 Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, for gathering us here on this blessed day of Juma'a and yet another opportunity for us as believers to strengthen our Eman, to strengthen our servitude and to prepare for the meeting with Him Subhanahu wa ta'ala. This world by its nature is evanescent, it is perishing. And every single moment that we think that we are living in, that the next moment that is all of a sudden that previous moment is gone. And all we really have ultimately is the moment that we are in. And the greatest way that we can possibly prepare to meet our Lord is to spend our time on the day of Juma'a and throughout the other days of our lives reflecting upon the Book of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the greatest blessing of all that we've been given as believers. We have the Kitab of Allah. We have the Book of Allah. And I was reading just yesterday a quote that Imam Al-Azali mentions in Book 8 of the Ahlul Medin, the chapter on the adab, the Book of Kitab Allah, the Qur'an on the various etiquettes associated with recitation of the Qur'an. And one of the set of said, and this is mentioned in the Qutub Al-Qulub of the Abu Talib and Makki, is that whoever has the Qur'an, it is as if that Allah is speaking to him directly. And so that we know that, Allah spoke to Moses directly. But because we are followers of the prophets, and we are followers of the Prophet Muhammad SAW by extension, we're connected to every prophet that was sent to humankind. What a blessing is that likewise that we are people that are addressed by the Qur'anic address. And this is a great blessing of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And you and I need to revive this la sunnah of Tadabbur-ur-Quran. And this is of all of the different objects of reflection, what are known as the Mejarid Fikr. One of the greatest of all is to spend our time pondering, reflecting deeply on the meanings of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's book. And of course that the Arabic language with all of its knowledges and that sub-knowledges are the tools for us to do that. But there are ways for us, even if we are not masters of Arabic, to also spend time reflecting upon the book of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I wanted to speak today about a few verses that are in Surat al-Qasas, that is the story of Qarun. And of course is that we have the greatest of all stories in Allah Ta'ala's book. The greatest of all stories meaning is that they have the most profound meanings that prepare us ultimately for the meeting with Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And in this story there are so many things that we learn, but we learn about human frailty and what can happen when we have blessings come to us, but we don't see those blessings as being from Allah. And we don't monitor very closely what happens at the level of the heart when blessings come our way. And this is the nature of human beings that we are frail, we are weak, and we have to be reminded. So Allah Ta'ala tells us, is that indeed Qura was from the people of Moses. This is the first thing that we learn about what he does. And this could be translated, but he behaved arrogantly towards them. So Qura was from the people of Moses, and some of them say that he was the cousin of Moses. And he was very close, and as we will see, he was given knowledge of the Torah. And in fact they say that after Sayyidina Musa and Sayyidina Harun, the prophets Moses and Aaron, may Allah have that peace and blessings of Allah be upon them, and upon the prophet Muhammad SAW, that no one had more knowledge of the Torah than Qarun. But what happened? But he behaved arrogantly towards them. And then we learn about one of the reasons why. We had granted him such treasures and such abundant wealth that even their keys would burden a group of strong men. Even keys, the keys themselves, let alone the actual treasures that those keys open the storehouses up to. The keys themselves, so you have an uspah, a group of strong men to try to carry them. They wouldn't have been able to do so, it would have been burdensome for them. And then, But then we see what his people then advised him. And so what we learn from the tefsir is that Qarun started to get close to the Pharaoh. And as a result of being close to the Pharaoh, and we learn from this what happens with bad companionship. And all of us know people that we're doing just fine, but then they hit middle school, and they're with the wrong people, and they become derailed, or they hit high school, or they hit college, or they're fine all the way through college. It's when they get into the business world and they have bad companions, or at some later point of their life, some relationship that they enter into or something. All of us have seen this, and probably in our immediate families or from our close friends. People that were doing just fine, but as a result of bad companionship, they started to make bad decisions because they were wrongly influenced. And so we need to be careful who we are around. But unfortunately, we have these small little devices that bring us some of the worst people on the face of this earth, right before our eyes in the middle of our homes, and even during the time of COVID when we're not going out much, that we're still with them. Because that we are letting their words and their acts and their behaviors seep into our heart because of how we're following them so closely. We have to be very careful about what we let our eyes see and what we let our ears hear. And so what happened in the story of Qarun is that as his wealth grew, is that he was asked to pay an alms tax by Moses on part of his wealth, and it wasn't much. It wasn't even the 140th or 2.5% that we pay for Zakat that's on gold or silver or its monetary equivalent. This was one dirham for every thousand dirhams. One gold coin for every thousand, but he refused to do so. And stories were construed that Moses is now trying to get your wealth from you after that having not had access to it. So he refused to pay the Zakat tax. And when this started to transpire, his people wanted to give him advice because they noticed that he started to change. And this