 Allah SWT says that reminders benefits believers. So there's a hadith of the Prophet SAW, which he says, He says there are no days more beloved to Allah SWT that he be worshipped in them than the ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. And this is mentioned in multiple books of Bukhari and Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. If you notice the phraseology that he uses, he says, So this denotes a very, very strong negation that there are no days whatsoever, not even the days of Ramadan, according to many, many ulama, that are in grammar is called an elative of comparison. Of course, this word is related to the word hope, which means love. There are no days more beloved to Allah than the ten days of Dhul-Hijjah. And when something is beloved to Allah SWT, then the believers must pay close attention. So Allah SWT, the Prophet SAW, he doesn't say here acceptable to Allah or pleasing to Allah or appreciated by Allah. He says beloved to Allah. Like he says in another hadith, beloved to Allah. Or as he said, that the most beloved of places to Allah SWT are the Masajid. Now we know that, but many of us don't know what month or even year it is, according to the Islamic calendar, let alone specific days. So not all days are the same, not all days are created equal. We must be cognizant of that. If we have a deadline due for work, we're very, very cognizant of that deadline. It's in the back of our mind. We keep looking at it on our calendar. That's for our work. So we should be at least equally cognizant of days that are especially described as being beloved to Allah SWT. What about the Quran? Allah SWT says, Allah SWT says that we appointed for Musa A.S. 30 nights and we completed them with 10 more. Thus the appointment of his Lord was complete as 40 nights. So Imam At-Tabari and Imam Az-Zamakhshari and many, many other Mufassirin or exigents of the Quran, they say that the 30 here, the Thalathin actually refers to the entire month of Dhul Qaada, which is the 11th month. And the final 10, when Allah SWT says, this 10 refers to the first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah. In other words, the revelation of the Torah was completed on Turi Sinin on Mount Sinai in Dhul Hijjah. Allah SWT takes an oath in the Quran. He says, By the dawn, by the 10 nights, and by the even and the odd. Many exigents of the Quran say here that the 10 nights mentioned here are the 10 nights, the first 10 nights of the month of Dhul Hijjah. And that the even, as shafi, as shafi means the even. They say that this refers to the day of sacrifice, which is the 10th of Dhul Hijjah, which is tomorrow. 10 is even number, obviously. While the water, the odd refers to the ninth of Dhul Hijjah. So Allah SWT takes an oath by this. And we know that if Allah SWT takes an oath, a custom by anything, then that thing is truly great. In fact, the Prophet, SAW, he says, That there is no day when Allah sets free more servants from the fire than the day of Arafah. And then he continues, says something incredible. That Allah SWT draws near to his servants and praises them to the angels and says to them, What do these people want? This hadith is in Muslim. Now obviously Allah SWT, he knows what we want. The point of the hadith is to create in us a desire to ask him. What do these people want? So what are the people doing then? Allah SWT is asking the angels what do these people want? What are the people doing? They're obviously asking Allah for things. They're making dua. And dua is a very important part of our spirituality. In fact, the Prophet, SAW, he said, His hadith is in Bukhari. Dua is the essence of worship. He said, This hadith is in Tirmidhi. That there is nothing more honored to Allah SWT than dua, supplication. And the alimah say, there's two reasons for this. Number one, it fulfills the command of Allah in the Quran. Allah says in the Quran, So that I might answer you. And number two, it establishes a very personal relationship with Allah SWT. So that I might answer you. And number two, it establishes a very personal intimate relationship between Allah SWT and the supplicant, The Lord and the servant. The Prophet, SAW, had a very intimate relationship with Allah SWT to the point where he would stand in worship until his feet would be swollen. And when he was asked about the relationship and when he was asked about that, He said, He's worshiping Allah SWT out of love for Allah SWT. Sometimes we read the Quran and we don't understand the nuances of classic Arabic or we read a translation and the translation is not very good, very stilted kind of old fashioned. But there are places in the Quran that are incredibly incredible how they describe the way that Allah SWT describes his relationship with the Prophet SAW. For example, there's an ayah in the Quran where Allah SWT speaks directly to the Prophet SAW and he says And some of the translations, it sounds like King James translated this. So be patient as the coming of the command of thy Lord for verily thou art in our eyes. What does that mean? That's one of my teachers. What does this mean? And the way that he translated it to mean English was this is the gist of it. It means that Allah SWT is saying to the Prophet, Relax, I love you. Relax, I love you. That's the meaning of it. In dua you can speak to Allah SWT in your own words, in your own language and love, longing