Lessons from the Quran: Embracing Faith and Overcoming Challenges

my beloved brothers and sisters today I want to speak about two incidents from the

Quran we're in the month of Ramadan the month of Quran right and it's only right that we try to take our inspiration from

the book of Allah subhana wa tala every single one of us here my brothers and my

sisters every single one of us here wants a better life am I wrong to say that there is that which we try to

acquire in this world sometimes through means that are displeasing to Allah subhanahu wa

taala at times we look at the Shar so rough and tough why is it preventing me now to enjoy myself it doesn't make

sense I always say to our brothers and our sisters why is it that we fail to accept

that our minds are limited we have accepted that what we can see is very limited can anyone here

see that which is happening in anfield they were actually partly to blame for why we were late there's a

Liverpool game today right can anyone see that which is happening in unfield no you can't can anyone see that

which is happening in goodison park I know guys I'm not backwards nobody can see nobody can hear that which is

happening what outside nor can you smell that which is happening

outside if you accepted that these body parts these senses of yours are all limited why is it that we fail to accept

that our intellects and minds are limited as as well and what we can comprehend everything brothers and

sisters happens for a reason and whatever Allah subhah wa ta'ala and his messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam

have told us it is in our best interest whether you see the wisdom in it or

not Islam is preventing me from enjoying myself I really want to have a relationship with

her my DMs are full brothers and sisters says you know what it's full of young girls and young men all

heartbroken I'm spiritually dead and empty right just about every lecture that I've

been doing we've only done a couple because my main priority in the month of Ramadan is to

Le and everything else is secondary a couple of lectures that we've done every lecture someone came up to me

and said well I'm in a Haram relationship and you can see the way he looks so

depressed and so down I don't feel good I keep telling her in the month of Ramadan to go to her father and let's

just get married and she keeps dragging her feet the people are in a very very bad

state is it surprising of course not to me as someone who receives these messages and has these interactions this

is not surprising because I know any M any path that you take other than what Allah

subhah wa tala has instructed you with you are bound to end up like that

depressed sad right you're going to run yourself into problems after problems after

problems anyways my brothers and my sisters going back to the point that I was making every commandment from the

Quran and every prohibition it is in your best interest whether you see the positivity or the goodness in it or

not that brings me to these two stories that I want to mention in tal there's a lot of young people here have you guys

heard of Surah alah chapter of C what does c mean huh the

cave sometimes those who slept in the cave are referred to to as the seven sleepers let me tell you brothers and

sisters a little bit about these young men Allah tells us they were a group of young men who

believe and here Allah subhah wa ta'ala is giving us this information about them this description of them being young men

as a way to point out what wonderful individuals they were at a young age they believed and they

done the right thing normally a lot of young people let's be honest with ourselves right are they individuals who

stand up for their religion they call to Allah they're doing da they're memorizing the Quran

you will find pockets of young men doing so but when we look at it right from the perspective of a ratio

of how many of them are actually doing so you will see those that are not practicing especially in today's day and

age in this very sexualized filthy Society right it's far less am I correct to say so my brothers

and my sisters brothers are nodding their heads this is the reality of the matter so Allah subhana wa ta'ala

doesn't just mention things out of right for no reason no he could have

mentioned men as he mentioned in Surah what an when Allah subhah wa tala referred to

those who go out to pray Allah then said men and there's a difference between men and male let's

not go into that discussion HH alpha male and none I'm not talking about that men and boys men and male in the

Quran these terms are mentioned here Allah is telling us that from the trace of men is that they go

and pray in a mid to be praying in your house is actually a feminine

trait cuz that's what women do unless of course you have a you're far away from the mid you can't get there and so on

and so forth are you brothers and sisters with me so was mentioned but inah Allah

mentions f a group of young men who believed in Allah subhana wa tala they came with faith they came with

IM they came with as we will touch on in a moment in

they believed in their lord and Allah increased them in guidance every single one of us here my

brothers and my sisters wants to better their lives deep in your hearts you know if you're

doing the wrong thing at this moment in time that you can't continue like this forever and the month of Ramadan where

the scene has been set the doors of J have been swung open and the doors of Hell been slum shut we're

all crying out for guidance look at this verse and Allah increased them in guidance you need to

show that you really badly want it my DMs are also full you know with what brothers and

sisters people who are saying I feel like I wasted my Ramadan I feel like I haven't met my objectives and my

goals this is what some are saying some sisters are saying I'm on my menes I can't benefit from the last 10

no my brothers and my sisters even let's just say for argument sake you wasted all of these

nights you can still walk away with the jackpot of reward right it's not how the race

started it's how how the race finishes you show Allah how badly you want

it Allah will increase you in guidance says when the horse reaches the end of

the race what does it do it exerts all of its efforts to win that race look what he then

says don't let the horse be more smarter and more intelligent than

you if you didn't do well welcoming the month of Ramadan perhaps you'll do better bidding it

FW are you brothers and sisters with me Allah will increase you in guidance and to quickly mention maybe it's

something you guys can relate to you know a couple of years ago on the or in the on the pulpit I mentioned a viral

video of those who are running on the racing track some of you guys may have seen it

was on BBC Sports guys anfield fans right you may know may not know allaham but in Liverpool I heard they're crazy

when it comes to football so on the racing track my brothers it was on BBC Sports

they're running running running there's one that is winning and the other one is just a little bit behind

him as they reach the Finishing Line the one who was in second place what did he do he

dived he dived on the racing track who dives on the racing track are we in a swimming

pool he decided to dive and guess what the one who was behind he ended up winning because he

dived he exerted whatever efforts he has in order to win the race right he really badly wanted anyone

and likewise my brothers and my sisters we really badly want [Music]

something Allah says if Allah he sees that goodness in your heart he'll give it to

[Music] you right so going back to S seven sleepers or these young men who

believed in Allah Allah increased them in guidance these young men some of the MU

they mention that they came from very wealthy families they had a lot of money the upper class of society they

were annually they would have a festival where they would come together

and start invoking their Idols right they would begin to what invoke the idols they would commit a

sh associating partners of Allah the worst sin that you can fall into my brothers and my is

what there's nothing more greater than it if you die upon sh there's no way you're coming out of the hell

but anything other than that that is less than if one died upon it and he had he had monism there is a

chance that Allah May forgive him Allah may choose to punish him and he may choose to just completely forgive him

and if Allah decided to throw him into the Hellfire sooner or later he'll be taken out this is the virtue what of

having faith IM your your are you brother says with me so annually they would get together

and they would celebrate alongside these Idols calling on to them and so on and so

forth these young men if we just go off with the number seven right if we just go off of that

one by one they left this Temple that they were in or this Festival that they attended and they walked

outside one leaves the other leaves the third and so on and so forth as they are standing outside they began to get very

paranoid why is he outside why is the other one outside is he an undercover individual who's here now to

collect information on me perhaps was running through their mind he's looking at

him one of them was brave enough now to approach the other and they began to

speak and found out that they are all on the same page they all left that Festival because of the discomfort they

felt around these Idols that they used to invoke besides Allah are you brother and sister with

me so then it began to spread amongst the people amongst the community that these young men have now

gone against the religion of their forefathers it eventually reached the king in their time who the MU Scholars

of mention was a tyrannical barbaric bloodthirsty individual so he called him into his

office some even mentioned that his name was diio yes what his name actually

was right what we've not been told in the Quran we don't really need to dig deep

to find out these intricacies long story cut short my brothers and my sisters they

were called by this tyrannical barbaric bloodthirsty ruler in their time and he began to question

them and they stood up to whatever he was saying and Allah tells us they stood up to him

saying Allah subhah wa ta'ala our Lord the lord of the heavens and the Earth we will not invoke call on to

other than Allah when we make Dua it will be directly to Allah isn't this what the M

told when you ask if that is the case or if we were to actually now engage in this act of

sh we would have indeed fallen into something that is extremely grave so just to recap you have a group

of young men they Embrace Faith they detach themselves elves from

the Haram that is taking place in the story it talks about shik right we can perhaps draw a comparison to our society

you have filth in every single Direction you go to these universities you know what I call it a breathing ground for

kufur shik feminism liberalism secularism and of course you have the rainbow

team right the world's become an extremely colorful Place Everything Is viting Us filth and

evil ha come do it's so easy to fall into it am I wrong to say that guys am I speaking

about a different galaxy a different planet I'm speaking about Liverpool and

others it's a breeding ground for all of these things these young men in the midst of

the the worst possible sin what did they do they detached themselves and not only that they began

to defend their religion stand up to the sole purpose of what they were created for because your natural disposition

your F doesn't accept what they are doing and then it doesn't stop there in front of

the king they stuck to their beliefs and they were steadfast so after the back and forth

that took place he gave them an ultimatum to renegate to leave their

religion right sometimes we may find ourselves in these kind of

situations where we are bombarded with information it may not always be by force but it is done through the

different means and avenues that have been created by the devil through the in order to lead you

astray right A lot of the time my brothers and my sisters Shan is not going to tell you look I'm the devil

this is Haram go and do it he has a lot of tricks and traps under his sleeve like what he done to

