System v2.0
Our teacher is Catherine.
The new translation, page 573.
And if you don't have your new translation, it's page 415 in the, in the Quran.
Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem
[72:19] When GOD's servant advocated Him alone, almost all of them banded together to oppose him.
[72:20] Say, "I worship only my Lord; I never set up any idols besides Him."
[72:21] Say, "I possess no power to harm you, nor to guide you."
[72:22] Say, "No one can protect me from GOD, nor can I find any other refuge besides Him.
[72:23] "I'm here to deliver proclamations from God as well as His messages." Those who disobey GOD and His messenger incur the fire of Hell, wherein they abide forever.
[72:24] Once they see what is awaiting them, they will find out who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number.
[72:25] Say, "I do not know if what is promised to you will happen soon, or if my Lord will delay it for awhile."
[72:26] He is the Knower of the future; He does not reveal the future to anyone.
[72:27] Only to a messenger that He chooses, does He reveal from the past and from the future, specific news.
[72:28] This is to ascertain that they have delivered their Lord's messages. He is fully aware of what they have. He has counted the numbers of all things.
Verse 19,
[72:19] When GOD's servant advocated Him alone, almost all of them banded together to oppose him.
All of God's servants have said the same thing and say the same thing "worship God alone."
They never asked that people worship them, follow them, do as they do, act as they do, speak as they do.
They only say "worship God alone, no other idols beside Him."
Why people become uncomfortable with the message is we know the reason, but it's
still a puzzle when we run into people who seem uncomfortable with that statement.
We all have family and, and old friends and, and colleagues who are surprised by us when we state that message and state that that's what we believe.
There are verses in the Quran and one in particular which says that when God alone is advocated, the hearts of the disbelievers shrink in aversion,
and you can watch that happen. It is though people shrink.
They become smaller almost in, in a very real sense. And it's their ego that gets in the way.
It's here. Something so simple as God alone is so frightening to so many people.
They believe that they have to have control and they have to understand and they have to know and they have to be the one who calls the shots.
In addition to that, if someone like themselves is saying this message, it's an excuse and an easy way to avoid the message for many people.
Again, the ego takes over and will say
"why this person? I'm no different than this person or that person is, is no better than me. I don't have to listen to them."
And so the message is rejected.
We are fortunate enough, and I mean very fortunate enough. Speaking for myself, I have no idea why I was chosen to be here in Tucson. I know how I came. I can relate that story to...
But there are many of us who have the same story to tell. I know why I am very fortunate to be
here where this perpetual miracle continues to unravel before our eyes.
Rashad's Khutba, he said the other day that he didn't... God has thickened our skin over the last 10 years and if
we don't faint or lose consciousness every time something like this incredible
numbers on the wall or the things that Abdullah explained today or explained to us. We just sit here. Now, we nod our heads and some of us get teary but we stay conscious.
And we say "oh, this is just more of the same." And I went home, my own self today is saying "it seems that no matter what we do with the numbers, they're always gonna be a multiple of 19."
And that the complexity of this code is so great that it can never be understood by us.
And that's why it's given in piece after piece after piece. And so many of us, how fortunate, are able to be part of discovering another part of the prism.
The message is "worship God alone." It's so loud at this point that it's almost hard to pay attention to those people who don't wanna listen to the most elementary statement of "worship God alone."
The servants of God carry the message "I worship only my Lord. I never set up any idols beside Him."
They also always say "I am a human being like you. Do not worship me." And they point out their humanness. "I possess no power to
harm you nor to guide you. No one can protect me from God, nor can I find any other refuge besides Him."
"I am a human like you. I make no superhuman claims. I have no magic." Because, however, the servants of God have been given
special information and special proof, they're more vulnerable and their responsibility is even greater
than for those of us who have not had that opportunity, who have not been chosen.
And also, the servants of God, and Rashad is a wonderful example,
but so were the others in, in, in the Quran, are also less vulnerable because God protects these people.
And we've seen that all the way through the Quran, Moses, Jesus, all of them, Elias, John. And they've all been protected by God as long as they carried the one message.
They never claimed to be anything more than a messenger.
So, the humanness is constantly poor people and still
they shrink and still they say to the message, messenger, whether it was Noah, Moses, Rashad, or he or you "Uh-uh, who're you? You're a human being. You don't bring anything special. And I don't see any miracle."
Well, it's a sorting process that God has. And it's always in place. The pattern never changes.
Verse 23,
[72:23] "I'm here to deliver proclamations from God as well as His messages." Those who disobey GOD and His messenger incur the fire of Hell, wherein they abide forever.
The only unforgivable sin is idol worship, the only.
And God is so clear that we have so many chances. As long as we live, we have chances to repent and to come back to God and get on God's path.
If we worship anything other than God, any one other than God, God never will forgive this. This verse is not a threat by a human being, by a messenger.
This is from God Almighty saying always with the Quran, whether it is a quote out of a messenger's mouth in a verse or whether it is a description in a narrative.
Hell is where the idol worshippers will go.
[72:24] Once they see what is awaiting them, they will find out who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number.
It's too late. It is.
Once you see it's too late. If an angel was sent down with all of this wonderful stuff that we don't lose consciousness over every week, we wouldn't have needed any of it.
It's too late once you know. Rashad was talking about the fact the other day that people know at the time of their deaths where they're going. It is too late
for people to say "let me go back. Let me have a second chance. I understand now what I'm supposed to do."
No, because God knows that once we're put back here, we revert to the same thing, the same forgetful mind that we came here with in the first place.
And the phrase,
[72:24] ...who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number.
We know that it is the minority of the minority of the minority, I mean, it's as long as a tunnel into the, into the few that will make it into Heaven as it is into this code itself. It seems to be a mirror image.
Those few people that do make it even to Purgatory, that's, if you're hanging on by your toe nails in Purgatory, you made it.
Those few people are really the strong ones, they're really the mightier in number. No matter how else it appears, when it counts in the real world.
[72:25] "I do not know if what is promised to you will happen soon, or if my Lord will delay it for awhile."
[72:26] He is the Knower of the future; He does not reveal the future to anyone.
Again, pointing to the fact that all messengers are human beings. They are not God. Only God knows the past, the future.
We read history books and think that we have history. We think we understand what's happening. I'm, I'm willing to bet anything almost
that in the Hereafter when we discover what history really was in that whatever particular era that we think we know so much about,
all the little details that we didn't have access to. It's going to be vastly different and, and much (unintelligible), at the same time.
I have... when I was reading this over this past week, I wrote that the human being does not have any idea what he wants.