and hope. Allah SWT says in the Quran When my servants ask you When my servants ask you concerning me, indeed I am close to them. Allah is Qareeb. In this closeness, this Qurba of Allah SWT is in knowledge, awareness and concern. There's nothing to do with space or physicality because Allah SWT is transcendent over physicality. Allah SWT exists without any type of physical space or spatial concerns or physicality. In fact, the Prophet SAW said The closest a servant is to his Lord is when that servant is in sajdah. So this has nothing to do with physical space or distance. Closeness in a relational sense. I answer, I respond to the supplication of the supplicant whenever he calls upon me. Sometimes you hear somebody say Well, my duas are never answered. There's a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim of the Prophet SAW He said, your prayers are answered as long as you do not become impatient. Your prayers are answered as long as you do not become impatient. And the Sahaba asked him, Who is the impatient one? And he said, the one who says The one who says, I made supplication to my Lord and he never answered me. So he's breached adab with Allah SWT So it's important that we have a good opinion with Allah SWT that we have This is very important. According to our theology, when you make dua, one of three things will happen. Either Allah SWT will give you what you want in the dunya or he won't give you that thing but he'll give you something better. And sometimes we don't know that what he's given us is better because Allah is Al-Hakeem. He is wise. Allah has He is omniscient. He knows the future but we don't know that. So we complain if we don't get exactly what we want. Or this also entails that Allah SWT will deprive you of something but by depriving you of that thing he averts you from a moseeba that could have destroyed you. Or the third thing will happen which is the best that Allah SWT won't give you anything in the dunya but on the day of Qiyamah you'll see the reward of that dua in the form of jibal, mountains. And people will see these mountains and they will wish, I wish that Allah never accepted a single one of my adi'iya in the dunya because I could have these mountains. So the akhirah is better. The afterlife is better than the present. Ibn Atta'illah he said if Allah gave you the treasure of being able to make dua if Allah SWT gave you the treasure of being able to make dua he said even raising your hands to him then know that he'll give you whatever you ask him. Of course with the condition that you have a good opinion of Allah SWT Ibrahim Ibn Adham was a little more strict he was a great zahid from the tabi'een his students came to him and said why doesn't Allah answer our prayers and he says you read the Quran but you don't implement it you claim to love Allah but you don't implement the injunctions you claim to love the Prophet SAW but you don't follow him how can Allah SWT answer your dua you don't follow the Habib of Allah you're asking Allah for things but you don't follow his Habib, his beloved how can Allah answer your dua I remember back in the day as they say I used to play a little flag football we were on a flag football league and the league was basically all Muslim and we got to the championship game one year and so our team and the team were going to play we prayed Asr together everyone was there praying Asr and after Asr people were making dua I'm like well masha'Allah very religious people here then we played the championship game my team lost and now it's Maghrib time and almost everyone from my team is walking away and the other team is praying Maghrib so I asked one of my teammates I said where are you going didn't you pray Asr they said we lost the game this was his response I said what? and he said yeah in my dua after Asr I asked Allah to give us victory he didn't why should I pray to him this was his response so upon Allah I said yeah with an attitude like that no wonder why we lost the game so dua is the essence of worship and the most honored of things in addition to this the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam he said that the greatest dua is the dua in the day of Arafa this is in the Muawata of Imam Malik so this is the time right now to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for what you want Allah is asking the angels this moment what do they want so what do we want so there will be a time for you to make a private dua inshallah ta'ala today but let's read now corporately together some of the adiyah in the Quran itself because the best of speech is the speech of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran actually gives us the words as to what to say Allah taught us how to make dua all we have to do is say them a professor giving you the answers to the test and saying just come to the test date and fill in the blanks so the following are most of the adiyah that begin with a vocative rabbana rabbana means oh our lord is a very personal address that's why I chose these a very personal address to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala because your lord, your rub is the one who takes care of you it denotes the imminent deity the god that is close to you the god that is close there's there's eminence you probably know some of these most or even all of these adiyah but might not have reflected upon their