is, of course, reading between the lines because after saying that Allah Ta'ada gave him so much wealth as that even a group of strongmen wouldn't be able to carry those keys, then immediately he goes into the narrative of telling us what his people told him. If Qala lahu qawmu, some of his people advised him, la tafrah. Here translated as, do not be prideful. And it's just very interesting to note that the word fadiha yafrahu farahan is a word that could just mean, sada yasudu surur, happiness, joy. It could be used in a very benign sense or actually even a good religious sense. Fal yafrahu, let them rejoice. So farah has a good meaning, but it also has another meaning. And this is the type of exalting. You're so happy at the worldly possessions that you have, whether it's your physical beauty or your status or your job or your clout or whatever, is that it causes you to exalt. The way that you drive your car with those tinted windows, looking down upon the people that don't have that same car as you or that are not dressed like you or don't live in that same neighborhood as you. This is very subtle. And all of us are susceptible to this, every last one of us. Because in the verse that is coming, which it relates to that these verses that come before it, is that Sayyidina Ali said that one of us will enter into this verse even if he wants his sandal straps to be better than the sandal straps of his brother. So we have to be very careful about what transpires at the level of the heart. So exalting in this meaning, that type of negative farah, now that we have arrogance that seeps into the heart as a result of what we are given, this is something that we have to be very careful of. So then Allah tells us that, again, continuing the advice that his people are giving to him, instead of exalting and being prideful about the wealth that you've been given, that there's the warning, but then the replacement, which also teaches us is that just as that we tell someone not to do something, we also have to show them what it is that we can do. It's not enough, especially for parents or community leaders trying to guide a community, just to tell people not what to do. You have to also provide for them alternatives, and this is perhaps one of our greatest challenges as a community, because there's a thousand and one things we don't want people in the community or our children to do, but do we ever even take the time to provide them some type of halal alternative? And our time is that we have to have to fend and go out of our way to find permissible alternatives, and there are so many things in our deen, the vast majority of things are permissible, just so that people don't fall into something that is reprehensible, let alone something that will take them away from their deen. So Allah Ta'ala then says, and again, having given us inroads into these conversations that they're having with him, and the advice that they're giving him, wab tarifim a'atak allah, et dar al-akhirah. Rather seek the reward of the hereafter by means of what Allah has granted you, and many of us have probably quoted what comes next in this verse, and often times out of context. Wa la tensa n'al-sibah kamin ad-dunya. We've all heard that. We're close to the Silicon Valley. We've all heard that. Don't forget your portion of this world. But if you look at the context of the verse, the awful, the foundation of how it is that you and I interact with any blessing that Allah gives us, especially wealth, is that we should use that wealth to prepare ourselves for the hereafter. Wab tarifim. Seek the reward of the hereafter. Seek what Allah has in store for the people that he loves in the hereafter by this blessing that he's given you, et dar al-akhirah, the abode of the hereafter. And wa la tensa n'al-sibah kamin ad-dunya. Don't forget your portion of the world. Ya ni maya khik. Whatever you need to get by, that's fine. You're permitted to do that. That is the understanding. We've turned it upside down. Where the vast majority, let's just all be honest, that we're concerned more about what college our kids get into than we are if they're praying five times a day. And if you don't think that's the case, look in your own heart. Do you follow them up and ask them if they've prayed their five-day prayers? Our teachers used to ask, what sort of did you recite in Duhr? What sort of did you recite in Asr? Or do we almost have to do azat and go console people because they didn't get into their college of choice or they didn't get the grade that they want on their SATs or some other tests for a postgraduate that study. And if this is the case, we've turned it and we sometimes then use this verse erroneously to try to say that don't forget your portion of this world as if people have forgotten their portion of this world, that we are that drowned in dunya. We need moments that we give for Allah for the hereafter in the way of the people before us. And this is, again, one of the greatest sunnahs of our Prophet but we oftentimes don't speak about it as a sunnah preferring the hereafter over this world. And that translates in a very practical way in any moment that we are doing an act of goodness solely for the sake of Allah, with ikhlas. In that given moment we are doing an act that we're preferring the hereafter over this world because one of the meanings of that everything is perishing except his face. Is that every act that you do is in vain, it's useless, except the act that we do that is solely for the sake of Allah. That remains and that is permanent and the reward of which we will receive its fruit forever, eternally into the hereafter if Allah accepts from us. But Allah only accepts from the people of Taqwa the people who are conscious of Allah. They have a way of life that they are living to prepare for the hereafter. These are the people that Allah accepts from. So we should not deem this to be something light or something insignificant. This is the foundation and even according to some other interpretations even though the dunya part relates to the hereafter. Some scholars say that the meaning of this is that seek the hereafter through anything that you've been given in this world. Because that is the portion of a believer