 السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته اسم الله الرحمن الرحيم in the name of Allah سبحانه وتعالى most gracious most merciful الحمد لله all praise is indeed due to Allah سبحانه وتعالى والصلاة هو السلام على رسول الله وعلى آله وصحابه اجمعين بلسين and salutations upon Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم his household his companions may Allah سبحانه وتعالى bless every single one of us and grant us goodness in this world as well as the next my beloved brothers and sisters in Islam سورة الشورة we spoke about yesterday we're going to continue in sha Allah it is sure number 42 of the Quran and Allah سبحانه وتعالى in it makes mention of how the provision of this particular world is very little compared to that which Allah سبحانه وتعالى has in store for the believers after death and this is why we need to save ourselves from the loss of the hereafter by preparing while in this world for that particular journey may Allah سبحانه وتعالى make it easy for every one of us and Allah سبحانه وتعالى speaks about those who believe and they lay their trust in Allah سبحانه وتعالى they are the ones who will find that that which Allah has in store for them is everlasting in comparison to that which is in this world which is very little and very short lived so Allah says in verse number 36 everything that you have been given on earth here is only but provision of this particular world it is not valid for the hereafter you cannot use it anywhere else besides on earth the clothing you have now it's for this earth whatever you have in terms of monetary items will only be usable while you're on earth the minute you leave the earth everything you had in terms of materialistic things becomes unusable it's no longer valid for the Akhira if you've ever thought of it what do you have you have your clothing say the cotton it's from the ground it's from the earth right say you have leather leather is from the cow for example is from the earth say you have metal and steel where is it from the earth everything is taken from the globe for you oh man it was placed on the globe in order to be used on the globe when you leave you have to leave it all behind it stops expired gone after that Allah says that which is with Allah is better it is better and it is everlasting for those who believe and lay their full trust in Allah I've laid my trust in Allah we've all laid our trust in Allah we know that when we die we will definitely go to a better place it cannot be a worse place than this dunya we have suffered enough we have struggled enough we have been through difficulties hardship we've worked day in day out in order to earn in order to survive in order to have a plate of food Allah سبحانه وتعالى will not let that happen to the believers in the hereafter Allah سبحانه وتعالى says if you believe and you lay your full trust in Allah you will be convinced that definitely what is with Allah is everlasting and this is why the next few verses Allah speaks of the qualities of those who truly believe and who lay their trust in Allah you see when you and I lay our trust in Allah سبحانه وتعالى we add into the entire equation of life something known as preparation for the hereafter by pleasing Allah so when I have a problem with someone there are three elements myself the person I have a problem with and Allah sometimes I may forgive them for the sake of Allah even though I have a problem because I want to please Allah because I want to prepare for the hereafter this is what I mean you add Allah into the equation because you're a believer those who don't believe they don't add Allah سبحانه وتعالى into the equation so Allah says the first qualities those who keep away from major sin they have laid their full trust in Allah they are the true beliefs in Allah they keep away from major sin and immorality immorality is not just adultery and fornication and pornography etc it includes foul language foul speech immoral dress is all included in فاحشة it's included in the term immoral so those who abstain from immorality they are the ones who have pleased their maker they are the ones who have saved themselves from the torment of this world as well as the next and Allah continues to say an amazing quality those whom when they become angry they quickly forgive some people it takes them very long to become angry when they become angry they very quickly return back to normal those are the best of people the best it doesn't take you meaning it takes you a very long time to become upset and when you become upset within a split second you're laughing again you're smiling and you're back to normal may Allah make us from those those are the best of people you have to work very hard to get to that you have to force yourself to protect yourself from anger anger is something that the Prophet ﷺ has warned one day a young man came to Rasool Allah ﷺ and says imagine you're meeting the messenger peace be upon him the greatest of creation and you're asking him please give me advice you know you would expect him to sit you down and to give you a nice long lecture perhaps you know in our case if there was a sheikh or someone you'd sit with your notepad and write a few notes he just said لا تغضب done don't get angry the man looked he says give me more advice he says don't get angry second time the man looked and says give me more