meanings so the first one is in surat al-baqarah is very well known rabbana atina fi dunya and interestingly Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran he says that there are some people who stop here rabbana atina fi dunya full stop he says this in the Quran and he says wa malahu fi al-akhirati min khalaq and they have no portion in al-akhira because they want the dunya that's what they're going to get rabbana atina fi dunya hasana wa fil-akhirati hasana wa qina azaab al-naar qul amin oh our lord give us good in this world and good in the afterlife in the akhirah and save us from the fire the next one is the dua of the army of Dawood alaihi salam and this is a dua you can make you should make when you face a tremendous challenge like his army did rabbana afreg alayna sabran wa thabbit aqdamana wa nsunna alal qomil kafireen qul amin oh our lord bestow upon us patience wa thabbit aqdamana metaphor literally means plant our feet firmly means give us istiqama uprightness in the deen fortify our faith and give us victory over the unbelievers victories of different types physical, moral and spiritual the next one is from khawatim al-baqara the very end of surat al-baqara imam al-suyuti says that the end of surat al-baqara was revealed to the prophet in direct discourse what's called interior locution without angelic mediation in other words, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala placed these ayat directly into the heart of the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam without the agency of jubil alayhi sallam when he was at the sidirat al-muntaha lillat al-isra wal-mi'raj rabbana laatu aakhidna innaseena awakhta'ana oh our lord do not take us to task it takes oh our lord do not lay upon us a burden like you laid upon those before us oh our lord do not impose upon us what we do not have the strength to bear I love that part and pardon us so Allah is al-a'fu a'fu means the one who forgives the sin and then erases every trace of the sin it's obliterated, gone completely wa'fu anna waghfir lana and forgive us Allah is al-ghafir, al-ghaffar al-ghafur, all of these mean forgiving warhamna and have mercy upon us have compassion for us Allah is ar-Rahman ar-Rahim you are our master so give us victory over the unbelievers amen the next one is very crucial nowadays rabbana laatu zikh quloobana ba'da idh hadaytana wahab lana millal nunkah rahma innaka anta al-wahab oh our lord do not cause our hearts to waver after you have guided us and bestow upon us a special mercy verily you are the bestower of gifts the next one is the prayer of the disciples of Isa alayhi salam oh our lord we have believed in what you have sent down and they were talking about the injil of Quran and all of the Qutub wa'ta ba'ana al-rasul and we follow the messenger so record us among the witnesses amen the next dua is the dua of the ulul al-bab the people of lub the people of core essential understanding of the religion the people of deep understanding oh our lord do not create this in vain this creation has a purpose there's a telas there's an end to this creation things are created things are signs ayat the greatness of Allah there's some people who believe that all of this is meaningless random matter in motion it doesn't mean anything oh our lord you do not create this in vain glory be to you the torment of the fire oh our lord whoever you cause to enter into the fire you have disgraced and for the oppressors there is no help oh our lord indeed we have heard the caller call to us who is the munadi is the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam call us to faith saying telling us to believe in our lord so we have believed oh our lord forgive us our sins and absolve us our evil actions and cause us to die with the pious give us a good ending oh our lord give us what you promised us through your messengers and do not disgrace us in a day of resurrection verily you never break your promise amin the next one is the supplication of adam and eve which really shows the difference between the adamic and the satanic paradigm satan satan satan satan satan satan he just blames allah for everything fabima ahway tanee oh this is because of what you did to me it's all you where's adam and eve and this dua is in the plural rabbana dalamna anfusana wa illam taghfil lana wa tarhamna lana kunanna minal khasirin oh our lord we have wronged ourselves if you don't forgive us and show mercy then indeed we'll be from the losers amin the next one is the prayer of bani israel al qaumid b'alimin wana jina bi rahmatik min al qaumid kathirin amin oh our lord do not make us a tribulation for oppressors save us by your mercy from the unbelievers the next one is the dua of ibrahim alayhi salam rabbana ghfil li wali wali daya wa lil mu'mineena yawma yakumul khisaab amin oh our lord forgive me and my parents and the believers on the day of reckoning the next one rabbana hablana min azwajina wa durriyatina qurata a'yun wa jialna li muttaqina imama amin oh our lord bestow upon us spouses and children that will be the comfort to our eyes the coolness of our eyes and make us leaders for the god fear the next one is the dua of those who became muslim after the hijra which includes all of us rabbana ghfil lana wali ikhwanina al ladina sabakuna bil iman wa la taj'al fi quloobina ghillan li ladina aman rabbana innaka raoopur raheem oh our lord forgive