ADD- Akhirah Deficit Disorder

ADD: Akhirah Deficit Disorder

Opening Prayers and Greetings

We praise Allah سبحانه وتعالى and send peace and blessings upon him, his community, his companions till the end of time. Dear brothers and sisters (الحمد لله، السلام عليكم ورحمة الله). It's great to be here again at the golf club here in Kuala Lumpur. Is Singapore in the house tonight? Where is Singapore at? Yeah, someone messaged me they drove all the way from Singapore, wow. But I went, I came from America so I came the farthest, so I get the prize. (لله. الحمد) Inshallah in December we'll be visiting you Inshallah in Singapore. Can't keep it on the deal now. But inshallah in December we'll be coming to Singapore inshallah.

Introduction: Understanding ADD and Seeking Remedies

So it's great to be here gathered together. And the topic I was given is ADD. ADD, many years ago for ADD they prescribed Ritalin. Those of you who remember, some of the medical professionals are probably like don't say that word because it became a very controversial drug that was given to children now who shake and have nervous disorders. And in fact there's a study done in the west at least in the United States that children under the age of 15, well over like 15% to 20% of them are actually starting to take Prozac now to deal with these kind of disorders, not necessarily ADHD but what becomes later on known as certain issues, psychosis and so on and so forth.

And as for Muslims of course, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah 3436)

"O servants of Allah, seek remedies." He said O servants of Allah seek remedies. So we're not trying to undermine the importance of seeking proper advice. The other day on a channel here that wasn't TV Hijrah, Alhamdulillah, there was someone who called in and said I have cancer, and the answer was to go and find a nest of an insect in your home and make like tea out of it and rub it all over your bodies. This kind of preposterous answer also is another extreme. So don't misunderstand what I'm saying about seeking proper professional medical help.

The Importance of Tafsir and Understanding the Quran

But we're talking now about a deficiency in our focus on the hereafter. And the best remedy for any illness, spiritual illness, is the Quran. And one of the dangers of our ummah is the lack of tafsir of Quran, the lack of the explanation of Quran being part of our daily diet. You know in the states they have the nutrition pyramid. You know if you go to Kenny Rogers here, he has it in the menu. You know American, I would have to like pargi Kenny Rogers at least once in Malaysia. But there's a nutrition pyramid. So what will be the nutrition pyramid for the soul? What we call in the west the soulful diet. If you lived in the south you know about the soulful diet. Most of us wouldn't be allowed to eat the soulful diet. But now we're talking metaphorically about the nutrition pyramid for the heart and what's needed to remedy the heart. And the first most important ingredient is the Quran.

But unfortunately you find that explanations of the Quran are few and far between. Hamdan, Ekim FM, they have a regular sheikh who does a great job of giving tafsir of Quran. In Egypt, part of our daily diet was Tafsir of Quran and Al-Azhar Sharif, Alhamdulillah. But for the masses, the masses of Muslims, in order for them to contextualize Islam in their daily lives, Tafsir of the Quran, explaining the Quran. And the word tafsir means more than explanation. The word fassarah bima'na yufassir al-lata'if means to explain things which are subtle, which most people might not be able to catch. So this is the difference between Tafsir of Quran and tilawah of Quran.

Contemporary Understanding vs Classical Scholarship

So the tafsir of the Quran is something that should be part of our regular diet. We should seek it. And I'm of the opinion that it's more important to take things like tafsir of Quran from contemporary ulema than the classical ulema. And let me qualify why I'm saying that. Because in many cases, the Quran itself is left to be defined by the culture that you live in.

What the scholars of usul al-fiqh taught: al-'amm mutlaq, which means a universal text which was not restricted. Pay attention a little bit. We want to feed your funny bone, but we want to feed your head as well. And these universals, as mentioned by Malik rahimahullah and his students, as well as Shaybani, the student of Abi Hanifa rahimahullah, these universals if they're not defined by the sunnah, or restricted by the sunnah of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or restricted by the ijma' of the fuqaha, or some fatwa of the ulema, then it becomes restricted by something else. And that's culture.

And that's why the four madhahib, they have this incredible axiom in Islamic law: (العرف محكم - al-'urfu muhkam), which means in the face of a universal text which has not been restricted, or in the face of what's called maslaha al-mursala (sorry to get a little bit too technical for you, I know it's late), which means something which the sharia didn't talk about but seems good, then al-'urfu muhkam. Then what defines that ambiguous text or what restricts that universal text is the culture that you live in with five conditions. We don't have time, insha'Allah if we study usul of fiqh here one day, we can go through it insha'Allah ta'ala.

Defining Ma'ruf in Marriage

And that's why sadatul malikiya, I'm sorry I'm trained in the Maliki madhab, so forgive me, I know many of you are Shafi'i. The Malikis, we have an important axiom that says al-'urfu kashshart, which means that the custom of the people at times can act as a condition for defining a principle. Now this is important because 2% to 5% of the verses in the Quran are what's called an-nass. An-nass here means a text which no one interprets. It is what it is, like salah. We say la ijtihad bi wujud an-nass. We have an axiom that says there's no intellectual investigation in the face of a clear text. If you want an English translation for nass: an explicit text, definitive in meaning, what we call qat'iyya.

So Allah says

"Establish salah." No one can say like, you know I think salah means like this, cause like you know I like hang out in Santa Cruz, and like you know, and then you know in Terengganu we have like this fish. You don't like, you don't do that with that verse. That's the verse where the sahaba said sami'na wa ata'na.

But Allah سبحانه وتعالىHe says Allah سبحانه وتعالى says, now you have to pay attention. It's hot, I'm sorry it's hot in here, but it's because of the iman mashallah. And the reason that I want to explain it this way is we have to take Islam outside of the pondok. And I don't mean that, I studied in a pondok alhamdulillah. But for many of you, and I'm not saying that to make fun of anyone because making fun of people is one of the qualities of shaitan. But for you as young professionals, as a young you know, bulging Malaysian society, some of you might not even be that really religious right, Islam has to have meaning for you.

When I was studying education a long time ago, my degree from America is in education, and we taught literacy to children. The goal is to teach them to give meaning to reading, to become active readers, not passive readers. Also one of the fundamental principles of our religious individual relationship with our religion is to be able to draw meaning from our religion on a daily level. So for that reason, it becomes extremely important for you to have contemporary ulema who understand that 50 cent is not change and bling bling ain't silverware. They understand what you're going through. And we have to get rid of this kind of class system of well, you know an imam ain't supposed to be at a sweet charity concert, and you know my wife is a gangster and you know this and that. Why not? Not in the sense that I'm saying it's halal, but at least they should know what's going on so they can speak to it.

So Allah says

"Live with them in kindness." This is an undefined text. This is what I was talking about earlier in Usul. (مَعْرُوف) means something known, something known to the people.

My wife is here. Can someone let my wife have a chair? Because if I see my wife standing I might have a problem. This is my baby man, you know what I mean? So she's hiding now because she's a Malay. But you know, if someone could secretly pass her a chair I would really appreciate it. It's my wife, you know. It's your wife, you know. I mean I have to let her sit here if she can't sit somewhere. So I mean I'm sure one of the brothers, we have a lot of chivalrous brothers mashallah, maybe they can give up two chairs for her and her friend, her kawan, kawan ber-iman. It would be great, insha'Allah. So I mean I can't stand here, my wife is standing. It's like, audhubillah. And I just read the verse (وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ - "Live with them in kindness.") Got it? Thank you Alhamdulillah. And Allah said make room for people, Allah will make room for you. Alhamdulillah.

