 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وصلاته السلام على سيد المرسلين سيدنا ونبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحمه وسلم يا ربنا لك الحمد كما ينبغي لجلال وجيك وعضي بسلطانك اللهم صندي وسلم وبارك على نور الموصوف بالتقدم والأولية نبينا ونبينا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته نحن now going to talk about the story of the القرنين and we know that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has mentioned this story and he did not give us a name of the القرنين and the reason as we mentioned last time that Allah سبحانه وتعالى wanted to make this story general because if he gives a name then it would be just for that person when he talked about the story of سيد مريم عليه السلام and سيدنا عيسا he mentioned a say the Maryam and he mentioned مريمو بنتا عمران he mentioned her he mentioned her father because this story is just about سيد مريم عليه السلام and no one else in this dunya will have the same thing that happened to سيد مريم whereas when he mentioned let's say for example the story of the people of the cave so he did not give the names for those young men who resorted to the cave just to seek shelter and to be away from to be away from the tyrant king so they fled away with their religion with their faith they didn't want to be under the oppression of that king because they knew that he will either kill them or he will force them to go back away from their religion so we don't have a name for this group and this group can be any person in this dunya who runs away to a land just to practice his religion without any fear here Allah سبحانه وتعالى does the same thing and we are on ayah 83 now when the people of Quraish ask سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم about the story what is tell us about the story of در قرنين who is this person so they wanted to know if سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم is a real messenger or if he is just claiming to be a messenger so سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم asked Allah سبحانه وتعالى for the story because he doesn't know it and when someone does not know anything he should not just try to say any words just to give an answer no ask فسألوا أهل الذكر إن كنتم لا تعلمون ask the people who know if you do not know the answer for a question that you were asked do not say anything just because you want to say something let people have the idea that you do not know instead of saying something that is a lie or that is not right so what was the answer of Allah سبحانه وتعالى قل سأتسلوا عليكم منه ذكراء I shall recite to you something that is mentioned in the Quran ذكراء is a story that is mentioned in the Quran so what is this story who is ذو القرنين الله سبحانه وتعالى is saying إن مكاننا له في الأرض وآتيناه من كل شيء سبب therely we established him in the earth and we gave him the means of everything مكاننا means that الله سبحانه وتعالى has given him the ability to do everything and he has given him the means that will help him do everything so this was what مكاننا means so what happened is that الله سبحانه وتعالى الله سبحانه وتعالى has given ذو القرنين everything that he needs وآتيناه من كل شيء سبب سبب so Allah gave him the knowledge of things around him الله سبحانه وتعالى mentioned the word مكاننا in another Surah when he talked about Sayyidina Yusuf when he said إن مكاننا له في الأرض وآتيناه من كل شيء and thus we established Joseph in the land to settle therein wherever he will so he gave him the power he gave him the ability he gave him the knowledge that he will be using when he is anywhere he want to go anywhere he wanted to settle in so سبب is the what you what would lead you to get to your goal this is the سبب and here when we hear this آية إن مكاننا له في الأرض وآتيناه من كل شيء so he had dominion over the east and the west في الأرض in the earth all over wherever anytime anywhere so he had dominion over the east and the west on everything and Allah سبحانه وتعالى everything gave him everything everything was submitted to him فأتبع سبب so what happened he followed the way he traveled around the earth so he did not just leave the reasons and go to his goal no he used all the reasons that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given him حتى إذا بلغ مغرب الشمس وجدها تغرب في عين الحميأ so what happened here Allah سبحانه وتعالى until he walked until he reached the setting place of the sun so when you reach the setting place then it means that you are coming from the east so when we let's say for example we are here in in a city in any city I'm not going to name cities but when we are in a city and we look at the horizon we see that the sun is setting but does this mean that the sun خلص went away no it's rotating to another place where it is shining where it is sunlight for other people so how can we understand this if the sun is setting on people at different times then there are people now are praying sunsets صلاة المغرب and the sun is setting is rising to the other people who it went to then those people are praying Fajr and in between these two places there are people praying ظهر عصر عشاء and so on so what happens is that at the same time there are people doing all types of prayers at the same minute some people are praying Fajr some people are praying عشاء some people are praying ظهر some people are praying مارب so at the same time and this happens every single minute so what does this mean يا زمن وفيك كل الزمن so we are talking about time when all people are doing different prayers and that's why that people are always remembering الله سبحانه وتعالى people are always performing Salah people are always doing Adhan and the remembrance of الله سبحانه وتعالى is there all the time حتى إذا بلغا مغرب الشمسي now he reached the place where the sun sets so he can see the sun sets the sun sets so he took a route and followed it until he reached the furthest point that could be reached in the direction of the sun's setting and which is the west of the earth so what happened what did he find there وجدها تغرب في عين الحبيئة so he found there's no more land so he saw that the sun as if is setting in the sea into the sea it's diving into the sea and he saw that as if the sun was setting into the ocean but we