 elders and elders, it is a great bounty and great ni'mat of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you know, each and every week that we come to his home to offer the prayer and congregation. It is something, you know, the speakers before me and something that has been mentioned again and again, but it's something we must not lose sight of, inshallah, especially given the circumstances in which we're emerging from. It is a great blessing and bounty from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he has allowed us to come back into his home. And it is not of our doing, it is the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So when we come to his home, especially on Friday, it's good to just reflect week over week, you know, what bounties, what blessings, what ni'mat Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has bestowed upon me and my families and our community as a whole. And we must make shukr and thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for this. Some of us here might have been present for the Eid prayer here. Sheikh Ali Atayah gave one of the hutbas for Eid prayer and he gave a very powerful hutba and something that stayed with me that I, inshallah, want to draw upon for today is, you know, the lens in which we are living today or the lens with which we are looking and perceiving this dunya. And from that perception, we're living our lives. An example that I want to draw on is, you know, everything, we look at everything with logic. We're looking at things, we're looking at the devastations in the world and we're asking why, you know? And then there's a common question, you know, for those that are in high school or college or at some point were, probably got this a lot. It's like, oh, you're Muslim, you know, how can your God do X, Y, and Z? How can your God do this? How can your God allow bad things to happen? If your God is al-Rahman al-Rahim, you know, merciful and all of that, then why is he allowing all these things to happen? These are the kinds of questions that I'm sure many of us have faced. And I think Iblis, you know, in his cleverness, he makes us think like this and he makes us have doubts in our heart. And, you know, while we're having those doubts, we don't think for a second that, you know, Masha'Allah, Nabi Karim s.a.w. was present on this earth, you know, you know, 1430 years ago, approximately. And that, and we think that, you know, we're so advanced in 2021 that no humans before us had logic or asked questions or were intelligent enough to think the things we do or to view the world in this lens of modernity that we do today, right? So Sheikh Ali Atayi, you know, he spoke a little bit about this and he asked us to, you know, to correct our ways, essentially, in that, and, you know, especially during Eid time, when we make the sacrifice and we talk about the story of Ibrahim s.a.w. and Ismail s.a.w. and how Allah s.w. commanded him to sacrifice his son through a dream. And, you know, the beauty of this story is when Ibrahim s.a.w. approaches Ismail s.a.w. a young boy, right? And he tells him that this is what I've seen in my vision from Allah s.w. And this is what he's commanding me. And Ismail s.a.w., you know, with no hesitation, says, if this is what Allah wills, I'm ready. And, you know, then we know how the story goes where, you know, Ismail s.a.w. is laying down and Ibrahim s.a.w. is carrying out what he has been told by Allah s.w. and then the knife or the blade dulls. And this was a test from Allah s.w. So when we present this story to, you know, in school and work and college, you know, people are like, wow, this seems so inhumane, you know, sacrificing your son. Wow, this is so, this is so that. But it's because our lens is not the lens that we should be using. If these are the kinds of thoughts we're having. Rather, it should be understanding Allah s.w. Rather, it should be understanding our maksad and our purpose in this dunya. And it is understanding, you know, a wise man that Shaykh Ali Attai mentioned, you know, a wise man once said, you know, would you rather have, you know, a handful of dirt or a handful of gold? And the analogy there was that we go after this dunya, which is essentially a handful of dirt because the acharat is the gold, right? But our lens is so dunya oriented that we're not able to see beyond that. So the question then becomes that, you know, if we're in this state that we have questions or we're surrounded or within an environment of quote unquote, intellectuals and we're constantly being challenged on our deen, on our iman. And this is something, you know how beautiful it is that Nabi Karim s.w. predicted this, right? He said, he mentioned to his sahaba, he said that there will come a time when holding on to your deen will be like, you know, holding on to like a camel or a horse and the rope is not done, is not tied and it's trying to hold on to that. Another narration was that it's like holding on to hot burning coal. That's how difficult it will be. A time will come to hold on to our deen, to hold on to our iman. And we're in those times today. So where can we start? You know, a popular theme in media these days are origin stories. In fact, origin stories are so popular in comic books and TV shows and movies that they're doing origin stories of origin stories of the origin story, right? It's just like a never ending system. And so we must ask ourselves that what is our origin story? Maybe that will help us understand Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Maybe that will help us understand La ilaha illallah, Muhammadur Rasulullah. Maybe that will help us understand where we came from in our beginning to understand our destination, our akhirat. And so, you know, one of the things that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told us and the one thing we have to hold on to in this time is the Quran Karim, right? This is the one book, this is the miracle that is available, you know, in every Masjid, in every home, inshallah, that we can open it and our questions will be answered. We can open it and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is there for us. He is speaking to us, he is talking to us. And just as we are so diligent, right? And this is gonna come later in the talk, inshallah. We're so diligent in this dunya, right? Creating our security financially, socially, with our jobs, with our careers, et cetera. But are we attacking our akhirat with that same intensity, with that same