 الحمد لله نعمده ونستعينه ونستغفره ونؤمنه به ونتوكل عليه ونشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ونشهد أن سيدنا ونبينا محمدا عبده ورسوله أما بعد قال الله تبارك وتعالى أعود بالله من الشيطان الرديم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم حاميم والكتاب المبين إن أنزلناه في ليلة مباركة إن كنا منذرين فيها يفرق كل أمر حكيم أمر من عندنا إن كنا مرسلين صدق الله العظيم وعن عائشة رضي الله تعالى عنها قالت فقدت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم ذات ليلة فخرجت أطلبه فإذا هو بالبقيعة رافعا رأسه إلى السماء فقال يا عائشة كنت تخافين أن يحيف الله عليك ورسوله قلت ومالي من ذلك ولكني ظننتو أنك أتيت بعض نسائك فقال الله عز وجل ينزل ليلة النصف من شعبا إلى السماء الدنيا فيغفروا لي أكثر من عدد شعر غنم قلب رواه الترميدي مرسولين وصديقين في إسلام today as we all know is ليلة نصف شعبا middle of the month of shaaban also known as ليلة البرا or شبب برات as it is known in the subcontinent and other places where مرسولين مرسولين are using that term and this is one celebration which will not be found anywhere in the Middle East nobody celebrates نسف شعبا or شبب برات for the simple reason that as we read in the whole of Quran صورة الدخان where certain verses which I have just recited let me give you the translation of those verses it is by the way surah number 44 verses one to five by the book that makes things clear ونحن نقوم برات ليلة نصف شعبا for we wish to warn against evil in that night is made distinct every affair of wisdom by command from our presence for we send revelation That's what Allah سبحانه وتعالى speak about this ليلة مباركة ليلة مباركة means a blessed night but if you go through the interpretation of the Holy Quran the most prominent one of them you will find that the vast majority of these scholars and the vast majority of the interpreters of the whole of Quran المفسرون they do not agree although there are like Akrema رضي الله عنه his all is that these verses are about the Laila نصف من شعبا for Shabi Barat but it's a very rare view of only few individuals who give that meaning to these verses actually these verses according to the majority of the Mufassirian and the scholars are about ليلة القدر that is شبا قدر or night of power which falls during the holy month of Ramadan and that night is known to be according to majority of these scholars on the 27th night of the month of Ramadan and according to some narrations and hadith saying the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم you should be seeking the night of power in the last 10 days odd nights meaning 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th night فيها يفرق كل أمر حكيم as it is said او انزل now في ليلة القدر is tremendous relationship between these two words and between these Suras coming from the whole of Quran and obviously it is very well known in certain communities that this is a very blessed night so I have investigated the whole matter and I came to know that the vast majority of the narrations regarding this night do not hold that status which we can call as an authentic status or صحيح or متواتر حدث I have recited one hadith in front of you let me give you the translation of that that is the hadith which is reported by Imam Thirmevi you know Imam Thirmevi is one of the collectors of the hadith as you all know that we know 6 books and we find them to be the most authentic collections of hadith of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and those 6 books are Bukhari, Muslim, Thirmevi, Ibn Maja, Nasa'i and Abu Dawid these are the 6 most authentic collections but the hadith or the sayings and the tradition of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is not limited to those 6 we have many other books and all those were many many books where you will still find the authentic sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم anyway about this night سيد عايشة سديبا رضي الله تعالى عنها is speaking about that when I was sleeping and I look for Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم around me I did not find him next to me and that was most probably her turn you know and I would like to bring to your notice one interjection here to remind you that in the west in the last 100 years 60,000 books about Islam were written by non-Muslims 60,000 books I'm not talking about the books which are written by Muslims only by non-Muslims the majority of them are from western countries and they have everything but Islam in those books one of the major charges against Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is they say that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was a womanizer and sex maniac this is what they say in there I'm mentioning that because we have lots of youngsters here you might hear those kind of thing in your classes in your colleges so you will be well equipped to give the proper answer to that because in my classes I teach Alhamdulillah in four community colleges and in Birkley and GTU Graduate Theological Union as well and we have these discussions all the time it's a very important thing our children should know and should be educated about so when they say that and they ask questions about it I ask them you tell me suppose if somebody is womanizer and sex maniac when that person is sexually active so they say between 16 and 30, 35 what do you think about it when any opinions when would a person be active if if it's a young age okay that's number one and we'll go for sweet 16 younger women am I right what happens look into