 السلام على خير خلق ونور عرشي أفضل للأمبياء والمرسلين حبيبنا وسيدنا وسندنا وشفيعنا ومولانا أب القاسم محمد وعلى آله التيبين الطاهرين المعسمين المظلمين ما بعد فقد قال الله سبحانه وتعالى في كتاب المجيد وقوله الحق وهو أستقص صادقين بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم إن هذا القرآن يهدي للتي هي أقوم ويبشر المؤمنين الذين يعملون الصالحات أن لهم أجرا كبيرة صدق الله العلي العظيم سلوات الله محمد وعالي محمد أبدأ في الله يسمى the Beneficent the Merciful والله يجب أن تبقى all praise for having created us when he didn't have to and he has done so purely due to his mercy and he sustains us due to his mercy he tests us due to his mercy he gives us trials and tribulations due to his mercy he forgives us due to his mercy and he rewards us due to his mercy and he even punishes us due to his mercy and of course his guidance comes in many ways as we know the self is guided the self has been taught wrong and right ونفسي وما صواها بألحمها فجورها وتقواها the self has been completed and taught wrong and right and Allah has sent us 124,000 prophets Adam being the first unlike the Abrahamic faiths where Jews and Christians consider Adam to be the first human being on earth they do not consider him to be the first prophet on earth whereas in Islam we consider Adam as not only the first human being but the first prophet of God because the prescription and the design of God's system on this earth while we are on trial on this earth is that we have to have a leader in a guide at all times otherwise the trial is nullified and that leader should be an individual among those who are being tested meaning that when prophets are sent to a people they must be similar to the people you cannot have an angel who is a prophet to humans because they are different in creation and therefore Allah always tells us that prophets are among you they are humans like you وَالَّذِي بَعْثَ فِي الْأُمْمِينَ رَسُولَمْ مِنْهُمْ so you know in other words they come from our own communities and Allah has ensured that these prophets are chosen at birth they are guided at birth and while they can make mistakes they don't while they can go astray they don't meaning they do not disobey Allah they are as we call infallible prophets do not make mistakes even the notion that Adam made a mistake when he approached the tree is not true it's a misunderstanding and while the Quran may allude to that slightly it's a trial upon us to understand what did Adam really do as a brief introduction you will see that before Adam was created Allah had decreed Adam to come to Earth because that's in the Quran وَإِذْخَالَ رَبُكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَ تِيْنِي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِيْ خَلِيفًا and Allah decreed it to the angels and informed them that he is going to place on Earth as a representative and this is before Adam was given his soul and spirit before Adam did anything number one so we need to understand it's very important that Allah decreed Adam to come to this Earth this Christian ideology of the original sin of Adam with all due respect is incorrect it's greatly exaggerated it's used in the wrong ways it has marginalized societies it has caused us to look at the divine system in a very convoluted way when in fact God's mercy is pervasive God's mercy is the overarching reason as to why he created us Adam did not commit a sin nor did he make a mistake it was by decree and design and I don't want to go too deep into it I know this conversation always continues in public but we need to be very careful about this I've heard even among our Muslim scholars in different schools of thought used this that you know that Adam was placed in this paradise which is where he was supposed to be but because of his error he was kicked out you see and because Shaytan was there you know Iblis was there to misguide him and now we are under this terrible trial on this Earth to try to reclaim that paradise that's not true at all this ideology doesn't have much foundation to stand on for many reasons number one that garden which we call garden of Eden by Christian ideologies is it was a garden and Alama Tabatabai describes it that possibly it was on an elevated place on Earth it's a garden that was on an elevated space on Earth elevated in a protected way number two it's definitely not the paradise we talk about on the day of judgment after the day of judgment that paradise no disbeliever rejecter will enter paradise now if this original one which Adam was in was supposed to be that original paradise then what was Shaytan the devil doing there because he had already rejected God he had disobeyed God already so why is he there and why is he trying to you know accelerate Adam to approach the tree you have to understand why is Iblis Shaytan trying to accelerate the approach of Adam to the tree because Iblis knows that while Adam is in that garden he cannot do anything to Adam because Adam's trial had not begun yet so whatever Adam does in this garden there is no sin in it there is no rejection in it now you might see that