Never Give Up Hope

Never Give Up Hope

A Khutba by Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda

Opening

Arabic: (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ . السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ)

Translation: In the name of Allah, and all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and upon his family and companions altogether. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

So to get started, let me show you how an introduction is done when you don't want to do a real introduction.

Alright, that was pretty much the lamest non-intro intro I've ever heard in my life. So may Allah forgive brother Farzan Farooqi. Everybody say ameen.

There we go, see that's how you do it. The goal and the objective is to embarrass the person. Try harder next time.

Okay, I apologize for the delay, for the lateness. I just flew in back today and usually when we're gone for a whole weekend it's a real pleasure and a joy to get back home. So that's why Alhamdulillah I have the kids with me as well.

So I was just a little bit late. But the topic today is hope. Before I even get started with the topic, I wanted to talk about the title.

I actually seriously considered actually not even coming to the event because of the ridiculous nature of the title. Never say never seriously, alright.

There's a lot of guys who are going to have to turn in their man card, okay, from Epic Youth.

I actually had to talk brother Nomad out of wearing skinny jeans today to keep with the event, alright, and the theme of the event. But nevertheless, Alhamdulillah we made it here okay without skinny jeans and that's a huge blessing of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Power of Hope

So the topic is hope. Hope is something that is a very powerful force. It is one of the most powerful forces on earth. It's something that drives people, it motivates people, it inspires people.

Hope is responsible for changing the course of humanity multiple times throughout the volumes of human history. You know, if we go back to our own history as an ummah, as a people, and we look at the message of the Quran, and we look at the message and the tone of the messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) we find hope, we find inspiration, we find motivation.

You know, in the Arabic language the word (الرَّجَاء - ar-raja), it's a powerful word, it's a powerful concept that captivates the minds and the hearts of people.

That can push people to accomplish things that not only themselves but everybody would have deemed impossible. And they can accomplish that through hope. Even in the English language when we say hope, we talk about a beacon of hope, we talk about light, beacon, a source of illumination, a source of light.

The Role of the Prophet and Quran

And so these are very very powerful concepts and they're deeply embedded within our faith and within our religion. And when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was told what his role was, when his job description was being given to him by Allah himself, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala called him:

Basheer and nadeer. The Quran itself was called basheer and nadeer.

That yes, first and foremost, it inspires, it motivates, it encourages. And then secondly, it warns. But even the concept of warning is not what we might think when we say warn.

Even the concept of warning in Arabic, the word that's even used, is that when you warn someone of some imminent danger, that is of a real possibility to them. Like somebody is walking along the street and there's a big ditch further down the road. So when you warn someone of that ditch and you warn them because you care about them, because you're concerned about them, because you're worried about them, and then you warn that person, that is the concept of that warning, that (إنذار - indhar).

So this is what this concept means and this concept talks about. So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and the Quran are basheer, they inspire. And that's how they motivate people, that's how they inspire people, they build hope, they inspire hope within people.

And that is our job and that is our responsibility. To latch on to that hope and to also take that message and to further inspire hope.

The Central Ayah of Hope

And so when we read the Quran, when we read the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we find this fundamental concept of hope. And we find how that hope is being driven and that hope is being provided. And that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reaching out to the farthest, the farthest, the people who have gone the farthest from Allah and providing them the greatest amount of hope.

There are powerful ayaat that are central to our belief and to our iman and to our faith. And they are the key ayaat we talk about, the key verses which talk about this concept of hope. And when we read them we find something very interesting. Who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is addressing there? Who is being addressed?

The very central ayah whenever no speaker has ever spoken about hope in Islam from the Islamic perspective without quoting the very famous well-known ayah of the Quran where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commands the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) to pronounce, to proclaim:

Arabic:

Say, pronounce, proclaim.

Ya ibadi, all my slaves. But now Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't go on to address the pious and the righteous. The fasting and the praying, the muttaqun and the salihun.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't address those people. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

إشراف (Israf) is to literally cross all lines and all boundaries, cross the furthest line and furthest boundary. To not just step over the line but to just blatantly walk right past the line.

To just walk right through the barrier and the boundary. That those slaves of mine, Allah says, My slaves, they are still the slaves of Allah. Allah still loves them very very dearly.

