From Adam To Muhammad: Allah's Mercy In Sending Guidance

Opening

اللهُ أَكْبَر، اللهُ أَكْبَر، اللهُ أَكْبَر، اللهُ أَكْبَر، أَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ، اللهُ أَكْبَر، اللهُ أَكْبَر، لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللهُ

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers, and upon his family and all his companions.

Allah Almighty said:

And say, "My Lord, increase me in knowledge."

And Allah Almighty said:

Say, "Is it equal — those who know and those who do not know?" Only those of understanding will remember.

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 224)

Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim.

Allah's Mercy in Sending Guidance

Allah Almighty has many names and many attributes. One of the attributes that He has is that He is Ar-Rahman and He is Ar-Rahim — that He is the Most Merciful. Mercy is one of His qualities. And part of His mercy is that if He wanted, He could have created us and made us figure out on our own, without any guidance, without any help, that Allah Almighty exists. He could have made us, without any help or any guidance, figure out that there is only one God. And beyond that, He could have made us figure out how to worship that one God. And He could have made us figure out how to interact with His other creation.

But out of His mercy, Allah Almighty sent down Prophets. Why? For the sole purpose of showing us how to live our life. First of all, to tell us about the higher being that is Allah Almighty — and not only to tell us about Him, but about His qualities and His attributes and how to worship Him. And how to deal with the creation of Allah Almighty.

The History of Prophethood

Now as Allah Almighty sent down these Prophets, starting with Adam and then on to Nuh and so on and so forth, there were generally two camps. One camp were those who rejected the Prophet, who rejected the message of Islam, who rejected the message that Allah Almighty had sent with that particular Prophet. And then the other camp were those who had accepted the message of the Prophet that came to them. Those people who accepted, they were saved, and those who didn't accept, they were destroyed.

But then what would happen was, amongst those who accepted, there were some who distorted the message of Allah Almighty. There were some who left the message of Allah Almighty, and there were some who stayed firm. So then when those people left the message of Allah Almighty, when they distorted the message of Allah Almighty, Allah Almighty would send a new Prophet. And that would go on all the way till Isa, of course.

And then when Isa came, there were two camps. There were some who accepted him as the true messenger of Allah Almighty. And there were others who denied him, who said that he was born out of zina, who said that he was a liar. And then he was raised up to the heavens. And then from those people who accepted him, there were those who stayed on the right path. But there were also those who lifted his rank to a rank that he was not deserving of, saying that he was the son of God, or that he was God, or that he was one third of God.

And then Allah Almighty sent the final messenger to guide the people. Not only was he sent to his locality as the other Anbiya were, but he was also sent to the entire mankind — not only in his time, but from his time all the way till the Day of Judgment. So he had received Nubuwwah at the age of 40, and he began to propagate this message. He gained many supporters — which we know as the Sahaba — and of course he had many enemies as well. And after 23 years of giving Dawah, after 23 years of receiving Nubuwwah, he had passed away.

The Scholars as Inheritors of the Prophets

Now, there are no messengers after Rasulullah ﷺ. So now what does that mean? Does that mean that we are lost, that we cannot figure out how to worship Allah correctly in the way that He wants? Is there no way to recognize who Allah is? No, that's not the case. Why? Because the Anbiya, they left behind an inheritance — they left behind a wirātha.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 3641; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 223; Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2682)

That the scholars are the inheritors of the Anbiya. The Anbiya did not leave any gold or silver as inheritance — they only left knowledge behind.

So now that the Anbiya are gone, they are no longer part of this world, they have moved on — but they still left this inheritance of ilm. And that is one of the goals that a Muslim should have. And not only is it a goal, but it is actually a fard upon every single Muslim to seek knowledge. This is not just anybody saying this — this is the Prophet ﷺ saying this:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 224)

That seeking knowledge is fard — it is mandatory upon every single Muslim. And he did not specify any gender or any particular class of people or any race. He said every single Muslim has to study knowledge.

How Much Knowledge Is Required?

Now, to what extent should a person study knowledge? However much a person needs to live his life. That in any given situation — whichever role he is in, whichever scenario he is in, whichever action he is doing — he should be able to know what would Allah want me to do in this situation. When he is praying, he knows how to pray. He knows exactly how Allah wants him to pray. When he fasts, he knows how Allah wants him to fast. Or if he is in a certain role — for example, in the role of a father or in the role of a mother — he knows exactly how to fulfill that role in accordance to how Allah wants him to fulfill that role. Or if he is a businessman or a doctor, any other profession, any other role — a person should know how Allah would want him to deal with that role.

And this only comes through ilm — through learning about what Allah has said, what the Prophet ﷺ has said, and what the ulama of the past have explained about what Allah and the Prophet ﷺ have said.

The Great Virtue of Seeking Knowledge

And knowledge has great virtue. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2699; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 3641; Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2682)

That whoever traverses a path seeking knowledge for the sake of Allah — there is no other reason why he is seeking knowledge. He is not seeking knowledge for fame. He is not seeking knowledge for people to praise him. The only reason that person is seeking knowledge is for the sake of Allah, so that he can know who his Creator is and so that he can know how to worship his Creator properly — then Allah will make easy the path to Jannah.