when you look at that actually it wasn't a mistake of Adam at all and it's not it's not the lesser of the good all of these are not valid arguments because they negate the original principle idea which is a divine decree that Adam was decreed to come to Earth by Allah and he did come to Earth by Allah's command so anything Adam did in between cannot be the lesser of anything now here's the argument that we use to understand it and I'm just introducing this very briefly just as a fundamental principle because I really want to get into the practicals of our day to day problems our social problems our parenting problems our societal issues but foundation principles understanding this is the foundation as to why we derive what we derive in the sense of the practical ethical laws that we practice they are built on this foundation that is why when we believe in Allah and one God pure no tainting no children is very important because the minute you taint God your ultimate goal for good has been tainted and when your ultimate goal for good has been tainted then the good you will do will be tainted and you will say good you will call something good when it's not good because the ultimate goal is not good that's why keeping that ultimate approach to Allah is so important as Tawheed when Luqman says لا تشرك بالله إن الشركة لظن من عظيم my son do not associate anyone with Allah it is a grievous act for this reason even if we associate a thousand gods to God it does nothing to Allah but when you and I taint Allah in this purity then our laws will become impurified our ideologies will become impurified our transactions will become impurified and we will confuse each other and we will not know what is good from evil that is why Tawheed is so central when we talk to our Christian brethren for example we should discuss with them the purity of God الله says when he takes a son for himself you have belittled him you have lowered him you have made him animated like a human being you see and he's angry with us when we talk about God's pleasure please understand God's pleasure is actually our success whatever comes to us is God's pleasure whatever harms us is God's displeasure understand pleasure and displeasure is animated within us not to God Allah doesn't have happy moments and sad moments Allah does not fluctuate in emotions He has no emotions like you and I you see God does not have such comparison اللذي ليس كمثلي شي there is no comparison to him ولم يكله كفوان أحد don't compare him with anything don't animate him don't give him shapes and forms while our Christian community is loving they love God they love God as much as everybody else loves God 100% I've seen them they die for it and that's wonderful but we have to talk to them to purify this because that purity is essential to understand the methodology the principles of why God has put us on this earth and it's very important for us to know this so this conversation about Adam is simply to make a very clear understanding that the Rahmah of Allah is within the jurisdiction and there are many many problematic issues if we are to say that prophets make mistakes many problematic issues arise as a result of that so please be very careful from a philosophical argument if I get into a debate with somebody who tells me that prophets make mistakes I will destroy them in a debate it's very easy because you can corner them a thousand ways and they won't know how to answer it's very problematic when you do that because God's system dictates a clear trajectory by which there has to be knowledge being imparted to mankind in the clearest of forms if there's any form of deflection from the truth then the entire religion of God is suspect and ideologically you and I don't have to follow it because we're going to say to God I don't know if Salah is five times a day or مغرب is three we assume it is but we don't know so you know what even if I don't pray it's not as bad as if I pray because I'd rather not do something wrong and it becomes very devilish after that so please be very careful going back to the issue of Adam you find that Allah decreed this Rahmah and Allah gives a magnificent answer to the Quran which in my opinion among all the Fasil that I've read this one really brings Quran to analyze it and to say first and foremost why is Allah telling us the story of Adam it is to establish the universal principles of God in His mercy and why is Iblis brought forth in the argument and why is Iblis who is another form of creation made of fire being brought into the equation of our conversations and why is He being removed from grace because Allah is telling us as one example that His principles are universal regardless of what creation you are if you went to another side of the universe and there were other creations there we would call them aliens you would find that as long as they're under test and trial on a moral ground then they will have the same principles as we have here it doesn't change it's fixed we are talking this fixed system very important to understand so Adam did