Understanding Universal Texts in Context

So here Allah says (وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ). Now pay attention, pay attention, because I like to make you laugh on purpose to make you pay attention. But the goal is not laughter, right? It's edutainment. Don't get caught up, oh it's funny, oh it's funny. All that is just kind of like a mask, try to catch something.

So Allah says (وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ - "Live with them in a dignified way.") (مَعْرُوف) means something known to the people. The same word custom comes from this word, because the (عُرْف) the custom is what's known. The tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell would be happy.

If you read the Quran and you saw (وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ) this text is not defined. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't say (فَأَمَّا مَعْرُوفٌ فَهُوَ كَذَا). Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمyou will not find a hadith he said (مَعْرُوف) means this. You will not find the Quran says, you're not gonna find (مَعْرُوف) defined in Quran anywhere as talking about marital

relationships. Nor will you find the إجماع of the Sahaba on what (مَعْرُوف) meant. Nor you're gonna find Malik or Shafi'i or Imam Ahmed or sadatul ahnaf say (فَأَمَّا مَعْرُوفٌ فَهُوَ كَذَا). They left it. What is defined by (مَعْرُوف)

I'll give you an example. Can you imagine just for a second if Allah said (إِذَا أَحْبَبْتَهَا فَاشْتَرِ لَهَا دُرْيَانِ لَعَلَّكَ تُفْلِحُ) - A-B-C. hypothetically ,سبحانه وتعالى or if Allah (فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتَهَا فَاشْتَرٍ لَهَا دُرْيَانِ لَعَلَّكَ تُفْلِحُ) said سبحانه وتعالى If hypothetically Allah said, then go and buy her (دُرْيَانِ لَعَلَّكَ تُفْلِحُ) you'll be successful. What if she's allergic to (دُرْيَان)? What if she doesn't like the smell, right?

So Allah سبحانه وتعالى left it open to be defined by the custom of the people. So if you read a tafsir of Quran of a Shaykh who defines معروف according to the social status of that Shaykh or Shaykha that was from six or seven hundred years ago, it might not click with you. You understand what I'm talking about now. And this doesn't disrespect the Ulama. We respect the Ulama.

But that's why Imam Al-Qarafi, listened to the statement of Qarafi Al-Maliki rahimahullah in Al-Ihkam. He said (الجمود بالكتب مضل - "Clinging to texts and regurgitating them will lead people astray.") What he meant here, because some people misunderstood his statement rahimahullah, he said clinging to texts and regurgitating them will lead people astray. What he means here is in these instances, instances where the society or the culture has been given the leeway by Islam, or the ijtihad has been left open for the scholars to look at again and again, because they might bring something that doesn't quite click with you.

Examples of Evolving Definitions

I'll give you an example and it's a little rough, and I'll take it from the Maliki Madhab that way no one can get angry. I think I'm the only Maliki in Malaysia right now. InshaAllah that will change. So just joking.

In the Book of Fatwa in the Maliki Madhab, we find one of the Ulama, he said (فَأَمَّا نِكَاحٌ فَإِشْتِرَاءُ الْفَرْجِ - "Nikah is to purchase the private parts of a woman.") How many of you are going to get married according to that definition? Bolila Chapani, get married, right? And then the Imam said, so the definition of the Nikah is: Sister, you know, the man is buying this. I'm sure you'll get up and be like, huh? Oh not me, right? You'll get a little hard with it.

Now if we compare that to the definition, and this is not the definition of the Malikis, but this is an example of a definition given by a man who lived in a society which had a little bit of, you know, misogyny in it. And that was a reality that he dealt with as a person because he's a person, he's a human being.

Now you have for example Dr. Atiyah Sakr of Al-Azhar University, he died a few years ago, great Mufti, who said (فَأَمَّا نِكَاحُ - "Marriage is a shared obligation between a man and a woman in exchange for a contract and an 'aqd and the agreement to establish mutual rights amongst themselves as given to them by Allah.") Which definition you get married to? I think it's going to be the definition of Atiyah Sakr.

And this is not changing Islam or destroying Islam or تدمير الإسلام. This is what's called تجديد الدين. There's a difference between تجديد and تبديد. تجديد means something that already exists, you polish it a little bit. تبديد means to destroy.

Making Religion Relevant

So the same thing applies to Quran. We talk about Akhira Deficiency Syndrome or whatever this disease is

called man. One of the problems that we have is the inability for religious scholars and personalities to convey a message that's relevant and provides meaning to the time we live in now. And that's why the faqih is from the word faqaha, not faqiha, as Shaykh Ali Juma taught us. Because the faqaha is the one who has the art of understanding. It's not an acquired art, it's a God-given talent that he has. It can be learned, it can be learned, but it's just like a host of a TV show. Not every host is the same man, not every host is the same. Some have charisma, some put you to sleep. It's how it is, it's how it is.

So the faqih as defined by the ulema, Al-Ghazali rahimahullah, is the one who understands the religion and understands the people. And that's why Imam al-Zuhri, as mentioned by Khateeb al-Baghdadi rahimahullah in his Adab al-Mufti wal-Mustafti, he said (فَأَمَّا مِنْ آدَابِهِ - "As for the adab of the mufti, then one of them is to know what's up in the hood man.") And that's the word he actually used. We took the emotion from the translations. As we'll talk about later on, we translated the vocabulary but the emotion is anorexic.

And he said the example is al-Zuhri, Ibn al-Shihab al-Zuhri was the sheikh of Malik rahimahullah. Ibn al- Shihab was originally from Medina but he lived in Damascus. And he used to come to Medina every Eid to visit his mom and his family. And it was related, as al-Khatib he mentions, that on the day of Eid, al-Khatib would mix with everyone. Al-Zuhri would mix with everyone. And he mentions it, he said the men, the old men, the 'ajuz, the old women, the younger women, the youth, the children. He would like take a portion of his visit every time to Medina to mix with the people.

What the Malikis called istiqra'. Istiqra' means what? A survey. It's one of our dalil in the Maliki method, an actual survey of the people, focus groups if you will. Why? So he could understand what's up in the hood. And he used to ask the shabab, the youth, what's poppin'? What's crackin' man? You know I'm al-Zuhri, don't be scared. Oh it's the tunguru man. Only thing poppin' here is corn man. Popcorn. Halal too.

And he would actually ask them about phenomena, popular culture, themes, things that were going down. Because when he went back to Damascus, he had to write fatwa. So he had to, as best he could, understand the people.

The Classical System of Al-Azhar

That's why in Azhar al-Sharif, for more than 900 years, the classical system of Azhar was for you to study from September to June, and then to September to May. Then June, July and August, they would send you out to the people man. Now take everything that you learned and show and prove. Take everything that you learned and go and mix with the people.

The idea of a divorced seminary from society came after colonialization. When scholars reacted to the influence of western imperialism in order to save what they thought was not only Islam but Muslim culture, they did what the ulema of Deoband in Pakistan did. They made Islam in a 800 or about a 1000 to 2000 square foot building. And then you find the fiqh becomes extremely, extremely kind of strict. Because now not only is the fiqh there to preserve Islam, but it's there to preserve a culture in front of what they considered at that time, rightfully so, European imperialism.

And that's why you see the fatwa of those areas, I don't know about in Malaysia under the Dutch, because the Dutch was no joke, boy. They brought more than butter, you know what I mean, and cheese, right? But you find

Being Proactive Muslims

For example, in America, most Americans have problems with their parents. I don't know about Malaysia. And in fact there was a question in Men's Health Magazine, the American edition, where a guy said, man, my mom is mad at me because I don't call enough. And then he was like, man, I call every three months, man. Every three months? Wow.

