 All praise belongs to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Lord of the worlds, the one and only true God, the most compassionate, the merciful. There is nothing like him whatsoever. He is the all-hearing, yet he is the all-hearing and the all-seeing. And peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa la li wa sallam, the final Messenger of God, the Seal of the Prophets, the Commander of the Righteous, the Leader of the Messengers, and the Beloved of the Lord of the Worlds. In the next couple of days, inshallah ta'ala, we will enter the month of Dhul-Hijjah, inshallah this is the month of the blessed Hajj, the pilgrimage. Of course the rites of the Hajj go back to our father, the Prophet Ibrahim alaihi sallam, whose name literally means the father of nations, the one who is called the friend of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, Khalilullah, in the Torah, in the Injil, and in the Quran. The Hajj is Abrahamic, it has nothing to do with paganism, it has everything to do with Tawheed. So in the spirit of the season, as it were, I would like to look at a beautiful passage in the Quran, a passage that I refer to as the Abrahamic monologue. This is found in Surah 26 of the Quran, verses 75 to 89, and it has two sections. So both sections are essentially didactic, meaning that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala through the Prophet Ibrahim alaihi sallam is teaching us something. So what is he teaching us? He's teaching us theology, the proper understanding of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is usuluddin, this is the most noble of sciences in our tradition because it deals with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So in the first section Ibrahim alaihi sallam, he's speaking to his people about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. His people are the ancient Caldeans, the ancient Babylonians, who worshiped a pantheon of gods. They were mushrikin, they were polytheists. And then in the second section Ibrahim alaihi sallam is speaking directly to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the form of supplication, a dua. But you will see how Ibrahim alaihi sallam's speech is trans-historical. In other words, how his speech is absolutely relevant for us today. It is timeless. So his speech begins, Have you really considered what you worship? Have you really considered what you worship? You and your ancestors. They are all enemies to me except the Lord of the worlds. And our master Mufassir, he says here something interesting in his tafsir. He says that these verses are one of the strongest proofs against what's known as theological taqleed and a proof for istidlal. So taqleed is blind conformance or uncritical faith. It's following someone without due inquiry or to believe without evidence. So taqleed in matters of creed or theology is unacceptable. Don't just follow someone because someone told you to follow someone or because someone is charismatic or popular. You have to actually believe what you claim to believe. So this is very important. And you have to be able to explain your beliefs even if it's just at a basic level. This is called being discursive in our theology. You have to be able even to a small extent to provide the evidence or proofs of your e-man to other people. You don't have to be a theologian but you have to know something. You know Socrates is famous for saying the unexamined life is not worth living. In our tradition we can say the unexamined faith is not real believing. You should be able to explain to an atheist why God exists and why God is one using philosophical and rational proofs. We should be able to explain to the Christian why Jesus is not divine using rational and scriptural proofs. We should be able to explain why we believe that the Prophet Muhammad is the messenger of God and why the Quran is the word of God using rational, logical, historical, linguistic and scriptural proofs. We believe because it is rational. Faith in God is rational. All of the commandments of God, all of the commandments of Allah are rational. Imam Al-Qurdubi, he points out that due to Ibrahim A.S. statement, all of them are my enemies except the Lord of the world. He says that this indicates that the ancient Babylonians like the Quraish at the time of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did believe in Allah in some sense but they attributed some falsehood to him. There was a large population of Semites living in ancient Babylon at that time who like the Quraish understood that they were inheritors of a prophetic legacy or tradition. The life of the patriarch Ibrahim A.S. is often mirrored in the life of our master Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So even today most people believe in God but their theology needs refinement and needs correction. That's the relevance. And then he says, And now he begins his theological monologue that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the Creator. He is the only Creator in reality because logic tells us that there can only be one true Creator to ask the question who created the Creator is total nonsense. Why? Because by definition the Creator is uncreated. If the Creator was created then he is not the Creator. He doesn't merit the title Creator. If there was no beginning to the universe, if there was not creation ex nihilo out of nothing then we are stuck in infinite regress which is repugnant to the intellect. It is intelligent to believe in one Creator who created from nothing. And He guides me, he says. The emphasis on the He alone, this verb is imperfect. He alone guides me and continues to guide me. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the majestic, all powerful and timeless Creator. He is also in some sense personal, intimate, close to His creation. He is kareeb. He shows us the way. He's not some impersonal distant or removed God. He's not the God of the Greek philosophers. He's personal. When my servants ask you concerning me, say I am close to them. I answer every supplication of every supplicant should he call upon me. We created man and we know what to do and we are well acquainted with what his soul suggests to him. And we are closer to the human being than his jugular vein. Allah says. And He knows what goes into the earth and what comes out of the earth. He knows what comes down from the sky and what goes up to the sky. And He is with you wherever you are. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with respect to what you're doing is well aware. He is all seen. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is neither totally imminent nor totally transcendent. He crashes the binary. This is amazing. And then He says. He is the one who feeds me and gives me to drink. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the only source of life, the ultimate sustainer of our existence. The outward meaning is food and water. Ibn A'jiba however says in his beautiful tafsir al-Bahru al-Madeed which is an esoteric exegesis of the Quran. This is perfectly permissible as long as the tahrir, the botany meaning doesn't contradict the tahrir meaning. Allah says this refers to the food of ma'rifah and the drink of ma'habah, the food of gnosis and the drink of love that this is what the Quran provides us, knowledge of God leading to His love, our spiritual sustenance. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the source of our physical sustenance as well as our spiritual sustenance. وَإِذَا مَرِتُوا فَهُوَا يَشْفِينِ إِبْرْهِمْ عَلَيْسَلَمْ كَانْتِينُوزَ And when I am sick He heals me. And sicknesses are of two types. The first type is psychosomatic, dealing with the mind and body. But there's also spiritual diseases. اِمَام جَافَرَ الصَّادِقْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ تَنَعَنْهُ He said, when I am sick due to sin, He heals me with tawbah, with repentance. The Quran says about Ibrahim A.S. فَنَّظْرَ نَظْرَتَنْ فِنْ نُجُومْ فَقَالِ اِمْنِ صَقِيمْ He casted a glance towards the stars and He said, indeed I am sick. ابن كثير He says that the idolatry of His people made His heart feel sick. And this was out of His compassion. The compassion of Ibrahim A.S. That He loved His people so much that just the thought of their punishment would make Him ill. And the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. was the same way and we should be the same way. Allah SWT speaks directly in the Quran to the Prophet S.A.W. And by extension to all of us فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاْخِ وِنَّفْسَكَ عَلَى آثارِهِمْ إِلَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَادَ الْحَدِيْفِي أَسَفَاءِ Perhaps you might worry yourself to death over them if they do not believe in this message. But Allah SWT tells him time and again and by extension to all of us إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِيمَنْ أَحْبَبْتِ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهِ يَهْدِيمَنْ يَشَاءِ You cannot guide all whom you love but Allah SWT will guide them, whomever He chooses لَيْسَ عَلَيْكَ هُدَاهُمْ It is not upon you to guide them وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهِ يَهْدِيمَنْ يَشَاءِ But Allah SWT is the ultimate guide Society might make us sick to our stomachs and right now what's going on in society is making us sick to our stomachs but we have to trust in Allah SWT Now so far in this passage by the way from a linguistic standpoint we have three defective verbs this is for like the linguistic nerds or geeks whatever we have three defective verbs in juxtaposition with three strong verbs in the Arabic this adds to the incredible eloquence of the Abrahamic monologue it's very subtle but the Arab shu'ara the poets will have picked up on this by the way this monologue is in a surah called as shu'ara the poets but then Ibrahim alaihi salam he continues وَالَّذِ يُمِيتُنِ ثُمَّ يُحْيِينَ The one who causes me to die and causes me to live Imam Fakhredin al-Razi said that only a being capable of the acts listed in these series of verses 78-81 of as shu'ara only a being capable of these acts is worthy and deserving of worship is معبود بحقه what are these acts? creation guidance sustaining causing health and sickness causing death and life and then he says and the one who I hope will forgive my sins on the day of judgment Mujahid said that this could be a reference to 2163 in the Quran in which Ibrahim alaihi salam quote-unquote lied to his people and said that the largest idol smashed all the other idols but Imam al-Razi he says this was not actually a lie because his intention was not deception his intention was to demonstrate an absurdity and their belief that Ibrahim alaihi salam was demonstrating the dangers and follies of theological taqleed ask your average Christian why do you believe in the doctrine of the trinity? he'll probably say it's in the Bible and as Muslims we have to have enough knowledge to follow this answer with where is it? show me where in the Bible that the trinity is explicitly taught in the Bible produce book chapter in verse and after finding nothing in the Bible many Christians come to the realization that the only reason why they believed in the trinity was because of theological taqleed blind imitation of their leaders they were told to believe that God was three without seeing the evidence Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the Quran, in the context of Christianity he says subhanallah say, oh people of the book again, speaking in the first instance to the Christians do not exaggerate in your religion beyond the truth and do not follow the desires and caprices of a people who went astray and thus led many other people astray and continued to stray from the right path Dallal is mentioned in this ayah three times to the Christian leaders who invented the trinity went astray then with their theology they led millions more astray then the Christians at the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi salam and even today reject the Prophet sallallahu alaihi salam because he did not teach the trinity and thus they continued to go astray continued compounded Dallal but the Quran wants to ask the Christians have you really considered what you worship? It's the same question Ibrahim alaihi salam asks his people and like the people of Ibrahim alaihi salam the Christians in principle worship Allah the God of Abraham but they need correction in their theology and then he says Rabbi habli hukman wa al-hikni bi saniheen oh my Lord grant me a judgment process and bind me to the righteous and this begins the second section of the Abrahamic monologue his supplication to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala which is still didactic he's teaching us theology through dua and he says Rabbi Rabbi denotes a personal deity the Rabbi is the one who takes care of you loves you sustains you protects you habli grant me this is called a fi'l du'a it's not an amr we don't give an amr to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala it's a fi'l of supplication habli grant me Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is al-wahhab he is the one who gives things even though we are undeserving grant me what? hukman a judgment process by which I might recognize the truth in other words a stronger sense of discernment all of us are born with a conscience the word conscience comes from con in science