not disobey Allah Allah decreed him but what Allah told Adam was you and your wife hang out in this garden and you will decide when your trial will begin and that was the instruction لا تقرب هذه الشجرة فتكون من الظالمين do not approach this tree do not approach this tree do not approach this tree do not approach this tree for then you will be burdened with the trial because the Quran exemplifies ذاليمين as لتشقا meaning to toil, to suffer to struggle in this world in that garden the trial had not begun so when Allah says Adam approached it what Allah means is that he put himself in a state of toil but putting oneself in a state of toil is divine decree and if you and I have a problem with that then let's go to this ayah in سلطة البقرة Allah says وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْئِ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوْءِ وَنَقْصِ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَلَنْفُسِ وَثْتَمَرَاتِ وَبَشْرِ الصَّابِرِينَ we will test you with fear loss of life loss of fruits family the whole nine yards give good news to the patient ones وَبَشْرِ الصَّابِرِينَ الذين اذا أصابتهم مصيبة they are the ones who when they are in a state of difficulty وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِونَ they say we are from God and we return to God وُولَاِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سَلَوَاتُ مِنْ رَبِّيمُ رَحْمَا they are the ones who God sends blessings to because they are patient and then Allah says وَإِذِبْتَلَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ the word we tested Ibrahim لِنَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيْكُمْ أَحْصَنُوا عَمَلَا لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ أَيْكُمْ أَحْصَنُوا عَمَلَا we test you which of you is best in deeds, right? قرآن is constant you are under trial you are under trial so it's not something we've done as a mistake it's the design of God and when Adam is seeking forgiveness when he comes to earth that forgiveness by the way in Arabic is غفرة غفرة just quick introduction غفرة in Arabic has many meanings غفرة one meaning is to seek forgiveness for a mistake we made but غفرة also means seeking protection from future mistakes and قرآن shows both of us both of those so I can say to you forgive me in Arabic you say in Arabic you say in English you say pardon me forgive me for asking you this question but you have not made a mistake but you are seeking protection from any accusation and you find استخفار has too many meanings and two major ones is seeking forgiveness and seeking protection so when prophets are seeking استخفار in the قرآن it's the only way to pray to Allah إبليس does not do استخفار hence he is condemned but one needs not make a mistake to do استخفار and when prophets are praying to Allah understand their comparison between themselves and Allah is incomparable إمام عليه السلام in the دعاء says أنت المالك وانا المملك فعال يرحم المملك إلا المالك أنت الرازق وانا المرزق فعال يرحم المرزق إلا الرازق you are the giver I am the taker who will have mercy on the taker but the giver there is huge different differentials when we pray to Allah how great Allah is and when prophets talk to us they are our kind they don't ask for forgiveness you never find a verse in the Quran where a prophet asks for forgiveness from humans but they are always asking for forgiveness from Allah because Allah's system and design is that when you want to pray to Allah you have to do استخفار in fact let me take it a little bit step further you notice we pray every prayer in Islam سنة شيع you will find it has two I mean two sujoods any prayer that has sujood other than Salatul Mayat you find that it has two sujoods two sujoods now why two why not three Salatul Ayat there are five ruku but you find in Salat there are only two the prophet explains he says the Quran says منها خلقناكم وفيها نعيدكم ومنها نخرجكم تارة الأخرى and to it you are created to it you will return and from it you will be called back تارة الأخرى you will be somebody different the messenger says when you do sujood make sure there is earth between you and your sujood because you are from earth Quran is saying منها خلقناكم وفيها نعيدكم and to it you will return and from it you will be brought back the earth not carpet not cloth تخبروني أن هذا ما يتجمعون ويجدون أن لا يتجمع مع سجود. يجب أن يستخدمه مئة من المئة لأنه المستعمر من سجود. حتى يتكلم في كل أجل الأجل أن المسجد لديك للتفاق من المسجد أن يكون لديك تباً على نساءته أم سلم أكبر يتكلم من نساءت هذا المأساق ويجد تباً على نساءته وأنه الأرض يجب على أن نشب in this when we move on this or this more as you call it it's not worshipping it it's by decree of the prophet ولكن الشيء الذي أخبرناه هو that you'll notice when we go from first sujood to the second sujood we have a very quick gap sometimes in speed we come up and quickly we go down الله أكبر we go back down but it is مستحاب to say أستخفر الله رب يواتوب إلي between the two sujoods and the messenger was asked what is the valley of this life he replied the distance between two sujoods he said the distance between two