The Greater Mercy of Allah

That the hadith of Sahih Muslim, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says that he swears by Allah that the love that your mother has for you, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's mercy upon his slaves universally. Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Allah's mercy upon his slaves is greater than the mercy that a mother has upon her infant newborn child.

(Sahih Muslim 2754)

Allah's mercy is greater than that. So he says, Oh my slaves, the ones who have crossed the line, walked right past the boundary, walked right through the boundary.

And this is what we call (صيغة النَّهْي - sighat an-nahy). This is (لِلتَّحْريم - lit-tahrim). The scholars of the Quran, the scholars of Islam, they've explained to us, they've elaborated, that here this is delivering the message of something being forbidden, (حَرَام - haram). That it is forbidden for you, don't you dare ever lose hope.

Don't you dare ever despair from the mercy of Allah. Why can you never despair from the mercy of Allah? Because what is the mercy of Allah?

Reference: Quran 7:156

Allah says, My mercy encompasses everything. In a hadith Qudsi, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says that Allah has said:

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 7554

My mercy supersedes, it overcomes My anger.

We know about the anger of Allah, we're familiar with the anger of Allah, and we're informed about the anger of Allah in the Quran. Allah destroyed nations, eradicated entire races of people. But did we ever stop to think and realize and ponder, that part of the purpose, not just as a warning was Allah telling us about His wrath and His anger, but when Allah painted the picture for us, when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala laid out how angry Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was with these people, and how devastating the wrath and the punishment of Allah was, then also stop to think and make that comparison, that as frightening, as devastating, as overwhelming as the wrath and the anger and the punishment of Allah is, Allah's mercy is greater than that.

My mercy supersedes, it overcomes, it outdoes My anger, Allah says. That's why we can never ever lose hope and despair in the mercy of Allah. You can't, it's greater than any force on this earth.

The Beauty of Divine Forgiveness

It's greater than anything you've ever witnessed or ever experienced or ever come across. There are unbelievable beautiful parts and traditions within our religion, within our deen, that literally if you sat down and you read and you felt and you thought about it, it would blow your mind. It would completely shake you to your core.

That when a person commits a sin, when a person commits a sin, he disobeys Allah, he's betrayed Allah, he's crossed the line. You know if somebody betrayed you, somebody did something wrong to you, you told somebody something very private and secret about yourself, and you trusted that person, this is something you didn't tell any other soul, you trusted that person. If this person went around and told everybody what you had told them in confidence, and then, of course, you're very angry, you're hurt, you're betrayed, you're devastated by this betrayal, you've been stabbed in the back.

And then this person went out of their way time and time again, and multiple times this person keeps apologizing to you, keeps trying to make it up to you. Be very honest. Are you ever going to trust that person ever again? If you have a friend, or you have a brother, or you have a sister, you have an acquaintance, who's going to trust that person and confide within that person, aren't you going to go and warn them? You're going to go and warn them, hey listen, you don't want to be telling him anything personal.

Because before you know it, everybody's going to know. Within an hour it'll be on Facebook. Right? So that's the guy you don't want to tell.

It's a limitation that we have. But the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is so great. And that's why there's this consistent theme in the Quran, this consistent theme throughout all the du'as and supplications, that have been taught to us by the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), that whenever the attribute, the two most commonly mentioned attributes together of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran are what?

Arabic: (الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ)

Al-Ghafoor Ar-Raheem. Come on everybody, everybody knows Al-Ghafoor Ar-Raheem? That's right.

They're always mentioned together. For that reason, Allah not only forgives, but then He showers us with His mercy after He forgives. And we become nearer and nearer to Allah than we were even before we committed a sin.

When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us to pray and make du'a, when Allah taught us to make du'a, That's who Allah is. That's why we can never ever lose hope or despair in the mercy of Allah. It's impossible.

When a person does lose hope and a person does despair, it has nothing to do with the mercy of Allah. It has no shortcoming on behalf of Allah or His mercy. It only has to do with the limitation of that person and their own understanding.

The Quran as a Gift to the Sinful

And there are numerous examples of this. In another place in the Quran, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talking about giving the blessing of the Quran. The Quran is a gift. The Quran is a blessing. Allah says, We gifted, we gave an inheritance, meaning we gifted this book, this Quran, to the people that we chose from our slaves. Right? And now Allah mentions different types of people in the community to whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given this Quran as a gift.

And you figure Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going to start with the righteous, the pious, the scholars, the imams, the huffadh, the shuyukh.

From them are those people who have done wrong to themselves. They have wronged themselves again and again, over and over, time and time again.

Constantly these people shoot themselves in the foot. Meaning those people that are the most sinful, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is reaching out to them and saying, The Quran is a gift for you.

And then there are some people who are kind of a little good, a little bad. Maybe today was a good day, tomorrow is a bad day. Which is the majority of us.

And then there are those who of course excel in doing good deeds.

The sequence of the Quran is very powerful and eloquent. It works in multiple ways. Yes, it's a progression. It's working from the lowest up to the highest. But at the same time the qurb also shows a certain, teaches us a certain lesson. That the fact that Allah mentions the sinful people first, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is specifically reaching out to the most sinful people.

Because sometimes when a person is trapped, when a person is stuck, When a person is just, it's like you feel like you're in quicksand, right? And the harder you try to get out, it seems like the deeper you keep sinking in. To your despair, into your hopelessness, into the sin. It's the harder you try, it seems like the quicker and the faster you continue to sink.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, those people that are starting to completely give up hope. There's no hope for me. What am I ever going to learn? What am I ever going to understand? What am I ever going to benefit from this? Allah reaches out to them first and says, No, this Quran is primarily a gift to you.

It's first and foremost a gift to you. My mercy is reaching out to you before anybody else. It's available to you first and foremost.

The Powerful Hadith Qudsi

That's the power of the mercy of Allah. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) peace and blessings be upon him. He says in a very powerful, it's a hadith Qudsi, a sacred tradition, where the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) says that Allah has said, and this is a very powerful narration.

It's narrated by Anas ibn Malik (رضي الله عنه) in the book of Jami' Tirmidhi, that he narrates that the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said that Allah has said:

Ya ibn Adam, O son of Adam, O child of Adam. One thing you have to understand here very clearly is Allah (جل جلاله) is not saying, Ya ibn Adam. He's not addressing all of us together. He's addressing each and every single one of us individually, one at a time. Alright, this is talking to each and every single one of us individually. And that's very important for you to remember.

Ya ibn Adam, O son of Adam, O child of Adam. Alright, Allah (جل جلاله) says:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3540)

Allah (جل جلاله) says, O child of Adam, O human being, as long as you call out to me, something very specific about the wording here. He didn't talk about prayer, he didn't talk about salah.

He just simply talked about calling out to Allah. Calling out to Allah. We all have those moments of adversity and difficulty, where you're stuck, you're suffering, you're trapped.

And all you can basically muster, or the only strength you can muster, is to call out to Allah. Just, Ya Allah, just do that much. Manage that much, just say, Ya Allah.

Say, O Allah, please help me. That's all it takes. So Allah says, as long as you continue to call out to me, when you're stuck, when you're in trouble:

And you have hope in me.

Meaning you never ever lose hope in me. You continue to have hope that I will help you. And I will be there for you.

Allah says:

I will forgive. And in fact it's the past tense, meaning that I have forgiven whatever it is that you have done, and it's not even a big deal. I don't mind.

This is one of the most powerful phrases in the entire sunnah collection, sunnah tradition, one of the most powerful phrases we have been given in our religion, that when Allah forgives this person, as long as he continues, he or she continues to call out to Allah and have hope in Allah, Allah says, I've forgiven you:

It's no big deal, don't worry about it. I don't even mind. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala continues.

Because of course that's how merciful Allah is. Nothing is left to mystery. He completely lays it out.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3540)

If your sins were to reach the limits of the sky. My teacher when he was explaining this to us, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect him, when he was teaching this to us, he gave us an example. He said, just so you can understand, as an example.

He said, if every single time, and by the way, remember we're talking about one person at a time. If every single time a person, he or she sinned, that sin had like some physical mass to it. So for example, every single time I sinned, a bottle would appear.

A bottle would materialize in consequence of every sin I committed. Then when I commit a second sin, a second bottle appears right next to it. And then a third and fourth and fifth.

And one person, one person, each and every single one of us. One person kept sinning so much, so much, so much, that literally the entire earth became covered with bottles. Sins.

Now there's not even a single inch left on this entire earth, north, south, east, west. The entire earth has been covered with the person that sinned. But that person keeps on sinning.

So when there's no more room on the ground, where are you going to put the next layer of sins? On top. So you start stacking the bottles on top of each other. And then that one person, individually, one human being, continues to sin so much so, that forget about the entire earth, but the entire earth to the sky becomes completely filled with sins.

I mean this person filled the entire earth, covered the ground and filled it all the way up to the sky, full of his or her sins. One person committed that many sins. And then after all of that, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

Thumma) means then after all of that, after sinning so much:

You ask me for forgiveness.

What? You just ask me for forgiveness. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

I have forgiven you.

And it's not even a big deal.

Don't worry about it.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 3540)

O human being, if you literally filled the entire earth with your sins, meaning you left this world, you died, and you came to meet me, but you had not associated any partners with me, you had continued to have hope in me, you continued to stay connected with me, as much as possible, I will literally fill the earth full of forgiveness and reward for you.

The Transformation of Sins into Good Deeds

People will sin so much, but then they will realize that there is a break in the median. There's a U-turn. There's an opportunity to turn things around. (توبة - Tawbah) literally means a U-turn.

There's an opportunity to turn things around. And that person will take that U-turn and start coming back the other way. And that person will believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will take care of them, and will forgive them.

And that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not make this person regret his or her choice. And that person will work hard to do whatever good that they're capable of doing, to the best of their capacity, whatever they can manage. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not just forgive their sins, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will literally convert all of their sins into good deeds.

Can you imagine what that means? So this is that concept of hope that we need to grasp. That we really need to internalize. You can't go wrong with hope.

Addressing the Paranoia About Hope

Understand this. You can't go wrong with hope. There's oftentimes a paranoia.

Alright? You know, you guys hear enough talks, enough lectures, hopefully, inshallah, that where I can kind of address some real issues. And not just give just a standard motivational talk on hope. There tends to exist a certain level of paranoia in the leadership of the community, older segments of the community, parents, the more religious practicing segments of our community, that now this guy got up there and he yelled and screamed and shouted and screamed.

He yelled and screamed and shouted and everything, talking about hope, hope, hope, hope, everything's alright, everything's okay, it's all great, it's all good in the hood, go home, it's all good. Right? That, well brother, people are gonna just go out there and commit sins and be like, hope baby? Right? It's all good. Right? Like, what are you doing? You're enabling people.

Understand something. Understand something. You can't go wrong with hope when it comes to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Hope within Allah leads to good things and good places. When you are hopeful and you have that level of conviction in a relationship with Allah, it leads a person to feel closer and near and dear to Allah. That person will eventually open the book of Allah.

That person will bow down their head in sujood before Allah. And that's where that person's life changes. We don't have to police people.

That's not our job. We don't police people. That's not our job.

The Mission of Mercy

We're meant to inspire people. The Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) used to say:

(Al-Adab al-Mufrad 273)

One time some people, some of the companions, the followers of the Prophet (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) came to him. Oh Prophet of Allah:

May Allah destroy these people. Let it rain down fire from the sky. Right? So may Allah destroy these people.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم raised his hands. There are two different occasions. One occasion, it was about the people of Daws. One occasion, it was about the people of Taqif. Banu Taqif. And both times the :said صلى الله عليه وسلم Prophet

Oh Allah, give guidance to the people of Daws. Let it rain, let it rain. And I'm destroying the talk now. So he said, Oh Allah, give guidance to the people of Daws.

Oh Allah, give guidance to the people of Taqif. And then he actually turned to his companions رضي الله عنهم and taught them a very valuable lesson. He said, I was not sent to curse people, to damn people, to doom people to hell.

I was not sent for that purpose.

I was sent as a mercy for all of the creation of Allah, for all of humanity, for all of mankind. That's why I was sent.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم,when he would send people out on expeditions, when his companions and his Sahaba رضي الله عنهم would go out, he would warn them. He would literally shake, you know, again, that was that upper crust, that was the leadership. That was the more practicing part of the community.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would literally warn them. He would sternly remind and advise them. He would tell them that:

You've been sent to facilitate the religion for the people, not to make it difficult for the people.

He used to tell them:

Brighten people's day. Don't bring down fire from the sky. Inspire people, motivate people. Don't scare people away.

Facilitate a relationship with Allah for people. Don't make it difficult.

Don't make it difficult for people to connect with Allah, to get to know Allah. And so this is a concept we really have to understand, we have to grasp.