us and our brethren who preceded us in the faith and do not put an application on the day of arafa is what I and the prophets before me have said this is the best invocation for today yomi arafa which is one of the most blessed days according to the Islamic calendar there is no god but Allah he is one he has no partner he belongs the dominion to him belongs all of the praise and he has over all things power rabbana dhikapal minna innaka anka al-sameel al-hadim amen so in addition to dua one of the best things you can do today is fasting and according to the Hanafi school fasting on yomi arafa is a sunnah muakada highly emphasize sunnah the hadith of the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam is in sahih muslim su'ila an-somi qala yukathiru sanat al-maldiya wa al-baqiyya al-qama qala alayhi sallatu wa sallam you asked about fasting on the ninth of arafa it's obviously for people that are not hajj and he said that it is an expiation for the sins of the previous year and the coming year so why are these days so blessed why are these days so blessed and one of the days of the hajj the pilgrimage the pilgrimage harkens back to the very primordial origins of our deen the rites of the hajj go back to our master ibrahim alayhi sallam Allah swt commanded him call people to the pilgrimage ibrahim alayhi sallam a man whose very name in the Hebrew language it means the father of many nations a man who was revered and loved by over 3 billion human beings on planet earth so iid al-adha is a commemoration of our master ibrahim alayhi sallam it is one of our origin story ibrahim alayhi sallam he's called the friend of god khalid allah in the Quran he's called the friend of god in the Tanakh the Hebrew Bible he's called the friend of god new testament in all three books all three scriptures he's called the friend of god this is a man who is known as the great iconoclast the breaker of idols the man who is called the imam of mankind inni ja'iluka linnaasi imama the one about whom Allah swt says ibuja'a rabbahu biqalbin salim that he brought to his lord a sound heart a heart free of spiritual the one about whom Allah swt says ibrahim was a nation unto himself khanitan lilla devoted to Allah khanifan the primordial and quintessential monotheist wa lam yakumina al-mushrikin he was not an idolater so the centrality of the Abrahamic tradition is very clear in the Quran the Quran says that they say they say become jews or christians if you want to be guided what is the response say did them no i'd rather follow the tradition of ibrahim the quintessential monotheist he did not associate partners with Allah swt ma kana ibrahim wa yahoodiyan wa lam naslaniyan wa lam kana khanifan muslima kana min al-mushrikin ibrahim was not a jew or a christian but a quintessential monotheist and a muslim in the literal sense you see it's anachronistic to call ibrahim a jew or a christian these terms are later they are tied to specific people Judaism after juda, yahooda one of the sons of yaqub one of the progenitors of bani israel of course christian from christias in greek after christ but islam and muslim as a trans chronic concept that certainly existed at the time of ibrahim aley salam this is what the Quran is drawing our attention to Allah swt says say Allah speaks the truth and it means to adhere to him follow upon his footsteps now in another ayah in the Quran famous ayah Allah swt says to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam say tell the people oh prophet if you really love Allah then you have to follow me and it's the same verb ittiba ittiba and it's the same verb ittiba so in one ayah Allah says have ittiba follow ibrahim aley salam the tradition of ibrahim aley salam in another ayah Allah swt says follow the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam so the exeggits deduce from this that the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam is upon that primordial abrahamic path and in fact this is exactly what the Quran says say follow the people the people aley salam are those who follow him and this is the prophet and the believers and the believers so the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam is the great restore of the millah the tradition and creed of Allah's Khalil the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam restored and perfected the deen of ibrahim aley salam this is why he is Habibullah in fact the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam said in the hadith in tirmidhi he said i saw ibrahim aley salam this is on the night later to isra wal miaraj and he said he said the one that resembles him the most is your companion meaning himself so the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam ibrahim aley salam even physically he resembled ibrahim aley salam and Allah sallallahu alayhi sallam revealed to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam on the day of arafa during the final pilgrimage and i'm pleased for islam to be your deen your religion i'm pleased for islam to be your deen your religion there's a hadith in bukhari that says a jewish man came to sayna umar and he said to him if that aya was revealed to us we would have made that day a day of eid and sayna umar said qad arafna thalika yawm wal makan al ladhi nazalat fihi a la nabi sallallahu alayhi sallam wa huqaimun li arafa yawmu jumu'a at arafa on the day of friday