 بحانه وتعالى في كتابه الكريم أعود بالله من الشيطان الرجيم إن الإنسان لا يطغى صدق الله العليش العظيم my dear brothers and sisters in different parts of the world السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته today I'm going to start this short e-sermon with a story from the Holy Quran when Prophet Musa peace be upon him went to Egypt and called the Pharaoh towards the truth and towards believing in one God the Pharaoh refused to accept Prophet Musa peace be upon him as the messenger of one God and he instead said that you are a magician and he called for a contest between the best magicians of Egypt and Prophet Musa peace be upon him you've all heard this story that on the day of the contest the magicians came forward and they set to Prophet Musa peace be upon him shall we cast the spell first or you will cast first assuming that Musa peace be upon him was also a magician so according to the Holy Quran Musa peace be upon him set to them you cast first and then they created an illusion they had ropes in their hands which they threw onto the ground and they appeared like living snakes at that moment Prophet Musa peace be upon him cast his staff onto the ground which turned into a living snake big snake and that snake ate up all those ropes that looked like living snakes and at that moment according to the Quran the magicians said when the magicians saw that miracle they realized that it was not magic it was a miracle and they said we believed in the Robb of Al Alameen the Lord of the Worlds the Lord of Musa and Haroon so they believed in Prophet Musa peace be upon him then and there and then the Pharaoh said something that is remarkable coming from a human being according to the Quran the Pharaoh said you believed in him before I give you the permission this is the word of a human being made of flesh and bones you believe in the God of Musa before I allow you to believe in other words how dare you before me saying that you believe in the God of Musa you shall not think you shall not believe in anyone you just want to believe in without my permission what does this saying of the Pharaoh tell us what does this express it contains sheer arrogance sheer arrogance and the Pharaoh also was someone who committed transgression in the words of the Quran according to the Quran الله سبحانه وتعالى said to Prophet Musa peace be upon him إذهب إلى فرعون إنه طغاب go to the Pharaoh indeed he has transgressed the Pharaoh was arrogant and he was a transgressor he was the epitome of arrogance and transgression in fact the arrogance and transgression go hand in hand but what is the root cause of arrogance and transgression in the light of the Quran this is the topic of this short E-Sermon on this Friday so what you are going to learn in the next 20 or so minutes is the following number one what is the term used in the Quran for transgression and I'll explain different types of transgression and we'll look at it in somewhat detail and in depth what does transgression actually mean and after that I will discuss what is the root cause of human arrogance and transgression in the light of the Quran and then in the final part of this short E-Sermon I will quickly discuss how we can learn to remove the traces of arrogance and transgression if we do have as believers how we can learn to remove those traces from our selves and our personalities إن شاء الله but before I proceed wherever you are from the bottom of your heart recite a beautiful salawat على محمد وآلي محمد اللهم صلي على محمد موالي وآلي محمد وعجل فرجهم في the beginning I recited a part of a verse from Surat Al-Alaq in which Allah سبحانه وتعالى says إن الإنسان لا يطغى indeed verily surely man transgresses the verb is يطغى another related verb is is a طغى which the Quran uses for the Pharaoh إنه طغى indeed he has transgressed and man transgresses there are different verbs appearing in the Holy Quran throughout different capacities of the Holy Quran that are related to transgression like طغى جطغى and they are all rooted in the root word طغية and the related noun is طغى جان and طغى جان means transgression and it is a very good English translation in fact transgression is taken from Latin and its root word actually means getting across moving across and moving across the border something like that so transgression is basically getting out of the control getting out of the limits getting out of control let me explain this with the help of an example when a river gets out of control gets out of its river banks its banks then that river has طغى جان so when a man gets out of limits the man has طغى جان the man commits transgression what did the Pharaoh do? he got out of limits out of limits a man made of flesh and bones and he says what أنا ربكم الأحلى I am your رب أعلى ربكم الأعلى I am your highest Lord your رب and then what else? he said what I am your إله ما علمت لكم من إلهين غيري he said to the Egyptians I do not find any God for you other than myself that is the peak of arrogance and transgression such a man has crossed all limits all limits now that was the extreme example extreme example when it comes to other human beings other than the Pharaoh throughout the history we have had different people who have been transgressors who did not say per se that I am God or I am رب أعلى and so on but they were طاقوت the Pharaoh was also a طاقوت now you see another word طاقوت is also a related word to the root word طغية related to طغيان طاقوت is a false God everyone who gets out of limits out of controls and controls and says that I am your leader I am your the guardian of your affairs that الله سبحانه وتعالى did not appoint is a طاقوت in theological terms طاقوت means false God usually every false God is called طاقوت but also those who take the place which الله سبحانه وتعالى has not given to them if someone says that I am a prophet that person is a طاقوت because God out of limits out of control if someone says that I am the Imam that person has got out of control out of limits out of حد in the books of