Who is your Lord by

Who is Your Lord?

Speaker: Dr. Bilal Philips

Opening

Arabic:

English Translation:

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds. May Allah's peace and blessings be on the noble Prophet, and on his family and companions, and on all those who follow his way until the Day of Judgment.

All praise is due to Allah and may Allah's peace and blessings be on the last Prophet Muhammad, and on all those who follow the path of righteousness until the last day.

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Introduction

The topic, who is your Lord, addresses the issue as to whether belief is really enough. Is it enough just to say, we believe our Lord is Allah? Or do we have to have a sufficient level of knowledge to justify that claim?

The Three Questions in the Grave

Because we have a hadith narrated by a number of companions, among them Al-Barra bin Azib, Anas ibn Malik, Abu Huraira, and others, who narrated from the Prophet, that after a person dies and he enters into the barzakh, that is, the spirit world, a world from which he cannot come back. A world which prevents him from contacting those who are living. When he enters into that world, Allah causes him to hear the footsteps of those who walk away after his burial.

And he will be sat up by two angels, jet black in color with bright blue eyes. And they will ask him:

Arabic: (مَن رَبُّكَ؟ - Man Rabbuka?)

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English Translation: "Who is your Lord?"

Arabic: (وَمَا دِينُكَ؟ - Wa ma deenuka?)

English Translation: "And what was your religion?"

Arabic: (وَمَن نَبِيُّكَ؟ - Wa man Nabiyyuka?)

English Translation: "And who was your Prophet?"

Reference: Narrated by multiple companions including Al-Barra bin Azib, Anas ibn Malik, and Abu Huraira

These three questions. Tonight the topic of this lecture is man rabbuk - who was your Lord?

Why This Question Is Critical

If the answer was simple, as simple as we might want to look at it right now, everybody here can say Allah. But if it were really that simple, then for these two angels, Munkar and Nakir, to ask us that, and this is the beginning of the trials of the grave, of the state of the grave, then the question that they would ask would be meaningless.

So obviously, understanding what our Lord really is in this life, so that we will be able to answer that question in the next life, is critical. Because those questions that are coming at us in the next life, they are not like the examinations that we have in this life, where if you get 50% you pass.

No. This is the beginning of the trials of the grave. Those who knew who their Lord was in this life, and knew what their religion was, and who their Prophet really was, they will answer with ease, and the state of the grave will become a garden from the gardens of paradise for them.

Whereas those who are unable to answer, because they really didn't know who their Lord was in this life, the Prophet said, they will only be able to say, "ah, ah, I don't really know." When they're asked what was their religion, even though culturally, where they were considered to be Muslims, but in fact, they really weren't, their answer will only be, "ah, ah." And who was their Prophet? Because they didn't understand who Muhammad really was. He had no meaning in their lives. So when they're asked who their Prophet was, they will only be able to say, "ah, ah."

So, we must come to grips with this reality. Knowledge of whom our Lord is, is the foundation of our faith. How can we believe in our Lord, if we don't know who He is?

Quranic Warning About False Belief

Furthermore, we have in the 12th chapter of the Quran, verse 106, a severe warning, a grave warning, in which Allah says:

Arabic: (وَمَا يُؤْمِنُ أَكْثَرُهُم بِاللَّهِ إِلَّا وَهُم مُّشْرِكُونَ - Wa ma yu'minu aktharuhum billahi illa wa hum mushrikun)

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English Translation: "Most of those who claim to believe in Allah worship others besides Him. They're pagans, idol worshippers, but they claim to believe in Allah."

Reference: Quran 12:106

So it means that this issue of who our Lord is, is quite detailed. There are details of it that we must be clear on. Otherwise, we can end up like others. Christians, who believe that their Lord is Jesus. They address Him as dear Lord Jesus. And they believe that He is God. And He and God the Father are one. Yet, He was born. Yet, according to them, He died. That is their belief.

And others, Buddhists and Hindus and others, believe in God. But their belief in God is so distorted that they end up worshipping idols while claiming to believe in God.

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Questions to Test Your Knowledge of Allah

So, tonight I'm going to raise for you some questions. By which you can use to judge to what degree do you know who your Lord is.

Question 1: Is Belief Blind Faith?

The first question: Do you agree with those who say that belief is a matter of blind faith? Do you agree with those who say that belief, belief in God, is a matter of blind faith? You can't prove it. It's just either you believe or you don't believe. If you agree, then you don't know who your Lord is.

Question 2: Who Created God?

If you are asked the question, if everything has a creator, then who created God? And you scratch your head. Hmm, I really don't know. Then you don't know who your Lord is.

Question 3: Why Can't God Have a Son?

If somebody said to you, if God can do anything, we believe God can do anything. Why can't he have a son? And if we scratch our heads again and say, I think he could have a son, but he decided not to. Then we don't know who our Lord is.

Question 4: The Stone Paradox

And if somebody puts the idea to us that if God is all-powerful, can he create a stone which is too heavy for him to lift? And our head spins. And we don't know what to say. If we said he can, then is there something greater than him? If we say that he can't, then it means he can't do everything. What's the answer? If we are there, we don't know who our Lord is.

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Question 5: Where Did Evil Come From?

And if somebody raises the big question, if God is all-good, and he's able to do all things, then where did evil come from? If our answer is, human beings, they're the ones that made the evil. And Satan, he made the evil. Then we don't know who our Lord is.

Answers to These Questions

Now, these questions require an answer. So that you don't walk away from the lecture tonight and say, we came to learn about Islam and Dr. Bilal confused us. He left us confused. So that you don't walk away that way, I'm going to give you the answers. But this is only an introduction to understand where we need to be.

Because if these questions are unclear to us, truly, we don't know who our Lord is. And it means that we will be open to false dawah, false calls to other than Islam, to misguidance. We will be susceptible to these false ideas and fall into them because we didn't know who our Lord was.

Answer 1: Belief in God Is Logical, Not Blind Faith

So, let us go back to number one. Is belief in God a matter of blind faith? No, it is not. This is the claim that the atheists make, those who deny the existence of God. Belief in God is a matter of blind faith, whereas our disbelief in God is logical, it's reasonable, it makes sense. We can't see Him, we can't smell Him, we can't touch Him, therefore He doesn't exist. That is reasonable, that is logical. As for your belief in this unseen God, this is illogical.

Well, we say, Who were those who recorded the rules of logic? Who were the first people in history that we know about who wrote down the rules of logic? If A equals B, and B equals C, then A must equal C. Who wrote those rules down? The Greeks, and the most famous philosophers amongst the Greeks, Plato and Aristotle, they both believed in God. Both Plato and Aristotle argued logically for the existence of God.

So we say, belief in God is in fact logical and reasonable, and it is the disbelief in God which is illogical and unreasonable. It's the other way around. It's the disbelievers in God whose disbelief is based on blind faith. Belief in God is logical, reasonable, natural. Disbelief in God is unnatural.

That is why the vast majority of human beings in the world throughout history have believed in God. Those who denied God's existence are a minute number. That's why in the Quran, when the Quran addresses belief in God, it doesn't begin from those who don't believe in God's existence. There are few verses which address them, but the vast majority of verses address those who already believe in God. But they have a confused idea about who God really is.

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Plato's Argument: Design Indicates a Designer

So, if we look at the argument of those philosophers, the Greek philosophers, first among them Plato. Plato's argument for God's existence is the same basic argument we find throughout the Quran. That argument is primarily that design indicates a designer.

Design indicates a designer. What does that mean? It means that if we go walking on the beach and we see a footprint in the sand, we don't stop to think and to wonder how amazing it is that the tide came ashore, sunk into the sand and made the impression of a footprint. That could happen. But do we think that? No. When we see that footprint, what automatically comes to our mind is somebody stepped here. That's number one. Automatically. That's common sense.

It is illogical and unreasonable to assume that that footprint was a product of chance. Though we can say it is not totally impossible, but that is not what comes to our minds. Our reasoning powers tell us otherwise.

The Big Bang Fallacy

However, those who deny God's existence, this is their argument. It's possible. It's by accident. Our very existence here is a product of a huge accident. A huge accident which began with the Big Bang. The Big Bang. The Big Bang which was an explosion of matter compressed in a very small point.

Of course, those who talk about this don't explain where the matter came from in the first place, but they start from this point of matter, exploding. And this huge explosion produced you and I, complex human beings, from a massive explosion.

However, all of our common sense tells us that explosions produce destruction, not construction. Explosions are not constructive. They don't produce results that are meaningful. They are chaotic. They create chaos, not order.

The Junkyard Analogy

So, if we are to believe as they claim that this huge Big Bang created us, think for a moment. If somebody were to take an atomic bomb and drop it in a junkyard, the junkyard where you have bits and pieces of old cars, you can buy spare parts, the junkyard. You drop an atomic bomb in the junkyard and it explodes, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Massive explosion.