of juma when he heard this aya he began to weep because he knew that this meant that the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was going back to his lord subhanahu wa ta'ala so what does this perfection and completion refer to that this aya speaks of wa atmam tu aleykum ni'amati there's ikmal in itmam perfection and completion some of the ulama say that this is indicative that this is the final portion of the Quran revealed to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam imam soyuti he surveyed several ulama in his seminal text called al itqan and he says that while that might be true with respect to the akham the legal injunctions of the Quran there are no more legal injunctions after this point Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala still continue to reveal Quran to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam praising the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam as well as reminding people of the yawm al qiyamah there is a strong opinion that the final final portion period of the Quran revealed to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam is the very end of surah to tawbah laqad ajayakum rasulun min anfusikum ajayakum rasulun min anfusikum ajayzun alayhi ma'aneetum harisun alaykum dil mu'mineena wa r'oof al raheem to intawalla faqul hasbiya Allah la ilaha illa Hu'a alayhi tawakaltu wa hu'a rabbul arshun abin a beautiful description of the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam there is probably even a stronger opinion that the very last ayah revealed to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam revealed to him just a few days before his passing is ayah 281 of al-baqarah with the note takers 281 of al-baqarah wa taqoo yawman turjaoona fihi ila Allah thumma tuwafakullu nafsimma kassabat wa humla yuzulamoon fear the day upon which you will be returned to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and you will be repaid every soul will be repaid for what it did and no one will be wrong the Qur'an, the Qur'anic revelation in the early days in Mecca it began with descriptions of the yawm al qiyamah these are describing yawm al qiyamah and it ends with a description or a reminder of yawm al qiyamah this is called in rhetoric this is called a concentric composition the Qur'an is concentric this is an element of its i'ajahs its inaminability it is possible to imitate the Qur'an that flies way over the head of a lot of people it takes deep structural analysis yet according to other exigents this perfection and completion this iqmal and this itman refers to the establishment of the rights and procedures of the final Muslim ritual obligation the final pillar pilgrimage to the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that the mushrikin are decisively barred for making the hajj such is the importance of the hajj it perfected and completed the religion it brings us back to ibraheem alayhi salam the prophet sallallahu alayhi salam said whoever performs the hajj for Allah without engaging in inappropriate talk in transgression will return like the day his mother gave birth to him this is buqari and muslim he will become a born again muslim to use a christian term now given the high status of ibraheem alayhi salam in our deen it pains me to say that mainstream media especially hollywood as well as the ever increasing monoculture of the academy colleges and universities by and large have declared open ideological warfare on abrahamic tradition and abrahamic morality they're not shy about it it's open, it's brazen and if you don't know that this is happening then you've been asleep and i encourage you to watch a lecture i gave sitting right here about two years ago on postmodernism the dominant epistemology in western academy is called postmodernism it's important for us to know what that is make a long story short college students are constantly told by their social science professors that traditional value systems are inherently oppressive because they are hierarchical there's a hierarchy and they're patriarchal they love this word patriarchal some even say that for these oppressive abrahamic religions existed the world was this utopia of peace and justice it is a total false narrative this is postmodern philosophy it rejects ultimate and absolute truth they say there's no absolute truth there's no such thing as the truth there's no such thing as al-haq this is one of the names of al-qalam al-haq was ordered by Allah to speak the truth this philosophy says there's no truth there truth is a lowercase t plural truth you speak your truth i'll speak my truth as if there's my truth and your truth there's only one truth an objective truth so truth is subjective according to this philosophy this philosophy postmodernism rejects objective morality they are moral relativists so this has led many muslims young and old to leave the religion altogether there's a pandemic of irti dat of apostasy they are led to believe that atheism is better for societal well-being than theism they're led to believe that atheism is better for societal well-being than atheism there was an 18th century french philosopher believer in god he said it like this and this is mentioned by there's a jewish philosopher named david burlinski and you should get his book it's called the devil's delusion atheism and its scientific pretension this is a robust