sujoods is this world you are made from earth you come on this earth you will die and go back that gap from the first sujood to the second is this world and the messenger said when you are on this earth do استخفار all the time for that is worship when Allah says إلا ليعبدون عبادة in what form our prophets and imams say استخفار seek forgiveness seek protection so we find that استخفار is the design of how we worship Allah it's this design so when Adam is saying ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا وإن لم تغفر لنا وترحمنا لنكوننا من الخاصرين you find the verse is very elegant it lays it out very beautifully and clearly and the Quran is a book of guidance it clarifies things that's why I say إن هذا القرآن يهدي للتيهي أكوام it guides us غير ذي عيواجا there is no crookedness in this book قرآن العربية the book in Arabic إن أنزلنا وقرآن العربية لعلكم تعقلون we revealed it in Arabic so you know because the language of Arabic is very specific and it has a very unique structure among languages it is one of the most complicated languages it has a very legal language it's a beautiful, elegant methodical language فارسي is beautiful أردو is beautiful the eastern languages are beautiful but Arabic has a construction it's much more refined in many ways and Allah says we revealed it so you understand it so let's pay careful attention to this because this is how our Imam gets stronger the reason for this discussion honestly is so you and I get certainty and when you and I get certainty then we will do توقل توقل in my opinion is the ultimate behavior in life توقل meaning you have trust in God you trust Allah where you are ready to sacrifice anything and everything for Allah anything and everything صلى الله عليه وسلم so when Adam says this I want to pay careful attention to this very quickly my topic today I want to continue to finish and I'm going to jump into سرط الحجرات for us to understand the essence of the Divine Law in this month the Quran was revealed what does it mean what is the power of the Quran and if you and I can get the energy from this you will understand that we will have no doubt that this is the Book of Allah many people come and ask me how do you know the Quran is the Book of God how do you know was it changed is it being manipulated is the Tahrif in the Quran meaning is the Quran missing verses does it have any issues these are conversations we will talk in the next few nights as proof that the Quran is the only book in the world that is the Divine Book only book and I will say it on many angles and you will see and I stand to be challenged I'd love for somebody to come and say no I don't agree with you I'm more than happy to have a conversation because at the end of the day we are on a journey to know the truth if you've got the better truth share it please right? Insha'Allah so when Adam is asking ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا he's saying our Lord we are burdened because when he comes to earth and Allah says all three of you go enemies of each other on one angle enemies on the other angle you'll find humans are brethren but Iblis was there to create discord and there's a whole series of verses in the Quran another time when I get chance to discuss it if time allows you will see how Allah talks to Iblis and says to Iblis why did you do this why did you refuse to bow and you see the logic and the principles as to why Allah brought us on this earth very important to know because when we deal with crises in our lives and we see people dying around us and we see babies being born in hospitals and in homes we will understand the grand scheme of things and we won't be confused so Adam is saying to Allah we are burdened by this ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا and he's saying to God وإن لم تغفر لنا if you do not protect us and forgive us should we make mistakes we will be losers لنكوننا من الخاصرين now Adam doesn't say ربنا خسرنا أنفسنا he says ربنا ظلمنا أنفسنا because Adam لم يكن في خسارة he wasn't a loser we think that he's such a loser that our Christian brethren have taken it so far that we've all become sinners in the flesh and now we're inheriting sins and we're all sinners and we're all damned and doomed to hell this is the Pauline ideology Paul in 1 Corinthians says were Christ not crucified and risen three days later Christianity is in vain it has no meaning meaning the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ peace be upon him as the one who atoned for the sins of man is a methraic idea that predates Christianity and it is not within the design of Islam for God to do such things that 2000 years ago God is going to fix the problem of Adam and that sin takes on a physical component please know sin does not take physical components nothing tangible within the five senses is a sin you cannot touch something called sin there's no such thing fire is not sin earthquake is not sin death is not sin life is not sin you know when you use your tongue and make noise it's not a sin but if you lie willfully there is an ethereal presence