know that the sun never sets into the ocean the sun never leaves its path so what happened over there at that place وجدها عندها قوما so there he found at near there he found a group of people he found a nation so what did Allah سبحانه وتعالى tell the القرنين قلنا ياذ القرنين إما أنت عزبة وإما أنت تخذ فيهم حسنة ياذ القرنين either you punish them or you treat them with kindness so Allah سبحانه وتعالى gave the القرنين the power over those people and he gave him the choice إما أنت عزبة you can punish them you can kill them you can do whatever you want أو تتخذ فيهم حسنة or you can do something good for them this is something that we need to keep in mind when you have the power over some people you can either be a oppressor or you can be a kind person even if they are bad and even if you have the ability to punish them just wait just look at what what the القرنين said قال أما من ظلمة فسوف نعذبه ثم يرد إلى ربه فيعذبه عذاب النكر so he divided those people into two groups as for him who does wrong we shall punish him فسوفة and in the Arabic language the word سوفة means that I will do the work I want to do but in the future not immediately so what does this what does this mean that ذو القرنين ذو القرنين was very just person so his faith and justice became apparent when he replied this to الله سبحانه وتعالى قال أما من ظلمة فسوف نعذبه we will punish him but later why? because سوفة means he is going to give him a chance because that person when he listens to what he is going to say to what ذو القرنين is going to say and what ذو القرنين is going to say is that he wants to just tell them he wants to advise them he wants to tell them the truth he wants to tell them about the day after he wants just for them to be guided he wants them to know what are they required to do in this dunya so he gives them a chance to understand and to go back away from their transaggression to repent so we have to be like that give people chances give people chances they might regret they might come back to you they might say oh we did something bad and we are sorry that we have done this bad thing so they will ask for your forgiveness and the more good manners you have towards people the better that the better way they will treat you because they will realize how you did not treat them the same way that they did to you and this is not easy when سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم told سيدنا أبا هريرة he told him يا أبا هريرة عليك بحصني الخلق you have to have good manners and one of the ways that one of the good manners that he explained to him was to forgive those who oppressed you give a chance to others because people are born on fitra on what is good so if you show them good they cannot show you bad so we shall give a chance to people but those who insisted on their position those who insisted on their transagression then we shall punish that person and then he will be brought back into his lord who will punish him with a terrible torment the word is so vast has so many ways of being a volume there are so many ways to be a volume and oppressor so the worst ظلم the worst oppressing is to oppress your own self and someone oppresses his own self when he associates another god so for and then another way is to oppress people another way is to oppress the those who are weak and you normally do not oppress those who are more powerful than you you cannot it's the same as the animal kingdom the stronger will eat the weaker but what does he go on and say اماما اماما but as for him who believes and follow us in worshipping الله سبحانه وتعالى فله جزاءني الحسنة he shall have the best reward he will have the reward in dunya and then الله سبحانه وتعالى will highly reward him in the day after so why do we have this type of justice imagine that there are people who do not believe in the day after and who do not believe in punishment after death so no matter how much you talk to them about it they will not believe and there is nothing to prevent them to do any bad thing any harm to others because they don't believe in punishment after death they don't believe in life after death so they would do all the bad things they think of in this dunya but if we do not have a justice system then what will happen to our society it will be filled up with chaos because those who do not believe in the Akhira there is nothing to prevent them from doing any bad thing if they do not believe in punishment at least in this dunya he knows that if he kills someone he will go to jail he will be killed then that will prevent him at least from killing so there will be restrictions there will be a the highest prevention here so this is why there is punishment in dunya and then the biggest punishment in the Akhira the same way reward in dunya then the highest the highest most amazing reward in the Akhira and those non-believers will not understand this until they die because when they die they will know where their final destination will be they will realize that how bad thing they did to themselves when they transgressed the rules of Allah at that time they would realize that they are losers but those who were good فله جزاءني الحسنة وسنقول له من أمرنا يسرع so for those good people they shall speak to them words of kindness if your child does something good you just encourage him to do more you just say bravo that's good my good boy look at you this is something good you did so you say good words the more good words you say to your child the better actions he will do the better good deeds he will do it will encourage him to do more when students graduate from school they have a party for them they have them wear the gown and they have them wear and then they will throw their hats up and that's a kind of encouragement everyone will congratulate them وسنقول له من أمرنا يسرع words of kindness would open hearts and it is said that one of the things that you will not feel sorry if you do not say is it a bad word and what you can what you can say the words of kindness they will be they will be directed directly to the heart words of goodness words of kindness and سيدنا محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم said the good word is a charity so now this was the first group that ذو القرنين ثم اتبع