our father Adam he swore by Allah I am indeed a sincere advisor

right and then the lamb that is being used here

let sincere advisor right he gave them an ultimatum to renegate to leave their religion

otherwise he would chop their heads off by that time they had decided to flee with their religion

they chose Allah over the lifestyle that they had remember what I said earlier they came from a wealthy Rich background

they gave all of that up for what for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does the story stop there that when you

leave something for Allah's cause does Allah abandon you brothers and sisters and once you've now or once they

isolated themselves from the filth and the evil in their time and whatever those people were doing they headed

towards the cave what did Allah do he show with them with his

mercy and Allah subhah wa ta'ala took control of their Affairs Allah took it into his own

hands right they slept and they didn't wake up except

hundreds of years later they wake up we're hungry someone go and grab us some food and be careful that you're not

caught not realizing that hundreds of years have gone past

right these seven sleepers my brothers and my sisters they became a story that would be related to one

another you know how you have bedtime stories those in the past they will talk about there was these young men and this

is what they done and then but nobody knew what the ending was Subhan

Allah and then after they came to the city the people realized that it's them and from that point on they lived a

life of Allah promised that he would take care of

everything he would take control of their Affairs all of this is after what they

done the right [Music] thing

right that's what we know about these young men who run away with their religion and let me just point out

something right a disclaimer just in case someone misunderstands what I'm saying am I telling you to run away from

your families huh I don't want your dads and your moms to come after me tonight while I'm

leading I'm never instructed that and I never encouraged that we're talking about doing the right

thing Allah took care of everything so my brothers and my sisters I don't know which Haram you're involved in it could

be a Haram job it could be a Haram relationship and you're in between two minds I don't know I'm going to lose out

on a lot right Allah will take care of everything I also my brothers and my

sisters want to mention quickly the story of ibraim and then draw comparisons between

the two I mentioned Surah what is the chapter before

that Sur Allah subhah wa ta'ala places chapters right next to one

another it's not just because Allah feels like no not like that there's behind it there's wisdom behind why

Allah puts every verse where he puts it and the chapters before the others there's even a science that is

studied right even has got aab on that I'm not going to be long my

brothers and my sisters I know you guys want to go watch the is said now what time is the

game we got time we got time guys

ibraim when Allah subhana wa tala talks to us about his relationship with his father was he old or was he

young huh was he old or was a young cuz his father was extremely extremely unhappy

and angry with him why though because he chose a religion other than the religion that the father was

upon right and ibraim kept on advising his

father how many times is that four times it's mentioned look at how he's speaking to

his father even though his father he is immersed in the worst possible

sin idol worship right imagine that today what tends to happen is we start practicing a

little bit or we learn a couple of things here and there from the Masjid we come back home and we want to what uh

change everybody's lives in 24 hours the Eiffel Tower wasn't built in 24 hours my brothers and my sisters I

always tell the brothers and sisters the hardest type of Da is the da to your family it's extremely

hard even the Messenger s Al struggled didn't he calling his uncle to Islam all the way up until his death bed

and even then he didn't accept get on the ship don't be from among disbelievers

didn't L he had a wife that stabbed him in the back she went with the fruity

guys I have to be a veryit careful in with the terms that I use are you brother and sister with

me so ibraim was very very gentle soft manner he was thrown into the

fire right but they didn't BN him my brothers and my sisters to cut

this story short his father threatened him if you don't stop

I'm going to Stone you ibim made his mind up that it's time to

leave Allah tells us this is what I really want you guys to take home when he now detached himself from

that Haram and that sh that they were engaging in of invoking other than

Allah did Allah abandon him he just gave up his father who is so dear to his

heart who's more closer to you your father or your girlfriend that you're doing Haram

with he gave up his father right the lines were drawn brothers and sisters the sides of were

chosen my father is going to Stone me if I continue holding on to my religion it's time to

[Music] leave Allah subhah wa ta'ala gifted him with is gave him a

son my favorite Hadith my brothers and my sisters does anybody know some of you guys may have seen

online what's my favorite Hadith you guys don't watch my videos I feel offended

huh what's my favorite Hadith I asked this question in one of the other messages that I've never been

to before there was a brother put his hand he said this huh he's pointing at

you huh huh [Music]

huh complete the my favorite Hadith my brothers and my sisters is that was narrated by

iMed you don't leave someone for the sake of Allah being conscious of him having fear of Allah except Allah will

give you that which is better you know up until this very day I don't know who taught me it

I remember hearing it back in 2011 no no sorry before that 2009 it was before I went to go and seek knowledge

in [Music] Yen I still can't remember because

people were saying to me you take years out to go and study you're going to fall behind in your

studies here in the UK and then later on you're going to be studying with little kids and by that time all of your

friends and your classmates they would have such wonderful jobs and you'll be some mkin

that's the only Hadith I remember at the time that I was still what conscious of anyways I don't want to talk about

the ins and the outs of my life my brothers and my sister I'm going to quickly tell you

guys one story and then we're done our abdad he always mentions stories in his lectures no matter what

he's teaching could be teaching if there's a lesson in it he'll mention so that it can stick to

people so I'm going to tell you guys a story as well I had a

neighbor his name was so I met him I believe it was 2014

right I remember he came up to me and he said because he's an accountant he's an accountant by profession is

there anything wrong with being an accountant the is that there's nothing wrong with it unless you are engaging in

Haram the job that he was working out the job that he was working at involved

Haram and he came up to me and he said I know that I'm involved in Haram

right I I didn't feel comfortable so I left it and I told them Allah will never

abandon you and this Hadith I just shared with you guys

right he had a couple of thousands of pounds and he was doubting whether he should use it to go Haj or

not it's very uncertain right what's going to happen after that very uncertain

times we went on H and we came back but you know before that my

brothers and my sisters his in-laws they were making jokes out of him I remember him telling

me his in-laws were like what's I I don't know the correct English word to use to excuse me for using this term

someone that just sits at home all day long that doesn't do anything slouch huh some people refer to him as a

bum if anyone has a better ter please give it to me huh introvert no no no we have a you're an English teacher

share some words with us huh you got like a ter for it huh now everyone got what I'm trying to

say right when you're not working people look at you this gu is always at home what's wrong with him get up and do

something with your life life even though he had actually what left it for the sake of Allah and I remember when

going to his house he felt pretty sad you know keep in mind the Hadith

huh we come back from Hajj after he's used whatever money that he had the Hajj package was around 3,000 something he

had some pocket money he was using everything that he had for comes now

as soon as he arrives he receives an email you know what this email was pack your

bags and go to Mecca to teach English you know my brothers and my

sisters most people that I know are either teaching English in Riyad some were fortunate to be in Al Medina or

they are in jedda I've never come across in the 14 years that I've been going around the Middle East to study and

whatever have you someone teaching English in Mecca never other than this

brother and you know what I put it down to him leaving it for the sake of Allah and at the time when he was

working wah he had the most chilling job ever he was employed by one of the richest guys in Mecca to teach the

children of the family these children would only turn up sometimes once every two

weeks they didn't want to come to class so he would just go Haram back Haram back Haram back picking up his

wage both him and his wife they both had wages and over there there was no

tax here we work for the government right a big percentage goes to Mr Shak

s my brothers and my sisters I kid you not he comes back a couple of years later

and he buys the biggest house on the Strip like all the houses on the street that we lived on they all look the same

but his one stands out it was on the Housing Association came back and paid it out with the money that he was saving

up no loan no interest no Haram nothing and I put this down to my brothers and sisters him leaving

something for the sake of Allah and I have no doubt my brothers and sisters that if you were to do the

same please do share your success story with me when you email it to me inshallah

tala countless of people I can sit here till tomorrow talk about stories after

stories of the stories of stories should I tell you guys one more are you guys tired huh one

more no no one one don't push it I can see some of our brothers they having there One More Story this is another

brother from leester have you guys heard of Carin Warehouse C from do you guys have this

in Liverpool say it's the phone shop that sells

phones huh car from house cough from one house is a phone

dealer franchises branches across the country there was a brother his name was

ni he was working in the cool center of car from Warehouse for many years perfectly Halal no issues one day they

came to him and they said from now on you guys have to start selling Insurance the brother came up to me and

of course I told him the Islamic ruling but I never pushed him to do anything and I told him the Hadith as well he

said that I've gone to the supervisor and explained that I don't feel comfortable selling this the supervisor

promised to find him a way out he will try his utmost best and he'll get back to him in a couple of days time

eventually he couldn't do anything also the brother just got married huh Bushra wants to be taken to

ice cream Palace she wants a nice bag she wants this she wants that it's still early

days of your marriage it's not like 10 years huh you got tired of her that's shouldn't be the case by the way

huh M what happened he made the decision to leave right after hearing the Hadith he

made the decision to leave W I would see the brother at door time making one of those sincere duas him sitting in the

Masid we were literally neighbors praying in the same mid at door

time and then I would speak to him after the Salat ask him how are things going he said I'm getting interviews but

