Sheikh Bilal Assad - Barakah

INLINE ARABIC WITH TRANSLITERATION (CRITICAL FOR BRACKETS)

When Arabic text appears INLINE with English (not in emerald boxes), wrap the entire Arabic + transliteration in a span with dir="ltr" to fix bracket direction:

CORRECT FORMAT: (Arabic text - transliteration)

Example: Alright everyone, (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

This prevents the parentheses from appearing inverted like )( instead of ().

RULES

1. FORMAT 100% of content - do NOT skip, summarize, or truncate 2. Return ONLY HTML - no markdown blocks, no explanations 3. Preserve ALL Arabic exactly as it appears with full diacritics 4. Always use dir="ltr" spans for inline Arabic with parentheses

character, I'll have a beautiful life with her in this life, I'll be happy forever, I'll have Jannah on earth and Jannah hereafter.

He said, good, she is my mother after my mother. All the hands went down. Nobody wanted to marry her, subhanAllah. But Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) kept his hand up.

He said, Ya Rasulullah, I will marry her. He said, you'll marry a woman of Paradise? He said, no one but her Ya Rasulullah. Close in his mid-twenties, she is in her mid-thirties, he didn't care about that.

What he was looking for is the Iman, the character and surely Rasulullah ﷺ would not recommend someone unless she is something amazing, subhanAllah. These are the first qualities we look for. Rasulullah ﷺ did say about the beauty, he said about wealth, he said about lineage, but the first and foremost is her Deen, that's the basis.

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5090, and Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1466

This is the woman who makes you live a beautiful life and the man who fears Allah will never oppress his wife. These are the two people. So she married Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) and from him came Usama and her and so she had her son Usama Ibn Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him), another young companion like Anas and like Abdullah Ibn Abbas and like Ayman and the rest.

Baraka in Battles

She grew up and she was one of the people of Paradise. She went on battles with Rasulullah ﷺ. There was a time when she loved the battles so much and she wanted to inspire and motivate the companions.

So she used to try her best to stand up and please Rasulullah ﷺ. She wanted to make him happy. So one time she stood up and she said a sentence in Arabic telling them, march towards the enemy and don't look back, be brave and the way she said it, she put the grammar backwards, back to front in Arabic.

Baraka didn't speak Arabic very well, she was a Habashiya and Rasulullah ﷺ when he heard her, he laughed and he said, Ya Umma Baraka, be quiet, you don't know how to talk, you're embarrassing us and it's embarrassing the way you're talking. And she laughed and she said, come on, get out of here. That's the relationship.

After the Death of the Prophet ﷺ

Subhanallah, Rasulullah ﷺ died and Baraka was still alive. When he died, they found her crying immensely. Who wouldn't? But then they approached her, I think it was Abu Bakr saying, Ya Baraka, Rasulullah ﷺ is in Jannah.

You're crying and you knew that Allah was going to take him where his mission has ended. You're meeting with him in Hawd, Inshallah. She said to him, Wallahi, I'm not crying about the death of Rasulullah ﷺ, I know that he has died.

I knew that he is with Allah and we shall all die. I'm a believer in that. But the reason I am crying is because the Wahi used to come down frequently and now I know that there is no more Wahi from between the heavens and the earth. This is what I'm crying about. So her Iman was high.

Baraka lived in the Khilafah of Abu Bakr, the Khilafah of Umar and the Khilafah of Uthman. She lived on Subhanallah and Zayd died and she lived on as a widow. The last husband was Zayd. She never married anyone after him.

That was Baraka who died at the Khilafah of Uthman, whom we don't hear much about. A therapist, a person who loved Rasulullah ﷺ, one full of Iman, optimistic, the one whom the family of Rasulullah ﷺ could not live without and the one whom Rasulullah ﷺ found comfort with after the death of Abu Talib, Khadija and the other people around him.

Lessons from Baraka's Life

My brothers and sisters in Islam, this is one story which I wanted to bring to your attention to point out the following.

Number one: The merit of a person is not based on their lineage or their colour or their status in society or their wealth. No. For we don't even know her name except Baraka and Umm Ayman. We don't know her lineage and she wasn't physically very attractive.

Number two: The merit of a person does not have to be known and become popular. Your merit is with Allah and Baraka was one of those who only cared what Allah saw of her and her merit with Him.

Number three: Showing off our good deeds. Baraka was one of those who did not show off her good deeds. She did not care whether people saw her or didn't see her.

Number four: Very importantly, a short tongue. She only spoke what was necessary and that which benefitted. For us, as Allah says in the Qur'an (in Surah An-Nisa 4:114):

"There is no good in much of their private conversation, except for those who enjoin charity or that which is right or conciliation between people."

Reference: Quran 4:114

Many of your conversations, many of them are non-beneficial except of Sadaqah and Sadaqah here means anything that you possess and you give when you are not obliged. It doesn't mean only money, the things that we speak with, the smile that we give, the service that we give is all called Sadaqah and Baraka was one of those.

Conclusion

My brothers and sisters in Islam, this is the story I had for you. I hope insha'Allah you can go away with something to talk to your family about insha'Allah and teach your children about how Islam puts merit to the people who are not popular and we don't go after popularity and how Islam rises and raises people who are not very well known in the community but their actions and their merit to Allah is what means everything to us.

