Joe Bradford 10-13-17

A poor man went to the Prophet ﷺ for some form of resolution. "Ya Rasulullah, my children are eating dates, he pulls the dates out of their mouth. I can't move because this is the area where I live. What can I do?"

The Prophet ﷺ said, "Go and find me this man from the Ansar. Go and find me this man from the people of Madinah."

When he came to him, he said to him, "Is it true that you have a date palm at the border of your property, bordering the house of so and so?" "Yes, it is." He said, "I want you to sell me that one date palm." He said, "I won't sell it."

He said, "I want you to sell me the one date palm in exchange for a date palm in Jannah." The man said, "I have a lot of date palms in my farm and nothing is more beloved to me than this one date palm. So I won't sell."

And then he left. Hearing this, one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ whose name was Abu al-Dahdah, he went and followed the man back to where he lived and waited to see if he could identify him. And came to him days later and said, "I hear you have a date palm on the border of your farm. I want to buy that date palm from you."

He said, "This is my favorite date palm, my favorite date tree. I'm not going to sell it. And if I would sell it, I don't think that you could be able to pay the price."

He said, "Name your price. What do you want? Five date palms?" "More." "Ten?" "More." "Twenty?" "More." "Thirty?" "Give me forty and I'll give you this one date palm."

He said, "I'll give you forty. That's the entirety of my farm, my personal farm. I will give you my personal farm containing forty dates for this one date palm."

The man said, "Gladly accept." They had witnesses, witness to the transaction and ownership was transferred.

Abu al-Dahdah went back to the Prophet ﷺ and he said, "Ya Rasulullah, do you remember the poor man that came in the other day? And he said that he had a date palm that was shadowing over his property and the dates would fall in and the children would cry because the neighbor would take away the dates from them when they would eat from whatever had fallen on the ground."

And he said, "Yes." He said, "I bought that date palm and I give it to that man for that date palm in Jannah."

The Prophet ﷺ said, "How many lustrous date fruits are waiting in Jannah? How many date palms are waiting in Jannah for Abu al-Dahdah?"

Abu al-Dahdah left satisfied that he had earned something greater than he had ever owned in his life. A date palm in Jannah. He went to his home and he told his wife, "You're going to have to leave the farm now because I sold this farm for one date palm in Jannah."

She got up, packed up her things and she kept repeating this phrase until they left the farm: "This sale was profitable. This sale was profitable."

The Meaning in Surah Al-Layl

Ibn Abbas says, this is the meaning of Allah's statement when He says:

Allah says in Surah Al-Layl, "And by the day and that which it illuminates, and by the creative power that brought into existence male and female, your endeavors are dispersed. So as for those that give and are mindful, and believe and affirm the goodness to come, then those are the people, we will make easy things to do, good things in life."

Ibn Abbas says, this is the meaning, Abu Dahdah's story is the meaning of these verses.

From Darkness to Light

What do these verses mean? وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّىٰ "And by the day when it brightens." Islam started out as a small group of people. The Prophet ﷺ, when he first went to give da'wah to the people in Mecca, they used to say to him, مَن مَعَكَ عَلَىٰ هَٰذَا "Who's with you in this thing? This new finagled thing that you have. Who's with you?" And he used to say, مَعِي حُرٌّ وَعَبْدٌ "I have a free man and a slave." Abu Bakr and Bilal.

And now, how many Muslims are there in the world?

وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَىٰ "By the night as it envelops," showing us that although there is darkness in our lives, وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّىٰ that light will chase out the darkness and illuminate.

وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then swears, after swearing by night, swearing by day, swears by those that fill this earth with people, male and female. Some scholars of tafsir said, Adam and Eve. Others say, no, it's general. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is showing us how through His power of creation, from one being, two different sexes come. And through them, generations are created.

Our Dispersed Endeavors

وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ After all of these people dispersed through earth, all of their aims in life are different. Each one of us coming here today has different aims and different goals in life.

Some of us are focused on work. We're at that stage where we are building our careers. And within our careers, some of us are doing well. Some of us are struggling. Some of us are trying to move to better things. Some of us are happy where we are. But each of us has a different aim and a different goal.

Some of us are in the education phase of our lives. We haven't yet started our careers. Or we're recreating our careers. We're recreating ourselves to move on to something different. Studying at night, working during the day, studying during the day, studying during the night, as we all remember from college.

Some of us are merely trying to learn and struggle through life as it is. Some of us are laser focused on trying to make the best out of each and every day. And some of us struggle each and every day to find something that is good. Some of us are happy. Some of us are sad. Some of us may be depressed. Some of us may be elated.

إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ "Your endeavors are dispersed." Just as you see people running through an airport. Everyone going to a different gate. Every gate going to a different city. Everyone's life is split in a hundred, a million different directions.

We have to ask ourselves then, what is it that we want from this life? If everything in our lives is going every which way, what is it that is meaningful to gain in this life? And what is it that is meaningful to gain that will last beyond this life?

