Who can tell me the very first time Ibrahim's name is mentioned in the Qur'an when you're reading from front to back? We have a lot of hufadh here, mashaAllah. What's the first
time you hear about Ibrahim? You're right there, an ayah or two ahead of that? It's
verse 124, you're at 126. Verse 124 of Surah Al-Baqarah. When Allah tested Ibrahim with
some words and he perfected those words. But it's very interesting that the first mention
of Ibrahim is test. The very first way that Allah brings Ibrahim into the story of the
Qur'an is test. And the way it ends, the last mention of Ibrahim, that this is indeed in
the first scriptures, Surah Ibrahim and Surah Musa, that this is in the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa, that Allah has given you a consistent covenant. Why do I start with this? Can anyone
tell me what that means? What did Allah test him with? If we're going to go till 10.30.11, y'all are going to have to interact with me, alright? Yeah, what did he test him with?
Faith. Can you be more specific? So is Allah talking about the ibtila of his father throwing
him into a fire? Is he talking about the ibtila of his son? But he says bikalimat. He tested
him with words. The scholars of tafsir mention, and this is narrated from Ibn Abbas, that
the kalimat is the ahad, the covenant itself. Now I want to explain why this is so important. Because many times when we think of test, we immediately think of a circumstance that
resembles test to us. So we think of poverty, we think of oppression, we think of difficulty, we think of Ayyub A.S., we think of Yusuf A.S. at the bottom of the well. And Allah
mentions that we test you with sharr and with khair, with hardship and with ease, fitna. But it is at the end of the day, nablukum, we're testing you with hardship and we're
testing you with ease, and both of them are equally a test. As Abdurrahman Ibn A'uf R.A.
said, that we were tested with hardship and we were patient, but we were tested with ease
and we were not patient. So you think of test in terms of circumstance. But the greatest test that Allah refers to is the test of al-ahad, the test of the covenant. The test of la ilaha
illa Allah and what it entails in the first place. Take what we have given you with strength. Hold on to the test. And so SubhanAllah, you'll find that Qatada R.A. says, the words are
30 covenants, 30 tests that Allah S.W.T. gave to Ibrahim A.S. and they are encompassed in
the last verses, or in the verses in Surah Al-Ahzab, I don't know the verse numbers, so someone will have to find those verse numbers. We'll do this that way inshallah. Someone
can find me those verse numbers inshallah. So you have those 10 qualities that are mentioned in Surah Al-Ahzab. And then he says, the 10 qualities in Surah Al-Mu'minoon, starting
off Surah Al-Mu'minoon, and then finally in Surah Al-Ma'arij, illa al-musallim allatheena hum ala salatihim da'imoon, those who are consistent with their prayer. The 10 verses
in Surah Al-Ma'arij, in the middle of Surah Al-Ma'arij. He says that they are encompassed within these 30 qualities. The point is that Allah S.W.T. gave Ibrahim A.S. a task. He
gave him a task of prayer. He gave him a regimen of fasting. He gave him a regimen of honoring his trust. He gave him all sorts of standards of character, of akhlaaq that
Ibrahim A.S. had to cling on to. The fall of Bani Israel is not because of a difficulty or a circumstance. The fall of Bani Israel is the refusal to abide by the ahad, the refusal
to abide by the covenant, the praise of Ibrahim A.S. who is the father of the nations, the
father, the literal grandfather of Israel A.S. The success of Ibrahim A.S. is in his
ability and his sincerity in holding on to the ahad, holding on to the covenant. وَإِذَا بِتَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمْنَهُمْ
Right? So it starts off from this place, holding on to the ahad, holding on to the covenant. Then you start to break down what that looks like. First and foremost, that idea of Ibrahim
A.S. as a father of the prophets. What does that mean? There is an element of lineage that is certainly encompassed in that idea of being a father of the prophets. But it's
deeper than that. The Prophet S.A.W. said, اِنَّمَا أَنَا لَكُمْ بِمَنْزِلَةِ الْوَالِدِ I am to you like a father. أُعَلِّمُكُمْ I teach you. I teach
you. So the greatest duty of a father or what's being implied of a father here is the idea of being a shepherd. And the Prophet S.A.W. said, كُلُّكُمْ رَاعٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ
مَسْؤُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّةِ Every single one of you is a shepherd. And every one of you is responsible for their flock. I want us to break this down because I don't want you to feel disconnected even from that lofty concept of being Abul Anbiya,
the father of the prophets. There is actually an implication that is directly relevant to you. The Prophet S.A.W. said, اِنَّمَا أَنَا لَكُمْ بِمَنْزِلَةِ الْوَالِدِ I am to you like a father in that I teach you. And all of the prophets
were shepherds. And the greatest duty of a father is to be a shepherd. And all of you are shepherds. And there is something that is deeply profound about this. That the greatest
right that your flock has upon you is that you teach them how to worship Allah S.W.T. That you guard the covenant amongst them. That if you were as a parent to give your
children the best education in the world, but you don't teach them how to pray, you have utterly failed as a parent even if they are the wealthiest and most successful people
in the world in terms of their material success. Because your first responsibility was to teach them Islam. And was to show them Islam. And to demonstrate that patiently with your flock.
