 As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu Bismillahir rahmanir raheem, alhamdulillah wa as-salatu wa as-salamu ala Rasulillah wa ala alihi wa as-habi hajma'een We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam His household, His companions, we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless them, to bless every one of us to grant us forgiveness during this beautiful, beautiful season and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be pleased with every one of us I mean my brothers, my sisters, every one of us has needs We call out to the Almighty How do we call out to the Almighty? We need to seek the forgiveness of the Almighty We need to praise Him We need to express our dependence on Him His independence from us The fact that He has what we want We call out to Him very humbly We use the most beautiful words We send blessings and salutations upon Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam at the beginning and at the end and we make sure that we obey Allah's instruction thereafter and when He gives us something we must be thankful to Him Also we show gratitude to the Almighty We must show gratitude to the Almighty for what He has already bestowed upon us We are going through the supplication of the Prophet Ayyub alayhi salam and I made mention of a hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam in the previous episode where he says that those who are tested are the ones who are closest to us and then the others are tested less and less and less and a person is tested he bears patience until he moves on the earth without a single sin on his back So this is actually a bonus from Allah swt saying that you will definitely be forgiven as a result of the tests if you are to bear patience remember one thing don't question the decree of Allah no matter how difficult the hardship is take it in your stride remember that the good days will always follow and remember that if you are being tested there are others who are better than you who were tested with that which was bigger than the test you have May Allah make it easy for every one of us I now want to move on to the Prophet Yunus alayhi salam He was also known as the noon the noon you know the one who was swallowed by a fish the type of fish we don't know there is a great discussion about what type of fish it was the reality is it was a fish and he was swallowed by it very quickly and very briefly he was sent by Allah to certain people he called out you know he called them towards Allah swt they did not listen so he decided you know he was upset Muqadiban Muqadiban he was upset with them so he walked away thinking that you know what it's okay Allah is not going to punish me because I tried my best and now I'm going away not realizing that Allah swt would cause something to happen for him to return to his people because the message still needed to be completed and delivered in the way that Allah swt had wanted it to be so Allah makes mention of something very interesting that this man called out to Allah he called out to Allah at his time of need when exactly was the time of need you see he jumped onto the ship and the ship was sinking so they had to ask some of the people to jump over Subhan Allah Subhan Allah it's very tough may Allah not test us with this so they knew this man was a good man they started they wanted to draw the lot so every time the number came onto this Yousuf Yunus alayhi salam he was asked to go out the first time the people said no let's try again they tried again it was his name again they tried a second third time it was his name all the time so they asked him to leave he jumped in he was swallowed by a big fish and it was darkness darkness and the fish went right down to the bottom of that ocean and it was very very dark darkness of the whale the belly of that in fact fish I called it a whale but the more accurate term is a fish and darkness of the the the lowest part of that particular sea or ocean and in that darkness he called out to Allah now there is an amazing narration that I want to make mention of that Ibn Kathir Rahmatullahi alayhi speaks of regarding this dua Allah says in the Quran in Surat al-Safat verse number one forty three Fa laula anna hu kana minal musabhihiina lalabitha fee batunihi ila yawmi yub'a'ithoon Had he not been from among those who always used to praise Allah he probably would have stayed in the belly of that fish until the day of resurrection which means because he used to praise Allah every day on the ordinary days the day he needed it Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala responded immediately it goes back to a narration of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam wherein he says ta'arraf ilallahi fir rakha'i ya'rifka fee shiddati get close to Allah get acquainted with Allah during your days of ease and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will be acquainted with you during your days of difficulty this reminds me of Yunus alayhi salam Allah says Fa laula anna hu kana minal musabhiheen had he not been from among those who used to always praise us declare our tasbih he probably would have stayed in that condition right up to qiyamah so this goes to show my brothers and sisters praise Allah during your days of ease when nothing is really wrong praise Allah search for the gifts of