Your Struggles Are Temporary (Powerful Imagery from Surah Al-Kahf)_ Nouman Ali Khan
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00:00So actually Allah designed this life to constantly go through changes
00:04So those of you that got uprooted from your home and you're in a different place and you say I miss my village
00:09I miss my home. Why can't I just go back? Why can't I do this? Why can't I have that old job back?
00:13Why did I have to do that? You know, why did we have to move to this neighborhood?
00:17Why did I have to there's why why why I hate change. I hate change. Allah says you made life full of change
00:23You can't keep anything the same anything that Allah's command came into
00:27Like the the water that came into a fruit if you look at that fruit what's happening slowly
00:31It's losing its water and it's getting dry and it's eventually gonna die
00:36Allah says what the rebel a home method of Hayati dunya give them the example of worldly life and
00:41This translation of an Hayati dunya is worldly worldly life is very common
00:46but the word of dunya is actually the feminine form of a plan of Taflil in the Muannath form of
00:52Edna and then other nine Arabic means the lowest and
00:55So actually literally what's being said is the lowest life and
00:59That's Allah's way of saying that life has higher and higher stages and we're actually at the lowest stage
01:05There's better and better coming in our future
01:08So there's an optimism that's suggested as as tough as life may be it's not going to get worse than this
01:14It's only going to get better. It's actually for especially for a believer. That's what it's meant
01:19Somebody might say but what about hellfire? What about the punishment of Allah?
01:23Actually, Allah doesn't even consider hellfire life. He says about hellfire. I am to fee how well I yeah, yeah
01:29He doesn't live in it. He doesn't die in it. He doesn't live in it
01:32Actually, no, it's not even considered life and the next life
01:35The the life after you know when Piama and the life in Jannah Allah calls it
01:39Then he had higher one no can we on the moon? That's the real life if they only knew so this life is actually the precursor
01:47Just a preview of what's coming in Jannah. Just a brief comment about that before we go back into this ayah
01:53Allah and the Quran describes Jannah like no other religion describes heaven
01:58And since I was here
02:00I took the liberty of going to the the Mormon library and spoke to a couple of the elders and had some interesting
02:05conversations with them about their beliefs and their concepts and and
02:08This is something I try and do to understand other perspectives and how they see faith
02:14One thing you'll find unique about the Quran that description the specific description with which Allah describes heaven is not found anywhere else
02:23You'll get general words like garden. That's what you the Garden of Eden. That's all you get. What Allah will tell you is
02:30Fruits and lahmi tayrin mimma yashtahoon the flesh of birds. You're gonna have some kind of chicken barbecue or something
02:37That's gonna be there. There's gonna be all kinds of drinks that are being served
02:41There are servers that are that are charming that are serving drinks
02:45They are friends sitting together talking about how life used to be tough and what they went through and how things used to be tough
02:52They're having a reunion believers are having a reunion, you know
02:55All kinds of descriptions very vivid picturesque descriptions are being given of Jannah
03:00But many of them you will find are things that are easy to imagine friends hanging out together people enjoying drinks
03:07servers bringing drinks
03:09beautiful trees waterfalls cushions carpets, these are all things we find in this life and
03:15There's a reason for that even though our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam told us my that ain't no nuts
03:22Well, that wasn't Samyat. Well, I thought I'd a can be busher. No, I has ever seen no ear has ever heard
03:27So if and no imagination has ever imagined what heaven has to offer what Jannah has to offer
03:32However, if you if you read the Quran's description of Jannah
03:35It looks like very easy to imagine palm trees and beautiful mansions and spouses and all that stuff, right?
03:43So why is that it is actually because this world is made a preview of what is coming
03:49This is supposed to give us a glimpse
03:52You know Muslim see this life very differently than other faiths and on many other faiths
03:57This life is actually a curse. We were sent here as a punishment in the Quran
04:02We were not sent on the earth as a punishment
04:04Hala calla cumma fill out the Jamia
04:07Jannah lakum fia ma Aisha
04:09Qalila matas guru he put in this world
04:12He put things for you that you can live well with and enjoy how little you show gratitude
04:17You don't put someone in prison and say be grateful
04:20You put someone somewhere somewhere nice and you show them the beauty of this world and that's what makes you want to be grateful
04:26This is what Allah doesn't salute the Rahmani talks about, you know
04:30Well, how both of us asked me what we had for me?
04:32I yeah, I know you're a big kumat to get the bad like look at all these beautiful things
04:35I've made for you. Look at the scent in the air from the crop that comes to you
04:40Look at the grain that grows the crop that grows. What more are you gonna be in denial of you should be grateful
04:45So a lot did in fact make this world beautiful and you guys are happen to be very fortunate
04:50You live in a state of Utah where you're surrounded by beautiful mountains
04:53You get to appreciate Allah's beauty even when you're stuck in traffic. At least you have something to look at I come from Dallas
04:58There's nothing to look at you know
05:01so
05:02So you you know, there's this this constant beauty that surrounds us anyway coming back to this ayah
05:07He says just give them the example of this
05:11Lowest life and everything you experience in this life every joy you experience
05:15It is a minimal joy
05:16the joy of a new baby is the minimal joy the joy of marriage the joy of seeing a beautiful waterfall the joy of a
05:23beautiful sky the joy of a delicious meal all of these are the lowest like there's way more upgrades available and
05:30Can you imagine we were like, oh my god, that's my favorite restaurant. I can't I haven't added in so long
05:35I need that shawarma or whatever. Okay, and that's that's your thought of joy or this vacation this place
05:41You want to go to or this car you want to drive or this neighborhood you want to get a home in or whatever?
05:46We associate joy with these things and all of that is just the bare minimum
05:51That's the rahmah of Allah. Well, they belong with a little higher to dunya. Come on in and Zelda home in Assama
05:58If you get some if you want to get a picture of what this life is like, it's something like water
06:04That we sent down from the sky I'll translate quickly then we'll contemplate these words
06:09I thought that I thought be he never told out
06:11Then that water because of it the the the grains in the world and all the material in the soil
06:18Anything that can grow is called nabat grass can be called nabat
06:21Trees can be called nabat fruits can be called flowers can be called nabat nabat is the word for all
06:27Vegetation all greenery all plant life you can call nabat
06:31So the water mixes with all of these nutrients in the wind on the earth
06:35Fast a lot of be he never told out and of course when rain comes from the sky that Allah is talking about and the earth
06:41Becomes green flowers grow grass grows trees grow farm grows all of it grows
06:47Then you would think Allah will next talk about how beautiful it gets
06:52How colorful it gets and he talks about that in other places
06:56But here he says something else he says for us Baha Hashim and the rule will be up then that same
07:03Crop that grows. He didn't even mention the crop
07:05He says it mixes with the soil and eventually it becomes this word Hashim and Hashim in Arabic is a muhammad
07:12Um, it's something dried up that has no moisture in it and can easily break and is stepped on basically
07:18What he's describing is dried up leaves
07:20Dried up leaves and twigs that fall off of a tree or grass that dies
07:25that you step on and makes crunchy sounds and it's worthless and the wind just blows it off and actually creates dust and
07:33Pollen problems or allergies for you
07:35All of that stuff is coming from the dirt and the broken up leaves and all of that stubble
07:40That's that's around in the world. So he's describing now this life
07:44Starts off with water from the sky and then eventually it just turns into just broken up leaves that people step on
07:51They don't even realize if you were stepping on something valuable if you were stepping on your new phone
07:55You would be like you wouldn't put your full weight on it the moment you felt a little bit of the crunch
08:00But you don't think twice when you step on a leaf
08:03You don't think twice when you step on a pebble is just it's worthless
08:07Right and it's blowing around if if cash was blowing around you would have a heart attack
08:11But if leaves are blowing you don't think twice about it
08:14This is worthless stuff
08:16and that's why in the Quran things that blow with the wind are considered worthless like Haba and
08:20Other images in the Quran when things blow in the wind
08:23They're actually considered weightless and worthless and one of the scariest description
08:28Descriptions of Judgment Day is some people their deeds will be scattered like like dust or ashes
08:35But you and I will have a man for a Allah describes
08:38So we seek Allah's refuge from our deeds being turned into scattered dust on Judgment Day and not having any way
08:44But anyway coming back to this remarkable parable
08:47How is it that I can benefit from this example other than just saying well Allah gives life and then we die
08:53The plant grows and then the plant dies great. Now what?
08:58but actually if you dig a little deeper and
09:01You you contemplate that especially the end of this ayah. What can Allah who had a police a in Muqtadira?
