 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم in the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى most gracious most merciful الحمد لله all praise is indeed due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى والصلاة والسلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وأصحابه أجمعين Blessings and salutations upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم his companions his household may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless them all and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless every one of us may Allah bless our offspring those to come after us may Allah keep them all steadfast on the Dean and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us all جنة الفردوس أمين my brothers and sisters many times we find that younger people advise older people and we've spoken about this but we find that sometimes because of the age the older people feel that the younger ones do not have the right to correct them as a result they don't learn and as a result they brush off sometimes that which is very very important now the example given of Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام is a brilliant example in the Quran and Allah سبحانه وتعالى has spaced it out in many places in the Quran in سورة الشعراء which is the 26th سورة of the Quran Allah سبحانه وتعالى in verse number 69 makes mention of how Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام was direct and very blunt with his father and with his people his people meaning those whom he grew up with he was still a young man Allah سبحانه وتعالى says واتلو عليهم نبأ إبراهيم أو محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم read for them read for the Quraysh read for those who will listen to this Quran the story with truth of Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام now this means that the version that the Quran has is the accurate version it comes from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and Allah is telling Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to tell the people about the story of Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام what about the story obviously there must be some aspect about it that Allah wants us to know so Allah says إذ قال لأبيه وقومه ما تعبودون when he asked his father and his people what are you worshiping he was a young man seeing them worshiping stones worshiping idols worshiping worshiping sticks worshiping materialistic items and he had questions and these questions the sad reality is when we are asked difficult questions by our children or by those who are younger than us we brush them aside don't do that save yourselves by answering these questions one of two things will happen either you will be able to convince the child that what you are saying is correct or the child might be able to convince you or make you think or as a result the studies that perhaps were caused by this question would then make you enlightened as to what is right and wrong so don't be too embarrassed now Allah سبحانه وتعالى is addressing a problem that was at the time of رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم and that problem continues and shall continue right up to the end what is the problem sometimes we learn something we learn it wrong and we do it wrong and we continue doing it wrong for generations we keep on teaching our children that which is wrong and then there comes a time when someone says hang on guys have you thought about what you are doing you know I give you a simple example culture is something very good if a person is cultured they are supposed to be well mannered but sometimes culture comes with baggage from before that is wrong for example the abuse of a daughter in law happens to exist in a lot of cultures a lot of cultures think that when a son gets married that's a maid that is coming to the house and she must take charge and do absolutely everything and then we can sit back relax and dish out instructions no matter who we are that is a dirty unacceptable culture it is filthy and we need to get rid of it but the sad reality we are so comfortable in it that when someone tells us that look this woman has a right she is also a queen of the home she has the right to her own abode etc we tend to say no way we are not going to take that this is nonsense if you leave the house we are excommunicating you this is what people say because they are in a comfort zone it is very important to fulfill family rights and family ties and to serve your parents and to serve your in laws but it has to happen with mutual respect and with understanding with happiness I through so many years of experience that I have as a counselor who helps people sometimes in their crises I have found that those who live further away from their parents in actual fact have more love than those who live within the home and this has happened in most cases so if you were to help your children to actually live in an apartment across the road or somewhere in the suburb in another part of the suburb or in another part of the city or somewhere else perhaps the love that you will have maybe much more than if you were to be in the same home throughout dishing instructions to one another and perhaps trampling on the toes of one another because you are independent people who think independently and you are trying after so many years to force this person to come into your rule when that really does not happen may Allah SWT grant us understanding so the point being raised is that which our forefathers have been doing a lot of it is very good but some of it might be unacceptable we need to ask ourselves the question when our children ask ourselves or even within ourselves if we go through a problem or an issue we revisit this whole matter and we try and look into