My mother's a non-Muslim, but she's from the country. She's a Patani woman. If I didn't call my mother in three days, someone's getting hurt, and it's not my mom, right? But when I became Muslim I had some issues with my parents. And when I became Muslim, the sheikh who I studied with, who I memorized Quran with, told me, what? Be good to your parents.

So if you see now, most of the converts in America, they have very good relationships with their parents. Because their approach was to be proactive, not to convert and say okay, enough, your religion, kafir's religion. No, their approach was to expel people.

So this also goes back to, and I know you're wondering what's up with the topic here, but this is an extremely important thing that you have to understand for your own studies, that when you study with people, they have to be able to empower you to live for Islam, not die for it. And let me qualify what that means.

Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymeen said to us, hafizullah, if I ask people to come die for Islam, there will be a line in front of my house. Oh yeah, I'm ready. He said, but if I ask people to live for Islam, no one would show up. But before you can die for something, you have to what? You gotta live for it first. And in order to live for it, you have to be empowered.

Relevance and Empowerment

Because many of us, we hear things and see things. Other than that on TV, man, almost blew a fuse, man. The sister calls up and says, brother, I'm sick. He said, go to seven different mosques and take, you know the water, and the old massage in Malaysia, take water from seven different mosques and drink it and it'll cure your sinuses. Dr. Joe, would that cure sinus illness? Maybe Agmentin will or something, but not water from. And then she said, oh thank you, may God reward you. And her brother told me, in the time of the prophet there wasn't even seven masjids in Medina. So where did this come from, man?

Without trying to create too much trouble, because also there are great scholars, Alhamdulillah. But point being is, one of the frustrations that we might have, man, is the inability for religion, not religion but those who explain religion to us, to make it relevant. And that's where frustration comes in. And that's where people tend to go to extremism, especially in post-modern, the post-modern reality that we live in, of deconstructionism.

Respecting Classical Scholarship

So we talk about Tafsir al-Quran. The reason that I said it's important to consult contemporary ulema: You have this one ustaz on IKIM. That guy is the bomb, man. And he's like, he has that real, like, very white voice, man. That brother, I don't even understand Malay very well, and I was like, wow, this is nice. And my wife said, yeah, this dude is the real deal. I said, watch it, girl. Watch out now. Just joking, joking. I'm in trouble now.

But it has to be relevant and respect of orthodoxy. And when we have 95% of the verses of Quran and hadith, as mentioned to us by our ulema in Al-Azhar, and I heard this from Sheikh Ali himself, 95% of texts are, what can we say, eligible for reinterpretation according to certain realities that usul of fiqh gives us. If 95% of the texts are like that, you might want to kick it with a sheikh who understands your hood that you live in.

And that doesn't mean also that we turn our back or disrespect the classics. I love Elvis, right, before I was Muslim. Aziz Sattar, right? Aziz Sattar, show Elvis, I know. But we respect what they did. We hold on to what they did, but with the lens of contemporary scholarship. And we have to be careful of people to tell us all these contemporary ulema, scholars for dollars and all this.

Imam Ibn Qayyim said this is one of the greatest tricks of shaitan: to make the people hate the scholars, to make them feel like all the scholars are sellouts. Thank you. All the scholars are like this. All the scholars are rubbish, man. I'mma go it alone. I'mma start going to Sheikh Wiki, man. Me and Sheikh Google. Sheikh YouTube.

This deen was taught to the Prophet by Jibreel. It's been taught from men, from men and women to men, men to women, from that time till now. And there's a barakah in that. There's a barakah in that.

The Quran and the Hereafter

So now we talk about akhira Deficiency Disease Syndrome, whatever it's called. We all know what it means. See, I did that on purpose. We all know the meaning of what I'm talking about because we all suffer from it. Every one of us suffers from that.

And why is the Quran so important? Because I believe, Al-Qushayri rahimahullah, great Sufi 'alim, he said: You will not find a page in the Quran except the hereafter is mentioned. Wallahi, you'll not find a page in the Quran except the hereafter is mentioned.

I have no idea who Sweet Charity is. Long story. But every street I drove down in Malaysia for the last week, there was a sign Sweet Charity and Blues Gang. The only thing I remember about Blues Gang is mama I wanna what? Get married. That's a dope song man because we all sung that song once in our life. Whether we heard that song or not, we already knew the lyrics, right? But everywhere I went I saw Sweet Charity, Blues Gang, Sweet Charity. And one street it was like every light pole. I said who is this man? And then Alhamdulillah someone explained to me, it's like old you know rock group or something. And they're like famous.

But why is it up? Because it's important to some people. Can you imagine now, on every page of the Quran, the hereafter is mentioned, is being advertised to you, is being constantly shot at you. Because the nature of people is to forget that.

Because we believe, and pay attention to this as Ahlus Sunnah, that this dunya is designated as means, not absolute objectives. There are aspects of the dunya which are objectives, but at the same time there are also means. Like marriage, marriage is an objective, but it's a means to preserve ourself. As the Prophet said (مَنْ يَسْتَعْفِفْ يُعِفَّهُ اللَّهُ - "Whoever seeks to be chaste, Allah will make them chaste." (Sahih al-Bukhari 1469)

Children are definitely something we all would love to have, Alhamdulillah. But also their means. As Allah said (وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَاتَّبَعَتْهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُم بِإِيمَانٍ أَلْحَقْنَا بِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ - "And those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith - We will join with them their descendants." (Quran 52:21) They will believe and their children follow them in iman, they will be together in the hereafter. So it's an objective and a means.

But nothing in the dunya is a pure objective. Remember that. Nothing is designated by sadatul ashā'irah as something which is from a maqasid, pure maqasid. The only pure maqsid that exists is the hereafter. And that helps you now with lenses, how Islam teaches us how to understand this life.

Understanding Success

And why sometimes some young Muslims come to me and say, man, if Bill Gates is not going to jannah man, how can we get all that money? Maybe you guys don't speak that kind of English. So if Bill Gates has procured large amount of you know, monetary instruments, why are the Muslims like they are?

So the response is, there is a lot of reasons for that. But one of the answers is: Someone who has a lot of means but fails to achieve the objective with those means, have they succeeded or failed? And someone who has a small amount of means but with that achieves an objective, are they successful or failures?

Now you understand your role in this dunya. All of this is a means for what? For success in the hereafter. And that's the main reason why we have to study aqidah in a different way than it's taught. Unfortunately aqidah is being taught outside of traditional circles in a way that makes you hate other Muslims.

Accommodation and Brotherhood

Now can you imagine if I was in the club? What's up? Yes sir, please. Assalamualaikum, there is a lot of brothers and sisters still out there. If possible could you just come on the stage yourself? Yeah, come on the stage so that the brothers outside can come in. I can sit there too. No it's good. So come, come. Brothers still out there hoping to come in, come. I don't have any problem with keeping it real. You can come sit right here, right here. I can sit on the ground. Our masheikh didn't teach us that that's how we should act with people, although the period is quite nice. But it's quite fuzzy.

So do you mind if we wait for everyone to come in? So what you can do now, try to see someone that you never met before and get to know them. So alhamdulillah mashallah, you'll acquire this important quality of ukhuwwah. And if you gather for Allah and leave for Allah, as mentioned in the hadith, the angel will make dua for you. So don't stand up, because that will create absolute madness. But try to see if there is someone around you that you never met before. Say salam, how are you? Brothers come on, let's fill up the whole stage. We can do this.

Salam. You had to leave last night huh? We partied man. You're getting married soon. Salam, how are you? How are you doing man? Good to see you bro. Come on brothers, we can do it inshallah. Alright sisters here, watch this. One, two, three, scoot forward. Okay also here, one two three. Mashallah, thank you. And I think there is an empty chair behind you. Someone sitting there? Okay.