And when the cloud settles, we see in front of us a Rolls Royce. Engine purring. Door open. You just have to step in and drive away. What do you think are the chances of that happening? We say, zero. Those who think logically and reasonably, they say, zero.

But for the illogical atheists, they say, no, it's possible. If you drop enough atomic bombs in enough junkyards, eventually, one time, we'll get a Rolls Royce coming out of there. It's possible.

Mathematics Is Not Absolute Reality

So, the atheist turns to the mathematician. And he asks the mathematician, what are the possibilities of this happening? Can you give me a formula for that? So, the mathematician tells him, well, chances of this happening is one to the minus billion zeros with a one at the end of it. He says, ah, there is that one chance. The mathematician said, a billion zeros with a one at the end of it, there is the chance.

We say to him, please, this is mathematics. Does mathematics define 100% the real world? So, yes, mathematics is supreme. It tells us the realities. We say, no, it doesn't. Mathematics is an approximation that we have placed as human beings on this world. And we calculate, and it works. To a great degree. So, we depend on it. However, it is not 100%.

The Door Paradox

Because, according to mathematics, think about this, according to mathematics, if I were to walk out of here, through that door over there, a hundred meters away, I will never be able to reach the door. According to mathematics, I will never be able to reach the door.

Why? Because, 100 meters, when I walk towards the door, I must walk through the 50 meter midway. Right? After I walk through the 50 meter midway, then I must walk through the 25 meter midway between the door and the 50 meters. Right? And after I go through the 25 meter midway, I must go through the 12.5 meter midway. And after the 12.5 meter midway, I must go through the 6 point, and then the 3 point, and then, and then, and you can keep dividing on your computer and never reach zero.

Zero is the door. That's mathematics. According to mathematics, you will never reach zero. You can keep dividing infinitely. So what does that mean? We go to doors all the time. We go through them all the time. That's the real world. But according to mathematics, we never go through the door.

So, one to the minus billion zeros with a one, forget it. That means zero. No chance. It's not going to ever happen.

The Monkeys and Typewriters Example

These atheists usually give another example. They say, okay, if you put a hundred monkeys in a cage, and you give them a hundred Arabic typewriters, and let them, of course with paper, you have to put paper in the typewriters, right? Let them beat away at the keys with their elbows, their heads, their feet, knees, jumping up and down, everything. Eventually, one of them will type out the whole Quran for you. The whole Quran from Fatiha to Nas.

Answer 2: Aristotle's Argument - The Uncreated Creator

On the other hand, Aristotle argued that if the creator had a creator, who had a creator, who had a creator, who had a creator, and we keep going back infinitely, to infinity, then there's no way to explain how we got here.

Because if the origins are in infinity, that's the same as saying there are no origins. Without an origin, we cannot be here.

Our very existence is proof that things began at one point. And it was begun by one who was not himself a part of that same process of creation. Were he a part of that process, then he would have been in need of a creator, would have been in need of a creator, and so on and so forth. So, no beginning. That was Aristotle's argument. And that is the reality.

If we define God as one without a beginning, to ask who created him is ludicrous. Any question which involves God doing ungodly things, doing things which make him no longer God, these are ridiculous and ludicrous questions.

Answer 3: God Cannot Have a Son

So, once we said God is without beginning and he is without end, to ask, can God be born? Can God die? These are ludicrous. We have already said he has no beginning and no end.

Answer 4: The Stone Paradox Is Ludicrous

Similarly, the question, if God is able to do all things, can he create a stone which is too heavy for him to lift? That is ludicrous. Because it implies that there would be something greater than God. So, you don't ask the question in the first place because it is a ludicrous question.

Answer 5: Understanding Evil and Good

Now, the question with regards to evil, that is a more precise question which is important for us to understand.

If we said that evil was created by human beings and Satan, then we fall in the realm of those who believe in more than one God, more than one creator.

Like the Zoroastrians of Iran, of Persia, the Parsis, who believe in a God of good, Ahura Mazda, and a God of evil, Angra Manu. Because they didn't want to assign evil to God, they gave the creation of evil to Satan, elevated to the status of God.

Allah tells us very clearly in the Qur'an:

"He is the creator of everything."

Reference: Quran

Nothing takes place in His creation except by His permission. So, who created evil? Where did evil come from? It came by the permission of God. It came from God. God permitted it to take place. So, what does that mean? Do we have an evil God here? No. God is good.

And every evil incident which takes place has behind it an element of good for which God permitted that evil to take place. As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining, this is the good that is behind the cloud.

The Story of Moses and Khidir

This is what is illustrated in the story of Moses and Khidir. Surah Al-Kahf, which we are supposed to read and reflect on every Friday. In it, Al-Khidir seeks to learn from or seeks to teach Prophet Moses some of the knowledge which Allah had revealed to him.

And Moses promised to be patient with Khidir so that he could learn properly from him. He and Moses crossed a river in a boat. The boatsman kindly took them across. When they reached the other side and the boatsman walked away, Al-Khidir took an axe and broke a hole in the boat.

Prophet Moses was aghast. He said, "Why did you do this? This is not a good thing." Al-Khidir told him, "Didn't I tell you you weren't going to be able to be patient in order to learn from me, really?" He said, "Oh, sorry."

Then he later explained to him that after they left, there was a tyrant coming down the river. A ruler who was a tyrant who was snatching the boats of everyone. All of the boats that were moored at the shores of the river, he was capturing them all. And of course, when he came to that broken boat, he said, "Oh, don't need that one. It's got a hole in it." And he went on and took the others.

And the owner of the boat, of course, when he came back to his boat and he saw the hole in it first, he would have said, "Ah, what a horrible thing. Somebody made a hole in my boat. Who would have done such an evil thing?" But then, when the tyrant came and left his boat, what did he say then? "Alhamdulillah, there was a hole in my boat." Turned around. What he thought was evil, turned out to be a good thing.

Personal Example: The Missed Flight

And how many times in our lives have we not experienced things similar? I remember there was an article in the newspapers from Egypt where it showed a picture of a young man standing with his father kissing him on the right cheek and his wife kissing him on the left cheek. And he had both thumbs up and he had this huge smile on his face. I read the article.

The article said that this young man was about to board a plane in Egypt. The last flight going to Bahrain. He was a teacher in Bahrain. And he was to catch the very last Gulf Air flight flying back to Bahrain. If he missed the flight, then he would lose his job.

So, when he rushed to the airport the previous morning with his bags all packed, he rushed through, he got his tickets, everything. He went to immigration and the immigration officer as he opened his passport, looking at the various stamps, he said, "You're missing one stamp." One stamp? All the stamps are here. He said, "No. There's one stamp missing." Oh, no. He's shattered.

"Can I get some money? Can you take a hundred pounds?" "No. You can't get on this flight. You're missing one stamp." He's crying. "My job." He falls on his knees, begging the man, "Please let me." The man said, "No way."

He finally gets up. Shattered. Going home. Meeting his family. Everybody crying. He was the one who was working in Bahrain, earning money, which was coming back, benefiting the whole family.

Then the next morning, in the newspapers, the news came. That flight, that Gulf Air flight, crashed. No survivors.

So the next evening edition of the paper, you saw him there, thumbs up, big grin, happy. What he thought was a calamity half a day ago turned out to be a mercy. He was very happy about it. And that's life, isn't it? We find many, many examples like that in our lives. Where something seems to be evil, and we find out shortly, or sometime later, that in fact it was a good thing.

Evil We Cannot Understand

That's one example of good and evil. There's another example of good and evil, where you can't figure it out. Evil happens, and you can't see the good that's in it.

And that was in the story of Moses and Khidir. After they left where the boat was, they went along the shore, and he came across, Khidir came across a boy. A boy about 11 years old. And he grabbed the boy's head and he

tore it off. He tore the boy's head off.

Moses was shocked. "How could you kill this innocent child? A child who hasn't even reached puberty is not held accountable. How can you do this?" Khidir told Moses, "didn't I tell you you wouldn't be patient?" "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry."

Anyway, he went on to explain to him that the parents of this boy were two righteous people who this boy would grow up to create such a trial for that it would drive them to the verge of disbelief. He would make their life a living hell. So Allah instructed Khidir to take the boy's life.

Of course, in the case of the parents, when they saw their son decapitated, dead, they would have been shocked. They would have been hurt. Allah gave them another child, a girl who loved them, stayed close to them, etc., and they appreciated that. But they would always remain that hole in their heart for their son was murdered.

And it would not be until the day of judgment when they stood before God and the truth about everything was revealed to them, they would realize then it was a good thing.

The Dentist Example

Some things are like that. And we can see an example of this with our own children, where the first time you take your child to the dentist, before you take the child, you build him up, you tell him how nice the dentist is, he's a good man, he likes you, he's going to give you a lollipop, whatever. So the kid is happy to go see the dentist.

Then when he gets in the chair and the dentist takes out that big needle, the kid is looking at this needle, and he takes it, and he sticks it in his mouth, and the kid screams. Then he pulls out this drill, and he starts digging it into his teeth. The kid is bawling, tears are running down his face.

And when he leaves with his father at the end of all that, he says, "Dad, you said he was a good man. He's a bad man. He's not a good man. He's a bad man."

And of course, the next time you have to take him to the dentist, he's going to be fighting you tooth and nail. He won't allow you to take him. He'll be kicking, fighting, screaming. You try to explain to him, "listen son, what the dentist did was to remove a greater pain that could come. The little pain that he did to you was to prevent a bigger pain. Bad teeth, root canal, all these other things that can come out of it."

You think your son can understand that? No. All he can understand is the pain that the dentist did to him. All of that explanation is way above his head. He can't see it.

That's how it is. Things we can't see the good behind. Some people assume there is no good. And so, they fall into atheism. This is the common disease that happens to some people who haven't understood God. And how God operates in human life.

Examples of Atheism Due to Suffering

So when tragedy occurs in their life, they fall apart. And the only conclusion they can come to is that there can't possibly be a God. You see, people like Dawkins, Professor Dawkins in the UK considered a genius, mathematical genius, who wrote about the world and time, basically a defense of atheism. Arguing why there is no God.

If you see him, he is a shriveled up individual in a wheelchair who can hardly move anything. His eyelids, that's it. So, what happened? When he was in his prime, he was 18 years old, mathematical genius in Oxford and Cambridge, he was stricken by a disease which affected his spinal cord and he slowly just shriveled up.

So, when he came to India, and he came to India, traveled around India, and he saw all of these billion Indians, most of whom had little or no education. Living lives healthy while he who has so much to offer the world is shriveled up. He said, there can't be a God. This is just not fair. Why shouldn't I have a healthy body and one of these millions be shriveled up? That makes more sense.

He couldn't accept his state. So, it led him to disbelief in God. And this is what you hear at the bottom of the statements of many atheists when you ask them, how did you become an atheist? Why are you an atheist? They tell you, "well listen, I had this aunt. She was a wonderful person. She used to do so many good things for everybody. She used to come and visit me and take me to the park and take me here and there and give me money and ice cream and everything.

And then one day when we were walking across the street, a truck came, hit her and killed her. Why? She was a good person. Why should she be killed like that? There's so many other bad people who are walking around. They're fine. They're not dead. Why is she dead?" He doesn't have an explanation. So, where does he go? There can't be a God. This stuff is just happening anyhow, anyway.

So, this kind of understanding, misunderstanding, leads to disbelief in God itself. When a person doesn't know their Lord.

God Did Not Abandon His Creation

There is a further question which I would like to raise for you. And that is the statement of those who say, God created this world and left it to run by itself. He's not involved. It's too insignificant. He just created it and left it to run by itself.

They accept that there's got to be a God. So, they are what they call deists. They believe in the existence of God, but they don't believe that God conveyed his word to humankind. No. They say that's fairy tales. There's so many religions around the world. Everyone claims that he's right. They're all wrong. They're all made up by human beings.

Of course, the possibility that one is right and the rest are all wrong, he doesn't reflect on that one. He just sees all of them claiming to be right and they have different teachings. Therefore, he can only conclude they all must be wrong.

So, if one accepts that, then of course, he also doesn't know who his Lord is. He said he believes in God, but he doesn't know who God is.

The Factory Analogy

Because, common sense tells us, practical common sense tells us, that if a man set up a factory and he put an advertisement in the paper for people to come and work in his factory. And he hired all of these people. And then, on the day when the factory was supposed to begin operations, they all came down to the factory and he didn't tell them what they were there for, what was their individual jobs. And they walked into the factory.

What do you think they're going to do? Is each one going to go and find his place in the factory and slot in and just be working and the factory is just humming and working well? Or is he going to go to the canteen where there is tea being served? Sit down with his friends and chat until somebody comes along and tells him what he's supposed to be doing here.

If nobody told him, what do you think would happen to that company? It would be a resounding success or a stupendous failure. It would have been a failure, of course.

And what would he say about a businessman who did that? He'd say, he's an idiot. He's a fool. He's dumb, stupid, unwise. We have a whole string of terms for him. All of them indicating foolish.

Now, if we can accept that with regards to a company, what about the world? And what about the God who created this world? For us to say he didn't tell us what we're supposed to do here, is to make him like the owner of that company.

He is the most wise as Allah describes him in the Quran. The most wise of the wise. One of his names is Al-Hakim. The absolute wise. So, wisdom demands that he would inform human beings of their purpose on this earth. Beginning with the first human beings, they would be informed why they are here. That's what wisdom demands.

We accept it in our own lives for sure on the scale of God who is all wise, it is beyond him. It is beneath him to have created this world and not inform people what their purpose is.

Messengers Are Necessary

So, true belief in God where one knows who one's Lord is, requires the belief that God sent messengers, carrying his message to humankind informing them of their purpose here. That is without a doubt absolutely necessary. Belief in God requires that we believe in him sending messengers with the message that he wanted to convey to humankind.

The Message of Islam

So, in the end, we know that God's message was sent to the first human beings referred to as Adam and Eve. That message which was sent was in fact Islam.

We can say that the religion of Adam and Eve was Islam while a Christian cannot say it was Christianity. Nor can a Jew say it was Judaism. Nor can a Buddhist say it was Buddhism. But we can say it was Islam because Islam means submission to the will of God.

Which encompasses all of the messages which were sent by the prophets of God to humankind. Submission to the will of God. There is only one God. And he created only one race of human beings.

There Is Only One Human Race

I know people say, no, there's different races. There's the Mongoloid race. There's the Negroid race. There's the Caucasian race and so on. No. This is nonsense. There is only one race. The human race. One.

The proof of that, Allah left amongst us. Where if a man from the Caucasian race from the North, from Norway, whiter than white, blonde hair and blue eyes, he needs a transfusion and his blood type is O negative. His family is O positive. Their blood can't save his life. But another man from South India, blacker than black, whose blood is O negative can save him.

So what is that saying? Who is closer to him? His own family who look like him or that person from South India who seems to be the total opposite of him. These are the signs which Allah left amongst us to remind us that we are one human race.

One God, One Race, One Religion

And as such, God revealed to that human race one religion. He did not reveal a bunch of different religions thereby confusing human beings. No! He only revealed one religion. Human beings changed it and he would send more prophets. And they would change it again and he would send more prophets. But all the time, it was one message.

As Allah said:

English Translation: "We sent to every people a messenger calling them to worship Allah alone and to avoid the worship of false gods."

Reference: Quran

One God. One human race. One religion. Islam.

Conclusion: Know Your Lord Through the Quran

That is the message that I wanted to share with you tonight. Knowledge of who our Lord is takes us ultimately to knowledge of Islam.

So as we need to go back and understand who our Lord is by reading the Quran. Ramadan is around the corner and it's the month dedicated to the Quran. As Allah explained, it was the month in which the Quran was revealed. So we dedicate our time to reading the Quran but we should read it with understanding. Read it and reflect on its meanings. Not read it as a ritual.

So that we fall into the category about which Allah said:

English Translation: "Will they not reflect on the meanings of the Quran? Or are their hearts locked?"

Reference: Quran

Let us not be among those with sealed hearts in this month of Ramadan before us. Let us open our hearts to the Quran and read it with understanding. And come to know who our Lord is.

Surah Al-Ikhlas: The Foundation of Knowledge About Allah

Because at least a third of the Quran is dedicated to explaining who is our Lord. And that is why:

Arabic: قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

English Translation: "Say, He is Allah, the uniquely One."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:1)

Prophet ﷺ said, one who reads it has read a third of the Quran. Because that surah is dedicated to explaining who our Lord is.

Arabic: قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ

English Translation: "Say, He is Allah, the uniquely One."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:1)

الله الصَّمَدُ : Arabic

English Translation: "Allah, the one who depends on nothing and all depends on Him."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:2)

Arabic: لَمْ يَلِدْ

English Translation: "He does not give birth."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:3)

Arabic: وَلَمْ يُولَدْ

English Translation: "Nor was He born."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:3)

Arabic: وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ

English Translation: "And there is nothing similar to Him."

Reference: Surah Al-Ikhlas (112:4)

Final Prayer

So, I ask Allah to let us walk away tonight with a renewed desire to want to know Islam and to know who our Lord is and to implement that knowledge in our lives so that this nation, this nation of the Maldives can rise again and be counted among the nations of this world that have contributed to human civilization.

It is with Islam that we will achieve that. Without it, we never will.

Arabic: بَارَكَ اللَّهُ فِيكُمْ

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

English Translation: May Allah bless you.

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.