called sin it's intangible it's not physical no human being is born with skin that's sin you know my skin is a sin there's no such thing الذي أحسن كل شيء خلق everything Allah creates is good but بارك الله أحسن الخالقين God creates everything good including shaitan iblis is a good creation he's not a bad creation he's a creation of Allah and Allah creates everything good so to make a very quick point here Adam is saying to Allah if you don't protect us we will become losers and Allah says God turns to him and God teaches him the names and Allah says to the angels okay tell me the names that Adam knows they didn't know Allah says God knows but he says I know what you don't know and the reason I chose Adam and I taught them is because their trial on this earth is very difficult and they will have a very easy way to slip away from me because their own damnation and they can go astray but they will be vigilant they will hold themselves in my direction and they will fight for my causes they will represent my prophets even though they haven't seen the prophets today we as a muslim community two billion of us we have not seen the holy prophets in physical terms we haven't seen him but subhan Allah though we haven't seen him we are so vigilant about it we love him we are ready to die for him it's the number one name in the world do you know that the world book of records says Muhammad is the number one name in the world it's a beautiful name the one who's praised the praised one what a great name but Allah is telling us that the way the prophets behaved is through kindness and through looking at the wisdom and the intelligence that Allah has given us and I'll add one more piece to this and then I'll conclude on this very quickly he finds it Allah says بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم إن فتحنا لك فتحا مبينة ليغفر لك الله ما تقدم من ذمبك وما تأخر ويتمني عماته عليك ويهديك سرات المستقيم if you listen to this verse this is the سورة number 48 سورة الفتحة it starts with this and people say you see the prophet made mistakes look it shows ليغفر لك الله ما تقدم من ذمبك ذم is mistake that's all you see the prophet made mistakes علامة describes this beautifully in saying that the mistake Quran is talking about the sin Quran is talking about is not the sin of God it's the sin of Makkans who worshiped their idols and the prophet was back was coming to reclaim the house of Allah which was hijacked by the thieves by shaitan who took the house of Ibrahim and plastered 360 gods false gods in there and the prophet was after it to cleanse it and reclaim the house of God which was hijacked that's what the message to the Makkans the prophet was a sinner against their gods so Allah says we will protect you from that sin that they are accusing you of but the key operative in this ayah I want us to pay attention is وما تأخر now if sin and غفرة has a direct correlation to a mistake then how can Allah forgive the prophet for future sins تأخر means what will come in the future ليغفر لك الله ما تقدم من ذمبك وما تأخر what will come in the future the only way to translate this verse is that Allah will protect you from accusation now and in the future the same as Adam is asking وإن لم تغفر لنا وترحمنا لنكوننا من الخاصرين صلوات الله محمد والمحمد I want to touch briefly by the way as before I conclude this philosophical argument is the spirit of our worship you'll find the Quran clarifies the mishaps of prophets that were accused we have watched Hollywood movies on prophets I've watched them on different ones Yousuf being one of them Moses being another one Yaqub being another one Jacob it's interesting when you watch Hollywood movies of prophets they animate them as not human beings that you want to respect much they are angry all the time they are arguing with God a lot they do dumb things you see and this demonization of prophets is a strategic attempt to marginalize the religion of God and please I ask us all be careful you'll find the Quran elevates every prophet Quran speaks of 25 prophets roughly but there are 124,000 but Quran gives us a sampling of them and says all of them are subservient to Allah and I will prove it you notice when Iblis by the way fell from grace he says to Allah allow me to take this human being till the day of judgment with me to hell Allah says I allow you I allow you يوم يبعثون Iblis you want to do it Allah says but mine you cannot touch Iblis replies فبيعزتكة لأغوينهم أجمعين إلا عبادك منهم المخلصين يبليس is saying this Shaytani is saying this that I will fool them all accept your purified chosen ones so Shaytani also knows I cannot touch the prophets in the imams he is admitting it in the Quran that I can try to fool people but not prophets in imams I cannot do it مخلصين in Arabic means intrinsically pure born pure at all times till the death so please know that prophets remain pure now why is it important when we tell our children obey the prophets obey the imams there is a hidden poison pill if the child says but this prophet I've heard stories of him making mistakes or chasing women