I think YMP needs a new spot, like a stadium or something. Oh man. Also there is some empty space here too, on the floor. Mashallah may Allah reward you for helping other people. You know it's good to see this, Alhamdulillah.

Yo, New York, New York, you got to come up here. You're from New York man, come on man. We got Strong Island in the house. Shaolin. Salaam, salaam, salaam. How are you doing man? Good, good. Nice to see you again. Two days in a row. I remember. Grab right there. You guys crashed the party. We're not mad.

Let's give a big round of applause for YMP. Mashallah. YMP are very close to me. Usually when I come to Malaysia I just hang out with YMP. It's not like I don't like anyone else, but it's just because I love them so much. These are really good brothers and sisters, and they're like family to me, Alhamdulillah. And they're actually the first people to bring me to Malaysia, I believe. I mean my wife of course, but they can't do it. But YMP really great organization. You should look into them, hang out with them, join them, support them. Wonderful brothers and sisters, mashallah. Can we start? Thank you Husna. Dr. Husna, mashallah.

Dunya as Means to the Hereafter

So we believe that this dunya is designated as a means, and nothing in this dunya is designated as a pure objective except certain acts of ibadah. And that's why they require an intention. Watch this. This is gonna hold your kufi and your tudung, right? Because those things that are pure acts of ibadah, because they are within themselves pure objectives, the only thing in this dunya they require intention. Because their relationship with the pure objective which is the pleasure of Allah سبحانه وتعالى is such, that's why we call it a niyyah.

The word niyyah in Arabic means to travel in a direction. Because niyyah requires knowledge and an objective. That's why it's called niyyah. That's why the child is not mukallaf, because he can't have niyyah, because he can't GPS his direction. If I left my son, God forbid, in KLCC, he'd be lost. Doesn't have the ability to set out an objective for himself because he's not mukallaf. But the people of niyyah are the people who have a path to follow which is the sunnah of Sayyidina Rasulullah, and objective is the ridwan of Allah. And that's why it's called niyyah. The original meaning of niyyah means a direction that you travel. And that's why they gave it that meaning. Look at the Arabs, Arabs are dope man.

And we talk about the hereafter. That's the first designation to understand where you are. And now think about the statement of the scholar when he said, Ibn al-Jawzi: This dunya is a garden. Look at his language. Look how deep his language is. Look at the metaphor he uses. Because everything I just said is found in that metaphor. This dunya is a garden, and what you cultivate, you'll find in the hereafter.

Testing the Presence of Akhirah in the Quran

Now there are a number of chapters in the Quran that really explain, Alhamdulillah, this concept of the hereafter. But let's test it. Suhaib said, ulama said that it's almost impossible to find a page of Quran except the

hereafter is mentioned there.

Surah Fatiha, who can think of a verse? (مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ - "Master of the Day of Judgment." (Quran 1:4) The next page: (وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ - "And of the Hereafter they are certain." (Quran 2:4) It's right there. The next page: (وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا كَانُوا - "And for them is a painful punishment." (Quran 2:10) The next page : (وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ - "Whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers." (Quran 2:24) The next page, the first verse : (وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ - "And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens." (Quran 2:25)

Almost every page of the Quran, the hereafter is being advertised. Because as Muslims we have to appreciate this is something I talk about now. Alhamdulillah, we just finished 26 episodes in 5 days for TV Hijrah. Wow, it's a marathon man. Incredible channel, Alhamdulillah. And one of the things that we talk about in that chapter is how the Quran, Allah has invested an incredible amount to market it to you (لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِ - "So that people will have no argument against Allah after the messengers." (Quran 4:165) So no one can have an excuse. No one can have an excuse.

Surah Al-Layl: For Young Professionals

Now a surah that captures this, and we'll try to make it short inshallah, but to the point, is surah al-layl. Especially for young professionals, people out there who are grinding man: doctors, nurses, lawyers, bankers, you know, people that are in that world. Unfortunately we see, even in America, this group of people have made hijrah from the masajid, not to the masajid. When I asked, I asked one brother in America, why? He said, the imam, he doesn't speak English. He said, I don't speak Urdu man. Hello, I'm from Compton. Speak Urdu.

Being able to be relevant, there's a lecture of mine on YouTube, you should peep it out: The importance of being relevant. It was from the sunnah of the prophet to be relevant with the dawabit. That's the guidelines of orthodoxy. We're not relativists.

But in surah al-layl, this is the ninth chapter sent to your prophet man. The ninth chapter in Mecca, sent to him, historically. All of us memorize the surah. And Allah سبحانه وتعالى in the Quran, He teaches things in an incredibly remarkable way. Again, the investment. And as du'at, people who da'wah man, don't do it like, you know, half strength man. If you're going to do a da'wah program or you're going to do some type of work, do it well. Because this is the sunnah of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. Allah has written excellence in everything.

But Allah سبحانه وتعالى this chapter is deep. And He begins it with what's called, what's called, I don't know how they translate it in Malay because I don't speak Malay very well. I just know, buy this baba, buy that baba, bring me this baba. I got that down pat. But in English, it's translated absolutely horribly. You know, I swear, I swear, just like inna. We'll talk about inna later on. Inna, certainly, verily. Like, we don't talk like that anymore. I don't go home like, verily, comma, I came from the mosque. Inna's like, certainly I prepared roti tonight. Verily. Sadaqah. We don't talk like that.

The Need for Contemporary Translations

And again, it goes back to what I said. The need even for translations of Quran to be translated in contemporary languages for people. And even in tafsir, to give some time contemporary examples, there's nothing wrong with

it. As Muslims, we become so terrified, man, to be creative. Shaykh Qaradawi said the Muslim ummah needs creativity more than fatwa. It's a beautiful statement of the shaykh. He said it needs creativity more than fatwa. Because the Prophet empowered his companions to say yes we can. Remember that?

But unfortunately we have developed a mindset. What even one non-Muslim sociologist called the Muslim conscious. And he said this Muslim conscious became problematic around 300 years ago when they left the creative mechanisms that were given to them and turned it into what I referred to earlier. He said, so now the Muslim conscious will say no, I can't. No, I can't. Do you think it's okay, lah? Can I do this, lah? Can I go to school? I mean, people ask sometimes questions that are absolutely unethical.

A person asked me, is it better for me to give money to save Somalian children or use my money to go to hajj? I said, what kind of question is that, man? Feed them. According to, you can delay the hajj, but you cannot delay starving children. How could we, the sahaba, you know, Sheikh Waliullah Dahlawi says, the sahaba only asked the Prophet 13 questions in the Quran. In the Quran only. Why? Because they were empowered to act. They had enough literacy to be confident in themselves. The Muslim society in the time of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) bred confidence. But we have to be honest, in many situations now, we breed what? Insecurity. People are insecure.

Examples of Muslim Creativity

In Egypt, look how creative the Egyptians were, man. I mentioned this a few days ago. In old Egypt you'll find troughs, troughs, man. I'm sure you know what a trough is. And I asked one of them, Sheikh, what is that, man? They're everywhere. He said the waqf for the dogs. Waqf for what? For dogs. And most Egyptians are Shafi'is. You're not like us Malikis, we're cool with dogs. Khalil says, right?

And the sheikh who told me this is Shafi'i, Sheikh Ali Juma. I said, what is a waqf, a trust, a charitable trust for dogs? He said many years ago, the people had used zakat in so many different ways that they had to get like funky with it, yo. They had to get like creative with their zakat and their charities because they had already built hospitals. One of the largest buildings in old Egypt was a free hospital built for the people. They had already taken care of human beings. So now they started to take care of animals.

