 As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Bismillahir rahmanir raheem, alhamdulillahi wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahabihi ajma'in We praise Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam His entire household, his companions May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala bless them all And may Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala bless every one of us and grant us goodness and ease My beloved brothers and sisters, half of Ramadhan is done And we know that if we have not softened up, it is us who will lose It is not Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala who loses, He gives us the season If we did not make use of the season, we are to blame So my brothers and sisters, I call on myself and yourselves to ensure that we use this beautiful season of Ramadhan To earn the forgiveness of Allah To purify the heart, to have good thoughts about one another When you see someone do something, have the best thought in your mind Don't have a dirty thought Because a Muslim's heart is definitely very precious It is something that we should never ever compromise This heart is a gift of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala He says in the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Indeed in the body there is an organ or a piece of flesh If it is pure and good, the whole body will be pure and good If it is bad and spoiled and messed, the entire body will be bad and spoiled and messed So my brothers and sisters, it's up to us to ensure that the heart is good Because the hadith ends by saying that piece of flesh is the heart May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala give us a sound heart May Allah help us to love one another May Allah help us to help one another May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala grant us Jannah al-Firdaus This evening I want to commence where I left off yesterday Surah al-Qasas, Surah number 28 of the Quran We read it in Salat al-Tarawih tonight So now we have caught up between what we are speaking about In terms of the series and the recitation in Salat al-Tarawih You know that Musa alaihi salatu was-salam He left the Pharaoh and he arrived in Median He helped the two women, if you recall He helped the two women And after that he made a beautiful dua to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala That we mentioned yesterday And I said we should be calling out to Allah using the same dua Let me quickly repeat it Oh my Rab, I am in desperate need Of any goodness that you are going to send in my direction Anything So when that happens, when you make that dua to Allah He will send you something grand by the will of Allah Even if you don't understand Through that dua The entire life of Musa alaihi salatu was-salam was about to change So one of the girls came back And she says Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says That this woman tells Musa alaihi salatu was-salam My father is calling you to give you the reward Because you helped us to quench the thirst of the flock of sheep He was a happy man But he decided according to some narrations To follow this woman home would be a slight bit of a problem Because he wanted to protect his gaze So according to some narrations He said Let me walk in front of you and you direct me Subhanallah So she noticed this man is something else Meaning he wants me to walk behind him So that he walks in front And I can lead him left and right Until they got to the home From that she knew his honesty And from the fact that he helped with the flock They knew his strength He was a strong man He did it quick, very fast So what happened is When they got there Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says When he got to Shu'aib alaihi salam Now remember where do we get That this was Shu'aib alaihi salam According to some of the narrations It was the Nabi of Allah Shu'aib alaihi salatu was-salam There is no reason for us to say it wasn't So we will hold it at that So Shu'aib alaihi salam listens to the story And he says don't worry Allah has saved you from the oppressors And then one of the daughters spoke up Now I'm going to speak about this this evening Because it is a very great lesson for us We have problems in our communities In our homes People are complaining The women, the girls, the boys Everyone is complaining That our parents are being hard And the parents are not listening Parents are saying the children aren't listening When it comes to marriage So let's learn a lesson One of the girls tells the father Verse number 26 of Surah Al Qasas She says oh our father Why don't you employ him Give him a job The best person you can give a job to Is one who is strong and honest Hardworking and honest Okay Let's save ourselves My brothers and sisters Let's save ourselves from Loss in terms of production And productivity By employing those who are hardworking And honest These two qualities you cannot do With just one of them You have to have both If you want to succeed You need to work hard And you need to be honest If you are honest But you don't work hard We don't need you And if you work hard But you are not honest We also don't need you And you are not needed by anyone And you don't need those type of people So remember these things You work very hard And you must be very honest Two things If you have that You will go very far in life Where did we get it from The Quran Let's save ourselves And save others If it's your business You know what type of people to employ And if you are the person working You know what type of a job You need to fulfill Be honest and hardworking Indeed the best person You could ever give a job to Is the one who is strong Meaning hardworking And honest Trustworthy May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant us to us Now When a young girl is praising a man What should the