All praise is due to Allah. May He send His peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his companions and his family and all those who follow them in righteousness to the Day of Judgment. Ameen.

What Motivates Us?

إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ "Your endeavors are dispersed." If each and every one of us is on a different path in this life, then the key question is what is it that motivates us to move along that path? Are we being pushed from behind? Are we being controlled from above like a marionette? Is somebody pulling our strings or pushing our buttons? Or are we the ones that are actively making decisions about ourselves, our families and our communities?

It's very easy for us to get caught up in the negativity of those things that happen in life. The stress, getting up early in the morning, going to sleep early in the evening just so that you can make it to work on time, so that you can make it to school on time, so that you can fulfill the obligations that sometimes you feel are just never thought of or never thanked, given gratitude for. But you do them because you understand that you have an obligation.

What is it though that motivates you beyond work? What is it that motivates your faith to bring you here to the masjid today?

Beyond Defensive Islam

I want to address a point that one of my friends brought up recently, actually a few of them. And that is when we talk about ourselves as Muslims, many times we find ourselves dispersed, split up, unable to focus because those who are pushing the narrative about our community are not us. Or those who want to focus on the good of our community.

And we somehow feel obliged to answer every negativity about Islam or about Muslims. We somehow feel obliged to learn about Islam only after someone attacks it. But when you are in defensive Islam mode, something very natural is going to happen. If you are always on the defense, and those who are fighters know this, if you are always on the defense, eventually you will be tired out, worn down, unable to move forward.

Which is why it's very important that we see our faith as something integral to our hearts first and foremost. Integral to our souls first and foremost. Integral to our bodies and our overall health first and foremost. Before we worry about anyone that says anything about our faith or our brothers and sisters in another part of the world.

And I've mentioned this point before and I'll use it as an example now. People will come to you and they'll say such and such terrorist group overseas is involving themselves in human trafficking and enslaving populations. And we'll say, yes, that's wrong. Yes, Muslims are not supposed to do that. Yes, we denounce those people. But right here, where we live, thousands of people are caught up in the web of human trafficking. More than any one of those groups overseas. But yet we're not focused on here at home.

Our minds are pulled one way and our pocketbooks pulled another. And so we've got politicians telling us to do one thing. We've got security analysts telling us about ourselves in another way. All the time we're sitting in the middle wondering how am I supposed to combat all of this.

It's not your responsibility to combat any of it. Your responsibility is very easy. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us about it in this surah.

The Three Simple Steps

إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّىٰ "Your endeavors are dispersed." Okay, how do we escape that? Laser focus. Make things simple. Keep it simple.

Three things. فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ وَاتَّقَىٰ وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ "So whoever gives, is mindful and affirms the good to come." Three things. We will make easy for him acts of good. Those acts of good that will make the difference in your life, your family's life, your community's life, and the city as a whole, the state as a whole.

Whoever gives, gives what? Gives what he's supposed to. So when you're at work, give what you're supposed to. Don't take away from the clock. Don't try to cut corners. Don't cheat anyone. Don't wink and say it's done when it's not. Give all that you need to give in every situation that you're put in. Whether it's at work, whether it's at school, whether it's at the masjid.

Instead of rushing through prayer, forget about the world. Say, these are my five minutes, my ten minutes between me and Allah. And allow yourself to be at ease. Because if you're on the defensive all the time against society, against the media, against your boss, against your wife and kids, against yourself while you're in prayer, you're praying, you're thinking, oh, my wife and my kids and my boss and my... Don't multitask in life.

Allow yourself to have the time to shut out the haters, to shut out those who want to focus on what's wrong. And you, focus on what's right and what's in your grasp.

فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَىٰ Allah left it open. Give what you can give that goes back to al-husna, the beauty that Allah has in store for you.

وَاتَّقَىٰ While you're giving, be mindful of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. In another hadith, your body has a right over you and your family has a right over you. And your faith has a right over you. Give every one of them their right.

So if we're wasting away our bodies by putting too much in our mind that then incapacitates our bodies and then makes us unable to function at home or at work or at school, have we really given and have we really been mindful?

And in all of this that brings it together is that it's not enough just to be an activist. It's not enough just to do it for the sake of doing it. But we really have to untie our hearts from those things around us that take us away from Allah and allow that one connection with Him subhanahu wa ta'ala.

وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ فَسَنُيَسِّرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ "And whoever affirms the beauty to come then we will make easy for him the good deeds in this life."

O Allah forgive us of our sins and our transgressions in all that we do and make our feet firm, O Lord of the worlds.

O Allah give us victory and give our weakened brothers and sisters around the world victory, O Lord of the worlds.

O Allah guide us and guide our mothers and fathers, guide our spouses and our children, O Lord of the worlds.

O Allah we ask you to guide our neighbors and our co-workers, O Lord of the world.