But the Prophet S.A.W. said, every single one of you is a shepherd even if you are not a parent. You all have a flock. And SubhanAllah there is something deeply profound here that
the transfer of ilm, the transfer of knowledge from one person to another is literally the
way that the religion survives even in the darkest of eras. And what we are learning here from the prophets S.A.W. that even under zulm, even under oppression and difficult
circumstances, ilm should be maintained. Clarity should be maintained. Jahl, ignorance should not prevail to where clarity is lost. Because that clarity is where the light is maintained.
The light of knowledge is maintained that once again will break through and give birth to the next episode of this ummah. You can't lose that. SubhanAllah if you read about the
way that the enslaved in this country used to transfer Surah Al-Fatiha, transfer pages of the Quran to one another. How they secretly practiced Islam on these lands. It's hard
for us to imagine. You talk about Islamophobia now. Realize in the same places that you are living right now, there were people that were tortured literally by slave owners if they
said la ilaha illallah and if they verbalized the Quran. In the same places, you talk about the darkest phase of Islamophobia, go back 300 years. Don't start now after the 9-11
era. No, no, go back 300 years. But what has to be maintained with the flock is ilm, is knowledge. That is the greatest responsibility of the shepherd to a flock and all of us are
shepherds in some way. So you even connect to Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam at that level that Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam saw his greatest responsibility to maintain clarity with his children and
that's why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala mentions to us Ibrahim and his parting words with his children and then his son with his son and Yaqub his grandson with his son.
What are you going to worship after me? What are you going to worship after me? What are you going to worship after me? What are you going to worship after me? The transfer of
that clarity. Why? Because sometimes al-nasr, sometimes victory is delayed but clarity can't
wait. Dar al-arqam has to exist in Mecca not in Medina. There has to be a place where that transfer of knowledge takes place, where that cultivation of the light of ilm, the light
of knowledge takes place so that when the time has come, when light can break through once again, the next episode of the ummah prevails. It goes on and it goes on and it
goes on until the day of judgment. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala then praises Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam with his Sidq. He was a person of truth and he was a prophet. The scholars mention that
a Siddiq is the highest rank that a person can attain under a prophet of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It's even higher than the Shaheed. It's even higher than a martyr. And a martyr
could indeed be a Siddiq and a Shaheed. But a Siddiq is not always going to be a Shaheed. But a Siddiq would always be willing to be a Shaheed. And I'll explain to you what that
all means. Do you think if Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq knew that he was going to suffer the fate
of Umar or Uthman or Ali in terms of assassination, do you think he would flinch for a moment
at that fate? Absolutely not. And so he already attained the maqam. He already attained the rank even if he did not have to undergo the circumstance. He was already willing to do
it in the hijrah with the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. He knew the bad intentions that they had for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and that they had for Abu Bakr Alayhi Salaam with him and that they had for Ali Alayhi Salaam when he was in the bed of the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam after the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam departed. He knows. But he had already convinced himself. He already arrived at a truthfulness with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that not only am I willing to submit to the truth, I'm willing
to submit to the consequences of the truth as well. Some of us have not arrived there yet. May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make us all people Siddiq. Allahumma Ameen. But it's
one thing to say I submit to the truth. Yeah, I believe Islam is true. But are you willing to submit to the consequences of the truth? And if a person has already developed the
resolve that they are willing to submit to the consequences of the truth, then they already attained the reward for those consequences even if they never lived to see those consequences.
You think Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam when he was being thrown into the fire would have changed? I mean knowing that this could indeed burn him? Was Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam given foreknowledge
that the fire was not going to burn him? He was willing. He was willing to go into that fire for the sake of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Therefore, he walked away from the fire unscathed
by the fire but fully rewarded for being thrown into the fire. Subhanallah, when I met Walid May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala preserve him and preserve the living martyrs of Gaza. Truly, look at them and you say, Subhanallah,
This is a walking martyr and Allah knows best. But there are people that are alive but they've already attained the reward of shahada even if they're not shuhada themselves. People that have been pulled from the rubble and
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala left them on this earth. They're missing limbs. They've lost all their family members. Perhaps Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala recorded for them the reward of
shahada already. Even if they did not yet leave the world as shuhada. Sidq is the greatest rank you can have with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And Abu Bakr radiya
Allah Ta'ala had that because he was willing to affirm the truth as soon as it hit and he was willing to endure the consequences of the truth no matter what the consequences
were. Most of us make calculations. Is it worth it? Is this worth it? Is it worth it?
Is the reward worth the risk? Is the paradise and the promise worth the pain? Most of us make these calculations when we are confronted by an uncomfortable truth. Think about those
words. Uncomfortable truth. When we're confronted with an uncomfortable truth about ourselves or in regards to our circumstances, most of us make a calculation. As-siddiq, the only
calculation that they make is whether or not this is from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And so they rise in their rank with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And so as I said with Ibrahim
you always see a manifestation. First you have Abu Bakr as-siddiq radiya Allah Ta'ala Anhum. The proof that it's the highest maqam is when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was with Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Uhud and Uhud shook. And the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam said, Uthbut ya Uhud, be firm O Uhud. You have upon you a prophet, a siddiq, a shahideen and two martyrs. Ibrahim Alayhi Salam never changed his resolve. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tells us what's the sign of a siddiq.
This is literally the sign right here. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says there are people that are truthful to the covenant they've made with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Some
of them have an opportunity to prove themselves. The circumstance presents itself and the response, the appropriate response is immediately there. Some of them are forced to wait and perhaps
they never actually are confronted with that circumstance. But Allah says the sign of a siddiq is they do not, they do not switch in regards to their resolve. Their resolve
is maintained. Alright some of you are thinking well how in the world do I get that? How do I know? I haven't yet been confronted with an uncomfortable truth. You know where you
start? Comfortable truths. Do you actually follow Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and obey Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala when you're confronted with a comfortable truth? If I can't drag
myself to the lowest hanging fruit, the obligations that are immediately available to me and easy for me to commit to, then how in the world am I going to be able to do so when I'm confronted
with a much more difficult truth in my life? And then out of the comfortable truth, the somewhat uncomfortable truths. And the more that you get used to abiding by the truth
no matter what the circumstance, the less important the circumstance becomes when you are confronted with a very difficult truth. SubhanAllah I always tell people, the people
of Gaza didn't figure this out on October 7th. They've been preparing for this. It takes a certain type of mindset. You know SubhanAllah I was talking to a brother about the situation
in Palestine. Of course may Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make it easy for all of our brothers and sisters there. If any of you study the politics of the West Bank, it's an apartheid regime right? You have zones. So you have zone C, certain zones where settlers are more
prone to attack those zones. And we were just talking about it. Think about the mindset of someone who starts to build a house in Gaza or starts to build a house in zone C.