desire, with that same sort of focus is the question? And if we're not, the best place to start is in the Quran. And where better to start in the Quran than the first verses that were revealed to Nabi Karim, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in Surah Alak, right? And just some backstory on this, Nabi Karim, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you know, in his late 30s, Aisha radiallahu an'a mentions through Imam Ahmad, Rahmatullah alayh, that the first signs, the beginnings of his, of the signs of him being a messenger, is that he started seeing these dreams. And by the midday, those dreams would become reality. Those visions would become real. That's, those were kind of the first signs. And then Nabi Karim, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, decided, started to seclude himself. He wanted to understand his purpose. And he was curious, so he isolated himself, right? And some scholars mentioned, this was during the months of Ramadan, that he would go to the cave of Hira and he would isolate himself. And he would just sit in his solitude and thinking and pondering over Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And again, this is Nabi Karim, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right? So if we just pause here for a moment and ask ourselves, you know, how much have we pondered over Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? You know, when we're, when we're Googling, when we're Wikipediaing, when we're CNN newsing, and we're, we're, we're hearing all these thoughts and these perspectives and these ideas. You know, how often do we just kind of, you know, hit pause, turn off all of our devices and just, just sit with ourselves and think about Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and ponder over Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. You know, if this question can help us understand what maybe we need to do as first steps, inshallah. But going on in the story, eventually Jibril alayhi sallam comes to Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right? And he, he is ordered to read. And Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, you know, I cannot read. And Jibril alayhi sallam asks him again and Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam keeps saying again. I don't read. I cannot read. So Jibril alayhi sallam embraces him and after this exchange three times, then the verses are come. Iqra' bismi rabbika l-ladi khalaq, khalaqa l-insana min alaq, iqra' warabbuka l-akram, alladi allama bil qalam, allama l-insana ma lam ya'lam. The first five verses are revealed, right? Read in the name of your Lord who has created, created man from a clinging or dangling substance. This is the second verse, right? Created from a clinging or dangling substance. And if we pause here for a moment and just, just we think of the magnificence of this deen, of this Quran and of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and of Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, right? 1400 plus years ago, the verse is created man from a clinging or dangling substance. And we can, you know, do our research, but it's incredible that that is so scientific and so specific in its definition. But, you know, Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not know how to read or write, yet this verse was a second verse revealed. And this is, again, from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so we know, and we read on that the verses came, Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you know, goes home and he's telling his wife, Khatija radhila wa anha. He's like, you know, he's like, he's like shaking, he's like shivering. He's like, wrap me up. And Khatija radhila wa anha, he tells her, he says, you know, I'm worried. I'm worried something bad is gonna happen. He's so scared. He's so in shock of what just happened. It is also mentioned that after this revelation, there was a break between the next revelation. And in this break, Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would be so anxious that he would sometimes walk all the way to the top of the mountains. And, you know, he would be like, I don't know what to do with myself. And that is when Jubilee Islam would come to him and keep reassuring him that you are the messenger of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. You are the messenger of Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so on. And so we know how the story goes, but what I want to address, inshallah, is some of the first verses and their meanings, inshallah. Iqra' wa rabbuka al-akram. Read, and your Lord is the most generous, alladhi' al-lamab al-qalam, who has taught by the pen, al-lamal insana ma'lam ya'lam. And he has taught man that which he did not know. So these verses are also very, very powerful. Who has taught by the pen? It is mentioned in the hadith that Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, created some things just, he said, let it be, and they came. One of these was the pen. And if we think about the function of a pen to write down knowledge, right? There's three different kinds of knowledge. One that is intellectual, one that is spoken, and one that is written down. What needs to happen with knowledge that is written down is that it needs to be either spoken or in our intellect before it is written down. This is what the Shuyukh mentioned to us, right? That the knowledge that is written down has to come from a source. But the knowledge that is not written, that is in our minds or spoken, doesn't necessarily need a source because that comes from Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this verse that's talking about knowledge that Allah has given us, right? The Shuyukh talk about many different manifestations of this knowledge, but they use a child as an example or an infant, right? A crying infant comes out of the womb. And the child is crying, it knows how to cry. It knows that by crying, my parents will attend to me. And it knows kind of innately and naturally that I need to go to my mother for food or for sustenance if I'm hungry. These are behaviors that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is knowledge that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us from birth. This is just one example of that. That these are things that a child or an infant does that comes from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. That is not something that we learn somehow. It is something that innately