from it. This world is the seedbed of the hereafter as we know. Do not forget that you have to put acts forth in this world in the dunya for the hereafter. So we need to realign our perspective because there's no way for us to have good actions if we don't have the right perspective. Everything that we do follows our perspective. Everything that we do follows the frame in which we think about something whether it be in general or in specific. So then they go on to give him advice. Do good for the servants of Allah. Just as Allah has done good for you. It's only the right thing to do if Allah has been good to you and who was Allah not good to even we don't have worldly thanks is that give back to the people and do not seek to spread corruption in the world So we're learning about all of these different people that Allah la yuhib just as there's multiple verses where we learn about the people that Allah yuhib that he loves. These are verses that teaches about who Allah ta'ala does not love. Those who are Mufsidin those who saw corruption in the earth and we have plenty of people that are like that unfortunately and sometimes people try to sow corruption at the family level for sometimes it's at the community level sometimes that it's even beyond that and to the degree that they have control over certain things in certain people is to the degree of the severity of that and there are people that pry upon people's weakness and that their vulnerabilities and these are some of the worst people on earth and economic warfare is one of the worst atrocities of the world in which we live if we understand what is transpiring and if you ever lived in a country where this is happening where all of a sudden that the dollar goes from one dollar eight hundred in the next day that it's one thousand five hundred and what happens to the poor people in the way that they suffer when you're in touch with the people and this is something that is firsthand and many of us either have family members back home that experiences or know a lot of people that are going through this this is not going to be left unchecked Allah yumhel wa la yuhmel Allah will grant people respite but he never neglects you might be able to outsmart people here in this world but it is impossible to outsmart Allah it will come back to you in this world before the hereafter and this is why some of them say is that it is as if that this world is the world of recompense but it's not the hereafter is the but it's as if it's the case because you reap what you sow we all know this this is a universal and so you cannot get ahead by cheating we have to remain principled this is simply the only way to be but then the verses go on because now we learn about Korah's response and when you see this if someone doesn't think that Islam is relevant for the modern world then they need to I don't know what to say to them they need to read their book that we've been given what more do people of our time need than this to learn that this is a terrible type of a human being that must be avoided what did Korah say He replied I have been granted all of this because of some knowledge I have or an alternative translation might be I have been granted all of this because I know that I deserve it there's some form of entitlement that I worked for this this is something that I struggled for and then we see when this happens people are completely blinded as a result if we see any of our blessings and this is the tafsiyah of this verse is that any any gift that Allah singles you out with any blessing that he bestows upon you is that never ever ever attribute it to your own self something that you've done or earned or it's due to your own power or strength or struggle or anything see every blessing as being entirely a minna from the minnan grace from the giver of blessing subhanahu wa ta'ala this is extremely important because if we don't preempt that and that's not our state this is when we get dragged into this demonic realm of these pharaonic-like tendencies where then we start to make claims and to exalt as a result of what we have how many people in our time Muslims included fall into this I've been given this because of some knowledge that I've had and again we already mentioned is that he had more knowledge of the Torah than anyone else after he learned al-sara he saw it as being as a result of something that he had but then Allah Ta'ara says did he not know that Allah said who is the most powerful and the most powerful a response like that deserves jalal from Allah that deserves a majestic response from the creator of the heavens and the earth who is the mannan only Allah can remind us of what he's done for us it is not appropriate for us to think anything in relation to our own selves and it's haram to remind anyone of a charity that you've done for them and in fact that it that it nullifies the reward of that act even if it's 20 years later and this is serious you cannot remind people of the charity that you've done for them truly a person that's seeking hereafter nor can you even hold a grudge or let a whispering of the shaitan that put in your heart doesn't that person know what I've done for them doesn't that person know what I've given to them and I gave him a job I let him borrow money I've done this so I've done that don't even let that come to your heart that's demonic immediately make toba and ask Allah to remove that from your heart and so then Allah Ta'ara says I know that Allah had already destroyed some from the generations before him who are far superior to him in power and greater in accumulating wealth there'll be no need for the wicked to be asked about their sins so then Allah tells us about on a particular instance when he comes out then he came out before his people in all his glamour and the tafasir mentioned details about that but you can imagine this with all of his wealth in his retinue and the way he would have been dressed and that the whole procession and all the people that are around him it would have been people would have been looking at this and people would have been looking on but then Allah Ta'ara tells us about two different people there are people whose hearts are gripped by this world and want to be like him and