So he said what happened was they put these small baths with water in them all over the city in case the dogs were thirsty. Because they were scared that if the dog died of thirst, in front of Allah, they'll be held accountable. Wallahi, are these people who are insecure, or people who are inspired?

In Egypt, if you look at the old minarets by Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, you'll find some strange minarets. Totally weird man. And I asked, what's that? He said waqf for birds. The waqf for birds. I said come on man. You don't know waqf for birds? He said we had a waqf for birds because there was a person who used to hang seeds on these minarets as a waqf for birds.

This was the Muslim before. Do you think the person who made the waqf for the birds like, I don't know, is it halal? It was like Nike, just do it. Now I'm not telling you to go and start doing all kinds of crazy stuff, Suhaib said you know, in du'a. But I'm saying they had enough 'ilm, practical 'ilm, that inspired them.

Knowledge That Inspires

Now the knowledge that we have acquired makes us hate each other. You're from this group, I'm not from that group. If you go to any course and you leave that course feeling that other Muslims suck, you haven't learned anything. You've learned kibr. Whereas the prophet, when Jibreel sat with him twice in Ramadan, what did Ibn Abbas say the prophet became? He became more what? He became more generous. He said, and the sheikh who I read Al-Bukhari with he said, and he said to me, this is the purpose of knowledge. The more the prophet studied, the nicer he became. The more he learned, the more concerned he was about people.

Now we learn, Suhaib Webb, I heard you know, I don't know man, who the hell are you? Well last night I was in a club, but I'm a tauba after Fajr. Now I'm judging these people and judging these people. If that's what you learned, and you will learn this when you get older, you have wasted your time. Because Islam inspires people. And in order for us to really live up to what we're telling the world, we have to be inspirations.

The most beloved Muslim in America, America is who? Who can guess? Suhaib Webb? Nope. Hamza Yusuf? Nope. We're not even on the radar. Reyhan? Nope. Who do you think it is? Not Malcolm X. Top 5. Muhammad Ali.

The Power of Inspiration

You know why Muhammad Ali is the most important Muslim in America? Because he inspired America. In the late 1960's, he said I'm not going to Vietnam. I remember a relative of mine who don't like black people, and definitely until recently didn't like Muslims, saying, as I heard from one of my relatives, that initially he hated Muhammad Ali. But when Muhammad Ali stood for something that was right, he inspired people. And he said, I respect that man.

Don't blame conspiracy theories on people. If you're not living an inspired life, we make the job easier on people who don't like us if we're jerks. But when you are able to become iconic in your inspiration, as the prophet was, because you live for the hereafter, not for this life, then people will respect you. Your enemies will respect you because you inspire them.

And that's why Abu Sufyan, when they came to him and said Umm Habibah married the prophet, and that was at the height of his hatred for the prophet, what did Abu Sufyan say? I can think of no one for her better to marry than him. Inspiration.

When the Arabs who did not become Muslim would go back to their people and say Muhammad is the most generous human being I've ever seen in my life. Inspired.

Imam Muslim relates that one of the poets of the prophet was a Christian. Can you imagine? Can you imagine that the guy who helped the prophet drop a mixtape wasn't even from his religion? Because he was inspired by the prophet.

Living an Inspired Life

And that's why I'm not down with all this conspiracy theory stuff. Look at us. Look how we treat people, how we treat ourselves, how we treat the people that are struggling in their deen, as though we expect everyone to be

like Jibreel. Where the prophet could inspire the sinner and inspire his enemy because he lived a life of inspiration. We can't even inspire our children, and we want to blame the Jews. Cop out.

People of conspiracies are weak people. The prophet, he never sat around and said, well the Quraysh are doing this and they're doing that. They got the power structure and this Illuminati and Jay-Z and you know this diamond and Masons and Dan Brown.

Once myself and brother Daniel, we were, actually I was, I told him about it, in a restaurant here in Malaysia with some young cats, not from YMP. And I remember these brothers started asking me about the arrivals, some flick called the arrivals. I thought it was like The Bourne Ultimatum. I didn't know what they were talking about. And then I said the arrivals. They were like, Imam Suhaib man, you know you were in Egypt, and like Muhammad Abduh was a Mason, and you know Sheikh Rashid Ridha was a Mason, and what do you think about like the 33 degrees and the cipher of the Asiatic black man coming from the land of Kush? I said man, what the heck are you talking about man? I don't know. You've been listening to too much like old school hip hop or something. What's wrong with you man?

And there was a guy in front of the store, in front of the restaurant we were at, who was begging for food. And these brothers are telling me Illuminati, Illuminati, Beyonce, and you know they married, and it's like the Matrix and Neo and whatever, and they got married, and I was jigger and you know beat. And I was like bro, I don't know, I mean I know a little bit, but I don't know that much man.

Then we went out and this dude was begging for food. They didn't give him any food. Then I said to them, you brothers the whole time, you're like someone that has an infection in his lungs and you're worried about like a busted fingernail. This man right here is asking for food, and you idiots, and I said it like this, you idiots are talking about is garbage. If you want to be illuminated, feed that man right there. That's the Illuminati.

Surah Al-Layl: The Night and Day

So in this chapter of the Quran, Allah says why is it, and instead in Surah Shams, He began with Shams because Surah Shams was the 27th chapter sent to Sayyidina Rasulillah (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). When the 9th chapter was sent, the Prophet was surrounded by his enemies and surrounded by craziness. So Allah began with Layl, and then he said An-Nahar. But by the time the 27th chapter was sent, the Muslims were a little bit stronger now. So Allah سبحانه وتعالى begins with Shams.

And watch the Quran as talking about what, as Allah said about him (سِرَاجًا مُنِيرًا - sirājan munīrā) - "An illuminating lamp." (Quran 33:46) To talk about the message of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - ṣallā Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam) is like a Shams, and it will be like a Qamar in the dark night, like a moon in the dark night that even in darkness, the light of Islam will maintain itself now.

But in Surah Layl, as Imam Ibn Ashur he mentioned, the Tunisi, he began with Layl to remind the Prophet and them that things are hard man, you're surrounded by zulumat, but nasrullah qareeb. And that's why he says, and this is incredible, you can't really feel it in English: (وَالنَّهَارِ إِذَا تَجَلَّى - wa al-nahāri ʾiḏā tajallā) - "By the day when it appears." (Quran 92:2) Tajalla actually is a verb used for a person, tafa'ul. And this is majaz, because the noor cannot yet tajalla by itself.

So the ulema said as if to say that the Muslim, the mu'min billah who Allah gave this light, is like the day in front of this night, that it will be splendorous in front of the darkness of falsehood. And it begins with Waaw. This Waaw is not I swear. This Waaw is I put it on something, yo. That's the meaning of it. The meaning is not that, I don't know how it's translated in Malay, but in English, I swear by the day. The heck is that man? You don't feel it. It's like Star Trek. Remember Star Trek like Scotty? It's like really dry language, right, real dry language. Whereas in Arabic, Waaw-ul-Qasam is used when you're trying to break someone off, yo. When you're trying to say like, for real, for real. That's why in America, for real, we say wallahi. We use that Waaw-ul-Qasam because there's the emotion.

So Allah says (وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا يَغْشَى - wa al-layli ʾiḏā yaghsā) - "By the night when it covers." (Quran 92:1) Yaghsha means to veil. Al-ghashya, the hereafter is called al-ghashya because it will veil you with fear that it will bring out. It's splendor in front of the night. And here (وَمَا خَلَقَ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَى - wa mā khalaqa al-dhakara wa al-ʾunthā) - "And [by] He who created the male and female." (Quran 92:3) Means men and women created by the will of Allah. And this implies that a child is something incredible, something amazing.

