Taraweeh Khatira | Dr. Omar Suleiman

Have you ever heard of political scandals that involve the corrupt elite that were then used to do all sorts of horrible things in the world as a form of distraction? Does that story sound familiar to you? I see some of the brothers, as soon as they hear Epstein files, they'll turn around and they'll walk back in the masjid to hear the rest of the khatira. Everyone is like, what is going on here?

I want you, before I mention the ayah in the juz that we just completed, I want you to imagine what would the Epstein files in the time of Quraysh look like? And then go a bit back, what would it have looked like in the time of Bani Israel, Fir'aun, in terms of their ruling political elite? And the fadhai, the exposure and the humiliation that came out, and then how they reacted to those scandals that came out.

And subhanAllah, you will see the trend in history constantly repeating itself. And so that I'm not being ambiguous at all, it is very obvious to any discerning eye that the war on Iran and much of what is happening right now in terms of political turmoil is a distraction from the fadhai, from the exposure and the humiliation that has come out in these files, that involves the political elite, that involves the media elite, that is so disgusting beyond imagination that even the most conspiratorial minds, when you start to read a little bit into that, as to what these people do, how satanic they actually are, you say, أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم ونسأل الله العافية. May Allah protect us from their evil, and they are indeed evil, and these practices, and the attempt to cover that up because they are not being held accountable and they don't want to be held accountable.

There's something extremely gross and disgusting about it, and there is no doubt that war is a fitting distraction to that. Who knows what type of blackmail exists there. You know, there's some reporting, and I'm going to say this is unverified reporting, so I'm going to actually make that clarification, that even using the words EP, Epic Fury, not because it involves Masjid Epic in any way, Epic Masjid, Epic Fury, EP is a way of getting the SEO, the search engine optimization, instead of Epstein, Epic have EP, so that when people put Trump's name as they get that, and you see all these things circulating, but it's very clear that people are catching on to the idea that there are fadhai, that there are humiliations, and exposures, and scandals that are being covered here by the political and media elite, and that this war has something to do with that. Some sort of blackmail, some sort of disgusting cover-up is happening right now.

The Divine Pattern of Destruction

And I was thinking about this one ayah in Surah Al-Isra. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says:

"And when we wish to destroy a people, we command its elites..." There are different ways to interpret this ayah.

Three Interpretations

The ulama give three interpretations. إِذَا أَرَدْنَا أَنْ نُهْلِكَ قَرْيَةً أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا - We either command its elites, the corrupt, the elites of society to obey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala فَفَسَقُوا فِيهَا and they disobey Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so one interpretation is that Allah azza wa jal gives the command and they disobey.

That's one interpretation. So irad al-shari'ah, Allah legislated a command of righteousness. فَفَسَقُوا فِيهَا So they disobeyed. فَحَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ So therefore the punishment upon them was justified. فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيرًا And so complete destruction came upon them.

So one interpretation is that Allah azza wa jal commanded the elite with good, with righteousness, and they disobeyed. And so the punishment was written upon them and complete and utter destruction came to them.

Another interpretation is أَمَرْنَا here means divine decree. كَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ That Allah azza wa jal let it happen. Not that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded them to be evil, but Allah allowed their evil to get the best of them and to grow to a place where the ayah would read like this: when we want to destroy a people, we let their elites fall into complete moral corruption, into complete decay, fusooq. And then the punishment becomes justified, and then you see them completely wiped out. So another interpretation because Allah does not command السُّوءِ وَالفَحْشَاء - He doesn't command evil.

Here أَمَرْنَا is كَتَبْنَا - Allah lets it happen. And the ayah before that مَنْ اهْتَدَى فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا says that those that are guided are given guidance as a gift for their pursuit, and those that are misguided essentially they are allowed to be misguided. Allah azza wa jal gives them misguidance, and there is a choice that is taken towards misguidance.

The third one is أَمَرْنَا لَهُمْ - We commanded for them, which as some of the Mufassirun say, Allah azza wa jal gives them numbers, and power, and money, basically gives them the tools to access their lowest desires as a sign right before they feel invincible, and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala snatches them.

So again the idea of this ayah is: when the destruction of a people is near, you see it in their elites acting in the most atrocious and corrupt of ways. And when their mutrafīhā, when their elites act in that way, then know that destruction is near.

Historical Examples of Elite Corruption

Al-Walid ibn Mughirah

So let's get back to this idea of the political class and the fadhai. One of the things subhanAllah that you'll find, even in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah was exposing the elites of Quraysh that were trying to deflect with their insults of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and their opposition to Islam from their own corruption.

The most popular one is when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala exposed Al-Walid ibn Mughirah. Al-Walid used to stand in front of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and boast about his lineage. He used to boast about his children. He used to boast about his money. And he kept trying to humiliate the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Then Allah azza wa jal dropped the ayah, عُتُلٍّ بَعْدَ ذَلِكَ زَنِيمٍ - That he's a child of adultery. He's an illegitimate child. Al-Walid goes to his mother, and he says, Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam described me with nine ayah, nine signs. The first eight I agree with them. This ninth one, what is this all about? And then it was unredacted. His mother explained that he was in fact a child of zina, a child of adultery.

So this man who's been boasting and trying to humiliate the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, Allah azza wa jal humiliated him instead. The political scandal came to light, and then people knew that this man was zanim.

The Pattern Through History

Go back to Bani Israel, go back to Fir'aun, and there are a few things that you will see. Number one, you will find that there is a story that's being told between Surah Al-Isra, Surah Al-Kahf, and Surah Maryam. You notice Surah Al-Isra, which is Surah Bani Israel, talks about the corruption of Bani Israel. It's actually called Surah Bani Israel as well.

Surah Al-Kahf, the story of Musa alayhi as-salaam that we started with tonight, with Al-Khadr is a post Bani Israel reality. What do I mean by that? Musa alayhi as-salaam was sent to meet Al-Khadr alayhi as-salaam after Bani Israel refused to enter into Jerusalem as Allah azza wa jal wrote it for them, and they were punished with the exodus, and Musa alayhi as-salaam is taken on this journey that gives him a deeper understanding of Al-Khadr.

And then comes Surah Maryam, and Zakariya alayhi as-salaam is looking out at Bani Israel, and he doesn't see a prophet to succeed him or any sign of righteousness to keep it going. So he makes dua for a son. Allah gives him who? Yahya alayhi as-salaam. With all these beautiful and noble qualities, a righteous man.

The Martyrdom of Yahya

And why will Yahya alayhi as-salaam be martyred? Why would Yahya, who has all these beautiful qualities, حَنَانًا مِّن لَّدُنَّا who was so kind and compassionate and merciful that even the animals, Yahya alayhi as-salaam was giving his food to the animals because of how kind and merciful he was. وَبَرًّا بِوَالِدَيْهِ So good to his parents, has so much mercy, has so much compassion. He was someone who was the most authoritative on the Torah, right? He's a scholar, a jurist.

Why would Yahya alayhi as-salaam be killed? Because he refused to give in to the lust of the political elites, right? So the political elites, Herod Antipas, essentially wanted Yahya alayhi as-salaam to sign off on incest, to allow him access to a nasty relationship. Something that would not be encompassed in the shari'ah of Yahya alayhi as-salaam, in the shari'ah of Isa alayhi as-salaam, in the shari'ah of Musa alayhi as-salaam. This would never be encompassed, right?

He wanted Yahya to sign off on something nasty. And Yahya alayhi as-salaam was the righteous, noble scholar. And so they knew if Yahya says something, he speaks with the authority of the Torah. Because he refused to sign off on their wickedness, on their corruption, what did they do? The woman who would have benefited from that relationship ordered for Yahya's head. So he was beheaded, Yahya alayhi as-salaam. Because he refused to give in to the corruption, the moral decay of Bani Israel at the top.

Fir'aun's Corruption

You go back before that to Fir'aun. What would the fadhai, what would the evil of Fir'aun look like? You can read the Isra'iliyat in the books of Tafsir, about, يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَاءَكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَاءَكُمْ What do you think they would do with the female survivors when they killed all the men? And you can see all of the exploitation and all of the nastiness that Fir'aun was marked for. Fir'aun became a school of torture, a school of exploitation, a school of nasty things. Imagine if the files came out on Fir'aun behind those walls.

The Psychology of Oppression

What is the point of all of this? Imam al-Qayyim rahimahullah, he talks about the zulm that takes place. أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ لَمَّا ظَلَمُوا That Allah azza wa jal punishes these people when they become oppressors. That there are pathways to these people becoming zalimin.

One of them is that they become so enslaved to their desires that those desires become more and more and more bizarre that they keep on feeding them and getting into stranger places. And people merely become tools of access to those desires. And so they start to give in and they no longer have any sense of fitrah. Their morality is completely gone. And because their morality is gone, they don't see people as people anymore. They see everything as a tool to their desires.

And the desire to dominate is a shahwa. That is a desire. So zulm comes from a desire to dominate, a desire of power. And then it's power by any means necessary. And so there is a relationship between people losing their complete moral compass and then being willing to use people in pursuit of their complete moral decay.

The Pattern of Deflection

And then how do they act when they find themselves in that situation or when they are exposed? There is distraction. There is deflection. Fir'aun trying to shame Musa alayhi as-salaam. "You killed that man." Who is Fir'aun to shame someone for murder? Who is Fir'aun to try to shame Musa alayhi as-salaam for murder? Like do you realize who you are? But deflection, distraction, find something else. Throw another name at the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Make another excuse. Hurry up. Turn their attention elsewhere. Because otherwise, their corruption and their decay will be exposed.

And Allah azza wa jal is saying that it gets to a point where the rot cannot be ignored anymore. The rotting cannot be ignored anymore. And when that rot cannot be ignored anymore, حَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقَوْلُ.

Divine Justice and Hope

You know, if you read Adwa al-Bayan, my favorite tafsir that I read on, in general one of my favorite tafsir, Muhammad Amin al-Shanqiti rahimahullah. But he was talking about this ayah in particular, and he was breaking down the three opinions that I mentioned. And subhanAllah, you look at حَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ الْقَوْلُ or حَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ in this ayah, it becomes prescribed upon it punishment.

Like does Allah azza wa jal need anyone to give him permission to destroy a person? Allah knows what this person is going to become, right? Allah knows what these people are going to become. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, one of the benefits of that, that it becomes justified written upon them, is that no one will cry any tears for these people when Allah azza wa jal brings divine justice on them. That they fall in the sight of the people and they become so hated and so despicable that when Allah's justice falls upon them, فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاءُ وَالْأَرْضُ No one sheds a tear for them.

Alhamdulillah. You can put in your imagination who bi'idhnillahi ta'ala Allah azza wa jal will satisfy us one day with their destruction, right? You say alhamdulillah. No one says, "oh what a good man" anymore. No one says, "oh what a good woman." No, like it's someone's fusooq, someone's evil and their moral decay becomes so obvious that they participated in something so evil. حَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيرًا And then complete destruction comes upon them.

Living in These Times

The last thing I share with you is this. I know that many of us, subhanAllah, we see like these types of things like, where are we living? What kind of time are we living in? Seriously, what kind of time are we living in? To see the level of evil. And it's very clear now, every accusation is a confession. Everything they accuse us of, they do. Everything the Zionists accuse the Palestinians of, they did. And everything they accuse Muslims and Islam of, and our beloved Prophet ﷺ of, it is their practice. They actually do those things. It's very clear now.

To the point that when they make an accusation, you should know right away that that is a confession. That what they're saying is a confession of what their lives are actually like.

What is the hope of this all? That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala connected their dimar to their fadhai. He connected their destruction to their exposure. That when they reach that point where they felt invincible, and when they were completely exposed, that that's when destruction came upon them. That that's when their end was near.

And the thing is that in the minds of these people, when they think that they've escaped accountability for the most disgusting of their crimes and the most shameless of their crimes, that's when they think they're most invincible. Because like I'm looking around, nothing happened to me. I wasn't destroyed. And that's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes them by surprise from a place that they never expected.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, when we wish to destroy a people, أَمَرْنَا مُتْرَفِيهَا فَفَسَقُوا فِيهَا فَحَقَّ عَلَيْهَا الْقَوْلُ فَدَمَّرْنَاهَا تَدْمِيرًا

So remember this next time you're reading in Surah Al-Isra, and you're going through these verses, that Allah is not just telling us the stories of prophets and righteous ones that stood up against the corruption of their time and the empires of their time. Allah is also telling us about the disappearance and the destruction of those empires that they stood up against. The same people that mocked them became mocked in history for their depravity.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to see that as well with those who are being exposed today. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala give victory to the oppressed. And may Allah azza wa jal elevate the righteous. And may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala spare us from being victims of their crimes or from becoming criminals like them so that we would be punished in the hereafter like them. May Allah azza wa jal protect us in every way. Allahumma ameen.

Jazakum Allah khair. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.