it and explain to the older people look we are not breaking the home here we are actually making it what is the point of physical togetherness when we are so disunited I'd rather be physically far apart one in Australia and one in New Zealand and one perhaps in Hawaii and the other one perhaps in Greenland but they love each other they get along with each other they can't wait to see each other then people who live in the same home and they cannot wait to get away from each other may Allah SWT bestow upon us the common logic and the sense I'm not at all encouraging that we just abandon our parents but my parents I have a very very serious statement for you this evening if you want your children for your in laws to respect you you need to deserve the respect don't abuse them when you abuse you don't deserve respect never did Allah say that you have to be obeyed when you are wrong many parents say you know what I need to be obeyed look at this man he was Azar the father of Ibrahim did he have to be obeyed not when he was wrong no way when he was wrong you don't obey there is no obedience for anyone when they are wrong whether it's your father or mother no way they don't justify their misbehavior their bad words the swear words that come out of the mouths of some of the older people the mothers and the fathers you would never believe and they expect the son to calm his wife down to say listen I'm your father I'm your mother you can divorce me you'll never be able to replace stop blackmailing your son no way you were wrong if you want to be respected you need to earn that respect live with respect this is someone's child it is going to be the mother your grandchildren remember my beloved parents don't use the issue of Allah having told us that we need to serve our parents to get jannah for you to abuse those children you don't use that to abuse them you cannot if you want to get that jannah you also need to be a decent person go out of your way to make life easy for people then wallahi you will be respected it will be a home filled with harmony and peace because you know you know what I am also a human being I also oh Allah سبحانه وتعالى my acts of worship and I owe the rest of human beings the rest of humankind starting with my own family kindness may Allah سبحانه وتعالى help us so إبراهيم عليه السلام asked his father and his people what are you worshipping it was blunt it was straight what did they say they had a clear cut answer for him قالوا نعبدوا أصنام فنظلوا لها عاكيفين they said that we are worshipping idols what's the big deal in worshipping idols we will remain on these idols we will remain worshipping the idols what's wrong so he asks them a question hey do you know what هل يسمعونكم إذ تدعون أو ينفعونكم أو يضرون do these things hear you when you call out to them do they hear you now they are getting agitated stop asking questions why I need an answer give me an answer we do sometimes silly things and we have no answers and then when people ask us the question we get irritated agitated and we become like violent or we want to start threatening so he says can they hear you هل يسمعونكم إذ تدعون when you call out to these stones do they hear you أو ينفعونكم أو يضرون or have they ever benefited you أو do they ever harm do they control anything so they quickly answered قالوا بال وجدنا أبا أنا كذلك يفعلون they said no we saw our forefathers doing this so we will do it we saw our forefathers forefathers doing this we will do it here I have obviously drawn the lesson to say we need to save ourselves by asking ourselves a question all the time remember it is not bad to ask a question if you really want to know you've got to ask there will be an answer keep on asking until you get a satisfactory answer keep on searching because you live on earth Allah has sent the answers onto this earth you will search for the answers إن شاء الله you will find them and that is how you will earn your جنة تلفر دوس that is how you will go into paradise but if you were too scared to ask questions you may never know and the truth might have been right next to you it was simple to ask someone you know I'm a bit confused about this he might not know ask the next person the next person 3-4-5 people down the line you might get an answer one of the answers might confuse you a little bit you might want to still keep on asking a little bit there will be one that stands out because revelation supports it if it is an act of worship then that is your answer and if it is something to do with your general norms then you've got to see what was the life of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and how you as a Muslim should be living and then you choose the way accordingly may Allah سبحانه وتعالى guide us and help us so thereafter إبراهيم عليه الصلاة و السلام what did he say he made a dua he asks Allah سبحانه وتعالى so many things and my brothers and sisters when we want to save ourselves from ignorance seek from Allah ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى don't think that you are too intelligent that you know you are going to do it all on your own together with your effort ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى so إبراهيم عليه الصلاة و السلام he spoke about how bad all of this is he says I cannot worship these sticks and stones and I cannot do as you are doing all of this is enemy it is wrong it is foreign to me the only one I worship is he who made me verse number 78 he says young man young man teaching his people he says I will only worship he who has made me he will guide me the one who made me whoever made me I will worship him and the one who feeds me and who quenches my thirst سبحان الله look at the conviction brothers and sisters we save ourselves from attachment to materialistic items by attaching to Allah سبحانه وتعالى