and sound refutation of richard dawkins the god delusion in the world his book has been refuted by david burlinski the devil's delusion so this 18th century french philosopher this is what he said imagine you had a magic button a magic button if you press this button you'll be given wealth beyond your dreams but there's a catch a human being somewhere in the world will fall down dead it could be your next door neighbor it could be a civil engineer in beijing you have no idea who it's going to be so he says who would you entrust this button to a very devout god fearing abrahamic theist who believes in the day of judgment in moral accountability supernatural accountability or a very committed atheist who believes in natural selection survival of the fittest there's no afterlife there's no supernatural accountability can you imagine if people did not believe in a moral and supernatural accountability who would you entrust this button to we need to advocate a strong return to abraham this is what islam essentially is it is an abrahamic theoethical judeo-christian it is a reform movement at its essence it is a reformation of jewish legalism formalism and ethnocentrism and a reformation of christian theology thus a restoration of the true millah of the great patriarch ibraheem he has chosen you and has imposed no difficulties in the religion it is the tradition of your patriarch of your forefather when you hear post-modern types railing against the evil evil patriarchy and we need to smash it and bring it down who is the patriarch the patriarch the ruling father is ibrahim aleyhi salam we should we should we should ibrahim aleyhi salam we should know that next time you take your gender studies class the most famous of the post-modern philosopher this is what he said this man is a rock star all around the world he is dead he died of AIDS he led a certain lifestyle that caught up with him it is meaningless to speak in the name of or against truth reason or knowledge truth, reason and knowledge aqal or mantik haq and ilm are meaningless and this is someone who is very influential in the muslim world he actually taught at the university of tunis for years in the 1960s but this philosophy is not just in the west it's everywhere reason is limited but is it meaningless and we really not know anything so how many times we find in the Quran phrases like don't they use their intellect use your aqal muslim theologians like ibn tamia said that aqal and naqal reason and revelation are not in conflict because the proper use of the former will lead to the recognition of the latter proper use of reason leads to the recognition of revelation because they come from the same source people have warped ideas of what the Quran is people think the Quran is a book of injunctions do's and don'ts prescriptions and proscriptions there are only 600 ayat or so in the Quran that contain akham legal injunctions there are over 700 ayat in the Quran that command people to think and use reason and to reflect the Quran is completely different than the covenant code of Moses and Exodus completely different Imam al-Ghazali says that the Quran itself appeals to logic through syllogistic arguments this is long before any type of Greek or Hellenistic influences upon muslim theological discourse the prophets used logic and reason to appeal to their respective communities because logic and reason have efficacy Allah SWT wants us to use our brains and Sayyidina Ibrahim AS is a prime example of this give you an example in the Quran Allah SWT says in meaning in the Quran thus did we show Ibrahim AS the dominion of the heavens and the earth so that he might be among those possessing certitude the people of Yaqeen now the word Yaqeen in the Quran there's another famous ayah in the Quran Allah SWT says worship your Lord until certitude comes to you and almost all of the Ulama here Imam Qurtubi Tabari Zamaqsh Ali Suyuti you name it they say that Yaqeen here means death worship your Lord until death overtakes you because then you're going to have certainty but Imam al-Biqai he says could be true but he says possibly the meaning here is Yaqeen is the sapiential station of certitude in this life it is to experience Allah SWT here to know that there's no god but Allah this is the meaning here with Ibrahim AS when the night grew dark upon Ibrahim he saw a co-cup a star this is my Lord but when it's set but when it's set he said I love not things that set then he saw the moon rising and he said haza rabbi this is my Lord but when it's set he said if my Lord does not guide me I should surely be among the people who are astray but then he saw the sun rising he said haza rabbi haza akbar this is my Lord this is great right but when it's set he said oh my people I am free of the partners you ascribe truly as a hanif as a quintessential monotheist I have turned my face towards him who created the heavens and the earth don't get the wrong idea here what's going on here this is Ibrahim AS rhetorical argument against the idolatry of his people the ancient Babylonians he is drawing out through intellectual deduction through reasoning the flaws of their beliefs he ascends he says yes there's order and predictability in nature the Greeks call this logos they say the cosmos the universe has logos has order predictability but natural phenomena also changes it's called tahwil it's mutable it