 Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim I'd like to first thank you all for allowing me to break my fast. I thought we were just going to have a date and come right in but Mashallah my host made me two shawarma sandwiches and I had to scarf that down real quick. So pardon me for starting a little bit late but we spoke today in the khutbah, how many people were there in the khutbah? So we spoke today in the khutbah about recommitting ourselves to the Book of Allah, Subhanahu Ta'ala and I thought, I've been thinking for a while now about one of the surahs in Juz'amma that we recite often and it's Surat Al-Ma'un and Allah says Don't they contemplate and ponder the Quran very deeply or is it that some hearts have locked themselves out and we will talk about anything and everything under the sun but very seldom do we actually get together to discuss reflections on the Book of Allah, Subhanahu Ta'ala So in the spirit of Ramadan, in the spirit of Shawwal which is the reclamation of Ramadan and a recommitment to the Book of Allah, Subhanahu Ta'ala I wanted to reflect with you tonight about some of the meanings of Surat Al-Ma'un It's such a beautiful surah and it's one of these surahs that are recited often but are skipped over in terms of their implication and really setting a vision for a community, I think The tafsir, we're not really going to get into tafsir We're just going to do Tadabbur tonight, which is reflection on the Book of Allah and any reflection just by rule of thumb any reflection on any surah in the Quran must begin with the surah before it and must lead to the surah after it There is a cohesion in the Book of Allah among all of the surahs All of the surahs are strung together like pearls on a necklace and there's no pearl that stands on its own and what beautifies all of these pearls is that you see them in a string It's not just one pearl but you see them in a string So they're strung together and the interweaving of the surahs of the Quran is part of the beauty and the majesty of the Book of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala And so there is a deliberate will behind the arrangement of the Quran Some audiences would say that the Quran is a book that has 114 chapters All of these chapters were sort of blasted up into an explosion and wherever they fell is how the Quran was arranged and Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala says that he guides many with this book and he misguides many with this book So yes, it does seem to the unstudied eye as random but to a person who sits and reflects and a person who comes to the Quran with a sound heart there's nothing random about the arrangement of the surahs nor the arrangement of the verses in the surahs Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala swears He swears فَلَا أُقُسِمُ بِمَوَاكَعِ النُجُومْ وَإِنَّهُ لَقَسَمُونْ لَوْتَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمْ I swear by the Mawaqa in Nujum which on one level is the constellations of the stars the Mawaqa in Nujum where the stars fall in the skies but there's an order to the cosmos and you go out and a person can look at the night firmament and say, wow, amazing, right? and be totally illiterate but captivated at the same time but the way that the astronomer reads the skies is utterly different because he sees that there is an order and there is a pattern and there is a consistency in the maps of the skies where they would actually take these constellations and use them to guide themselves the mariners would guide themselves on a pitch black night toward where they're going in the seas so a studied eye will read the stars in a different way but that is not the intended meaning of the verse according to the Mufassirun that Allah is swearing by the constellations of the stars which is a reading but the primary reading of this verse is that Allah swears by the Mawaqa in Nujum the places where the Nujum fall and what are the Nujum? they are the ayat in the book of Allah the placement of the ayat in the book of Allah and the placement of the surahs in the book of Allah that is all Tauqifi from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he is the one who would have his scribe they would take shifts some of them would follow him there would be five at a time or two at a time or at least one at a time because they don't know when the verses will come down upon the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam so they're always there ready to write down immediately and when the verses come and they usually came in chunks of five in passages of five excerpts of five verses at a time they usually came to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam five at a time he would read he would read he would read he would read usually they would come in five and when they would come he would tell his scribes he would recite it to his scribes and he would tell them to place this passage in such and such a surah after such and such verses so that all came from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and every year he would sit with the scribes and review everything that they had written they would write, they would read to him everything they had written and he would have the opportunity to correct them if there was any correction needed so that all came from the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam so if we're going to speak about Surah Al-Ma'un tonight then we have to look at Surah Al-Quraish we have to look at Surah Al-Quraish and if we're going to look at Surah Al-Ma'un tonight we have to look at Surah Al-Qawthar