when you attach to Allah you are distance from material items the more you detach from Allah the more you will be attached to everything else so this is why remember who feeds you Allah سبحانه وتعالى I remember one youngster asked me a few years ago when we were talking about Allah سبحانه وتعالى and I mentioned something of this nature later on a young boy came to me and he told me do you know what but my daddy feeds me now that's a common answer because he's young I said and who feeds your daddy he says he works hard and he gets a salary I said where does his salary come from his boss where does his boss get the money from he said they do business look at how intelligent the children are then I told him okay who gave your boss and your father and you the eyes and the ears and the capacity and the strength to go I want to show you so many people in the hospitals they are they were better looking and more strong than your own father and then all your boss and his boss and everybody put together but today they can't do anything they are in bed so who gave your dad this energy he says the food he ate and he says he goes to the gym and so on so to explain now this is a question I cannot get upset because if I get crossed with him it's over I need to explain to him Mashallah in no time did he realize that ultimately it went back to Allah where did the food come from the ground who put it in the ground the rain came where did the rain come from I'm stuck I'm stuck right the rain came from Allah سبحانه وتعالى he caused the plants to grow your father ate the food سبحان الله however whatever happened he had the energy and so on and this chain goes back all the way it needs you to take time with the children to explain to them that you know what it is Allah ultimately in total control if he wants he can stop it right now سبحان الله he can stop it right now every one of us and I'm sure the whole country is watching us because we've all heard about this huge gale force that is supposed to be hitting Cape Town may Allah safeguard us I think when we were reading Taraweeh this evening wouldn't you agree with me it was one of the most calm evenings we've had up to today look everyone's nodding their heads we bear witness nobody can tell you what Allah is definitely going to do yes we take precautions and we will but we will call out to Allah oh Allah divert the worst of it from us let it go around اللهم حوالينا ولا علينا that is a dua oh Allah سبحانه وتعالى let this rain and whatever is beneficial come around us not necessarily on us it's supposed to come on to the for example the plantations and so on I mean if the rain hits me on my head it's not like I'm going to grow but what would happen is if it were to go to the right places then definitely that is what is more beneficial so we ask Allah for that and I remember just as I was driving here someone sent an image an image claiming that it is Lambert's bay and it was سبحان الله the gale force had already started and so on now we normally like to verify these things moments later I discovered that picture was actually 2005 the Harikin Katrina in Florida they took it and they said look what's Hit Cape Town already we were here there was nothing like that that happened be careful my brothers and sisters it is called تحقيق it is called authentication no matter what you see today even if it is a video authenticated it could just be totally false fabricated photoshopped and you could be looking like a fool forwarding into the rest of the globe when nothing like that even happened now imagine if that is to do with Dunya what about Dean what about Dean what about your religion imagine if Dunya people are ready to deceive you think Shaytan is not prepared to deceive regarding religion he will beautify things that are not in your Dean for you to feel that this is my faith but Allah سبحانه وتعالى says go back verify ask questions keep on asking questions you will find the answers may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make it very very easy for us so he made a dua to Allah to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and he told the people I worship the one whom when I am sick he cures me وإذا مريض توفه ويشفين والذي يميتني ثم يحين the one whom when I he will cause my death and he will resurrect me whoever he is I am worshiping him him alone that's it as for these things I don't understand them they are not a part of me so سبحان الله he then says والذي أطمع أن يغفر لي خطائتي يوم الدين the one whom I have hope in that he will forgive my sin on the day of judgment him I worship him you know as Muslim we say رب the term رب means the one who created me نارشة شرشة sustainer provider protector cure the one in absolute control of every aspect of existence is called رب when we go out when we go down in prostration we say سبحان ربي الاعلى we are praising glorifying he who made me who is the highest so I am saying oh you who made me I am glorifying you I am praising you you are the highest where am I right now well I am my head is on the ground for you I am on the lowest position سبحان الله who ever made me and whoever I am going to return to oh you whom I am going to return to have mercy upon me when I return to you سبحان الله this is worshipping Allah and Allah alone may Allah سبحانه وتعالى protect us from the punishment of the day of judgment may Allah سبحانه وتعالى save us all may we be from among those who appreciate what the Sujood is all about and may we be from those who prostrate constantly for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى to Allah سبحانه وتعالى something very very powerful ولا تخزيني يوم يبعثون oh Allah do not embarrass me on the day that you will resurrect me don't embarrass me imagine the embarrassment on that day all of us have done things in our lives that are wrong every one of us we have committed sin different levels of sin but we would be embarrassed if that was laid for the whole world and everyone to see what we did so we say ولا تخزيني يوم يبعثون oh Allah do not embarrass us on the day that you will resurrect us may Allah forgive our sins such that they are wiped out completely amen you know when you engage in repentance even the angels are made to forget what has happened so this is why my brothers and sisters engage in constant repentance don't lose hope in the mercy of Allah سبحانه وتعالى so this was a dua that Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام actually made thereafter the verses end obviously the story that is here is making mention of what I've just said now later on the story does not complete it completes in other places in the Quran but here Allah سبحانه وتعالى says إن في ذلك لآية indeed in all of this in all of this there is a lesson for those or there are signs for whom those with intellect obviously indeed in this there is a sign but Allah says وما كان أكثرهم مؤمنين but most of them were not believers take a look at Ibrahim عليه الصلاة والسلام the prophet Ibrahim عليه الصلاة was one of the highest ranking prophets of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and nobody accepted his message initially nobody but a young boy known as لوت عليه الصلاة والسلام the prophet Lot may peace be on him accepted the deal his wife accepted the deal that's it he had two people when he went away he went to Haran another area outside who were they they were just a few people two three people walking together that was him and his ummah سبحان الله yet when you think about it سبحان الله he was one of the greatest of prophets Allah loved him so much that after him all the messengers who came after him they were from his offspring did you know that from his offspring the amount of du'a that were made by Ibrahim عليه الصلاة need to be studied my brothers my sisters we need to go through the Quran and look at the du'a of Ibrahim عليه الصلاة he used to make du'a for his children for his offspring not just himself when Allah says we will bless you he says oh Allah what about my offspring سبحان الله سبحان الله سبحان الله اميديديدي you say oh Allah what about my what about my progeny how many of us make du'a for ourselves let alone our progeny for the deal we are quick to say oh Allah my son started a business let it be successful let him be a millionaire so at least he can buy me a car let him be this so that at least he can do this but what about the du'a oh Allah grant my child steadfastness oh Allah keep him on the path oh Allah make him a person سبحان الله I remember one young man he kept making a du'a oh Allah make my children a means of my entry into jannah and one of his sons passed away in a car crash and he came to me and said you know I used to make this du'a I told him Allah has answered your du'a he said what do you mean I said the sabr that you will now endure because Allah took your child away Insha'Allah it can be a means of your entry into jannah سبحان الله so who said no so he says so was that a bad du'a because obviously if you're saying oh Allah make him a means of my entry into jannah and then Allah took him away so I said no he's date of death and time was written مقدر it's over you cannot change it but Allah سبحانه وتعالى blessed you by making that du'a Allah gave you an opportunity to think about the sabr because many people become depressed when they lose their children may Allah help those who've lost their children it is a challenge it is big you will never understand what it's like unless you've been through it yourself so we can keep on telling people but we won't know what they have had to endure so be careful when you address people when you talk to them be careful may Allah سبحانه وتعالى have mercy on us may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us جنة الفردوس so Allah سبحانه وتعالى then says وإن ربك له العزيز الرحيم we spoke about that yesterday where we spoke about the عزة and the رحمة of Allah the power and the mercy of Allah that Allah forgives even though He can punish and this is the height of the mercy of Allah رب العزة والجلال thereafter we have a beautiful story of نوح عليه الصلاة والسلام and I'm not going to go into every detail of the stories because obviously we need to move on to the next أجزاء إن شاء الله we're catching up with our recitation of the tarawih to where I am so إن شاء الله we hope to be moving in sync at a certain point نوح عليه الصلاة والسلام you and I know that he too was a messenger of Allah سبحانه وتعالى who worked very hard he did not give up he worked with his people for 950 years he worked with them he lived for longer than that but he called them for 950 years how many people accepted his message do you know well there are some narrations some say 11 in 900 years 950 years and some narrations take it all the way to 80 80 the maximum so if 80 people accepted his message it means every 100 years less than 10 that's the average every 100 years less than 10 سبحان الله may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless him and may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us جنة الفردوس may we meet all these people who sacrificed for Allah سبحانه وتعالى they worked hard imagine and they did not lose hope so one of the points being raised in this surah is very important you see with us in the masjid you look around us today we have white and black and tall and short and rich and poor we are all seated together we don't even know which nationalities we are we might look at each other we might take a guess maybe but we don't know because it's irrelevant كلنا من أدم و آدم من تراب we are all from Adam Adam is from the dust so it's it's not my business to actually know where you are