This is a great blessing. Just by seeking knowledge, a person's path to Jannah is made easy. Now I'm not saying that everybody has to be an alim, not everybody has to go through the 7-year course or the 8-year course or however long it takes to be an alim. But at the very least we should have the knowledge to help us throughout our life — the knowledge for us to navigate through this life as Allah wants us to live this life.

Knowledge Is Something Good — A Qur'anic Perspective

And when Allah in the Qur'an gives us multiple du'as to make, that shows that whatever we should ask for is something good. So for example, Allah tells us to say:

"O Allah, forgive us for our sins." What does that mean? That means that forgiveness from Allah is good. Allah tells us to say:

"And accept our repentance." What does that mean? That acceptance of repentance from Allah is a good thing. And:

"And enter us into Jannah without any reckoning." What does that mean? That entrance into Jannah without any reckoning is a good thing. Now, going based on that same pattern, Allah says:

"Say, O my Lord, increase me in knowledge." So the fact that Allah is commanding us — first of all, He is commanding the Prophet ﷺ directly, but of course it extends to the Muslim ummah at large — that we are supposed to ask Allah for an increase in knowledge. So what does that show? That shows that knowledge is something good, that shows that knowledge is something that we should seek after.

Sacrifice for Knowledge

And knowledge only comes through a bit of sacrifice. We need to sacrifice for the sake of knowledge. For example, in our dunya, we go through 12 years of schooling, and then after that we go through college, and perhaps even after college we go through further schooling — because we value what those different schoolings have to offer, whether it's the medical program or any of those other things. Why? Because we have this perception that that's the only way to have a job and all those other things. But what really matters? What really matters is the akhirah. The akhirah is the most important thing that we can work towards. And of course the pleasure of Allah is something that we have to work towards as well. And that can only happen through understanding who Allah is, through understanding what Allah wants from us.

And many times when we read the biographies of the ulama of the past, we see that they traveled so far and so wide to seek this knowledge, to fulfill this farida, to fulfill this obligation. And even ulama in this city have had to go out for 7 years, 8 years, 6 years overseas. They had to sacrifice a lot.

The Tanweer Intensive Program

But alhamdulillah, if we want to learn about our deen, alhamdulillah, we do not have to go through those struggles that our predecessors had to. Because alhamdulillah, Darussalam is having their Tanweer program. Every single year they have a one-year program in which there are multiple subjects in regards to Islam — the basics of every single Islamic subject is studied.

Aqidah — the creed of a Muslim is studied. Fiqh — how to worship Allah; fiqh is the boundaries that Allah has placed upon us. How do we worship Allah? What are we allowed to do? What are we not allowed to do? Seerah — the life of the Prophet ﷺ. How can we take benefit from the life of the Prophet ﷺ? Allah says:

That indeed, in the Messenger of Allah, there is a good role model for whoever hopes for Allah and the Day of Judgment and who remembers Allah abundantly.

Tarbiyah — spiritual rectification. How do we get closer to Allah? How do we rectify ourselves in regards to our relationship with Allah? And how do we rectify ourselves in regards to our relationship with our family members, with the people around us? And also Arabic is something that is studied. So these are just some of the subjects that are studied throughout the Tanweer Intensive.

And the purpose of the Tanweer Intensive is just so that a person can have the basic ilm that a person needs to face the world that is out there. Because there are so many fitan out there — so many different ideologies, so many shahawat and shubuhat. All of these different doubts, all of these desires that people are falling into. Why? Because they don't have the knowledge of how to stop themselves from falling into those sins, falling into those desires that Allah has forbidden us from falling into.

So if you are able to, please look into the Tanweer Intensive. Please look into signing up for the Tanweer Intensive. If you are unable to, then at the very least, encourage someone who is able to sign up for the Tanweer Intensive. And it will be incredibly beneficial.

So I ask Allah to give us the tawfiq to value knowledge, and for us to fulfill the fareedah of seeking knowledge.

Announcements

Before everybody stands up and prays their sunnah, please come forward and fill up any gaps in front of you, so that when iqamah time comes, it will be a lot easier and there will be less commotion, insha'Allah. Jazakum Allahu khayran.

Please pass the donation boxes from left to right, insha'Allah. Please donate generously — Allah will multiply your rewards on the Day of Judgment.

Admissions are open for the Tanweer Intensive program for both boys and girls. Classes start August 15th, 2022. Enroll at masjidds.org/tanweerintensive.

Also, if you are unable to register for the entire year and you're looking for something just in the remaining part of the summer, then insha'Allah, the Arabic Essentials program is also open. Registration is open as of now. You can get more details on the website at masjidds.org/summer.

For weekly programs: there is the Tuesday Tafsir program with Mufti Azim al-Din after Maghrib, continuing with Surah Taha. On Monday night, Mufti Minhaj al-Din will be continuing his Bukhari Dars. And Saturday's team Fajr, insha'Allah, will continue — Fajr iqamah is at 4:45.

Please join ICN Eidfest on Sunday, August 7th with your family and friends. It's a fun day for the entire family. Timings will be from 12 to 7 p.m., and it will be held at Naperville Yard Legacy Circle, insha'Allah.

And there is a request for du'a for the sister of Abdul Rafi Bashir — she was admitted to the ER last night. Please keep her in your prayers, insha'Allah.