then there are people that have been given knowledge which shows the importance of knowledge true knowledge because they responded in two very different ways so then he came out before his people in all his glamour those who desired the life of this world wished that if we would only have something light what qura has been given so again we have to be careful because we have examples of this right before our eyes all the time if you're watching the NBA Finals just before the players come to the stadium they show them in all their gear and they're all strutting and they're all dressed up nicely and they've got their gold changed or whatever else it is that they're wearing and for young people when they see that oh I want to be like that and they're walking in humbly they know the cameras are on them whether it's them or whatever example that you could give there's countless examples in our society and we see these things and we really want to be like that we see people driving a certain way down the street carrying themselves in a certain way strutting right in front of us and this is people's hearts want to be like that or we see people at work where they get certain promotions and they start acting a certain way because they become untouchable and now that they know that they have power over people we don't want to be like this this is the way people of dunya are but the people who want the life of this world this is their response that oh if I could only have what they have and who wants that but look at the people of iman well they say he is truly a man of great fortune the people who truly know the people who were gifted with knowledge say woe to you shayman you thwab allahi khayr the reward of Allah is far better than man aamana wa amina saliha for those who believe and do good wa la yulaqaaha illa sabiroon but only the steadfast the patient will attain this and who are these people that woe to al-ilm these are people that either is that have an understanding of their religion such that they know that what Allah ta'ala rewards and what he punishes for subhanahu wa ta'ala but really these have been people that have been given these are people who know Allah these are people that have a close connection to the best of creation they know what's truly important they know that nothing in this world will ever fulfill you they know that shayman you you should never as a believer incline towards these people let alone to try to actually be like them what blessed guidance we have and then we learn about what Allah did to him as a result of his arrogance then we cause the earth to swallow him up along with his home and then in verse number 83 the eternal home and the hereafter we reserve only for those who seek neither tyranny nor corruption on the earth the ultimate outcome belongs only to the righteous this is the reality and alhamdulillah we've been given this guidance and we have to believe in it and we have to put it into practice and people have to see that and when people see that put into practice if we don't live these realities we're never going to transform the people around us people are in such a terrible state such an even not really a practicing Muslim they have remnants of the light of faith in the heart they impact them just imagine then if we are putting this deen into practice in the way that is pleasing to Allah the impact that we will have upon the people that are around us they will see first hand the superiority of this religion and the superiority of the way of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam preparing us for the meeting with our Lord and this is ultimately what it is all about and then Allah Ta'ada says one more verse and then goes to address the prophet in none of the farada alayka quran and this is one of the blessed that themes throughout the quran and I encourage you is that after Allah Ta'ada tells these stories often times in surat hud in many places in his look look at the advice that he then gives when he's addressing the Rasul sallallahu alaihi wa sallam right after them and so that those meanings that those stories are first and foremost for the Rasul sallallahu alaihi wa sallam by extension is umma but then look very carefully and connect between the meaning of that story and then what Allah Ta'ada tells our prophet right after and this is guidance for those who opens their hearts to it may Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam be from it this last verse that we just quoted till Qadar al-akhira is that they say about Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam he said despite having the dominion that he did and he died at the age of 33 as that he recognized is that our abode the abode of permanence is not here he kept repeating this verse till Qadar al-akhira he kept repeating it he kept repeating it kept repeating it until he met Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and this is someone who's that in charge of the believers and the dominion this is what we have to be like we have to resemble them to follow in their footsteps may Allah ta'ada give us Taufiq bless us in all of our affairs and give us great openings and say this may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you may Allah bless you And upon all the people of the house of the Messenger of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Allah, grant the believers and the believers, the Muslims and the Muslims, to live from them and die. O the first of the first, O the last, O the last, O the dead, O the Merciful, O the quiet, O the Merciful, O the Merciful. O the first of the first, O the last, O the last, O the weak, O the compassionate, O the Merciful. Allahumma inna nassaluka siyaretin thiddin wa barakatin umar wa sihatin fadjasil wa siatin farizk wa tawbudan gabremot wa shaharatin adilmot wa mawfiletin ba'demot wa affuna nuhisa wa man min adab wa naseeba min ajannah wa zikna nathara ila wal shiqa al kareem awakum Allah nassalukum Allah Inna Allah yaumur biraadli wal ihsani wa ita'idil korbaak yaumur biraadli wal ihsani wa ita'idil korbaak wa yanha'an ilfahshai wal munkir wal baghi yaidikum la'alikum tatakkurun wa dhikur Allah al azim ya dhikur kum wa dhikur gharan yameezil kum wa dhikur Allah ya kbar