 Shahr-ul-Ramadan al-Ladhiun-Zilafihi al-Quran, then he says Hudal-l-Nas This part of the ayah is a slap in the face. He says Quran is guidance for all people This ayah is not just to the Muslims. It's also to the Jewish community of Madinah They believe that when wahi comes it comes for who? Just themselves It just themselves Allah says no You are not going to this time this wahi is not just for you. It is for all people Hudal-l-Nas He didn't even say Hudal-l-Arab, Hudal-l-Bani Israel, Hudal-l-Bani Isma'il, Hudal-l-Bani Ibrahim. No, no, no, no Hudal-l-Nas This guidance for all people This is one of the most beautiful things about our religion folks. It is one of the most beautiful things about our religion I don't care if you go into a Masjid in America or Australia or the Khalidj or Pakistan if there are multiple nationalities multiple nationalities standing in one row You don't make a distinction the rich people should be in the first row Middle-class should be in the second row the janitors should be in the third row. Nope Nope Everybody stands in the same row and It could be that the boss and the worker are standing together And it could be that the worker is in the first row and the boss is in the last row That could be too. It could be that the guy who works for you is leading prayer and you're praying behind him. That could be too Hey, Allah made this guidance for all people. You know what that means He made all human beings equal just by Quran by the institution of Salat. We cannot be racist Because we have Salat We cannot be supremacist. We cannot think my nation is better than your nation My nationality is better than your nationality. My language is better than your language My skin color is better than your skin color. My village is better than your village We can't do it and you know when we are reminded that we can't do that when we stand together in Salat When Bilal radi Allahu Anhu is standing next to Othman radi Allahu Anhu. We are reminded that we're equal This is Hudan Linnaas. That's what that means. You know why I'm highlighting that because I notice it in Muslims. I Notice as a via in Muslims. I notice Muslims make fun of other nationalities. Look down on them Talk bad about them. Talk bad about people that speak a different language The art the the Arabi makes fun of the non-Arabi The Bangladesh he makes fun of the Pakistani the Pakistani makes fun of the Indian The Filipino makes fun of the Malaysian What's going on here? Don't we mix a lot? Don't we mix a lot? Because if that's what our if we're not learning from our Salat if we're not learning from this Quran and We're just it's like I tell you we're just a shell You know if you have a shell and you don't have any egg inside it That's what our Islam is sometimes. It's just that you look like Muslim You say the words that Muslims say but inside your heart. There's no There's no love for your league Every one of us here that are sitting in this audience so many different countries are sitting in this audience right now There's such an international gathering right here This is a United Nations meeting right now, you know Let me tell you I don't know your name some of some of you know my name I don't know your name, but you know what we have a relationship with each other that is thicker than blood It is thicker than blood just because of la ilaha illallah just because of that This Quran binds us together and this was told to the Jews You know why because the Jews believe they were special Everybody else is second class. We're first class Everybody else is Gentiles. We're the chosen nation. Allah says anybody can become people of Qur'an Huda Linna's open invitation to humanity That eradicates racism nationalism tribalism Egotism it gets rid of these things What an amazing religion It's such an incredible thing even in America. I can tell you there are black churches There are Spanish churches. There are Greek churches even of the same denomination and then in the in the heart of Brooklyn You're gonna have in New York in Brooklyn. You'll have different churches different ethnicities You walk into the much that it's an international conference again All the same ethnicity standing together. They don't even speak each other's language, but they're praying together The same Quran unifies us because when we stand in Salat, what are we listening to? This Quran says You've chosen the right spouse if the person is poor Allah will bless them with his virtue because Allah is the one who owns Sustainance how many people have got their daughters married to wealthy people ten years down the line. They lost everything So it's not to do with wealth It's to do with the right person and this is why the hadith says there are several things people look at some look at Well, some look at looks your choice. Yes, you must look at what the person looks like definitely You have to live with them at the end of the day. You have to be intimate with them You're not going to go with those masks that they give out on Emirates and then you know be intimate with your spouse No, you want to look at them. You want to see them. Yes So you must be able to like your spouse definitely But your decision must not be based solely on looks. There must be an overriding factor. What is it? It's not going to do only with the lineage. No, you can't marry there. They're not from our family They're not from our tribe. They're not from our caste. They're not from this side They're not exactly, you know so-and-so. No, are they Muslim? Are they decent people? Do they have character? Let it go Allahu Akbar. Let it happen. Do not be a person from the pagan days of ignorance You know Bilal ibn Rabah and his brother radiallahu anhuma they got to the community and they said we are whom you know we are If you are going to allow us to marry your daughters, alhamdulillah, if not, Allah will provide Wallahi, they looked Bilal ibn Rabah a man from Africa subhanallah a man whom the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said I heard his footsteps in paradise It shook the people they immediately got them married That shows us that it's got to do with the nobility of a person. Look at the status of a person You know I've heard of people saying oh this man is a little bit too dark for my daughter to get married to come on You can be as dark as charcoal, but if your daughter is up in the air alhamdulillah. She's happy She's excited What's the point of marrying the most handsome man the wealthiest man and your daughter is crying every night and she's cursing you My dad did something very bad. I'll never forgive him when you die. You are receiving the sin of what happened Allahu Akbar Why should that happen? This is the reality of why knots are being broken today. We want to tie it correctly We'll understand the hadith says yes, you may look at what she looks like you may want to look at her status her lineage You may want to look at everything those are not the deciding factors the deciding factor is Dean Fall for be that it Dean Terry, but you're dark. You want to be successful You want victory you want success in the dunya and the Akhira then Succeed by marrying the one who has the consciousness of Allah in her or the consciousness of Allah in him That is success Well, bless us all really and sometimes we ignore that the environment has actually affected our child Listen carefully Sometimes we ignore the fact that the environment has affected our child So the child comes up with their own proposition and we get upset and angry. I don't want you know what talk to your child Try and convince them listen to their story Lend them an ear you do not want them to do things behind your back You are not a lot lend them an ear my daughter. What happens? How do you know this guy? Don't just get angry? I will fix you up. I'm going to damage you be careful. No way That's not how you talk to your daughter because tomorrow when she marries what will happen? What example have you laid? You speak to her with respect. She is a human being before she belonged to you She is and was Allah's always Allah's you will perhaps die leaving her behind to live for decades After you she belongs to Allah. Inna Lillahi the Quran doesn't say inna li abayna Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un We belong to Allah and unto him is our return the hadith didn't say we belong to our fathers and our forefathers and unto him Unto them is our return. No. Yes, we may we have to be kind Allah chose our parents for us indeed But remember one thing you speak to your children you listen to what they have to say They will then tell you you know dad. I went to the varsity and I saw a guy reading his Salah all the time and I saw this and I saw that and for some reason somehow I developed feelings for this young man. Please give him a chance talk to him. They say, okay Let me talk to him. I am not encouraging this type of behavior But I'm saying it is happening face it if you have not involved in the lives of your children a lot Then this type of thing will keep on happening But those parents who've involved a lot Their children tell them a lot of what goes on in their lives. Alhamdulillah. They will be able to guide their children You know if your son says hey today We saw the uncle was smoking and he threw the stub on the floor and a few of us picked it up And we were checking it out and you look at him and say son be careful watch out That's not what it's what's supposed to happen Perhaps he will talk to you more and more but if you tell him what and you lift him up and you pump him One wallahi is never going to talk to you again. He's never going to because he knows my dad is mad man Really you tell him something. He'll destroy you completely. He's punched me in my my my belly and so on Some of the country's people go and report their parents May Allah forgive us So this is why we say if the person if your daughter has come up with something of this nature Perhaps you must listen to what they have to say meet the man to talk to him He might be better than all the options you've ever thought about it doesn't mean that she has to marry the son of your business partner. No Marriage is not a business deal in Islam not at all people say no no no I thought this year son must marry those are the marriages. Sometimes they don't work because you know why The girl was forced you forced your daughter to marry someone whose father forced Him to marry her so they were both forced on either side. They sleep like a divorced couple from day one What's happening whose fault is it both parents? Literally silly people people who didn't think people who thought that you know what I can do and and this is me And Allah's given me the right. It is haram haram haram. It is prohibited to force your daughter To marry someone totally prohibited you cannot force you can suggest you can say look what about this and what about that option? She has the right to say I do not want it's over Did you hear that she has the right? She is entitled to say I do not want and you have to surrender because she belongs to Allah before she came to you Same applies to your sons no forcing and you know a man is he who can say To the father of the girl that look I'm being forced or the girl says I'm being forced speak up Don't come up 10 years down the line and say I never wanted to marry you. I was forced by my dad It's happening a lot. Don't do that. Say it in advance that look I have a problem I'm not ready to marry. Please they are forcing me to do this. You help me may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Help us all My brothers and sisters. It's a vast topic if you notice I have tried to tackle the problems of society what we are facing across the globe in the Muslim Umma we have this crisis people have not understood I give you another example someone reverts to Islam. We get very happy. Don't we a person reverts to Islam Mashallah this guy from Germany is accepted Islam. Alhamdulillah We are so excited because he became a Muslim. Do you know that they are finding it very difficult to get married because of our backwardness No, one's marrying because when it comes to marriage, no, no, no But he is cleaner and fewer than others who've committed sin and so on in the Islam I a jubbo maqabla you look at him if he's dedicated and he's good and he's Ideas are correct and he's perhaps beliefs are within the line and so on you you there is nothing wrong in Offering him your daughter nothing wrong in Islam. It can happen either way But no, he's a revered he's Caucasian or revered these people were Hindus before brother your great-grandfather was a Hindu as well What about that? These people were Buddhist so what they accepted Islam We have a crisis in the umma. That is a huge crisis so many people who've reverted to Islam They are stronger than born Muslims and we say no, I won't want my daughter to marry here We are not saying you need to shove it down anyone's throat But what we are saying if there is an interest and if the person is a candidate let it be so what nationality means nothing Subhanallah May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us the world is now a little global village You know people are in touch with each with each other and they promise each other to marry if you were and I'm repeating it for The third time if you were close enough to your child before they promised someone that they would marry them They would have told you they would have asked you they would have involved you But because you were too distant with your friends and your nightlife and what else and everything are some people are too distant Some people are so religious that it becomes sacrilegious. You know what that means To serve Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is definitely something good But to go beyond the limit to the degree that the other obligations on your shoulders You have forgotten them you have left them It's an obligation for you to do this and you have not done it in that particular case What's the point of a man who goes to the masjid and spends the whole day in the masjid whilst his Family are looking at other men in order to resolve their matters and to go and buy something for them and look after their needs What's the point so you need to? Strike a balance Nobody is saying don't go to the masjid you need to go But you must know when you need to depart when your family needs you you need to talk to them You need to meet them. You need to look after them. That's also a duty. It is far as well It is a duty obligation from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may Allah make it easy for us all