father understand Subhanallah Subhanallah You know dad Mashallah Tabarak Allah Good man Really good man He's honest He's hardworking The father says okay I've understood it I've understood it In our times They are not as shy as that They will tell you Dad I want to marry him Straight It's not as shy as that Before If you look at the hadith Of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi sallam Also he speaks about how A woman sometimes says a few good words About a man Giving like Signs to say You know what I'm interested dad Can you please find out Question that we have Is it wrong for a woman To show interest in marrying someone And to tell her folks I'm interested in so and so Please find out more Please can you help me Is it wrong The answer is No it is not wrong As much as We do not condone a haram relationship Do not go out with someone And you know Sleep with them And stuff Do whatever is haram There is to be done And then come to dad And say dad You know what I've been going out for five years Now I think I'm ready to get married That's not an Islamic way Of doing things From the beginning You say dad You know what I don't have a relationship But I'd like you to Find out more about this person Subhanallah Because perhaps they are good I came across them This way or that way Or whatever way Sometimes you stumble Across them in the correct way Sometimes it could have been Perhaps maybe May not have started In such a brilliant way But keep it as clean As possible My brothers and sisters Remember when you sow a seed Let it be a pure seed So that a pure fruit can grow Don't let it be a seed of evil If you've done something wrong Make tauba It will purify the seed People said you know When I got married I did the wrong thing When I got married Or before I got married I did so much of wrong My brothers and sisters It's not the end of the world You can change it by tauba Seek Allah's forgiveness And ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala To forgive you And you will definitely Find the door's opening And the seeds purifying once again May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Make it easy But the point here is Look at how she raised the issue The father understood it Let's go back to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Khadija binti khawwailid Radiallahu anha Against all odds Against all odds She also proposed For Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam She wouldn't have believed That it was going to be accepted Guess what? It came through And that was the best marriage he had He had all his children from her Khadija radiallahu anha Subhanallah He used to miss her later on She was much older than him So it's not wrong For a woman to show interest In some cultures It is taboo For the father of the girl To go out and to the father of the boy Or even to the boy and said You know what? My daughter is actually interested in marrying you Or I would like you to marry my daughter etc Some cultures believe it's totally taboo Remember who knows that you have a daughter Many people don't You need to come out You've seen all the sons in the masjid Haven't you? You've seen all the people all around You know, you interact Subhanallah Nowadays people tell their kids Find your own spouse That's it No, it's also your duty Your responsibility Mainly it is you The hadith of Rasulullah A.s speaks about how A person who has three daughters Looks after them And gives them a decent upbringing And helps them getting married into decent homes And is kind to them Will get jannah Do you know why? Because you brought up a child For somebody else That's the reason You brought up a daughter You loved her You spent on her You invested and you did everything And you gave her a way to someone else That's the most difficult thing you could ever do You did it Allah says for you is jannah Someone asked the messenger What about if I only had two daughters He says even two Subhanallah That's the reason And this is why in Islam We don't sell our kids with a dowry And a bride price To say, listen, I'm the father I need $70,000 That's it Why? Because I sent her to school She went to a government school She went to university She did this, she did that That's part of your jannah If you want the payment in the dunya Forget about that jannah May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Forgive us May Allah grant us ease With us there is no dowry or bride price There is only something known as a mahar Which is a gift from the groom to the bride Subhanallah Sometimes we call it a down payment May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Grant us ease May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala Help us So it's amazing how the father says Father says I would like to get you married off To one of my two daughters On condition that you work for me For eight years Mashallah Work for me for a while Meaning you marry her Stay with me That brings me to another cultural aspect Of our living That people consider taboo Man gets married He lives with his in-laws Everyone says Salah Look at him He can't even live Living off his father in law They have names to refer to such people Do you know that Derogatory names Yet the Prophet In fact, Prophet Musa He worked for his father in law Anything wrong? No, not at all He worked for him How many years? Ten whole years Not just eight He added another two Subhanallah He said no problem I work Did anyone insult him? Not at all The idea is They need to be happy Whether this side That side Or independent For as long as you are happy Respecting each other And you are living with each other You will save yourself From a lot of trouble And calamity And turmoil And turbulence There is nothing to say You have to live here Or you have to live there Or you're not allowed To live with your in-laws Or you cannot take From your father in law If he wants