sets the co-cup haza rabbi the qomar falama afalat it changes and that which changes cannot be the eternal cannot have al-qidim ad-dati an essential pre-eternality and if something is not eternal then it is mahluk it is created it came into being thus it cannot be worshiped in its right this is the argument it's a sophisticated argument to say it another way it cannot change because a thing either changes for the worse or it improves but if it improves then it could have been better therefore not perfect so he finishes the argument here indeed I have turned my face towards the creator of the heavens and the earth as a quintessential monotheism imam at-tabari even says that there is a hint of sarcasm in ibrahim a.s. argument and that this adds to its rhetorical power as if to say come on you know better you know better than worshiping these mutable celestial bodies worship the immutable eternal supernatural creator worship as-salam one of the names of Allah swt is as-salam what does as-salam mean Allah swt the peace as-salam means the perfect one this is related to salim as-salam means the perfect one one of the names of Allah is al-mu'min Allah is a believer and mu'min means the one who gives you safety these names have different meanings when applied to Allah swt he is the perfect one in another place in the Quran have you not considered the one who debated with ibrahim about his lord because Allah had given him sovereignty who is this man debating with ibrahim a.s. about his lord according to the mufassereen this is a man named nimrod the king of babala when abraham said my lord gives life and causes death he said nimrod is interlocutor he's debating with i give life and death according to the tafsir nimrod ordered two slaves to come and he said kill this one release this one i give life and i cause death he said ibrahim says ibrahim says ibrahim a.s. responded truly Allah brings the sun from the east bring it then from the west thus he disbelieved was confounded for puhita and Allah does not guide wrongful people in this debate ibrahim a.s. ibrahim a.s. points out the limitations of human volition of human choice of ikhdiyar insani nimrod claimed to be god in fact many of the exegetes say that the first human being in all of human history who claimed to be god was nimrod that's why in modern english slang you call a stupid person you say what a nimrod you ever heard of nimrod you claim to be god and mufassid also mentioned that a mosquito went up into nimrod's nose and there was an infection and it caused so much pain that he had to keep slapping his own face just to sort of relieve the pain and it came to a point where he had his servants beating him over the head with a shoe until they beat him to death this is what happens when someone claims to be Allah but here's the point if nimrod and one time i was walking i remember i was walking to arabic class years ago when i was overseas and middle eastern flies have no adab so this fly was going in my ear and i actually contacted it and then it went into my other ear i'm like why aren't you dead why aren't you like on the ground go up my nose and so i got to my class and i asked my teacher i said why did Allah create flies why did he create them and then he went to a book on his shelf a book of akhita and the earlumah talk about it it's mentioned and he said oh it's right here Allah created the fly to to taunt and annoy the oppressor he said oh stop iqtoba here's the point if nimrod is limited in his choices and potential then he is not perfect if he is not perfect if he is not perfect then he is ontologically essentially inferior to a deity therefore his mulk that Allah describes his sovereignty could not have originated with him it must have been given to him and atahullahu al-mulk and this is exactly what Allah says Allah gave him this sovereignty ibrahim a.s. demonstrates this quite dramatically by demanding nimrod to bring the sun from the west you think you have power over life and death let's say you have power over the sun of course this is easy for Allah s.w.t because Allah s.w.t has absolute unrestricted volition within his nature Allah is omnipotent this is one of the qualitative attributes of Allah s.w.t this is what you study when you study nimrod can't do it he has no rejoinder in this debate he is confounded we are told that ibrahim a.s. destroyed the idols of his people and the mufasirin say this happened when ibrahim was a very young man a teenager living in a very populous city called ur in caldea in ancient Mesopotamia ancient Iraq so ibrahim a.s. he said to his people do you worship that which you car atahbuduna matun hitun Allah created you and your actions the argument here is how can something you made be worthy of your worship when it only exists because of you you are its efficient cause thus you must be greater yet Allah made you thus Allah is greater and since Allah is the only real creator there can only be one real creator or else we are stuck in this intellectually repugnant paradox of infinite regress you ever heard that what came first the chicken or the egg why is this a paradox because both are made of matter therefore both require time and space Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is spaceless, timeless and immaterial this is how infinite regress is solved is the only real creator and it can be only one and the efficient