While you're building the house, you already know that at any moment this house might get destroyed. You have that in your mind as you're building. You put your life savings into it. You work 20, 30, 40 years to be able to build a house or purchase an apartment. Think about
here, the American dream. It's the Palestinian dream. You're building your house and you know that at any moment, at the behest of your oppressor, your house might be destroyed.
And you're okay with that. You've come to terms with that already. So you talk about like a ta'aluk bid dunya, being attached to this world. You're already, you've already developed that regimen, that routine, that resolve. There is something to be said about
how Allah did not allow for the prophets to get too comfortable. Which prophet was comfortable? Right? You think it was comfortable to go from Mecca to Medina for the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, a place completely unfamiliar to him and settle over there. Think
it's comfortable for Ibrahim Alaihi Wasallam to go on this map from Iraq to Palestine to Egypt to Mecca and back. It's not comfortable. Yusuf Alaihi Wasallam being taken from the
home of his parents, thrown into a well, prison, slavery prison. I mean, even though he ended up on a throne, by the time he got on a throne, he already had a lot of perspective. That this is temporary. I've been in a comfortable place before and Allah Azawajal shook me out
of it. So why would I delude myself now in thinking that I can find my place in this comfort? Right? So al-siddiq, you find the element in it in Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala
and then you see it in people who, when the truth becomes severe, they don't back off from their resolve. May Allah make us amongst them. Allahumma ameen. But it's just like
how the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam taught us that whoever is not grateful for the small things, you don't suddenly become grateful for big things. If you don't know how to thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for small things in life, you don't suddenly become
a grateful person when a big blessing is bestowed upon you. If you don't know how to thank people, you don't know how to thank Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. وَمَن لَمْ يَصْبِرُ بِالْقَلِيلِ or عَلَى الْقَلِيلِ
Whoever is not patient with small difficulties is not going to suddenly become patient when big difficulties strike them. Right? You get impatient when you're waiting for something at a restaurant. You get impatient in traffic. You get impatient with a flat tire. You get
impatient with someone saying something to you that's a little bit offensive. You don't suddenly develop this great patience and resolve in the face of a tyrant. It's something
you work on. So you think of Ahlul Ghazza for example. They've learned to become patient with certain difficulties in life. Things that you and I take for granted. And so when things
really become difficult upon them, they've already built something with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. What does that look like with Sikhs? Again, it looks like accepting the truth as it hits you, especially the comfortable ones and then building upon that, building,
building a relationship with the truth. So that no matter how difficult it becomes, you always abide by it no matter what the situation.
That's why another thing that the scholars mention, SubhanAllah, you see the Prophets mentioned that a Shafir on the Day of Judgment, Allah Azza wa Jalla will not allow a vulgar liar to be an intercessor on the Day of Judgment. Why?
You can't be a truthful person with your deeds if you're not even truthful with your speech. How can you be a sadiq with your amal, a truthful person with your deeds, if you have become accustomed to lying in your speech?
And so the first thing it starts with is Sidq bil qawl, truthfulness with your speech. I hate lying. The Prophets like some hated lying. Right? I'm not going to lie, no matter what.
When do you lie usually? You lie because the truth is inconvenient to speak. So I need to make up a story quick. I need to say things a little bit differently.
What is that showing you already? You don't want to suffer the consequences of the truth. So what do we say to our kids? Like, look, just tell me how it is in the first place, you're going to get punished either way.
But if you say it how it is in the beginning, your punishment will be less. That's parenting. At least I think that's good parenting. That's what you say to your kids. Like, look, just tell me what it is now.
It's going to be a less severe punishment. But if you lie to me, and then I catch you lying, the punishment's going to be five times worse.
So get used to just saying it. I messed up. Be sadiq, be truthful with your speech. Don't make stuff up. And if you're truthful with your speech because you're willing to encounter the circumstances, the consequences of the truth with your speech,
you'll be willing to do so with your actions as well. And so Ibrahim al-Islam is as-sadiq, sadiq al-nabi. And the greatest person of this ummah, Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala alhu, is sadiq.