Questions and Answers Session

Alhamdulillah now we are going to have the adhan. After adhan we are going to have the question and answer session. (جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - Jazakum Allahu Khairan)

Brothers and sisters in Islam (السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ - Assalamu Alaikum) once again. Now insha'Allah I'll try to answer all your questions but if I don't know the answer I'll say I don't know. Khair insha'Allah we have some time. We don't want to drag on too much. We probably don't want to tire you out insha'Allah. We're excited. That's what we do all the time. We love talking and catching up to things.

Question 1: People Who Died Before Islam

Question : (السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ - Assalamu Alaikum). Are the people who died before Islam revealed to Muhammad ﷺ will enter Jannah? Meaning if everybody who died before the time of Rasulullah ﷺ, did Rasulullah ﷺ know whether they will enter Jannah or not?

Answer: Well some of them were according to the hadith that we hear about and not all of them. So not all the people who were revealed to Rasulullah will enter paradise or enter hellfire.

But he did mention someone by the name of Waraqa Ibn Nawfal. He said if I lived to see the day when the people expel this man Muhammad ﷺ. So one of them is Waraqa Ibn Nawfal.

When Rasulullah ﷺ was still in his twenties Khadija took him to him and he said if I were to live to the day when your people expel you from Mecca, I will be the first to support you. And Rasulullah ﷺ said that he is in

Jannah because he was a monotheist who followed the religion of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). There is only a few people Rasulullah ﷺ knew about.

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3

But there is another hadith, I am not sure of its authentication. One man stood up when Rasulullah ﷺ was giving, I am just giving an example, he was giving a long khutbah because people asked too many questions. They asked and asked and asked and he stayed from Fajr until Isha, talking about everything that will ever be.

And people were asking him, one man stood up and said Rasulullah is my father in Jannah. He died in Jahiliyyah and he said your father and my father are in Jahannam, are in hellfire for example. So Rasulullah ﷺ was revealed about some people but some people he didn't know.

So this is what I can say about that question Inshallah.

Question 2: Protecting Iman in Non-Islamic Surroundings

Question: How can a youth who lives in a non-Islamic surrounding protect his Iman?

Answer: Good question Subhanallah but long answer. The advice I can give, so I know that this is something your parents will tell you all the time.

I think marriage plays a big role in helping your Iman. But at the same time you have to maintain your marriage and look after it properly otherwise your marriage will make your Iman fly out the window as well. So Inshallah get advice when you want to get married Inshallah on the process and who to choose but and how to live your life.

But marriage helps you a lot. You're university students most of you right? And I know the university life. I don't know about Malaysia but I think it's something the same as universities in general.

When I hear Mashaikh in Saudi Arabia warning about universities and that's in Saudi Arabia. I think wow what's left for us. So universities I know how it is and Subhanallah I think when you get married you kind of pass through university easier for some reason.

You just don't have children straight away. Marriage is one way that Inshallah can help you stay close to Allah depending on who you choose. Look brothers and sisters the basic guidance of Rasulullah helps you anywhere.

Number one he said, wherever you are remember Allah and protect yourself. What this means is that let's say you're out of university or you're in the street or you're somewhere else where Haram has attracted you, has come to you. If you're a person who develops a habit where you have Taqwa of Allah wherever you are then the next time, the next moment you're in the Masjid or at home the Taqwa kicks in Inshallah and you make Istighfar.

Secondly : (وَلَا تُصَاحِبْ إِلَّا مُؤْمِنًا - Wa laa tusaahib illa mu'minan) (And do not keep company except with a believer). This is something very important. In an un-Islamic country or a place where there's non-Islamic surroundings it is absolutely crucial for you to choose friends who remind you of Allah.

Reference: Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4832, and Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2395

You walk with them, you go to them even if they're a bit older or younger have them as your friends and be together. You can't be alone. You can't do it alone absolutely not especially if you're single.

So you need a surrounding. You need people who remind you, hit you on the head sometimes when you forget. You hit them on the head when they forget. You need those types of friends. So the friends and the company you know this.

Very importantly brothers and sisters, here's some advices inshallah:

You know dhikr? You know the word dhikr? You know what dhikr is right? Does anyone have that book called Hisnul Muslim? You have Hisnul Muslim? How many of you use it? Like I mean really use it. I'll tell you how you're going to use it alright? With an app.

In Australia I take students, year 10 students every year to Umrah. This is one of my duties at the school. We take them to Umrah. And I always look out for those exceptional students.

I still remember this one young fellow. He went past the bookstore and I told him this black book here, it was black, some of them were orange. I said this book here, you take it and you learn it and there's all these adhkar, morning, night, day and night.

Do you want it? He said yes. I said on one condition, I'll buy it for you as a gift so long as you practice it and you promise you say wallahi. He said wallahi I will.

Now he wasn't very religious before. He skipped his salat. He used to swear a lot. When I say swear a lot, I meant, swearing comes with a package. You swear, the people you hang around with also swear. The places they go, the swearing people, their life, it comes with a package. When it's a habit like that. It's not just the words, right? It comes with a whole new thing. So I said take this.

And he took it, we stayed for 21 days, every morning, every night, every evening, every afternoon he's holding it with him. And then suddenly he's got a miswak. So that's the first sign of his iman. He's got a miswak using it all day, all night. He's got this and he began to recite and read them.

Now wallahi, two years later, he comes to the school, two years, I saw the book with him, it was ripped apart. Literally ripped apart. Old and defragmented. I got so happy.

He kept using this book until he ripped it apart, subhanallah. Not literally ripped it, he kept using it until it fell apart. Then the next week, after it got ripped apart, he had another one. But this time it was with a leather cover.

I said, why leather?

