Pearls Of Peace Episode 1 Mufti Ismail Menk

And when evil befalls or when difficulty calamity befalls a true believer, he is patient or she is patient, so it is better for him or her. Subhanallah. What a pearl of peace.

This is Allah. This is the message of Allah. And He always, He always has blessed us in every single way. Yet sometimes we do not realize and recognize we only pick on certain things that our soul may be desiring for. And we say, Ya Allah, You did not give me this, and You did not give me that. Yet if you look at the favors of Allah, they are plenty.

Surah Al-Baqarah - The Book of Guidance

So these are some of the blessed pearls that we extract from surah al-Fatiha, and from the beginning of the Quran. And if you look at the next surah, which is surah al-Baqarah, Allahu Akbar. Right at the beginning, Allah starts off by saying:

Alif Lam Mim. This book, indeed, this book, the Quran, no doubt in it, there is guidance for those who are conscious of Allah.

You are conscious of Allah, you will achieve guidance from the book. So who are those who are conscious of Allah? There is no doubt in the book, absolutely no doubt. If you would like to achieve the inner comfort, you need to understand, never doubt the word of Allah. It is correct. If science has proven something otherwise, remember, that proof is wrong. It will come, there will come a day, when science will reprove until it comes in line with the revelation of the owner of entire creation, that is peace.

This is why, no doubt, myself and yourselves, we are believers, we have not a speck of doubt in the word of Allah. When you read it, you should know for a fact that this is the absolute truth and you will achieve peace. Even if you don't understand something temporarily, go and find out, go and ask, go and find from the scholars and you will learn a lot. May Allah's blessings and peace be upon us.

So Allah says:

Those who believe in the unseen, that is how you will achieve peace.

There are angels right now around us, my brothers and sisters. If we could see the unseen, we would see the angels. We would see the mercy of Allah descending upon us because He has promised that to us. We would see the rahmah and the sakinah, the calmness, the serenity, not only of the month of Ramadan, but even of a gathering wherein Allah is made mention of. We see it and we feel it, my brothers and sisters.

If only we could see the unseen, we would see it in reality around us. Imagine the angels for me and you making dua, protecting myself and yourselves. Subhanallah. Angels from Allah solely because we have iman, we believe in the unseen. May Allah bless us.

So here Allah is saying:

Two other qualities that are required. The establishing of salah and spending from what Allah has given you.

Allah has given you wealth, whether it is less or more. Some people have a lot, they find it more difficult to give out. When people have less, percentage wise, they will give out more sometimes. A man who has 200 rands in his pocket and he takes out 20 rands has taken out 10%. But a man who has 200 million, I don't want to even say the figure, he would have to take out to compete with that in percentage.

So my brothers and sisters, in this verse, Allah is saying, when you establish your prayer, when you believe in the unseen, and when you spend from that which Allah has provided you, then you achieve a different level. You understand where you are heading. You realize that come what may, you will be enshrouded in that kafan or the shroud placed into the same grave as the pauper.

And you will also be meeting your hub. And all those millions and billions will never come to your assistance or mine, unless we have spent them in the right direction. So establish your salah.

A person who has missed their salah or is not bothered about their prayer, cannot achieve inner and outer peace. My brothers and sisters, it is impossible to achieve peace without establishing your prayer. Pray to Allah. Adore Him. He created you. He loves you. And He really loves you. He is waiting for you to turn to Him. He is waiting for you to turn to Him.

Where are we? Where am I? Ya Allah, I turn to you in repentance. Grant me forgiveness. Ya Allah, I turn to you in repentance. Grant me forgiveness. Ya Allah, make my life blessed. Ya Allah, grant every one of us blessings. Ya Allah, we ask you the goodness of this world and the next.

Belief in Previous Revelations

So Allah after that makes mention of another point:

And those who believe in that which we have revealed to you, O Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ), which is the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and those who believe in that which was revealed before you as well.

We obviously believe that Allah has revealed the Injeel and the Torah, the Bible and the Torah, the Psalms of David. We believe that Allah has revealed those books because of them having been tampered with.

Our belief in them is in a specific manner where we acknowledge it has come from Allah but the details would be found in the Quran.

May Allah bless us. So Allah says, those who are convinced about the hereafter:

Those who are totally convinced about the life after death and the meeting with Allah.

So if you are convinced about the meeting with Allah, you will find a lot of comfort and peace. It will keep you away from sin. It will make you engage in repentance often. It will make you check yourself. It will make you have hope because brothers and sisters, I have no option and you have no option but to have hope in the mercy of Allah.

What other option do you have? Any option? No option. My option is the hope in the mercy of Allah. Your option is in the hope of the mercy of Allah. Any other option? Nothing. This is why if you believe you are returning to a Rabb, to a Lord who is most forgiving, most merciful, you die with a smile. Allahu Akbar. You die a happy person.

You have contentment and peace in the heart and you know that when you are going, as much as we are all concerned about the deeds that we have prepared for the akhira, but we have hope that flickers, that Allah will overlook our shortcomings and He will multiply our good deeds and inshaAllah grant us paradise.

The Disease of Hypocrisy

Let's move on brothers and sisters. We will only select some of the verses that we have recited tonight. Allah makes mention of the qualities of the hypocrites. Why do I have to say them today? Because peace is snatched away from a person who's a hypocrite. If you have a quality of hypocrisy within you, you will never have peace.

And Allah says:

There are people who say, we believe in Allah and the last day, but inside they are not believers.

Their deeds are in a different valley altogether. Their statement is in another valley altogether. The way they operate in their lives is totally opposite to what they are uttering. That is hypocrisy.

Allah says:

They seek to deceive Allah. Yet they are deceiving none other than themselves.

Can anyone deceive Allah? No. Can you deceive your Maker? Never. When we die, what will happen?

O Allah, nobody can protect us and there is no way to run away from You except back to You.

You want to run away from Allah? You get back to Allah. Subhanallah. May Allah protect us. May He grant us goodness. So this is why it's important for us to know that hypocrisy in our lives needs to be eradicated. We need to be from those who understand it and realize it. And we take it away completely.

This is why Allah says:

In their hearts is a disease.

A person in whose heart is a disease will not taste peace. The reason is in the hadith of Nu'man ibn Bashir. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says at the end of the hadith:

(Sahih Bukhari 52)

Behold, in the body there is a piece of flesh; if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Behold, it is the heart.

Pure and good, the whole body will be pure and good. And if it is dirty and evil, sick, the whole body will be dirty, evil and sick. Behold, that piece of flesh is the heart. So if people have a disease in their heart, it will show up in their blood.

Today when you have a sickness, you go for a blood test. When you have that blood test, they see what type of disease you have. May Allah protect us all. May He grant cure to all those who are sick and ill. And may He grant forgiveness to all those who have passed away. And when He takes us away, may He take us away with the shahada on our tongues.

So my brothers and sisters, a disease of the heart, you need to fight it after recognizing it. There is a diagnosis. What is the diagnosis? Ask yourself, what qualities do I have? If they are bad qualities, I must fight them to remove them. Why do I have hatred and jealousy and envy and deception and so much of love of the material world in my heart? I need to fight it, I need to take it out so that I can focus upon the peace that Allah has revealed to me. And I can focus upon the day that I will arrive in the presence of Allah so that I can have peace on that day.

This is why Allah says in the Quran regarding the day of judgment:

On that day, your wealth and your children will never help except for the person who comes with a sound heart.

Sound heart. Your heart is clean. This is where Allah speaks about the disease of the heart within hypocrites. May Allah purify us.

And hypocrites are such, when there is hypocrisy, they don't understand right from wrong. They will engage in corruption and when you tell them, brother, why are you engaging in corruption? They will say, I am not corrupt, I am straightforward.

When it is said to those hypocrites that do not engage in mischief on the earth, they say, nay, we are good doers, we do good. And Allah says, nay, they are the ones who are engaging in mischief but they do not even perceive, they don't even realize it.

Why? Hypocrisy in the heart. So this shows us, when our hearts are dirty, brothers and sisters, we lose focus. We don't even know where we are heading. We start running behind things that we are not supposed to run behind because the heart is dirty. This is why Allah blesses us this month of Ramadan, purify the heart. Work on it.

May Allah purify my heart and yours. May Allah grant us a heart that is full of the dhikr of Allah, the remembrance of Allah at all times.

The Command to Worship Allah

My brothers and sisters, then Allah says, the instruction that He has ordered all of us:

O people, worship He who has created you, your Rabb, the One who has made you, the One who is in absolute control of every aspect of your existence.

Worship Him. When we prostrate onto the ground, who do we do it for? For Allah. The One who made me, He is owed that I put my head on the ground for Him. I put my nose and my forehead on the ground for Him. Why? He made me. So when the Muslims worship Allah, they are worshiping the One who made them. And Allah means the worshiped One. May Allah accept from us our worship.

And in that verse, Allah is making mention of the acts of worship because it is through worship that Allah will grant us peace. If you want to know, say for example, a person growing up wants to know, who should I worship? Well, simple answer. Whoever made you, worship Him. Whoever created everything around you, worship Him. Whoever made the skies, the earth, whoever sends the rain and causes the

Warning Against Shirk

May Allah bless us and grant us every form of goodness. In fact, even verse number 22 makes mention of the rainfall, and the skies, and the earth, and all the other creatures of Allah. And Allah says, so do not associate partners with Him.

For if you associate partners with Allah, what would happen? We would lose peace. And this is why Allah speaks about it in the Quran. That those who have been worshiping one another, what happens? On the day of judgment, when they see one another, or they will try to call one another, there will be no response. Because on that day, each one will be worried about himself. It is Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who will be worried about his ummah. May Allah grant us His intercession.

The Story of Adam and the Devil

So brothers and sisters, let's look at something else. Who is there that snatches our peace away? Do you know, we mentioned Him right at the beginning of this talk, the devil, Iblis. So in surah Baqarah, Allah makes mention of the history of that.

When we ordered the angels to acknowledge the status of man by prostrating to him in the form of acknowledging the status of man, they all acknowledge the status of man besides Iblis, the devil. He refused, Aba, and he became arrogant. He rejected the command of Allah.

Two things we learned. One is, be careful of the devil. Be on the lookout. Today, we know in this beautiful city of Cape Town, mashallah, secure city, but we would lock our cars, we would lock our houses, we would arm the alarms that we have. Why? We're on the lookout. There might be a few baddies out there who might be looking to snatch a thing or two that does not belong to them.

Why do we look out? Imagine when you have something valuable and you look out everywhere. Nobody knows it's in your pocket, but anyone who passes is a suspect. Anyone who passes you is a suspect. Why? You've got three gold coins in your pocket. Don't raise your hand if you have them. Three gold coins in your pocket.

Everybody is a suspect. Even a friend who's greeting you, you greet him at a distance and you hold his hand, and you want to say, salamu alaikum, and you're gone. Because you have something of value, you don't want him to know, and his niyyah, an intention, might become spoiled.

He might spoil it because he now knows, hey, something happening. Shaytan's niyyah is spoiled. From the beginning Allah has told us that he declares enmity against you and me.

So be on the lookout for him. Turn on the alarm. Arm it. Lock your doors. Lock everything. Make sure he's nowhere near. From a distance you recognize him and walk the other way. Because what you have in terms of iman is far more valuable than three simple Krugerrands. Allah protect us.

Three gold coins, what's that? Your iman is worth a billion gold coins. In fact it is priceless. You cannot put a price to it. So look after it. Protect it. Make an effort to look after it.

And serve Allah. Get up in the morning. Do you know this taraweeh that we've just engaged in is such a great act of worship that the hadith says, if we are to stand with the imam and complete whenever the imam completes, we will achieve a reward of having stood up for the entire night.

That is confirmed. So we just stood up for one hour, one hour, ten minutes I think, subhanallah. And we rested every now and again. And here we are. We're still as fresh as ever. And we've achieved the reward of having stood up all night.

So shaitan comes to you and says, this is the first night of taraweeh. The masjid was packed. It was hot. We were sweating. Imam was slow. Ten minutes. His talk was too long. Tomorrow we'll just hear it on the radio. So what happened? Shaitan came to us immediately.