Allah upon you and thank Allah for what he has bestowed upon you when you don't have hardship when you don't have hardship so that the day you have a hardship and you call out to Allah Allah will definitely rush to your assistance like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has taught us so Yunus alayhi salatu wa sallam he calls out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as Allah says ni kuntumina al-zalimeen remember the Prophet Yunus alayhi salam when he left his people he was upset with them and he went away thinking that Allah will not punish him because he went away from people who he had delivered the message to and they didn't listen to him and then he found himself in a certain condition we spoke about that condition and he called out to Allah in that darkness what did he say? just like we heard about the Prophet ayyub alayhi salam this Prophet known as Yunus the Prophet Jonah may peace be upon him he too did not ask Allah to remove him from the hardship he only praised Allah and declared that I was wrong I did something wrong subhan Allah that's all he says and Allah loved that so much you know when you admit your sin when you admit your error to Allah Allah loves it a person who wants to earn the forgiveness of Allah one of the conditions is to admit that you were wrong so we as Muslims do not confess our sins to anyone we confess them to Allah Allah alone no matter what you've done it's your secret between you and Allah no sheikh, no imam no scholar, no priest no husband, no wife no child, no one no one needs to know the extent of the sin you've committed between you and Allah you need to know it Allah needs to know it and you ask Allah's forgiveness you confess to Allah saying oh Allah I committed the sin I did wrong I regret it I'm seeking your forgiveness I'm not going to do it again the minute those four conditions are met the sin is wiped out so this is Dhunnoon Yunus alayhi salam he is saying you know he called out to Allah saying la ilaha illa anta there is none worthy of worship besides you subhan Allah inni kuntum minal zalimin I indeed was from among those who wronged myself I was a wrong doer I did wrong so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala heard this beautiful dua this dua has in it three different aspects that's what makes it so so powerful la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntum minal zalimin there is none worthy of worship besides you indeed I have committed something wrong I have wronged myself I've done something wrong subhan Allah what's the power of the dua let's look at the three different angles of it the first is declaring that Allah is the Lord he is the owner he is the only one worthy of worship no one else is going to help me this is my Lord I worship him alone he is the only one worthy of worship you know if we take a look at the translation of la ilaha illa Allah in the English language all of us would say there is no one worthy of worship besides Allah if you think about what you've said you realize that that means you will only render acts of worship to Allah because no one besides Allah is worthy of being worshiped so that is the first aspect of it where he is humbling himself to Allah declaring that Allah is my maker he is the one who has definitely you know owned every aspect of worship he is the only one owned worship and fit to be worshiped then he says subhanak so he started off by saying la ilaha illa anta you know none worthy of worship besides you subhanaka subhanaka is the glorification of Allah glory be to you so he's actually now declaring the greatness of Allah he's saying none worthy of worship besides you and the word subhanaka is actually worshipping him he's worshipping Allah I won't worship anyone besides you here I am declaring a statement that is filled with worship I'm saying glory be to you we wouldn't say glory be to anyone else you know it's just subhan Allah no one would say glory be to another creature of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that subhanaka is owned only by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so he's declaring that worship and the third thing he is saying Inni kuntu min al-zalimin I am now admitting my sin I was wrong oh Allah I'm wrong so these are the three things one is he's declaring Allah alone to be worshiped two is he's then worshiping Allah alone and three is he's saying I was wrong I did something that I'm not supposed to be doing I'm not supposed to have done and this is why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us in a hadith narrated by imam Ahmad and also appears in Sunan Tirmidhi also a hadith of Saidi bin Abi Waqaa sallallahu anhu let's listen very carefully it's a very powerful narration the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam says the supplication of Yunus when he called Allah from the belly of the fish la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-zalimin no one will ever no Muslim will ever call Allah with the same words except that Allah will respond that call to that call amazing you want a guarantee of a response from Allah here's the dua la ilaha illa anta subhanaka inni kuntu min al-zalimin none worthy of worship besides you or Allah glory be to you indeed I and from among the wrong doers I did wrong and in your heart you know what it was in your heart you know what you want because he was in the belly of that fish he knew I needed to get out of here I needed the help of Allah I needed to be saved somehow so he's he wants to be saved he wants to return back to where he was and he's thanking Allah so my brothers and sisters this is a powerful dua and this is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says fastajabna lahu wa najjainahu min al-gham wa kathalika nunjil mu'mineen we responded his call and we saved him from that sadness and the sad condition he was in and that is how we save all the believers an amazing dua of Yunus alayhi salam and something we've learned again is he didn't say oh Allah take me out of this condition oh Allah he just declared the praise of Allah he declared that oh Allah Allah alone is worthy of worship and he says oh Allah what I did was wrong so Allah says we responded by by removing him from his sadness anyone who's faced with sadness you may use this dua it is a beautiful wording that is mentioned by Allah in the Quran and it was definitely spoken also by the Prophet Yunus alayhi salatu wa salam may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant us a beautiful understanding I want to move on to the Prophet Musa alayhi salatu wa salam what a great Prophet of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the Prophet Moses may peace be upon him he is the one who's mentioned the most in the Quran his story takes up a large part of the Quran many surahs, many chapters have the story of Moses, Musa alayhi salam or part of it and a lot of his prayers are made mention of you know he was young and as he was young he grew up when he was growing up in the first or second episode we spoke about how he punched someone and as a result the person died immediately he admitted his fault what did he say? this is from the work of the devil oh Allah if you don't forgive me I'm going to be a loser subhan Allah so to admit your sin is one thing then you call out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala you know you can blame shaitan for everything because shaitan definitely is at work all the time but it's a good gift for a believer to blame the devil so that he comes out of it you know I always tell people who are who don't get along with each other that what a great gift it is when you can just say no my brother you know shaitan came to me and shaitan made me do this and shaitan made me do that and the brother will say yeah yeah yeah I know I understand shaitan came to me too and it was and then you embrace each other and you hug each other and you sort your problem out and who was blamed shaitan? shaitan although sometimes we do become little devils ourselves but may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not let that happen however it is not wrong to blame shaitan because even in the Quran we are taught that the prophets of Allah also said that was shaitan you know look at Musa A.S. he says this is from the handiwork of the devil I'm not this way this is not me you know I shouldn't have done this and I shouldn't be doing this so that was something that we had already spoken about but as a result they began to look for him and he left the city upon the advice of a man who came to him saying if you want to be saved you need to now leave the city as he's leaving the city he called out to Allah now sometimes we are faced with a situation where you know we are no longer at a workplace sometimes we're no longer a week we if you're an expatriate somewhere you no longer working somewhere or you just lost your job or you need to leave for some reason depending on what it is you might take a lesson from what happened to Musa A.S. so Musa A.S. here says and I'm just going to read the verse verse number 21 of Surah Al-Qasas Allah says he came out from that city he was fearing and he was watching he said save me from the nation who are oppressors from these wrongdoers from this group of people who are wrongdoers O Allah save me from them so the dua is a beautiful dua I can use it you can use it if ever we would like to ask Allah to save us from specific people O Allah protect us from this group of people who are wrongdoers the sinners you know the Pharaoh and the likes they had committed and perpetrated heinous crimes they were killing people and they had done so much and he is saying O Allah save me from these people and then Allah says when he faced when he faced the city of Median because now he was heading in that direction he made a dua he says O my Rab I hope I have hope in you that you will guide me to the best of paths to the straightest of paths now when we are making a decision when we are trying to go to another city when we're opening a new business when we're going for a new job etc etc we ask Allah O Allah guide us O Allah I have hope that you will guide me to the best decisions sometimes the decisions are tricky we don't know exactly what decision to make look at Musa A.S he's forced to leave behind everything he's going on his own perhaps a little bit of provision that he has and he is leaving and he's saying O Allah I have hope in you that you're going to guide me to the straightest of paths to the best of decisions so he says let's fast forward a little bit so he gets to Median he sees these ladies he helps them with the quenching of the thirst of their flock