaAAmanoon. Some of
the scholars mentioned, if his negation, if he negates
something about himself, and it’s a little descriptive, then we
look at the opposite and confirm the perfect and complete
opposite. So Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la says here, and he
is not unaware of what you do. The opposite of ghafla can be
ilm, knowledge. So Allah’s knowledge is’complete. His
awareness is complete. It is not incomplete. And that’s one
of his names, al-‘aleem. So when we look at knowledge of
Allah, he knows what was, what is, and what will be, and he
knows the hypotheticals. So in realizing that situation, when
one knows that Allah knows, that insha’Allah, with the good
hopes from Allah, brings a level of serenity, solace, security,
certainty, that Allah is well aware. At the same time,
accountability, because he’s not unaware of what they do.
So remembering this beautiful name of Allah Subh’anaHu
Wa Ta-A’la, he is the all-knowledgeable. Remembering that if
we see a nation that may crumble, or there is maybe a
punishment from Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la, and some of
our relatives may be there, and we know them as as-salihun,
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم does not neglect that. Allah is not unaware of
that. That they will be raised on their intentions. They will be
raised by their intentions. Allah is not unaware of what we
do. May Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la make our actions
khalisan li wajih, make it sincere for his face, for him,
insha’Allah. Revealing Allah Subh’anaHu Wa Ta-A’la is al-
‘aleem. Ameen. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. Beautiful words.
KaramakAllah. Allah yabarak fi shaykh Ismail. We’ll just get
right to it. Bismillah. At-Fatir. Alhamdulillah wa salatu wa
salamu ala Rasulillah. So the passage that I’ve chosen for
today is actually from the beginning of Surah Al-Anfal. And
it’s verses 2 to 4 of Surah Al-Anfal.
And SubhanAllah, it’s qadarullah that all the passages we
chose, they work together to build a story for us, right? That
we learned that there are people whose deeds of good and
bad will be equal. And that we learned that there are
different levels and darajas that the believers go through.
And what the opening verses of Surah Al-Anfal do is they give
us a description of five qualities of the true believer that we
should aspire to watch. That these five qualities should be
our goals in life. That if we have some of them, insha’Allah
we are believers. But our goal should be to have all of them.
So in this verse, Allah Subhanu wa Ta’ala tells us, Innamal
mu’minuna allatheena iza dhukirallahu wajilat quloobuhum
That the believers are those who when Allah is mentioned,
their hearts tremble. Wa iza tuliad alayhim ayatuhu
zadatuhum imanah And when his verses, the Quran, is
recited, their faith increases. Wa ala rabbihim
yatawakkaloon And they have tawakkul, they have a trust in
their Lord. Allatheena yuqimuna as-salata wa mimma
razaqanahum yunfikoon They are those who establish the
Salah and they spend generously from what we have
provided them. Allah Subhanu wa Ta’ala then says, Ulaika
humul mu’minuna haqqa These are the true believers. And
the Mufassirun say that this means these are the people who
have reached perfection of faith. They have reached the
highest level of faith. And then Allah Subhanu wa Ta’ala gives
us a list of rewards. That if we aim and aspire towards having
these five qualities, then there are some rewards we can
look forward to. And interestingly, the first one he mentions
is what Sheikh Abdullah was talking about. Lahum darajatun
anda rabbihim That they will have a daraja, a high status by
their Lord.
Wa maghfira and forgiveness Wa rizqun kareem And they will
have generous sustenance, a lot of sustenance. So when we
look at these three verses, what we get is a series of five
qualities that we should aspire towards to help us become
true believers, to help us attain perfection in our iman.