The human being doesn't know the future. Jesus didn’t know the future. Jesus doesn’t know this is happening now.
We know more than Noah, Jesus, Moses and all of those that have gone before us sitting in this room. We know more.
We have all the pieces, I think, unless next week we hear some more numbers.
I mean, we have so much more. How much greater is our responsibility? How much more blessed not to have to search?
I mean, this is irrefutable proof, touchable, examinable, verifiable.
We have all the miracles that have gone before those who came after Noah. We know that now. Noah doesn't. We know about those who came after Moses and Moses doesn't.
The human being doesn't know what he thinks he knows. What he is, he makes up. His own security is made up. And to predict the future is foolish. It's absolutely foolish.
[72:27] Only to the messenger that He chooses, does He reveal from the past and the future, specific news.
Other examples besides Rashad's own experiences, Joseph knew about the future.
It was revealed to him that his father and mother and brothers would bow down to him later in life and he knew that even after his experience in the well and in prison.
Moses' mother was given information about him being saved and what would become of him.
Those are tests. Those are provisions for God's very special messengers.
They remove the doubts of those chosen by God who are going to be delivering the message and facing incredible odds
and provide for insights for the believers when, when they are doubting themselves and they have this information put at their disposal.
When Joseph announced to the people "I knew this was going to happen, you were going to be here, you were going to be bowing down for me",
there had to be more than just "oh thank God, he's not gonna kill us" in their minds.
These people had to have understood God chose Joseph and that this was all part of the plan. There was a reason for it.
God tells us in 28 that He gives specific news and specific information to ascertain,
make sure the messengers have delivered their Lord's messages,
that they've done it correctly. He's fully aware of what He has given them to deliver.
And He has counted the numbers of all thing. It's already done.
Counting the numbers of all things always makes me think of the, of the Khutba that Abdullah gave when he was talking about the trees and the leaves and the numbers of the leaves on trees.
And he got... at least for me, I got very involved in counting the leaves of the one tree that he was describing and when he got all done with that, it took very long time,
he moved on to just one other tree. It was awesome at that point to even contemplate counting those.
Never mind all of the words that we speak and we receive with our ears and see with our eyes. Excuse me, Lydia.
And those things are all designed ahead of time. We think which we are choosing the words we're saying, we're not. It's part of the design for our lives to test our position for all of us.
The messenger has the greatest responsibility of all of us due to the large quantity of proof provided to him. (unintelligible)
And that can be awesome and frightening.
Unless, of course, the messenger knows that he's fully supported by Allah alone in which case this is the thrill of a lifetime.
I, I can't imagine what that must be, must be like. I wanted to share with you before I stopped at this section
talking about messengers and God's servants. I overheard someone say, in trying to make a joke recently,
that their favorite saying was that God so loved the world, He sent His only son. He didn't send a committee.
And I remember... as I walked by, I remember just kind of shuddering thinking "oh, yes, He did send a committee, a large committee
"of messengers and servants with many more to come, more than that aren't in this, this divine book."
And I thought I would share that with you because there are many people who think that, that there's no committee out here.
There's so, there's such a large committee. Committee of angels alone is amazing.
And therefore, it's what brings us our message. Are there any comments, questions, I hope?
I have a question. (unintelligible)
It's different. These pages are from the new translation.
Now, all of us have them. There weren't enough copies to go around.
This is... the book that you're using is, is the most recent.
This one is going to be published very soon. And it's going to be the first time when the correct Quran has been in human hands in 1400 years.
So, we're opting to use the, the few pages until the book comes out. You might wanna share with someone.
(unintelligible)
No.
No, absolutely not.
It says the same thing. It says "worship God alone."
Ali.
(unintelligible)
It's a long story. But it comes true as we explain these verses.
(unintelligible)
Why are we here?
Why are we here? He wants to know why we're here.
(unintelligible)
Yay!
Right. Yay!
Are you smart because it's your birthday or you're just like that?
(unintelligible)
Mã Shã Allãh.
Mã Shã Allãh.
We are here, maybe, because we committed a crime when we were in the Heavenly Society, we, we sided with Satan.
Satan wanted to be a god besides God and we did not oppose that. We did not make a good, firm stand with God's Absolute Authority.
So, this is why we are here to redeem ourselves and to change our way and denounce that stand
by, by going back to upholding God's Absolute Authority,
by knowing that nobody has any power to do anything except God. This is God's Absolute Authority.
People who think that Muhammad or Jesus or Mary or saints can do anything are in the same trap of committing the same crime.
And they will go on all the way to Hell.
They can be redeemed only if they change that and, and worship God alone like Amir said.
This means, "Worship God alone" means knowing that God only has power to do anything.
We must know that God is the One who hires and fires. God is the only One who decides how many dollars are in your pocket.
We must know that.
You think that your boss is the one who hired you or fired you, or may fire you, provides for you. Then, you're, you're in the same trap.
So, this is why, this is what we are here for.
I wanna go to the verse, it says,
[72:24] Once they see what is...
That's 24.
[72:24] Once they see what is awaiting them, they will find out who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number.
Cause out of all of Tucson, half a million people, only about 50 people come here to this mosque to worship God alone.
So, in this city, we appear to be 50 among half a million people.
There may be 50 more out there worship God alone under the name of Christianity or Judaism or nothing,
but, but they do believe that God alone possesses all the power. So, that's 100 out of half a million.
This appears to be a minority. You see, you're walking around with your, with your body that is visible.
They say "this is Cathy Robinson." But they don't see what, what she really looks like, what size she is.
We learn from verse, Sura 17 that the differences in the Hereafter are far greater than here.
The difference between Bima and Gatut is 4 feet, but in the Hereafter the differences are far more greater, Sura 17.
So, your real size is as big as the city of Phoenix, for example.
You're walking around, we see this size.
Their size, the people who are not worshipping God alone, they actually shrink.
Their soul actually shrinks to the size of a cat.
So, there are 100 people whose size is as big as the city of Phoenix, each one of them, and half a million size ants.
Who is really weaker, who is really weaker in power, and fewer in number?
One man and a million ants, which one is really stronger? Where is the majority?
Is it the one, one person or the million ants?
When you walk out the mosque, you can see one million ants sometimes.
Did you see them today?
Yes.
So, where is the majority? This is what this means because once they see what is awaiting...
Because right now they cannot see. We do not see ourselves. We only see our bodies.
Beth.
I think, maybe we can look at this like, like this, all the emotions, feelings (unintelligible) you know, and you know
(unintelligible)
And that's the (unintelligible) you know (unintelligible)
But in the Hereafter, (unintelligible)
In the Hereafter, everything becomes obvious.
You're walking around you're a hidden queen.
You're walking around, people don't know what, what your size is, what, who you really are.
Which is a lot of fun because you don't need secret service or, or guards or anything. You can walk in the market and buy your apples, meat, and eggs.
We do have secret service.
Yes, we have secret secret service. That's the best secret service. You do have secret secret service.
(unintelligible) also applies to the fact that on the Day of Judgment, all of these creatures think
they have following numbers, they realize the entire population submits to God, every atom, all of the universe everything.
Yes.
submission to God, they realize how outnumbered they are.
They see that. (unintelligible) They see and they won't be able to see the magnitude of (unintelligible) submitting to God.
(unintelligible) Also, in terms of... cause if you think in terms of believers and unbelievers, who, how many unbelievers there are and how many believers there are, we, we cannot count.
And even in those terms, when you have a huge entity and a small entity, the huge entity is the majority.
The one person and one million ants. To me, the one person is the majority. Majority is the one.
(unintelligible) It's also the position of the 74:30 (unintelligible) says,
I will remove every doubt (unintelligible) over it is 19.
(unintelligible) They may ridicule us (unintelligible)
Except 19 is not the angels of Hell as they think.
What?
19 is not the angels of Hell as they think.
The, the angels of Hell. There are angels of Hell.
(unintelligible)
I don't know. It seems like there's only one angel in charge of Hell. His name is Mãlek.
It is...
His name is mentioned in the Quran, Mãlek.
Mãlek may be head of them.
Now, how would you get that? Now, don't, don't, don't speculate.
There are some angels in Quran, they are more than three.
More than three?
Yes.
Where?
They say, QALU (قَالُوا۟)
Yes.
(unintelligible) They talk to the...
Who?
No, it's not. Where?
There's only one angel. As far as guarding Hell is concerned, only one angel and his name is Mãlek.
Now, QALU (قَالُوا۟) is where?
أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌۭ (67:8)
سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَآ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌۭ (67:8)
سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَآ أَلَمْ ... (67:8) There must be...
Sura 67
(unintelligible) only one (unintelligible) خَزَنَتُهَآ (67:8)
No, no, no. KHAZANATUHA (خَزَنَتُهَآ) is plural.
(unintelligible) guards, guards of Hell. Plural.
This is, this is set of mysterious, you know, God hasn't revealed yet, exactly the details of how many...
how, what is the system because
كُلَّمَآ أُلْقِىَ فِيهَا فَوْجٌۭ سَأَلَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَآ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَذِيرٌۭ (67:8)
Now, are these angels outside Hell or inside? The one who's taking care of Hell is Mãlek or what?
They will say,
[43:77] ... "O Mãlek, let your Lord finish us off." He will say, "You are staying forever.
(unintelligible)
Yes.
(unintelligible)
No, but see, here, it's not connected with Hell.
(unintelligible)
At the end of the verse, yes, at the end of the verse, it says "nobody knows..." you're right, but "nobody knows what the number is."
But that's not... this is a general statement. Also, at the beginning, it says,
وَمَا جَعَلْنَآ أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ إِلَّا مَلَـٰٓئِكَةًۭ ۙ (74:31)
What is ASHABA AL-NNAR (أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ)? MALA'IK (مَلَـٰٓئِكَةًۭ), they're angels.
What, who are ASHABA AL-NNAR (أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ)? What does ASHABA AL-NNAR (أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ) mean?
Companions of Hell, the guards of Hell, the owners of Hell, friends of Hell. We do not know what expression it is, still mysterious, because there is, there is timing for everything.
And obviously, God doesn't want us at this time to know exactly what the arrangement is in Hell.
We appointed 19 angels of Hell and those who viewed their number is a miracle from us.
That's possible but that's not what the Quran says.
(unintelligible)
Huh?
For first time, when you read first time, you can understand this.
(unintelligible) No, but you, but you see, you have to... we know now... see those numbers in the Quran, we know that every letter in the Quran is accurately placed.
Now, it does not say that the guards of Hell are 19.
It gives a general statement.
(74:31) وَمَا جَعَلْنَا عِدَّتَهُمْ Their number
Yes.
mentioned before, their number.
Their number...
That's the number that is 'ALAYHA (عَلَيْهَا).
The number that is on it.
Yes, on, on, on...
On, on what?
on سَقَرَ (74:26)
Right.
سَقَرَ (74:26) is a punishment.
Right.
Yes.
Is it Hell? See, we don't know. It could be here.
but the ASHABA AL-NNAR (أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ)...
Yes.
The next verse
Next verse did explain if it could be Hell or not.
No, it doesn’t. There's no depiction at all.
It gives us as a certain statement. It says "we made (unintelligible) ASHABA AL-NNAR (أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلنَّارِ), the companions of Hell, angels.
So, it's a general statement. It does not say "19 angels." It does not say that.
(74:30) عَلَيْهَا تِسْعَةَ عَشَرَ
It says "on it are 19." It doesn't say 19 what.
That one, I understand that. Their...
When we translate (unintelligible) that
we appointed only angels of Hell and their number, their number... it's angels' number.
Yeah.
Right. (unintelligible) and we...
But then at the end, it says "nobody knows what this number is."
Not (unintelligible)
Nobody knows the, the soldiers of God.
Yes.
It doesn't say number of the soldiers, soldiers of God, their force, their, their (unintelligible), their...
Well, maybe God wants you to believe that there are 19 guards of Hell, at this time. This is perfectly alright, if that's what He wants.
Obviously, it's not relevant or crucial.
And I would like to comment on this (unintelligible)
Angels (unintelligible) where they're, where they are, what is...
This is a Hadith that says when you die, two angels will ask you "who is your god? And who is your prophet? What did you do?
Then, they, they beat you so you're going to the seventh Earth, then a big snake will swallow you.
It's a Hadith.
Yes, in the graves.
And they have all kinds of stories.
Are there any, any questions? Any other questions? We read a lot. Abdullah.
72:28, (unintelligible)
Yes. New translation is
[72:28] ... counted the numbers of all things.
Everything is based on mathematics.
Also, Aya 27,
[72:27] Only to a messenger that He chooses,* does He reveal from the past and the future, specific news.*
[72:27] Only to a messenger that He chooses ...
(unintelligible)
Both are correct. It's the same.
It was more general in the last translation, but in new translation, it's more specific.
Because in this Sura 27... 72, God gave us a lot more proof that this Sura specifically is for Masjid Tucson, for our age.
Yes.
Rashad, last translation is accurate, mostly accurate. (Unintelligible).