He's known by his sadiq, his truthfulness, and his willingness to abide by the truth as soon as it comes to him.
No hesitation, no doubt, immediate affirmation of the truth, and immediately willing to suffer the consequences of the truth.
And then you have the miracles. So Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu can't become Ibrahim al-Islam. Ibrahim is a prophet of Allah. He's greater than Abu Bakr al-sadiq radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. We can't become a khalil, but we can become a wali.
You can't have the miracle of a prophet, but you can have miracles in your life that are based in the same taqwa, the same piety that those prophets had.
There's a man in our ummah who's the Ibrahim of this ummah. Does anyone know his name? His name is Abu Muslim al-Khawlani radiAllahu ta'ala anhu.
And I can't go into his full biography right now. Where are the Yemenis in this place? Where is Ahl Yemen? Alright, like if you were to do a study of how the Prophet ﷺ used to inquire or give not just the bushra of the people of Yemen,
the glad tidings of the people of Yemen, but specific people the Prophet ﷺ told the sahaba you will meet from Yemen. Uwais al-Qarni radiAllahu ta'ala anhu and Abu Muslim al-Khawlani are two examples. Abu Muslim al-Khawlani radiAllahu anhu became Muslim in Yemen.
And I want you to think about this concept. Yemen embraced Islam, but many people didn't catch the Prophet ﷺ alive. And think about how devastating that is.
Muadh ibn Jabal radiAllahu anhu shows up. Wow, this religion is beautiful. I want to go meet the Prophet ﷺ. You make your way to Medina. He just died a week ago ﷺ. He just died a month ago ﷺ.
That's going to sting. That stings hard, right? Abu Muslim al-Khawlani radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was one of those people who embraced Islam in the time of the Prophet ﷺ and then made the intention to go and be with the Prophet ﷺ in Medina.
There was a false prophet in Yemen, Aswad al-Anfi. And he knew about the righteousness of Abu Muslim and he wanted to deter people.
So what did he do? He kindled a fire and he wanted to throw Abu Muslim into that fire. And his name was actually Abdullah Abu Muslim al-Khawlani. It's a long story as to how he got that name.
But he wanted to throw him into that fire to make an example out of him to the believers. Sound familiar? It's always the case. Try to make an example out of them and you end up being made the example.
Happens every time. So he kindles the fire. Abu Muslim is completely unfaced. He's a new Muslim. You talk about someone who just embraces Islam but already has the faith that you're just like, where did you get that from?
That's something Allah puts in the heart of a person. That's why Iman is not something that you just read out of a book. Allah Azzawajal reads your heart and puts it in there sometimes, quickly.
Someone becomes Muslim and they have a zeal like Bilal radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. So in any case, he starts the fire. Abu Muslim is unfaced. He's making his dhikr like Ibrahim al-Islam. He's thrown into the fire.
Then he walks out of the fire completely unburnt, unscathed. Al-Aswad al-Ansi looks at him and he doesn't make tawbah. Have you ever thought to yourself, why didn't the father of Ibrahim al-Islam go, oh wow, I really messed up.
I threw my son into a fire and he just walked out of it. Maybe I should think about what he's been saying to me. Absolutely not. So what happens to al-Aswad al-Ansi? He walked out of the fire. He immediately goes to his admirers and he says, what is it that I'm supposed to do now?
What do I do? And they said, If you don't get rid of him quickly, he's going to corrupt all of your followers. Get him out of here.
Abu Muslim wanted to go to Madinah anyway. He said, I know just the place. I'm out. And he made his way from Yemen to Madinah. He arrives in Madinah. The Prophet's son passed away. So he missed being a Sahabi.
He's a Tabi'i, like Uwais al-Qarni. He asks about him. Then he meets him and he starts to ask him.
He says, have you heard about a man in Yemen that was thrown into a fire and it didn't burn him? And Abu Muslim, in his humility and his, like he doesn't like boast and say, yeah, that was me. He starts saying, yeah, I heard about him. What was his name? His name was Abdullah.