Alhamdulillah, everyone who believes in the six pillars of
iman has iman to some level, but iman increases and
decreases and we need to aim for higher levels of iman. And
these verses give us some of the things we can do to reach
higher levels of iman. Now what’s interesting is that verse
number two focuses on the internal. It focuses on three
things we can change within our hearts that help us to reach
higher levels of iman. And then verse number three focuses
on the external, on the things that we can physically do to
increase our iman. So internally, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala
mentions three things. Number one, when his name is
mentioned, our hearts tremble. This means that we should
have such a relationship with our creator that we should be
in awe of him. That when Allah’s name is mentioned, our
hearts should move. We should feel something. And what’s
interesting is that some of the Mufassirin have stated that
the five qualities mentioned here are the five qualities of the
true believer. The opposite are the five qualities of the
munafiq, of the hypocrite. So the true believer, when Allah’s
name is mentioned, it affects his heart. The munafiq, the
hypocrite, when Allah’s name is mentioned, it doesn’t bother
him. It doesn’t faze him. He doesn’t care because he doesn’t
truly believe. So how do we reach that level of faith where we
are in awe of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala whenever his name
is mentioned? Again, it goes back to what Sheikh Abdullah
was talking about, that we study his names and attributes.
The more you know Allah, the more you love Allah, the more
you are in awe of Allah, the more you want to worship Allah
subhanahu wa ta’ala. And so studying the names and
attributes of Allah, they help us to reach this level where
when his name is mentioned, our hearts shake. The second
quality that when the verses of the Quran are recited, the
faith increases. And Alhamdulillah, I think most of us, we
experience this in Ramadan, in the taraweeh, that when the
imam is reciting the Quran, you know, especially the imam
has a beautiful voice. We can literally feel our iman
increasing. Now, how do we experience this all year round?
By making the Quran a part of our life. So in Ramadan, we
increase our recitation of the Quran, but outside of
Ramadan, we should still be reciting Quran every day. So
maybe in Ramadan, you recite one or two juz a day, outside
Ramadan, at least five or ten minutes a day. So we maintain
that connection with the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
And so every day it becomes something that is part of our
hearts. It is part of who we are. And it has this impact on our
faith. The third internal quality that is mentioned is tawakkul.
Tawakkul, that we trust Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. That we
have a sense of optimism about this world. That no matter
what goes wrong, we say, الوكيل ونعم هللا حسبنا .We trust Allah.
Allah knows best for us. Allah’s Qadr is best. And in this Qadr
of Allah, in this tawakkul, we find inner peace no matter what
is going on in our lives. We find ways to be happy no matter
what is going wrong in our lives. And we find a sense of
optimism and never losing hope because our tawakkul is not
in any worldly means. It is in our Creator. So those are the
three things we can change inside ourselves to reach higher
levels of iman.
That we get to know our Creator, that we develop a
relationship with the Quran, and that we work on our
tawakkul, that we increase our trust in Allah subhanahu wa
ta’ala. Externally, there are two signs of the believer that are
mentioned over and over again throughout the Quran. Right
at the very beginning, in the beginning of Surah Baqarah,
Allah mentions these same two qualities. And that is that
they establish the salah and they spend generously on what
Allah has provided them. And so this means that as
Muslims, we should be people of salah and people of
sadaqah. That spending generously, this is what the believer
should be known for. All of us in our communities, we as
Muslims should be known as the most generous people in
our communities. We should be known as the people of
prayer, that we never miss a salah. When the salah time
comes in, we pray the salah on time, always without
exception. And that our lifestyle is a generous lifestyle, not
just with our wealth, but with our time, with our resources,
with our knowledge, whatever Allah has given us, we spend it
generously in the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And so
these five qualities are the qualities of the believer, that
internally we have a relationship with Allah and the Quran
and we have the wakul. Externally, we are known as the
people of salah and the people of generosity. And again, the
Mufasireen said the munafiq is the opposite. The hypocrite is
the opposite. The hypocrite has no relationship with Allah
subhanahu wa ta’ala. When Allah’s name is mentioned, it
has no impact on his heart. The munafiq, the Quran
recitation does not increase his faith. Instead, it irritates him.