is there. This is from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is explaining to us. And the miraculousness of these first few verses, definitions aside, are that when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed these verses to Nabi Karim, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, his first response or the first thing he said was that I don't know how to read or write. And this is again addressed in the Quran. This is in Surah An-Kabud, verse 48. You did not use to recite any scripture before it, nor did you write it with your right hand. For those who don't believe would have been skeptical. So this is something Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is addressing, right? That he chose for Nabi Karim, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam to be the last and final messenger. And he chose this to be a miracle, a miraculous revelation, because Nabi Karim, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam did not know how to read or write, yet this entire Quran came during his lifetime. And so even those who are the staunchest disbelievers, they can't quite explain how the Quran came to be. They try to say, oh, so and so is flawed about Islam, so and so is flawed, this and that. But they have trouble understanding how the Quran came to be, given that Nabi Karim, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam couldn't read or write. So this is another miracle that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has shown us just in the first few verses. In other words, no one had heard Nabi Karim, Sallallahu alaihi wasallam recite or write any scripture with such eloquence before the Quran was revealed. And had there been something like that, there would have been some doubt in the truthfulness of the Quran. But Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has taken care of this entire nizam through his will and through his infinite understanding. When we, inshallah, in the second part of the khutbah, we'll talk about the next few verses of Surah Alak, inshallah. Wa s-saqfiruhu innahuhuhu al-ghafuhu al-raheem wa rabbul-raheem, Bismillah al-Rahman al-raheem. So if we continue on verse six and seven, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about man's rebellion. And this is, inshallah, the final point we'll make before we conclude. Verse six goes, qalla innal insana layatukha and verse seven goes, arra'ahu staghna. Indeed, man becomes rebellious when he considers himself without need. And this is very acutely capturing kind of the nizam of the ummah today, right? Whenever we feel like we have enough sustenance, whenever we feel secure, we turn away from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. We feel that we are sufficient in what we have and what we need. And we forget that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has created us, gives us life, provides us our needs, is teaching us, manages all of our affairs, right? Deserves to be worshiped. And he will, inshallah, our inevitable destination is in the khutbah, right? Where we have to come back to him and our book of deeds will be in front of him and that is how we will determine our reward or our punishment to hear after. So the one lesson we can take from here, inshallah, is no matter how successful we are, there are two things we must keep in mind. Number one, it is from Allah. There is nothing of our doing that doesn't come without the help of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, without the will of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, right? If we're successful in school, if we're successful in our careers, or if we're successful in any other avenue, just know that it is through the mercy of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. For very well, he could have made us someone else, right? Our parents, our race, even our names given, it is because Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala chose that for us. He could have easily made us one of the other seven billion plus people on this earth, but he chose us in this fashion so we must make shukr to him constantly. And never forget that anything we do, it is not our doing, it is Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala's doing. And then finally, verse number eight, Inna ila rabbika ruj'a, indeed to your Lord is the return. And this is, again, something that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is addressing very early on, right? He's saying that humans, the definition is one who forgets. So the assumption is that you will forget, you will be led astray, but you have to come back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is mentioned to Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that the son of Adam, all of the people after Adam alayhi sallam are sinners, but the best of sinners are the ones that come back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this is how we will stop here, inshallah. These were the first few verses of Surah Alak. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala give us the ability to practice what has been said. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to gain an understanding of him, of his Nabi Karim sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and allow us to gain a closeness to the Quran and allow us to spend time and devote time individually and collectively with our friends, with our families to understanding the words of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Ar-Rahmanir Rahim. Umma tibiyumma tiyabu bakr wa ashhadduhum fi amrillahi umar wa asdaquhum haiaan usmanu aqadahum ali ridwanu Allahi ta'ala alayhi majma'een wa sayyidah shaba'a bi ahl al-jannah wa l-hassan wa l-hussain wa fatima tusayyidah nisa'i ahl al-jannah wa hamzat wa asadu Allahi wa asadu Rasuli Allahum maqfir l-al-Abbas wa waladihi maqfir atan zahiratan wa ba'atina ta'la tughadi l-othemba Allaha Allaha fi ashaabi la tattakhiduhum gharadam bin ba'adi fa man a'habahum fa bi-hubbi a'habahum wa man abghadahum fa bi-bughdi a'bghadahum wa khairu al-umma tiqarni thumma al-lathina yaloonahum thumma al-lathina yaloonahum Inna Allahum ala'ikadahu yusalluna alal nabi Ya ayyuh al-lathina amanu sallu alayhi wa sallim utaslima Inna Allaha ya'munu bil-adni wa l-hassan wa ita'idil qurba wa yana'a anil fahshayi wal munkari wal baqi Ya'idukum la'allakum tathakkarun Uthkur Allaha yathkurkum Udo'uhu yastajiblakum Wa la dhikrullahi ta'ala akbar Wa Allah ya'lamu mad-dasna'oon Aqimus Salaam