cause of all creation then only he is worthy of worship and of course their response to this is let's throw them into a fire threats violence ad hominem attacks this is normal Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us I'm finishing up here there's an amazing ayah in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says ya ayyuha ladina amanu ma yartadda minkum an diinihi fa sofa yiatillahu bi qawmin yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbunahu oh you who believe if you turn renegade or if you leave the religion man yartadda minkum if you engage or enter into a state of irtidad soon will Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bring another people another people whom we will love and they will love him ad illatin ala al mu'mineen now Allah describes them they are lowly among the believers aizatin ala al kafireen they are respected among the disbelievers yujahiduna fi sabi lillah wa la yakhafuna loma talaim they strive in Allah's path and they are not afraid of people who reproach them thatika fadolullahi yutihima yasha wa allahu wasiun aleem there are two main reasons for the irtidad there are two main reasons for the apostasy that we can glean from this one ayah number one, lack of love as Allah says here that if you turn away I'll bring another people Allah will love him yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbunahu so they have lack of love if they have lack of love of Allah that means they don't have ma'rifatullah because ma'rifat, noses of God leads to love now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that he loves the muhsineen and at least three times in the Quran Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala explicitly says that he loves the muhsineen yuhibbul muhsineen the people of ihsan of spiritual excellence the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he defined ihsan in the famous hadith jabil and worship Allah as though you see him imagine your CEO asked you to make a sales call and then sat in your office as you did it and he said put it on speaker how excellent would that sales call be that's some CEO some human being so that's one reason for the irtidad lack of love what's the second reason lack of intellectual sophistication the Quran says here describing these people wa la yakhafuna laumatalaim they're not afraid of people who reproach them why aren't they afraid because they are intellectually formidable they're intellectual warriors they will engage in dialogue with the reproachers bil hikmah you don't transgress bil hikmah means with wisdom with dala'il, with proofs rational proofs, scriptural proofs wa l-mau'idah til hasana with beautiful exhortation and with according to the ulema khusnul khuluk, good character Aristotle says this in the art of persuasion you have logos when you try to persuade use rational proofs and ethos you have good disposition so this is the way of our master Ibrahim this is the way of our master Muhammad love of God rooted in the knowledge of God a ma'rifah of Allah that leads to a ma'habah a love of Allah this is the art postmodern philosophy rejects revelation and distrusts human intellect so naqal and aqal both of them are out this is the damit prevailing epistemology in colleges and universities there's no naqal and you can't trust aqal wa lahi this philosophy is satanic and what's the conclusion of this philosophy there's no God so no revelation can't get you to absolute truth there is no absolute truth so just follow your hawa just do you this is what they say just get yours get it this is a philosophy called volunteerism this is when the will of the hawa takes primacy over the intellect the intellect's job is to keep the will in check the word aqal in Arabic means to cobble something an iqal in Arabic is a chord you use the tie, you're camel down it doesn't run away but when the hawa and the nafs are doing whatever they want do what thou wilt this is the mantra of satan in the book of the book of Allah of satan he says do whatever you want this is the whole law of man this is what's happening it's exactly 730 so we ask Allah SWT to accept our adi'iyah on this blessed day we ask Allah SWT to insha'Allah will for us to go to Hajj we haven't been to go again to be with the hajj in spirit and we ask Allah SWT to fortify our faith and to make this exemplars of the mankind to make us follow the footsteps of Ibrahim alayhi salam and follow the footsteps of the one who effected the millah of Ibrahim alayhi salam the prophet sallallahu alayhi salam all of these things people do at hajj all of these things are tied to Ibrahim alayhi salam the safah and marwah lady hajira she ran between them and then when Allah SWT ordered his gave that dream to Ibrahim alayhi salam shaitan would come what did he order you to do what are you kidding me then Ibrahim picked up some pebbles and threw them at the shaitan this is the origin of the jamara Imam al-Razi he says that he says that because the Quran says qad sadaqta al-ruqya that Allah says to Ibrahim that you have fulfilled your vision and he hadn't killed his son so Imam al-Razi says that by demonstrating complete obedience to God Ibrahim alayhi salam was true to his vision and this is what Allah SWT ultimately wanted a willingness to obey not the actual slaughter of Abraham's son that was clearly a test Allah SWT did not want the blood of his son