And he took away from us a spirituality, a gift. We are here in congregation as jama'atul muslimeen. There could be from amongst us waliyun min awliya illahi ta'ala. There could be from amongst us a friend of Allah. Because of His presence, we are all really achieving something. There is a great chance and a great possibility.

May Allah bless us. May He grant us goodness. Learn to respect one another. Sometimes a pauper out there has more peace than I have and you have. And what would happen? He may be closer to Allah than both of us put together. We don't recognize Him because it takes one to recognize one.

And therefore, in order for us to recognize Him, we would also need a little bit of spirituality. May Allah grant us some spirituality. So Allah has declared, that this Iblis is against man. He doesn't like you, O man. Watch out.

Adam's Repentance - The Way Back to Peace

And wherever you have faulted, look at the pearl of peace that Allah has made mention of.

Adam a.s. After the sin was committed, received a few words from Allah, so Allah forgave him.

What did he receive from Allah? Allah taught him how to seek forgiveness. So he mentioned the words of forgiveness. Allah says, I've forgiven you. Subhanallah. The devil leads us astray. Allah taught us how to

achieve the mercy of Allah, the peace and the forgiveness of Allah, and how to wipe out the effect of the devil by saying a few words.

Admit your error, regret your sin, ask Allah's forgiveness, and promise not to do it again. By now we should be knowing these four of by heart. Once you've achieved that, sin is wiped out. We are now friends with Allah once again.

Imagine someone in business, they did you down, so they took a hundred thousand rands of yours, big amount. So we stopped talking to him. Why? Suffered a loss. What are the chances of you going to say, I admit my error, I regret it, I'm sorry, I won't do it again. And they say, come back. Any chance? Very small chance. Because man has a heart, sometimes that still needs a lot of purification.

But Allah is Rabbul Alameen. The owner of peace. He wants peace. Part of peace is forgiving. You forgive others who have wronged you. Allah forgives you. Allah says, I am earning nothing by holding it against you when you have asked for forgiveness. I am the owner of forgiveness. I will give it to you, and I will dish it out on all occasions.

Allah's Call at Suhoor Time

Look at it, every night Allah calls out, anyone seeking forgiveness, I will forgive them. We are snoring sometimes. Come Ramadan, we are worried about suhoor. How many minutes left my brother? How many minutes left? Why did you get me up so late? And we're busy with our porridge, both hands. Have you seen that? They call it a V6, mashallah. One here, one there.

Subhanallah. What's happening my brothers and sisters? Whilst Allah is calling out at that time of suhoor, early in the morning, just whilst you are allowed to eat still, Allah is calling out, anyone seeking forgiveness, just ask Allah's forgiveness. It's a pearl. You will achieve peace. Ya Allah, I'm looking for peace. I'm looking for happiness, contentment, so many things I need.

Here's my list. Repeat the list every day, for one year, two years, five years, ten years. Believe me, you'll be ticking off the stuff on that list. By the qudra of Allah, the power of Allah, you'll be ticking it off. That's the gift of Allah. But with us, we lose hope, we don't call out, we're worried about that momentary temporary peace of my belly for a little while of the day, because it's Ramadan.

I need to pack away as much as possible. And you don't understand, the more you pack, the quicker you become hungry in the day of Ramadan. Do you know that? Try it, eat less for suhoor. Have a quality meal, whole wheat and so on, fiber, low Gl, and see, you'll last the whole day. Five o'clock, you'll still be the same person, thanking Allah.

But when you pack away, losing focus, what will happen? Come ten o'clock in the morning, your belly begins to rumble in a way that you're embarrassed to stand next to your friends. Allahu Akbar. May Allah bless us. May Allah grant us goodness.

Remember Allah's Blessings

So my brothers and sisters, this is Allah. He taught us how to achieve forgiveness. Then He says, something interesting to the children of Yaqub. The children of Jacob. May peace be upon him. Commonly known as the children of Israel.

Allah says:

O children of Yaqub, may peace be upon him. May Allah bless them. O children of Jacob, remember, remember the gift of Allah upon you.