He doesn’t want to hear the Quran recited. The munafiq
does not have the wakul in Allah. He has the wakul in his
salary. He has the wakul in his own skills. He has the wakul
in some worldly means. His wakul is not in Allah. The
munafiq is not regular in his prayers. And he is miserly
because he thinks his world is his own. He does not realize it
is from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. And so many of us, we
may be a mixture. We have some of the qualities of the
believer,
Some of the qualities of the munafiq. We are all a work in
progress. We all have been continuously working towards a
higher level to become better versions of ourselves. But we
must ensure we don’t ever fall to the level where all five
qualities of the munafiq are within us. And at the same time,
our goal should be to have those five qualities of the true
believer. So what’s the reward for this? Allah mentions three
rewards. Number one is daraja, a high rank. And the scholars
of tafsir, they link this to the hadith. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said
that when Allah loves a servant, he tells Jibreel. And then
Jibreel صلى الله عليه وسلم tells the angels. And the love of that person
spreads throughout the heavens and the earth until even the
people of this earth love him. This is the daraja that one
reaches when one has a strong relationship with Allah
subhanahu wa ta’ala. And then the second one is maghfirah,
forgiveness. Now what’s interesting is each of these five
qualities link to a different one of these rewards. So for
example, if you have a strong awe of Allah subhanahu wa
ta’ala, you give Allah the respect that he deserves the best of
your ability, Allah will make you respected in the sight of
people. Then we have maghfirah. And we know one of the
main ways of achieving maghfirah and forgiveness in this
world is to pray five times a day. Like the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave us
the analogy that a person who prays five times a day is like
someone who bathes five times a day. All of his sins are
washed away. And then the third reward is a noble
sustenance. And how do you get noble sustenance? The
wakul and sadaqah, that you trust Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala
with your risk and you are generous. And I want to end with a
beautiful narration from Imam Hassan Basri rahimahullah,
where he was once asked, Oh Hassan, are you a true, are
you a mu’min, are you a believer? And what a beautiful reply
Imam Hassan Basri rahimahullah gave. He said, if you are
asking whether I believe in Allah and his angels and his
books and his prophets..
And the last day and Jannah and Jahannam and Qadr, then
yes, I’m a believer. But if you are asking me if these three
verses apply to me, then wallahi I do not know. Wallahi I do
not know, meaning these three verses show us the highest
level of faith. A level so high that even one of the awliya like
Hassan al-Basri felt he had not reached that level yet. So we
shouldn’t feel bad if we don’t have all five of these qualities,
because even Imam Hassan al-Basri felt he didn’t have all
five of these qualities. Rather, these should be life goals that
we spend our life in pursuit of attaining these five qualities.
And in that effort, we will find the reward of Allah subhanahu
wa ta’ala, the reward of a high daraja, the reward of
maghfirah and the reward of a noble sustenance.
Jazakumullahu khair Sheikh Ismail. Mashallah, very
powerful, very beautiful. And subhanAllah, we didn’t plan it
that way, but everything built, everyone’s points really built
on the other. Right. Why aim to not just be from the lowest,
aim for the highest. And if you fall short, Allah subhanahu wa
ta’ala will make up whatever gap is actually there. Beautiful
words, subhanAllah. Sheikh Ismail, when Sheikh Abdullah
and I come to Ghana, inshallah, you’re going to have to fly
up, man. Six hours, I think, five, six hours. I know you think
it’s the other side of the world, but in Dallas, we take four
hour, five hour flights all the time. Yeah, yeah, inshallah.
When you’re anywhere that’s within eight hour flight of South
Africa, let me know. Within eight hours. I’m pretty sure it’s
within eight hours, inshallah. Sheikh Abdullah, we got an
invite to Nigeria, inshallah ta’ala. You know, Nigeria, the
invitation specifically came for you and I together. So I’m
inviting you on air, inshallah ta’ala. You got to come with me
to Nigeria, Sheikh Abdullah, in December, inshallah, around
December time. Are you down? Oh, you’re on mute. I’m
down. Conveniently on mute. I see how it is.
Well, see, I got to ask my mom. I can’t, if I got to stop by
Ghana, man, my mother’s in Ghana. So definitely we’re
going to go together, inshallah ta’ala. We’ll go together. We’ll
play ping pong there, inshallah. We’ll settle. No reception.