Rasool (رَسولٍ) yes, you can understand, it's plural but here not (unintelligible), not plural form.
But can be understood this way, but the continuation
(72:27) فَإِنَّهُۥ يَسْلُكُ مِنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ
Singular.
(unintelligible)
Right, yeah, singular (unintelligible)
(72:27) مِنۢ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ
Yes.
But both are correct. Both translations are correct.
Last one...
Speaking, speaking of numbers, I just wanna pass on a, a thought to you that we think that we're on the advanced
Earth and everything now. The world is so technical, technologically advanced and everything, but up until now only
less than 7% of people have come to this Earth from Adam until now.
From now to the end of the world, still more than 93% of the people.
So, we are... the earth is still an infant. And we are among the early generations.
To the people 200 years from now, we're gonna be the, the cave age, cave people.
So, just think about it. The message, we're very early in human history.
The message is being consolidated and it's being, will be delivered to the vast majority of the people.
All this past and the nonsense that happened in Christianity, the trinity and Jesus, son of God, and all this nonsense and the things that happened in Judaism, Rabbi Kushner and what he said,
the nonsense that's happening in Islam, all these things are, are happening within a very brief period in time, relatively and involves a very small number of people.
But the new generations are enlightened. They are rebellious. They don't listen to their parents. They are free to think. And they will get the message supported by physical evidence, as you'll see.
And Satan will be really defeated. Satan is destined to be defeated. So, this message with the physical proof that you see on the wall over there.
On the wall, you see every single verse in the Quran, physical evidence.
And this will be presented to more than 93% of the people in the world. Think about that!
It's a lot of people will say, you know, they think "all this nonsense involved a lot of people."
(unintelligible)
I'm sorry I missed that.
(unintelligible)
Yes.
(unintelligible)
God made a point in the Gospel that when Jesus was asked "when is the end of the world?" He said "I don't know."
And I called this in one of the brochures. And when Muhammad was asked, it's also in the Quran, "when is the end of the world?" He said "I don't know."
But God wanted us to know in this generation. So, I will have an appendix, appendix, what, "end of the world."
appendix? One of the appendices. It's entitled "end of the world." It gives you enough evidence as when the world will end. We know that the world will end in 2280.
And the mathematical code. This is one of the things that God gave us (unintelligible) in the previous revelations.
Douglas
(unintelligible)
Yes.
(unintelligible)
[72:25] Say, "I do not know if what is promised to you will happen soon, or if my Lord will delay it for awhile."
This is to tell the disbelievers that they're gonna be punished. I don't know when.
It's for the disbelievers.
(unintelligible)
No, no, no, it's gonna be here. It's for here.
This is for...
There is emphasis to Muhammad "say, I don’t know."
Nothing in this Sura is for Muhammad.
You should know that.
But إِنْ أَدْرِىٓ أَقَرِيبٌۭ مَّا تُوعَدُونَ أَمْ يَجْعَلُ لَهُۥ رَبِّىٓ أَمَدًا (72:25)
Yes.
This verse implies that that person who addressed by this verse will not know the time of end of the world.
It has nothing to do with the end of the world. This has to do with here. It has to do with this world. It is...
There is nothing in this Sura that applies to Muhammad. If you, if you look at the footnote here.
You add the gematrical value of Rashad plus the gematrical value of Khalifa plus the Sura number plus the verses 28, then you have a multiple of 19.
And also, this Sura has the maximum number of Rashada, 4 of them.
And this is not my personal opinion. If it is my personal opinion, I'll be wrong. It's not my personal opinion.
Yeah, I mean in the Quran also this brings 1919. (unintelligible)
Why do you say this is Muhammad? You're the one who discovered it.
إِلَّا مَنِ ٱرْتَضَىٰ مِن رَّسُولٍۢ (72:27)
Yes. I know.
See, [72:27] Only to a messenger that He chooses. In Arabic, it's
إِلَّا مَنِ ٱرْتَضَىٰ مِن رَّسُولٍۢ (72:27)
If you calculate the gematrical value of this phrase, it's 1919. And Edip Yuksel is the one who discovered that.
And there's a whole bunch of mathematical proof that is...
I'm afraid to be embarrassed because, I'm afraid to be embarrassed until you are experiencing it.
So, I can't afford to be embarrassed or ashamed or shy or modest. It's not modesty if you're a civil engineer to say "I'm a civil engineer."
It is not arrogance when you're stating the truth.
But this whole Sura, nothing in it has anything to do with the prophet Muhammad. There may be other places but not this Sura.
The mathematical evidence is overwhelming. We will see it in the appendices, footnotes in new translation.
And when I'm telling, when I tell you this, I'm either a very very bad person or I'm really a messenger of God.
Because nobody will fabricate lies against God, attribute it to God in this flagrant manner unless he's really really a disbeliever who doesn’t think he will face God one day on the Day of Judgement.
So, take your pick. There are only two extremes here, either a very bad person who claimed to be receiving information from God or, or a true messenger of God. You can judge by our circumstances.
For God gave us the mind to distinguish. Are there any questions on this that are not so embarrassing?
I have a question.
Go ahead.
What you said (unintelligible)
Well, that person really will not know anything. It's a pre-requisite that the person knows what the mathematical proof is.
A person who doesn’t know the code will not understand anything, will be like a person who was born 100 years ago.
So, Mathematical code is a requirement for understanding a lot of things.
(unintelligible) Why God (unintelligible) Muhammad (unintelligible)
No, it doesn’t entail Muhammad. (unintelligible) Qul (قُلْ). There are lots, lots of Quls (قُلْ), they are not for Muhammad. Lots of Quls (قُلْ) are for you.
(112:1) قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ It's not for Muhammad. It's for you.
(114:1) قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ ٱلنَّاسِ It's not for Muhammad. It's for you.
In fact, the vast majority of Qul (قُلْ) is not for Muhammad. A lot of Quls (قُلْ) in the Quran are for the Quran itself. Proclaim
(3:31) قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ
[3:31] Say "If you love GOD, you follow me." GOD will love you,
This is the Quran speaking.
If you follow the Quran, then God will love you, you see. If you love God, you follow the Word of God, not the words of men.
So, I don’t know where you get the impression that the Qul (قُلْ) is always for Muhammad.
Because it's not. It's very clear if you saw it. The majority of Quls (قُلْ) meaning "say." Qul (قُلْ) means "say." The majority of Quls (قُلْ) in the Quran are not for the prophet Muhammad.
There are also many things in the Quran that are in the future nothing to do with the prophet Muhammad.
And some of them are, are clearly stated in future tense.
So, Quran is valid for all times.
OK. Shall we move on to Sura 73? Please, Catherine.
Sura 73: Cloaked
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[73:1] O you cloaked one. [73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely. [73:3] Half of it, or a little less.
[73:4] Or a little more. And read the Quran from cover to cover. [73:5] We will give you a heavy message.
[73:6] The meditation at night is more effective, and more righteous.
[73:7] You have a lot of time during the day for other matters.
[73:8] You shall commemorate the name of your Lord, to come ever closer and closer to Him.
[73:9] Lord of the east and the west; there is no other god besides Him. You should choose Him as your advocate.
[73:10] And remain steadfast in the face of their utterances, and disregard them in a nice manner.
[73:11] And let Me deal with the rejectors, who have been generously blessed; just give them a little time.
[73:12] We have severe punishments, and Hell.
[73:13] Food that can hardly be swallowed, and painful retribution.
[73:14] The day will come when the earth and the mountains will quake, and the mountains will turn into a weightless pile.
[73:15] We have sent to you a messenger, just as we sent to Pharaoh a messenger.
[73:16] Pharaoh disobeyed the messenger and, consequently, we punished him severely.
[73:17] If you disbelieve, how can you evade a day so terrible that it makes the infants gray-haired?
[73:18] The heaven will shatter therefrom. His promise is true.
[73:19] This is a reminder; whoever wills, let him choose the path to his Lord.
[73:20] Your Lord knows that you meditate during two-thirds of the night, or half of it, or one-third of it, and so do some of those who believed with you. ...
[73:20] ... GOD has designed the night and the day, and He knows that you cannot always do this. He has pardoned you. Instead, you shall read what you can of the Quran. ...
[73:20] ... He knows that some of you may be ill, others may be traveling in pursuit of GOD's provisions, and others may be striving in the cause of GOD. ...
[73:20] ... You shall read what you can of it, and observe the contact prayers (Salat), give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and lend GOD a loan of righteousness. ...
[73:20] ... Whatever good you send ahead on behalf of your souls, you will find it at GOD far better and generously rewarded. And implore GOD for forgiveness. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
The name of this Sura is Cloaked. A cloak or a cover can be a protection for us against weather,
inclement weather, for instance. Or it can be a barrier or a veil, something that blinds us or deafens us.
And keeping that in mind, looking at verses 1 through 7, the night was designed for our rest.
There are no distractions during the night for us, certainly not like there are during the day when the world seems to wake up and pick up speed and get itself up to 300 miles an hour before the sunset.
This is a special time with Allah for us. It is a time when we, our own bodies and our own minds are winding down and there is a space and peace about our...
Separate those children from each other. Separate them from each other.
She was just reading. She's just reading it aloud.
Oh.
Separate her from her book.
Yeah.
Take her book away.
Excuse me.
And God is telling us that here at any time that we spend reading the Quran, meditating is for our own good here.
God doesn't need for us to do this.
God is in no need at all.
And He's giving us an opportunity, guiding us to take advantage of an opportunity during our busy days in our lives
to spend time with Him. In verse 8, the reason for, for the guide, the hint of provision of day
we're working, night, we rest, for example, is God's consciousness is a 24 hour, at 24 hours a day, is our goal, commemorating the name of our, our God 24 hours a day, every minute
so that every cell in our body, every thought in our mind is preceded by Allah. Alhamdu Lillah. Subhan Allah. Every chance we get. Out loud, no matter where we are.
What I have found to be amazing about that is when that became a habit of mine and I'm not quite sure when that was, sometimes someone will ask me what I'm saying.
Well, I can tell you how rare that is. Very few people ask me what it is I'm saying. Very few people are interested.
I write Bism Allah on my checks, all of them.
On, on, well, well, a lot of the things that I have to remember God 24 hours a day, no matter what we do, no matter when we do it.
Verse 9,
[73:9] ... You should choose Him as ... advocate.
[73:9] ... there is no other god besides Him. ...
No one and no thing does anything. And if we don't know that then we do not know God.
If we do not know that God is doing everything and therefore logically and rationally
the only One to call upon for any help, for any provision, for any understanding, for any guidance, for any relief is God alone,
we've gone astray somewhere.
And we may never get back if we don't strive to understand that God does everything.
Not to be confused with, again, the Khutba that, putting your finger in the fire. And I'm...
heard that Khutba and I went back to, 2 years ago in 1987. I happened to be away and I asked Rashad "please tape the Khutba", Khutba that time and he happened to give it.
It is a marvelous Khutba but it is there that I first heard Rashad talk about putting your finger in the fire and how the fire was created for us to be in our service.
We would use it to cook, I think the phrase was "a delicious raw steak to a, to a fine meal or we could put our finger in it and burn, burn ourselves."
God created both all, the fire, the food and, and our nerve system. But it was our free will that
we determined how we used it in what path, if we could use that as a metaphor, we would then choose to be on.
We have to know that God is doing everything.
We have to know that if we need anything, asking anyone for anything, whatever comes to us from anyone, bad, good or indifferent comes from God and it's for our own good.
They're reminders, they're tests, they're provisions, whatever it is, a comment you don't wanna hear, a criticism you don't wanna hear, it's from God.
God is, is correcting you, asking you to think, maybe not to correct yourself based on the criticism, but to rethink what it is you're doing to remind you that God is doing everything.
Verse 10,
[73:10] ... remain steadfast in the face of their utterances, and disregard them in a nice manner.
God is saying if we know that God is doing everything, we're not to falter in that believe ever, no matter what we hear.
But we're also not to judge others. We have no way of knowing who's gonna make it and who's not.
We don't know that, that something we say is going to be the turning point for someone else down the road.
And we need to be consistently steadfast with our beliefs.
But we were consistently admonished as how to treat other people. We are not to judge them. We are not to treat them nastily.
We are not to, to force them. We are not to be angry and again I go back 2 years ago to that
Khutba which was amazing because Rashad sit here and he said that "and I'm talking to you" and he named every one of us sitting here, including himself.
And said "if we get angry at anybody for anything, we're challenging God, we're objecting to God."
It's so simple now. I can tell you how often I, I would need that.
Riding down the road the other day with my son, just has his license just,
someone cut him, you know how people drive in Tucson, someone just cut right in front of him within inches (unintelligible).
And he yelled at them in our car. He yelled at them "stupid." He was very angry, gripping the wheel trying to maintain control.
And I said "God did that. You shouldn't be yelling at that person." Well, that person was stupid and he... we've been working on this for two days, that incident.
He said...now, we got him coming around to say "well, I wasn’t really objecting to God. I was just blowing off steam (unintelligible)."
And you need to (unintelligible) that when you get angry.
And this is true about the people that have been (unintelligible) rejecting what we have to say or reject how we choose to live our lives based on what God has told us.
We're not to aggress against them with our minds, with suspicion, with words, with behavior.
We're to remain steadfast because of our own beliefs. Do you have a question here? Yeah.
(unintelligible)
Why did he hit you on? I mean, why you... just suppose...
(unintelligible).
You have to go ahead of that and find out why, why, what provoked this person against you.
You have to find out what you did to provoke that person against you.
But you're starting the middle of the story, see. Somebody came punched me in the face, right? This is the middle of the story. Go to the end of it.
We have... Huh?
(unintelligible)
But you see, the fist fight resulted from something. What is it?
(unintelligible).
You're not supposed to get in a fist fight to start with.
(unintelligible).
Yeah, Ok, Somebody punched me in the face. I will not get angry at that person. I will get angry at myself for provoking him.
I will not... I will ask "how did this, how did this happen?" and find out what should I do to make him so angry.
You know, it's a sin in Islam if, if you annoy anybody, if you hurt anybody. You committed a sin.
So, obviously you made that person so... you've hurt him somehow that he came and punched you in the face.
You committed a sin and you paid for it. So, you should be objecting... you should not be objecting to what happened.
Do you understand?
(unintelligible)
Yes. Look for both parties, but...
(unintelligible)
Say, how will he aggravate you and annoy you? He'd say "I don't like you because you're Iranian," ...
No.
...For example, let's say
(unintelligible)
Ok, let's say, somebody says "I do not like you because you're a, you're a Khomeini man."
(unintelligible)
If somebody says "I don't like you because you're a Khomeini man." Then, you will know he's a stupid person.
Because he's passing judgement on you. It would be like you're walking on the street and a dog barks at you. What would you do?
(unintelligible)
No, it isn't (unintelligible)
You just look at that person, that person, and say "you don't get into a fight."
But you also mentioned aggression against your family and protection of yourself and your family.
That's, that's a different issue. You have the right and God tells us we do to protect ourselves and our family.
We do not have the right to aggress first. We have the right to protect ourselves.
In Sura 42, it says "you stand up for your rights."
Yeah, that's (unintelligible)
No, it's better not to get to that stage where, stage where he swings at you. I would ignore that.
It takes, actually, it takes more strength.
It takes more strength to, not to (unintelligible).
I'm thinking solely because Sammy got in a situation like this and if I were in Sammy's place, I would be flunking the test.
I would have punched the guy in the face, but he was, he was, he was stronger than...
He did the right thing. I forget what was it.
He may got arrested?
Sammy? Wow!
In Buffalo, the other day somebody was (unintelligible) him or something.
...did something on the...
I didn't hear about that.
I, I don't remember the specifics, but...
control yourself is... I would ignore those people.
You should not get into any fist fights or anything like that. Just ignore it.
It, it takes more strength to restrain yourself than to get provoked into a fist fight or any of those silly things. You'll be a bigger man if you walk away and ignore them.
(unintelligible)
Yes, yes, the Quran says you have the right to stand up for your right.
If he punched you in the face, and you punch him back, it's your right, but, but God tells you it's better to be stronger if you can restrain yourself and avoid it.
(unintelligible)
Yes, of course. Yeah, Self defense is always justified.
Yes.
I grew up in a highly oppressive environment and my parents...
You never talked to me (unintelligible)
...neighborhood. Sometimes my, my parents told me that fighting is wrong.
And a lot of kids are being stupid, that was a way of life and when in first time, maybe not the first, but I got into a fight,
one of the kids wanted to jump on me and hit me, I was trying to (unintelligible) this wasn't the way you told me it would be.
who I completely (unintelligible) since I was down on the concrete.
So, I went back to my parents and said "it doesn't work the way you (unintelligible)."
They took it out on me both, and I think the same thing that was true in many times (unintelligible)
Sometimes people will do things to you, you just simply have to defend yourself.
Defend yourself.
And you are taking a human being in the name of Allah, now some, some people out here do like (unintelligible)
You understand it takes more strength to really resist getting drawn into a fight. Hamid.
(unintelligible) very good one (unintelligible) sometimes the right thing to do is to defend.
Right.
(unintelligible) on you. (unintelligible) Sometimes, (unintelligible) I had to show that we can do it if we want to.
That's you ego.
(unintelligible)
okay, now, I...
I wanna tell you. If you are with God, nothing will happen to you. You're gonna be a winner.
When you are a person of God, you'll be a winner all the time. Don't worry.
(unintelligible)
Robert.
...position of power, but (unintelligible) like,
Yes.
like what you said, it's harder to be patient and be benevolent. Hey, I grew up in an environment
(unintelligible)
I mean, I grew up with 3 older brothers. There was no fighting and that was not an everyday thing.
(unintelligible)
So, it was a natural thing.
(unintelligible) you know.
(unintelligible)
you know, I mean, it was a natural reaction, you know, that was part of it.
(unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
You know, I would (unintelligible), wait a second now, (unintelligible)
I think, maybe Catherine should have used the word sadness, or, or disappointed, rather than anger.
Because you don't, you don't become sad and depressed. That's objection.
Happiness is devotion to God. Happiness is submission to God.
And the opposite of that, of that is objection. If you are sad, you're objecting to what God is doing.
So, maybe anger is not the correct word.
(unintelligible)
Yes, exactly, yeah.
ٱلْكَـٰظِمِينَ ٱلْغَيْظَ (3:134) Suppressors of anger.
One of the characteristics of a believer is suppressor of anger.
It's just you understand life. When you read the Quran, you read God's message and understand what life is all about.
You know that it is not worth it to get in a fist fight, be angry because of what somebody said.
Especially that if it is something stupid.
(unintelligible)
You definitely have to defend yourself. If you can avoid, you can forgive and forget, you'll be much stronger.
Back to Catherine. You can finish this Sura.
And we'll move on.
Can I make a comment also on the first few verses? Excuse me, I'll take it back. Two more minutes.
I want you to understand what the night is. The Quranic night begins at sunset.
So, when it says,
[73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely. [73:3] Half of it, or a little less.
You're commemorating God when you pray the Sunset, when you pray the Night,
when you mention the name of God before you sleep, when you get up for Dawn prayer,
you already covered half the night like that. Because the night begins at 7 o'clock. It's sunset right now.
We pray the Night at 9 o'clock. We get up at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock for the Dawn prayer, 5 o'clock.
So, 9 to 5, you already covered a good portion of the night.
Quranic night, the Torah night, in the old scriptures, night begins at sunset.
And the day begins at sunrise. So, it's roughly 12 hours for the night.
What this is telling you is you must never, must never miss the Dawn prayer, the Fajr prayer.
I'm always surprised when I visit many places and find that half the people or more than half are not doing the Dawn prayer.
You're not being fair to yourself.
See, we were swept in the crowd when we were in the Heavenly Society.
You don't wanna be swept in the crowd again, here. You don't wanna repeat the same mistake.
The people are so oblivious to God that when we do a little bit, we think we're doing a lot.
Because compared to them, you do one prayer a day, you're doing a lot.
But don't be swept in the crowd and don't measure what you're doing by what, what is happening in the world.
Cause the world is just totally oblivious to God. And this makes you think that you stepped up, you're doing a lot.
That will be on my Khutba next week. But don't be swept in the crowd, IN SHAA ALLAH.
Next week, IN SHAA ALLAH.
IN SHAA ALLAH.
Yes.
(unintelligible)
Idol worship.
(unintelligible)
Yes, Anything is forgivable. Murder is forgivable. Stealing, lying, cheating, all these things are forgivable, but idol worship is not if the person dies an idol worshipper.
(unintelligible)
Yes, you can clean your record any minute by repenting.
Repentance cleans your slate completely as if you are a newborn baby.
(unintelligible)
Yes.
(unintelligible)
No, to you, to Martha Schulte.
(unintelligible)
Yeah.
(unintelligible)
Again that's a famous mistake, yes, but it is really... O you Martha Schulte, meditate during the night except rarely.
When you're, when you're covered up with your blanket, you're, you're cloaked.
(unintelligible)
Yes.
Yeah, but he just prayed that (unintelligible) extra prayer.
The Fajr prayer. We've come a long way towards that but I would recommend reading the Quran every night and every Fajr.
(unintelligible)
No, no, but you're covering, you're covering that period. See, the prayer is not just the time that you're doing the prayer.
The times of anticipation is also commemoration of God. You look at the clock and you say "I'm gonna pray the Night in 10 minutes, IN SHAA ALLAH."
(unintelligible)
Right. Right. Absolutely, yes. Yes.
(unintelligible)
Just, this is why the 5 prayers are so important. Cause it's not just the few minutes, it's not just the few minutes that you're doing them.
OK. Back to verse 20, Catherine.
Verse 20?
Oh, excuse me, go ahead. Wherever you are.
(unintelligible) verse 20.
Verse 11,
[73:11] ... let Me deal with the rejectors, who have been generously blessed; just give them a little time.
[73:12] We have severe punishments, and Hell. [73:13] Food that can hardly be swallowed.
It's a... give them enough rope, you know, hang themselves is what comes to mind. They will either pass or be rejectors, will either pass or fail the test that God gives them,
knowing that God gave them as many chances in the past as He gives every other person. God knows who will pass and who will not. He is the Perfect Designer. We need to worry for our own selves.
And this is related to the verse 10 and how to treat other people. Let God take care of those who reject the message. Line 14,
[73:14] The day will come when the earth and the mountains will quake, and the mountains will turn into a weightless pile.
There are other mentions on descriptions of the Day of Resurrection, of the Day of Judgement when
the Earth will change its appearance. The Earth and mountains are considered, perceived by our senses to be the most solid of all things.
And so, this is a really good metaphor for one who thinks about, just the one sentence that God is telling us what's gonna happen.
The inside of the Earth is molten lava. There's not solid at all about it.
Recently, I had an illness, too, which has made this solid Earth, the solid world that we touch, smell, feel each day of our lives, distorted that,
and, and erased the illusion of this world. And it would be quite an interesting experience that you feel free-floating.
And that's only way I can think of to describe it. And it can be frightening at the same time. I imagine at the same time what the astronauts are feeling in space, only it's...
That's when then there is some way to connect to something. I think...
Your soul is growing too fast.
I hope so. I desperately hope so.
You're like weightless.
In any case...
Not sure you'd notice.
In any case, this is a really good metaphor for what will happen.
Those... and for the, for the reminder, that this world is an illusion, this life is temporary play.
And it's all set up just... God is so Merciful to give us another chance when we blew it the first time.
And we did blow it first time. There's no maybe about it.
[73:15] We sent to you a messenger, we sent Pharaoh a messenger.
[73:16] He disobeyed. We punished him severely.
[73:17] If you disbelieve, how do you expect to evade a day so terrible that it makes the infants gray-haired?
I don't know the name of the illness but there's a, a rare
illness, and I think, Rabbi Kushner's son had this illness. I just don't know the medical name for it
where children age. Infants age and die of old age when they are still young children.
It's a very rare illness. I don't know if it existed when the Quran was
was revealed. However, this is also a good metaphor for how our lives are gonna appear to us on the Day of Resurrection as if we lived for one hour, one minute.
But this is a... this is even in English they say "you scared me, my hair turned white." I don't know why.
But,
Absolutely.
(unintelligible)
That happens.
What's happens?
Progeria.
Progeria.
It's just a... I think it's just a proverb.
(unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
The reality is that this happens, but it's also a metaphor for the brevity of our lives.
[73:18] The heaven will shatter therefrom. His promise is true.
The guarantee is always there, built in.
[73:19] This is a reminder; whoever wills, let him choose the path to his Lord.
The human being has complete freedom. This is the human affliction and it's the human blessing and the hope of redemption.
If we choose Allah alone, God will be with us always.
If we don't, and the tendency of the human being is not to, the tendency is to worship ourselves. That's the last bastion.
When we think we dealt with money, children, wealth, status, power, fame, we get back to ourselves.
So, it's a constant balancing act. If you choose Allah alone, this narrowest of path may seem you won't fall from it.
And again, I remember someone saying to me "fool me once shame on, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."
This is my second time around.
And it will be shame on me if I don't get it right this time.
Verse 20,
[73:20] Your Lord knows that you meditate two-thirds of the night, or half of it, ...
[73:20] ... He knows that you cannot always do this. And He has pardoned you. ...
God made us. He knows what our limitations are. He knows we have to sleep some time.
And that we can't stay up all of the night long reading Quran and meditating all nights through all of our lives.
So, mercifully provides for us and says,
[73:20] ... you shall read what you can ...
And allows for illness and allows for traveling and allows for the necessities of this life,
constantly reminding us that we need to be cognizant of God 24 hours a day.
There's a verse here, part of the verse,
[73:20] ... You shall read what you can of it, and observe the contact prayers (Salat), ...
