ᴴᴰ Covenant With Allah | Nouman Ali Khan | English Subs

You just love the iPhone.
Right. You have just one side view.
You don't have a full awareness of
what you are getting into.
A lot of people entered into sub-prime mortgages
not realizing what they are getting into.
So one side knows what they're getting into.
And the other does'nt.
This is not "mithaq" (convenant)
"Mithaq" is when it's a serious agreement
And both sides are very-very well aware of what it is
that they are getting into.
Islam is like that.
ALLAH calls it a "mithaq" between us and ALLAH.
It's a VERY serious agreement.
ALLAH is FULLY knowledgeable
of it's serious implications.
And because of this book now
we are fully aware of our end of the deal.
Our end of what is owed in this contract.
But how many Muslims now are aware of the
seriousness of this agreement.
This MITHAQ. And if you don't even know what
the conditions of this contract ARE.
How easy is it for you & me to violate those conditions?
And ALLAH says in this ayah (interpretation):
"Who will benefit from this book?
Who is going to make an effort to remember
except those (part of their description)
that don't violate the "mithaq".
They don't violate the clauses of this contract
between themselves and ALLAH.
They are the ones who keep connected
what ALLAH commanded to keep connected.
What does that mean "they keep connected...
...what ALLAH commanded to keep connected."?
You know this means many things.
Comprehensive words in the Qur'an.
That include many many lessons inside one.
Well I'll refer to a couple of them.
You know ALLAH in this deen HE
joined a few things.
For example: HE joined the Sunnah of HIS messenger (s.a.w.)
With our understanding of HIS book.
You can't separate the messenger (s.a.w.) from the book.
You know that you'll find people
that believe in the Qur'an and they have
a hard time believing in the Sunnah of the prophet
You'll find people like that.
Right.
ALLAH commanded something to keep adjoined
and they separate them.
In the case of the mushrikoon (polytheists of Mecca) they keep...
You know ALLAH combined this idea that
ALLAH is the "Creator".
With the idea that ALLAH is also the "Master".
Now when ALLAH is the master.
What does that make you & me?
The "Slaves".
Now when ALLAH is the creator...
what does that make you & me?
The "Creation".
They (mushrikoon) had no problem.
Listen to this carefully.
The mushrik had no problem
accepting ALLAH as Creator.
Because they know that they're creation and
they have a creator.
NO problem.
But they separated this idea from ALLAH
being the Master and therefore
themselves being the slaves.
Because if you're a creation that
doesn't necessarily mean that you owe
anybody as authority over you.
But if you accept a MASTER.
They you have to accept that "you"' are a SLAVE.
And if you're a slave somebody has
authority over you. The party is over.
And the mushrikoon did not want the party to be over.
Which is why interestingly in this Surah
also you'll find in comparison
to Suratul Ankaboot
In Suratul Ankaboot ALLAH asks
ALLAH tells the messenger (saw) to ask
people who don't believe in ALLAH
people who do shirk
If you were to ask them:
"Who created the Skies & the Earth?"
They will certainly say: "It is ALLAH."
They don't deny it.
They don't deny that HE is the Creator.
But in this Surah
Ask them: "Who is the Master?"
"Who is the Owner?"
"Who is the authority over the Skies & the Earth?"
NO answer.
Tell them "ALLAH".
This time you don't hear
(that) they will say ALLAH.
They don't say it.
So the messenger (saw) says:
"When they're silent. You tell them it's ALLAH"
Because they're not willing to accept that part.
Separating some aspects of their relationship with ALLAH with others.
You know we do this in our religion by the way.
In our religion we have certain obligations.
All of you know the bare minimum obligations.
It doesn't need a Scholar for you to know...
what you owe in this deen
what are the major things that are haram
and what are the major things you are supposed to do
Pretty much everybody knows.
And if you're pretending not to know.
Don't kid yourself
Don't kid yourself.
Now what we do is we make a deal
with ALLAH in our head.
Ok. I'll give you Ramadan.
We say to ALLAH.
I'll give you Ramadan.
But I need "New Year's Eve."
I need the "Summer Break" after Ramadan's over.
I need "Spring Break".
I need to hang out. I need to do some stuff.
I got some business things I gotta do
they are a "little" questionable...
but I'll go to Hajj.
I'll make a deal with you.
We decide we're gonna cut apart
shred some instructions from ALLAH
and hold on to other instructions.
This is what ALLAH is warning about.
But I chose this passage for another reason.
ALLAH says about these people...
they keep what ALLAH has commanded
to keep together... they keep it together.
And HE adds...
And they continue to fear their Master
You know there are people who start
practicing the religion
And they start thinking: "I should get an award.