the realities of the life of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم when he was 25 years old and before that he never married and he was not one of those who have any unlawful relationship with anyone he was approached by Sayyida Khadija رضي الله تعالى عنها and Sayyida Khadija رضي الله تعالى عنها as one of the two people non-prophets who received the greetings from Allah سبحانه وتعالى Sayyidina Jibril came and said to Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that Allah سبحانه وتعالى sending his salam to Sayyida Khadija رضي الله تعالى عنها and asking is she pleased with me I am well pleased with her that was the status of Sayyida Khadija رضي الله تعالى عنها and when she asked for the hand of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم she was a very famous business lady who was sought in marriage by many influential leader of Makkah but she decided not to accept anyone of them because she was already married twice and she was a widow she gave birth to three children before that and she was 40 years old and this marriage took place and Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was with her for next 25 years in that 25 years he never married another woman when Sayyida Khadija رضي الله تعالى عنها died she was 65 years old and Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was 50 years old after that after few years the message was rapidly spreading especially after the migration to Medina and women's were as many as men half of the community it's not only men who had the questions women had their questions and the nature of their questions mostly was private kind of questions and a prophet cannot deal with a woman on one to one basis so Allah سبحانه وتعالى instructed Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم to take number of wives to be the agencies who will be taking the questions of the women and bringing to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and bring back the answers to them out of 11 wives of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the only wife who was virgin was Sayyida Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها all the others were either divorced or widows and one of them was so old that there was no physical intimacy between the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was Sayyida رضي الله تعالى عنها who gave her turn to Sayyida Aisha صدق رضي الله تعالى عنها so a person who is active between that age then I asked my student that who he was with one wife who was 15 years older than him for 25 years and after that you know for next few years there was no and then when he married there were say between 54 and coming few years and that was when the message was like described in Surah number 110 إذا جاء أنا سول الله و الفاتحة ورا أي تناصة يدخلونا في دين الله you see people entering the message of Allah سبحانه و تعالى in multitude that was the time when he was instructed and when Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died there were nine behind those agencies and after the death of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the most prominent companions of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم used to say that Sayyida Aisha صدق رضي الله تعالى عنها is such a powerful religious and Islamic source that whenever we have any problem in understanding Islam we go to أم المؤمنين Sayyida Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها and she has an answer for everything and that was the secret when he Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was instructed to marry her in young age so she can absorb everything all the message and all the knowledge of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم this is what happened like you may have heard philosopher saying you give me a child before he is seven and he will be mine forever that is the educational process which took place anyway so this was Sayyida Aisha رضي الله تعالى عنها who is saying that I did not find Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم next to me so I came out looking for him and I found him in Jannatul Baqia you know Jannatul Baqia is a مقدرة or graveyard where people are buried and Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was there praying for the dead in that night this is something which is authentic because it is coming from صحيح ترميزي one of the most authentic collection out of six authentic collections and it was also confirmed by مولانا أشرف عالي ثانوي and other scholars that what we find about the ليلة نسف شعبان the Hadith of Sayyida عايشا سديقا رضي الله تعالى عنها when she came to the graveyard she saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is raising his head towards the sky and praying and then we talked to her asking that did you think that you have lost me or so she said no no no I was worried about you know a woman of course who is not a prophet she may have those kind of you know limitations or shortcomings you know you have heard the beautiful story from سورة التحرين سورة number 66 that story tell us about the wives of Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that they were the kind of individuals and human being who had those limitations with all of us have you know let me tell you that story it's a very interesting one where the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when he had these number of wives his habit was to go and visit, eat and every single one of them between عصر and مغرب every