exegesis we see what is transgression transgression is getting out of حد so the worst kind of transgression is that the Pharaoh did saying that I am God another kind of transgression is when someone refuses to believe in God refuses to believe that is also transgression how come by refusing to believe in God how come that is a transgression how come you get out of your limits out of control for that we would have to look at the root cause of transgression according to the Quran what is the root cause of transgression according to the Quran the root cause is إستغناء الله سبحانه وتعالى says in Sunnah in which the part of one verse of Surah Al-Alaq I recited in the beginning كلا إن الإنسان لا يطغى surely man transgresses why الرأه ستغنى that he sees himself as self-sufficient that is the root cause of all transgression and arrogance although in the books of exegesis it is written that transgression is rooted in arrogance and arrogance is one of the causes of transgression however if we pay a close look and attention we see that arrogance and transgression both go hand in hand and arrogance is also rooted in believing that one is self-sufficient has إستغناء الله سبحانه وتعالى clearly says in the Quran the man transgresses because he sees himself as self-sufficient what does self-sufficient mean إستغناء it is rooted in غنية غنى غنى is the name of الله سبحانه وتعالى إستغناء means not needing anyone when someone says that I do not believe in God and no one created me and the whole universe came into existence by itself and I am not dependent on a supreme power such a person also commits transgression that is another form of transgression تغيان another form of تغيان is when one crosses the limits of the شريعة that is related to the believers حدود الله the حدود of the شريعة when someone transgresses when someone crosses those limits commits sins then one also gets out of control, gets out of limits that is one kind of transgression but not as serious as refusing to believe in God or like the extreme example of the Pharaoh saying that I am the God or God or Allah so getting back to the root cause إستغناء we need to understand we need to understand what is إستغناء who has إستغناء man thinks that he has إستغناء he is self-sufficient the reality is that no one in the existence has إستغناء except الله سبحانه وتعالى the one who is a creature can never be self-sufficient therefore الله سبحانه وتعالى says in the holy book يا أيها الناس أنتم الفقراء إلى الله والله هو الواني الحميد oh mankind أيها الناس أنتم الفقراء إلى الله all of you are what فقراء إلى الله you are in constant need of الله سبحانه وتعالى all the time constantly you need الله سبحانه وتعالى والله هو الواني الحميد and it is الله سبحانه وتعالى alone who is اللغاني who is self-sufficient and ألحميد and most praiseworthy because he is اللغاني he gives everyone everything that everyone needs he does not need anything from anyone he has been there since ever and ever and ever no one brought him into existence he brought everything into existence so how can man say that I am self-sufficient هل أتا على الإنسان حين من الدهر لم يكن شيئا مذكورا الله سبحانه وتعالى says hasn't there been a time for a man when he was something not even a madakura not even worthy to be mentioned when someone is not even worthy to be mentioned it means that that thing did not exist was a معدوم was none existent and when he comes into existence then he says I am self-sufficient I do not need God all the qualities I have are my own my own knowledge my own power my own skills that is thinking that I am self-sufficient while الله سبحانه وتعالى says أنتم الفقراء إلى الله يا أيها الناس I'm gonna explain and elaborate this point a little bit further الله سبحانه وتعالى did not single out anyone in this verse usually in some of the verses like وَلَعَصْرِ إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُصْرِ الله سبحانه وتعالى says الإنسان mankind every man every human being is at loss and then puts an استثناء exception إلا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمُلُ الصَّوَالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوبِ الْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوبِ الصَّبرِ he put الله سبحانه وتعالى put an exception uses this كلما إلا إلا puts an exception استثناء everyone is at loss except those who believe and then good do the do good deeds and also are patient and so on but in this verse يَا يُهَنَّاسَ أنْتُمُ الْفَقَرَاءِ لَلَّهِ did not say إلا الَّذِينَ إلا no no one is self-sufficient there is no one who does not need الله سبحانه وتعالى constantly including the holy prophet including the 14 infallibles despite all their status despite all their knowledge despite all their power that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has given to them despite all that they are also among the الفقراء because they also constantly need الله سبحانه وتعالى every being needs الله سبحانه وتعالى to maintain and sustain its existence also the holy prophet peace be upon him therefore the infallibles the 14 infallibles used to say to Allah سبحانه وتعالى do not leave us on our own even for a second even for the blink of an eye do not leave us on our own this is a way to show gratitude to Allah سبحانه وتعالى to show humility to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and no one understands the meaning of this verse يَا يُهَنَّاسَ أنْتُمُ الْفقَرَاءِ لَلَّهِ than the one upon whose heart this verse was descended the holy prophet peace be upon him who would understand the meaning of this verse true more than who would understand more than the holy prophet the meaning of this verse therefore we see in some of the narrations that when Allah when the holy prophet peace be upon him would pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى would ask for something he would make a posture that would look like a hungry beggar begging for food from someone that is how the holy prophet peace be upon him would ask Allah سبحانه وتعالى for something and all humility complete submission whose whole existence told that I am not a money I do not have استغناء he has استغناء Allah سبحانه وتعالى has استغناء he is self-sufficient so we have to remind ourselves all the time that we depend on Allah سبحانه وتعالى to maintain, to sustain our existence all our qualities all our skills all our valuables all our wealth whatever we have achieved all our achievements this is all because of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and then we will not be arrogant then we will not be transgressors and every day five times a day several times during the five daily prayers we utter a phrase we recite a phrase that we should pay more attention to and that phrase tells us how dependent we are on Allah سبحانه وتعالى only if we could learn to ponder and reflect over those phrases what do we say بحول الله وقوته أقوموا وقعد with the power of Allah سبحانه وتعالى I stand up and sit down it's with the might and power of Allah سبحانه وتعالى without Allah سبحانه وتعالى we cannot even stand up we cannot even sit down we are nothing without Allah سبحانه وتعالى everything that we have is given to us by Him and we should be grateful to Him and being grateful means not being a transgressor not being arrogant and we have to use our intellect we have to use our أقل if we use our أقل intellect then surely we will not commit transgressive acts we will not commit transgression we will not be arrogant because أل أقل the intellect although the intellect the commonly perceived meaning of intellect is different from the concept of أل أقل in Islam but for now simply to say if we use our intellect our أقل we will realize how dependent we are on Allah سبحانه وتعالى and in fact according to our theology shea muslims believe that there are two types of messengers one is the messenger in the exterior that Allah سبحانه وتعالى sends and that calls the mankind towards good deeds and belief in one God and there is a messenger inside us in the interior that's called حجة و باطنية that is the interior messenger that is أل أقل the exterior messenger goes to the Pharaoh outside and tells him that you should not commit transgression and then the messenger inside us is also telling us all the time the أل أقل to the Pharaoh inside us do not be arrogant do not be transgressor only if we could listen to that only if we could use that interior messenger أل أقل we would realize how dependent we are on Allah سبحانه وتعالى and that exterior messenger and Prophet Musa peace be upon him went to the Pharaoh and said what he said to him that why don't you purify yourself فقل هلك إلا أنت زكا according to the Quran Allah سبحانه وتعالى said and go to him and so say to him what is it with you what is the matter with you and you are not willing to purify yourself أنت زكا and that brings me to the last part of this short E-sermon what is the key to removing arrogance and transgression and the traces of arrogance and transgression from ourselves is given in this verse Allah سبحانه وتعالى says go to the Pharaoh because إنه طغا he has been a transgressor and then say to him why don't you purify yourself so if we learn to purify ourselves if we become willing to purify ourselves to تزكية we can remove arrogance we can remove transgression purify our thoughts and our beliefs first of all all the forms of shirk all the forms of wrong beliefs all the misconceptions about the ohed and not learning the ohed in depth that is a root cause of many mistakes we make many arrogant behaviors of ours is in the lack of understanding of توحيد in the lack of understanding of the names of Allah سبحانه وتعالى in the lack of understanding of the scheme of Allah سبحانه وتعالى and I keep saying this in several of my lectures that أتفكر في أمر الله that is the عبادة according to a hadith by Imam Reza peace be upon him so we have to start from there purify our thoughts purify our beliefs and then what will happen we'll move away from shirk and we'll move more towards pure توحيد we'll start to realize that we are nothing we are insignificant beings and then we'll not be arrogant then we'll only be grateful to Allah سبحانه وتعالى for everything we have and then the other form of the transgression is the transgression related to committing sins and getting out of control breaking the حدود of Allah breaking the حدود the boundaries of the شريع that also we can learn not to do by doing what تزكية because Allah سبحانه وتعالى says and we can then learn to not cross those boundaries do reflection think learn about our religion and it is all rooted in the reflection on the scheme of Allah سبحانه وتعالى on the reflection on our own existence and the one who brought us into existence if you start doing that then we will also learn that not only did he bring us into existence but also will surely one day return to him and will be answerable to him and that will be driving force for us not to be transgressors in this life not to break the boundaries not to cross limits not to cross the boundaries of the شريع and there are further details but our time is up almost 25 minutes I have used and as I said in the previous إيسرمن also that I have started this series so that we can learn in depth develop a deeper an in-depth understanding of different Qur'anic concepts and we got a I got a very good response after the first إيسرمن and I really hope and pray to Allah سبحانه وتعالى that what I wanted to convey in this sermon in this short session Allah سبحانه وتعالى makes it conveyed to you who are listening to it and if you like this session then please subscribe to this channel and also invite your friends and family and others who you think might be interested in developing an in-depth understanding of different Qur'anic concepts I wish you all health and safety and please take care of yourself and each other and also I wish you all a blessed month of Ramadan and in the end be grateful to Allah سبحانه وتعالى and also do not forget to have some fun in life some حلال fun in life والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاء