In him Muhammad Muhammad Muhammad Muhammad Allaham muham Allah Allah For Sh ald ald Alhamd Alhamd Allah All For For For What Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alham Alhamd For Alhamdulillah Alhamdulillah Ald Ford Alhamd For For for AB muhamed Ali Muhamed Muhammed Muham Allah For for [Laughter] Allah [Laughter] For for [Laughter] For Allah Muhamed [Laughter] for All For For For Salam alaykum everyone I just forgot I had to do MC so I’m on this mic now um so inshah everyone’s ramadan’s going well thank you everyone for coming to our program um just a quick few announcements we have we still are selling tickets for our annual
Community uh it’s um it’s going to be at vintage bed Cultural Center if you guys still want to buy any tickets you can see my dad hajam or Haj Hassan in the back and they’ll help you with that um some more announcements we have our Mecca youth uh toy drive we’re accepting
Toys with collaboration with Zaman International and if anyone has any toys that they’d like to donate we have a donation box in the back and um also we have more sponsorship spots open each knife in Ramadan we have uh sponsorships basically $250 suggested sponsorship if you guys would like to sponsor you can
Again see either hajjam my dad or H and the sponsors for tonight are Amir Rasha and Malika and we have an anonymous sponsor so can we get um for them and their okay at this time I’d be honored to to call up we I request you to recite Surah Al Fat please
I’m really taking my time tonight I’m interesting all right m to hasten the reappearance of our awaited IM I request we recite three salawat with the loudest of our voices respected brothers and sisters in Islam the verses that I began with tonight are verses number four to number
Six from Surah alj those verses in fact highlight a historical incident that arguably occurred during the year 520 ad and the place that it took place in was literally the the city of njan as many of us know about the Christians of njan Simply from the ayat AL muala the ones
That came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi Al wasallam and they had almost as an like an academic debate about the aposl hood of and what had happened during the year 5 sorry 500 20 ad is that there was a king in Yemen that was ruling over the
Kingdom of Yemen his name was dunas Nan is a city in modern day sa uh Southwestern Saudi Arabia and north of uh north of Yemen so back in the days it used to be a part of the kingdom of Yemen Duna was a king who converted to
Judaism when he converted to Judaism he um ordered or he made an official order in the Kingdom that no one is allow to practice any other religion in Yemen except for the religion of Judaism in north of Yemen in the city of njan as we mentioned earlier there were a community
Known to be the followers of the religion of Christianity and they were referred to as the Christians of njan at that point what he did he was told about that community that they refused to convert to the religion of Christianity so what he did is that he gathered an
Army and he marched toward them in the city of njan upon arrival he gathered up the community and he offered them to convert to the religion of Judaism many of them rejected in fact almost all of them rejected that and they wanted to stay practicing their religion of
Christianity so what he did is that he ducked trenches the narration suggests that he dug about seven trenches and then he lit those trenches on fire and then he offered them either they would convert to Christian uh to Judaism or they would be burned to death in fact
They chose to be burned to death over converting to the religion of Judaism they didn’t want to leave their religion so arguably speaking the first Holocaust to ever occurred in history basically was committed by a Jewish King and this is what happened and the Quran made sure to highlight this incident even the
History books mention this incident inah Al Allah subhah Waal says perish the people of the ditch meaning the Christians of of njan that were put into those ditches and then burned to death the fire abounding in fuel meaning the people of dunas and he converted by the way when he converted
He Chang his name to YF and the people of dunas they all gathered around the ditches watching the torture of those Christians the narration suggest that there was one priest that was able to escape and then he marched to the Byzantine Empire at that point the Byzantine Empire the Eastern Roman
Empire had a adopted the religion of Christianity as an official religion in the Empire and then he complained to him and he sent with him a letter to anashi the one who was the King of the ab sorry the Emperor of abisinia at that time because abisinia shared the same
Borders with Yemen in modern day known as Ethiopia and this is basically what led abashi to attack the Kaa as many of us might ask the question is that what really led abashi to attack the Kaa in the first place as Allah subhana highlights the this incident in what in
Surah Al isn’t it you find that one one uh the one ABA sorry or one anashi received the letter what he did is that he prepared an army led by a general named arat one of the generals of the army was abaha and then he marched
Towards Yemen and he defeated D and then he announced that Yemen is a Christian country and then he combined Yemen to the Aban Empire after a while Abra Al habashi rebelled against arat killed him and took his place and Nashi wanted to punish him so in order for him to prove
His loyalty what he did is that he built a church arguably speaking it was the largest church ever to be witness in history and then he commanded everybody to perform pilgrimage in that church then he was told about a community that lived in Mecca that they performed
Pilgrimage around the Kaaba and he got angry at them he commanded them to stop performing pilgrimage at CA and all the Arabian tribes are supposed to perform pilgrimage where in that church that he built in Yemen when they rejected that’s what led AB habashi to march with an
Army to attack with the intention to attack and destroy the Kaa so when we focus on that incident we realize that basically the Christian Community in north of Yemen were under persecution on the same level this is what led the companes of the cave to escape C the
City that they were in as the question might arise is that what led them to seek refuge in the cave and then we said earlier and we mentioned that many of those Companions of the cave were considered to be government officials in fact some narration suggest that they
Were the private advisers of the emperor whose name was dius and we said that dius ruled arguably around the year 251 ad but he was known to persecute the Christians at that same level and this is what led the Companions of the cave to come together and form a Brotherhood
Of faith and then flee the city and the way they fled the city was in a very smart way they hid their Dean they practiced what we call T they hid their Dean they hid their faith and then they claim that they are going on a hunting
Trip on their way they met with a shepherd and that Shepherd had a dog the dog automatically followed them and thereupon some narration suggest that that Shepherd also converted and also Al joined their Dean and joined their fraternity and thereupon ended up all in the cave and we have been dissecting
Surah the Cave the story of the people of the C of the companions of the cave and we have reached to a point where Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala highlights to us their Awakening and what happened after and what I would like to do tonight is to finalize the story it will
Be the final chapter in the story of the companions of the cave and then I would like to do so depending on the following points the first one is that why did the Quran neglect certain details in the story of the companions of the cave such as for example their names or for
Example the location of the cave or their for example the name of the Emperor or for instance the name of the city that they came from but focused on other details that if we might reflect upon we might think that they are minor and this is what we will find out
Inshallah tonight the second point is that let’s reflect on the versus of the Awakening of the companions of the cave and what happened post their Awakening in the city and three what are the most significant morals that we would learn or we can learn from the story of the
Companions of the cave and final point which is the fourth what is the relation between the story of the companions of the cave and and before I proceed I would like you to provide me with a loud salawat we mentioned in the previous nights that when we focus on the stories
Mentioned in the Quran we find that Allah subhanahu wa’ta’ala mentions these stories for a direct aim and many of us must sometimes wonder is that why are there some some details that are neglected in a certain story and some other details that are highlighted what
Did we say we said that the whole notion of the of setting parables in the Holy Quran is in order for us and the reader to find hiah to find guidance we mentioned the the verse in Surah Y in verse number 111 indeed in their narratives there’s a moral for those who possess
Intellect and a guidance and a mercy for people who possess Faith so we said that what the main point of setting Parables on the Holy Quran is in order for us to reflect yet the type of reflection that leads us towards guidance and leads us towards to be guided and from learning
The morals of the stories of the ones that are mentioned in the Holy Quran you find in Surah Al is verse number n Allah subhana T says this Quran indeed guides to what is most upright meaning the quran’s aim from setting those Parables is simply to find in guidance and thereupon you find
That in certain stories in the Quran nevertheless the story of uh the companions of the Cave the Quran was specific in mentioning the details that we can learn a moral from and then we can apply in our daily life and thereupon he find that he neglected certain details knowing that there will
Be it will be a topic of dispute amongst Scholars amongst historians or even archaeologists is that many of us might ask the question is that what were their names or where is the location of the cave itself or which city it is and there’s two different opinions some just
Suggest that it’s the city of Ephesus as we mentioned last night and some suggest that no in fact the cave is is the location of the cave is in Jordan yet the Quran wants us to kind of look past through those details and focus on the moral behind the uh story of the
Companions of the cave and thereupon you find that he shed the light on their on post their Awakening on a detail that we might think that is considered minor but the Quran basically highlighted how did they seek food isn’t that interesting and this is what lead us to our second
Point of our discussion tonight you find that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala he says in the verse of their Awakening remember the verse that we stopped at last night so it was that we aroused them from their sleep so now the Quran is telling me after explaining to me how did they
Sleep how were they put to sleep how their bodies were preserved for 300 years and now the Awakening occurred 300 years later now when they entered the cave as we mentioned before they were mature men arguably between the age of 30 to 50 and maybe some of them were at
The age of 60 yet the Quran refers to them as what as Youth and we explained that point enough isn’t it so when we get to this verse we find that Allah is saying so so it was that we aroused them from their sleep so that they might
Question one another and now the Quran is picturing an image in our minds is that now they’re really questioning one another which tells me what was the which tells me that their physical appearance has not changed meaning they are still on the same state that they
Have entered the cave 3 years ago when they woke up they stared at each other and they were wondering how long did they want did they go to sleep so one of them said they said we have saved for a day or a part of the of a day meaning that
They might have slept only for a day or just a bit more they said your Lord knows best how long you have stayed and this is the first moral to understand in this regard is that the years that they have stayed is not a significant detail what we need
To understand that it could be 300 it could be more it could be a bit less yet the point is that they were put to sleep for more than three centuries and thereupon they were in dispute in this regard Allah says here they said your Lord knows best how
Long you have stayed and then the Quran goes into that Minor Detail that I highlighted in the introduction and then they said what so send one of you with this money to the city understand that the currency obviously change within 300 years those companis of the cave they have a certain
Currency with them the money that they had was the money that was used 300 years ago in the city and thereupon they said why don’t we choose one person amongst us send him to the city and then the Quran continues let him observe which of them
Has the purest food and this is the key point in their story another key point which is what see the first thing that Allah is telling us in the Quran is that when they woke up they felt hungry obviously they’ve been sleeping for 300 years so the first thing that came to
Their mind is what is that we need food but did they rush to eat anything or everything available meaning when a person is in a state of hunger sometimes they might even justify certain things to themselves how many of us sometimes step into a city that we’re totally
Oblivious about we don’t know enough about and then we enter a place as soon as it says Halal we just eat without questioning now wise I don’t want to complicate things this is a topic that’s in the books of the um fwa of the and I
Am not one of them in fact I don’t want to confuse it but on the other hand it is worthy enough sometimes to kind of investigate a little more understand is that the food that you’re consuming in your body has an effect on you scientifically speaking isn’t it what
They say scientists they say you are what you eat and that is something that totally affects your body in fact if we were to reflect back on K you would notice that IM Hussein on the 10th of mam he stood speaking to the army of yazid and then
When he began his speech he wanted to deliver his sermon Omar said what he said make a commotion make a lot of noise so you don’t hear the words of Imam Hussein so the words won’t affect them and then they listen toar Imus reply focus on it very well he said I
Know why can’t you listen to me why you’re not able to listen to me it is simply because of your stomachs have been filled with Haram isn’t it so the fact that one might consume Haram food will make them not receptive enough to the words of Allah subhah wa tala and
Thereupon the Quran teaches us that even within the story of the people of the cave that they woke up 300 years later in a cave the first thing that should come to their mind is that we just need to fill up our stomachs we need to eat
We need food yet they were specific enough Pious enough to look and search for what the purest of the food not Pure Food only no no no the purest of the food not just no no no let him observe why because they have left a society of sh and a society of
Shik will not eat halal food isn’t it and thereupon they said no let’s look into to the one that or let’s let him search for the purest of the food if you were to open Surah abasa verse number 24 as we said then I repeat again that Quran explains
Quran inah abasa verse number 24 Allah subh says what the human being consider his food the word yand in Arabic means let the person observe look at their food but Allah subh here in this verse is’s not telling me to just stare at my food I
Put my food in front of me and I just stare at it no but to even consider the source of the food that I’m bringing consider that way it was slaughtered to be very specific when it comes to following laws when it comes to the food that I’m consuming in my stomach because
That will definitely have an effect on a human being growing up so thereupon they said what let him observe which food has the the purest food and isn’t it interesting that Allah neglected many other details about the story of the companions of the cave yet focused on
This detail in this regard and then it continues and bring you a provision from there and let him be careful and in uh and let him not make anyone aware about you why at that point they were still not aw aware that they they were put to sleep for 300 years so
In their mind is that the society is still following the emperor and they were still on the religion of worshiping different gods and there upon an idol worshiping so thereupon he let him be careful meaning practice understand and this is a very clear message to us sometimes that it is important sometimes
To study the circumstance or your surrounding before you speak or even announce your belief in this regard and let him not make anyone aware about you because then where they were concerned is that they might recognize one of them and then that one person would lead them to the rest and then the
Quran continues by saying what indeed should they Prevail over you they will either Stone you to death so that’s the first punishment why because if we were to look back in history at the dean persecution as I mentioned in the previous nights is that one of the punishments that dises the
Emperor would apply on the Christians the Believers in society is that he would grab them and he would Stone them to death that was one of them so then or Force you back into their own Creed their own religion like to denounce your own Dean and then Force
You back into their own Dean remember what I said I think if I’m not mistaken about a couple of nights ago I made a comparison between the city of Antioch which is a Roman city mentioned in the Holy Quran in Surah Yassin and the City of Ephesus which the incident of the
Companions of the cave occurred if we were to open Surah y Subhan Allah and it’s as if Allah subhanahu wa tala is drawing a comparison between those two Roman cities and the type of punishments that were used in terms of persecuting the Christians and if we open in verse number
18 when Allah subh speaks about The Messengers that came the apostles that came to the city of Antioch and they preach Christianity to them the people of the city said what they said indeed we take you for a bad Omen you see by the way the Quran literally disects people’s Persona and
People’s psyche in every time and age you reflect on the reply from the people of the city of Antioch you have Messengers Apostles sent Byam to preach Christianity and rather rather than having an academic debate or a discussion what do they say they say indeed we consider you a bad Omen many
Of us sometimes come from this mentality is that we feel a bad Omen meaning that you’re bad luck we say it in Arabic right is that something went wrong you know and then Subhan Allah or even the belief the overb belief in some people have this Obsession in it’s unbelievable my Iraqi
Friends forgive me the obsession you have about is unbelievable it’s too much you know some no don’t say this because of and don’t speak of that because of so sure it does exist Envy does exist but not to the extent sometimes you find some societies and communities have this
Unbelief like this this awkward belief in is that no everything is considered or everything is considered a bad omen or or so forth understand that trials and tribulations are a part of life and therefore when here what did they say we consider you a bad Omen that we consider
You you know what a bad luck things are not working well with us why simply because of you isn’t it so you find that some people have that mentality and there upon the religion of Islam teaches us not to believe in this not because someone came to your life something
Wrong happened all of a sudden or it must be that person isn’t it Subhan Allah you find people if you look into their hearts it’s as if they are Salman Al fari they say no no I don’t feel good about this person see my heart you know we even
Saying what’s your heart then has a beautiful word in this regard said when people people say this is that what is your heart the heart of Salman is your heart the heart of mcdad of you know obviously not so thereupon some people say oh no you know what it’s a bad Omen
So that’s the first reply that came from them and then it says what that if you were not to stop preaching that religion then we shall surely we surely uh shall give you uh we will Stone you Subhan Allah the same exact reply or the same exact suggestion from the companion
Of the cave because they know that this is a punishment that was practiced upon the Believers and thereupon they said what here they said that we shall Stone you we Stone and surely a painful punishment will visit you from us in this regard so that comparison between the city of
Antioch and the City of Ephesus is highlighted in the Holy Quran we find here the same thing was said is that they will Stone you they will either Stone you to death meaning they’ll put you to death or Force you back into their Creed and then you will never Prosper
Why because all the sacrifice that you did might be gone to waste in disregard and then Allah subhah continues by saying so it was that we let them come upon them that they might know that God’s promise is indeed true and that there is no doubt Hereafter why you see
Because the Society of shik does not believe in the Hereafter so Allah subhana wa T set the perfect example through what through the companions of the cave is that just like they were preaching to you that there will be a Hereafter and you will be raised from
Death the companions of the cave were put into sleep for 300 years and thereupon they were raised so they can come back to their society and that could be approved so it’s as if Allah subhana is giving alive proof of the day of Simply to the society that was
Associating partners with Allah subhah waala and then they it says continues and they disputed among themselves why so what really happened here if we go back to the story itself after the Awakening one man entered the city when he entered the city he realized that the city has converted to
The religious of Christianity at that time the Byzantine Empire after the emperor Constantine they adopted the religion of Christianity as an official religion in the Empire so then he was speaking to the people and then some of the people from one story to another because people in the society they heard
About their story The Companions that just fled the city and they just disappeared and then some narration suggest that when he spoke to the emperor at that time he was interested in their story so he led them back to the cave when they entered the cave they
Could not really enter totally to see the Companions and the narration suggest in this regard that that man who was chosen from the companions of the cave to go get them food came back to them and he told them the matters have changed indeed and now the city that we
Came from we’ve been put to sleep for 300 years and the city that we came from is now a mu a city of Believers in deed and says and therefore the um there was a dispute among themselves about their matter is that what do we do with them
And then the suggestion came what they said build a building over them so let’s building a building look so let’s make a temple in where the cave is their Lord knows them them best why because it is their Lord that took care of them from the beginning it is their
Lord that inspired them to go to the cave and there upon the suggestion came that let’s just build a temple let’s be a Masid on top of that and then another suggest suggestion came those who had they say the say in their matter meaning their own their own
Themselves they said what like the Believers we will set up a place of worship over them and then let’s just set up a place of worship over them the ending of The Companions of the cave has been a topic of dispute amongst commentators meaning what really
Happened to them after were they put to sleep again or no were they actually put to to death and from IM suggests that what they did is that after they realized what had happened to them and after they realized that it will be tough for them to be mingled again in
Society kind of just to practice again their life normally in society they’ve been away for 300 years Generations have come after them the children have vanished their wives their spouses and so forth so they supplicated to Allah subhanahu wa taala to put them back in the same condition that he put them in
As soon as they entered the cave so now now there’s a topic of dispute meaning were they put to death or no they were actually put to sleep some narrations also suggest that in the times of the reappearance of our awaited IM the companions of the case shall
Reappear again she will come back with the awaited IM and then the Quran continues by saying they will say they are three and then it continues by saying no some of them would say fourth and the fifth is the dog and some of them would say six
The Reon reason is Allah subhana is giving us all those suggestions in this verse number 22 and then says what at the end say my Lord Knows Best about their number meaning the number of the companions of the cave is not the key point in the story whether they were
Four or five or seven or eight that’s not the key point of the story and then that’s why Allah subhana says he left it up to Allah he says say my Lord know knows best about uh best their number and none knows them except a few the ones who possess the from Allah
Subhah so do not dispute concerning them concerning what concerning such details that unfortunately we dispute amongst ourselves about them it’s interesting that um one of my very dear friends in fact I consider almost like a teacher say more I asked them many questions when it comes to the story of the
Companions of the cave and then he said understand that at the end of the day if Allah subhana T wanted us to know those Minor Details then he would have mentioned them but as we mentioned earlier you notice that there are certain details that we might consider
Minor but they are major in the eyes of Allah subhah wa tala such as what the detail of the food the minor detail of the food so thereupon here Allah is telling me so do not dispute concerning them and and do not question about them any of them and then Allah continues by
Saying what and do not say about anything I will surely do it tomorrow right without adding God willing unfortunately in our culture the word inshallah became something that as children growing up we used to get scared from because that means it will never happen isn’t it you come to your
Parents and you ask them a question and they say yes inshallah so that means it will never happen yes Dad are we going this are we going to do this on the weekend yes inshallah okay I will not going anywhere Subhan Allah it’s something that but in
Reality the Quran is teaching us that always involve Allah subh in your plan why see the scholars here have a really beautiful explanation they said because one conditions might change two do you guarantee that you shall remain till tomorrow or the day after or the next
Year no three if you guarantee that you will but then do you guarantee that the same C circumstances are going to be present a year from now or the next day or so forth no so thereupon it is always important to involve Allah subhah wa T in your plan meaning understand that you
Need to rely on Allah subh and leave it up to him in this regard and when you forget remember your lord and say maybe my Lord will guide me to something more akin to rectitude than this remember the word rash has been repeated in this in the Surah so many
Times the companions of the cave they asked Allah subhah wa tala saying right and offer us meaning grant us a rectitude from our Affair and the same thing here Allah is telling you the same thing that you should supplicate towards Allah subhanahu wa taala and then here in verse number 25 Allah
Says they remained in their cave for 300 years and added nine more to that number so after he mentions the number why because the number of the years has been also a topic of dis dispute some suggest that these are the difference this is the difference between tropical
Years and lunar years so meaning that 300 are considered the years that we are familiar with if you were to transform them in the years of the lunar years so they would add up to 309 I’m really bad in mathematics you want to do the mathematics of this and get into that
Please be my guest go ahead but the reality the point of the story is was is what Allah subh says why because some opinions suggest is that this was the suggestion of the people that came and found the companions of the cave meaning how long did they stay and there was a dispute
Amongst them some said 300 exactly some said 309 many opinions in this regard it is worthy to really research and look into it there’s absolutely no issue in that but in reality Allah tells me what at the end say God knows best how long they remained meaning that’s in the of Allah subhanahu
Waala and then it continues so if we were to reflect on the story of the people of the cave we find that these were the details and the conclusion was what is that they were companions who believed in Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and they were companions who took a
Decision amongst themselves to migrate literally embark on a journey towards Allah subhanahu wa tala and Allah wa tala he supported them he provided them with Divine support he provided them with his Mercy he provided them with with his rectitude and then they were inspired to enter the cave and the key
Point in this is what see there’s many morals that we can learn from the story and I think within the previous nights we’ve been dissecting so many morals every time we would stop at a verse but there are significant morals that I just would like to highlight as a uh to
Finalize the story of the people uh Companions of the Cave the first one the first more we would learn from the for this from the story is breaking down the cultural barriers and the Traditions especially if we live in a society of corruption much less immorality is that
We shouldn’t always practice what the general Norm is practicing and consider it something authentic or something um um basically moral simply because everyone else practices it isn’t it you find that sometimes we always we get a reply is that why do you do such a thing
Or why do you dress in such a way they say well everyone dresses the same way and everyone does that right the story of the companions of the cave teaches us that it is not always that the majority are upon righteousness and sometimes it is important to break down those
Cultural barriers and this is why we say is that when culture intervenes with Islamic claws is that we take Islam and religion over cultural practices do we do not take another culture over our culture because let me tell you something I’ll be frank and honest with
This many of us that come from ethnic communities and immigrate to the West we want to break the culture of uh barriers sure but then we tend to adopt Another Western culture Islam the religion of Islam wants neither nor he wants you to break those cultural bar barriers if
They do not coincide with the religious perspective but stick to the religious perspective in this regard if you focus on the life of the Prophet sallallah alai wasallam there are cultural practices that he denounced but there are cultural practices that he complemented and praised such as what for example
Generosity isn’t it or for example protecting your neighbor and so forth so some cultural practices are considered and praised and complemented in the religion of Islam and some of them not if they coincide and they go against or they do not s if they do not coincide
With the religious laws in fact you find the majority of the messengers of Allah every time they would preach da the reply would come back from their Community as what is that this is what we found our forefathers practicing and this is what the religion of Islam wants
You to be aware of if you focus on Surah Al verse number 104 when they are when they are told come to what God has sent down and come to the Apostle F find guidance they say sufficient for us is what we have found our fathers following and then the Quran
Continues what even if their fathers did not know anything and were not guided you know Subhan Allah uh you Americans have this thing that just always you always say is this is what our founding fathers did and this is what our founding fathers believed in or this is
What our founding fathers practiced I’m I’m sorry I looked into the history of your founding fathers it’s not impressive not at all I don’t know if this is what you really want to practice the founding fathers isn’t it you find that that was always a reply that came
To the messengers of Allah subhah messengers of Allah subhana wa tala isn’t it is that oh this is our founding fathers this is basically what our forefathers did hence if you reflect back on the story of the companions of the cave is that they rebelled against
This they had a mind of their own they thought in an independent way and they came to a conclusion that there is only one God in this regard and that’s the first lesson and that’s why by the way on a side note you find that Allah subhanahu waala focused a lot on the
Notion of honoring parents but show me one verse in the Quran that he said that you should obey the parents see many teenagers are happy now isn’t it but find me one verse in the Quran that Allah says you should obey the parents no he said you should honor
The parents you should be kind to the parents why you see because if Allah would have told you to obey the parents just like he told you to obey Allah and his messenger and the and the ones in Authority like the imams then that means whatever you your parents tell you that
You should obey you are commanded to obey but what if your parents lead you towards something Haram then no you shouldn’t obey if we open let’s let’s prove it Surah Al is verse number 23 if we open verse number 23 in right that you shall not your lord
Has decreed that you shall not worship everyone except him and he has enjoined kindness to parents he didn’t say obedience yes it is wag upon you to obey your parents as long as they are commanding you to which is good and forbidding you from which is evil but
Not if they’re commanding you toward Haram then no you don’t why because the Quran itself answers this question in Surah lman verse number 15 a miraculous Surah one of my favorite suras in the Holy Quran in Surah verse number 15 but if they urge you to ascribe to me as
A part as partner that of which you have no knowledge then do not obey them if Allah subhana T would have said just generally obey the parents then you should obey them in everything right and that’s why there’s a Hadith by the prophet sallallah alhi wasallam that says
What there is no obedience to the creature when it comes to disobeying the Creator you don’t obey someone that would push you to disobey the Creator and there upon Allah subhana he says what says that since the reply in of the communities of The Messengers of Allah
Who was always came back as what is that oh we’re just following the footsteps of our parents right so therefore Allah subhana warns us from this and that’s the first lesson to learn the second one is what a really important lesson to understand especially growing up as youth especially within our communities is
That be secretive in your Affairs you see understand that it is important to speak less and listen more and to learn see the companions of the cave what they did is that they formed this fraternity in secret and then they fled in right after the confrontation didn’t work they fled
In and that’s important to do that is that understand that sometimes you need to speak less your future plans do not speak of them keep them to yourself do not tell your Lebanese mother because then everybody would know and then as soon as you confront her say
Why did you tell everybody me no I just told your aunts but the aunts from her side by the way not the aunts from your father’s side she warns you from them no don’t tell them that’s different isn’t it that’s very important to understand you see there’s a beautiful Hadith in
This regard by the prophet Sall Al wasallam says what is that seek the assistance of secrecy in fulfilling your needs do not speak of your future plans but Subhan Allah we live in an age of social media you don’t need to take information anymore from people now people voluntarily expose everything
About their lives and their personal lives on social media isn’t it and Subhan Allah I mean sometimes you remember back in the days when you would walk to your friend’s house they would take you to the living room and they would have portraits of their families hung on the wall their grandfathers