... I'm pretty good.
... my family is pretty messed up.
Alhamdulillah! ALLAH has guided "me" to Islam."
This is NOT the attitude of people that ALLAH
describes... these people of "sound mind"
Ulul Albab
These are the people who continue to fear ALLAH
They continue to fear their Master
They are worried... no matter how much I did...
...how many mistakes did I have...
... in even the good things I did.
Forget the bad things. That's bad enough.
In even the good things we do
are full of mistakes
Even the good things we do...
So they're afraid...
Is this even acceptable with Allah? Or not?
And on top of that...
they're afraid of the worst type of audit
And I'm using the word "hisab" instead of accountability
I'm using the word "audit" here.
And that's important to understand
On the day of judgement
The messenger of Allah s.a.w.
warns
Whoever gets asked even once is destroyed.
If your interrogation begins...
If ONE question gets asked... you're DONE.
They're on the one hand, they're people
of hisab and yasirah
their audit is supposed to be easy
let me tell you what an "easy" audit looks like...
all of you at pretty much some point
in elementary school I think
and you know the teacher is checking everybody's
homework assignment
Right. You come up...
especially back in Pakistan, right?
You bring your copy
and you put it in front of the teacher
Right?
You put the thing in front of the teacher
The teacher puts a check mark on it
Next, next, next...
And most of the time the teacher doesn't even
look at the page
They just need to see scribble on there
"Oh you did some work"... check
And you move on, right?
Now there is the students who always does his work
he always does his work
he presents his work to the teacher
the teacher doesn't even look at him
"I know about you"... "you just go"...
"I know... I know"... "I understand"
And he is really afraid too. But the teacher says
"I understand. You go."
And then this criminal kid
who never does his homework is like
"Hey! The teacher is in a good mood today."
"He said to that guy 'Go ahead'"
So he brings his blank copy too.
Hoping that the teacher before looking at it
what's he gonna say?
"Oh I know, you go ahead"
But guess what?
He gets pulled over.
Yeah let me see what you wrote over here
Let me see what you got here
he gets caught
and even if he's asked once... he's done.
"So what were you doing that night..."
"...ouside AMC theater..."
"...in Mansfield?"
"Who was that with you?"
"Tell me all about it"
ONE question. That's all you need.
You're DONE.
So this is...
... the WORST kind of audit.
... the WORST kind of questioning.
They fear...
but this is my favorite part of this ayah.
"And those who remain patient in pursuit of the
face of their Master"
you know what that means?
All of us in some point in life
we go through a hard time
and we're supposed to be patient
All of us. There's no exception.
What if your test of patience comes to you
from your wife... or your husband...
or your parents... or your children...
or your job... or your friends...
or all of them at the same time
or your money... or your career...
or your immigration status... or your car trouble
whatever it may be...
your patience is tested
It's tested in little ways & big ways all the time
And when your patience is being tested
you know what makes you get through it?
you say "only a couple more days & it will be all right"
I see a light at the end of the tunnel
I used to tell myself when I was a kid
Go to the dentist
you start hearing
you know?
you hear that and it's supposed to get close
and the pain starts... you tell yourself...
"30 more seconds & it will be SO over"
you know?
You have to tell yourself it's gonna be over
something ahead... good lies ahead...
and that helps you get through your troubles
if you see no end in sight..
you become completely hopeless
you basically kill yourself
psychologically you kill yourself
ALLAH says the real people of patience
you know what light is there
at the end of the tunnel is there for them?
They're gonna get to see ALLAH
they're gonna see the face of ALLAH
they're in pursuit of ALLAH's face
That's what gives them patience
That's what drives their power to be patient
When you & I are loosing our patience
maybe we haven't found the right motivation
to be patient yet
These ayaat are offering that motivation
And they establish the prayer
and they spend from what we have given them
secretly & openly
And then HE says
such an awesome statement & so easy to say
so easy to remember... but so hard to live by.
Wallahi... so hard to live by
HE says they repel every bad thing that happens
to them with something good
Bad stuff happens to us all the time
Things that test our patience happen to us
all the time
These people that ALLAH is praising in this passage
ALLAH says their quality is:
when something bad happens
their immediate reaction is: they do something good.
They heard some really nasty language
they say kind words in response
Something really horrible happened at work
they pray two extra rak'at.
They do a good deed in response to a bad one
It's an incredible thing you know...
When somebody said something bad to you
what's your... almost always... reaction?
"you said two things to me...
... let me tell you... my arsenal...
... I am far more equipped than you are"
They do pop-pop... you do brrrrrrrrrrrr
You know... that's what it is....