with knowledge we all have the ability to intuit to a certain degree what is good what is bad, what is beneficial, what is harmful what is beautiful and ugly we have this naturally we are not a tabula rasa we are not a clean slate however bad education and sin and disobedience and shaitan can delude and deceive us even to the point where the bad is seen as good the ugly is seen as beautiful and the harmful is seen as healthy and this is happening today all over our society so we need reminders that's why the Quran is adhikr the reminder we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us a sustained and sharp process of judgment by which we might see the reality behind the form in this vein the Prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam he is supplicated Allahumma arina al-haqqa haqqan wa razzukna ittiba'a a beautiful dua'a O our Lord, O Allah show us the truth as truth and give us the ability to follow what wa arina al-baatila baatilan wa razzukna ittiba'a ittinaabah and show us the falsehood as falsehood and give us the ability to shun it and then Ibrahim alayhi sallam he says wajalli lisana sutqin fil aakhireen and attribute to me a tongue of truthfulness among the later generations in other words, when people speak of me in later times may their tongue speak truthfully about me Imam al-Qurtubi and Imam al-Razi they say this could be understood as a prayer for a great prophet to come in the later days so in other words something like raise up the speech of a truthful prophet in the later generations concerning me and of course this sadaq, this assadiq al-ameen was the holy prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam the final messenger of God he is the prophet of the Abrahamic restoration and I'll tell you this, my brothers and sisters I'm gonna tell you something, have a little bit of time I studied the sacred texts of the Jews and the Christians believe it or not for 25 years many people said I wasted my time and I've studied their normative exegetical tradition and even their sacred languages according to their own books according to the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible this is in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible a greatly praised nation in Ummah led by a leader highly beloved to God will come and conquer the fourth beast of Daniel's visions the prophet Daniel had a vision of four beasts these are symbols the fourth beast was interpreted as the Roman Empire by the most authoritative Jewish exegetes the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans now Daniel also said that one of the Roman emperors will fight and oppress the monotheistic believers and commit an act of unimaginable blasphemy and I believe that when you look at the evidence this emperor was clearly Hadrian who fought against and expelled all the Jews and the Jewish Christians, the people of Tohid from Jerusalem and placed a statue of Zeus on the Temple Mount however Daniel says that this beast will be killed by this coming great nation in 1,335 years it actually gives a time, an exact date Hadrian became emperor on August 11th, 117 of the common era the prophecy says that during the Roman period a powerful and holy prophet called the Baranash in Aramaic the son of man will come with a nation of saints who will definitively end the Roman Empire the fourth beast now the Christians say this is us the Christians claim this is our nation but Hellenistic Christianity starting with Constantine converted the Roman Empire they did not conquer it they became an extension of the fourth beast by 381 of the common era Trinitarian Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire so now Kufr and Shirk that had corrupted the message of Issa A.S. was all over the Empire and the true Muwahidun the true monotheists the Jews and the Unitarian or Ebonite Christians were being marginalized and persecuted then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala raised the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam with the pure Tauhid the Tauhid of the prophets of old he is the prophet of the Abrahamic restoration one by one the major cities of Byzantium the Eastern Roman Empire fell to the Muslims this was the great universal monotheistic ummah that Daniel foresaw in his vision and on May 25th, 1453 Constantinople the city of Constantine was conquered by the Ottomans and this was officially this officially and definitively ended the Roman Empire this was exactly 1,335 years after Hadrian became Emperor it's amazing August 11th, 117 to May 29th, 1453 is 1,335 years, nine months and 18 days is Ajid, this is in their books the Quran says Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and those with him, his ummah are fierce against unbelievers yet compassionate among themselves you will see them bowing, prostrating seeking grace from God in his pleasure their marks on their faces is from the traces of their worship and the Tauhid of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is the Tauhid of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam these marks are from the traces of their worship that is their similitude in the Jewish Scriptures a nation of holy saints who conquered disbelieving nations that's their similitude in the Torah and the Jewish Scriptures that is Daniel chapter 7 Walaa talbisul haqqa bilbaatili wa taqtumul haqqa wa antum ta'lamoon Allah SWT says to the Bani Israel don't clothe truth with falsehood nor conceal the truth when you have the knowledge of the truth And make me from the inheritors of the garden of bliss and forgive my father, he was from the wrongdoers and do not disgrace me on the day that the dead are raised on the day that neither children nor wealth will benefit except the one who brought to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala a sound heart, a qalb salim and the exegesis in the Quran, they say a heart, this means a free heart of shirk in dunya and full of love and reverence for Allah and his messenger and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us such hearts, I say this and I ask Allah to forgive you and forgive him, he is the Forgiving, repent to Allah, I repent to him. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds, peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, the Most Merciful, and upon our leaders and our Ummah, Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman and Ali, and may Allah be pleased with the companions of the Messenger of Allah, he is a group, he says, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his holy book, we say, and I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed, in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful,