Majesty of Device Speech Episode 8 The Best Friend Prophet Ibrahim

The Best Friend: Prophet Ibrahim

Opening Prayer and Seeking Refuge

I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. They are my enemies, except the Lord of the worlds, Who created me, so He guides me, And Who feeds me and gives me drink, And when I am sick, He cures me, And Who causes me to die, then gives me life, And Who I hope will forgive me my sins on the Day of Recompense. My Lord, grant me wisdom and join me with the righteous.

Introduction and Greeting

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Here we are reading about Ibrahim (peace be upon him). And I skipped a lot of the passage actually, I'm taking a very small excerpt from this passage. In which there's a dialogue between him and the people who do shirk from his community.

Ibrahim's Declaration Against False Gods

And first of all he declares that all of their false gods are an enemy to him. (فَإِنَّهُمْ عَدُوٌّ لِي - fa innahum 'aduwwun lee) (Quran 26:77). And then he declares an exception (إِلَّا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ - illa rabbal 'alameen) (Quran 26:78). The only one left out from this declaration of gods being enemy, is the Lord of the worlds. So it's not just that I don't believe in other gods, they're all my enemy.

So you see the strength with which he declares this tawheed. He's considered the father of this subject, and the leader of mankind for good reason. It is because he has an exceptional understanding of tawheed.

The Attributes Ibrahim Assigns to Allah

And you find insha'Allah ta'ala tomorrow also we'll be talking about him (peace be upon him). He says something very interesting (الَّذِي خَلَقَنِي فَهُوَ يَهْدِينِ - alladhee khalaqanee fahuwa yahdeen) (Quran 26:78). I'll translate quickly, just notice the things he attributes to Allah Azza wa Jal, the Lord of the worlds. He says, the one who created me, and then he, he's the one who guides me. The one who created me and he guides me.

(وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمْنِي وَيَسْقِينِ - walladhee huwa yut'imunee wa yasqeen) (Quran 26:79). And he's the one who feeds me and gives me to drink. The second two things, the first two things were, he created me and he guides me, then he feeds me and he

gives me to drink. And then he says (وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ - wa idha maridtu fahuwa yashfeen) (Quran 26:80). And if I get sick, then he cures me.

And if I get sick, then he cures me. (وَالَّذِي يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ يُحْيِينِ - walladhee yumeetunee thumma yuhyeen) (Quran 26:81). And he's the one who's going to give me death, then he's going to give me life again. And then the ayat go on, and he makes dua afterwards (وَالَّذِي أَطْمَعُ أَنْ يَغْفِرَ لِي خَطِيئَتِي يَوْمَ الدِّينِ - walladhee atma'u an yaghfira lee khatee'atee yawm ad-deen) (Quran 26:82). And he's the one, I hope, that he will cover my mistakes, my grievous mistakes, on the Day of Judgment.

(رَبِّ هَبْ لِي حُكْمًا - rabbi hab lee hukman) (Quran 26:83). My Lord grant me wisdom of making firm decisions, and make me firm in my decision to be on the right path. (وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ - wa alhiqnee bis-saliheen) (Quran 26:83). And join me among the righteous. Keep me with the company of the righteous.

The Importance of Righteous Companionship

And I mention this ayah in particular, because yesterday we were, or few days ago, we were talking about the importance of friends. Right? And even in the dua of Ibrahim (peace be upon him), when he's making dua to Allah, for making him firm on his deen, he has a plan on staying firm, and his plan of action is, may Allah make me among those, or join me with those who are (الصَّالِحِين - as-saliheen) (the righteous).

Grammatical Analysis: The Emphasis on "Huwa" (He)

Nonetheless, those of you that know a little bit of Arabic, know that in Arabic, when you have a fi'il or a verb, then you don't have to mention the pronoun. You don't have to mention he or she, or they, it's already included inside the word.

For example, when you say خَلَق it doesn't mean created, it means he created. So the word he is already embedded inside the word خَلَق. But the word he in Arabic, you know what the word he is in Arabic? هُوَ. Now listen, he says (الَّذِي خَلَقْنِي - alladhee khalaqanee) (Quran 26:78). The one who created me.

Did he mention the word هُوَ? No. Then he says فَهُوَ يَهْدِين. Now يَهْدِي also has هُوَ in it, it has a he in it. But does he mention هُوَ separately? He does.

And he's the one who guides me. So there's an emphasis on يَهْدِي over خَلَق. And if you look at the next line (وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِ - walladhee huwa yut'imunee wa yasqeen) (Quran 26:79). When he comes to talking about feeding and giving drink, he puts a هُوَ there.

But now in Arabic, simply speaking, if you say, يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِي. It means he gives me the drink, or he feeds me and he gives me the drink. He's already there. But he mentions it especially.

And then, (وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ - wa idha maridtu) (Quran 26:80). And when I get sick, فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ. He mentions هُوَ again. Now يَشْفِي includes the pronoun هُوَ. But he says it anyway هُوَ.

