Appreciating Muhammad ﷺ | Sh. Omar Hajaj | Juz 22 Qur’an 30 for 30 S7 | Ramadan Series

Appreciating Muhammad ﷺ

No matter who you are, where you've been in your life, how many mistakes you committed, how far you believe you are from Allah, Allah doesn't see you as far away from him. I just came away from this juz like with an immense sense of gratitude to the Prophet because it just dawned upon me like how much he had to go through.

Oh believers, send your prayers upon him. Send your salam upon him, as Allah and the angels do.

Opening Remarks and Gratitude

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh, everyone. Welcome back to Quran 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah, as we are in the last 10 nights, we want to remind you all bi-idhnillahi ta'ala to please keep us in your du'a and to please support yaqeen.

This is the time in which we rely most on your support. You're still on just the second of these last 10. If you'd like to plug in inshallah donate for the remaining 10, the remaining odd nights, whatever it may be, please do at the link below inshallah ta'ala.

This is the time we count most on your generosity and we pray that you've benefited and you've seen the growth of yaqeen walhamdulillah and that's only possible first and foremost by the grace of Allah and then your support. Alhamdulillah, we're blessed to have my brother from Lifta, Palestine, Sheikh Omar Hajjaj, Alhamdulillah.

Advice for the Last Ten Nights

The last 10 nights, of course, these are the nights where, subhanAllah, the most amount of blessings descend. Sakinah, tranquility, millions or uncountable angels descend. The rahmah of Allah descends. And as you know, the month of Ramadan is the month of Quran.

But in particular, the last 10 nights, the Prophet will exhaust so much efforts in terms of ibadah, but in particular, the Quran, connecting with the Quran. And we know the special virtue of just reciting the Quran in the house of Allah, where the Prophet Muhammad said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 1650)

"Not a group of people that gather in one of the houses of Allah for the sake of reciting the Quran, except that Allah will allow the sakinah, the tranquility, the peace in someone's heart to descend and would allow the angels to spread their wings over them and the rahmah of Allah."

So never lose hope, no matter who you are, where you've been in your life, how many mistakes you committed, how far you believe you are from Allah, Allah doesn't see you as far away from him.

So especially in the last 10 nights, connect with Allah, speak to Allah, through making du'a. This is how we can speak to Allah, by making du'a, speaking to him in any language from your heart. And Allah speaks to us through the Quran.

And your life can change in these last nights.

Allah as Al-Fattah - The Opener

As we come to Juz 22, last Juz, we talked about Allah as the author of history. All right, Surah Rum, then you get into Al-Ahzab, the author of history, the ultimate author of history. And subhanAllah, as you come into Juz 22, Allah is the opener of impossible situations in history too.

And as I was reflecting on how Allah talks about himself in this Juz, Allah talks about how people felt when they thought they were in an impossible situation. So Allah mentions:

The hearts reaching the throats. Like you are at the point where you think destruction is imminent, where you have absolutely no end in sight to your tragedy and you have no way of overcoming your enemy.

And I think that's truly indicative of how so many of us feel at various points in these days where the oppressors seem to have this control of everything. Like they shut that path off. Okay, they just broke another international law. Okay, they just took over something else. It just got that much more impossible.

And when Allah mentions, وَبَلَغَتِ الْقُلُوبُ الْحَنَاجِرَ that really exemplifies how we feel sometimes. The hearts reaching the throats. Imagine being in that place where you really see no opening, no fatah and you can only look to al-fatah, Allah to open up a way for you.

Divine Support for the Prophet ﷺ

But also Allah being the guardian of those that he loves, particularly the Prophet. And here's the thing, Allah will make incredible openings for someone that he loves.

We talk about how much Allah will extend of his rope to a sinner, to someone who's going far away from him and Allah calls him back. What about the one who exerts himself for Allah? How much more will Allah open for him? And there's no one more beloved to him than the Prophet.

Allah and his angels send their praise on the messenger of Allah, their prayers on the messenger. Not just on Laylatul Qadr, not just in the last 10 nights, it's a constant praise and prayer being showered on the messenger of Allah without pause.

So how much did Allah open for his Prophet? He literally opened his heart, cleansed his heart and opened for him and facilitated for him in ways that no historian, that no political scientists could ever predict or go back and say, this looked like it was going to happen. Allah opened and opened and opened.

But before that, did we not open your chest? Allah opened the heart of the Prophet, removed the burden and the heart of the Prophet was full of the love of Allah.

The Condition of the Heart

So there's something here about who Allah will open for. For anyone who seeks him, Allah will make sure that there is something to be sought that is greater. You won't put an effort and be rejected. But the more that you exert yourself in your love of him, the more that things are going to happen that are quote unquote supernatural beyond anyone else's prediction or control. And that is definitely the cases we see here in this juz.

So this is not just Allah telling us to send our peace and blessings then on the Prophet to send our salawat on the Prophet. When Allah says that he does so, then that's like divine endorsement of the Prophet. Like I love him, I send salawat on him.

So you should as well, O believers, sallu alayhi. Send your prayers upon him, send your salam upon him as Allah and the angels do.