09:07Allah has been in complete control over all things and the word for Allah's control
09:13you find three different words in the Quran you find qadir you find qadir and
09:18Here you find actually see a lot of Mubarak. I in a sense from a feather
09:22It's muqtadir muqtadir and actually the way to translate that is actively in control
09:27Allah is actively in control and and it's you know
09:32Overwhelmingly in control over all things. That's what Allah says at the end
09:36Now let's go back in this life
09:39The first thing Allah wanted me to think about is the fact that he sends water from the sky that mixes with the soil
09:45So there's something happening with the sky and there's something happening with the earth
09:49Every fruit that you eat every every piece of meat that you and I eat
09:55Every bit of vegetation that you and I see is a result of water that came from the sky
10:02You know what else comes from the sky what comes from the sky is always the that is from Allah the command from Allah the
10:08Guidance from Allah everything that Allah gives us that is purposeful comes from the sky
10:13The angels come from the sky with a mission
10:16The angels that are here go up and report to the sky and they come back
10:19You know from the sky later from other the angels are descending that as a little Malayika warrufu feeha, right?
10:25So when something Allah sends something from the sky it has a purpose it comes for a mission
10:31And so what does it do for a believer it what what what it does for a believer is every leaf
10:37Inside it is the command of Allah
10:40Every fruit every every orange
10:42Has inside it the water that came from the sky that came from the command of Allah and every time something comes from the sky
10:49It has to have a purpose
10:51So everything becomes purposeful and in everything I see that it's related to a command from Allah descending from the heavens
10:58What does that have to do with you and me let's come back to that all of you have different crises
11:02Every one of you has a different drama going on in your life
11:05And when I say drama some of you looked at the person next to you like this is the drama
11:09I just drove with them to Juma but on a more serious note
11:14Whatever struggles were going through whatever we're experiencing in this life
11:18we have to first understand that none of it would have been happening if Allah's command wasn't there and
11:25There was no there was no there was some purpose there was a reason for which it was happening and
11:30Everything we're going through him. I'm not going to be commenting and there are something said something so beautiful
11:34Why did Allah make me focus so much on water because water doesn't stay in the same place
11:39Water mixes with other things water is constantly moving and changing and if you try to keep water in the same place it goes bad
11:46So actually Allah designed this life to constantly go through changes
11:51So those of you that got uprooted from your home, and you're in a different place, and you say I miss my village
11:55I miss my home. Why can't I just go back? Why can't I do this? Why can't I have that old job back?
12:00Why did I have to do that? You know why did we have to move to this neighborhood?
12:03Why did I have to there's why why why I hate change I hate change Allah says you made life full of change
12:10You can't keep anything the same anything that Allah's command came into
12:13Like the the water that came into a fruit if you look at that fruit. What's happening slowly
12:18It's losing its water, and it's getting dry, and it's eventually gonna die
12:22Right it's gonna go
12:24so the experiences we have in this life the good that we have in this life is temporary and
12:30The bad that we have in this life is also temporary the tough stuff is also temporary and all of that is a command of
12:37Allah, so then if that's all temporary then what's permanent if everything's just gonna
12:42Go the good is gonna. Go the bad is gonna. Go what you think is a huge problem today tomorrow
12:47You'll look back like oh my god. I used to think that was a huge problem. This is a huge problem I
12:53Prefer that problem because but you know cuz that's gone now, and you have something new to deal with
12:58You know
12:59but human beings forget that the beginning of all that is is water and
13:04What did Allah mentioned in the first part he mentioned water?
13:07And what did he mention at the end completely dried up right the lack of water?
13:11So you know what there's something in between in between is the greenery is the good things in life
13:16It's the ups and downs of life. It's the changes in life
13:18But you know what it becomes easier to deal with that stuff when you go back
13:22And you realize well you and I were just drops of water, too
13:25That's all we were and eventually we're gonna be reduced to nothing inside of the dirt
13:30That's that's the beginning and the end and everything else. We're experiencing is just the stuff in between
13:35This is just an episode in between or multiple episodes in between and they will come to pass they will go
13:42Then what is it? That's gonna actually last
13:45You know you would think yes, you would think a solid hearts and Bakiat
13:49But he actually says at Bakiat Assad good things that you do every day even the smallest things
13:54Those are the things that are actually going to last
13:57So whether we have an easy life or a tough life
13:59It is actually the good if I can find some way of doing something good every day
14:05Something that wasn't about me. It was about someone else it was for a lot something
14:10Then I have lived a meaningful purposeful life and that's what water does water doesn't serve itself water serves everything else and
14:17So if we have the command of Allah in us the guidance of Allah in us
14:20We're not just there to serve ourselves and our feelings were there to be of service to somebody else
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