We’ll have to. We’ll have to. No, man, we look, we’ve got to
go to Ghana. We got to go to Nigeria, inshallah ta’ala.
Because, you know, Yusuf, my brother, Yusuf’s wife is from
Nigeria. And I’ve been invited to Nigeria multiple times. Oh,
you told me that to Nigeria, inshallah ta’ala. And I’ve got
ancestry in Senegal and Mali. So I got to go to Senegal and
Mali and then the Gambia next to Senegal. Because Abu
Bakr al-Tambeidou, my, our beloved friend, mashallah, who
actually tunes in. So may Allah bless him, form of justice
after the Gambia. And we got to we got to work it out, man.
December. You know, we can’t leave out Somalia. Right? No,
definitely not Somalia. Of course not. Right. Our best
students are from Somalia always, alhamdulillah.
Masha’Allah, man. So we got it. We got a lot of a lot of
trekking to do, inshallah ta’ala, once we get there. And
Sheikh Ismail is going to come meet us because we’re not
going to South Africa. Insha’Allah, I’ll bring you all to South
Africa one day, inshallah. I’ve been. I’ve been. Every week
somebody asks me when Sheikh Umar coming to South
Africa again. Sheikh Abdullah, have you been to South
Africa? No, sir, I have not been. I really want to go. Inshallah,
inshallah, inshallah. Now that the borders are opening up
and travel is getting back to normal, inshallah, we’ll see it’s
an impersonal appointment. Insha’Allah, inshallah, Allah
bless you. So what does everyone know your official
position? Like what do you do for your team? My position.
Yeah, I’m the P.O. of Yakin Books. So I mean, I’m the head of
the publication department. Just seeing our books from idea
to publication, the entire process, the writing, the editing,
the cover design, marketing.
I just oversee all of that. So Alhamdulillah, the book
department is one side. What I handle the other side. Sheikh
Umar, should I mention what they do on the other side?
That’s I don’t talk about that. That’s that’s our secret
between me and Sheikh Umar. I’m right in the middle. Don’t
know nothing. Check your tires. Personal favorites. Just like,
you know, I don’t know, man. Check this. We’re blessed.
We’re blessed to have you. I think the blessings, all of you
that are following along with the e-books. Alhamdulillah,
Sheikh Ismail and I have co-authored, but just give him more
credit for sure. MashaAllah, for sure. He’s unbelievably
organized, structured. So if you’re benefiting from the ebooks, you have Sheikh Ismail to thank and make dua for,
inshaAllah. I just want to say one thing, man. The reason I
asked you to mention your position, because, you know, it’s
important for the world to know that it’s a team of people
and we all do this together. And it just always reminds me of
the verse, Wa ta’awuna alal birri wa taqwa. If you yourself
want to do something in your locality, do it. If there’s people
that want to work with you, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim. Don’t
worry about the haters, the naysayers. As long as your
intention is for Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala, Allah Subhanahu
wa ta’ala will assist you. Do the work for the sake of Allah.
Whether it’s making an Instagram account and just
spreading adhkar, you know, do something, especially in this
beautiful month of Ramadan. Let it be a catalyst to work
together in khair. So, you know, mashallah, the Yaqeen
family is all around the world. And as you can see, the quality
of knowledge and the quality of individuals, it’s a beautiful
thing. And I’m just happy to be a part of this effort. And I
thank Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala that he allowed me to be a
part of this. We’re happy you’re a part of it, Sheikh Abdullah.
We’re happy you’re a big part of it, man. JazakAllah khair.
Allah ya’fadak.
Enjoy today. JazakAllah khair for shining the light a little bit
extra brighter on Sheikh Ismail for the work that he does.
Alhamdulillah. Sheikh Ismail, we’re very happy to have you
here. And inshallah ta’ala we’ll see you all tomorrow.
BarakAllahu feekum. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi
wabarakatuh. Waalaikumussalam wa rahmatullah.
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