to give you Alhamdulillah Noorun Al Anor Why not? Take it Alhamdulillah The others are jealous brats May Allah SWT help us May Allah SWT grant us ease And goodness My brothers and sisters I think the point is quite clear To say in Islam There's no hard and fast rule To say you're not allowed To do this or you're allowed To do that Generally you're the man So much so That Musa A.S. Did not have any provision He did not have much He only had strength And what else? Honesty Two qualities And the daughter of a Nabi Was given to him A great take Subhanallah And he was a strange man He was not yet a Nabi of Allah He was a stranger But they found him to be A good man Within no time Subhanallah How many of us would do that Subhanallah Well I know someone might say Well look If it was Musa A.S. I probably would have But my brothers and sisters The point being raised is When you have a son-in-law Who's respectable Responsible Hardworking and honest Even if he is poor Even if he doesn't yet Have money No problem Look after your daughter The way he will look after himself So you get him married Because many of us today Who have children Mashallah And perhaps we are living A little bit wealthier Than what we were before We started off with zero When we married for 20 years We did not even have a car Or a house Next to our name And we are demanding That he who comes to marry Our daughter must already Have two palaces Subhanallah We demand that he must already have Such a salary He must have a car He must have this He must have that Where did we get this from? Save yourselves the tension We are promoting promiscuity And adultery By making that which is Halal difficult If you make nikah difficult Wallahi You will be answerable In the eyes of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala For having made zina And adultery so easy Because Allah made Nikah and marriage simple In order to avoid haram And we are making it difficult So that people fall into haram You definitely share A portion of the sin If you are guilty May Allah make it easy for us So this man He got married Mashallah He lived with his father in law And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Makes mention of it In such a beautiful way Remember my brothers and sisters This is a gift of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala These stories are amazing Wallahi They are not there For us to just read And to say wow Have we ever looked at the story Of Musa A.S. The way I did it today To say look how he got married Why did Allah make mention Of this story Why did Allah say That the father in law Looked at him and said Okay you work here Don't worry Get married to my daughter And inshallah Things will be okay They worked together They were so happy She became the wife Of a Nabi Of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Imagine What type of a dad I recall a story A true story Giving you names One of the leaders of a nation He became a president of a nation Later on At one stage He wanted to get married When he was a student And he was living in a foreign land And he went to plead with the father Of the girl And she refused And rejected completely A few months later When he graduated And there were elections In his country And he stood He became the leader And his father Looked at him on TV Isn't that the guy who came for my daughter Too late dad Too late Too late Today we make our decisions Based on materialistic items Remember Use the guidelines of Allah You'll never go wrong Use the guidelines of Allah You'll never go wrong Seek the guidance of the ulama You won't go wrong Do not make it difficult For your children to get married Wallahi my brothers and sisters This is an amana It's a trust And trusted to us Let's move on We move on to another topic altogether Also in the same surah Regarding When we sit with people Who have nothing better to say But vulgar words Bad mouthing Talk about this one You know Spread gossip about that one Spread rumour Make you hate others If I'm sitting with someone And they're making me hate people By talking bad about that one Terrible about this one Saying something about that one This one What should I do This is called laghu In fact it is worse than laghu Laghu is something which is unnecessary But If you are A good muslim The qualities Made mention of here In this beautiful surah Suratu l-qasas Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says وَإِذَا سَمِعُ اللَّغْ وَأَعْرَضُوا عَنْهُ وَقَالُوا لَنَا أَعْمَالُنَا وَلَكُمْ أَعْمَالُكُمْ سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكُمْ لَا نَبَتَغِ الْجَاهِلِينَ Talking of the qualities of those Who turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala When they hear people Indulging in that which is futile They say to them They go away from them Number one They go away How many of us when our friends are back biting Can we actually stand up And we say I'm going away I'm not going to sit with you Until you stop talking about these people I think there wouldn't be anyone of us Who would really do that to our friends Would we? Your friends are sitting and talking You get up And you walk out You say You know what I'm not going to be sitting with you Until you change the topic I think we'd be more worried About losing our friends But this is what the Qur'an teaches us When people are committing any type of sin Whether it is back biting Or speaking against the deal Or against people etc You're supposed to be walking away Tell them You have your deeds You're going to be answerable I have deeds I'm going to be answerable Peace be upon you I cannot interact with those who are ignorant Subhanallah May Allah make it easy for us Look at how Allah is teaching us To save ourselves From the calamity of the hereafter Allah is telling us If you are more concerned about the day of judgment You wouldn't mind a small inconvenience In this world here