He starts kind of trying to distance himself from that miracle because he doesn't want to be put in a pedestal in Madinah. And Umar says, Alhamdulillah, Allah allowed me to meet.
Did not let me die until I met a person from this Ummah whom he worked a miracle for like Ibrahim. I got to meet the Ibrahim of this Ummah.
So yes, miracles happen, but they happen out of the same place of faith. That constructed these prophets in the first place. Was it as big of a fire? No.
Did Abu Muslim then turn around and claim prophethood? No. Did he start to make certain? No, absolutely not. This is what happens when you assert yourself and affirm the truth. Abu Muslim was a Siddiq. He didn't flinch at the fire.
Therefore, Allah gave him something truly special in those moments. And so you have Abu Bakr manifesting the Sidq. You have Abu Muslim manifesting the Mu'jiza.
You have all of these different stories of Awliya. And it's no coincidence that when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala tested Imam Al-Bukhari,
Rahimahullah Ta'ala with blindness. And his mother made dua that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala would cure him.
That Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala sent to his mother in a dream, Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam, to give her the Bushra, to give her the glad tidings that your son has been cured.
So many wisdoms that come out of that. One of them is Ismail, Hamad Ibn Ismail. Another one is that, you know, Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam was the child that was cast aside.
Many of the scholars say what comfort that Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam is the one who cares for the children that die as miscarriages or they die in their young age. That the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned Ibrahim is caring for them in Jannah.
Ibrahim was once that person, that child that was thrown into a fire. And Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam was commanded to sacrifice a child. And Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam did not think that he would have any children.
And Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala literally gave him nations from his loins.
And here there is that beautiful element of hope in dua that is there in every single situation.
What is the thing that you can walk away from with Ibrahim Alayhis Salaam in every single one of these situations?
That of the greatest lessons that we learned from him is that if a person has sadaq in their ibadah, if a person is truthful in their worship of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
then that will inherently yield a good opinion in their trust in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. I want you to think about this.
Have you ever seen, I'm being completely real here now, and I hope I'm wording it correctly.
Have you ever seen a person who is dedicated to the Qur'an, who lives their life in ibadah, losing hope in their dua? I don't see it. In fact, the people of Gaza, it's the strangest thing by the way, subhanAllah, you meet the people of Gaza,
they have not questioned Allah's decree in regards to them. People question Allah's decree in regards to them. Because you're not living what they're living. They're in a different mindset. They're in a different frame.
They see their very existence differently connected to that. The truer you are to Allah's word, the more trust you have in your dua to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It's like you make that dua and then you just simply pass it up.
And you know that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala does not let the hands of the believers go up and then come back empty handed. Allah Azawajal does not do that to the believers.
And so what you find with Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam is that every single dark moment in his life, he makes the most hopeful duas.
Here he is in a fire and his own existence is at risk. And he says, رَبِّي هَبْلِي مِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
He asks Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala not just to preserve his own existence but the existence that will be after him. Here he is at the Kaaba and his own child is about to go.
And he's making dua for all of his descendants to be people who established the prayer. And amongst those descendants to be the greatest prophet of all to come.
In the darkest moments, he makes the most hopeful dua. That is the manifestation like you ever think about it. What does that look like for Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam where Allah Azawajal says that it increased him in iman.
زَادَهُمْ إِمَانًا وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَ اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيرُ That there's an increase of faith and they say, حَسْبُنَ اللَّهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيرُ What is the increase of faith?
What that means necessarily by the way is that Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam came out of the fire with more faith in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala than before the fire. What is the increase in faith look like in Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam's life?
Complete tasdiq, complete certitude that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will not let me down.
And SubhanAllah every single place like that's something that's contagious, that's something that's taught, that's something that's learned.
We don't have access to all the conversations of Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam telling his son Yusuf Alayhi Salaam about his grandfather.
Like think about it, can you imagine Ya'qub saying to Yusuf, you know that your grandfather was thrown into a fire by his father? Really? Why would his own father throw him into a fire?
You know his people all wanted to kill him? You know that he had absolutely no one with him except for his wife Sara?
Like imagine a young Yusuf talking to his dad, tell me about grandpa, tell me about our grandfather being thrown into a fire and how that felt and what du'a that he made.
Yusuf Alayhi Salaam at that point doesn't know that one day he's going to be at the bottom of a well, soon.
What does it look like for Yusuf Alayhi Salaam to draw upon those lessons in those moments and to manifest Hasbuna Allah Wa Ni'mal Wakil?
You don't think Yusuf Alayhi Salaam manifested a version of Hasbuna Allah Wa Ni'mal Wakil while he was in the well? See Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la inspired Adam Alayhi Salaam at the moment of his khuruj min al-jannah, at the moment of his descent from paradise.
You don't think Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la inspired the prophets with the right words to say in the moments where they sought his pleasure despite their difficult circumstances that were inflicted upon them with nothing that they did for themselves or to themselves?
Of course, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam even mentions on the Day of Judgment, Allah is going to give me the words to say. And I don't know what those words are right now. But some muhammad, some praise of him that I would have never praised him with before, Allah is going to give me the words to say.
You don't think Yusuf Alayhi Salaam at the bottom of the well manifested something that he was drawing from the strength of his great grandfather Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam?
In the bottom of that fire, in the middle of it all? You don't think as Yusuf Alayhi Salaam is dealing with his own tyrant, he's not thinking about his grandfather? The point is dear brothers and sisters, that's what is being taught here. It's not just the words.
It's not just that Ya'qub Alayhi Salaam said to his son, say this and say that. It's that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will do for you what he did for him. So long as you stay upon that trust and that tawakkul of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
I'm going to give you one more ayah in this regard and then I want to move on to something that's very very specific to the situation that we're in right now and build upon this.
It's a situation of Masrooq who says, I was reading to Ibn Mas'ud and I was reading the verse,
Verily Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam was a Ummah, he was a nation. Qanitan Lillah, devout, Hanifa, a monotheist.
He was not from the disbelievers. And as I was reading this to Ibn Mas'ud Alayhi Salaam, Ibn Mas'ud Alayhi Salaam responded and he said, Verily Mu'adh Ibn Jabal was an Ummah.
So Masrooq said, I read it again and he said it again, Verily Mu'adh Ibn Jabal was an Ummah. And so Masrooq said, I asked him, has the verse changed, like is something different here?
And he said, no, he said, do you know what an Ummah is? So by the way, at some point, literally, Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam was an Ummah, you know how? When the Prophet Alayhi Salaam said that, he said to Sara,
Ya Sara, Laysa Ala Wajhi Al-Ardi Ahad, Oh Sara, there is no one on the face of the earth, Illa Ana Wa Anti, except for you and I who worships Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Like, whoa, that's mind-blowing. Imagine that, imagine that conversation between a husband and wife, no one on the face of the earth worships Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala except for you and I.
Incredible, so at some point, literally, he is the Ummah, the only Ummah on earth is Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam and his wife. And of course, Lut Alayhi Salaam, his nephew, right, who believes in him as a young man and then has his own mission ahead of him.
But beyond that, Ibn Mas'ud Alayhi Salaam says, by the way, you know what an Ummah is? He said, an Ummah is Al-Ladhi Yu'allim Al-Nas Al-Khaykh, the one who teaches the people good. Again, Abu Al-Anbiya, the father of the prophets,
don't distance yourself from him. Do you teach people good? Are you maintaining clarity? You start asking yourself, what's the point in this moment? Do you know how many people, when I think of the casualty count of Gaza,
do you know how many people have been saved from the fire because of the people of Gaza? Saved from the eternal fire? Those horrific images of people that we see burning in Rafah,
Farihina Bima Ataahum Allahumman Fadli, and they are in gardens of paradise now and they would never want to come back to this earth for anything that you could offer them except to sacrifice for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la again.
Do you know how many people have been saved from the hellfire by witnessing the people of Gaza? Do you know how many people have embraced Islam and for that will have their salvation in the hereafter? Why? We've got to manifest this stuff.
We've got to teach this stuff.