advice he says don't get angry سبحان الله he kept repeating it so it was needed for him and a lesson for us to say don't get angry is a whole lecture it is an entire lecture it is so important if I were to get up and say don't get angry and walk away I think you would get angry may Allah ﷻ protect us but the point being raised is it is so important it means there is an effort required to protect yourself from anger save yourself from the disaster of your own anger because I promise you anger and temper is something that can really cause major disasters in your life be careful calm down calm down relax say أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم I seek Allah's protection from shaitan the accursed if you're standing sit down if you're sitting lie down perhaps have a sip of water سبحان الله you may want to hold some of that water in your mouth so that you don't utter any utterances while you're angry because when you're angry and you open your mouth you have to regret what you say may Allah ﷻ protect us so this is why Allah says thereafter والذين إذا الله says والذين يجتنبون كبائر الإثم والفواحش وإذا ما غضبوهم يغفرون والذين استجابوا لربهم وأقاموا الصلاة those who answered the call of Allah and they established their صلاة if you establish your صلاة generally you would become more conscious of your relationship with Allah and you would realize that it is Allah ﷻ سبحانه وتعالى whom you need to please because you are going to go back to him a few days ago someone asked me about how to respond to a person who's atheistic a person who doesn't believe perhaps at all and they say how do you know you are correct as a Muslim how do you know that what you're doing is right very simple I can quickly tell you I worship whoever made me I came from somewhere whoever it was I call him Allah he is Allah my God he is the one who has created me I put my head on the ground for him and I say oh you who made me you are the greatest you are the highest he is in control of every aspect of my existence I call him رب رب actually means the creator نرشة شرشة سستانة you need to memorize this because that is who رب is so if I say glory be to my rub it means whoever made me glory be to you whoever is in control of every aspect of my existence glory be to you what is wrong with that statement and I worship the one whom I'm going to return to when I die so when my eyes close wherever I'm going to go back I know it's the one who made me in the first place I put my head on the ground and I say oh you whom I'm going to return to when I return to you have mercy on me what risk have I taken zero there is no risk factor I haven't taken any risk whatsoever because I have worshiped whoever made me and whoever I'm going to return to however the person who perhaps doesn't believe at all they believe that you're on earth you enjoy and you're going to die and it's over now let's study probabilities for a minute so if I were to worship Allah for argument's sake if there was nothing on the other side what have I lost nothing why because if there was nothing on the other side I'm still going to get to the other side with nothing there's going to be nothing we don't believe that but I'm just saying it for argument's sake and if a person does not worship Allah and there is on the other side what we're saying you stand to lose subhanallah so if you are to worship you'll never lose subhanah ربي العالا we worship with conviction not probabilities we worship with conviction but we are just answering with the probability to say look we are more right than you are because according to you you are taking a huge risk you don't even know what's there to come and according to you even if I keep on worshiping I'm going to end up where you will end up that's what you believe but I believe if you don't worship you're not going to end up where I end up may Allah subhanahu و تعالى grant us understanding I hope you've got the gist of what I've said it's actually a very powerful point if you understand it may Allah subhanahu و تعالى bless us then Allah subhanahu و تعالى continues to say و أمرهم شورا بينهم those who believe in Allah and who lay their trust in Allah whenever there is an important matter that needs to be decided in their lives they consult they consult they consult those who are near them those who are genuine those who are sincere we touched on it yesterday and I've just mentioned it today and then verse number 40 Allah subhanahu و تعالى explains to us that you know what those who bad is done against them they have the right to defend themselves if someone does bad you have the right to defend yourself someone attacks you you have the right to defend yourself but Allah subhanahu و تعالى says if someone does evil to you the recompense of evil is evil but whoever forgives and makes amends their reward is with Allah it's not easy to forgive in the same way we transgress against Allah we want him to forgive us well when others hurt you harm you transgress against you have a big heart forgive them for the sake of Allah I promise you you will save yourself from adverse health conditions many people hold burdens and this burden weighs them down completely because they do not find it within them to forgive someone you may not forget but you can forgive you can't say do you know what it's okay I forgive this person I don't want to