Understanding Inna and Jawab Al-Qasam

This is called Jawab-ul-Qasam, because every Arabic word, every Arabic oath has to have an object, same thing in English. If I said to you, I swear, I swear, you're gonna tell me, swear about what? I swear, no no no this. So the same thing here, that's why if you read the Quran, you should not read the surah without mention the Jawab-ul-Qasam, because the kalaam is not complete.

But he says (إِنَّ - ʾinna) - "Indeed" (Quran 92:4). Inna in Arabic is used for emphasis, actually it's used if you think the listener doubts you. So like if I were to say ja'at Suhaib, ja'at Suhaib, Suhaib came. And you're like, I don't believe you. I say so now I say (إِنَّ سُهَيْبٍ جَاءَ - ʾinna suhaybin jāʾa) which unfortunately is translated as verily, certainly, surely. We don't talk like that. In the states, I don't know what they teach at like ELS and stuff, but we don't talk like that.

Don't come to America and get to the customs booth and they're like, hey so why are you here? Verily I've come from a far off land. Be like, verily, go back. Because certainly, you're wrong. We don't talk like that. We slangized our language unfortunately. The Americans butchered the English language. We did not make dhabiha of it. The British made dhabiha. We did it the wrong way.

But honestly, if you're going to translate Inna with the emotion of Inna, you translate it as hekka. In Northern California they say it's hekka hot, it's hekka cold, I'm hekka late, you're hekka strange. That's Inna. That's the feeling of Inna. I think you say lah. Not lah, right? That's like emphasis right? That's the feeling of Inna, the emotion of Inna. I want you to be able to relate to the emotion. Because you have to have meaning with Quran. We cannot be reading the Quran like the guy in the stands. We have to be reading the Quran like the guy on the playing field, because life is our playing field. It's all it means.

So Allah says (إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّى - ʾinna saʿyakum lashattā) - "Indeed your efforts are diverse." (Quran 92:4) And this is the answer to the oath. I swear by this, this, this, indeed your struggles are varied. The same word is used in Surah Adh-Dhariyat in that verse. And here it's used because as Al-Razi, Imam Al-Razi was an incredible guy, I mean he was from a city called Ra'i. Ra'i means opinion. That's where he came from. It's called Razi in Persian. But he was from what's called Al-Ra'i, the place where people are smart. So what do you expect?

He said Allah سبحانه وتعالى is comparing the efforts, and here we go, I know it's hot, I'm very sorry. You guys okay? Allah is comparing the struggles that people will make in this life till night and day because they're very different. Maher Zain is different than Little Wayne. You know I mean thank God. But I mean just think about it. Weezy, we call Little Wayne Weezy. And Maher Zain, one is like, the other is like, oh Alhamdulillah. Night and day.

So Allah is now talking to you and I and saying your efforts in this dunya are varied, like night and day, and like boys and girls born to people. Doesn't mean that girls and boys are bad or good, just means they're not the same. Your efforts, what you strive for, is different.

The Delayed Oath Creates Cognitive Dissonance

And then Allah سبحانه وتعالى says (فَأَمَّا - faʾammā) - "As for" (Quran (92:5) And (فَأَمَّا - faʾammā) is used here because this is really cool by the way in Arabic, because if you read it, you get the feeling like we're all in trouble. Oh Lord, we're all in trouble. And this happens in the Quran to create what's called, any education people here, cognitive dissonance? Jean Piaget. To create cognitive dissonance in the listener, the desire to complete the meaning.

And that's why the oath is delayed by the way. Isn't this dope? The oath is delayed, and rappers do this all the time with the predicates. They delay the predicate to create in the listener a sense of like, like a child when they want to eat something. So here it's done to you intellectually. The Quran does this in a way that's absolutely masterful which no Arab could have ever done. And that's why they flipped out when they saw the Quran.

The jawab of the qasam is delayed, because Allah has invested in making this book a complete perfect dope book for your heart. That's why, and that's why you make shukr to Allah for Quran, because when you study it you say wow, even the oath is delayed. Like how much you care about me? You want me to pay attention? You just say, he delayed it. And sometimes it happens for a long time, and so on and so forth, till now the oath is not mentioned. Why is it delayed? Almost 12 verses later. To create what the Arabs called tashwiq. If the child is like this, my little nephew today when I gave him some mashed potatoes, Kenny Rogers, Allah wants you. When you listen you're like, and you don't have to be a master of Arabic to know that, just the basic level of Arabic you can feel it.

We have to quit telling people, oh Islam is the best religion but no one can learn Arabic. When I became Muslim, my brother told me, no one in the world can say khalaqnakum. And I said man, I want to learn that language. You can't even say khalaqnakum. He's like, see you said it wrong. This like intimidation thing.

So the oath is delayed in order to create this dissonance in the listener to say man, I have to make meaning of this.

Understanding The Verse: Those Who Give

So that's why (فَأَمَّا - faʾammā) comes. Because if you say (إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّى - ʾinna saʿyakum lashattā) - "Indeed, your efforts are diverse," that means every single human being, mu'min and non-mu'min. And as a believer you might say, oh God, why do I believe? That's why we have to be very careful, imams and du'at, that when you read certain verses about hellfire that are only for the non-Muslims, don't apply them to the Muslims. Because the Muslims, like for example (أُولَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ - ʾūlāʾika ʾaṣḥābu al-nāri hum fīhā khālidūna) - "Those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally." (Quran 2:39) It's not

talking about the Muslims, it's very clear. These verses are talking about a group of kuffar, two tribes that lived in Mecca.

But for me to go and say brother, and you're going to say man, why do I believe dude? Don't I get like a little bit better deal? I get the same thing they get? I mean, and I remember a brother, a brother told me once, he was praying taraweeh in a masjid in Mosul, and the imam was reading verses that are clearly applicable only to people who died as non-Muslims with all respect. And he said he kept reading, I'm sorry guys, sorry to you brothers too, just kept, I apologize, kept reading it, reading it over and over again. He said till people started falling down in the masjid. People started, and he said you know, but I knew the verses were talking about Abu Jahl man. I say la ilaha illallah Muhammadur rasulullah.

So then he said by the end I was the only person standing, me and the imam, and the imam got mad. So he started like, like grinding it right. So finally I was like, he's like okay, come on man. Make sure the verses of Quran that you read and the hadith of the prophet that you talk about apply to the Muslims especially when they hear after, because we want to give people hope and fear. But hope is more important than fear as the ulema mentioned.

So here Allah سبحانه وتعالى says

"As for he who gives and fears Allah."

Which means ah, there's a little bit of a difference here. فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَى وَاتَّقَى . And this is awesome. أَعْطَى is a verb which is transitive. It requires an object. And the object is not mentioned. Again, the investment of God for you and his book, to make it totally dope man, to make you say wow.

And then for the one who gives and is dutiful. Gives is a transitive verb, but the object is mahdoof, it's hidden. And this is why we say the Quran is an everlasting miracle, because all of us are miserly in one way or another. I might be miserly because I don't spend time with my children. I might be miserly because I don't sit with my husband. I might be miserly with my money. I might be miserly with my talent. I might be miserly with my time by being lazy.

So Allah said مَنْ أَعْطَى he didn't say ata malan or waqtan. He said أَعْطَى and he left the object hidden. And watch why. This is incredible, because the Quran is an everlasting miracle of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. So it has to stay relevant till the end of time. How does that happen? By hiding the objects of certain verbs so that every listener and every reader of the Quran, and that's why I believe the translation in English should say insert here. Insert your crap, excuse me, here. And Oklahoma crap doesn't mean what it means to you. It means shay', lah. Insert your problem here. Insert your success here.

So now you become not a passive reader. And that goes back to what I talked earlier about relevance. We see that relevance is a Quranic principle. Hence objects of verbs are not mentioned so that it becomes immediately relevant to you now, not just the sahaba, but you in Kuala Lumpur. Insert here.

So Allah says وَاتَّقَى - "And fears Allah," don't put forward in front of Allah, put forward where? The object is gone. The object is gone. Why? Because all of us got problems man, even the imams got problems man. Not just you brother, not just you. Don't think, oh I wish I was like, no no no, ask her. But all of us have our own sins that we struggle with. The sins for a mu'min are a reminder that don't let your piety become a fitna for you, because piety without the reliance on God is hypocrisy.

So Allah says don't put forward drugs, don't put forward porn, don't put forward cigarettes, don't put forward whatever drama that you're doing in your life. Insert here and become part of the narration, not just a passive reader, but as though you are moving with the ayah itself now. And that's why he said you will never succeed until you read the Quran as though it's being revealed to you at that moment.

Belief in Al-Husna

So here Allah says فَأَمَّا مَنْ أَعْطَى وَاتَّقَى - "As for he who gives and fears Allah," as for the one who gives, gives what? It's not mentioned. وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَى - "And believes in the best [reward]." (Quran 92:6) The object, again Allah, the object is there. So here وَاتَّقَى it's not mentioned because all of us have our own drama, not like Mary J. No more drama, we have drama.

You know what Mary J. Blige said? You know who Mary J. Blige is? Man, she can sing, I ain't gonna lie. Girl can sing. You know what she said on Good Morning America? It's like your breakfast show here. I was on breakfast show once, mashallah, good breakfast by the way. But Good Morning America is a show, breakfast show all across the continent. Two months ago they asked her because she started acting now. You know what they asked her? Describe acting. She said it's my jihad. She said acting is jihad.

Now, when she said that, because of her iconic relevancy in American society, no one attacked her for it. And one brother said, praise be to God who used Mary J. Blige to teach these people the true definition of jihad. And when she said it, even the host was like, wow, it must be hard then. It's really hard. But again, relevancy. Maybe she's Muslim. Don't start rumors man. Michael Jackson is not Muslim, was not Muslim, don't ask me. Everywhere I go, brother, Thriller, I like Beat It man. But, and we'll stop here inshallah.

And وَصَدَّقَ بِالْحُسْنَىٰ - "And believes in the best." (Quran 92:6) Again, watch what the Quran does. It's incredible. Don't sleep on those TV reflections man. There's some crack in them things, for your iman, not bad crack. And the producer Rose is an incredible woman. All women behind that show man. Come on brothers. Okay, a few.

But Husna is an adjective. The noun that it describes is gone. It's not there. Why is it not there? The Quran does this all the time. I've already kind of started to train you, for you to think this way. Why do you think the noun is not there? So that you as a listener will do what? Wait a minute, where's the noun? That's why it's tadabbur. Tadabbur, you should go back and say al-Husna, imra'ah al-Husna, zawjah al-Husna. Something is not here, something is gone. That's why it should be insert here or asterisk look down. What is it linked to?

As Ibn Abbas he said al-'aqiba al-husna. Al-'aqiba means an ending. Al-Husna means, it's hard to translate al- Husna man. Sorry Husna. But al-Husna means something absolutely beautiful man, absolutely incredible, mashallah. But here he's talking about a beautiful ending.

Now why do you think Allah says here, some ulema said la ilaha illallah. Some said jannah, al-Husna. Others said al-'aqiba. The strong opinion is la ilaha illallah.

Allah Will Make It Easy

فَسَنُيَسِرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَى - "We will ease him toward ease." (Quran 92:7) Again, yusra is an adjective describing something that's not mentioned. It happens twice in a row. The investment of the Quran to be an absolutely astounding text.

And that's why we cannot sit around and say the Quran is a miracle and then people say how, and we're like, well because there is this rocket right, and because science. Science has become a god in this age. So even the Muslims have neglected the language of the Quran and ran towards science. I don't have a problem with that, but don't neglect the fundamental beauty of the Quran is its language.

So it says فَسَئُيَسِرُهُ - "We will make easy." And here it's we instead of I or Allah to show you how awesome this relationship is. Like if someone says to you, in English slang like, man I'm scared, I said we got your back. We got your back, it's me, but we got your back dude. Don't sweat it man, like I got my army, right? But I'm using that to embellish like my closeness, my connection.

So for them brothers, them akh trying to stay on their deen, them sisters wearing them scarves trying to hold it down, Allah says we got your back. That's the feeling now. فَسَئُيَسِرُهُ - "We will ease him." That's why fa' is used. Fa' is this really incredible article that always shows because of this, this, because of this, this, because of this, this. So because you struggled, because you believe, because you work hard, got your back. Not only do we got your back, we're gonna make it easy for you.

You might say but it's hard man. Shoot, waking up, I remember when I became Muslim I was like, you pray how many times? At what time? Dude, I come home at that time of day man. Club closes at 3. The hangover lasts till 8, right? There was a post yesterday on famous quotes that said at the age of 20 you call it a hangover, at 30 you call it poisoning.

So Allah said فَسَنُيَسِرُهُ لِلْيُسْرَى . Here the ulama said the lam could mean specifically for you, the one being talked about. Lam ikhtisas, only for you this thing. This relationship is intimate, yo, it's just for you and no one else. لِلْيُسْرَى - the ulama said al-yusra is describing something that's not mentioned. What is it? Al-'aqiba, which means an ending, an easy ending.

Why would Allah mention all of those difficulties in dunya and then say the ending is going to be easy? To remind you: struggle, work hard, push yourself, be a salih or saliha. And if it's hard, keep your eyes on the prize. Don't forget that this is a dar of musababat, this is a place of means. But what awaits you is a goal that we have facilitated for you, and your reward in that goal is ease. So the hardship that you deal with now, keep in mind, the end is going to be, and actually we could say yusra means like chilling man, it's going to be chilling.

The Fate of the Miser

But the rest of the surah continues. And as we stop, what does it say about the one who's a miser in disbelief? فَسَنُيَسِرُهُ لِلْعُسْرَى - "We will ease him toward difficulty." (Quran 92:10) Al-'aqiba tul 'usra, meaning don't be deceived by the ease of this dunya man.

As one brother told me a few weeks ago, he said man, I went to the club. I said God almighty. He's like subhanallah. I said brother, what was you doing up in the club? Making da'wah. I said look man. And he said I danced with someone named Shireen. I wish she wasn't an Arab man, no offense to Arab sisters or brothers. And I said really, what kind of da'wah did you give this Shireen player? He said man. I said you got da'wah, you didn't give da'wah.

I said but akhi, you know like, it was like. I said was it easy to go up in there? He said yeah, it was easy. It was like the brothers were with me and they were like, yo let's go to the club man. Ahl al-kitab chicks, you know what I'm saying. Dhabiha man. Dhabiha girls. Astaghfirullah. I told him you got some issues with your, you get married brother. You got problems in your marriage. You talking about dhabiha and stuff.

Then I told him, akhi, look how delusional you are man. Then he actually was like, yeah, I can't believe I did it. I can't believe I went to a club man. And then he said you want to know what it was like? I said no, I ain't trying to hear about all that. I lived that life before dude. But why does Allah call all of that, those things that appeal to the nafs, those things that like yeah, why does he call it الْعُسْرَى Because in reality it's going to be hard. In reality it's going to be hard.

Practical Steps for Akhirah

I'm going to stop now but you can see, honestly I believe the best way to deal with ADD is Quran and Sunnah. And I encourage you to constantly badger qualified scholars and scholars to give tafsir of Quran, constantly. Everywhere that there was a revival of Islam historically, that revival took place through a halaqah of Quran initially. It's a historical fact. And usually through tafsir of Quran.

So the Quran is something that you cannot neglect for any other 'ulum. And the Sunnah of the Prophet. So ask Allah to bless all of us with yusra and to protect us from al-'usra. And that's why the Quran says يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ - "Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship." (Quran 2:185) Allah wants for you yusr. He doesn't want for you al-'usr. Allah wants for you a good end.

So what are the things that we should do? Number one, just take a few steps. Sister came to me and she said, where do I start? I said start with baby steps. Those of you who have already reached that point of mashallah being able to hold it down and keep your deen right, work on the ihsan. Increase your ihsan. But those of you who are not there yet, the deen is open to all man. There is no prejudice in religion. There is no prejudice in religion.

In fact, one of the ulema said, sometimes I'm jealous of the sinner. We said why Tim? He said because I feel sometimes I'm arrogant, like I'm arrogant because I'm not sinning. But I see someone in the masjid who's crying to Allah asking for his forgiveness. I wish I had that. I said subhanallah man, that's a humble guy right there. I'm good, but I wouldn't mind having that but I don't want to go through any drama. Then he said that's because you're still a little kid. You don't understand. Okay fine. But take baby steps.

The Importance of Good Company

Number two, good friends. You have good people around you. The prophet said that people are in the religion of their friends. And so from fiqh we learned that a dog could be better than human beings. You ever thought about that before? Imam Qurtubi said a dog could be better than hanging out with old people. That's why Allah سبحانه وتعالى had a dog with him. Out of all the people, there's a dog hanging out. Why? To show you that those people are worse than kilab. Subhanallah.

Third is to attend at least once a week, like a study circle. One of the dangers of contemporary youth Islamic movements is that they become for entertainment solely. We're going to have fun, we're going to kick it, we're

going to do this, we're going to do that, we're going to do that for 20 years. We should have fun. I like to have fun. I mean I played Angry Birds with my son today man. I mean I had some fun. This is one level, it's hard, the one with the TNT hanging on the string. He's got to go back and hit that horn. He's like, Dad you're bad. I was like, be quiet boy, right?

I like to have fun, hang out, kick it. But the Prophet said time for this, time for that. And having fun is part of your diet as a human being. Having fun is part of your diet as a human being. But also you got to feed that brain. You have to feed that mind. You have to feed it constantly, especially religious knowledge. It doesn't come just by reading a book by Shaykh Qaradawi or Fiqh Sunnah or going on some website. Try to arrange with some of the ulema in the city man, halaqat for you that they can teach the young people. Perhaps they have something like that already, I don't know.

Being Good to Parents

The last is to be good to your parents. Trust me, it's barakah, wallahi in your parents. It's a lot of barakah. I'm not saying if your parents are mean and they've done some crazy stuff to you, that's a whole nother ball game, talking about the normal situation, right? Still if they've done something wrong to you, you have to be good to them. But maybe you have to step back if you're in an abusive home or something like that.

But in general, I remember I couldn't memorize the Quran. I asked my teacher, yo, I can't memorize the Quran. He said, first of all don't say yo to me. He said, excuse me sir, let me retort. I said, I can't memorize the Quran. He said, the first thing you said to me, how you treat your mother. Subhanallah man. I said man, my mother is a kafir man. You know, I don't know her. She ain't on a minhaj. He's like, the minhaj, she's not having Sirat al- Mustaqim dude. Then he told me, you're a fool. And he said, that's why you can't memorize the Quran. Go be good to your mother, then come back to me.

So I went, I didn't even know how to be good to my mother man. I was like, buy some flowers. You know brothers, we always buy flowers. When we give you flowers, make us feel like it's something big. We don't know man. ABC. So then my mother was like, flowers? You bought me flowers? I started to help her with the housework. Try to be there for her. Next thing I know, one page memorized. After one year, two pages. After a year, two pages. After three years, four pages. Everyday. Then I said, sheikh, that works. That's why you're the sheikh man. He said, and that's why you're not.

But don't underestimate your parents. When I got married to my wife, my sheikh made me go and take my mother's permission, even though she's non-Muslim. I went to my mother and I was like Romeo and Juliet or something. Mom, this is a girl. She's Patani. Can I marry her? Then my mom was like, we don't do that anymore. That was my time. Are you asking me to give you permission to marry? I was like, yeah, because you're my mom. And she was like, like, wow. But I'm not Muslim. I was like, even though you're not Muslim, man, you're my mother. Certain things transcend religion.

Then she's like, can I come to the wedding? I was like, yeah. Then my mother, being a white woman from Oklahoma, we're going to have a wedding shower. I was like, take it easy. She had a wedding shower. But my wife Malaysian, white woman from the country, eating fried chicken and orange juice, listening to Kenny Rogers and stuff.

Point being though, when all that went down, I noticed the Quran started flowing. So don't underestimate. In my school work too, highest GPA in my whole family at that time. At that time. Because my mother was happy with me. So don't underestimate your parents. Don't sleep on your parents. Don't take them for granted. You'll lose them one day. You'll realize how valuable they were to you.

Being Good to People in General

The last is be good to people in general. That's a sign of someone who believes in the hereafter. They're nice. They're not jerks. This incredible imam, a student of the Sahaba, one day his students came to him and said, Sheikh, Alhamdulillah, guess what happened? Imam Al-Dhahabi narrates this. This is a sound isn't it? And I heard this from my Sheikh. You know the whole story, back to that Sheikh.

So he said, they said, we saw a woman who fell and broke her arm. And guess what, we didn't touch her. We didn't help her out because we're pious. Sufyan al-Thawri, he said, this is the danger when religion starts to be an alibi for not being ethical. You have problems in your religion. There's a crisis. Because the whole goal, the Prophet said, I was sent to complete ethics, right?

So Sufyan al-Thawri said something that has remained in history a problem for the fuqaha. Because they said, here is Sufyan al-Thawri. He said, if you would have grabbed her by her arm, of course doctors don't get upset, if you would have held her arm and bandaged it, Allah would have been pleased with you.

Sufyan al-Thawri. Sheikh Ahmed Derdir, the Imam of the Malikis in Egypt, one day came into Masjid al-Azhar. And those of you who lived in Egypt, you know about the cats. And his students hit a cat. And the Sheikh, he got enraged. He said, how could you hit a cat? How could you hit a cat? And he got some of his, what's called falafel, and he gave it to the cat. The biographer of Sheikh Ahmed said that one day I counted 250 cats following into the masjid. This is the Muslim, beneficial to other people, concerned about other people.

Muslims Helping Others

When Katrina hit America, Muslim youth went to New Orleans, went to Houston. We had a brother in Houston who gave his hotel, opened his hotel before Bush promised the subsidies and stuff. He opened his hotel. He said, anyone who can prove to me that they came from New Orleans, they can stay here for free. People were like, man, they came to us, the Muslim youth. And they told the Muslim youth, these are the Muslims that need to be on TV, man. This is who you guys really are. You're not terrorists. You're not terrorists. You guys are giving me food and drink and clothing and a place to stay, man, and not even asking for anything in return. This is the Muslim.

So finally, if your knowledge that you're learning does not encourage you to be nicer to people and better to people, to your wife, to your children, to your parents, to the people around you, your neighbors, your knowledge is not doing much for you, man, except keeping you away from the hereafter.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah ta'ala to bless us and unite us with the Sayyidina Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). It's very hot in here, I apologize. I'm not in charge of the climate control issue. But Alhamdulillah, the brotherhood and sisterhood

kept it cool. May Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) reward all of you. And peace be upon you.