or doing something terrible like we hear the story of Dawood singing the praises of God from a biblical perspective and that he sees but Sheba who is the mother of Sulayman and he falls in love with her but finds out she is married this is scriptural you know the book of God is designed to guide us ethically not to misguide us you find that in this principle you find that subhan Allah he realizes she is married so he finds out who is her husband they say Urya who is the commander in Dawood's army he says well send him to the front lines hopefully he will get killed and all he goes and gets killed he gets killed and then she takes him and she conceives Sulayman now ask us all ethically I'm hearing some conversations if I can get some صلوات المحمد و المحمد you find that if we follow such prescriptions where we teach our children such behaviors then a child comes to you he says listen you want me to be a believer in God when his prophets and his representatives were so haphazard and they committed all kinds of heinous crimes that I would never do in my lifestyle in my lifetime but you want me to be subservient to God when the very messenger of God who God spoke to cannot correct himself how should I make any efforts to be upright and if I was the devil what would I do I go tame to the general I'd make the general I'd make the general look bad because once the general is corrupt then the whole army is corrupt this is the attempt done by people of society why I love the Quran is Quran reverses it and says false these are false stories given to prophets and they were all honored and they were so great that Sulayman also how great he was that while he's riding his horses and while he's in the pump and glory of power he stops when he sees the insects talking about him the ants he says my lord invoked me gratitude for all the gifts you have given me and my parents subhanallah a prophet of God with such high caliber with so much power and pump and glory that the queens of those arena would come towards him and they would submit to Islam due to his greatness and grandeur yet he wasn't arrogant my lord give me gratitude for all the gifts you have given me and for my parents and for my good deeds put me make my deeds right and make me among the good deeds put me among the worshippers so that's the difference you won't find stories like that in any scripture in the world so I let me conclude here within the few minutes I have you will find that when you read the Surah any Surah the foundation is this our prophets are guides they have come to teach us how to worship God and they are full of subservience but أفلح المؤمنون الذين هم في صلاة to him they come to prayer successful ones are the ones who pray with khushu how do you get khushu if you don't understand the principles of how God created us why did he put us the way he did what do you mean by Iblis slipping and Adam you know coming to earth with his wife how what do you mean by this what's the what's the modus what's the goal behind it when we have clarity there يقين starts to form and you are unafraid of any stories after that because foundationally the Dean of Allah is logical it's rational but it's also spiritual that the foundation is logical but then we take a leap towards Allah SWT and I'll talk about this in detail about توقل الدعاء when we pray when people pray when saMan people ask how do you pray where tears come out freely how can I reach a stage that the minute I pray to God my heart palpitates إنّا مَالمُؤْمِنُنَ الَّذِينَ إِذَاءَ ذُكِّرُ اللهُ وَجِلَ أَطُولُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَاءَ طُولِيتَ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُوا زَادَتُهم إيماناً وَعَلَا رَبِّيمْ يَتَوَكُونَ how do I reach that stage that my heart palpitates it's this conversation to understand when you pray understand this is not some هناك رقومة، هناك سجود، هناك قيام، هناك قنوط، هناك جماعة، هناك ريزن، كل شيء اللحظة يدعم ريزن لذا سلطل ملك في الأخيرة، اللحظة تقول أنها سأنتهي بها صلوة الله محمد والمحمد أعا 23 إلى 30، قريبا، هل هو الذي انشعكم وجعل لكم السمعة والأبسارة والأفئة؟ قليلا ما تشكرون تقول، هاتيز who brought you into being, made you the ears and eyes and the hearts little it is that you give thanks, it's beautiful, it's consoling me meaning Allah says be grateful, how important is that eye, how important are your ears how important is what you have and the tongue that you have and the legs that you have how important is it? somebody came to me yesterday and said brother how do I get khushu in salah, I said look around you, the prophet said when you know yourself you will know your Lord, look around you and see how much blessing is around us, coming to this center right now, sitting together we're going to break fast together, we're going to meet people of various cultures and languages and heights and sizes, Allah says this is it's a miracle, shake hands with them, hug them even if they don't know you look at them, what a blessing, see that you can lose that this is a rahma and what if God took your legs away, what if he took