and thereafter he makes a dua to Allah as he's reclining under the tree he asks Allah something else he says that is a beautiful verse that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala makes mention of when Musa A.S. is saying O my Rab I am in dire need of any goodness that you are going to send in my direction right now Subhan Allah Rabbi O my Rab O my Lord Inni lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin Fakir I am for anything good that you are going to send in my direction in great need I'm in great need of anything any form of goodness so whether it was food or drink whether it was material no matter what it was and he did not know exactly what's going to come in his direction but as a result guess what happened imagine this dua Rabbi Inni lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin Fakir remember that dua as a result Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala bestowed him with someone who comforted him by listening to his story number one and this shows us that when you have a trustworthy person that you can relate your story to or you can you can trust with what's happened it's good sometimes to speak but remember to you need a trustworthy person Musa A.S. did not just speak to anyone and everyone Musa A.S. did not just come and say words to anyone he met that you know this is what happened that's what happened but rather what he did he called out to Allah to help him and then he found someone he could trust and after that he told this man the story and there were a few signs that he saw that would prove that that would prove that this person is actually genuine you know and after that he found a confidant then he found a job Subhanallah he got a job as a result of this dua the job lasted 10 years and after that he found a wife Subhanallah so marriage came first he found a very good friend who became his father-in-law so marriage and his boss which means he found a job Subhanallah if people are looking for jobs looking for spouses looking for so many things Rabbi ini lima Anzalta ilayya min khairin fakir O Allah whatever goodness you are going to bestow upon me I am in desperate need of it right now Subhanallah and we repeat the dua and there are so many other supplications it's not just this one now someone might ask how many times should we repeat that dua a lot of people ask me a question you know there is this dua in the Quran how many times should I repeat it you know someone told me to say it a hundred times I've heard of someone who told another person to repeat a dua one million times I want to tell you to put a figure at how many times you should make the dua is usually not in the hadith of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam when it comes to the zikr and the remembrance of Allah you have the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam making mention of a hundred times you know a certain dua a certain zikr a certain remembrance or the Subhanallah Alhamdulillah Allahu Akbar 33 33 33 or 34 etc. or three times four times a certain Alkar Alkar meaning the remembrance of Allah but when it comes to dua a supplication you say it with conviction even if it's once twice ten times a hundred times there is no fixed number you need to call out to Allah based on your conviction until you are happy that I've called out to Allah and you might want to repeat it and repeat it again at every moment that you think about it you may repeat it it's permissible there's no cap and there's no recommended number by the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam some people might recommend numbers but that's not from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam I would advise you to follow your heart and to quench the thirst that you have within you to call out to Allah and keep it going with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala don't lose hope look at this man he's asking Allah he's just been driven out of his city he enters a new city he's been very helpful that shows us when you help people and when you help even those who are who might be strangers with goodness you know when you help people with goodness obviously we're living in countries where it's not so easy sometimes to just help any stranger but there are signs you will get that this is a legitimate cause when you help people the chances of your dua being accepted are far greater than if you were just to be selfish and make dua oh Allah help me help me but you're not ready to help others kanallahu fiaunil abdi ma kanal abdu fiauni akhihi Allah continues to help his servant until that person is occupied in helping another remember this my brothers and sisters so we call out to Allah here is the man he just helped someone he was desperate he says رب إني لما أنزلت إلي من خير فقير Allah sent him a wife Allah sent him a job Allah sent him a confidant and a friend and thereafter Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him prophethood my brothers and sisters what beautiful lessons we've just learned from this dua of Musa Aleyhi salam I'm looking forward to seeing you again with the next episode where we will be looking at more of these applications from revelation until then I'll say this wa sallallahu wa sallam wa ba'arak a'ala nabina Muhammad wa sallamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa sallam