On the other hand...
also means... whenever they do a sin
immediately they nullify that sin
by doing something good
you know what most people do
when they do a sin
"Ahh! I'm so messed up"
"might as well be a little more messed up"
You know like... you just spiral downwards...
"I'm in a rut already...
might as well go as far as I can take this"
Right.
But this is not the quality of these people
Those are the people "exclusively" they are going
have the final... the nth... the final home.
it's really interesting
It's used for the nth degree of something.
the climax of something
You know.. when you and I move into a house
we say to ourselves:
"I'm never moving from here again"
"this house is perfect.. everything's the way I like it
It's perfect."
10 years later what happens is does the
thought of moving cross your mind
Does the thought of moving somewhere else
Getting a better place.
Moving to a better neighborhood cross your mind?
It does, doesn't it?
ALLAH is telling us here when the house of Jannah
is offered... it will be the "final" house.
You will never ever think that there is a better place
out there. NOOO...
Everytime you think of a modification of your home
It will happen
I wish we had a bigger yard>>> DONE
You know... "There should have been two bedrooms
upstairs">>> DONE
You want a 3rd floor...you got that too. You know...
NO restrictions.
And this is still not the ayah
I wanted to share with you
The ayah I wanted to share with you is the next one
and I'll be done
ALLAH says...
These are the gardens of 'adan.
You know in English they say gardens of Eden
Have you heard that before?
One of the levels of Jannah is called 'Adan
One of the higher levels of Jannah
These are the levels of 'Adan that they are entering
They're entering in to these "amazing" gardens
And what's happening
They look around and they don't see their family
Imagine a person is entering Jannah
You and I are entering Jannah
Let's say my wife is entering Jannah
My mother is entering Jannah
And she doesn't see me
Now there's only 2 possibilities
1 possibility is
that I am somewhere else in Jannah
Maybe I'm in a higher level of Jannah
Maybe I'm in a lower level of Jannah
And you know the levels of Jannah are very far
apart from each other
So it's not like you go up the elevator
and you're there
It's you know like looking at the stars above
There's a huge gap from one level of Jannah to
the next level of Jannah
And there's not guarantee that all of our family has
earned the level of Jannah
Of course, the other horrible possibility is that a family
member is in the worst possible place they can be
But this ayah tells us
Imagine for a moment
that ALLAH enters us by His mercy some of
the members of our family getting to 'adan
a higher level of Jannah
And some others are in some lower level of Jannah
They're in a lower level
Obviously we can't meet now
Now before I go further
You tell me - There are four kinds of people
ALLAH talks about that He has favored
I'll tell you the first one
The Prophet
Those who confirm the truth from the Prophets
The Martyrs & the righteous ones.
Four levels of people that basically earned Jannah
What is the lowest of these four levels
The righteous ones
Now listen to this
And whoever was righteous from
among their ancestors
implies here the lowest level qualified to enter Jannah
This person made it to 'Adan
Their family member is at the lowest level
They're at least righteous. So they made it to into Jannah
And ALLAH says
because of you, they get upgraded
you can be with them
Now here's the thing
I like to compare this to Dunya
You know in Dunya, you go in to a
You make a booking at a Hotel
So you have a lot of family coming
You get the Executive Suite on the top floor
You know the really big baller room
that they charge a lot of money for
they only have like 3 room like that
You get one of those rooms
And the rest of your family has
5-6 rooms on one of those economy class floors
They have those.
So you go to the concierge and say
"I would be like to be with my family"
What are they going to do?
Put all of them in executive suite?
Or put you down in the economy class?
What are they gonna do?
They'll put you down in economy class...
What does ALLAH do here?
You're on the executive class Jannah
The premium package
They're in the economy package Jannah
What does ALLAH do?
He upgrades them
They ALLAH says
It's such a beautiful thing
It's this amazing reunion
Not like the ones we have at Eid
The reunions we have at Eid get complicated
Not like those...these are actually happy occassions
Right...What happens here is... for example
Before I was born... my mother's dad
my Grandfather had passed away
and I never met him
I've only heard stories about him from my mother
Right....There are people who tell me
my Great Grandfather was a Muhaddith
3-4 generations ago he was this or he was that
or my Great-Great-Great Grandfather
fought the British in this war
and we have stories recorded in history and
you know we're from his legacy etc. etc.
You don't just get to meet your Dad
and your Grand Dad
You get to meet your ancient ancestors
I mean I come from Pakistan and I know
for a fact... probably somewhere up in my ancestory
my ancient ancestors were Hindu
Right... Islam came to them... they are not like
born into Islam... they were Hindu
And there was some Hindu back in the day
that became a Muslim
And because of that "one" guy's decision
his children's children's children's children's
down to me... are saying La Ilaha Il'Allah
I'd like to meet that guy
My Great-Great-Great Granddad
How was it?