from before I respect you I respect you no matter where you are from because you are my brother you are my sister in Deen and this is why we are being warned by stories like these today you are going to look at the story of نوح from a different aspect a different angle I tell you we've always known about the flood but let's go before the flood the people told him do you know what نوح we are ready to accept your message we are ready to accept but how can we accept your message the poor people have accepted your message we are wealthy we are powerful in society look at those around you they are cheap people man قالوا أن أؤمنوا لك وتبعك الأرذالون verse number one one one of Surah to Shu'ara they said to him نوح how can we accept when the lowest from amongst us those who work the working class and below they are the ones who have accepted who followed you now remember when guidance and mercy of Allah comes it comes to anyone who is genuine when you are too attached to materialistic items sometimes what did we say you become detached from Allah if Allah has blessed you with materialistic items your test is to humble yourself and still to attach yourself to Allah related to Allah سبحانه وتعالى so imagine he answered them and he told them do you know what I cannot do anything about this I'm sorry it is something I will not compromise I imagine if it was سبحان الله may Allah forgive us you moving with someone and you want to go for a big meeting and then you look at the guy next to you and you said you know this guy is wearing tatty clothing you know let's tell him you know please can you remain here let me go and see what's going on inside there just because he's not dressed appropriately or something this is the dean you cannot do that when it comes to the dean because with the dean who is judging us is Allah لا ينظروا إلى صوركم ولا إلى أجسامكم الله does not look at your bodies الله does not look at your your wealth الله does not look at your physical features he looks at your قلوب and your أعمال he looks at your hearts and your deeds that does not mean I must wear dirty clothing because as a Muslim I'm taught to wear neat clean clothing neat and clean but sometimes I might wear cheap clothing it might have a few tatty you know portions on it and it might not be looking that grand I might not have had an opportunity to be clothing like everybody else you know a crisp beak on top of your scarf and so on it might not happen but may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us the ability to love one another no matter what so he answers them you know what he said verse number 113 إن حسابهم إلا على ربي لو تشعرون وما أنا بطارد المؤمنين their account is with Allah do you realize their account is with Allah how can I chase them away now for your information the Khufar of Quraysh told the same thing to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم they said that how can we accept the message when بلال ابن رباح is a follower of yours the people who are our slaves followers of yours so Allah سبحانه وتعالى responded to Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to give them a response and Allah has given this story in order to comfort Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم what happened to those before you as well it's not something new it happened to them so Allah سبحانه وتعالى then says that وما أنا بطارد المؤمنين I'm never going to chase those who believe away no matter who they are this is why it is a sign of a good Muslim to embrace the others no matter what color they are no matter what financial condition they are in no matter what standing in society they are in to embrace them for the sake of Allah سبحانه وتعالى may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us all blessing so remember this my brothers and sisters when Allah has written guidance for someone he didn't look at their image he didn't look at where they came from what nationality I have told you and in the past and I'm telling you again I have visited some West African nations that blew me away with their dedication to the deed and I always thought سبحان الله that you know what masha'Allah we have masajid that we have filled and so on in our countries until I visited those and I saw them I visited some of the holiest places that we may be having may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us all جنة الفردس you never know who you will see in jannah if you even get there you will be surprised سبحان الله those whom you didn't even imagine would be there this is why a mu'min should not even imagine a mu'min should be worried about himself am I going to go there or not if you get there don't worry about who else is there أنت بخير ، من الله سبحانه وتعالى ، سعيدنا جميعًا. الآن ، انهم يفتنون نوح عليه الصلاة والسلام. ما كانوا يقولون لهم؟ يقولون إذا لم تستطيعوا أن تساعدنا على تساعدة واحدة الله ، سنساعدكم. سنساعدكم. ما كانوا يقولون؟ الآن يساعدكم ، لأنه حتى الآن ، يخبرونهم ، بعد 900 سنوات ، 950 سنوات ، يبدأون أن يساعدهم. الآن كان الوقت عندما يفتنون نوح عليه الصلاة والسلام. و أريد أن أرد من أن أخي وصحياتي وصحياتي ، عندما نساعدنا الناس ، دعنا نساعدنا من الناس ، عندما نساعد الناس ، عندما نساعد الناس ، لا يمكنهم أن يقوم بعمل معنا. إذا كانوا تستطيعون ، سنساعدكم واحدًا ، سنساعدكم واحدًا ، سنساعدكم ثلاثًا ، بعد ذلك ، أخذوا أنهم يقومون بعملهم ، لأن الحديث يقول ، فإنه ليس بينها ، و بين الله حجاب. يجب أن تفاعل ، يجب أن تفاعل ، أن تقوم بعمل معك معه ، من يجب أن تقوم بعمل معك ، لأنه لا يوجد برئة بين هذا الدعاء و الله. الله سيخبره مباشرًا ، و ينفل الناس مع ذلك الناس. أخذوا ، أن تساعدكم ، من يجب أن تفاعل ، إضافوا أن تأتيكم من دعاء و يفعل ذلك مع بهم ، من يجب أن تقوم بعملهم ، إسفوا لهم ، تقوموا بعمل معهم ، أفضل أنه أفضل لكم ، أفضل لكم ، إذا إذا سننتقل بجانبا ، سنكلم على ذلك ، و سلامة و باركة على نبينا محمد ، سبحان الله و بحمده ، سبحانك الله و بحمدك.