I still haven't found the right one bear in mind also every morning he would travel for half an hour plus and half an

hour back it adds up brothers and sisters you know the petrol cost eventually adds

up you guys with me it eventually adds up and he was only on something like

£18,000 a year huh after some time brothers and sisters Allah blessed him with a job 12

minutes from his house British gas not only is he's now saving more money right monthly because of the

petrol cost but before he was 18,000 right now it was something like 22

23,000 that he was making throughout the year you don't leave something for the sake of Allah except Allah will always

give it out is better closing words my brothers and my sisters I'm going to quickly mention how

can we increase ourselves in doing the right thing brothers and sisters would you

guys agree that we respect people in society because of what we know about

them s there are certain people that we look up to that we respect that we hold in high regard

why because of what we know about them s I'm sure you Brothers have Role Models these YouTubers H this guy is

successful he's got all of this money he's got got a lot of views a lot of subscribers we look at him differently

to everyone else because of what we know about them s isn't it

so I'm sure the sisters they have people as well why is it when these people say

something we listen but when Allah subhah wa taala says something it falls on the

face or it's just like some random individual saying something I'm going to tell you guys because we

don't know anything about Allah we have no idea of who Allah is the only source of knowledge that we

have of Allah are what his names and his Ash go through his names who from amongst us has gone through the names of

Allah but if I asked you about the Liverpool X1 first team you can tell me all of

them and the one that's on the bench and injured as well some of you guys know who's playing

tonight huh am I wrong to say that you're laughing most of your friends they know

right and if we see them on the road step and Geral huh he's in Saudi now right some of these uh Liverpool players

we go crazy because of achievements and whatever they've accomplished but when it comes to Allah

brothers and S fall of their so how do we expect to activate our hearts or for us to be moved when we

hear something about Allah it's not going to happen whoever loves to meet Allah Allah

loves to meet him and whoever doesn't love to me Allah doesn't want me how can we

increase right that desire of wanting to meet Allah and to get activated upon hearing

his Commandments learn about who Allah is when you internalize that Allah is he can see every little thing that

you're doing every step that you take every move that you make make you know once upon a time if we wanted to access

Haram we had those big computers right you know the Del big computers with the big

backs the keyboard and if you wanted to engage with the opposite genda you have the webcam that you have to use some of

you guys are probably too young to know you don't know right MSN and Myspace S no it's fine don't

worry and you're watching the door so that you don't get quot you hear huh a little sh you want

to flip the keyboard today under the blanket with these devices accessing Haram has become so so easy fingertip

away right it's times like that when it comes in extremely

handy perhaps now it's falling into place the importance of learning your a and how it's in connection with the sins

that you fall into and these names of Allah my brother it's the only source of knowledge that

we have about who Allah is right I'll give you guys an example mentions a man a bedwin man run into a

woman in the middle of the desert nobody was there and he began to what seduce her so say sh

huh she started getting very scared his response was what are you scared

of the only thing that can see us is the stars that was his response

you know what the response was look how she was a woman that understood Allah where's the one that brought the

Stars into existence where's the creator of these Stars the impact end up drilling into

his heart and then he withheld from doing Haram with her that is the impact

the names of Allah internalizing will have on you and then it's going to prevent you from these sins that you

fall into also Allah says Allah knows the deceptive eye and

what you conceal in your hearts when you are about to strike that deal huh you're about to close that

transaction and you've written things in small that the buyer cannot see

deceiving him just so you can make a little bit more money you think Allah doesn't see

that and that Allah will deal with you accordingly all of this my brothers and my

sisters right it comes from you learning about who Allah is you know sometimes I I think about these drug dealers and

these guys who run around beating people up do you not know that Allah subhana wa tal will hunt

you down Allah may choose may choose if he wishes to deal with you in this world

before the Hereafter that's from his not from his we don't

say it's something that Allah can do to you if you do it [Music]

right he will avenge you've broken someone's legs that can't happen to you

tomorrow I've seen Brothers they would say these are drug dealers right guys on the road just go and stab him in the

knee just teach him a lesson right yeah the guy who you're stabbing is going to say to you come

take my knees and stop it right that's what he's going to say to you and think spiral control

eventually he finds himself that guy who's giving out these Commandments in a wheelchair

crippled you're causing all of these problems and this oppression and you think you're going to get away with

it this is a person M told us Allah again we're learning about who Allah is and what he

does the one who's oppressing others he will give him spite keep doing it keep doing keep and then when Allah decides

to grab you he'll take you and then he read indeed him taking

you is extremely painful doesn't that like really affect us now the more we learn about Allah

I ask Allah subhana wa tala to benefit us from what we had to make us from those that when they

hear the reminder they act upon it right