Their grandmothers and so forth the men mashallah they’re all dressed in their three-piece suits the women are just in their hijab and they say this is my grandfather this is my grandmother for example could you imagine the generation that shall come 60 years from now you would walk into your friend’s house and
Then they would pick up their phone and they would want to show you the pictures of their grandmothers and their grandfather you know they would pick up their phones scroll through the photos and say this is my grandmother in 2020 she used to be a dog on Snapchat
Isn’t it that could be easily I mean think about it sometimes what we do is that we tend to expose our personal lives and our secrets on social media this is what I want to achieve goals people sometimes Subhan Allah this is such a huge topic I mean on the other
Hand sometimes it am amazes me people oh my goal is set for 2024 so why do we have to know them so sometimes it’s important to keep secrets be a silent person and this is how you will learn how to listen more and opinionate less and the third and final more lesson that
I would like to shed the light upon is in some cases there are certain um goals that you set in life that requires from you to just totally rely on Allah subhanahu wa taala and nothing else understand that you detach yourself from this world totally and you just simply rely on
Allah subhana T just like the companions of the cave if you were to think about it these were Aristocrats who never lived a life of the Wilderness yet what they did just to preserve their faith they went to a cave cut off from any means of life or sustenance and they
Relied totally on Allah subhanahu wa tala come to our final point of discussion the whole thing that I would like to make a connection with is that what is the relation between their story and our awaited IM see it is always important to include our elated Imam in everything is that if
We exist that is simply because we’re longing for for that absolute Godly government Divine government led by our Im so the first thing if we were to look into the relations there are three so the first one is the concept of see many people sometimes they come and say is
That what is this whole notion of and what’s the proof of it and why does Allah subhana wa taala has to put his W or his IM in occultation and then when we reflect back on the story of the companions of the cave we notice what
That they were also inba they went into arguably as we said earlier 300 years and then they came back so possibility of does it can happen why because it did happen before in history so thereupon it is possible so that’s the first thing that we can relate to our awaited
IM the second point is the notion of the long life of the Imam the companions of the cave entered the cave as I said between the ages of 40 to 60 and then when they came out when they were risen again right they were basically um add
This 300 years so even the long life of our awaited IM has a proof from the Holy Quran because many of us might be asked about this so there’s so many questions that are always that would always arise when it comes to the topic of our awaited
Im so that’s a proof also of the long life that the IM might live and we shall even understand more within the following nights when we begin with the story of used to be a general in the army of right until and he’s alive until this day according to all Muslims they all
Believe that Al am is still alive in this regard so we find that that’s also a proof for the long life of our awaited IM the third and final one is the return in the same physical appearance the companions of the cave when they entered the cave they had a physical appearance
Their bodies and their bodies were preserved and the interesting part is that as we dissected in the last night that Allah told us through the Quran that he preserved their bodies through natural causes and believe it or not that’s a study Shah Muhammed he has an interesting
Opinion in this regard he said who knows that the science might get so Advanced to preserve the cells in our bodies to live longer Allah subhana T told us about the companion of the cave is that when they entered the cave their bodies and their age was exactly the same as
The time that they had uh they were awakened and they left or they woke up uh in the C to the point that when one person went into the city they looked at him and he said how come you didn’t change youself the same and to the point as we said
That even amongst themselves they went into a dispute is that how long did we sleep for why because when they looked at themselves nothing changed in them there’s a beautiful Hadith in this regard that comes from IM he says that when our awaited IM shall reappear the people will denounce
Him why because he will appear to them as a youth and the age of 30 many of us might look at the Imam because in our minds that he’s been alive for more than 1200 years is that how is it that he looks like a youth in the age of 30 and
This is the final point that I would like to make and inshallah by tomorrow we shall start with another this part two of our uh our series of lectures dissecting the narratives of Surah the cave and I will end with the following Dua for s
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