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Wолаazibullah khair Tawāq.
My respected brothers, sisters, elders.
The ayat which I recited for you from Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala said, which means, and remember when Ibrahim alayhi salam said,
My Rabb, make this city of Mecca secure and provide food, fruits to its people, those among them who believe in Allah in the last day.
He, Jalla Jalaluhu, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, the glorious and merciful.
The magnificent answered, as for those who disbelieve, I will let them enjoy themselves for a while and then I will send them to the torment of the fire.
What an evil destination.
And remember when Ibrahim alayhi salam raised the foundation of the house with Ismail alayhi salam.
Both of them praying, O Rabb, O our Rabb, accept this from us.
You are indeed the all-hearing, all-knowing.
Our Rabb, our Lord, make us both fully submit to you.
And from our descendants, raise a nation that will submit to you.
Show us our rituals and turn to us in grace.
You are truly the acceptor of repentance, most merciful.
O our Rabb, O our Lord, raise from among them a messenger who will recite to them your revelation.
Teach them the book and wisdom and purify them.
Indeed, you alone are the Almighty, all-wise.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala answered his dua.
And made the actions, his actions and the actions of his little family,
the actual rituals of worship that are connected with the house that he built.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala made that an act of worship that is sufficient to be done once in a lifetime.
He caused the multitudes to come to the sacred house from all parts of the earth,
using every means of transport with only one desire,
to see the house.
And to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in its sacred environs.
This is real honor where people through the ages, now for over 4,000 years,
make the journey that Ibrahim made with his family.
And they do what they did.
Their actions become the actions, the rituals of a once-in-a-lifetime worship
that bestow on them the blessings of Allah.
And bestows the honor of forgiveness from all sins.
This was the, this was his, Ibrahim alaihi salam’s attitude of adab,
of respect of huge reverence and submission to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala alone,
abudiyat, where though they were building the Kaaba on the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala,
in the way that he guided them to do it, they didn’t take this for granted.
And Ibrahim alaihi salam made a dua,
begging Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to accept their work.
Rabbana taqabbal minna innaka anta assami wal alim.
O our Rabb, accept this from us.
You are indeed the all-hearing, all-knowing.
To do good deeds, but with the anxiety that they may not be good enough to be accepted,
is a sign of Iman.
It’s a sign of faith.
It’s a sign of Taqwa.
We don’t take it for granted.
I’m doing good.
Allah has to accept.
Allah does not have to do anything.
This is the opposite.
The opposite of that is a sign of arrogance,
and probably a guarantee that the deed will not be accepted.
Then he, Ibrahim alaihi salam, made dua for a nation of righteous people to be raised,
so that they would spread goodness in the land.
Let us remind ourselves, we who live in a world of technology,
and in awe of its creators and manipulators,
and we call them wizards,
that it is values, ethics, and morals,
that define a civilization,
not the tools they use.
Today we call the Greeks and the Romans as the civilization of Greece and Rome.
They were not civilizations.
They were death cults.
They were hugely over-militarized nations,
whose constant work was war.
There’s not a single year in over 2,000 years,
of Roman rule, that there wasn’t a war.
That’s not civilization.
That’s breaking things.
That’s not building anything.
Civilization is where you build things,
not where you destroy things,
not where your greatness is counted by the number of people you murder.
Julius Caesar, when he conquered Gaul,
which is currently France,
there was a,
Gaul had a population of 3 million.
In one day,
Caesar slaughtered 1 million,
took 1 million as slaves,
and he said to the third million,
welcome to Rome.
This is history. I didn’t make it up. Go read it up.
That is not civilization.
So civilizations are known
by their ideologies,
by their values, ethics, and morals.
So civilizations are known by their ideologies, by their values, ethics, and morals.
All geared towards goodness, building, not destruction.
All geared towards goodness, building, not destruction.
All geared towards goodness, building, not destruction.
They are not known by the tools they use.
The pharaoh of Egypt had better tools and more resources
than Moses and the people of Israel.
But when Allah , decided to destroy the pharaoh,
his tools and goals couldn’t save him.
Neither will all the A.I. in the world,
when Allah decided to destroy,
neither will all theERS in the world,
not even one of them.
Manavatar decides to shut it all down.
Tools are incidental.
Technology is a tool.
But we are in such awe of it that we act like it is a solution to all our problems.
It is people who use technology who make it good or evil.
And that depends on whether they are good or evil themselves.
That is why we must work on our hearts and our minds,
and the hearts of people and the minds of people,
so that they stand for the right things.
And make the right choices.
Technology is value neutral.
We choose to make it good or evil.
Ibrahim A.S. asked for a nation who would submit to Allah SWT,
as he and his family submitted to Allah,
and sought forgiveness with complete faith in Allah SWT,
being Al-Ghafoor and Al-Raheem,
the most forgiving, the most merciful.
This is the difference between how we define success,
and how the Prophets and Messengers define success.
They saw this life of this world as it is,
as something that is temporary,
and the purpose of which is to gain the rewards of the Akhirah.
Rasulullah SAW said,
This world is the tilt of the Akhirah.
إِنَّ الدُّنْيَا وَمَزْرَوْا الْآخِرَةَ
Not something which is the end goal in itself,
for which the Akhirah must be sacrificed,
for which the Hereafter must be sacrificed.
There is a reason for this.
There is a worse deal in the world,
where you sacrifice something which is permanent,
for something which is temporary,
and live a life of disobedience and rebellion,
indulging in what Allah SWT prohibited,
and risking Allah SWT’s anger and eternal punishment.
May Allah SWT open our eyes.
Then Ibrahim AS made his famous and beautiful dua,
and asked Allah SWT,
رَبَّنَا وَبَعْثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ
يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ
وَيُعَلِّمُهُمْ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ
وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
O Allah, O our Rabb,
raise from among them a messenger
who will recite to them your revelations.
Teach them the book and wisdom,
and purify them.
Indeed, you alone are the Almighty,
always.
It’s a special mercy of Allah SWT
that He grants to His special people
who He inspires,
to make dua for blessings
that He has already decreed.
That way they get credit for the dua
and the reward that comes from that as a result.
So also in the case,
in this case,
where the coming of Muhammad Rasulullah
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
as the last and final Nabi and Rasul
was something that Allah SWT
had decreed at the beginning of creation.
But He inspired Ibrahim alayhi wa sallam
to ask for it in his own way.
And then almost 2500 years after that dua,
Allah SWT has sent His blessed
and beloved messenger
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
as a Bashir and Nazir
for all creation.
And He said to him,
O my Prophet,
we have sent you as a witness
and a deliverer of good news,
a warner and a caller
to the way of Allah by His command
and a beacon of light.
That is the honour of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
that Allah SWT praised him in such terms.
Allah SWT chose him
to be the seal of the prophets and messengers.
He is our prophet
and He is the only one
whose path is guaranteed
to lead to Jannah.
And may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the noble Prophet
and his family and his companions.
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