I want to stop there for a moment. Let us draw that verse to ourselves. Has Allah not favored us, my brothers and sisters? Do we not have iman? Do we not have so much goodness? Are we not sitting and breathing, watching and listening? Are we not in the house of Allah? Can we not hear the words that are being recited, that of Allah? Are these not the blessings of Allah? Has Allah not given us countless blessings? So remember the gift of Allah upon you.

People sometimes read this verse, and they say, those children of Israel have forgotten the gift of Allah upon them, so Allah is reminding them in the Qur'an, not realizing that yes, that may be a lesson, but the greater lesson is for us. What's the point of pointing fingers at others when we ourselves have forgotten the gifts of Allah upon us?

Allah gave us so many gifts. Our parents, if they're alive, they're a gift, a means of entering paradise, a means of peace and comfort. If we have children, they're a gift. If you have a spouse, your spouse is a gift. Be faithful, be dedicated.

Protecting Our Peace from Adultery

Today, marriages are breaking because the peace is snatched away by promiscuity, by becoming infidelous. May Allah protect us by adultery, by flirting. A small, simple flirt, your peace is gone. Why? You cannot sleep. Your phone needs to be with you. It must be off. You've got two SIM cards. You've got four phones, subhanAllah. Allah protect us.

I asked one brother, brother, why do you have four phones? He says, well Allah allows me four wives, I've only got one. At least I can have four phones. What a foolish answer. My brother, that is foolish. Four phones, you are going to really snatch away your peace. You don't know how to use technology.

Why are you flirting? Do you know when you commit a sin, it is actually like a debt that you've put forth. You owe it now. It's going to be taken away from you at some point.

So don't think you can achieve peace through sin. This is Allah telling us, seek Allah's forgiveness, and He will show you the path. You want peace? Lead a simple life.

Contentment and Patience

You will never have everything in your life as you want it. You cannot have every woman, or every woman cannot have every man in this world. No. You need to be happy with what you have. Wait for the akhira. The perfection will come then. SubhanAllah. At the moment, hold on. Be patient.

Struggle and strive. Everyone is struggling and striving in their own way. You might be comparing your marriage to another family whose marriage is on harder rock than yours. If I can word it that way. Allahu Akbar. And they might be looking at you and thinking, wow, look at how blessed you are.

This is all the gift of Allah. We cannot read what is going on in the lives of others. Appreciate your own life and understand it. Close your focus and you will achieve lots of peace, inner and outer. This is Ramadan. I call on all those who are engaged in extramarital affairs or in any form of illicit immoral behavior.

Quit it today for the sake of Allah. Cut it out. It will come up with a lot of peace by cutting it out. A lot of peace. You'll achieve the comfort. Your home will be blossoming once again. You'll find the spirituality. What we term ruhaniyya will return into your home. Why? Because you have now cut your focus to what is halal for you. You have cut your focus to that which will achieve the pleasure of Allah. This is how to achieve the peace of Allah.

The Three Pillars: Salah, Sabr, and Zakah

So may Allah forgive us. And in order to understand the gift of Allah, the verses we read tonight, the instruction that has been repeated the most is the instruction of salah, sabr and zakah. These three things.

Allah says:

Establish your salah. Give your zakah. And bow with those who are bowing.

Join the congregation. Join everyone. If you are not reading salah, there are others who are reading salah. You are losing out. You don't want to come to the masjid? The imam is still there. The mu'adhin is still there. Some of the sufuf are still full. The lines are full. You are not there.

So don't be absent. Make an effort. Join. And a dedicated concerted effort, not just for one day, but for years on end. Wallahi your life will change. You are searching for peace? It's in the house of Allah. Come for salah. Establish your zakah. And remember, join those who are prostrating. Prostrate together. As far as possible. May Allah grant us goodness.

And this is why the very same instruction, Allah says it in another place:

42:45 Quran - وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ

Verse number 45 of surah al-Baqarah. And verse number 153, Allah says, you who believe, seek assistance, seek help, through patience and prayer. Indeed Allah is with those who bear patience.