سببا then he followed another way حتى إذا بلغ مطلع الشمسي now until he he came to the rising place of the sun so what happened وجدها تطلع على قوم لم نجعل لهم من جونها سترا he found the sun rising on people on a nation for whom الله سبحانه وتعالى had provided no shelter against the sun so سترا means a barrier a shelter so what can we understand here so many options that those people do not wear any clothes so there is nothing that would prevent the sun rays from getting directly into them or there are people who do not have any houses to prevent them or any buildings or trees to shelter them from the heat of the sun and the Arabic word for this type of people is ضاحون so they don't have anything to prevent them from the heat of the sun or even from the cold he might have met people whom the sun would rise for a long time so the day is so long we don't know what ذرقرنين did here Allah did not mention anything Allah said that this is what he found so someone can imagine that being a good person ذرقرنين he might have helped those people كذلك وقد أحقنا بما لديه خبران so it was and we know all about him this means that الله سبحانه وتعالى knew everything about him he knew everything about his army about ذرقرنين about everything that he does so nothing was hidden from Allah سبحانه وتعالى لا يخفى عليه شيء في الأرض ولا في السماء truly nothing is hidden from Allah لا يخفى عليه شيء فهو يخفى الله حتى when they are alone الله is with them and that will make them know the right way that will make them differentiate between what can I do and what can I do and what can I do and what can I do and what can I do and what can I do and what can I do what can I not do even if there is no one watching them they will have the sense their inner inner sight will be awakened because they know that Allah is over watching them they know that whatever they say Allah knows they know that whatever they do Allah knows they know that whatever they look at Allah knows they know that wherever they go Allah knows كذلك وقد حطما بما لديه خبره so Allah knows everything about everybody and on the day of judgment He's gonna pass the the records on to people and people will be so surprised how the records have every single thing they have done they have thought of they have imagined they have everything everything ويقولون ما لهذا الكتاب لا يغادر صغيرة ولا كبيرة إلا أحصاها how come that this book does not leave anything small or big unless it is recorded ثم اتبع سبب then ذو القرنين followed another way حتى إذا فلغ بين السديني وجد من دونه ما قوما لا يكادون يفقهون قولة so he traveled from the east of the earth until he reached a place where between the two mountains so this was these two mountains were next to each other and there is a valley in between so there is a hole in between the two mountains the word said is a barrier you put a said between two things this said this barrier might be natural like a mountain or it might be a human made like a dam for example so بين السديني بين these two mountains there was a big hole there was a valley that this place something bad was there what happened وجد من دونه ما قوما so there در قرنين found people found a nation there and لا يكادون يفقهون قولة those people they could not understand a word they could not speak a word there was there was no hope to teach them to speak a word but there was a conversation between در قرنين and these people so how how can someone understand a person who cannot speak so this is the way that people use to understand a person who cannot speak the people and it is the the sign they understand them by sign now we call it sign language but there at that time they would understand them by the signs they would make and by just you look at a person if he is angry he will put his hands on his tummy and he will he will he will mention he will point to his mouth that he wants to eat you will understand so در قرنين understood the conversation of those people just by sign the sign that refers to something said so what did they say to him and in the same way he answered them and he talked to them in the same way that they were talking by signs قالوا يا در قرنين now they were thinking his help they were presenting their problem and they want him to help إنّا يأجون جموف سدون في الأرض they said oh در قرنين verily God and Magog they are doing great mischief in the land the very bad people they harm us they kill us they do so many things so many bad things to us فهل نجعل لك خرجن على أن تجعل بيننا وبينهم سدة shall we pay you a big amount of money shall we give you a big reward so that you create a barrier between us and them between God and Magog so why they are those are bad people those are so they were hitting them they were giving them hard times they were doing bad things for them so what was his answer قال ماما كني فيه ربي خير he said that الله has given me a lot الله has given me a lot I'm so powerful I'm so rich so that which my Lord has established me is better than your tribute the power and the authority that Allah has given me is better than what you are going to give me I'm not going to take any money but فأعينوني بقوة assist me in strength you are a lot of people then I want you to help me physically أجعل بينكم وبينهم ردمة I will make a fill between you and them they wanted a barrier but he is going to do something better I am going to fill out this space between both of them فأعينوني أعينوني assist me so help whenever you can help someone who needs your help and the best help you can provide is to do it before someone asks you so if you know that someone is in need of something do it before he asks you it's not easy for someone to ask for help so if you do it if you do the help before he asks you it will be soothing to the heart that he was not put in that humiliating asking position so help people and you can help people in so many different ways you can help by donating money you can help emotionally you can help by just listening to someone sometimes people need to talk and they want someone who is truthful to listen to them and to advise them there are people who would seek the advice for the sake of Allah and this is the biggest help you can give them you can help people by teaching them something if someone comes to you and he said I need I need you to help me you can do two things you can give him money or you can teach him something that will generate money for him always you can teach him how to fish and he can go fishing so instead of giving him one time you gave him always so different ways of helping people and here it indicates that this strong person the powerful person the person of authority is helping weak people and the way he did it he did it free of charge for the sake of Allah completely for the sake of Allah when you help people if you are not in need do not take anything in return remember that your reward will be saved for you till the day of judgment and you will get it so much so many times so he told them I am not going to make a dam I am going to fill up this hole that is causing you this problem so the redam is to put something and then to put something over it and over it and over it until it becomes on the level of the of the ground but what he did is that he made it higher to the point that no one can climb so help me with strength and good work so what did he say get me pieces of big iron big pieces of iron what he will do is that he is going to heat this iron so much until it is until it reaches the melting point when it reaches the melting point he will add to it melted copper so the melted copper is going to fill all the holes in between حتى إذا ساوى بين الصدفين so when the two sides when the two mountains now are equal equally filled blow so he lit the fire until the whole thing was burning hot now the iron is melting get me the melted copper so I can put it over it so we have the melted iron the melted copper on top and it was high enough that no one can climb over it and there was two reasons that no one can climb over it the first one it was high enough the second one is it was so smooth and slippery no one can climb it so God and the God were unable to pass over it they were not able to climb to climb it nor they were able to penetrate it to dig a hole through it they could not climb it as I said it was so slippery so what happened that was how ذو القرنين helped this group of people now there are so many so many narrations that سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم talked about this barrier that ذو القرنين has made so سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم says إله إلا الله وينولي العرب من شرق قد اقترب فتح اليوم من ردم يأجوج ومأجوج مثل هذا وينولي العرب from the evil that has approached them today a hole has been opened in the barrier of يأجوج like this and he made a circle with his index finger and thumb so imagine the circle how small this circle would be so say سيد زيناب رضي الله عنها asked سيد محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم oh يا رسول الله will we be destroyed up on though there will be righteous people among us he said yes if evil increases and the war نعم إذا كثور الخبث so the word in evil is the bad deeds of people with all its times so in another حديث يأجوج ومأجوج used to dig a hole they wanted to penetrate this barrier so what happened is that they would dig a hole so they would work from morning till sunset and when they are they would dig and dig and dig and the minute they are about to have the hole they would say go back you will make the hole tomorrow then الله سبحانه وتعالى would put it back stronger and way harder than it was the day before so when they they will do the same until الله سبحانه وتعالى would get them closer to when they they will be out of that that day they will say you will make the hole tomorrow and when they say tomorrow they followed it by إن شاء الله and on that day they would be able to break that that barrier and they will get out to people so الله سبحانه وتعالى prevented them from working day and night and day and night they would stop الله سبحانه وتعالى did not allow them or did not inspire them just to go over it by some type of machine or anything or a ladder or something so that was not an option for them and الله سبحانه وتعالى stopped them from saying إن شاء الله until it is the time when الله wants them to get out so what happened now someone might ask what is the difference between اصطاعه اصطاعه اصطاعه وما استطاعه له نقبة the word اصطاعه if you look at the word there is an extra letter to the word so the first one is the original word and it means اصطاعه means they know they cannot climb it and they did not even try but the second one استطاعه they know that they can make a hole but they tried their best but they could not get this hole done so استطاعه means they tried and they did not succeed استطاعه they did not even try استطاعه and this is the same as what happened with سيدنا الخدر and سيدنا موسى عليه السلام when he said وكيف تصبر تصبر ذلك تقويل مالم تصطيع عليه صدر تقويل مالم تستطيع عليه مالم تستطيع عليه صبر the same thing one you tried and you could not succeed and the second one is you did not even try so this is what Allah سبحانه وتعالى here saying فما استطاعوا ان يظهرونه وما استطاعوا له نقبه so what did ذو القرنين say وقال هذا رحمة من ربي وقال هذا رحمة من ربي so what he did here is that he returned he returned he said this is a mercy from my lord so he placed the barrier between the people and God and Magog to stop them from spreading their evil so he did something good but he said هذا رحمة من ربي he made this good thing that he did that Allah has made that that's not him who made it Allah سبحانه وتعالى has allowed him has made him successful in doing this so do not ever say I did this no when you have something good just return it to Allah سبحانه وتعالى say Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given me the ability to do this good thing say I did it because I know how to do it no you don't thank Allah سبحانه وتعالى for all the blessings you have and all the blessings he gave you because you are able to do it I made you able to do it thank him so I think we we have to stop here now Insha'Allah we'll go on next time it will be the 10th session of the Seer of Surat Al-Kahf and it will be the last one Insha'Allah وصلى الله عليه وسيدينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم سبحان ربك رب العزة عما يصيفون وسلام على المرسلين والحمد لله رب العالمين السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته