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*This transcript was automatically generated by AI and may contain errors. *
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Bismillah, Wa Alhamdulillah, Wasalatu wasalamu Alaa Sharifil Anbiyaa Muhammadun Rasulullahi Sallallahu Alaihi Wa Alaa Alihi Wa Sahbihi Wa Sallam, Tasleeman Kaseeran Kaseeraa My brothers and sisters, look at the view here. Look at my view of Metinu Park in this forest. Look at the colors of the leaves and the truth of the trees. Look at the trees. Look at how they were dead, but inside them there is life. Life from Allah Almighty. Look at this beautiful scene in Metinu Park. You have seen this park and you have seen these scenes in the different videos that I keep posting of this place in different seasons. You would have seen this place completely green, where you can’t even look into the forest for a few feet. But now it’s open because of fall, coming into winter. See the different colors of the leaves, how Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala causes these leaves to have different colors. We know the scientific explanations for all of these things, but the key thing is not to get stuck in the scientific explanation, or neither to use that to, within quotes, prove the authenticity and the veracity of the color of Allah, but to use that scientific explanation to help us to understand the Kitab of Allah and to help us to understand what we are seeing. So the question is not that how did these sumac leaves become this color. We know that they are genetically programmed to do that, but the question is, we need to look at our language. So instead of saying they are genetically programmed, we should say Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala programmed them to look like this. Because that is the actual truth. When you say they are genetically programmed, somebody did the programming, right? They didn’t program themselves. The plant didn’t decide that I’m going to be pink, and the other one didn’t decide it’s going to be yellow. Somebody did that decision making for them, and that decider was Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala chaliji lagu. And that is something that we need to keep in our mind constantly and constantly keep reminding ourselves. And then we have the evergreens, as you can see here, the pines, the coniferous trees, fuzz, casuarinas. We don’t have casuarinas here, but I’m just saying these are all those trees which retain their leaf color. They retain their leaves. They don’t lose their leaves and they don’t change color either. They remain the way they are throughout the year. Which to me is a big lesson that external circumstances do not decide how I’m going to behave. External circumstances do not decide what I will do with my life. Winter can come, summer can come, spring can come, fall can come. Spring can come, fall can come. But if I choose to remain constant with my identity, then none of those things will change me or affect me. They will affect others. Those who were next to me are not green anymore, but I remain green. Because that is my reality, that is my identity which I will not lose just because somebody else has lost their identity. Another lesson is if you look at the praise that is given, the popularity that is there, nobody says go look at the green trees. Nobody says go look at the fall colors. Look at the colors of fall. I want to interpret that linguistically. Fall is to fall. Fall is to collapse. Fall is to lose. Fall is to fall. Fall is to collapse. Fall is to lose. Fall in a fortune. Fall in prestige. Fall in virtue. All of these are fall. And people are saying go look at the color of the fall. Meaning look at the many ways in which fall comes. To some it comes in one way, to some others it comes in another way. Yes, it is very pretty. We don’t doubt, we don’t deny that. Sin always looks very enjoyable, right? It seems to be very enjoyable. And it is enjoyable. If it wasn’t enjoyable there would be no need to resist temptation. Temptation is temptation because it is so nice and it’s so easy to fall into it. But it is fall. It is collapse. It is collapse. It is the precursor, the announcement of death, the announcement of the end. And that is what we are seeing here. What do the… I did a short reminder, I remember on this earlier, when my friend Omar asked me, what are the trees telling you? And I said to him, they are telling me that look at us and take heed. Look at us and learn the real lessons. And the real lesson is that this is fall. This is the precursor of death. We are announcing to the world that we are ending, that these leaves are dying. And they are showing their color and then they are going to die. Remember myself and you, let us not get fooled by the images of the world. The world will show us many images. The world will show us many images. Let us not be fooled by them. Let us remember that… An-nasru in the Allah, meaning in the Allah. In-nasru meaning in the Allah. That victory is only from Allah. And therefore the one who wins is not the one who has whatever material wealth and power and influence that they may have. It’s very easy to get frustrated when we see the world around us and we say, well, you know, why can’t we simply have goodness everywhere? Why can’t we simply have justice everywhere? We can, but we have to work for it. And that is the message of Islam. To say that, we have to work for that. It won’t happen by itself. Today we’re looking at democracy in operation. And we tell ourselves that this is a democracy. But remember the only thing that is democratic about it is the fact that there is an election. Everything else which is happening, which is in operation is the sign of an oligarchy, not democracy. It is not, it never was meant to be a government of the people, for the people, by the people. It is and always was meant to be a government of the wealthy, by the wealthy or their agents, for the wealthy. So you say, well, where do people come into it? I won’t say they don’t come into it. They do. But they come into it only once in four years or once in five years in some other countries. When those agents of the wealthy have to be put in place, and that is done by a process which we call a democratic process. And that means people go out and vote. Who are you voting for? You’re voting for the wealthy to help the wealthy. Now this has reached such a stage that the level of disbelief in it, the level of credibility that has collapsed, today people don’t even want to go and vote. And you can’t blame them. I mean, you know, if you don’t see any benefit