Examples of Never Giving Up on People

And talking on that subject, taking it a little bit further, I wanted to add a couple of last notes here.

That while we understand the basic premise, we don't lose hope in the mercy of Allah. Never. We inspire hope in the mercy of Allah within others as well. And we never ever give up on people. That's a part of this expression of hope. You never give up on people.

You never give up on yourself, which is what we've been talking about, and you definitely don't give up on other people. There are numerous examples. My time is limited. Otherwise there are dozens of examples from the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . What happens when you don't give up on people? Alright?

رضي الله عنه Khalid ibn Walid

One of the greatest heroes of the history of our religion. You know, probably hundreds of thousands of people all over this world today are named Khalid, or know somebody named Khalid. Very common name in our community.

He's a great hero from our history. He was the man responsible for the turn of events on the battle of Uhud, during the battle of Uhud on the day of Uhud. He was responsible for the killing, for the murder, for the martyrdom of dozens of sahaba, dozens of Muslims.

He was a man who caused great harm and pain to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. This was the day when his uncle fell, and his uncle died. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم never gave up on him. Every opportunity he got.

He's talking to Khalid's brother and he says, Man, Khalid's a really smart dude. Khalid's a really, really smart dude. I thought he would have figured this out by now.

His brother goes and communicates that to Khalid. You know, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says You're a really, really smart guy. He didn't give up on him.

Khalid bin Walid رضي الله عنه not only becomes Muslim, but goes on to become one of the greatest people in the history of our religion. A man about whom the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم called him, الله . He called him the sword of Allah.

That's how amazing this man was.

رضي الله عنه Abu Sufyan

Abu Sufyan. Forget about fighting against the Muslims, working against the Muslims, he let off of all of that. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم never gave up hope on him. When he comes to meet the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم when they're camped outside of Makkah at the occasion of Fath Makkah. Muslims, you know, they start to approach him.

All right, Abu Sufyan's rolling in. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says Everybody back away. And he actually tells him, Be respectful.

This is a leader of his people. And he treats him with dignity and respect. And Abu Sufyan ends up becoming Muslim.

رضي الله عنه Ikramah ibn Abu Jahl

Abu Jahl. Who's ever heard of Abu Jahl before? All right. It's a weak narration, but just to give you a context and an idea of who Abu Jahl was because we don't have a lot of time.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says:

For every nation there is a Firaun. Everybody knows Firaun, right? Big scary bad guy, Firaun. For every nation there is a Firaun. And the Firaun of my nation was Abu Jahl.

This was a horrible wretched man. He dedicated his life to working against Islam and Allah and the Quran and the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. The pride and the arrogance of this man knew no limit.

And he died eventually fighting against Islam and died in that state, in that condition. Well, his son Ikramah, who stood by the side of his father and fought against the Muslims multiple times, numerous times, wanted nothing more but to avenge the death of his father. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم comes to Makkah and Ikramah runs away, his wife comes and says, Ikramah ran away, O Messenger of Allah.

He accepts Islam. I think I can bring him back. But he's afraid. Because he fought against you numerous times. He's afraid. So if you can grant him safety, immunity, then I think I can bring him back.

I think I can talk some sense into him. She says, go. Nobody will lay a finger on Ikramah.

She goes and she fetches him. She brings him back. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم hears news that Ikramah is coming, his father was called Abu Jahl.

Of course that wasn't his name. It means a father of ignorance. That would be the most unfortunate name.

Right? So he was called, Amr ibn Hisham was his name. He was called Abu al-Hakam. But they called him Abu Jahl because of his actions.

The father of ignorance. Because he behaved so ignorantly. And he was so stubborn.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم addresses the Sahaba رضي الله عنهمhe says, Ikramah is coming. And he's coming and I'm hopeful that he will become a brother to us. He'll accept Islam.

Abu Jahl was who he was and he did what he did. But it does not change the fact that he was Ikramah's father. And everybody's got a soft spot for their parents.

When he's here, I don't want anybody saying anything bad about Abu Jahl. And in fact, I don't even want you to refer to his father as Abu Jahl. What ends up happening, Ikramah accepts Islam.

The son of Abu Jahl, who fought against, raised the sword against the Prophet of Allah. Not only did he accept Islam, but we know from his life that he ended up eventually dying in the battlefield fighting on behalf of Islam. He died a shaheed.

The son of Abu Jahl is a shaheed.

Hind bint Utbah and Wahshi رضي الله عنها

You don't give up on people. The woman who paid and arranged for the assassination of the uncle of the Prophet of Allah, Hamza.

An event that caused such profound pain to the Prophet of Allah that he cried. And he couldn't contain his emotions. It was so difficult for him.

She arranged it. Not only that, but once he fell in the battlefield, she went down. A woman, she went down into the battlefield and mutilated his body.

Such a woman. She comes to the Prophet of Allah at the conference of Makkah and accepts Islam رضي الله عنها. The man who actually carries out the assassination on the uncle of the Prophet of Allah, Wahshi.

Murderer. Assassin. Killed the uncle of the Prophet of Allah for money.

Accepts Islam. And ends up killing. Ends up being the cause of a very, very nefarious, very, very problematic individual leaving this earth.

Musaylima Kaddam. You just don't know what the future holds for people. And I'm giving you all these examples.

Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه

One of the most profound examples that we have that we fail to understand and overlook. Umar bin Khattab. Umar رضي الله عنه Ameer al-Mumineen.

About whom the Prophet of Allah is always saying:

The Prophet of Allah is telling him, Umar, you are going to paradise. And when the Prophet says it, that's it, done deal.

It's finished. It's over. That's it. You're going to paradise.

Umar رضي الله عنه What was he before Islam? He describes himself. He said, two things used to preoccupy my time before Islam.

Drinking. And fornication, adultery. Womanizing.

That's all I did. That was my life. That's who I was.

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And in fact, he leaves his home to do what? On the day that he accepts Islam and begins on his journey of becoming the epic. Not epic, masjid epic.

Either way, that's too easy of a setup, alright? You don't get to call yourself epic, alright? But anyways, he begins his journey of becoming one of the most amazing individuals to ever walk the face of this earth.

He left his home that day, sword in hand to go وَالْعِيَاذُ بِاللهِ kill the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم . To murder the Messenger of God.

That's why he left his home that day. But he returned home becoming Umar رضي الله عنه . The amazing man that we name our sons after today.

The Inspiration of Paradise

You never give up on people. You don't know what the future holds. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is capable of anything and everything.

And then as a last note, I mentioned this earlier, but the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to inspire the Quran, it inspires hope. This is why the Quran talks about Gardens in paradise, waterfalls and rivers flowing in paradise.

This is why the Quran talks about rivers of water that never go sour, rivers of pure honey, rivers of wine of paradise that is non-intoxicating.

This is why the Quran inspires this hope. This is why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم tells us about palaces in paradise.

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi 2527)

A brick of gold on top of a brick of silver, and cement in between is musk.

That's why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم inspires hope when he tells us about a palace in paradise that is made out of a single pearl that has been hollowed out. And has thousands and thousands of rooms. And at the door of each and every single room there are thousands and thousands of angels that greet you, that call you, and say:

You're an amazing person. Enter into paradise and that's it. Live it up. Enjoy it.

This is why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us:

Allah tells us about lazy boys and reclining chairs in paradise. This is why Allah tells us that while that person is chilling on his lazy boy on his recliner in paradise underneath the tree that the hadith of Bukhari tells us:

(Sahih al-Bukhari 3251)

This tree is so huge that if a person rode a horse for a hundred years he could not cross the shade and the shadow of that tree. So while he's chilling with his family and his friends underneath this tree on these recliners being served food and water he looks up at the tree and he sees fruit hanging from the tree.

And when you look at fruit hanging from the tree then you go nom nom nom. Right? You want some of that? So he just thinks nom nom nom and what happens? The Quran tells us:

That the bunches of these fruits and the branches of these trees filled with fruits lower themselves and continue to lower themselves.

They continue to lower themselves so much so that this person in paradise is not inconvenienced to the point where even he has to lift his head up from where he's reclining it will literally come down to his mouth he will eat and it will lift up when he wants some more it will come down it will feed him and it will lift back up.

Inspire, motivate, hope. That's what we need today. That's what people are desperate for today.

Closing

I pray and I hope that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows us to understand and practice everything you've said and heard.

Jazakumullah khairan for your time and your patience. I've gone 5 minutes over time but the next speaker is no man so nobody cares.

I had to do at least one.

Translation: Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.