Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

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Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

What does it mean for Allah to be As-Samad? Imam Tom begins with a reflection on Surah Al-Ikhlas, exploring this unique name of Allah. Then, he dives into Atomic Habits, uncovering how social norms shape our habits. Who—or what—truly influences you?

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This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.

As-Samad is a very, very unique word, not just in its occurrence in the Qur'an, but also in its meaning. As-Samad covers a lot of different meanings that are not necessarily possible to translate within one word in English.

As-Samad has to do with being eternal, being the one whom everybody relies on, being the one that is self-sufficient. So there's this idea of everything returning to Allah for aid and assistance and sustenance

and Allah not needing anything else or anyone else. It also has connotations of sort of like a leader, this eternal character. So all of this is here in As-Samad. Some people translate it as the absolute, some people translate it as the self-sufficient

master. When we realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the ultimate authority and the eternal and the one on whom everyone depends, we have to realize that everything happens by the will of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has the ultimate power.

We get spooked by not knowing the how. We know what we want to do, right? We know what the right thing to do is. We know the issue. We know we want to support Palestine and end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but we

don't necessarily know how. Now there's a certain degree to which we have to theorize and put our heads together and plan, but there's another sort of type of thought that maybe can get dominated by too

much relying on material means, basically not recognizing Allah's hand of providence in all of this, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will deliver results in ways that you cannot anticipate. Okay?

So some people, they look at, you know, the situation, they say, there's no possible way we're ever going to do it. That's a similar attitude, by the way, of Bani Israel. When Bani Israel was led out of Egypt by Musa alayhi salaam and was led to the gates of

Palestine and then were promised it, all they had to do was go in and fight and take the means and they were promised that they would win. And what was their reaction? No, you and your Lord go and fight. We would rather stay home.

This is an attitude that demonstrates a lack of awareness of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is. And if you have a lack of awareness of who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is, you will

have a lack of reliance upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So sometimes we don't have to figure out every single thing. Sometimes we have to just worry about knowing what the first step is. We know that we need to be righteous, we need to fear Allah alone, and we know what the

first step is and we take the first step, Allah will open doors in ways that we can't even perceive. You can also notice this in the attitude of Musa alayhi salaam, in the story that as it's

told in the Qur'an, where he is given his prophetic mission, at first he demonstrates not unwillingness, but skepticism. He's finding all these sorts of reasons why it can't work.

Now by the end of the story, he has seen Allah's providence and Allah's sustenance and Allah's support and aid so much that when his back is up against the wall, or literally against

the Red Sea, and the forces of Fir'awn are coming and his people are freaking out, they're saying, oh no, we are mudrakoon, they're going to catch us, Musa alayhi salaam says, no, my Lord will guide us and will guide me.

And that is the type of reliance that we're looking for. So sometimes we have to realize that we have to trust in Allah and meditating upon Allah's

name As-Samad will help us develop that realization and also develop that reliance. Use our social natures as human beings for us and not against ourselves.

When it comes to the pull of social norms, he breaks it down into three main categories. We follow people who are close to us. Number one, that's the first category. Number two, we follow the many, the majority. And number three, we follow the powerful and the famous.

These are the three main types of people that we imitate. When you see the hairstyles, the clothing styles, or anything else that we have. When it comes to the close, obviously that means the people who you are around, the people you surround yourself with.

If you want to be a good basketball player, you need to befriend good basketball players. You need to hang out with other good basketball players. If you want to get closer to the deen and learn Islam, socially, you should surround yourself with other people who have that same goal, who also want to learn about Islam.

It will become very, very easy and automatic to do so. If you want to be a good student, just good at studying, then you're not going to hang out with the flunkies, the people who don't take their studies seriously. You need to hang out with people who are serious students.

The second, talking about the many, that people tend to follow the herd. And so you have to recognize that when you're trying to construct a habit, that the habits that go with what society is already doing are way easier to establish than habits that

cut across the grain. For example, there was a very, very distinctive time in American fashion where beards for men became very popular. And people would joke, but it was a valid point that now that the kuffar are growing

out their beards, this is the perfect time, brother, you should grow out your beard too. Now obviously, the hope is that the beard stays no matter what, but just to get your foot in the door, that this is a good opportunity to take advantage.

If dressing modestly becomes the next big thing in American society, then the sisters who are struggling with hijab or struggling with dressing modestly, here's your chance. Now's your entry point to start doing that habit, and hopefully then the habit will stick

to the point where then no matter which way society goes, it'll be easier for you as well. And then the third point, the powerful, people are addicted to success for good reasons and bad reasons.

There's an assumption there, and it's an assumption that Allah refutes in the Qur'an, that the people who are successful deserved it. We're taught in Surah Al-Qasas, the story of Qarun, who was the most successful person for Bani Israel, and yet it was because he was a sellout.

Unfortunately, the situation is that most people, they follow celebrity. Most people, they follow and imitate powerful people. Why do all the soccer players or the football players get imitated? Because they are seen as successful. I'm very critical of sort of how sports is so monetized in our society and the role it

plays in our society. However, there are really interesting parallels to the discipline and the habits that professional athletes have to have with being a good Muslim. And so sometimes you can enter that door. You can say, well, I wonder how my favorite athlete approaches their day.

What does their regimen look like? How do they balance their various commitments? You can use that for you. Befriend somebody or spend more time with somebody who is good at the thing that you

want to be good at, or who has already the habit or the quality that you want to have. If you want to be a person of the Qur'an, this coming week, you need to spend some time, more time than you normally would, with somebody who is good at the Qur'an.

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