Who told you about Islam?
You know... it'd be amazing...
It would be an amazing thing to have that reunion
And their spouses
And by the way, when you meet your spouses
in Jannah. It's not like meeting your spouse here.
So don't get depressed
Alright. "Oh! you get to meet your wife"
"in Jannah... I thought it was a ....."
"You're here too?" No, Not like that.
"Am I in the right place?" No, not like that.
You know, all the ill feelings, you know,
all the things that you find annoying about your spouse
We love our spouses
But there are things that we don't get along with
There are things that are causes of friction
ALLAH gets rid of all of those things
The only thing that left is love, affection & appreciation
You know, that's all that's left.
And then you meet your spouse and you're like:
"WOW! Why weren't you like this in Dunya?"
'cause this is Jannah
You can't have that in Dunya
You get that in Dunya for the first week of marriage
That's it. After that the flight lands on your own
planet Earth. Ok.
And their offspring. Imagine right now Alhamdulillah
I have small children.
And I don't know how long I'll be on this Earth
But I pray that they raise their kids to say:
"La Ilaha IlAllah!" and live by it.
And they raise their children, and they raise their children
And perhaps out of these children someone will be
you know, a great hero of Islam
Someone who carries the message of Islam
and he brings people closer to ALLAH's deen
someone that the Ummah is proud of
from my children down the road
And I don't even know if this happens 300...400 yrs
after I'm gone
And I get to meet my
Great-Great-Great-Great- Grandkids
And I could never have imagined
Wow! You came from my daughter's daughter's son's
daughter's daughter's....all the way down
So you get to meet your ancestry all the way up
And you get to meet your ancestry all the way down
in Jannah... there is this reunion happening
It's a "lot" of people right
That's a lot of people
to me to be excited about
So ALLAH says
And on top of this there are Angels
And ALLAH mentions in this Surah specifically
a certain group of Angels
HE calls them
These are Angels that guard us
When harm comes our way
ALLAH has assigned each of us Angels
that ward-off those harms
except for those that don't do their dues with ALLAH
they don't take care of their responsibilities with ALLAH
It's like you have these invisible security guards
around you. Harm is coming your way...
and ALLAH says to the Angels
move over let the harm come to them
Move over. They don't deserve your protection.
So they're protecting us by the command of ALLAH
and they watch us by the command of ALLAH
When ALLAH commands they walk-off the job
Because we don't deserve their protection anymore
You get to meet those Angels.
"You were! Oh! You are the guy at the car accident"
"You were there?"
"Oh! Thanks bro!"
(Angel) "I was just doing my job"
You get to talk to Angels
And they're coming at them from
from all doors
You got people coming from every direction
There's this huge party happening in Jannah
And so I conclude
ALLAH is saying now
may peace be onto you
because of how patient you were
because of how patient you were... when?
-NOW-
-NOW-
This is the advice of ALLAH
If this passage teaches us anything about the
qualities of those who get to Jannah
It's Sab'r.
Patience.
Start being patient with your own wife
Start being patient with your parents
Start being patient with your friends
Start being patient with your community
With your Masjid
With your Imam
With people that are praying next to you
that are really annoying
With children that are running around
and making noise
There are some people who didn't
hear a word I said
'cause they heard child say 'aiiiinnnn'
That's it.
This entire 40 minutes all they were thinking was
"Whose child is that?"
And they're just following: "where did he go?"
That's all that is going on in their head
There's no patience
If we can excercise our patience
The rewards are tremendous
The thing ALLAH is offering us is beautiful
These are the kinds of counsel & advice & reminder
that ALLAH offers us time and time again in the Qur'an
It's so beautiful
Who's gonna make the time to go to the Qur'an
And listen and take in the advice, the counsel,
the reminder, the beautiful words ALLAH is offering
me & you personally
This is personally for us
May ALLAH make us of those
who become a people of listening to the Qur'an
and enjoying it's message and internalizing it.
And really taking it as counsel & therapy for ourselves
May ALLAH make us of people of patience
May ALLAH make us a people of Jannah
who enjoy the Jannah and we get to hear ALLAH tell us
May peace be upon you because of what patience you had
What an "awesome" final home to be in
ALLAH himself calls it awesome
How awesome must it be
You & I have an opinion about what is awesome
ALLAH is saying here
ALLAH is saying it's awesome
So how incredible must that home be
May ALLAH make us all residents
permanent residents of that home
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