And then when he talks about giving death and giving life (وَالَّذِي يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ يُحْيِينِ - walladhee yumeetunee thumma yuhyeen) (Quran 26:81). He doesn't say (وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ هُوَ يُحْيِينِ - walladhee huwa yumeetunee thumma huwa yuhyeen). He takes the هُوَ away, right? So you notice sometimes he adds emphasis, other times he takes emphasis away. But everything he talks about is referring to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The one who created, the one who guides, the one who gives food, the one who gives drink, the one who cures, the one who gives death, the one who gives life.

Understanding the Audience: Addressing Incomplete Iman

All of them are attributed to Allah. So how come he emphasizes some more than others? Because he understands his audience. You see, most of the people who commit shirk have some concept of God already.

They have some concept of Allah, but that concept is weak. It's not complete. It's missing some things.

And Ibrahim alaihissalam, the genius that he is, we find remarkable things coming out of his mouth. Remarkable impressions of his genius that are captured in the ayat of Quran. And one of them is, he understands this audience that do believe in a God.

And they believe that Allah, even nowadays, God does the big things. He created the universe, He's in charge of life, and He's in charge of death. But the little stuff on a day to day basis, that's not God's business, that's my business, right? For God there's the heavens and the earth, and the stars, and the earthquakes, and controlling the oceans, all this big stuff.

The Problem of Attributing Daily Affairs to Ourselves

But the little things in life, I'm in charge. This is what the human being starts to feel. And you know what? This is something even the Muslim can think.

The Muslim will think, yes, I pray to Allah, He created me, He's the one who's going to judge me on the day of judgment, He will resurrect us, He will give me death, all of this is in His control. But when I have a headache, the Tylenol is gonna cure me. You don't turn to Allah, you turn to Advil, right? And you know, you buy a car, and you rely on the car because it's German engineering, or it's Japanese engineering or something, or it's a late model.

So we have reliance on things, right? On day to day life. But when it comes to the big stuff, anybody, ask anybody, who's in control? Allah is in control. So now watch with this ayah, He says (الَّذِي خَلَقَنِي - alladhee khalaqanee) (Quran 26:78). The one who created me.

Highlighting Daily Guidance from Allah

Everybody believes that. So He doesn't highlight it. But then He says فَهُوَ يَهْدِينِ فَهُوَ يَهْدِينِ. And He happens to be the one that guides me also.

Meaning on a daily basis, I need guidance from Allah. Should I go here? Should I not go here? Should I take this job? Should I not take this job? Should I travel or should I stay? Right? Should I write to them? Should I not write to them? Small things and big things, we need guidance from Allah Azza wa Jal. And we don't realize that.

But we realize Allah is the Creator. So He wants to make us realize that you need guidance from Allah Azza wa Jal on a daily basis. So He highlights هُوَ يَهْدين. And then He says again about feeding and drinking.

Allah's Role in Our Daily Sustenance

You know nowadays it's so convenient. It's not even like we're living in the times of the desert, where you go out and you like, put the pitcher in the lake, in the pond, and you filter it or whatever, or milk the cow and drink it. You pop the fridge open and you have 10 different kinds of soda, 5 different kinds of juice.

And then you complain, oh man, my flavor is missing. Right? These are the times we're living in. Or we have abundance of water unlike any society in the history of the world, but we say the temperature is not right.

Right? People in the past didn't have these luxuries. But you know when we give ourselves drink, or we go to the vending machine, put the dollar in and then the drink comes out, right? You're thinking to yourself, I paid for it. Or let me get you a drink.

Right? I'm the one giving the drink. I'm the one eating the food. I pulled over at the store, I got myself a sandwich and I had it.

Right? But He emphasizes, no, it's not you who's feeding yourself. It's not your paycheck. It's not your credit card.

It's not your money. What is feeding you? Who is feeding you? Allah Azza wa Jal. And it's at levels.

One, who provides for the food. And two, the fact that the food actually serves as food. What is it that makes the food, the water we drink, serve as nutrition for our body? And what is it that keeps it from going to waste and our bodies would decay altogether? Every time we eat some food, it brings us energy, it brings us nutrition, it sustains us, it continues our life.

But who makes that food serve that purpose? It is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So it's something to be realized. So He highlights it.

(هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي وَيَسْقِينِ - huwa yut'imunee wa yasqeen) (Quran 26:79).

The Delicate Matter of Sickness

And then something very peculiar. This is off on a tangent a little bit. Everything so far is هُوَ هُوَ هُوَ.

He does, He created, He guides, He feeds, He gives to drink. And then He says, when I became sick. (وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ - wa idha maridtu) (Quran 26:80). Now everything is in Allah's control, right? Death is in Allah's control, life is in Allah's control, health is in Allah's control, and sickness is in Allah's control.

But He doesn't say وَالَّذِي أَمْرَضَنِي or يُمْنِي. He wants the one who makes me sick. And then He cures me. Why? Because of all the things that He mentioned, there's one thing that could be taken negatively.

But He has this respect, this awe, this regard for Allah Azza wa Jal. Even though He knows Allah is the cause of all causes, what does He say? I became sick. When I became sick.

So you notice how He changes His tone of speech. And the other thing you will notice is, everything here is in the present tense. خَلّق is obviously in the past tense because He's already been created.

But He guides and He will guide. So there's hope in those words. He feeds and He will feed.

So there's hope that Allah will feed. You place your hopes in Allah. But when He talks about sickness, He doesn't say أَمْرَض also.

He doesn't say, when I will get sick. You know why? Because He has better expectation from Allah. He doesn't expect Allah to make him sick.

He says, whenever I had become sick in the past, then He guides me and He cures me, and He will cure me. Right? But He doesn't attribute even sickness to the future because He has this hope with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Right? You don't have سوء ظن with Allah.

Having Good Expectations from Allah

You don't expect bad things from Allah. You know? A lot of times in our society, because we're living in a very capitalistic society, people try to sell you everything, right? Like they try to sell you health insurance, or life insurance and these things. And they say, you know what could go wrong? Tomorrow you could be in a car accident.

Or imagine if your hand got cut off in your factory working the next day. And they scare you of these horrible things that will happen to you, right? So you better get insurance. You know, but Allah azza wa jal أَحْسِنُوا الظَّنَّ بِاللَّهِ What do they have? They have the best of expectations from Allah.

Allah azza wa jal even tells us in a hadith Qudsi (أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنّ عَبْدِي بي - ana 'inda dhanni 'abdee bee) (Bukhari 7405). I'm with whatever my slave assumes of me, that's how I am with him. So we assume the best with Allah, so Allah is the best with

us subhanahu wa ta'ala. In any case, so He says (وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ - wa idha maridtu fahuwa yashfeen) (Quran 26:80) Then He is the one who cures me.

Recognizing Allah as the True Healer

And He adds هُوَ on يَشْفِي. Why? Because again we don't attribute cure to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala consciously. Maybe subconsciously if somebody asks you, Allah cured you? You say, yes, alhamdulillah.

But you weren't thinking like that. You were thinking like the medicine cured me, or the injection cured me, right? Or the allergy medicine is taking care of me. That's what we're thinking.

So Allah, you know, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is trying to change our thinking process. We should be conscious of who is involved in our curing, in our feeding, right? So فَهُوَ يَشْفِي هُوَ. And then He says, (وَالَّذِي يُمِيتُنِي ثُمَّ يُحْيِينِ - walladhee yumeetunee thumma yuhyeen) (Quran 26:81). Then the هُوَ is gone again. The one who will give me death, and the one who's going to give me life again, bring me back to life.

Why Death and Life Don't Need Emphasis

Why? Because everybody is conscious of that. Whenever somebody dies, they know that this was in the hands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is what we remind each other of all the time.

And you know this is very interesting, that even in our times, you will have Muslims come together and say, this is from Allah. When will they say this? When a child is born, and when somebody dies. But when you're eating, and you're taking medicine, you know, then you don't say necessarily, this is from Allah.

You say, here take this medicine. So even in our culture, you could see the weakness of tawhid in our mindset, in that we don't attribute things to Allah azzawajal on a daily basis. And this is what Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is highlighting.

Ibrahim's Gratitude and Leadership

Another thing that I'd like to comment here, insha'Allah I will solve this riddle tomorrow, bi-idhnillah. You will notice whenever Ibrahim (peace be upon him) speaks, he attributes goodness to Allah. And he's the first one to thank Allah for things.

The first one to thank Allah for any, the small things and the big things. Now the biggest thing that happens to him, in his life, in worldly life, is Allah azzawajal gives him a certificate. He hands him a diploma.

And this is in the Quran. What is that certificate? (إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا - innee jaa'iluka linnaasi imaamaa) (Quran 2:124). I'm making you a leader over all of mankind. Imagine in this world, Allah has assigned you a leader.

You know you get a promotion at your job, or somebody gets elected as the president, or somebody gets nominated as the general. Here Allah is appointing you, Ibrahim (peace be upon him) as the leader over mankind. Imagine what bigger honor than this.

But what we find in insha'Allah tomorrow's discussion, from Surah Al-Baqarah, is my favorite passage in Quran. He's not recorded to have said, alhamdulillah first, or alhamdulak. He says something else first.

So we have to understand why is it, that the man who always attributes gratitude to Allah azzawajal immediately, why is it that before he mentions greatness to Allah azzawajal, which he does later on, what does he mention first? There's something else on his mind. And if we understand that, insha'Allah ta'ala we'll lead good lives as leaders. Because these are the attributes of a leader.

Closing Prayer

Story of Transformation

That night he went home, and he took a shower, and he changed clothes, and he went to pray until the morning. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepted his repentance.

And he studied about Islam, until he became the imam of Mecca and Medina. The imam, the abid, the worshipper of Mecca and Medina, known for his worship. But you know what he was before? He was a highway robber.

Final Message of Hope

Have this high aspiration, and this strong determination, and go for it. Because you can do it. It doesn't matter what age you are.

It doesn't matter what age you are. It isn't how smart you are, but it's how much you fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.