something away from you, how difficult will your life be? Allah says قليلا ما تشكرون قل هو الذي ذرأكم في الأرضي وإليه تحشرون he it is who multiplied you on earth and he will gather you meaning this is temporary, this world is temporary, so don't be fooled by it but he gathered you, full of mercy, it's very simple إن سورة إبراهيم الله says وَإِتَعَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَإِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَإِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنْ نَعْذَابِلَ شَدِيدِ it's a principle coded on foundational basis that God has made a calling if you are grateful I will give you more, what is more the mere satisfaction of realizing God's grace, you know you sit in a room and you're thankful for what you have you know how calming that is you know how many diseases go away you know how little drugs we have to touch because of that الله says وَإِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ not only will you get calmness وَإِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ that when you do zikr do I calm you down but I give you eternity of happiness I give you much more now when you and I indulge in such thinking then our prayers will be filled with spirit our dua will be filled with spirit إِنْ مَعْمَالِيَا لَيْسَرَامْ سِزْ مَا جَفَّةِ الدَّمُوا إِلَّا لِكَسْفَةِ القُلُوبِ وَمَا كَسَةِ الْقُلُوبِ إِلَّا لِكَثَّةِ الدُّنُوبِ tears don't come out when hearts are hard when hearts are hard and hearts don't get hard unless they are filled with sin keep away from sin and let the heart be pliant and let's make dua so Allah says I've given this to you وَيَقُولُونَا now look at the disbeliever Prophet says God spread you on this earth and he'll collect you in their arrogant way مَتَهَا ذَ الْوَعَدُ وِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادَقِينَ when is this gonna happen day of judgment you just concocted this he's just a joke the prophet replies Allah says قُلْ إِنَّمَا العِلْمُ عِنَّ اللَّهِ وَإِنَّمَا أَنَا نَذِيرٌ مُبِينَ say this knowledge is with God the day of judgment is exclusively Allah's knowledge I am a plain warner I love this نَذِيرٌ مُبِينَ I love it God prophet is saying to me I will make it very clear for you you will have no doubt as to when I tell you there is a day of judgment I will make it very clear and if you're gonna reject it you're only doing it because you don't want to follow the truth now what's beautiful about this is that the next verse which is verse 27 فَلَمَّا رَأَوْهُ الزُّلْفَةَ تَنْسِيْئَةُ وُجُولَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَقِيلَ هَذَا الَّذِيْ كُنْتُمْ بِهِ تَدَّعُونَ beautiful verse I love it because as soon as the disbeliever asks متى هذا الوعد ان كنتم صادقين the prophet says قُلْ إِنَّمَا العِلْمُ عِنَّ اللَّهِ this knowledge is with God I am a plain warner the next verse and when they shall see it day of judgment the faces of those who disbelieve shall be sorry like oh my God we disbelieved we questioned we were actually making fun of the prophet and it shall be said remember yesterday you asked when? well here it is and what I love about this verse construction is that actually in the scope of time it will be so quick that though those who asked 1400 years ago when they go into the grave when they are raised Allah will ask them how long were you in the grave He said one day maybe a little longer Allah says exactly now when you see that day of judgment it will be so quick that the Quran is saying you see in the scope of time don't think day of judgment is too far it is so near that even the ayah is describing it with quickness that when they will see it immediately they will be told remember yesterday you asked is there a day of judgment ah here it is قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُ مِنَهْ لَكَانِيَ اللَّهُ وَمَا مَعْيَا أوْ رَحِمَنَا فَمَا يُجِيرُوا الْكَافِرِينَ مِنْ عَذَابِنْ أَلِيمِ He says have you considered if Allah should destroy me and those with me rather He would have mercy on us then who will protect the unbelievers from a painful chest seismic meaning when you are a disbeliever you can't escape and Allah will give them their due the last part قُلْ هُوَ الْلَذِيلِ قُلْ هُوَ الْرَحْمَانُ وَا مَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا فَسَةَ عَلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ فِي ضُلَا الْمُبِينِ it's so beautiful Allah says to me He says you see those who ask about the day of judgment say to them I believe in the merciful God and I have trust in Him قُلْ هُوَ الْرَحْمَانُ وَا مَنَّا بِهِ وَعَلَيْهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا فَسَةَ عَلَمُونَ مَنْ هُوَ فِي ضُلَا الْمُبِينِ you soon you will know who is wrong hold on God says don't lose your hope don't be fooled by those who try to confuse you in your mind to think that there's no day of judgment and in the end Allah says قُلْ أَرَيْتُ مِنْ أَسْبَحَ مَا أَكُمْ غَورًا فَمَا يَأْتِيكُمْ بِمَا هِنْ مَعِينَ and if the sky doesn't throw water on you from the clouds who will flood your rivers beautiful verse it leaves me