He's literally memorised about half of it, memory. And these adhkar stayed with him. Brothers and sisters, adhkar are so vital and so crucial, wallahi, to your iman, it's unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Look, I live in Australia, when I came to Malaysia, I could already see the signs in my own family. My family's with me here. I could already see the signs in them and me just by merely hearing the adhan in the mosques, in the masjids.

Having dhikr around you, plays a humongous role in your iman. Now don't expect that when you do that, you're going to go outside, and as soon as you see something haram or meet something haram, that you're going to be an angel. No.

You're not expected to be perfect. Don't you get that out of your head. Some people they think, iman, I'm losing my, that's good to think that you're losing your iman.

Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was asked at one time, who is a mu'min, how can you tell? She was extremely scholarly, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her). So she said, these following words, I read them subhanallah, these statements I've never heard before. She said, the mu'min is the one who does not think they're mu'min. And the one who is not mu'min, always thinks that they are absolute mu'mins.

You know what mu'min means, not just believe, mu'min iman, like Allah loves them, they're going to jannah, no worries. Don't expect yourself to be a mu'min always. Your iman comes and goes.

Your iman is your friend. Sometimes it leaves you when you're in haram, your desires take over. But this is something I can tell you, if you stick with your adhkar, and you make it a habit, give yourself about 40 days.

Don't worry about the number 40, there's nothing special about it. But somehow, even psychologists, they use the number 40, 30, 20, something like that, 20 and above. You make your adhkar and make it a habit, it works wonders.

Because when you come back, you regret badly. Even from the smallest thing, you regret it. You cry.

And you know what Allah says in the Qur'an? He doesn't say, those who are, it doesn't, whenever Allah speaks about mu'min, He describes something about them. He talks about things they do, things that happen to them. He speaks about their emotions and what happens to them.

And usually, there are many verses in the Qur'an where Allah mentions the mu'min and sins. Like they sin. They remember Allah after sinning. So there's something related to it. Iman is not that you become this super being, that nothing affects you anymore. No! It does still affect you, that's the whole idea.

Your iman comes back, hits you hard. With your adhkar, you remember Allah and you feel so dirty. If you don't feel dirty after that, then know that your iman is low.

But when you feel really dirty, your iman is actually high.

So it's the other way around. And you know what Allah says in Surah Al-Anfal? He said:

"The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts become fearful, and when His verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and upon their Lord they rely."

Subhanallah, perfect description. Innama literally means as a matter of fact, innama as a matter of fact, meaning whatever you were thinking, it's wrong. As a matter of fact, the real mu'mineen are these.

Innamal mu'minoon, as a matter of fact, the mu'minoon, the ones who when dhikr of Allah is around them, when they remember Allah or someone reminds them or they say dhikr, something that reminds them, wajilat qulubuhum, immediately their hearts begin to react. They feel guilty, they feel regret, they feel love, they feel remorse, they feel emotional, they feel anxious, they feel all these things. And when Allah's verses are recited, their iman rises higher.

So that means their iman was low. Their iman rises higher and then they rely on Allah. So when you stick to these dhikr, my brothers and sisters, you will always have a backup.

When you come home, you've done sins. Your iman is heightened again and you repent and you make istighfar.

The Story of Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) and Lowering the Gaze

Now here's a beautiful little story. This is a good question. It goes a long way. I'm just going to finish with this.

You know when we talked about Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him)? Zayd, a young man, Zayd. He was about 14, 15 at that time. He'd just reached puberty. He can't control his desires. We always talk about our youngsters in the age of puberty, they go all over the place. They're not used to themselves. They think, what's happening to me?

So this Zayd, he was walking with Rasulullah ﷺ and with Rasulullah ﷺ was another companion and Rasulullah ﷺ is talking and he's looking forward but with the left, with the side of his eye, he can see Zayd. So Rasulullah ﷺ, he used to treat the youngsters so tenderly. He could see Zayd from the corner of his eyes.

They're walking and a woman passed. A woman passed and Zayd's eyes went with her. Just like this. And Rasulullah ﷺ is with him. You'd think to yourself, if Rasulullah ﷺ was with me, look I'll be flying with the angels. Rasulullah ﷺ is with him and Zayd, he loves Rasulullah ﷺ but a woman passed, this hormonal thing reacts.

And Rasulullah ﷺ kept talking and he'd move his face back like that. He'd talk, another woman passed, his face would go like this. And Rasulullah ﷺ keeps talking and he'd just move his, without Rasulullah ﷺ looking, he's walking, he's talking to his companions, Allah said this, Allah said that, Allah said this, Allah said that, and just move his face again and again, subtly.

So if Zayd is with Rasulullah ﷺ, his iman is up and down because of his desires. But what happened? His friend is Rasulullah ﷺ reminding him. When he goes back, what did the sahabas used to say? When we're not with you, we feel like we are the worst of the worst.

But when we're with you, we feel like we're going to Jannah straight away. And Rasulullah ﷺ said, do you really feel like that? He said, you are with those whom you love. We love you so much.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6168, and Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2639)

And the sahabas, they said, Wallahi there was not a better day than that day when he said, you will be with those whom you love because we sin so much and we regret and we feel like we're going to hell fire, but when we love Rasulullah ﷺ, inshallah that's a good tiding.

So what I'm trying to say to you is this, my brothers and sisters, dhikr plays a big role. Your salah, Wallahi it's unbelievable. But the way you've got to do salah is you've got to mean it. You've got to really look after it, you've got to love it. You've got to make it like the way you love your hobbies.

This is my salah. Mine. I'm going to go and pray because it's me. It's mine. And you make for yourself routines. Say to yourself, you know what, inshallah tomorrow I'm going to start praying on the time, not in time, on time.

I'm going to say, as soon as that adhan goes, I'm going to be one of those who pray on time. Or you might say to yourself, you know, I haven't been praying the sunnahs all the time. There's 12 sunnahs, I'm going to start praying them.

You make that decision. You see, there's something about you making your own decision. You make your own decision. You decide, come up with an Islamic idea for yourself and do it. Say, grab that Hisnul Muslim and say, I'm going to say:

"Glory is to Allah and praise is to Him, Glory is to Allah the Magnificent"

100 times every day at dhuha, at 9am, 10am. You make that decision.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6406, and Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2694)

It has enormous wonders on your iman. Enormous wonders on your iman. Right, because your heart gets dirty and it gets cleansed and you just feel it. You just feel it.

In Sydney, back in Australia, I said to these brothers, young people, I said, pray fajr at the masjid for 40 nights, 40 days. I just plucked out that number, right, 40 days. I hear my brothers in tabligh al jamaa, they always talk about 40 days, 40 days. I said, you know what, maybe there's something cool about it.

So I said to them, pray for 40 days fajr at the masjid. I did that in Lebanon, it took 20 days. And inshallah after that you will never leave it alone. I came back 25 or 26 days later to Sydney and one brother said, wallahi brother, it works.

I said, how? He goes, just do it. He said, you're not wearing a Nike brand are you? Just do it. You know, Nike, my jokes are silly.

So then this brother said, 26 days and I'm on a roll. Subhanallah, until today he hasn't left it. Three years later, what I'm trying to say is this, make a decision about something that Allah loves but you make it and make it very personal and make it a routine.

Your iman stays with you and keep changing it around. Keep changing it around and don't feel bad. Don't feel bad that your iman is not always at its height.

If it goes up and down and you bring it back up with your dhikr and with your regret, then you have iman alhamdulillah. That's the iman. That's iman.

"And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves, remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and do not persist in what they have done while they know."

And those, when they do a fahisha, fahisha means if your father or mother or your brother or sister knew about, or someone you respect knew about, you would feel like just running away and never coming back. Dirty acts. So fahisha means dirty.

You go home, you're alone, you make dhikr, you remember Allah. Who forgives them? So iman is accompanied with people who regret and do sins and come back and go. So my brothers and sisters, this is kind of a brief, very quick advice I can give you. Although there's so much advice. But if you just take this bit inshallah.

Question 3: Problem with Lowering the Gaze

Question (in Arabic( : عِنْدِي مُشْكِلَةٌ فِي غَضِ الْبَصَرِ )I) have a problem with lowering my gaze(

Answer:

And this is a problem, A lot of, especially the men go through. I have a problem, he says, with lowering my gaze.

Now you've just heard the story of Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him). He had a problem with that too. Zayd (may Allah be pleased with him) had a problem. The way Rasulullah ﷺ dealt with it was very subtly.

Okay? However, Today, it's a little bit worse. It's not just the woman on the street or the man on the street. Lowering the gaze involves people alone in their bedroom. Alone. So my brothers and sisters, This is an epidemic and we do live, we have to say it, in a hyper-sexualized world.

You hear the duaat now saying this word a lot. Before we used to be embarrassed. Now we have to say it. So it is a struggle. And I agree with you with lowering the gaze. You know, Rasulullah ﷺ said:

"The first look is for you and the second is against you."

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2149)

Don't go looking for hours with your first look. The first look is accidental. The second one is against you. But he said it in such a way that it's a minor sin. Meaning he knows it's hard. It's difficult.

So when you say:

"I seek forgiveness from Allah"

When you pray. When you give sadaqah. When you say:

"Peace be upon you"

When you say:

"There is no god but Allah"

It wipes it away.

My advice to you is this number one. Lowering your gaze is not something that you can do perfectly. No one can. Everybody suddenly they get their desires to get the better of them. I've seen even the best of people.

But the difference between the person who doesn't fear Allah doesn't have any sense of Iman or regret. And the person who does. They both look sometimes. But what happens? One of them goes back and does something to

erase it.

And the other one enjoys and tells his friends about it. That's the difference. So my advice to you is not a medicine or a cure to lower your gaze forever and never be able to look.

But there is no such solution. Allah created a desire in us to test us with it. It's there. And Rasulullah ﷺ said, The first is yours. The second is against you. Meaning it's always going to happen.

So let's just cut to the chase. And let's not be super human beings. None of us are super Muslims. Boy or girl. Men or women. We all have, you know, weaknesses.

And these weaknesses, however, the difference between a person who is weak. And fears Allah. And a person who doesn't fear Allah. Is that the weak person does something about it.

Now. When you go on the internet, for example. And there's these problems. Then the only answer I have for you is this, my brothers and sisters. You must stop. You must. And you can. You can.

Because if it becomes an addiction. Do you know what I'm talking about? If it becomes an addiction. It's going to be very difficult to stop. But you can stop. Some people stop when they get caught by someone. Who they thought.

I would kill myself if I get caught by this person. We don't want to get to that. Some people they stop when a tragedy happens to them. We don't want to get to that. You can stop. Don't ever say to yourself you can't.

Pornography is something that causes a person to become sick and ill. And listen. About the problems that you have in the future. In high school. The 11s and the 12s come to me with the same problems. I can't help myself.

This, that, that. And I say to them. You know when you get married it's going to cause you problems. And I start to detail the problems to them. I can't say it here. We have brothers and sisters together.

But I want you to read about the psychological and physical problems it can cause to you. And break up your marriage. Break up your family and yourself. If you get into stuff like that. You need. The only solution for lowering the gaze is fear.

Fear. Fearing hellfire. Fearing the punishment. Fearing the embarrassment. Fearing the physical harm. The illness. The sickness.

So my brothers and sisters. The best advice I can give you right now. Simply for lowering your gaze. Is. If you do look. Then. Do something. Do something. To erase it. Do something. To erase it.

And one Sahabi said. Ya Rasulullah. He's saying:

"There is no god but Allah"

One of the Ibadat that erases it. He said. Among the best. So if you follow it up with that. Insha Allah. You'll keep it maintained and balanced.

And if you are stuck with it. In secret. No need to tell anyone about it. Leave it to anyone. Allah. And. Do. Your utmost effort. To do anything. To stop it. You can stop.

So my brothers and sisters. In Islam. This is. Brief advice I can give you. Now in that. Conference. I saw one of the topics. On Sunday. Please go to it.

I'm not sure which sheikh was giving. Or the da'ia was giving. The topic about this particular. Issue. In detail. Insha Allah. There's so much research done on it. And I really advise you. To go to it. Insha Allah ta'ala.

I'm going to go to it. Because. I have students. Who I'd like to go back with. Insha Allah. With more information.

Question 4: Celebrating Mawlid

Question (in Arabic(: هَلْ يَجُوزُ الْإِحْتِفَالُ بِمَوْلِدِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ؟ )Is it allowed to celebrate the birth of the Prophet?)

Answer: Now it says here. This question is controversial. I don't know if I should answer it. But. Insha Allah. It says. So is it allowed to celebrate the birth of Rasulullah.

Me. I follow the opinion. That it's not allowed. It's not permissible to celebrate the birth of the Prophet. But. I'm not one of those. Who go out. And as if the world has ended. When someone celebrates Mawlid an-Nabi.

Now some people. They go to extremes with mawlid. So the manner of how to celebrate. Also matters to me. I agree. This is something scholars have differed upon. And some of them. They want to celebrate the birth of Rasulullah.

I think they went to strictly the hadith and sunnah. That if Rasulullah. Did not celebrate his own birthday. Then are we better than him and his sahabas to celebrate his birthday.

I go with that opinion. If you want to get closer to Allah. Then why don't you do what the sahabas used to do. I don't think we loved Rasulullah more than the sahabas. Or the Tabi'een. Or the Atba' at-Tabi'een.

We're talking about three hundred years in the making. Three generations with three hundred years. Where no one ever celebrated Mawlid an-Nabi. And I think they loved him more than us. So if we're just enough with that. InshaAllah we can understand that celebrating Mawlid an-Nabi is not really from the sunnah.

However. If at the time of his mawlid. We actually don't know when Mawlid an-Nabi ﷺ is. We know it was on a Monday. We know it was something like Rabi' al-Awwal. Something like that.

But nothing is authentic. It's like Isa (peace be upon him). The Christians they celebrate Christmas and they really don't know when he was born.

You have the Orthodox celebrating Christmas two months before. Or two months later. You have the Mormons doing it another time. You have the Seventh Day Adventists doing it another time. You have the Catholics who do it now on the 25th of December.

Isa (peace be upon him) is a prophet. Why don't we celebrate his birthday. Musa (peace be upon him) is a prophet. Let's celebrate with the Jews. Why don't we do that. Well I think we love him more than them. Don't we?

So it doesn't make sense to me personally. Neither Islamically nor in common sense to celebrate the birthday of the Messenger of Allah. I think this was brought out historically from the Christians and those before. And we're imitating what they are doing by celebrating Jesus Christ's birthday. We're celebrating Muhammad's birthday to show that we love him.

Now brothers and sisters, very important. Please do not put down those brothers and those scholars. Some of them are full of knowledge. One of my colleagues, masha'Allah, is a doctorate. He's got a doctorate in Tawhid and Aqidah.

And he, subhan Allah, celebrates Mawlid an-Nabi. We have long conversations together about it. However, the way he does it is this way. He says, O my brother, we live in a non-Muslim country. And honestly, in this week, we don't specify the day, but why don't we just use this time in our khutbah, for example, you're having a lesson that day, instead of talking about another topic, talk about the Seerah of the Messenger, talk about his birth, talk about his merits, his character.

And when you say, in this time the Messenger was born, don't specify it, then it'll be an occasion where young people come to actually listen and learn a little bit more. In that sense, I kind of agree with him. But don't specify a day and turn it into a celebration time, where we have nasheeds and we have fireworks and we have dancing, we have things like that. We don't do stuff like that, insha'Allah ta'ala.

And Allah knows best.

Question 5: Age Clarification About Umm Ayman's Marriage

Question: Shaykh, you mentioned that Zaid married Umm Ayman when she was middle thirties, how come? Because the marriage was after hijrah. And the Prophet was 53 when he made hijrah, and she was the one who welcomed him when he was born at that time. So can you clarify?

Answer: So you mentioned that Zaid married Umm Ayman when she was middle thirties, how come? Because the marriage was after hijrah, and the Prophet ﷺ was 53 when he made hijrah, she was the one who welcomed

him when he was born. The maths doesn't add, does it? The maths is not right. Maybe I made a mistake.

Well, maybe she was a bit older than that, Allah knows best. If you have a point with that, so she was about 13, 14 when the Messenger was born, and he made hijrah, the Messenger made hijrah when he was about 53, 13 years or 14 years after his prophethood. And then she married Zaid, so she would have been in her forties, yes, she would have been in her forties, a bit like the Messenger when he was 25 and married Khadijah when she was 40.

So may Allah reward you for pointing that out.

Question 6: Making Tawbah for Wronging Others

Question: How can you make tawbah for wronging other people?

Answer: Very good question, wonderful question. Making tawbah from wronging other people is the most crucial one, and the most dangerous one.

Because Allah forgives, but people may not forgive, isn't that correct? Allah may forgive without even you asking him, but people may not forgive, even for the smallest things. So the Messenger taught us something, if you have wronged someone, you have to go to them and seek their pleasure.

Okay, now the ulema spoke a lot about that, especially about backbiting. Go to them and seek their pleasure. So if you had wronged them and they know about it, go to them, like in front of them.

There's a little story about Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and another sahabi, where they argued about a piece of land which the Messenger gave to share between them, and he said this little section was mine, the other one said no the Messenger meant it for me.

So Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) accidentally said something that hurt the other sahabi. They all stopped, and Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) cried, he grabbed him and said, take your revenge, take your revenge, take your revenge, say the word back to me. He said no, by Allah, I will not say it back to you.

So he went to the Messenger to complain, and the sahabi reached there, and the Messenger said is it true what Abu Bakr said, he said yes, he said is it true you did not say the word back to him, he said yes, he said please don't say anything back to him, say:

"May Allah forgive you, O Abu Bakr"

So the sahabi kept saying may Allah forgive you O Abu Bakr, may Allah forgive you O Abu Bakr, until Abu Bakr's beard was soaked with tears.

Now the point of that story is, do anything that it takes to make it up to the person whom you've wronged, that's one. If he or she still doesn't forgive you and you've tried everything you can, then you've done what you can, go back and make dua for them. Every time they're mentioned, make dua for them, until you die.

Wallahi, this is something I did once. Every time that person is mentioned, I made dua for them. And whenever they are mentioned in bad, you mention them in good in front of the people. That's one way of compensating.

Now if that person never forgives and you die and they never forgive, well then that's subhanallah. I ask Allah to save us from arrogance, I hope they're not arrogant people. Because you are not more merciful than Allah, and Allah is wronged more than anyone else.

So you've done what you can, and there's this beautiful hadith which I read about the Messenger in a book called Madarijus Salikin, no it was called Bustan Al-Wa'idhin, some weak hadith in it, some authentic, and the hadith says about As-Sirat, where the believers when they're crossing going to Jannah, they reach the last station, and two believers are stopped, and they say, I have a right with my brother, and Allah loves them both.

So then Allah says to one of them, or sends an angel to say, forgive him, if you want, and he says no I don't want to forgive him. And then Allah says to the angel, say to them to look behind them, they look behind them and they see a beautiful palace like the palace they've never seen before.

And they say would you like that palace for yourself, and they'll say yes I would do anything for that palace. And say the reward of that palace is for those who forgive their Muslim brothers and sisters in Islam. And he forgives them and they both hold each other's hand and enter Jannah.

So if it's not dealt with here, Allah doesn't let it go. If he loves you both, on the day of judgement he will settle it by rewarding one of you to compensate you for what you've tried and forgive you.

Now if you have backbitten the person and that person doesn't know about it, you've wronged that person and they don't know about it, this is one when he knows you do everything, but if they don't know about it, what should you do?

The ulema said, number one, you can go to them and apologise to them, but if you know that by apologising to them it will make the matter worse, then go back to the company of people whom you wronged him in front of, and make sure that you fix what you said in front of those people, in public to them, and show them that you had wronged him.

And take their oath not to repeat what you had said. And then after that, whenever that person is mentioned in bad, you mention them in good. Or, if it's true, be silent. And make dua for that person. That's the way insha'Allah, or you can give a sadaqa on behalf of that person. These are the ways that we compensate for wronging other people.

If the wrong had caused damage to them, we have to fix the damage. You know for example in the Qur'an, whoever is killed wrongfully, killed by mistake from the people, then you have to compensate their family with blood money, if their family forgive you then you're off. But the point is, you need to look after their family, because they have no more, if it was a man for example, a husband, no one to look after.

The point is, if there's damage, you need to fix that damage. SubhanAllah, I remember in the mosque in Melbourne, when you park, you park your car, you're parking in the masjid. You come out, and your right hand light is broken.

Ya ami, who broke my light? And he's sitting over there looking at you, he doesn't even tell, he runs away. Ok ami, where's the masjid? One time I came out, one person hit the car, I saw another person hit his car, they stopped. He said, ya akhi, you hit my car.

He said, ah, this is from shaytan. Subhan Allah, from shaytan, what does that mean? Another person comes up and says, akhi, this is the decree of Allah, don't you believe in the decree of Allah? (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah). The guy hits your car, you say, call about Allah's decree?

Do like Umar did, he came and hit someone afterwards, he goes, this is Allah's decree too. So when you wrong someone, you must compensate them, subhanallah, ya akhi, when you do business with each other today, we kind of blackmail each other with Allah's words, we blackmail each other.

Like I come up to him and say, akhi al-karim, sell me your car. Ya akhi, I don't want to sell you my car. The Messenger ﷺ said, if you love for your brother what you love for yourself, you'll sell me your car. (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah).

Tayyib ya akhi, you want how much? You want $5000? (لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ - La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah), ya akhi, do you want dunya, take $2000, it's enough for you. I blackmail you with the hadith. It should be the other way around. Say, akhi, you want $5000, I'll give you $6000 because a brother should love for his brother what he loves for himself.

The other way around. Where are we like that? Where's the iman? That's the problem.

The Story of Malik ibn Dinar

Question: Can you relate this question to the famous scholar who used to be a highway robber?

Answer: Oh, it's a long story. Do we have time? This is a story that you can look for on YouTube. I've started this story about Malik ibn Dinar. The story of Malik ibn Dinar is beautiful, huh? Malik ibn Dinar. Should we finish it with this story? Wallah, khalas, no more time. What do you think? Five minutes? They're not going to say no, akhi.

Wallah, out of respect. Six minutes? Hajji said, we have to respect him, he's older than us. Malik ibn Dinar is the story here. Beautiful, good for the young people as well.

Malik ibn Dinar was a highway robber. He used to stop people on the roads in the deserts and steal their food and money. Some say he used to give it to the poor, Allah knows best, I think he used to take it for himself. Malik ibn Dinar was a highway robber, he used to be an alcoholic, drink a lot of alcohol. But he was a Muslim.

We have lots of those around, alhamdulillah. This person, he used to drink alcohol and he used to be a highway robber. And no one really liked him.

So one day, subhanallah, he sees a young, a poor man who had just come up with a bit of money for the day. He'd worked all day and earned this bit of money and he needed to buy seven loaves of bread or so for his children. He had seven daughters, he wanted to buy six or seven loaves of bread.

And he found this last loaf of bread that was there. Then another man who was wealthier, after the seller had sold it to, about to give it to the poor man for whatever it's worth, say for example one ringgit, the wealthy man said I'll give you five ringgits for example.

Now the poor man can't afford to give more than that, that's all, he's got probably five ringgits to live on. The other man offered him five ringgits. And the seller was going to give it to the man who paid more. And the poor man started to beg, say please, I've got seven daughters, they'll go to bed without food and they'll probably starve tomorrow, please, this is all I have.

But the wealthy man was too arrogant, he said no, I bought it, I gave more money, we have lots of these types, he doesn't act like he's not listening. So Malik ibn Dinar for the first time in his life felt empathy and for the first time in his life he did one good deed. This was his only good deed that Allah loved.

So he comes up to the person who's angry, and this is good anger, he says to the wealthy man, give him his loaf of bread, he's telling you he's got children, what's wrong with you? And the wealthy man said, no, who are you? Get out of my face. What, you Malik ibn Dinar, alcoholic? Now you're a good man?

We always use this against people, don't we? Husband and wife. Now you're religious, wife says to him, husband says, mashallah, and you come from a lineage of the Messenger, do you? So this is what they say to each other, right? They get back at each other, have mercy towards each other. Have mercy.

Okay, a person's a sinner, he's in dirt, don't put him even deeper in the toilet, subhanAllah. Let him be alright.

So Malik ibn Dinar, when he noticed this man's not listening to him, what did he say? He said, okay, well I'll pay more. The wealthy man paid more. He said, no, I'll pay more. Until he bought the loaf of bread for the man. He said, take it O my brother, and let your daughters make dua for Malik ibn Dinar.

So this is a person who is desperate. He knows he's doing sin, but he's addicted to alcohol, he can't stop his robbery, subhanAllah. He said, let them make dua, and he probably used money that he has stolen, subhanAllah.

So this poor man, he took it, and he gave his daughter that night, they made dua for Malik ibn Dinar. Time passed, and Malik ibn Dinar wanted to get married. So guess what? Nobody would give him his daughter. Sure, an alcoholic and a robber.

So he had only one option. In those days, we talked about slavery. He went to the market, and there was a girl who was being sold. Please don't misunderstand me. You've got to take yourself 14 centuries ago to understand the meaning of slavery in that time. Muslims were very kind, and that's another story.

So he bought her, and he freed her, then married her. That was the only way he could get married. Allah gave him a daughter named Fatima. He named her Fatima. He loved her immensely. When she was about 4 or 5 years old, she was playing around, and he came to drink alcohol.

So she hit him on his chest, sorry, the bottle. He said, what's this? My daughter doesn't like this alcohol. Every time. He found that cute. He didn't know Subhanallah, Allah has given him guidance, hidayah. When Allah knows in the heart of somebody there is good, He guides them.

He brings someone to them. And this time, he brought to Malik his daughter, Fatima. So she's hitting it yucky, this alcohol bottle. At that age, Subhanallah, a few months later, she became ill with a fever. So he carried her, and Subhanallah, she used to hit him on his chest, it became a habit. As though he had the alcohol bottle.

She had a habit. Some children, Subhanallah, babies, what do they do? Some of them, they touch your beard. My daughter, she used to always pull my beard, that's why from here it's missing. And sometimes, my son, I remember, I'd carry him, he'd put his hand in my chest. This is a habit. She had the habit of hitting him on his chest because of the alcohol bottle.

And Subhanallah, she died in his arms. He became so grievous over her. He became so saddened. He buried her, cried for her, and he became more addicted to alcohol after that. He kept drinking more and more to forget his sorrows.

He said, I kept drinking and drinking until one day I went unconscious from my intoxication. And I dreamt as if the world had ended. The world was ending, Yawm al-Qiyamah. I looked behind me and there was a huge dragon following me, monster.

I ran away from the dragon in my dreams. I kept running until I reached the edge of a cliff. I looked at the cliff, I wanted to jump, but there was fire burning. So I ran the other way and the dragon's behind me.

He said, I reached the beach, sand. And on the beach there was an old man barely able to walk. His beard was white to the ground. I raced to him, said, save me, save me. And the old man couldn't even speak. He could barely lift his finger up, shivering. And he pointed with his withered finger towards that direction.

He said, I followed in the direction of his finger. I'm running and the monster's behind me. And then suddenly I reached some cliffs, a cliff. And in that cliff there were pockets. And out of that pockets came girls and boys,

children. These are the children who died, Allah knows best, the interpretation of the scholar who's reciting. The interpretation said, these were children who died at an early age and they're in Jannah.

They came out of the pocket and they all called out. Ya Fatima, save your dad, save your dad. He said, suddenly I looked behind me in his dream and I see my daughter Fatima running to me. She stood between me and the dragon and she did this with her hand. The dragon faded away.

So I carried her and she looked at me and said, father, what's wrong with you? He said, what happened? What's this dragon? What's the old man? What's happening?

She said, Ya Abati, your sins have grown too much. Your sins have grown too much until they became the size of that dragon. That dragon is a metaphor of your sins. That dragon is the shape of your sins. You can no longer run away from them. They're going to consume you to the point where you can't get out anymore. And that cliff, that's hellfire.

If you continue doing sins, your sins are going to throw you into hellfire. He said, who is the old man? She said, Abati, that's the only one good deed you have. When you fed those children. Couldn't you see it's not strong enough to even guide you? It can only just barely, and this is your last chance. Allah has given you a guidance.

She said, then my daughter Fatima hit me on my chest as she usually does. And she recited the following verses (from Surah Al-Hadeed 57:16):

"Has the time not come for those who have believed that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are defiantly disobedient."

Reference: Quran 57:16

Oh dad, has it not come time for those whose hearts are being guided by Allah, for those who have believed, for their hearts to come close to Allah and repent, and not be like those former people who have been led astray.

There are people before us who received the Torah and the Injil. They got so used to the Torah and the Injil that it became words used to their ears, until their hearts became hardened, and the Injil and Torah could not make them move anymore. Many of them have corrupted themselves.

In other words, Abati, you hear the Qur'an every day. Are you going to be like them? You got so used to it that your sins are going to consume you, and your heart becomes so hardened to the point that the Qur'an cannot even move it.

There are people who hear the Qur'an every day, Wallahi, it does not move them.

As Allah says in the Qur'an (in Surah Al-Furqan 25:30):

"And the Messenger has said, 'O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur'an as [a thing] abandoned.' "

Reference: Quran 25:30

Allah, the Messenger ﷺ, on the Day of Judgement will say, Oh my Lord, he will cry, complaining, my people have taken this Qur'an in abandonment. It no longer moves them.

And the Messenger ﷺ said in a hadith:

"It could be a person reading the Qur'an, while the Qur'an is cursing them."

Can you imagine someone reading the Qur'an, with Tajweed and Ahkam, and the Qur'an is saying, curse you. Because they read it for the wrong reasons, and they don't practice any of it.

So my brothers and sisters, Malik Ibn Dinar received those verses from Surah Al-Hadeed, and he woke up with the last verses, he wiped his tears, he became sober, and he said, Yes, it is time, it is time.

Remember what we said before, about making a decision brothers and sisters, nobody can make that decision but you. You want to be guided? You, you say, I have made the decision now. Wallahi that decision is the most powerful strength Allah has given any man. Decision making.

He went to Al-Masjid, went to the Masjid of Medina, and there was Imam Al-Shafi'i. He lived at the time of Imam Al-Shafi'i. And Subhanallah, he had finished the same ayah, and he was giving tafsir. Imagine Imam Al-Shafi'i giving tafsir on this ayah.

I am now a speck compared to him. He is giving the tafsir of ayah, Imam Malik Ibn Dinar. He stood up that morning from Fajr, and he made the decision. He said, I have given up everything. My alcohol is gone. My robbery is gone. My Salat has come back. Everything.

He picked up his family and he said, I am sorry, Imam Al-Shafi'i was not in Medina at that time. He said, he picked himself up and he went to Medina. And he became the student of the Imams there, until he became one of the great Imams that we know till today. Imam Malik Ibn Dinar.

He has books, some books that have been written. We read about him, the Ulama after him, the people after him became Ulama and his students. And he said, at the time of his death, close to his death, he used to say, although Allah took away my daughter, he brought to me the most beloved, which is Hidayah.

Hidayah in place. Fatima was my Hidayah. And he brought to me the children of all the Mu'mineen from all around the world to come and learn from me as a result. Fatima, he took her away and gave me a thousand other Fatimas and a thousand other Muhammads. She was my Hidayah. La ilaha illa Allah.

This is a glad tiding and an inspiration. But if Malik Ibn Dinar, an alcoholic, I don't think any of us here are like that, Alhamdulillah, then don't ever despair. Okay.

Final Closing

And finally I'll finish it with this ayah, where Allah says (in Surah Az-Zumar 39:53):

"Say, 'O My servants who have transgressed against themselves [by sinning], do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Indeed, Allah forgives all sins. Indeed, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.'"

Oh My servants who have regretted, and they blame themselves, and they burden themselves with regret, do not despair from Allah's mercy and forgiveness. Allah forgives everything. Allah forgives everything. As a matter of fact, Allah is the greatest forgiver and the most merciful.

May Allah accept our deeds, forgive our sins, encompass us with His mercy, and grant us Jannah. May Allah forgive all our sins tonight and not leave us to leave this room with our sins washed away.

END OF KHUTBAH