single day and then after مغرب and after عايشا مغرب is that night but why does he visit every day between عصر and مغرب to find out if they have any immediate need you know in today's term we can say blood milk have everything you need anything or so on to find out or provide that and obviously as you know that Islamic marriage means that the husband and wife fill each other's heart with happiness and try to find out each other's expectations and fulfill them without being asked so say that زيناب بنتجاحش رضي الله وطعال عنها knew about Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that he loved the honey tray so every single day when Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم زيناب بنتجاحش رضي الله وطعال عنها the honey drink will be ready now it was so frequently done so regularly done that every other wife came to know so say that عايشا رضي الله وطعال عنها says to say that so he must be drinking the honey drink there so when he comes what we are going to do we will do this yes of course Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was such a clean person he was particularly offended to anybody order or any kind of bad smell or anything you know he was the best example and role model for the entire humankind with the witness in the glorious words of the Holy Quran لقد كان لكم في رسول الله يوسبط وحزنه he is the role model in everything so what happened when he came they did this they did this the Prophet said I did not eat or drink anything that smells bad all I did is I had a honey drink and wallahi by God if you don't like the honey the honey is haram on me from today it is unlawful on me even a Prophet does not have the authority to make something حلال حرام حلال the surah number 66 the name of the surah is اتحريم اتحريم means to make something lawful unlawful and the first two verses are my point of reference yeah oh Prophet why do you take something that الله made lawful as unlawful and the most important glorious words of Allah when Allah is describing he said تبتغي مرضاتا أسواتي you seeking the good pleasure of your wives والله غفور الرحيم الله is after forgiving merciful قد فرض الله فرض الله لكم and it is obligatory upon you to break these kind of earth where حرام and حلال are involved where you make something lawful unlawful and that is according to Islamic jurisprudence the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم broke his and of course you have to you know that you are far a compensation for breaking an oath either you have to free a slave because Islam never ever wanted slavery to continue there for in many different ways the freedom was given to them or feed 10 people or fast for three days but that's not my question my question here is why Allah سبحانه وتعالى named that Surah as اتحريم and kept those two verses which we have to recite up to the day of judgment to remind us that how far Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم went in pleasing his wives and in saving his families and so on the word because the Prophet is role model and it has two things here you must go as much as possible as long as you are not making lawful unlawful you have to go and save because it is you know according to Islamic instruction reconciliation is always a better option recommended by Allah سبحانه وتعالى so if somebody has that kind of situation this story will help them and I just wanted to interject so Said Aisha was the one who was involved in that story as well so Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم she said to him that I thought you are going to another wife that's why I got worried and I came looking for you then صلى الله عليه وسلم said to Said Aisha رضي الله عنها and she is reporting that that Allah سبحانه وتعالى comes down in this night to the sky that is facing this world سماء الدنيا you know that is called we have three we have seven levels of the skies so one is the highest one about near the throne or عرش of Allah سبحانه وتعالى that is the seventh one and the first one is facing this world which we can see on so to that sky and then of course and he will provide the and forgiveness for the people more than the sheeps of قلب قلب was famous about having tremendous amount of sheep so if you take go count the hair of a sheep you won't be able to count that means unlimited forgiveness is spoken about in this particular night so what is proven in this night is the visiting of قبرستان or you can say graveyard by prophet Muhammad ليستغفر للمؤمنين والمؤمنين to ask forgiveness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى for believing men and women وشهداء and for the martyrs in this night also there is a hadith but that is not authentic hadith which says that Allah سبحانه وتعالى decide in this night about the people that who is going to die this year and who is going to be living up to the next year and so on تقطع جال الناس من شعبان إلى شعبان from this month to the next شعبان but that is not and also there are hadith which speak about that when Allah سبحانه وتعالى comes down as we have learned from the hadith عايشة سبق ربي الله تعالى عنها that means at that time the angels are instructed to call upon the people ألا من مستغفر فأغفر الله is there anyone who is seeking the forgiveness of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and Allah سبحانه وتعالى says so I can forgive the person ألا من مسترزق فأرزق is there anyone who want to ask for the sustenance so I can provide the sustenance and it goes on in many different ways again here the research scholars and the authentic information is wanted to come and watch you because for last 3 days Prophet Muhammad was speaking about you that you are going to جنة to the garden of paradise so I came down to find out what do you do what is this extraordinary act which you are doing so I can do that and I can be like you so the man told me he says that whatever you have seen that's it so I turn my back I was about to leave he called me back say come back come back one thing which you could not see let me tell you that he said by the grace of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and by the training of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم from the moment I became Muslim I always try to keep my heart healthy what is the meaning the meaning is as it is said in سورة البقرة verse number 2 verse number 165 those who believe they are strongest in their love for Allah سبحانه وتعالى and I do not let any impurities enter my heart jealousy is impurity ill feeling is impurity enmity is impurity all those bad things I never let and if I have any feeling in my heart I will never go to bed unless I go to the person I say I am sorry please forgive me I keep my heart pure and free so it can be the seat of love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى I learned that the purity of heart is the greatest thing or Abdullah Abdullah says I screamed and I shouted this is the one this is the one which made you that important that Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم gave that forecast that you will be going to nothing else you see it is internal purity has to be reflected with your external action that comes from and the heart is the seat you know we have to take care of four things but we only take care of one thing that is our physical body you see we keep on feeding it we keep on wearing makeup we keep on beautifying ourselves we go long way in picking and choosing and matching our dress and everything but we have to give equal attention to four things in us that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has kept the first one is spirit that is coming from Allah سبحانه وتعالى and you can only nurture that by connecting with Allah سبحانه وتعالى the greatest thing of that is remembrance of Allah and Allah says in words number 14 surah number 20 صلى الله عليه وسلم for my remembrance establish the regular prayer second thing is your body that is a container of your روح so make sure you don't let any harm enters your body because if you allow that you will lose the ability to firmly stand for the truth third thing is your intellect because the first commandment of Islam is read educate yourself and you have to continue to fill your mind with education but what kind of education علمنا في عن beneficial education see beneficial what is the beginning the whole purpose of life of a Muslim no matter in what profession you are everything is Islamic we don't have anything secular as long as it is beneficial education and you are trying to take the humanity one step forward even if it is a very small step you have fulfilled your duty and responsibility because Allah سبحانه وتعالى has said that I have given you the whole universe for under your disposal is your duty find out the secrets and make this place better for yourself and for coming generations so your mind your mind is the third thing what is the fourth thing your heart which is the seat of love of Allah سبحانه وتعالى Allah سبحانه وتعالى says I created the time and space time and space cannot take me yet Allah lives in the heart of a believer that is the kind of love so let me conclude with the four people in these blessed night in general and about this night four kind of people will not be forgiven one is the person who is taking intoxicants drugs of any kind whether they are alcohol liquid form powder form leaf form pill form any kind that person will not be forgiven unfortunately we muslim can contribute to the well-being of America where minimum number of the drunk people and those who have very serious drinking problem are 55 million 55 million in this country that is one way we can contribute Allah will not forgive second a person who disobeys his parents but disobedience in one way allowed if the parents ask you to commit share and assign partners to Allah سبحانه وتعالى then you are not allowed to listen to Surah 31 verse number 13 and 14 you can read there when Allah says don't listen to your parents if they ask you to do share but still give them the companionship on the basis of maruf maruf is more than justice you have a duty and responsibility to look after even your non muslim parents by comforting them and providing their needs volume the time is almost over otherwise with each one I would have told you some stories volume a person who is wrongfully treating other people for answers in Surah verse number 279 you don't do any injustice to anyone allow anyone to do injustice to you it's not only doing injustice to others is haram in Islam but also to be victim is haram people supposed to stand for their rights people supposed to speak for their rights don't just sit back and be indifferent about you know you have to stand for your rights that's why the Quran says at the beginning verse number 6 لا يحب الله الجعر بالصوي من القول إلا من ظلم what is the meaning الله سبحانه وتعالى does not allow to be spoken loudly the evil accept by a victim of aggression إلا من ظلم only Muslim can speak about that so and the principle of Islamic Sharia one of the principle is what does it mean meaning you do not harm anyone and you do not let anyone harm you and the fourth one is the one who cuts the relationship he said to your brother oh I will never talk to you oh to your father or to your mother or to your friends in Islam we have three levels of relationship the first one is blood relatives Surah Al-Baqara verse 23 you cannot cut that if you cut that you are equivalent to the one who is spreading mischief in the land number 2 is faith relatives believers Surah 49 verse number 10 all the believers are one brother if there is a dispute for us you have to reconcile between any two individual who are fighting and verse number 9 is 5 you know a group of the believers if they are fighting each other the whole Ummah has the duty and responsibility to bring peace to them and the third one is Surah Al-Hujurat verse number 13 where Allah SWT says the entire humankind is one family coming from Adam and Eve and every single Muslim is instructed and commanded لتعارف Allah says I have divided you into the nations and tribes so you can know each other تعارف cannot happen one way it is reciprocation of when you go and find out about the people they will be finding out about you and when we do that we can remove the hatred from the people that is the recognition and that will make you a person of Taqwa and a person of Taqwa is higher in the sight of Allah SWT I am sorry the time is over I love to speak to you Insha'Allah some other occasion the time is over if anybody has any question I would rather prefer to take your question and give you the answer instead of going and having the refreshment you can have it after yes this is an age-long dispute and there are many different stories about it let me put it in a very different way when Prophet SAW was raised as a prophet if you go back to the history you will find that everywhere in the world the normal behavior of the human being was a woman was considered to be fit for marriage as soon as she enters her monthly cycles that is what the qualification for a woman that is one thing the second thing is you cannot judge anyone by the standard of 21st century going back to the 7th century number 3 everybody in those days the women were so abused that people had multiple wives concubines slave girls and all that Islam came and Islam is the only religion which gave the limitation to all those things so coming back to SAW I can only tell you one story which happens with me the first time when I came from London to America to lead the Karabi prayer in MCA of Santa Clara Masjid that was in 1983 a person who came to pick me up from the airport his name was Majid and with him he had a daughter whose name was Majid they still live in Santa Clara I hope you won't mind me giving you his name so you can even confirm from him I was really surprised he asked me Brother Khalil can I ask you a question he said yes he said can you tell me what is the age of my daughter she was fully grown I said she must be between 18 or 20 he said she is 9 years old she is 9 years old what is the meaning of that I said why you asking me that he said I just ask because there is a lot of you and cry about I brought this evidence my own daughter she is 9 years old look at her nobody except when I tell them that she is 9 years old I give her the age 18 to 20 so there are some girls who are grown up like that but it's not that question the question is no marriage a prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم took place without receiving the commandments and instructions from Allah as I touched the point probably the most important reason for Sayyeda Aisha who is the only virgin whom the prophet married is preservation of the knowledge of the prophet who is a prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم because Islam has raised the status of women in such a way that she becomes the source individual even for the men who were the most prominent companions of Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم who is taking to that high status and providing that that education how it turns people so I hope it might satisfy you might not satisfy you that is my answer to that there are narrations which go between 9 years to 17 years which speaks that he was when the marriage was consummated you know some says 17 years the majority of the view is for 9 years but this is without any shadow of doubt that she was fully grown and she was a woman she was not a child she was in her monthly cycle I was told to pray okay let us pray to Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم صلى الله عليه وسلم by reading Quran in the language in which Allah has authored in Arabic by understanding the meaning and message by implementing the teaching and by teaching somebody else the message of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم by following Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم in his role model in every aspect of our day to day life may Allah bless this gathering may Allah سبحانه وتعالى guide us to fulfill our responsibility in considering every single night as or so we can get nearness to Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم yes brother you have a question yes I just want to know is one of the books of Hadid they consider it to be authentic yes it is one of the first books that was the first book of Hadid and it is considered to be صحيح