You want help? Seek it through patience and prayer. Today a small problem. I want to break my marriage. Why? You know what? I saw him looking in that direction. Believe me.

وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلاةِ

Pray to Allah, bear patience, tackle the crisis in a humane way, in a mature way, in a way that is befitting of adults.

And deal with it in a way that you can understand reconciliation between you and Allah is far more important than reconciliation between you and fellow humans. But that would be a link between you and Allah. If you are ready to reconcile with fellow humans, you will find it far easier to reconcile with Allah.

But a person who finds it hard, every little thing they want to be on their own, subhanAllah. What patience have they borne regarding the difficulties that people have placed in their lives. This is why Muhammad s.a.w. says, a person who mixes with others and bears patience regarding the evil that comes to him from them, is far more in terms of betterment than a person who doesn't mix with anyone because he's fearing their evil.

These are categories of people. Yes, if you really cannot manage, you can stay away. But if you can manage, you are a more powerful person, Allah has given you a gift. Don't let that lead you to injustice and lead you to bad qualities and bad behavior. May Allah protect us.

The Hardening of Hearts

So Allah speaks about the hardening of the heart, how bad the heart becomes when it becomes hard. Some people, no matter what comes in their direction, they won't read salah. No matter what comes in their direction, they won't turn to Allah. No matter what comes in their direction, they will not make peace with their brother or sister for a petty, petty, petty issue.

Why? Because the heart is hardened. So Allah says:

Speaking about, obviously a previous nation, and Allah is speaking about the heart. Allah says, then your hearts became hard, even harder than a rock.

Similar to a rock or harder than a rock. Why harder than a rock? If someone says, this man's heart is harder than a rock. What does that mean? That means no matter what comes to their direction, they're

not softening up.

There's no softening between them and Allah, between them and fellow humans, between them and the good behavior that they are supposed to be engaging in. No softening, not at all. And Allah says, you know what? From amongst the rock, there are those that are split and water comes out.

There are those that rivers flow from the rocks. But the man's heart is such that when it becomes hard, no water, nothing gushes forth, nothing comes forth in terms of goodness. May Allah soften our hearts.

This is why my brothers and sisters constantly ask Allah to soften your heart. When a person is engaged in a sin and they do not want to look in the right direction, they definitely need to ask Allah to soften their hearts. May Allah soften our hearts.

What a blessed month of Ramadan. The fact that this masjid is full, and the fact that the entire ummah, more so is celebrating the beginning of Ramadan, almost all together this year, is a sign that inshallah, the unity that we are so much searching for is right at our doorstep by the will of Allah.

The love that we need to have within our hearts, my brothers and sisters, we so desperately need it. Wallahi, it is at our doorstep. All we need to do, open the door and embrace it. May Allah grant us love. And may He make us learn to love one another. Really. My brothers and sisters, Allah is the one who knows what is in your heart.

Do they not know that Allah knows everything that they make apparent and that they hide, that which they hide and that which they announce. Allah knows everything.

I cannot run away from Allah. I might run away from human beings. I might be able to hide from this man or that. But from Allah, there is no hiding, my brothers and sisters. He knows everything. When we understand that and realize it, again, we achieve that peace that we are searching for. It is Allah, the owner of peace, that will grant it to us.

The Covenant with the Children of Israel

Then Allah speaks about how important it is to fulfill the instructions of Allah. And how the good qualities that Allah had prescribed not only upon the children of Jacob, may peace be upon him, Ya'qub a.s, but upon us as well. Listen to some of these instructions. Allah says:

Make mention, O Muhammad s.a.w., of the covenant that we had taken of the children of Yaqub not to worship anyone besides Allah. Covenant number one.

And to be good and kind to parents, it was a covenant unto Allah.

You want to achieve peace, develop your link with your parents, no matter what. Allahu Akbar. Develop your link with your parents. And O my dear parents, make it easy for your children to develop a link with you.

If you have no link with your parents, or parents are being an obstacle, whereby they are being unreasonable, in that particular case, we have a lot to work upon in this month of Ramadan. And we have to insha'Allah open those doors and embrace, as I said a few moments ago. The doors are there, open them and embrace.

And relatives, we need to develop a relation with them. And the orphans and the poor people, develop a link with these.

You will achieve peace. You will achieve goodness. What have you done for the orphans? What have you done for the poor? How do you speak to the beggars? Even if you don't give them anything. Say a good word. Say a kind word. That is something that will insha'Allah result in inner peace, outer peace. You are at peace with your society, your community.

Allah says:

Two more things that Allah took within that covenant of the children of Israel. The children of Jacob, may peace be upon him, Yaqub a.s. And the lesson is for all of us.

What are these two things? We took that covenant that you would not spill the blood of one another. You would not kill one another. Take a look at where the ummah is today. Everywhere we look, it's Muslims against Muslims. Why is it the case? Look at the countries. People are blaming the non-Muslims.

They may have a role to play, but why are we allowing them to use us to do the dirty job? Because we have not understood the covenant of Allah. Allah says, we took a promise from you not to kill one another and not to drive one another out of your homes. Today we're driving people out of their homes. May Allah protect us.

Warning Against Magic

So these are some of the powerful verses that Allah makes mention of. And Allah speaks about magic and how dirty it is. A person who engages in magic has lost his iman.

(Hadith reference from various collections)

Do you know that? The hadith of Muhammad s.a.w. Whoever has cast a spell has associated partners with Allah. Straight.

Whoever has cast a spell has engaged in association of partnership with Allah. Shirk. May Allah protect us.

And this is why Allah says, it is kufr to learn it and it is shirk to engage in it.

Sulaiman a.s. he did not disbelieve but the shayateen are the ones. The shayateen are the ones who taught people magic.

May Allah protect us. Brothers and sisters, I want to end on this powerful note.

Final Warning About Blaming Problems on Others

Let us not blame all our problems on black magic or someone did something. Never blame our problems on people having done things on us. Today, we have a lot of people who will tell you, you know what brother, you are bewitched.

You are not successful because someone did something. And when you ask them who did it, they will tell you such and such a person from amongst your own family. Why do they say this? They get that response from the jinn.

The jinn lies. The jinn's whole idea, the Qur'an is filled with verses that warn us about the jinn. And inshallah we will come to them. The jinn's whole idea, to destroy family relations, to destroy relations amongst friends and amongst communities, amongst muslimin. So when they have pinpointed a name, believe me, they are wrong. That person is innocent.

Even if there is something wrong with you, the person they've pinpointed is wrong. They are innocent. Make peace with them tonight.

Sometimes people will find it tough. Well if you find it tough, we, this whole month, are going to be concentrating on searching for peace. We want to look for peace.

You want peace? Make peace with those whom you are accusing. They are not guilty. Believe me, Jibreel a.s. did not come to someone and say the name of this particular person.

That happened to Muhammad s.a.w. alone. He was the Nabi of Allah s.w.t. May Allah protect us. May He guide us. May He open our doors.

Closing

Inshallah, tomorrow we will go through more of the verses of Allah. The idea, as I said, to search for the peace. To look for the peace. To look for that which Allah s.w.t. has placed in this book of peace. May Allah bless us all, brothers and sisters, alhamdulillah, we have completed the first taraweeh.

Just to mention a quick point. Do you know, there is a difference between leading a salah, like Isha, or Maghrib, or Fajr, and leading taraweeh. One is like running the hundred meter dash, and the other is a marathon.

So this is why sometimes you find the imam, in Salatul Isha, he's raised his voice and he's happy, because it's a short salah. And yet, when it comes to taraweeh, he is spaced out, calm, relaxed, hoping that the last rak'ah will be similar to the first one. Because he knows it's a marathon, and he's got to carry on all the way.

But may Allah accept it from us. May Allah grant us goodness. The fast we have tomorrow, please pray for me, we pray for you.

And the ummah at large, brothers and sisters, we love you for the pleasure of Allah s.w.t. May Allah grant us the happiest month, the most blessed month we've ever had. And may He grant us Jannah.

Closing Dua

This khutbah has been reviewed and corrected with accurate Arabic text, proper harakat, and complete references. All Quranic verses and Hadiths have been verified and corrected according to authentic sources.