The problem with us is We are more concerned about the inconvenience Of the world What are my friends going to say How could I walk away What are these ladies going to say We're sitting here having tea How can I be the odd one out to say Sisters, please let's not talk about others But you have to If you do it Another few people will do it You will start a trend Then when we meet each other Guess what The meetings will become shorter Because there will be more time for that Which is proper Rather than talking about others Do you know I recall my dad many years ago Telling my mom That when you go to someone's house You sit for 10 minutes, 15 minutes After that you leave Because after the 15th minute You start talking about other people You start talking about other people You see, hellos and how are you And what's going on And how's the children It takes 15 minutes After that You know that girl You know that lady You know this sister That's where it starts So you sit 15 minutes You walk away Subhanallah Now this timeframe May differ from person to person The point is You need to know where to cut off So that your meeting Does not become sinful When it was meant to be With a good intention Then there is another verse Where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Addresses Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wasalam Now my brothers and sisters We want to save ourselves From the fire of hell We definitely want to save ourselves From calamity in the world And the next Together with that We also want to save Our loved ones We have people Our families Our children Perhaps our parents Our brothers and sisters Our communities We want to save them We want to try And reach out to them So that they can also Be saved from the calamity And disaster So as a result It pains us to see Our children If they were on drugs Or if they had a bad habit Or if they had some form Of addiction Or if they were disobedient It would hurt us Because we are their parents Why would it hurt us? Because Allah has created A connection between you and those So you want good for them Your children Your uncle Maybe your aunt Your family members You want good for them The Prophet Salallahu alayhi wasalam He had an uncle Called Abu Talib This Abu Talib Was a very good man But he didn't accept Islam What happened? He helped Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wasalam A lot He defended him a lot But on his deathbed He didn't want to say the Shahada And the Prophet Salallahu alayhi wasalam Tried very hard You see the statement La ilaha illa Allah Muhammadur Rasulullah Salallahu alayhi wasalam The most powerful statement That you could ever have The Prophet Salallahu alayhi wasalam Told his uncle Ya'ammi Qul kalimatan O hajulaka biha ya'umal qiyam O my uncle Say this one statement The rest of the battle On the day of judgment I will fight it for you You say the statement Imagine Say the one statement And he will fight the battle For you On the day of judgment He is being told Subhanallah Ashhadu Allah ilaha illa Allah And Ashhadu Anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa Rasudu The uncle passed away He didn't say it And Rasulullah Salallahu alayhi wasalam Was so sad And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Revealed verses Telling Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wasalam That we know Guidance is in our hands We know why We do what we do Because it is us Who guide It's not you who guides Now Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wasalam Is definitely a guide Without a doubt But there are two types of guidance Made mention of in the Quran If you were to ask me That you would like to go For example To Port Elizabeth And I tell you Okay You catch this road This is where you turn This is what you see This is where you will go And at the end You will end up on this highway Go straight until you see the signs And you turn into Port Elizabeth And I tell you I guided you I gave you the path I showed you how to go That is one type of guidance It's called The other type of guidance Is called Tawfiq Tawfiq meaning now Whether or not You did what was said That is between you and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala So Muhammad Salallahu alayhi wasalam Allah says Indeed you are a guide To the straight path You have guided the people To the straight path But in this verse Verse number 56 of Surat Al Qasas Allah says Indeed you do not guide Whosoever you wish We are the ones Or Allah guides Whosoever he wishes What Allah is referring to here Is the final Threading the path or not Who is going to do it That is between them and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala I hope we've understood the difference Between these two types of guidance One is to know the road And to be shown the road And the second is To be having the ability To tread the path That is a different type of guidance May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Help us all This is why We try our best We guide our children Whether or not they are on the path You leave that in the hands of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala You keep on making du'a for them Never lose hope with your kids No matter what they've done Don't lose hope Keep trying And insha'Allah one day They may come Keep making du'a for them That is your duty And keep trying with them May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Guide us all Then I'm going to move on A little bit further To a story Of Qarun And the reason I want to leave A few verses that I had Actually written down To talk about The stories Because we want to keep in pace With the recitation of the tarawih We heard tonight The story of Qarun Verse number 76 Onwards Of the same Surah Surat Al-Qasas There is a very interesting Point I want to raise I'm sure you've heard The story of Qarun He was a wealthy man At the