deal with them too much but I forgive them that's not wrong but if you were to embrace thereafter and there is amends on both sides then it becomes easier to make amends you see if there is forgiveness on one side and not on the other it's good for the person who's forgiven but it may not make it easy for you to interact with the person thereafter because they don't want to forgive you for example or they don't think they were wrong sometimes but if there is forgiveness on both sides it becomes easier for you to embrace brothers and sisters learn to admit your fault learn to admit it learn to search how you might have been wrong that's a very good quality actually when you look within you perhaps I did something wrong perhaps I am the one who caused this maybe look into yourself yes you may be right but there's no harm in looking into yourself to ensure that you were not the one who was wrong may Allah SWT help us and guide us and wherever we have been blatantly and openly wrong may we be strong enough to admit and to apologize you know to seek an apology is actually not genuine if I say I expect an apology from you you might say I'm sorry without meaning it because I've demanded it from you but without demanding if it were to come listen brother I'm very sorry it is genuine and sincere may Allah SWT help us to apologize before it is demanded of us so Allah SWT mentions the importance of forgiving and how He loves it when we forgive each other I think it's an important quality to look into month of Ramadan Insha'Allah let's make amends I'm sure a lot of us have issues with people around us sometimes family members I think these are the last 10 nights and it wouldn't be a wrong call to actually call on myself and yourselves to try and make amends as best as possible Insha'Allah to resolve matters in these beautiful days of Ramadan let's move on to Surah al-Zukhruf which is Surah number 43 of the Quran in it I touched on a few verses yesterday but I'm going to speak about jealousy when Allah has blessed one person sometimes others are not happy at that blessing they become sad a Muslim is he or she who becomes happy at the happiness or profit or gain of the other and is sad when someone loses but sadly Shaytan comes to us and makes us become happy when someone loses and we say yes it's good they deserved it be careful of those statements they are not healthy at all when you see someone achieving they came first they were tops they came out right at the top they earned they made profit they were elected they were perhaps appointed they had something going on for them which was really good they married someone perhaps you might have thought you may wanted to have married good luck to them سبحان الله سبحان الله be happy for them الحمد لله may Allah grant them success and may Allah open their doors when you make dua for the success of another the angels are making the same dua for you remember that so you say oh Allah grant him a thousand the angels are saying oh Allah grant him a thousand too الله أكبر let's make dua for each other that we become multi millionaires what do you say I mean in the dunya and the Akhirah may Allah help us and guide us I don't know why when it comes to the du'as we always talk about money الله أكبر may Allah forgive us والله forgiveness is more important than the amassing of wealth the forgiveness from Allah is more important than the amassing of wealth and this is why الله سبحانه وتعالى says ورحمة ربك خير من ما يجمعون straight to the point the mercy of your Lord is better than whatever they amass may Allah have mercy on us I mean so at the time of رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم you know that Allah chose Allah chose an orphan child to be the best of creation the most noble of all prophets and this is a consolation to all those who are orphan سبحان الله to say the most beloved to Allah wasn't often as well the one whom Allah chose to be the best of creation the most noble of all prophets خاتم النبيين the one whom to mention his name would be insulting without saying صلى الله عليه وسلم he was an orphan سبحان الله Allah chose him that's a consolation those children who are orphaned we are meant to be treating them differently with utmost respect differently as in far better than the ordinary child same applies to widows may Allah make us from those who can reach out genuinely to those in need I mean so when Allah appointed Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم as the messenger some people became jealous who was jealous the rich the powerful the authority those whom everyone looked up to they became very upset because they would have expected one of them to become a leader to become a prophet why is this man who was brought up not even by his own father chosen by Allah my brothers and sisters Allah chooses whom he wants Allah gives whom he wants what he wants you have to thank Allah for what he has bestowed upon you thank Allah for what he has given others and do not be jealous for jealousy will eat your good deeds in the same way that a flame would eat a dry log according to the hadith إن الحسنة يأكلوا الحسنات كما تأكلوا النار الحطب we need to be careful that our deeds are not wasted save your deeds because when you have jealousy you have enmity you have hatred it develops into a war between you and someone you come into the