Quraish, Ma'un, Qawthar and we're not going to look at Surah Al-Quraish or Qawthar in depth because we don't have very much time unfortunately there was Shawilma involved in the process tonight that is going to take a little bit of the time that we could have had you can blame Yusuf for that blame his wife for that Allah bless your wife, Allah bless her and I'm saying that experientially you guys can only vicariously appreciate what that Shawilma tasted like but we want to just mention one thing about Quraish and one thing about Qawthar and Imamist Sayyuti in his book Asra Tertib Surah Al-Quraan the secrets of the arrangements of the surahs of the Quraan it's a very short book about 90 pages he mentions that the way one surah ends will be related to the way another surah begins and the way one surah begins will relate to how it itself ends and the way it ends will relate to how the next surah begins so we see the last aya of surah Al-Quraish will relate to the first aya of surah Al-Ma'un and the the last verse of surah Al-Ma'un will relate to what? the first aya of surah Al-Kawthar so what is the last aya of surah Quraish? so let them worship the Lord of this house the one who gave them food and believed them in fear so let them worship the Lord of this house the one who gave them to eat and quenched their hunger gave them to eat and quelled their hunger and gave them security from everything that they could possibly fear so let them worship the Lord of this house who quelled their hunger by feeding them to quell their hunger and gave them security from everything and possibly fear that's the last aya of surah Quraish and the first aya of surah Al-Ma'un right? I've seen that you've been lying to me have you considered the one who has used this religion to forge a lie and then that's going to lead us to a certain theme that's going to connect back to surah Quraish and then the last verse of surah al-Ma'un we're just talking about the structure now not getting into the content but the structure the last verse of surah al-Ma'un is what? wa yem na'un al-Ma'un and they what? they prevent even neighborly deeds so do you see how the first verse of surah al-Ma'un relates to the last verse of surah al-Ma'un have you not considered the one who lies using the religion? such people even refuse neighborly deeds so first in the last of surah al-Ma'un they relate and then they refuse neighborly deeds and then we have what? in na'at al-Kawthar the Prophet ﷺ didn't refuse neighborly deeds neighborly needs he didn't refuse those neighborly needs and so as a result what did Allah SWT bless him with? He blessed him with the fount of Qawthar and so in surah al-Quraish we have Allah SWT we have the mention of food and in surah al-Kawthar we have what? the mention of drink and surah al-Ma'un which is neighborly needs is between food and drink so let's get into the meal now let's get into the meat of surah al-Ma'un that's just introducing it from a structural perspective let's get into surah al-Ma'un Allah SWT says in this blessed surah and I'd like us all to recite it together before we get into it verse by verse I seek refuge with Allah from Satan the accursed In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful Have you seen those who deny the religion and that is the one who calls upon the old and does not limit himself to the food of the poor so where are those who pray those who are with their prayers those who are with their prayers those who are with their prayers those who are with their prayers so Allah SWT begins the surah by addressing his prophet I have seen the one who lies using the religion he lies using the religion there's two meanings to this he lies using the religion or he rejects the religion he rejects the religion or he lies using the religion if it relates to the one who rejects religion then who are those people who is the Allah asking the prophet to consider those who reject the religion those who are they the Quranic archetype for them is who the Quraysh, the Kuffar basically the Quranic archetype which is much like we have the Kuffar, the Munafiqon and the Mu'minun so the Kuffar and if we're talking about those who use the religion to perpetuate a lie then we're talking about what? the Munafiqon so this is what is to follow then is going to be a characterization of either the Kuffar or the Munafiqon or both Allah SWT is asking the prophet not in need of any answer but this is a rhetorical way of creating an interest in what is to follow like I ask you for example have you ever considered X, Y, Z? no I've never but now you got me curious so what is your take on X, Y, Z? so Allah SWT is through the prophet in liveening in us a desire to know who are those who reject faith or who are those who use the religion to perpetuate their own lies and why would we be interested? because we do not want to be among them we want to make sure that whoever is going to be described that that description does not apply to me when Allah asked that question he asked that question in order for us to say awaken this desire in us to be among those who are not characterised in the verses to come the one who rejects the religion that is the one who prays for the orphan Allah SWT says and does not put it on the poor I mentioned them both together and then I'll go to the first one so that is the person who repels the orphan such as the person who repels the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the indigent does not encourage the feeding of the poor and the indigent right? Fawailun l-Musallim and now that's so the description is how many how many descriptions do we have for those who use the religion to lie or reject the faith how many descriptions? huh? two Fawailun l-Musallim the theme shifted right? Fawailun l-Musallim so woe to those who let me translate the whole thing right? so we get a sense Arayita al-Ladhi yukaddu bideen have you considered the one who rejects the religion or uses the religion to perpetuate Allah Fadalika al-Ladhi yadu'a al-Yatheen such as the person who repels the orphan and does not encourage the feeding of the indigent Fawailun l-Musallim so woe to those who pray al-Ladhi n'hum a'am s'alati him sa'hoon who are completely negligent of the intent of their prayers al-Ladhi n'hum yura'oon who whatever they do they do it in order to be seen by others wa yamna'un al-ma'oon and even refuse neighborly needs and even refuse neighborly needs and even refuse neighborly needs and even refuse neighborly needs okay that's the rough rendition of the surah so the al-Ladhi al-Musallim okay we got someone came to the rescue here so how many descriptions do we have for those who use the religion to perpetuate Allah or those who reject the faith two those who what orphan and they do not encourage the feeding of the indigent well that's interesting those who reject the faith are being described as repelling orphans and not feeding not encouraging the feeding of the poor like that's their characteristic like that's their characteristic I mean wait a minute we're talking about the kuffar here or we're talking about the munafil ko'in here the disbelievers or the hypocrites are being described in this way they're characterized in this way like this is the suspense that the first verse the first verse is creating the suspense and then these are the two descriptions it rather seems if you don't mind me saying and forgive me for saying rather anti-climactic with all that we know in the seerah about the kuffar the munafil ko'in the munafil ko'in 300 of them left the battlefield at Uhud and here they're being characterized as not taking care of the orphan right the kuffar 15 assassination attempts on the prophet's life from the hands of a kafir right and there's not a and they're characteristic they're shining characteristic is that they don't feed the indigent they don't encourage that the poor people be fed so what's going on well what's going on here obviously these are not the only two characteristics of these folks these folks have a a good long list of characteristics if you want to write them all down obviously right but why these two and why only these two being mentioned in Surah the fact that I'm reacting this way means that I've missed the point the fact that I'm even reacting this way and asking and I'm saying anti-climactic and some of you might even agree with me means we've missed the point we've missed the point because when Allah swt creates the suspense in the first verse there's nothing anti-climactic that comes after divine suspense is the climax and Allah swt is showing us in a beautiful rhetorical way something that would not cross the mind of anyone at his time the prophet's time as being the two most egregious crimes against God but if you look at it if you look at it taking care of the orphan and feeding the indigent there are verses after verses throughout the Qur'an about that and let's take the first one for that such as the one who repels the orphan and let's go back to the very first revelation given to the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam after Surah after Iqra which were after the six months of there being Allah in the revelation silence in the skies silence in the skies for six months what's that first surah that comes to the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam after that as a consolation and it is considered surah Muhammad the surah of the consolation of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam what is it until now until now all of Surah Iqra and and everything here in Surah Tadduha has been descriptive about Allah s.a.w and has not had any legal import the first injunction given to the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of any legal import that has to do with his shariah comes in the next verse and what's that verse so as for the orphan to not repel him that's the very first thing the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was commanded to do in terms of a shara'i hukum a ruling that will come down is not to repel the orphan because you once were an orphan you once were an orphan right Allah s.a.w is reminding him did we not find you an orphan and so we and he gave you shelter right did he not find you an orphan and so he gave you shelter this is what he's reminded and so the first injunction comes with that first nickname that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has for himself the first Quranic nickname for the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is what yateen the first Quranic nickname the first nickname that Allah s.a.w gives him in the revelation is yateen the orphan did he not find you an orphan and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has three thousand names three thousand names the very first name that was revealed in the book of Allah for the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is yateen did we not find you yateeman and one of the one of the principles in language especially in the Arabic language is the more names something has the greater status it has the greater its status the greater its stature the more names it has so for example you have you have asad what's asad? lion and you have laith what's laith? lion usama lion lion gadanfar lion right these are aspects of the lion but the lion is the king of the jungle so he's going to have all these names what is a yateem? yateem is the one who has lost a father ajee is the one who has lost a mother latweem is the one who has lost both father and mother you've got three different words for orphans and this is already in the Arabic language before the prophet asad is born it's already there in the Arabic language which means what? which means what? that the orphan had status in the eyes of people that there was status in the eyes of people that they would distinguish that you have your own identity depending on your circumstance so the orphan had status in the eyes of people in that time and so this is so to deny the orphan is one of the is a sign that you have rejected faith itself to deny the orphan is a sign that you use the religion to perpetuate a life to reject an orphan is the rejection of one of the descendants of the prophet who is the patron of the orphans it's as though you have the prophet himself sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and you tell him ya rasoolallah I'm not interested in your companionship because ana wa kafir ulyatimi kahatain I and the caretaker of the orphan were just like this we're just like this kahatain and he did not specify he did not qualify that by saying kahatain if in jannah he didn't say like these two in jannah but we are like this these two here and there and these two what is the different what is the meaning of these two these two in proximity and these two in rank in closeness with the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam we have the companionship by taking care of the orphan and in rank under the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the one who is the caretaker of the orphan not the scholar not the wali so and so not to downplay any of that but look at what the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is saying which means it's accessible to any one of us that this is accessible to any one of us and there is a hierarchy in terms of knowledge are they equal those who know those who don't know ask those who know if you do not know those who know have a rank above us and the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that you give people their proper rank among yourselves give people the deference that is due to them based on their rank above you so we are not knocking that but there are certain aspects of this dean and most of this dean most of this dean is related to action is related to work and deans and this is accessible to anyone who is illiterate or who has been raised in a family of scholarships for generations it's accessible to everyone across the board so to take care of the orphan this is in many different degrees either to adopt or to be a foster parent or if you cannot do that to support financially and every time you see an orphan to be there for them emotionally even to caress their heads and to support them and to give them encouragement and hope all of this is weighed heavily in the balance in the day of judgment it's as though you were taking care of the Prophet himself when he was but an orphan so we cannot underestimate this the first of their qualities is that they repel the orphan for that you can let the they repel the orphan and in the world today there are 153 million orphans 153 million orphans 15% of whom have neither a father nor mother 153 million orphans whom if you gathered them all together in one place they would be the ninth greatest nation after Bangladesh they would form the ninth greatest nation after Bangladesh a whole country of orphans part of such as the one who repels the orphans part of that is an indictment against us as Muslims in how we have neglected the care of orphans and this is not something we talk about enough it's not something we talk about on the pulpit on Fridays it's not something that we it's not part of our ethos to talk about this and it's all and it's almost like a taboo if someone knows that you are actually adopted an orphan it's almost like a taboo it's like an unspoken taboo how do we take a prophetic injunction how do we take a divine command and turn it into a taboo a social taboo that I'm raising an orphan in my home the umma the same umma the prophet commanded the care of the orphans and said that you have the rank with me like this if you take care of the orphans this same umma considers it haram to adopt an orphan like if you mention the word adoption the next word that rings across our minds is what? haram how many times have we put those two words in a sentence together or heard those two words in a sentence together and never questioned it adoption is haram adoption is haram can you get a clue? adoption is haram when our prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam adopted a son he himself adopted Zaid ibn Haritha he himself took care of Ali ibn Abi Talib and raised him he himself took care of Anas ibn Malik and raised him on the day of Mu'tah when he was giving his khutbah on the pulpit he said Ja'far has fallen Ja'far his cousin the brother of Sayyidina Ali alaihi sallam Ja'far is slain and he descends from the pulpit and he goes to the house of Asmat bint Almeish bint Asmat bint Almeish and he enters that house and those children come out to him and he grabs each one of these children and embraces them and begins to weep and Asmat says Ya Rasulallah what has happened to Sayyidina Ja'far and he says he has fallen and we're at the battle of Mu'tah all the way there in Jordan present day Jordan and she begins he reads her state and he says you fear poverty after Ja'far he said I swear by the one in whose hand is my soul I am their caretaker in this world and the next the one who took care of the orphans the orphan who took care of orphans so how many orphans is he taking care of how many people is he raising without the care of their parents Ali was raised in his home not in the home of Abu Talib he was raised by the Prophet how many children did he raise and step children did he raise and yet we are going to turn around and say that adoption is haram I just want you to consider a story consider a woman who comes forth to a community after having birthed her daughter and the man the father dies before the child is born the father died while the child was still in the womb of her mother she brings this girl to the community and the community fight her over who is going to take care of her all of the men of the community fight with one another over who is going to take care of this little girl and they have a village elder they have a village elder this village elder himself does not have children he is old but his wife is barren she cannot produce children this village elder is desperate to have a child and this is an opportunity where he can actually take care of this child but all of the men of his community fight him to take care of this child they fight against their own village elder against their old tribal chief leader that know we are going to take each one of these men wants to take care of that girl for himself and they do not come from that girl does not come from a wealthy family there is no benefit in it they are painting this picture for you and they almost go to blows over it does this story sound any bit familiar to you what if I told you that village elder was Zakaria and what if I told you that little girl was Maryam now we know the story in retrospect of course they would fight over Maryam it is Maryam they know who Maryam is they have no idea who Maryam is and they are fighting whom saying what saying what if it be the will of Allah then Allah will decree in your favor these are the men that Zakaria whom Zakaria raised with this ethic and with this with this certainty in their faith and with the feeling of responsibility toward those who need to be taken care of like where did they get their character from if not from the embodiment of character that they saw in Zakaria he raised them to think like this he raised them to to be who they were and they are fighting him saying that if it be the will of Allah then Allah will decree in your favor and compare that to a friend of mine named Mark who at the age of 30 is able to track down his father whom he had never seen a day in his life and he calls him and he says my name is Mark and he gave him his last name and the man knew that they had the same last name and he said I don't want anything from you I'm not calling you because I need anything from you I'm not calling you because I'm bitter, I'm not calling you for anything I just want to know you I just want to meet you and I'll let the past be the past I don't even need to bring up anything in the past it would just be an honor for me to meet the man who brought me into the world and that man said to him don't ever call this number again now that is not an isolated story that is commonplace in this country and you have people in this country, you have Muslims in this country who are being raised by Christians who are in the foster care system Muslims in this country being raised outside of Islam totally taken out of Islam why? because adoption is haram you have Muslim families Muslim couples who cannot have children because either the man is sterile or the woman is barren and so they will refuse to adopt a child when Allah swt through some wisdom through some decree there is a wisdom in every single situation but there is a need on the other side that can be fulfilled and everyone has their circumstance with Allah swt the only thing that I would like to say here is that we have a responsibility toward the orphan whether we adopt them and if our life circumstance does not allow that then we rally for them or we campaign for them in some way and if we cannot do that then at least we adopt an orphan financially and Islamic relief and penny appeal they have adopted an orphan program you don't even have to think about it a dollar a day takes care of all the orphans needs from food and drink and shelter and schooling and all of that just one dollar a day but there is an imperative that is upon all of our necks and everything with respect to the life of some orphan somewhere in the world and this is what we are being called upon to do in Surat al-Malm you know who's got this down pat? for decades now there has been the the Christian adoption movement in this country what is known as the Christian adoption movement in this country from Protestants and Evangelicals in the Bible Belt is not because of the 29 injunctions in the Old Testament and the New Testament with respect to taking care of orphans it's not that and it's not because every Sunday this is what the preacher is saying every single Sunday shelling down this message of taking care of the orphans down people's throats it's not because of that it's driven by by religious politics that because of their stance their staunch stance as pro-lifers they will not allow for abortion to happen in their communities and if anyone has a child who cannot take care of that child they compete with one another in order to take care of that child they'll bring them to the church and they will be placed in a family there in that church statistically speaking it's off the charts and there are Muslims who are in that it's off the charts my contention is that if this is not a message that is being shoved down their throats every Sunday and if this is not what they are reading in their Bibles in their Bible study and it's just motivated by politics what would those statistics be if Jesus himself had adopted children and that was used as an example what if Jesus had adopted two or three children and that was used as an example how many more Christians would have adopted and yet our prophet adopted children and the only thing that was considered haram was that he named him Zaid ibn Muhammad the verse came down in order to correct that do not call them after your names but call them after their fathers names that's the only thing about adoption that is considered haram as well as having a child that once the child reaches the age of puberty if there wasn't nursing that was done that's an issue as well it becomes an issue and then the child the woman would have to wear hijab in the house and the man cannot be alone in the room that's an issue granted but there are ways around that there are ways around that we are the ones who our prophet set the example of taking care of the orphans so this is something that we absolutely have to act on and they do not encourage the feeding of the indigent and the poor the downtrodden they don't encourage that of course they are not going to encourage that if they are repelling the orphan themselves and not allowing the orphan access to the orphans own wealth they are miserly with the orphan regarding the orphans wealth then how are they going to encourage others to give to the poor these go ahead they don't encourage one another to give to the poor to feed the poor ta'am and miskeen ta'am and miskeen and the ta'am is mentioned in Switz Quraish before that the one who fed them to quell their pains of hunger the one who fed them to quell their pains of hunger what do they do now they choose to quell the hunger of the poor do you see the connection between these surahs right so woe to those who pray it's epic man it's epic this surah is so epic so woe to those who pray huh just imagine just imagine the imam in the first raka amplify Fu'ayloonail musallah will those who pray allawwakfa this woe to those who pray allawwakfa you go into Rukawi wo ha ha woe to those So Allah swt again, midway through the surah, again rhetorically, the rhetorical impact of that is, it awakens us again. Woe to those who pray. Who is reciting this? Who is receiving this? The Sahaba are receiving this from the Prophet ﷺ. I mean it's satirical. Allah swt is a divine satire here. And who is receiving it? It's those who pray. Now I was talking about the Munafiqon and about us as well. Like about those possessive faith and those who are hypocritical in that faith. Now it extends. So it went from kuffar and munafiqon to munafiqon and mu'minun. There's a shift in the verse, in the passage. And the reason that I'm saying the mu'minun is because the mu'minun are not immune to the next couple descriptions. We are not immune to it. Those possessive faith are not safe from the next couple descriptions. Although the next couple descriptions apply rightly to the munafiqon. They also apply that the line is very thin though. And how many of the mu'minun could easily fall into nifak? Woe to those who pray. Woe to those who pray. And wail is woe, like it's a word of condemnation or a curse. But it's also a valley specific in hell. It's a specific valley in hell called wail. That these people, that's where they will be. Wailun lil musallit. So wail is for them. Wail is for those who pray. Wail is for those who pray. For wailun lil musallit. Alladheena hum an salatihim sa'hum. Those who are neglectful regarding their prayers. What does that mean? What does that mean? And they said, first of all, they said, Alhamdulillah, alladhi qala an salatihim, wama qala fee salatihim. Woe to the one who said they're neglectful regarding their prayers and not neglectful in their prayers. There's a big difference between an and fee here. If it was fee, then we'd all be in trouble. Neglectful in their prayers. Forgetful in their prayers. Sa'hum. In their prayers, they're forgetting. Like you don't know. You're standing Allahu Akbar. Alhamdulillah, Lord of the worlds. Where are you? Where are you? Where are you, seriously? You don't even know what the Imam recited in the first or second raka'a. And you know that he recited a verse, a surah that you've memorized. It's like, what did the khatib talk about today? Oh, it was a great khutba. What did he talk about? Were you there or not? Right? So wake up, right? An salatihim and not fee salatihim. So an salatihim, they're neglectful regarding what? They're neglectful regarding their prayers. But does that mean that they're skipping prayers? It doesn't mean that they're skipping prayers. It does not mean that they're skipping prayers. They're praying. It does not mean that they're skipping prayers. Because that wouldn't make really much sense in the verse, right? In the past it wouldn't make sense that we're talking about certain characteristics, the orphan, the indigent, and then woe to those who skip their prayers. There's a disconnect there, right? So what are they neglectful really about regarding their prayers? Say it again. They delay the prayer? There's still a disconnect there, right? They're neglectful regarding the entire purpose behind their prayers. They're neglectful regarding the whole reason that they're praying in the first place. They're neglectful regarding what the prayer, the whole essence of the prayer, and what is the essence of the prayer? You look throughout the Book of Allah, where do you find Salah that is not followed up by what? Zaka. Where do you find Salah where it's not followed up by Zaka? Yeah, and the Salah, the prayer forbids vile deeds and iniquity, right? So you'll find Salah mentioned by itself, but Salah and Zaka, whenever you read Salah you're expecting Zaka. Why is that? Because they're repeated so often together that the proof of your prayer is in your charity, right? The proof of your prayer, we put our money where our mouth is, right? And the prayer is where our mouth is, right? And so the money then comes after that to purify ourselves, right? That we worship Allah SWT and then we read ourselves of our attachments, right? And that attachment, first and foremost, comes through money, through material wealth, right? Fawailunin musallin, Alladinahum an-salatihim sa'hoon, right? Alladinahum an-salatihim sa'hoon. The manifestation of Salah comes in the Zaka. And if you look, there's something very powerful in Arabic etymology that it proves to me that this language was divine. It just shows it. You have one word, under one word you have many concepts that are related to that one root, okay? Like the word jama'a, right? What is jama'ameen? He gathered, he collected, okay? Some other words related are what? Juma'a, Friday, the day of gathering and collecting. Jama'a, the university that collects students and teachers. Mujtama'a, a society that collects all of the people in the society. Ijma'a, a consensus that collects together the opinion of scholars, right? Jama'a, a mosque that collects together the worshippers. So do you see how jama'a comes in to collect or to gather, that it's related to all of those cognates of that derivative, of that word, of that root, right? All of those words are related to those three letters. But the opposite is also true in Arabic language, where you have a concept that is going to gather together similar words that are unrelated in their roots, that are not related in their roots. So you have words that are not related in their roots that all come together under an umbrella concept. So if you look, for example, follow me. You have the word zakah, zakah. And zakah means charity, right? And it also means what? Purification. Okay? Purification. You have the word sadaqah. And sadaqah means what? Charity. And it's related to what? Siddhqah. Truthfulness. So you have purification and truthfulness. And then you have the word infaqh, which means spending out, spending of your money. And that is related to what? Nifaqh, hypocrisy. So you have purification, right? Tazkiyah, purification. You have what? Siddhqah, truthfulness. And then you also have hypocrisy, purification, truthfulness, hypocrisy. And it all relates to what? To spending your money. So this concept, this overarching concept in Arabic language of spending out and of charity, what does it bring together? It brings together zakahyah, it brings together what? Zakahyah and sadaqah and nafaqah. Three totally unrelated roots, but they're related through charity. And each one of them is telling us something about the reality of the nafs. And sadaqah is what leads to all of that. And then this is related, this is manifested, and it's represented in the Prophet's teachings himself. For he said, al-infaqh, he said, al-iman bila-infaqh, nifaqh. Look at him playing with the words. Look at how the Prophet S.A.W. is playing with the words. Al-iman bila-infaqh, nifaqh. Do you see how the Prophet S.A.W. is playing with the words? Yeah? You see? That iman without any spending is hypocrisy. Iman without any spending is hypocrisy. And the play on words is that infaqh is related to nifaqh. Fa-waylu l-lil-musallim. So woe to those who pray. Al-ladinuhum an-salatihim sa'hoon, who are neglectful about the entire purpose of their prayer. What it's supposed to lead us to. How it's supposed to manifest in our actions. And the proof of that prayer, ultimately, is in the service of others. And we're not just talking about monetary, but we're talking about zakah is to enrich the life of someone else through any act of charity, even if it's a smile. Smiling in the face of your brother is charity. So Salah is the root. All of that, the charity emerges from the Salah. All of the acts of service and sacrifice and giving and spending and care and concern and empathy, all of that comes out of sound Salah. Al-ladinuhum an-salahihim sa'hoon. Al-ladinuhum yura'oon. But when they do good deeds, when they do works of sacrifice and charity, they do it right to be seen of other men. To be seen of other men. So this is the characteristic of the hypocrites. But every verse in the book of Allah SWT was revealed to whom? Was revealed to whom? It was revealed to you and to you and to me and to you and to you through the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Every verse in the book of Allah SWT was revealed to us personally through the Prophet Muhammad SAW. This is how we transact with the book of Allah SWT. So when a verse comes down and says, Al-ladinuhum yura'oon. Those who do righteous works in order to be seen by others, our reaction to that is not to say, That guy over there. Yeah, that one, that girl I met three weeks ago. That's what, yeah, that sounds like her. Right? It relates to us personally. Al-ladinuhum yura'oon. Am I safe from that? Am I safe from that? Do I know that all of my acts are solely and sincerely for the sake of Allah SWT and for his good pleasure? That verse relates to me specifically. Al-ladinuhum yura'oon. Wa yam na'oon al-ma'oon. And they refuse even neighborly deeds. Now look at these two together. Look at these two together. Fawailun lin musallin. Woe to those who pray and are neglectful regarding the intent of their prayer, the purpose of their prayer, al-ladinuhum yura'oon. Those who do good to be seen by others. They do good to be seen by others. And they refuse to give the neighborly deeds. Those who do good to be seen by others should do good to be seen by whom? Allah alone. And those who refuse neighborly needs are refusing whom? Whom? They're refusing whom? Those neighborly needs. They're refusing whom? Whom are they refusing? They're not refusing Allah. You can't give Allah to refuse him. The ones in need. So you have the khalq and the khalq. You have the Creator and the creation here. They transact with Allah in ways to be seen by other men. And they transact with the creation of Allah by denying them their rights. So there's an interesting thing going on here because those who are denying Allah or no, let's say that the right of Allah in our deeds is that we hide them and we veil them from everyone else. And we do it specifically solely for Allah. And then that which belongs to everyone else, we are refusing. So it's as though we take what belongs to Allah and we give it to the creation. And we take what belongs to the creation and we deny it for ourselves. There's like a ring here in these last two verses that those who are praying, right, totally neglectful of why they're praying and whatever they do, they do it in order to have their reputations go forward for them. All of those deeds belong to Allah. And the intent here, the intention here should be solely for Allah, not for other people. But when it comes to other people, so they'll take that which belongs to Allah and they'll do it for others. But when it comes to what rightfully belongs to others, they'll keep for themselves. And this is how the surah ends. وَيَمْنَا اُنَا مَعُونَ Two words, يَمْنَا عُونَا المَعُونَ Everyone say, يَمْنَا عُونَا المَعُونَ Does that sound related, huh? That sounds related too, huh? Allah swt, look at how Allah swt brings these words together. يَمْنَا عُونَا المَعُونَ What's the root of the first word, يَمْنَا عُونَ What's the root there? مِمْ نُونَ عَينَ المَعُونَ مِمْ عَينَ نُونَ Right, مِمْ نُونَ عَينَ Right, there's this, there's this, there's this relationship. Right, there's this relationship that Razi calls in his, in the introduction to his Tafsir. He calls it, He says that every word in the Arabic language that's three letters has six combinations possibly. And each one of these combinations are related to one another. Each one of these combinations, each one of these combinations, these six possible combinations they're not going to be more than six, right? Well, you have three letters, right? You have like, he'll give the example of Malik Yomiti, right? Malaka. He says you have Malaka and Makala. You have Kalima and Kamula. And you have Laka Ma and Lamaka. Right? So there's six, there's six. So Mana'a and Ma'ana. And basically these six, they relate to each other. Right? There's meanings that are interwoven among them that tie the roots together. So what is the connection between Mana'a and Ma'ana? Between prevention and neighborly needs. These come from the same word. Prevention and neighborly needs. What is the language, what is the language itself telling us about neighborly needs? That neighborly needs should not be prevented. And that's just coming to us from the language itself, not from any prophetic guidance and not from any divine injunction. The language itself is telling us that when you have neighborly needs, they are not to be prevented. But that it is in the nature of the human being to prevent them. It is in the nature of the human being to prevent even neighborly needs. He wants my drill bit again. He wants to borrow my lawnmower again. The last time he gave me a lawnmower back, the last time I got my drill bit back, I didn't get my drill bits back right in time like when I needed it. This is what we have to deal with, with our neighbors. But even their neighborly needs, they prevent them. The Prophet Muhammad SAW said, and I'll close with this, because we have to pray Aisha. I'll close with this. It's a statement that the Prophet SAW said about Surah Al-Ma'un specifically. He says, Menqaraa Surah Ar-Raita Ghafarallahu Lahu Inkaana Lizzakati Muaddia That whoever recites Ar-Raita Al-Ladhi Yukadhibu Biddin Al-Ladhi Yad'u'a Al-Yatheem Let's recite it. Al-Raita Al-Ladhi Yukadhibu Biddin Al-Ladhi Yad'u'a Al-Yatheem Walaa Ya'uddu Ala Ta'am Al-Miskeen Fa Wailun Lil Mousallim Al-Ladheeenahum A'un Salatihim Sa'a'hun Al-Ladheenahum Yuraa'un Wa Yamna'unal Ma'un Whoever recites these verses, and then follows it up with Sadaqa. Allah SWT will forgive their sins, Allah will forgive their sins. So between now and the time that the Aqama is called, every one of you who has a phone that's got access to internet and data, either Islamic relief or penny appeal, give something tonight to an orphan that Allah SWT may forgive your sins and mine, inshaAllah. Let's do that. Can we do that? Can we do that? Let's just go, let's just do it now while the while the Muaddon is calling the Adhan. Let's get on our phones, let's go either to Islamic relief or to penny appeal and give some amount of money to an orphan tonight, inshaAllah. May Allah accept for you inshaAllah. Jazakumullahu khayran wassalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi ta'ala wa barakatuhu