happening from your action, then it’s logic is not going to work. If you don’t see any benefit happening from your action, then it’s logical and sensible not to repeat that action. So people are saying, what’s the point of voting? But we say, no, go and vote because you still need to establish the fact that you are a force. We are a force today which doesn’t know what to do with itself. We are a force which considers TikTok and YouTube Shorts to be a means of education. We are folks, we are people who, for whom WhatsApp University is our alma mater. We are people of WhatsApp University. We are people who believe anything that is told to us as long as it comes to us on the mobile phone. You are believers in that sense, not believers in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and His Rasul a.s. I know we believe in Allah and His Rasul of course, but when I say we are not, I mean in the sense of acting according to that belief. If we acted according to that belief, we would not be in the mess that we are in today. Think about this. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala took this Ummah of Muhammad s.a.w. from a point where they were despised, they were rejected, they were oppressed. Nobody cared about them. People could do anything they wanted to them. Muslim blood was worth nothing. And from there Allah took them within the life of Rasul a.s. himself. And when you say life, we are not talking about the sixty-three years, we are talking about twenty-three years. Within that period itself Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave them suzerainty and sobrarity and sobrarity. Within that period itself Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave them suzerainty and sobrarity over their land over the Hijaz. They got Makkah and they conquered Makkah and they became the predominant force in the Hijaz. And then within a hundred years they became a global power. Within a hundred years. Within the same generation in the life of Mu’arin al-Khattab radhe Allah anhu, the second Khalifa. So we are talking about less than twenty years Muslims conquered the two major super powers of the day which is the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire. And within a hundred years they became a global superpower with the Banu Umayya as the Roorik dynasty. Now I’m not going into the issue of you know whether we should have fill up our dynasty or what not. I’m talking about the fact that this is what Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala did for the Muslims. And sad to say and tragic to say that today we seem to have come back full circle back to being the most despised, the least influential, to be used and discarded. Like what kind of paper I won’t tell you. Nothing there seems to be I won’t say there is because there is. But there seems to be nothing we can do to change that. But as I said I won’t say there isn’t anything because there is. But it requires effort. First of all it requires us to correct our akhidah. And we have to do it. And we have to do it. And we have to do it. But it requires effort. First of all it requires us to correct our akhidah. And bring it on the akhidahs of tawhid. And jettison and everything else which takes us away from that. No shirk, no bid’at. No asking for help from this or that source. No matter who that source is. When we say iya ka na’budu iya ka nastain. On the musallah when we stand. And recite surah al-fatiha. Let us not give a lie to our own statement to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala jalla jalaluhu. Let not be a situation where we are asked. How is it that you said iya ka na’budu iya ka nastain. But then you asked help from this one and that one. And they were not Allah. They were makhluq. So you lied in your prayer. We don’t want that to happen first. So let us be very clear in our minds. And correct our akhidah. And then get down to it. Get down to making effort. Wa al-laysa li li insani illa maasa. There is nothing for a man, a person except that which he or she works for. And so let me ask myself, let you ask yourself. What am I working for? Do I have a plan? Do I have a strategy? Do I have an idea of what to do? Do I have leadership? And if I have leaders, am I willing to follow those leaders? Or am I going to sit in judgment on those leaders and demand from them qualities and abilities that I know do not exist in them? And I definitely know they don’t exist in me. So if somebody were to ask you and say what right do you have to demand this and that and the other in your leaders? When you don’t have it yourself, what is the answer? Leaders don’t come from Janah. Leaders don’t come from Janah. They are not downloaded from Janah. They come from among the people. So as the famous political saying goes, we get the government we deserve. And that’s what we are seeing all over the world. We are getting governments we deserve. That’s the downside of it. Upside of it is we can change it if you want to. I won’t talk about how just now here. This has got long enough. I just want us to reflect on where am I? But Allah took the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and his people from where they were to where they became. That happened for a reason. And that reason was obedience to Allah. Allah does not allow disobedient people to succeed. Let us get this into our heads. Let us get this deep into our beings. And see Allah does not help. If you want the help of Allah, you have to, you and I have to work for it. If we want the help of Allah, we have to do something to get it. It won’t happen automatically. It didn’t happen automatically for the Rasul. It didn’t happen automatically for the followers of the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So how is it going to happen automatically for you and me? It won’t. It simply will not. That is not the Sunnah of Allah. The Sunnah of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is to help his messengers. Is to help his people. Is to help those who are obedient to him. Because the purpose of the Rasul Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is to help his people. Obedient to him. Because the purpose of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, the purpose to help is to establish his law. On the face of the earth. Not to help us to establish our law. In the place of the law of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. So ask Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to help us to do that which is pleasing to him and to save us from that which is not pleasing to him.
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