time of Musa A.S Allah says We gave him so much wealth That the keys To the treasures That he had Just the keys Were very difficult For a group of strong men To lift Not the treasure The keys The keys How many keys They must have been So Allah says Just the keys To the treasures Were very difficult For a group Of strong men To lift Not the treasure The keys The keys Were very difficult For powerful people to live Imagine what type of wealth He must be having with us It's just a plastic card In the pocket SubhanAllah Imagine how much wealth He must have had This man And Allah says His crime Was that he was boastful He was arrogant He used to boast He used to show off He used to have his nose Stuck up in the air Like he's the only one And there was another problem He used to say All this is given to me Because of my own brain My mind Verse number 78 Surat Al Qasas Qarun says I have been given all of this Because of my knowledge I'm sharp I'm witty I'm a shrewd businessman That's why I was given Allah says No, no, no, no We gave it to you We gave you your brain Also in the first place So stop connecting it To your brain Go one step higher And connect it to the owner of the brain The one who gave you that ability It was Allah Who sustains SubhanAllah But the bigger problem was His sinful behavior And there was another issue Allah says فَخَرَجَ عَلَا قَوْمِهِ فِي زِنَةِ He came out To his people Showing off All the beauty That Allah had given him So he was adorned in it And he was boasting and showing And there were people Who looked at it And they said something What did they say? You know today MashaAllah It's not wrong to have wealth But it's wrong to be arrogant With the wealth It's not wrong not to have wealth But it's wrong to be arrogant Even if you don't have wealth So it's not the wealth That makes you right or wrong It's the attitude That comes with it Some people have a lot They are so humble They might be seated In our midst Millionaires Who knows? So Alhamdulillah Good news to you You use your wealth To earn your jannah It's possible People have done it There were Sahaba Who did it But we are talking of a person Who is arrogant When we see someone With the latest car The best home They are flashing They are sitting and talking On the latest phone And you know They have all the The latest names and everything What do the young people say? Let's be honest Let's be frank What do the children say? I want to be like that uncle Don't they say that? One day InshaAllah One day InshaAllah Uncle One day And we start taking photos We stand next to the car You know With posing this way That way Pictures Like it's your vehicle Nothing In fact nowadays You can get an app Choose what you want To stand next to They put you next to it SubhanAllah But that's the attitude Of the people Why? Materialism has taken over This problem Existed even At the time of Qarun So when he came out Allah says The people who wanted the worldly life They looked at him and said Oh Allah We wish that we had What you gave Qarun And Allah says No, you don't know The people of knowledge They said Be careful When you see wealth That comes with arrogance Don't ask Allah To give that to you Because if Allah Gives that to you He will punish you In the same way He punished those people When Allah gives you Sometimes it is a sign That he's about to punish you So he opens the door for you When you've got everything You drown in it Remember this So when you see someone Doing something good With their wealth You ask Allah Give me wealth So that I can do good But you don't just see Oh Allah Give me wealth So that I can boast I can flash And I can show All the people on the street That I have achieved I've succeeded That's not what life Is all about No, it's not about a show It's about Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala If someone has wealth And they're using it To do a lot of good That is when you say Ya Allah If you gave me I would also do A lot of good with the wealth May Allah give us And help us to use it In a good way Amen So the people of knowledge Told them Don't wish for this Because this has come With arrogance And haughtiness But they were Like you know what Nah, we still want A bit of that wealth And then Allah says Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says We opened up the earth And we caused that he And all his wealth And his home Was swallowed by the earth And in the morning The people saw That Qarun is no more And his things are no more And all his wealth Is swallowed by the earth They looked at it And they said to themselves What has happened And guess what Allah makes mention Of those who were wishing For that wealth They said Just as well Allah Didn't give us Subhanallah Just as well Allah didn't give us Had he given us He would have also punished us In the same way That he punished him Subhanallah Subhanallah Allahu Akbar The people who wanted that The previous day They came up And said Oh, behold Subhanallah It is Allah Who gives provision To whomsoever he wishes If Allah had given us If Allah had given us If Allah had given us The same type of wealth He would have also caused The earth to swallow us So the point I want to raise Let us save ourselves From greed Let us save ourselves From wanting things That come with arrogance Ask Allah Purely questions And ask Allah Sustenance Promising Allah If you give me the sustenance Ya Allah I am going to be from among those Who spend this Insha'Allah In the good cause And insha'Allah I will then earn jannah Through the wealth that you give me That is what you ask Allah You don't ask Allah For something That comes with bad habits In order to show off May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala Protect us all We continue tomorrow Insha'Allah I will say this And peace be upon Muhammad Subhanallah And praise be to Allah And praise be to Allah There is no god but you