They way the contact prayer is spoken of in Quran is...
it's spoken of as though everyone who reads knows of it, because everyone does. When the time of Quran was, was revealed, Salat was a common practice, albeit wrong a common practice.
And this is why we don't find a description of Salat in, by detail in Quran.
[73:20] ... give the obligatory charity (Zakat), and lend GOD a loan of righteousness. Whatever good you send ahead on behalf of your souls, you will find it at GOD far better and generously rewarded.
This is the PRA (Post Retirement Account) that Rashad talked about. And it's a wonderful
reality based on simple way to understand what it is we do, Post Retirement Account. We get 10 for 1 here, folks, guaranteed.
10 for 1. We don't have to do much for that, a, a loan of righteousness, God alone.
And our souls do grow and they do expand. We even have no idea how big they are.
When Rashad gives these numbers like 10-dollar parking tickets because you don't say Bismillah first thing in the morning.
That's real. That's, that's not a joke. I mean, we laugh because it relates to all of us when we will be caught one way or the other, but it's, it's the truth.
So, again, 24-hour God consciousness being the goal and righteousness and living according to the Quran's instructions, God willing, we won't have too many parking tickets.
That's... and implore God for forgiveness. God is forgiver and Most Merciful. Everyday, I talk to Dave and say that God (unintelligible). We're so conditioned in that state.
[73:20] ... And implore GOD for forgiveness. GOD is Forgiver, Most Merciful.
Everyday, 5 times a day, we say that God gives us, to call upon Him. There is no condition in that statement.
There's no condition if you call upon Him when you're wearing a blue dress and it's 5 in the afternoon. There's no condition. God hears those who call upon Him alone.
That's unconditional. This is the Most Merciful God who is always there for us. All we have to do is turn around.
I need to stop. Are there any...
God bless you. Excellent job. Mã Shã Allãh. Martha, what do you have?
(unintelligible) today,
(unintelligible) after they arrive.
(unintelligible)
so like (unintelligible)
but I'm traveling, I won't (unintelligible)
(unintelligible) of all (unintelligible) when you are on vacation, nothing else to do of all (unintelligible) through that verse
Right.
into you know, when I'm traveling on vacation, I only have (unintelligible).
My soul doesn’t eat.
Yeah. (unintelligible)
Yes.
This has to do with missing the Fajr prayer once in a long while.
God says "you cannot do it all the time." Maybe, once a month you'll miss Fajr.
It's really this is a minimum, the 5 prayers including the Dawn prayer.
It's very important for you to do the Dawn prayer. You must set the alarm to get up.
Right now, you must do it before 5:15 in the morning.
There are many drop-outs because the day gets longer and longer. And you don't wanna be a drop-out.
(unintelligible)
Hmm?
(unintelligible)
5:15, before 5:15.
(unintelligible)
This means you're tired. You're very tired and cannot... you didn’t get up for the Fajr prayer because you're tired.
You're doing extra effort.
Traveling?
Yes, traveling or your time is mixed up.
You traveled from New York, you leave there at 12 midnight and you come here and the Dawn is 2 o'clock New York time.
So, this is two hours of sleep. Most, most probably, you will miss Fajr on that day.
(unintelligible)
No, no. It's saying "business." You're doing your business.
You may be tired because of business, because of something you have done. You were digging ditches all day and you... until 3 o'clock in the morning.
Chances are you're gonna sleep through the Fajr in that night.
Traveling in pursuit of God's provisions means business. You're doing business.
I think we have to stop. Our teacher, next week, will be Dr. Sabahi, so we can see what the Farsi translation is saying.
Starting at... you can sit by your dad, Amir, and give him a few pieces of information.
(unintelligible)
Ok.
Dr. Sabahi will take Sura 74, 75, 76. So, keep your,
your new translation. Don't forget it! We have to read a lot of Al-Fãtehah for birthdays, today.
Lydia, Hany,
Lydia
Douglas,
Who's the fourth one?
Lydia.
Huh? Amir. See, I forgot Amir. How can I forget Amir?
And Amir is the most important person in this room. We have to...
Why?
Why? You, you tell us why.
How can I forget Amir? OK. Amir and Hany and Douglas and Lydia,
we're gonna recite Al-Fãtehah to give them a great year, coming up, and a greater year every year after that.
It is a characteristic of the believers that things only get better.
Things get better for the believers. Every day is better than the previous one.
Also, we're gonna recite Al-Fãtehah, Mahvash may be going to
Iran soon and we wish her success and have her, God will give her a good trip, IN SHAA ALLAH.
God never turns us down when we read Al-Fãtehah.
And Catherine mentioned illness that makes her high.
It's true. It's true.
So, we want to read what God says,
Eyyaka Na’abudu Wa Eyyaka Nasta’aeen (1:5)
We worship You alone and ask Him to make her healthy,
and each one of you, your dearest wish.
I want you to ask God for it, also. God loves it when you pray to Him.
Before we read Al-Fãtehah, I want to remind you that I just finished the appendix entitled "virginity."
And it begins by saying "the sons and daughters of the believers are taught persistently and for their own happiness that they must
keep themselves for their spouses, the people who would be married to them.
So, I'm urging all the parents to take a copy of that. It's only one page. Take it and show it to your children.
Because it may be an embarrassing subject to you but it is a very important subject.
And it is never too early, never too late to ask for that page and take it and leave it with your children.
And now for all Al-Fãtehahs that were requested. We're gonna turn to God and recite Al-Fãtehah.
Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem (1:1) Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen (1:2) Arrahman Arraheem (1:3) Maliki Yawm Eddeen (1:4) Eyyaka Na’abudu Wa Eyyaka Nasta’aeen (1:5) Ehdina Al-Serata Al-Mustaqeem (1:6) Serata Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim Wa Laddaalleen (1:7)
Before we close, I'm gonna remind you of just a couple of verses in Sura 54 that says "God is the One who makes you happy,"
controls your happiness or miserable. God doesn’t make you miserable. We make ourselves miserable.
But God controls our happiness and our misery. In Arabic,
وَأَنَّهُۥ هُوَ أَضْحَكَ وَأَبْكَىٰ (53:43)
He makes you laugh or cry.
وَأَنَّهُۥ هُوَ أَغْنَىٰ وَأَقْنَىٰ (53:48)
He's the One who controls your wealth.
[53:48] He is the One who makes you rich or poor.
So, you remember that. God is one who controls your happiness and joy. God is the one who controls your wealth.
Which means that if we follow God's law, we're guaranteed perfect life, perfect happiness.
Congratulations. God bless you.
(unintelligible)