Allah says, don't be like those who harmed Musa and Allah frees Musa from those who harmed him. And Allah is telling us not to harm the Prophet the way that Musa was harmed.

Then you go to the end of the juz, Surah Yasin, "Woe to the servants. No messenger comes to them except that they used to mock him," that they used to make fun of him and in some cases, kill the messenger, which is the case in Surah Yasin.

So the adab that we should have with the messenger of Allah, the way we should behave with the messenger of Allah is definitely put there. And I just came away from this juz with an immense sense of gratitude to the Prophet because it just dawned upon me like how much he had to go through.

The Hardships of the Prophet ﷺ

And that's also part of it like Allah talking about the hardship that he went through. He was in the trench and the hearts were in the throats and the Prophet also had to deal with hardship from the community as well. He had to deal with adha, constant adha, constant harm. And yes, Allah opened up great things for this ummah but the one who was chosen as the vehicle was the Prophet.

So all those openings came through the Prophet. So there's an immense sense of gratitude, a depth of gratitude that we owe him as well.

Confidence in Allah and Da'wah

When you think about giving da'wah in the deen of Islam and knowing Allah is having fiqh and being sure of who he is and his capabilities. When you have surety and confidence in Allah by his names and attributes and his capabilities, it is always an opportunity for you to become stronger in who you are as a human being and who you are as a Muslim.

Because the more confidence you have in Allah, the more confidence you have in yourself and your capabilities. So always using any trial or tribulation and any fortune, good things that you have, like the people of Saba themselves. The fortune that you have could be a test from Allah.

So having confidence in Allah that you will be thankful to him and thankful to the ones that have given you what Allah has chosen. In the same token, when things are taken away from you, the goal is to have the same attitude. It's to be alhamdulillah, ala kulli haal.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 42, Hadith 7138)

As the Prophet said, the affair of the mu'min amazes me. For really every situation for him is good.

And this is important because when looking at the Hadith of the Prophet, where he talks to the companions and he tells them that you are like, He said, you will be like the foam on the ocean. And what's beautiful about this Hadith is that some of the scholars mentioned the foam on the ocean, like the little bubbles on the ocean that sometimes they stick together and then they separate.

So two characteristics of them is one of them is that there's no substance. It's so light. It has nothing. And also that they will end up separating because they're just going with the wave. You have no effect in this dunya. You have no effect with people. You have no effect when you're calling people to your way of life, whether the way that you act or how you talk, how you carry yourself as a Muslim.

The Prophet's ﷺ Perseverance and Hope

SubhanAllah, we can actually summarize the life of the Prophet ﷺ. The hadith that you mentioned that strange is the affairs of the believer. So when anything difficult or hardship happens, he is patient and that is good for him. And when good things happen to him, he is shakir. He is grateful. He shows gratitude to Allah. That's also good for him.

And the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the most selfless individuals. He was actually thinking about us when he was going through the hardship to deliver the message. And he ﷺ, he was a visionary person where he ﷺ said, there'll be messengers and prophets on the Day of Judgment, some with a few followers, some with many followers. I wish to be the messenger where I can boast to Allah with the amount of followers I have. And this is what made the Prophet ﷺ strive. And not give up. And his strength.

So can you imagine, for example, the year of sadness where his most beloved Khadijah died. And his beloved uncle who was like the governor or the chief of Mecca, who was protecting him in Mecca, he also died. And the companions, they were being tortured. Some were exiled. Yet he still decided to go to Ta'if to spread the message.

Any of the du'aes today, if they have like a media campaign against them, some might give up and say, maybe that was not for me. But the Prophet ﷺ, regardless of all these situations and circumstances, he went to Ta'if. And even Ta'if, the tribes there, they rejected his message. They mocked him ﷺ. They abused him. They physically abused him as well. And the Prophet here is nearly 50. He's not young. And he's in this mountain in Ta'if. And he's walking back to Mecca. With no results. And he's resting under the tree.

And the angels said, Ya Rasulullah, just command us. If you want us to these two mountains around these tribes, we can crush them right now. But he was a merciful Prophet ﷺ and hopeful. He ﷺ said:

Oh Allah forgive, guide my people. He still called them qawmi, my people. For they do not know. They are ignorant.

And subhanAllah, some of the greatest tribes became Muslim from Ta'if. From the Thaqafi tribe who governed Iraq and had a good contribution towards the Islamic civilization, Islamic state in the future from the Prophet ﷺ.

Gratitude in All Circumstances

So two occasions where the Prophet ﷺ went through hardship. Yet he was thabit, steadfast, and he was sabir. And when good things happen, he was shakir. So when Aisha رضي الله عنها, she narrated that the Prophet ﷺ was praying Qiyam and he was praying so much that it was affecting his body. And Aisha said, Ya Rasulullah, you are Rasulullah. Allah forgave your past and future sins. But his response was strange. He ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4837)

If Allah granted me this position, should I not therefore be a grateful servant?

And what we can learn from this is when Allah gives you more, do more. If Allah gives you more money, give more sadaqah to yaqeen as well. Allah gives you like a position in society, help more people. Do more shafa'ah hasanah. Do good words of recommendations where you can help people get jobs, where you can help people get married, where you can help people in society. Allah gave you this position.

الشكر هو الذي يستخدم النعم في طاعة الله ولا يستخدم النعم في معصية الله A true believer who is grateful, he uses the blessings Allah gave him to please him and he doesn't use these blessings to disobey him.

The Opening of Hearts

JazakAllah khair. Beautiful reflection. SubhanAllah, if you notice, there's a trend right away, the heart. The heart reached the throat from fear. أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ Did we not open your heart? When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم talks about us becoming like غُثَاءُ السَّيْلِ, like the foam, because you have الْوَهْنُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ الْوَهْنُ You have in your hearts wahn. حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا You love the world too much and you hate death too much.

So it's a condition of the heart. Bigger hearts can take on bigger missions and the one who can open the heart is Allah and when Allah opens your heart, you have more capacity. Bigger things happen for you as well.

So the biggest opening that can happen is the opening of the heart before the opening of history and the opening of this and the opening of that. When we talk about Saba, they had everything but their hearts were constricted. So they did not see the blessing of revelation, the blessing of their messenger or the material blessings around them because there was constriction in the heart.

So when we talk about Al-Fattah Oh Allah, open our hearts towards your rightful guidance.

Al-Fattah: The Ultimate Judge

Say that our Lord will gather us together then He will judge between us with the truth and He is Al-Fattah Al-'Aleem. Allah is the opener and the all-knowing.

Now, I think this is actually the only time in the Qur'an Al-Fattah is used, the name Al-Fattah is used. Al-Fattah I was reading in the tafsir one of the names and even some translations you'll see Al-Fattah being translated as the legislator or the hakim يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَنَا And this is important because it shows that level of confidence that when you're calling that person it's like you're saying Allah is the one that's going to legislate between us and what's beautiful about it being understood as the hakim is because or the legislator is because his legislation may open doors for you in a way that you never anticipated or because of his legislation things will be brought to light the haqq and that's why he said bil-haqq in the verse so that's what's so beautiful about Al-Fattah because we say the opener but in this context of giving dawah in this context of being confident of your message and the fatah that he's placing in your heart.

I think like the lay Muslims they use Al-Fattah in a way where like it's attributed to rizq provision and money and wealth so they will make a regular du'a اللَّهُمَّ مُفَتِّحٌ عَلَيْنَا especially when things are difficult because doors can be closed and Allah could have other doors open for you so always have that yaqeen and certainty Allah knows and you do not know but in this ayah in particular Allah يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا our lord he's going to bring us all together Muslim, non-Muslim, rich, powerful, poor, weak the king, the lay person now is the truth now is the time for real judgment and now is the time where everyone's haqq will be given Allah Al-Fattah Al-'Aleem who knows everything and the ultimate judge this is when things matter truly matter.

So Allah will open the records some of the ulama mentioned that this is one of the takeaways from this verse too imagine the earth when it's been shattered, crumbled and then it opens back up and the secrets come out of it so the records are opened files are opened and the reward is also opened the gates to Jannah are opened the pathways to paradise as well as the opening of the gates of hellfire for those who deserve it may Allah protect us.

Final Reflections on the Last Ten Nights

But I guess in these last two nights I'll end with this I'm just thinking about like how many hearts will be open towards Allah that have been shut for so long how many pathways between the heavens and the earth are being opened for the angels to come through these lanes there's no time in which there are more angels that are coming down the lanes are open it's like traffic now traffic is there it's like London you talk about the roads the roads in London are always traffic man you can't get two miles without taking an hour but think about the traffic of the angels the lanes are all open but that's the amount of opening that's happening Allah opening the hearts the opening of mercy the opening of reward like it's open for you now forgiveness, mercy, reward but you have to open up your heart to the possibility of guidance and let Allah guide you and open your heart to the next step and your journey towards him.

So I think just this last thing Sheikh Abdullah I'll come back to you someone that feels like my path to Allah has been shut I've just put too many barriers between me and Allah to think about a door opening for me what do you tell them Sheikh just as a takeaway for them?

I say you're still living you're still breathing that means something you have to remember the fact that you're still breathing and on top of that you're still healthy you have conscience take advantage of that with the one that you know created it if you're thinking about that right now the fact that you have that thought is a blessing so it's always about what are you doing with that blessing and then realizing that the one that has given you that blessing can open many other doors open and the thing is you know it's so deep is that those doors are probably already open you just haven't seen it yet so the fact that you're seeing it in your conscience that's a blessing which opens another door to another blessing that's already been there and it's waiting for you so Ramadan this beautiful month it's waiting for you and making that effort is a blessing and there's much more behind that he who opened your heart to wanting to be guided will open you inshallah to his forgiveness as well he who opened your mind will guide it.

Reminder to everyone else again inshallah last 10 nights please do keep us in your du'a and inshallah to donate if you can we'll see you all tomorrow night