masjid you hate this one you dislike that one you are jealous of this one you see someone with a new car you see someone with a new house you start thinking this person is a robber this person is a thief this one dealt with in drugs and this one made his money through interest etc why are you concerned about the lives of others worry about yourself did they pinch from you no well then forget about everything carry on with your own life a lot of the people who point don't realize that three fingers are pointing back at them they are sometimes in hotter soup than the people they are talking about and they don't realize may Allah SWT forgive us so this is why they raised an issue regarding محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم what did they say Allah says in Surah 43 which is Surah al-Zukhruf verse number 31 the kufar of Quraish they said why didn't Allah reveal this Quran to a great man from one of these big cities which were the big cities at the time the two major cities Makkah and Taif Makkah and Taif those were the two big cities so when Allah says قريتين he is talking of Makkah and Taif why did Allah not select a powerful man who was known for his wealth and his power and his authority and whatever else why did Allah choose this man do you know what answer Allah gave them in the Quran and this answer is beautiful because we will save ourselves when we hear what Allah says to them Allah says are they the ones who distribute the mercy of Allah are they the ones who decide what Allah should do and should not do who are they Subhan Allah Allah says we are the soul ones who have decided how to distribute their livelihood amongst them we are the ones and we raised some of them above others levels Allah raised sometimes you have a person who is very poor and with a very poor upbringing suddenly at the age of 20-25 they strike gold and they become so wealthy that you can't even believe some people become jealous what's the statement of a jealous person I'm sure they're pushing drugs I'm sure you've heard that right well I hope it's not true but by the way may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala grant us ease we need to have the best thought Mashallah this person's done well Alhamdulillah they are charitable they are giving Subhan Allah who are we what are we doing why become jealous protect yourselves have a good heart think good about people think sweet things think beautiful things think that which is divinely inspired don't think things which are from the devil may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala help us it's quite easy to ask yourself what I'm thinking about is it divinely inspired is it heavenly do I think Muhammad SAW would have thought this way if the answer is no throw it out throw it out replace it with that which you would believe Muhammad SAW would have thought and done and said may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make our lives easy may He make us an asset to our families our communities and to the ummah at large so Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says ليتخذ بعضهم بعضا سخرية the test is that some of them may mock at others because they are higher and lower that is all part of the test so you have the people who are high they laugh at the people who are low why if they do that they fail the test Allah says we gave you to test you and we did not give you to test you we raised you to test you we dropped you to test you people are worried about reputation you know my reputation in society and community trust me if your reputation with Allah is intact forget about what society thinks of you what did they think of Muhammad SAW prior to his نبوة they said الصادق الأمين the trustworthy the truthful as soon as he came out with the truth they accused him of being a womanizer a person after money a person after authority they accused him of so many different things they said mad man magician نعود بالله may Allah save God us did that harm his reputation the whole community was calling him bad names did it harm his reputation no why because over time they realized he was innocent he was the man who came chosen from Allah SWT to deliver a beautiful message that has lasted and shall last right up to the end may Allah SWT bless us so those are some beautiful verses regarding jealousy and how we need to save ourselves then we have سورة الدخان in سورة الدخان the opening verses speak about ليلة القدر Allah calls it إن أنزلناه في ليلة مباركة in another place in the Quran سورة القدر Allah says إن أنزلناه في ليلة القدر ليلة القدر ليلة القدر is also called ليلة مباركة in the Quran the way to translate the Quran on the highest level is to find another verse in the Quran that explains one of the verses so in this verse you will find Allah explains ليلة القدر what is the meaning of قدر قدر is actually from تقدير تقدير means destiny so your destiny is written according to سورة الدخان and you can check it verse number 3 of the surah Allah says فيها يفرقوا كل أمر حكيم verse number 3 and 4 Allah says on the night of ليلة القدر the decree the details of the destiny for the entire year to come is written that's what Allah says in the Quran so it's amazing we say ليلة القدر and we only call it the night of power not realizing it is actually the night of decree and the night of power because قدر two things تقدير and قدر قدر also means the power of Allah الله على كل شيء قدير Allah is indeed upon all things able so the power of Allah together with the decree of Allah those two together give you ليلة القدر and that is why it is more powerful and more blessed than one thousand months which equivalence which is equal to 84 odd years powerful make dua ask Allah sustenance seek his forgiveness be on the right terms on the right page towards the end of Ramadan I promise you your entire year will be set by the will of Allah these 10 days concentrate work hard make an effort come to the masjid soften your heart seek the forgiveness of Allah ask him sustenance ask him good health ask him your children ask him the hereafter ask him about so many things in these 10 nights do not become lazy you will save yourself from a lot of calamity and disaster for the coming year because this is explained in the Quran may Allah bless us I thought I'd just take a moment in order to explain ليلة القدر it is the night of decree and the night of the power of Allah may Allah decree for us that which is absolutely beautiful for the coming year and years for our lives obviously one might say look the decree was written already before I was born yes but the details are given by Allah سبحانه وتعالى every year and here is the day and the night may Allah grant us ease please go back and look at it Surah number 44 of the Quran verse number 3 and 4 where Allah explains this night of power and the Mufassireen are unanimous that this is speaking about ليلة القدر may Allah bless every one of us then we move on to Surah there is mention made of how important our parents are I spoke about it the other day I'm not going to go into too much detail tonight but verse number 15 speaks about how Allah سبحانه وتعالى has encouraged us to be kind to our parents no matter what and Allah says your mother has carried you difficulty upon difficulty hardship upon hardship pain upon pain the heavier you became the more burdensome you were in her womb but the happier she became the less she could walk the happier she was that you were growing within her she became so سبحان الله she started carrying you such that she could not walk properly but she was happy that you grew and then you were born and 40 years later you disrespect her is that the recompense disobedience disrespect unkind سبحان الله more than disobedience it's unkindness you obey your parents on condition that they don't ask you to do something ridiculous or something that is in contrast with that which Allah has revealed but kindness whether they've asked you to do haram or halal you can respond in a kind manner you can be kind always so remember this and this is why Allah says the most blessed from amongst us are those whom when we get to the age of 80 sorry when we get to the age of 40 we make a dua to Allah حتى إذا بلغا أشده وبلغا أربعين سنة قال ربي أوزعني أن أشكر نعمتك the dua being made at the age of 40 oh my Rab grant me the ability to thank you for the gifts that you have bestowed upon me and my parents and grant me the ability to do good deeds that you will be pleased with and help me so that my offspring those to come after me can be pure and good Subhan Allah Allah says those are the ones whom we accept them into our mercy we forgive them we will grant them جنة because they've understood that we created them and to create them we chose parents for them we chose them when Allah chooses something it's a test for you that's what it is may Allah bless every one of us and this is why Subhan Allah we have two verses one where Allah is telling Muhammad to bear patience yet he was very patient because patience my brothers and sisters is a quality that we all need Allah says in verse number 35 of Surah which is Surah 46 of the Quran Allah says فصبر كما صبر أول العزم من الرسول bear patience just like the previous messengers you know the five of the strongest of the messengers they bore patience one of them was Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم do you want to know the other four إبراهيم عليه السلام موسى عليه السلام عيسى عليه السلام الله سبحانه وتعالى makes mention of them وإذ أخذنا من النبيين ميثاقهم ومنك ومن نوح وإبراهيم وموسى وعيسى بن مرلم الله speaks of the covenant taken the prophet Noah نوح عليه السلام the prophet Abraham the prophet Isa عليه السلام the prophet Musa عليه السلام these were the highest in rank سبحان الله and Allah says bear patience just like they were patient the lesson is for every one of us may Allah سبحانه وتعالى grant us patience I end with the verse of Surah Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that is the 47th Surah of the Quran where Allah says يا أيها الذين آمنوا إن تنصر الله ينصركم ويثبت قدامكم oh you who believe if you are to answer the call of Allah if you are to rush to where Allah has asked you to be Allah will help you Allah will assist you Allah will strengthen you on earth so you need to come towards Allah and Allah will come towards you even quicker than you حديث of the prophet says whoever walks towards Allah Allah rushes towards him سبحان الله whoever comes a foot towards Allah Allah comes whoever comes a hand span towards Allah Allah comes towards him a whole foot the question I have are we making an effort to get closer to Allah if we are trust me Allah will become even closer to us than we can imagine may Allah