 Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Once again my brothers and sisters we declare the praise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by saying Alhamdulillah. And we send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, his household, his companions by saying was salatu was salamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa ashabi hajmain. My brothers and sisters, beautiful episode of supplications from revelation. We are looking at Sulaiman alayhi salatu was salam today. Sulaiman alayhi salam is one of the prophets of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, whose father was also a prophet and they were kings as well. They were rulers and at the same time they were prophets of Allah. So they had a lot, they had power, they had kingdom, they had wealth, they were bestowed with so much by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Yet they called out to Allah, they cried to Allah, they relied on Allah, they did not let their wealth make them think I'm not reliant unto Allah. Their wealth did not make them arrogant, did not make them haughty, their authority did not make them haughty, they were just, they ruled properly, where they made a mistake, they sought the forgiveness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we're going to see this. These two, Dawood alayhi salam who was the father and Sulaiman alayhi salam who was the son. I want to start off with Sulaiman alayhi salam because the nature of the dua that he made included his father. If we look at one of the most beautiful duas that he made, you see he, Sulaiman alayhi salam was bestowed with favors by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What were these favors? One of them was he had control over the wind, he could speak to other creatures of Allah, he had control over so much Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him power, authority, he could go from place A to place B within a split second, no matter how far it was, he would be carried by the wind. In his army he had mankind, jinn kind, animals, birds, fish, etc, etc, the mountains, the clouds, whatever else it was, the wind, he had a lot. And this is a dua of Sulaiman alayhi salatu wa salam that he made, he turned to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he says, Oh my Rab, forgive me and grant me kingdom that no one after me would get for indeed you are the giver, you are the giver of gifts, you know, al wahab. This is in Surat Sa'ad verse number 35. So Sulaiman alayhi salam is firstly seeking the forgiveness of Allah and then he's asking what he wants that goes back to a lesson we always learn, you want something seek the forgiveness of Allah to begin with, you want something and you're such a sinful person and you don't want to turn to Allah, that's when you perhaps may not be doing the right thing. So what you need to do, what I need to do, no matter what we've done, no matter how much sin we have been involved in, don't lose hope in the mercy of Allah, seek forgiveness, ask Allah to forgive you and then ask him what you want, tell him to alleviate the suffering you may be going through, whatever else you want. Here is Sulaiman, a prophet of Allah, a king, saying, Oh my Rab forgive me, forgive what I've done, right? Rab forgive me, wahabli and gift me with, grant me a gift, you know, ahiba is actually a gift and wahab is the one who gives gifts, the giver. The term, the name of Allah al wahab is normally used regarding the gifts of Allah, when someone doesn't have children, they want children, when someone for example doesn't have something they want it, when someone wants something you know sustenance, etc. wealth, whatever else. This is a du'a. One might ask why Sulaiman aleyhi salam, asking Allah something that seems outwardly material yet in one of the episodes I remember saying that the prophets of Allah did not ask Allah for something material. Look at this du'a. Habli mulkan, la yam bagili ahadim min ba'di, grant me kingdom, ownership, dominion, that none after me would get. Okay? Inna ka antal wahab, you indeed are the giver. You can do it, for you it's nothing. I mean like I've said before, if you ask a billionaire for five dollars, he might give you five million and tell you go ahead, you know, it's amazing. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's example is far higher than that. Wa lillahi il-mathalul a'la. The examples of Allah are far higher, they are the highest. So he asked for it in order to be able to use what Allah gives him to call people towards the deen and the evidence of it is when the queen of Sheba witnessed what Allah had given Sulaiman, she knew that this man is a prophet of Allah together with being a king and there is no way that he can be wrong and I'm accepting and I'm coming into the worship of Allah alone. So that goes to show that when he had wealth and when he had kingdom and authority, it was not in order for him to boast, for me to have, for me to be famous, for me to be powerful, for me to be wealthy. No, it was for the sake of Allah and the deen. This is an intention matter where we go wrong. We want things, I want this job because you know I can have money and I'm going to be powerful and I need to be here and I need this money and I need to marry this person and I need this and that. A lot of the times it's got to do with ourselves. Very rarely does the issue of jobs, positions and wealth have to do with the deen of Allah. You need to correct your intention. So Sulaiman, alaihi salam says, Rabbi, forgive me. Forgive me and grant me. So Allah says immediately after that dua, the next verse, verse number 36 Allah says We caused the wind to move to his instruction. We caused the wind to move as his instruction. You know, where ever he wanted it to go, it would go, the wind. You have control over the wind, you made the dua to Allah and you have and you have control over the wind subhanallah and that was just one of the gifts Allah's making mention of here and so many other gifts and Allah says this is the gift of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you can either be generous or hold back Allah gives without account when you understand that Allah is the giver you begin to receive Sulaiman alaihi salam made the dua and what happened he was able to communicate with all the creatures of Allah around the birds he spoke to them he communicated with them imagine the chirping of a bird is actually speech would you understand it some people may get the gist Sulaiman alaihi salam could speak back subhanallah the ants the ants subhanallah amazing so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes mention of something so powerful regarding the story of the ants when Sulaiman alaihi salam heard the one ant telling the rest of the ants to go into their houses so that Sulaiman does not trample upon them and so when Sulaiman alaihi salatu was salam stopped his whole army in order to protect the ants Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was watching and rather than making him arrogant you know he smiled and you know what he says he made a dua to Allah he thanked Allah rabbi auzihni an ashkara ni'ma takallati an amta alayya wa ala walidayya wa an amla salih an tarda wa adkhilni bi rahmatika fi ibadika saliheen suratun namal Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says sub verse number nineteen that he smiled and then he says oh my rub grant me the ability to be thankful to you upon the favours that you have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and help me grant me the ability to do good deeds that will please you and join me or enter me by your mercy among those who are your righteous worshippers make me from among those who are your righteous worshippers through your mercy that's a dua of Sulaiman alaihi salam a lot of us unfortunately when we receive from Allah we forget Allah when the Almighty has bestowed us with so much of gifts bestowed upon us his favours what happens to us we tend to forget Allah we drift from Allah we become haughty arrogant it becomes a competition let's understand this competition with one another is very dangerous when it comes to materialistic things when it comes to goodness Allah says fastabiqul khairat compete with one another to do good not not to to become haughty on earth no but man is distracted man is distracted often and sometimes the pious become the opposite as a result of their race towards materialism and their competition with one another makes them dirty in their values they begin to lose ethics and morals when it comes to business because it becomes cutthroat they want and they don't want others to have this is dangerous how will Allah answer your dua when you are so selfish if you would like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to respond to you in a positive way you need to eradicate selfishness learn to be very generous learn to be giving learn to be concerned about others Sulaiman alaihi salam he was concerned about the ants the ants the fact that he could speak with them he didn't brag and boast and show that ah wow look guys come come come let me show you you know in our times we probably would want to boast if we knew something or a language or if we had a bit of an qualification and we knew something others didn't know we might decide to boast and to show off and so on may Allah protect us so Sulaiman alaihi salam knew how to speak to the ants it humbled him it humbled him so much that the the one major interaction that happened and they must have been so many other interactions that we don't know about but the one that Allah chose to tell us is a major one where the whole army stopped for a group of ants to go back into their houses and Sulaiman alaihi salam Allah says when he heard this ant he smiled he smiled at what he heard that ant say and he says I've already translated that but I'm going to say it again he says oh my rub oh my lord grant me the ability to be thankful to you for the favors that you have bestowed upon myself and my parents and let me grant me the ability to do good deeds that will please you and join me make me from amongst those through your mercy who are the righteous worshippers of yours now let's all use that wording that verse that dua that supplication to call out to Allah often remember verse number 19 of surat al namal open the Quran read these verses learn them use them to call out to Allah and thank Allah using these verses it's a long verse learn it write it down imagine how proud you would feel and when I'm saying proud I don't mean pride as an arrogance I'm meaning happiness how happy you would feel to be allowed to use the exact wording mentioned in the Quran that Sulaiman used alayhi salam or another prophet of Allah used what a great honor what a great honor we need to make an effort to look into it and to learn it and in that way we will definitely be earning the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so that is a dua of Sulaiman alayhi salatu wa salam my brothers and sisters I want to move on to something very very powerful many people get married and they don't have offspring because Allah chooses what he wants to give who he wants to give we spoke about it in a previous episode when we spoke about Ibrahim alayhi salam and we said he was not bestowed with children until he was very old and Allah gave him Ismail alayhi salam ishaq alayhi salam when he was old but he thanked Allah and he kept on calling out to Allah here is another example Zakariya alayhi salam made mention of in many surahs one of them is surat Mariam the surah named after Mariam it starts of Kaaf ha Ya'a Ainsad that's surah immediately Allah says the mercy of Allah upon his worshipper Zakariya make mention of it amazing what was the mercy of Allah upon Zakariya he didn't have children that was the mercy of Allah he did not have children initially that was the mercy of Allah because through that he kept on calling out to Allah and he says oh Allah I haven't lost hope he was old his wife beyond the menopause according to the narrations and he didn't lose hope he says oh Allah I still have open you you are the Lord you are the giver you can give I know you can give if it's meant for me it will come subhan Allah and I haven't lost hope in your mercy imagine so many people on earth are suffering silently they don't have offspring may Allah grant them offspring we pray for them and those who do have offspring may Allah make those offspring the coolness of your eyes when Allah knows that it's better for you not to have children because you might lose your children in your lifetime in a way that would depress you so badly he doesn't give you those children sometimes Allah gives you a child and takes the child away from you at a very very young age in infancy or just post birth etc remember you've given birth to a child that child is yours the child is waiting for you in paradise it's never ever a waste of time or effort you'd rather have the child and let the child have a name and then the child is waiting for you going to plead with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for you as a parent who was deprived the company of that child in this world and Allah will give you the company of that child in the hereafter and that child is not going to be in hell because it was just a child so that's an amazing way of looking at things it's a favor of Allah you lost someone you lost a child Allah knows why you lost the child people say why did Allah take away such an innocent child that's Allah's mercy Allah knows what his mercy is we who have these brains that we think are so sophisticated are actually people with not so sophisticated brains in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala we don't even know the unseen so remember to be pleased with the decree of Allah Allah knows why he is doing what he is doing sometimes people don't have offspring because Allah knows if we're going to give these people offspring perhaps this the child might be challenged in a way that you may not be able to cope ask those who have children who are challenged somehow may Allah make it easy for them that too is their paradise when Allah knows they will cope he grants it to them when Allah knows that they will manage Allah does not shoulder a burden upon someone beyond that which they can take remember so if you are shoulder with a burden that burden is something Allah believes Allah knows that you can take you can handle it you need to strengthen yourself be strong carry on going don't give up so my brothers and sisters that dua that Zakariya aleyhi salam kept making what was it so in one place in the Quran Allah says that Zakariya aleyhi salam says ربها بلي ملد كذرية طيبة إنك أنت الوهاب oh إنك سميع الدعاء oh Allah grant me from you a pious offspring a pious offspring for indeed you are the hearer of the prayers you've heard my prayer you heard what I've said you are the hearer you hear better than anyone else now the question is did Zakariya aleyhi salam want children just for the sake of being called a father who has sons and so on no he makes it clear here in Surat Maryam he says اذنادى ربه ندى انخفية remember when Zakariya called out to his Rob quietly silently he didn't make an issue out of it he called out to him quietly he kept on calling out to Allah quietly that's a way of dua brothers and sisters you need something keep on calling out to Allah quietly get up when a third of the night remains during the blessed time of the Hajj just before that crack of daybreak and you need to know call out to Allah sorry the crack of dawn call out to Allah at that time and quietly repeat your dua it's powerful don't lose hope in the mercy of Allah so اذنادى ربه ندى انخفية remember when he called out to Allah quietly what did he say قال رب إني وَهَنَا العظمُ مِنِّ وَشْتَعَلَ رَأْسُ شَيْبَاَ وَلَمْ أَكُونْ بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيَّا Allah says زَكَرِيَّا said oh my Rob you know my bones have become weak and my hair has become gray on my head but I am not losing hope and I have never lost hope in the dua that I make to you لَمْ أَكُمْ بِدُعَائِكَ رَبِّ شَقِيَّا I'm I've never lost hope regarding the dua I'm making to you I think with us we need help we need help this is a prophet of Allah he's calling out to Allah for years literally years imagine they are old elderly couple that's what the Quran says اِشْتَعَلَ رَأْسُ شَيْبَاً he's already gray his wife is old according to a narration he she's barren basically she's got to a point of menopause and you know what he still says oh Allah I haven't lost hope I've never lost hope I still I still have this hope it did not drift him away from Allah some of us we call out to Allah call out to Allah and you know after a certain period we say well that's it I stopped worrying what's what's gonna happen to me what's gonna happen I'm gonna be all alone well you're not alone Allah is with you Allah who created you shall provide for you you need to be strong you need to force yourself to think positively and you will take it in your stride the day a situation comes in your direction you will seek the help of Allah and deal with the situation no point in worrying about the future and dying who out of stress and anxiety just because you don't know what's going to come when something that's going to come might be far better than what you expected don't you have conviction in Allah aren't you convinced don't you believe in Allah look at this man he's saying oh Allah I'm convinced I know I'm calling out to you I'm never going to lose hope I have never lost hope and I will never lose hope but now he's making mention of the reason why he is asking for offspring he's speaking about how he is concerned about the carrying of the message of the dean after him by children and he is worried about the progeny that's going to carry the dean and the message of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala after him and he says so therefore oh Allah grant me a male child who can be an heir who's going to inherit all those goodness that you have bestowed upon me you know when Allah has used you to do some good work you'd love to have someone carrying on with that good work wouldn't it be best if that was your own child who followed your footsteps subhanallah sometimes it's not our own children but we would love it to be our own children so zikariya aleyhi salatu wa salam is saying here that oh Allah these are the reasons Allah knows the reasons but he is mentioning them there's no harm in mentioning reasons you know communicating with Allah much more and so on he says Yerithuni wa Yerithu min aliaqub wa ja'alhu rabbiradiyya you know he can be an heir of myself and of the family of Jacob you know all these prophets that you have sent down one after the other all from the same family coming down coming down this would be a continuation and also oh Allah make him from among those you are pleased with make him from among those you are pleased with the child is not yet born there's no news of a child the wife is not yet expecting but zikariya aleyhi salam is making a du'a that oh Allah when you give me a child make him a pious child Allah o Akbar Allah o Akbar imagine those who are not yet married and they're saying oh Allah bless me with pious offspring I always say that to people that make that du'a because that is such a powerful du'a that it includes a good spouse it includes the fact that you're going to have children so two things are already given and then it means that child will be pious because if I say oh Allah grant me pious offspring or grant me a pious child and I'm not even married yet if Allah says I've given you your du'a I will need to get married in a good way I will need to have a spouse who's decent because then I'm going to have to have a child thereafter so it's not going to be like I'm childless may Allah grant all those who don't have children children I mean but it's so much included in one thing that's why when we say oh Allah grant me jannah it includes so many things in the process but sometimes we don't realize this so this was zikariya aleyhi salam making such a beautiful du'a at the end Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that you know what we we granted him but this du'a was made in so many different wordings like Allah says in suratul anbiya remember when zakariya called out to us and said oh Allah don't leave me singular you are the best of those who are the heirs and grant heirs and so on so grant me and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says we definitely answered him we blessed him with Yahya and we purified cleansed and we granted a cure to his wife subhanallah that was Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala my brothers and sisters we looked at the du'a of zakariya aleyhi salam I'm excited about the next episode where we're going to continue and go even beyond this may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us all ease until we meet again I'll say this wa salallahu wa salam wa baraka ala nabina Muhammad wa salam aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh