Speakers Corner | Knowledge Retreat, 2026 | Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi | Imam Nadim | EPIC Masjid
By Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 2026-05-26T12:01:45.32937+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah
As-salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, alhamdulillahi wa barakatuhu. Welcome to Speaker's Corner, an event, alhamdulillah, this is the third session of the Speaker's Corner.
The Knowledge Retreat Collaboration
First of all is that there was a retreat that was taking place here over the weekend. It was a combination between five organizations, a collaboration between five organizations. Number one is Institute of Knowledge, which is based out of California. It is a seminary where over many hundreds of students have either graduated from memorizing Quran or they have studied Alimiyah studies from there. Number two was Miftah Institute in Michigan, another seminary there. Even some of our own students from the epic community are studying there currently. Next we have Al-Maghrib Institute, which is based primarily from Houston. Then we had Yaqeen Institute, which is also based out of here in Dallas. And Qalam Institute, which is just down the road in one way. For those of you who are from outside, from out of town, it is just down the road in Carrollton.
So alhamdulillah it was a collaboration, a great collaboration between five organizations. And alhamdulillah there were multiple speakers speaking on the subject of the Quran. So they had Speaker's Corner at Qalam Institute just yesterday. They had Speaker's Corner two days ago, two nights ago at Valley Ranch. And this is the third session. So inshallah, without any further ado, I want to start off with some recitation of the Quran. And then we'll get into the speakers and the talks. Jazakumullahu khair.
Introduction of Speakers
So for those of you who don't know, we have Sheikh Tariq Musleh here from Chicago. We have Sheikh Muhammad Shinawi. He has come here many times. You've come here before, right? Sheikh Shinawi has come here many times. Mufti Wahab was here in Ramadan. And who are you? Temporary visitor.
So alhamdulillah, the retreat overall was about Quran. And so I'm going to ask our shuyukh here. When it comes to our society and the challenges that we are facing today, amongst the many challenges we are facing, for example, is a crisis within our families. We're facing a crisis when it comes to many youth who are dealing with identity issues. We are facing the issue of Islamophobia, especially if you're living in Texas, the rise of Islamophobia. Clearly, we thought that we had gone through that phase after 9-11, but it just seems like it has resurfaced and has come back with a whole new agenda and a whole new purpose.
The Quran as Solution to Modern Challenges
And so with all of this going on, of course, the Quran has been revealed by Allah addressing all these challenges. It has answered the questions that you and I are even asking today. But at the same time, since many of us are not aware of the Arabic language, many of us have probably never, though we may have read the Quran, we have never dived into the Quran to understand the gems, to understand what advices and instructions Allah is giving us to overcome the challenges that we all are facing on a daily basis.
So with that in mind, inshallah, I'm going to ask each of our shuyukh to shed some light, something from the Quran regarding the challenges that we are facing and perhaps provide some kind of advices that we can take home and share with our families and also implement, inshallah, within our lives.
Sheikh Tariq Musleh: Identifying as People of the Quran
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. We praise Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and we thank him. We ask Allah azza wa jal to send his peace and blessings upon our beloved teacher and leader, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa salam. We ask Allah azza wa jal to accept from us this humble gathering. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow every step to be a step towards Jannah. We ask Allah azza wa jal to make us from the people of the Quran. Allahumma ameen.
We live in a society where everyone identifies themselves through something. Actually, that's a human trait that we orient ourselves and identify ourselves maybe by our ethnic background, maybe by the languages that we speak, maybe by our career. And sometimes in an over identifying type of way that if you're an engineer, that's what makes you, you. If you're a Palestinian, that that's a big part of who you are. And no doubt that these are parts of our identity that are valuable. But I think one of the most incredible things that we can do is to orient and define ourselves as the people of the Quran. And to be able to see that as the greatest bridge between us and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
For Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to declare the Quran people as His people.
That there are a people that Allah azza wa jal declares as His people. That the people of the Quran are a people that Allah declares to be His people.
From Ceremony to Rectification
In regards to the Quran, I think at least as a person that serves in the community, something that happens often is this eye-opening moment. Where the Quran moves from being a book of ceremony to being a book of rituality. A book that we recognize in times of grief and in times of happiness to being a book of rituality. That we spend days and nights with the Quran. And Allah azza wa jal praises the people who do that in the Quran abundantly. People who spend their nights with the Quran, that they spend their mornings with the Quran.
And the statement is true, مَنْ صَاحَبَ الْقُرْآنَ فِي الدُّنْيَا صَاحَبَهُ الْقُرْآنُ فِي قَبْرِهِ وَفِي الْآخِرَةَ — The one who befriends the Quran, the Quran befriends them in the dunya and in the akhirah. And that's a very beautiful thing to have a ritualistic relationship with the Quran.
But to go beyond that and to say the Quran is not just a book of ceremony, and the Quran is not just a book of rituality, but that the Quran is a book of rectification. That there are parts of me that are broken, parts of my world that are bruised and battered, parts of my world view, parts of the way that I think of my own marriage and think of my own fatherhood, that are problematic, that are cracked and fractured at their core. And those are parts of me that need to be fixed. And nothing can fix those parts of me like the Quran.
So I think part of why these conversations are so valuable, because it's not just about looking at the Quran or reading the Quran, but it's about redefining ourselves through the Quran. And so I hope and pray that our discussion today and through the retreat has been an opportunity to really move from ceremony to rituality to rectification, like islah un-nafs through the Quran, because that's what the Quran does.
Is Allah in the most matter-of-fact way saying, your world will only be better through the Quran, your families can only be better through the Quran, and you and every part of you can only be better through the Quran. And so inshallah ta'ala, that's what I think we can have as a starting place for our conversation today, as well as a backdrop to the retreat that we've been having over the last few days. Wallahu ta'ala a'lam.
Sheikh Muhammad Shinawi: Commitment and Confidence Over Competency
JazakAllah khayran sheikh. Assalamualaikum everyone. Bismillah alhamdulillah. As-salatu was-salamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'in.
Building on the words of our good brother sheikh Tariq, you know the salaf, the early Muslims used to say, القرآن لن يعطيك بعضه حتى تعطيه كلك — The Quran is a shoreless ocean of course, and it will never give you part of itself until you give it all of yourself. And this doesn't mean no eating, no sleeping, no work. This means when you turn to the Quran, you turn with confidence and you turn with commitment. And dare I say, those two are more important than coming to the Quran with competency, Arabic competency.
Overcoming the Barrier of Arabic
I think one of the biggest tricks shaytan plays on people is he tells them you're not a scholar, you don't understand Arabic, you're not going to be able to extract what you need from the Quran. You can't be transformed by the Quran. Do you know that Islam is the fastest growing religion in America? Do you know that when sort of the polling centers ask the converts to Islam, why is it that you chose Islam? One of the two top answers always is what? I read the book myself. You're right. They read it in what language exactly? English, not Arabic. Yet it transformed them from a kafir to one of the awliya of Allah azza wa jal, a believer. And so we need to move past that notion, that artificial barrier.
Of course, the more you learn, the more you dedicate yourself, the more literate you become, the more access you have, but you already have enough when you come to the Quran with confidence and you come with commitment to be protected by the Quran and to be propelled forward in your relationship with Allah azza wa jal by this great book.
The Rope of Allah
And Allah azza wa jal said:
And hold fast to the rope of Allah altogether. The rope of Allah is the Quran as Ibn Abbas said. What's beautiful about the word اعْتَصِمُوا — I know I'm contradicting myself now and I'm pulling out sort of a linguistic nuance, but forgive me. I'm tired and I'm jet-lagged. But one of the things our scholars did mention is that اعْتَصِمُ the word اعْتِصَام is different than تمسَّكُ. تمسَّكُ is there in the wahi, like hold on fast, hold fast to the Quran. But اعْتَصِمُ they say it means something a little bit more and perhaps it shares a root with the word مِعْصَم. The word مِعْصَم is the wrist. So it's as if this command, instruction from Allah is telling you, hold on to the rope and wrap it around your wrist. Why? For good measure. So that if you slip one day, you don't have it anymore. It has you.
This is why Al-Hassan Al-Basri rahimahullah when they said to him, فُلَانْ يَحْفَظُ الْقُرْآنِ قَالَ بَلْ الْقُرْآنُ يَحْفَظُهُ — So and so is a hafidh of the Quran. You know hafidh is like someone who memorized it, but it actually means guardian. You guard it from being forgotten through memorizing it. That's one of the ways you guard it. So he was told so and so is a hafidh, a guardian of the Quran. He said, no, the Quran is his guardian. The Quran does more for you than you can ever do for it. It's our opportunity when we come to it with commitments.
An Open Book Test
And the easiest example for this context for us to consider is what Shaykh Nadeem mentioned. The idea of coming to the Quran with our pain, with our struggles, with our concerns, with our anxieties about the hostility in the air. Someone distant from the Quran is going to be like, you know, how is this happening? How could this happen? How could Allah let this happen? Why exactly? Why are you asking this? Did Allah promise you that it wouldn't happen? Actually, Allah promised you that it would happen. It's verbatim in his book, isn't it? All throughout his book.
You will be tested. This life was made to be a stepping stone to paradise, not paradise. And so you will be tested on route to paradise in your lives and in your wealth.
And you're gonna hear from those who received the scriptures before you and from the pagans, much abuse. He told you it's gonna happen. It is a test, yes. But it's an open book test. We're being told the answers before we have to take the test.
The Qur'an: Our Answer Sheet and Light
If you stay close to the answer sheet. Allah says:
Do you think you're really going to enter paradise before there comes to you the likes of what happened to the people of... It's right there. How liberating. When you see everyone around you in pain and struggling with life. Allah told you, you weren't created for this, that or the third.
The Greatest Lie of Modern Times
Do you know what the greatest lie is by the way? In modern times? It's not actually that Islam equals terrorism. There's actually a more universal one. That the purpose of life is happiness. That's a lie. And that the path to happiness is materialism. That's a lie. And Allah liberated you from all of those lies by telling you:
I didn't create the human or jinn except to devote their life to me. He's telling you this is how you function. I'm doing you a favor so you don't become dysfunctional by believing the lies. And setting yourself up with endless frustrations. It is our light. It is our lifeline. It is our open book test. The Qur'an, the Qur'an, O people of Islam. If not now, then when? May Allah write us and you among the people of the Qur'an in this world and the next. Ya Rabbil Alameen.
Spaces Never Made People, People Made Spaces
It took us a long time. You see, to get Shaykh Mikail here, it had to go through Miftah. No, no. It just didn't come just like that. Astaghfirullah. Shots fired. I met him yesterday at the conference. I was defending epic and I caught a stray, bro. Like, okay, why I get two strays, man? No, you guys are truly blessed in this community in Dallas. May Allah, the people are from here.
But for those of you are from your communities, I mean, I think from the Qur'an understanding that the Qur'an made spaces. Many of you, many of us who are sitting here are not from Dallas. And you may be thinking, okay, how do I, how do we get what Dallas has? Well, you know what? The Sahabas had Medina. They left because they understood that if they have the material, if they have the proven process to take it somewhere else, they will take it. Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiallahu anhu left Madinatul Munawwara. And the Prophet loved him. And as he's sending him off, he's telling him, the time is gonna come next year when you come back, you might not see me. And you're gonna pass by my grave.
Spaces never made people, people made spaces. And that concept is true for us through the Qur'an. Because wherever the Qur'an is taken, those places are rejuvenated. There's a reason why Allah uses the parables of water in the Qur'an as he does to align the similarities between the two. That water brings dead life, dead land back to life.
Brings it back to life. And once he brings that land back to life, people can actually do something with it. The Qur'an brings dead hearts back to life. It brings dead spaces back to life. Now it's our job to do something with it.
The Qur'an as a Source of Life
The Qur'an also is a source, just like how water in the... Allah uses the word Anzala for water, Allah uses Anzala for revelation. Because they're the greatest sources of benefit. Just like how water:
is a source of life for every physical being. The Qur'an is a source of life for every soul. Without it, there's no... هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ and guidance for everyone.
Inheriting the Book
So when we leave this community, this is our second last day being here. For most of us, we're leaving tomorrow. When we leave, and when we leave the retreat, if I can extend that conversation, what made Sheraton special despite the heat that we're experiencing there? The AC is always broken. What made it special was the Qur'an. What made it special were the conversation that we were having, the qualities that we were cultivating.
The Qur'an doesn't highlight individuals and personalities. The Qur'an highlights their qualities. Even when the Qur'an speaks about prophets, it always concludes with their qualities. إِنَّهُ كَانَ صِدِّيقًا نَّبِيًّا Highlights qualities. It doesn't focus on personalities. Only 25 prophets are even mentioned in the Qur'an. But the qualities are highlighted. When Allah speaks about believers, He tells us that anyone can make it.
We have given this Qur'an as inheritance. You know what inheritance means, my dear brothers and sisters? That nobody can take it from you. It is a God-given right. The Qur'an, this deen is Allah's gift to us. No one has a jurisdiction to take it away from us.
And then He says, فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ There are those amongst the people of the Qur'an that they oppress themselves, they're sinners. But they're still the people of the Qur'an. وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ Some of them are like us, they're just walking the line, towing the lines. وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ And some of them are like Shaykh Yasir and Shaykh Nadeem in Dallas. They're forerunners, mashaAllah. And all of us inshaAllah, but in Dallas, right? Like they're just rushing through. سَابِقٌ It's either of these three categories as long as we're not complacent in them, we're okay.
Comfort vs. Complacency
Do not confuse being comfortable with being complacent. The Qur'an doesn't cultivate the quality of staying complacent. It encourages being comfortable. Come to deen as it is, but don't stay as you are. The Sahaba, yes, came to this religion from wherever they came from, but they never stopped. It's not an end point, it's simply a starting point. But wherever we take the Qur'an, it becomes a beautiful space.
The Prophet ﷺ came to Madinatul Munawwara, my dear friends, and the city's name was Yathrib, a place of sickness. Revelation came down in Yathrib, it became Al-Munawwara At-Tayyiba, the illuminated place, it became the source of purification. The Sahaba whose hearts the Qur'an touched, they became the most righteous and the most unique individuals in the annals of our history.
The key factor of value added wasn't education. It wasn't wealth. Indeed, those are factors that we do wish to cultivate. But the key factors was the Qur'an was in their life. And the Qur'an became them. The Sahaba did not have... Few Sahaba did tafsir. If you count the number of names of Sahaba in books of tafsir, you can count them on one hand. Maybe two if you extend it. You have a few Sahaba. So you may think, with the Sahaba not educated about the Qur'an, why no tafsir? Because they lived it.
When Aisha was asked, what was the Prophet like? She said, كَانَ خُلُقُهُ الْقُرْآنَ His entire life was the Qur'an. If the Qur'an said, walk with humility, he walked with humility. If the Qur'an said, control our tongue, he controlled his tongue. If the Qur'an said, stand up for tahajjud, he stood up for tahajjud. It became a part of his life.
Moving Forward
So all of us who came for the knowledge of the tree and everyone else that is from this community, our spaces don't make us, don't break us. Indeed Musa was born in the palace of the Pharaoh, and the wife of Lut and Nuh lived with him. It doesn't make us, it doesn't break us. We can never be too comfortable. We can never become complacent because of our comfort. We gotta keep moving forward. فَاسْتَبِقُوا الْخَيْرَاتِ The retreat that we've had, it's a starting point. It's not the end point. And we keep rushing forward towards the mercy of Allah. فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ We run towards Allah. And Allah is pleased with us, He's happy with us.
And we don't deserve to be here. Allah chose us.
Hanaad ibn Qais would say, "Well, Allah, if you were to punish me, Wallahi, I'm deserving of this. But if you forgive me, your mercy and your love for us is far greater than the sins that we have."
These are a few thoughts that perhaps we can reflect on as well. Shaykh, I know shaykh, we're going in order. I don't wanna take away from shaykh Nadeem's captainship. But I'm just gonna say, this inshaAllah, moving forward, we're just gonna jump off each other. We're not gonna go in line, you know, we're gonna let people jump in. And I'm gonna keep jumping in inshaAllah. Just letting you guys know.
Justice and Mercy: Lessons from the Conquest of Mecca
Bismillah. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala ma ba'd.
Since Imam Sahib didn't recognize me, I'm not bound by his topic. So I'll have a different topic today inshaAllah. Actually, I've been thinking about a topic for the last 24 hours. If you're watching the news, which I always do, good news has come out of Bilad al-Sham. They have arrested some of the key mujrimin and zalimin that have done much zulm and fasad. They have arrested some of the butchers of the previous massacres that have taken place. And including one of them is the the cousin of the previous Firaun, Bashar al-Assad. They've caught his cousin, who was responsible for a lot of fitna and fasad.
The Balance of Mercy and Justice
So the issue comes here. The reality of mercy versus forgiveness, mercy versus justice, compassion versus non-compassion. And the seerah teaches us a very important reality. Ibn Qayyim mentions this in Zad al-Ma'ad and other books. Ibn Qayyim mentions this. He says the default that the seerah teaches us is mercy and compassion, but the seerah also teaches us that for certain people, justice takes priority over compassion and forgiveness.
And he mentions this in the context of the conquest of Mecca in which the Prophet ﷺ declared a general amnesty. اذْهَبُوا فَأَنتُمُ الطُّلَقَاءُ And he specified safe houses. Whoever finds refuge in the house of Abu Sufyan is safe. Whoever goes there is safe. Whoever stays in the haram is safe.
So he gave a general amnesty, but then he had a list of six people and he said to them, wherever you find them, execute them. And they found one of them. His name was Abdullah ibn al-Akhtal. And this is from the seerah guys. You should know this. He had fled to the haram. He was holding on to the doors of the Kaaba begging, begging for his life. And they because the Kaaba is sacred. No blood is spilt in the Kaaba. He was holding on to the doors of the Kaaba.
And so the Sahaba stopped and they sent a messenger. Ya Rasulullah, he's holding on to the doors of the Kaaba. What should we do? And the Prophet said execute him and he was executed Abdullah ibn al-Akhtal.
Why Some Were Forgiven and Others Were Not
Now, why was ibn al-Akhtal executed? And Abu Sufyan who is in charge of Badr, in charge of Uhud, who has a long list of battles he's done. He's forgiven. Wahshi. And you know what Wahshi did? What did Wahshi do? Where are the youth? I want the youth to answer. Yes, our young man. What did Wahshi do?
MashaAllah, excellent. Wahshi was the one who killed Hamza radiallahu anhu. He was forgiven. Yes, the Prophet ﷺ said hide in the back, but was he not forgiven? Right?
So I was thinking about this reality trying to understand why specific people were excused and others were not. So a little bit of research I've done. And again, this is ongoing research. Wallahu alam, this is preliminary. That if you look at the list of people who the Prophet ﷺ forgave and those whom he did not forgive. This is again preliminary analysis.
Factors for Forgiveness
Number one, number one. Those whom he forgave people who genuinely converted to Islam and it seems they were sincere in that conversion. No matter what they did. Generally, he forgave them. And on this list is Ikrimah Ibn Abi Jahl. Ikrimah's name was on the no forgive list. Ikrimah's name was on the no forgive. He was supposed to be killed wherever he was caught. That's why he fled. He was going to go to Habesha.
And on the way a mini miracle happened and he converted to Islam and he literally had a sincere conversion and he walked back into Mecca unprotected. That's how sincere he was and he made his way straight to the Prophet ﷺ told him his story beginning to end. He goes, Ya Rasulullah, I have genuinely embraced. He told the whole story. You can listen to it in any book or Masjid or what not and the Prophet ﷺ accepted. Subhanallah. Genuine conversion. From mushrik, from paganism to Islam. This has a special category.
Another factor seems to be when the animosity against Islam was not based on religion. Was not based upon sincere...
Understanding Justice and Mercy in the Seerah
It was based upon dunya and maslaha, and Wahshi is the example here. Wahshi - it was a very human reason. I'm not justifying, but let's be real here. Wahshi was promised what if he killed Hamza? Freedom. And no matter how much you hate the fact he did it, we can understand why he did it. Correct? In the end of the day, this is his ticket out, and as he himself said, "I had no desire. This was not my war," and he only did one death. He didn't do anything else.
So look, the Prophet in his - سبحان الله - this is emotional intelligence. This is genuine understanding of "look, I get it. I don't like what you did, but you didn't do it out of adawa, hiqd, baghda. You are not an enemy to Allah. You were a human and you were given this incentive. So now that you've accepted Islam, you are forgiven." Look, this is سبحان الله. What a difference here, right?
Noble Enemy versus Evil Enemy
Also, I would say - and again, this is contentious, this is my opinion, take it or leave it - I believe we can distinguish between what I call a noble enemy versus an evil enemy. A noble enemy plays by the rules. A noble enemy does what a noble person would do - that is, an opponent of yours doesn't play it dirty.
And in my analysis, Abu Sufyan is in that category, because no matter what he did, he played by the rules of his time. He didn't stoop to anything undignified or unbecoming. Yes, he was an enemy to Islam back in the day, but whatever he did, he did as a leader for his people, following the accepted norms of the time and place.
Versus somebody like Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt - and what will make you understand Uqba ibn Abi Mu'ayt? Uqba was captured as a prisoner of war in the Battle of Badr. All of the Battle of Badr prisoners were forgiven except Uqba. Uqba was brought with tied hands, he's begging for his life so much - he's literally crying and begging, and he literally says, "Ya Muhammad" - notice, he never accepted Islam to the end, there's no conversion - "Ya Muhammad, who's going to take care of my little girls?" That's how much he's begging. And no compassion - he was executed with his hands tied.
Why? Why Uqba, no mercy, and Abu Sufyan, khalas, okay, عفا الله عما سلف? Because Uqba - do you know who Uqba is? We can give a whole long lecture about Uqba. Filthy, degenerate - like beneath, like we say, below the belt. He's not following the rules of the game.
He's the one who with his own two hands picked up that carcass - the entrails of the animal, the entrails of the camel. Can you imagine? This is a filthy rich man, he's a rich person, he owns everything. The level of hatred - to go to the trash area, you know, the place where they would throw all the junk, the filthy area. He goes there, picks up a rotting carcass on his nice clothes, everything. He carries it because he wants to make a spectacle. He wants to show the people what he's going to do. He could have told his servant to do it, he could have told a slave to do it. No, he wants to do it - that shows a level of... And you know what he does? He goes up, waits for the Prophet who's praying. Of course, the Prophet doesn't know he's praying, and when he goes into sujud, he rushes up and he throws the entrails, the blood, the stuff - أستغفر الله، أستغفر الله - he does what he does, and the Prophet cannot even get up after that. That's one out of a whole long list of things.
You cannot compare Abu Sufyan to Uqba. You cannot. And so when you cross the line, you do not get away with it.
The Case of Ibn al-Akhtal
What I've seen is, if you look at the people generally speaking - something that a person was given a responsibility by the Prophet ﷺ as a Muslim and he then reneged, he rejected, that is very different than Abu Sufyan who was never Muslim in the first place.
Ibn al-Akhtal - Ibn al-Akhtal, why no compassion? Because he pretended to be a Muslim. He migrated to Medina, he got a job, he had a career working for the government for the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet sent him to go collect zakat. He went with another Muslim. Once all the money came, he killed the other Muslim, took the money, fled back to Mecca, and began saying lies about Islam.
Now hold on a sec - you have crossed the line here. We have to make an example of you. You did not play by the book. You were not doing things the way that I would call a noble enemy would do. You pretended to be Muslim, you killed another Muslim for the sake of money, you fled back, and then on top of that he began propaganda against the Prophet ﷺ. So Ibn al-Akhtal is an example of somebody you cannot have compassion for, even if he's holding on to the doors of the Kaaba - the Prophet ﷺ said, "Nope, he does not get that compassion."
The Sanctity of Mecca
By the way, for fiqh, you should understand - the Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah has made Mecca sacred from the time of Ibrahim. No bloodshed is allowed - even for me, Allah only allowed it for one hour of today - ساعة من نهار - one hour, means not even an hour time frame. Allah has only allowed it for me for this time for the conquest of Mecca. After this, it will never be allowed. It is never allowed to shed blood in Mecca, اللهم except if the criminal does the crime in Mecca, then you capture him in Mecca, then you punish him in Mecca. If somebody does the crime outside of Mecca, you do not kill him in Mecca. If somebody does a crime outside of Mecca and he flees to Mecca for protection, you are not allowed Islamically to harm a hair on his head - only if he himself inside of the Haram did something."
And that's why in 1979, when they did what they did - the fanatics did what they did - they were executed right there, because you went against the protocols of the Haram.
Lessons from the Seerah
In any case, the point here is that in light of all that is happening, the seerah teaches us - because you see, the other faith tradition that is the largest numbers-wise (but we are the largest quality-wise, and even real quantity-wise), but the other faith tradition claims "we preach forgiveness, we preach turning the other cheek." But you see, number one: they never live up to that claim. They can never live up to it. Number two: the world would never function if they actually lived up to it. You cannot constantly turn the other cheek, or else people will take advantage of you.
So the seerah teaches us the perfection. And with this I conclude - what is the perfection? The default is what? The default, guys: forgiveness, compassion, mercy. When people play by the rules, even if they're fighting you - by the way, Salah al-Din al-Ayubi, look at his relationship with Richard the Lionheart versus Guy de Lusignan of France. He executed Guy with his own hand, with his own hand, and he forgave everybody else. Why? Because Guy, that one particular French nobleman, he had actually attacked the Hajjaj, killed and massacred the Hajjaj. He had done things beyond, whereas the others were normal war, back and forth.
When you play by the rules in a noble war, even if you're the enemy and you ask for forgiveness - خير إن شاء الله، بسم الله. But when you don't play fair, when you do things that are dastardly, evil, unethical, backstabbing - what all of the Uqba and others did - and when you massacre children as we have seen here, when you take civilians and kill them on video boasting, when you challenge Muslims... أعوذ بالله، أعوذ بالله - when you get to that level, then wallahi, learn from the seerah. Learn from the seerah, because the seerah is perfection.
The default is mercy and compassion, but there are times where justice - the huqooq of Allah, the huqooq of ibad - it demands that you show the other side, and that is a part of our perfection. والله تعالى أعلم. تكبير! الله أكبر!
The Importance of Reading the Quran
Jazakumullahu khair Sheikh Yasir. As always, you know, سبحان الله, talking about the Quran - and Sheikh Mohammed Junaid was referring earlier about the Quran and how it is a source of guidance. You know, سبحان الله, because we have a lot of youth here, I really want to say something that is very important.
Allah سبحانه وتعالى's very first revelation says اقرأ - read. Why read? First of all, we're supposed to read the Quran. The Quran means a book that is read over and over again.
I ask you, and be very honest - this is not about me coming after you and busting your chops, it's not about that - I ask all of you: after Ramadan has finished, how many of us actually read the Quran on a daily basis? Just be honest and raise your hand. Very few. Outside of salah, yes. But honestly, we don't read the Quran.
The very first step in connecting with the Quran is to read the Quran. I have seen shuyukh who are being approached by young men who said, "I have a crisis of faith. Where do I begin?" And the sheikh said, "Have you even read the Quran?" He says, "No." He goes, "Start with the Quran." And he read the Quran, and guess what? He came back to the sheikh. He says, "I don't have a crisis anymore. الحمد لله, my iman is stabilized."
Knowledge and Its Transmission
When we talk about اقرأ, when we talk about الذي علم بالقلم - reading, the usage of the pen in terms of documentation, in terms of teaching, how knowledge is transmitted, how knowledge is transferred from one generation to the next generation through reading, through writing.
At the same time, we have to also understand - I want the youth to hear this because I hear a lot of youth who come to me and they say this: "I want to be beneficial. I want to benefit the community. I want to have an impact." And I usually, my very first - before I tell them what's on my mind or what I think they should do - I would generally ask them: "What do you think you want to do? Where do you think you can have an impact?"
Many Paths to Impact
And they would often say, "I think the only way you can have an impact is if you become a sheikh." If you become a sheikh. So because the shuyukh are having an impact. And I'll tell you honestly: if you really want to have an impact, you don't have to become a sheikh. There are so many areas within our community, in our society, where you can learn something, educate yourself.
Yes, there was a time within our Muslim community - the only two professions that did exist was either you have to be a doctor or an engineer. Either become a doctor or an engineer, and that is it. Then after that, many people became IT professionals. But within our own community, yes, we need more doctors, yes, we need more professionals. But we need journalists within our community. We need people who understand political science very well.
When you look at people like Mehdi Hassan, when you look at Sami Hamdi and all these people - the way they're so articulate in their speech, the way they know history - we need more and more of those. You want to have an impact? You can have an impact without you even becoming a sheikh. I'm not... I know all these seminaries are going to be like, "Well, what are you doing, man? You're taking away our students, you're taking away business." To be honest, no, I'm not saying that. Yes, there are some who... we need people in all areas.
The Need for Muslim Excellence in All Sectors
We need some areas, we need some people who are gonna belong to the religious sector. But we need people in the medical sector, in the engineering sector, in the political sector, in the journalism sector. We need people all over the board. Because if we don't do that and we only fill up small gaps, we're not gonna get anywhere. So that is why it is very important.
The Quranic Command to Read
When you talk about the Quran, the reason Allah says - it does not say "read the Quran." Just read. Because reading makes you knowledgeable. It expands your knowledge. And if I ask you, how many people actually read? How many people amongst our young men? How much do you read, just generally speaking? The answer is very little.
So that is why it's important that if you want to have an impact, just like the Quran had an impact, each one of you here can have an impact. There are some people who are making an impact. They are dispelling Islamophobia through social media. And that, alhamdulillah, that's great. But do something. You don't have to just do something in particular to have an impact.
The Quran as a Cure
Now, of course, I also want to say that the Quran - Allah says that the Quran is also a cure. It solves problems. And many times when we say cure, in what capacity is it a cure?
Finding Your Unique Path to Allah
Jazakumullah khair, Sheikh Nadim, for inspiring us to all find our way to Allah. Khalid ibn Walid radiyallahu anhu, he had a way to Allah that was unique to him. And Hassan ibn Thabit radiyallahu anhu, had a way to Allah that was unique to him. Both of them were true to their calling. Both of them were true to what they were put on this earth for, which was to spread لا إله إلا الله in any capacity.
In my brief knowledge, I don't know how many times Hassan ibn Thabit was actually on the battlefield - very few. Sometimes Hassan ibn Thabit wasn't in the battlefield. But the Prophet ﷺ excused him because he understood, لِكُلِّ فَنٍّ رِجَالٌ - everyone has a place where they have expertise.
And so what the Imam is saying is so profound - if you leave this conference, you have to leave this conference asking yourself: what is the way that I'm going to prove my mission of spreading this deen, of helping this deen? What is my contribution? And it's going to be unique for everyone. We don't need another Yasir Qadhi, we don't need another Mufti Wahab, we don't need another Sheikh Mikhail - we need another you. We need you to realize your true potential and just bring that to the ummah.
Personal Journey with the Quran
For me, as someone whose primary source of converting 22 years ago was I just picked up an English translation of the Quran. That was it. And I just started to read it. And I just started reading and I was like, I know this book. It was like some weird matrix stuff. Like I was like, I know this, I've never read this book before, but it's so familiar to me.
The Quran as Precise Medicine for the Soul
We are told over and over again that the Quran is this شِفَاء, this cure. That when we have these sicknesses that we have, whether they be emotional sicknesses, whether they be mental health sicknesses, whatever ailments they have, whether they be physical ailments, that we turn to the book of Allah.
We have to understand that there are different themes in the Quran and different verses tap on different aspects of what we need psychologically and emotionally. There are different things that we're going through in life where we feel more anxious. I have a lot of fear, I'm worried about what's happening, I'm worried about my children, I'm worried about my future, I'm worried about my family. We have other moments in life where we feel more sad, like depression comes on us and we don't feel that energy to live, we don't feel that energy to do.
The Medicine Analogy
We all know that Advil, acetaminophen, is a cure - it takes away a headache. But there's a way to take Advil. If someone had a pill and they crumbled it up and they rubbed it on their forehead, you would say, "That's not how you take the pill." There's a way to take that pill. You have to take it not on an empty stomach, eat a little food, take the pill, drink it, say Bismillah, of course, all that. And inshallah, the headache will start to go away.
I think similarly, we have to approach the Quran in a more precise way.
A Practical Example
I was talking with a Sheikh recently and there was a student that said, "Sheikh, I am feeling lost right now." Now, full transparency, have you ever in the years of your life had a day, a night, a week, a month where you just felt kind of lost? Yes, you have. Now, how do we turn to the Quran for that cure?
The Sheikh said to him, "Musa (Moses), when he got to the Red Sea, he felt confused, lost. Where do I go next? And in that moment, Musa said:
"No, I'm not lost. My Lord is with me. He will guide me."
The Sheikh said to this brother, "I want you to just take this verse and just recite this one verse. You still read Quran, but recite this one verse as a نُسْخَة, as a medicine, this one verse with the meaning in your mind. إِنَّ مَعِيَ رَبِّي سَيَهْدِينِ."
The Prophet's Example of Repetition
The hadith says that Rasulullah ﷺ would stand up in prayer and recite one verse the whole night. One verse the whole night. I used to think to myself, subhanAllah, after 20 minutes of the verse, something in me would say, go to the next. But what if that one verse was the spiritual medicine that the Rasul needed in that moment?
Maybe the Rasul needed that verse at that time.
Leveling Up Our Relationship with the Quran
It is time for us to level up in our relationship with the Quran. You have to walk up to Sheikh after Salat and you have to say, "Sheikh, I need two minutes from your time. Sheikh, what are the verses that remind me that Allah is in control?" He'll sit there for a moment and give you a few verses. And then I want you to take those verses and just recite them, recite them with fikr, with thought, looking at the meaning.
Maybe you're struggling with problems in the family. Maybe you have a bit of difficulties in the family. Pull the Sheikh to the side. Say, "Sheikh, is there one area in the Quran that talks about just a little bit of difficulty in the family?"
Being Surgical in Our Approach
What if we looked at the Quran and we didn't take the Advil, crush it and rub it on our head, but we became more surgical. We became more precise in how we apply it as a نُسْخَة, as a cure for the ailments that we have in our hearts. This is what I mean when we say the Quran is a cure for what we're going through.
We have to go through the Quran and see these lessons that have been placed before us, see these stories that have been placed before us, because in it is a lesson and a cure for what you are going through. Maybe it's sibling rivalry. Here's a question: Is there one place in the Quran you would turn to if you're having sibling rivalry in your family right now? Surah Yusuf, mashallah.
Practical Application and Healing
Whatever we're struggling with, let us connect to the Book of Allah in a deep, meaningful way. Where we truly turn to Allah, we truly turn to the Book of Allah and we truly turn to the meaning of the Book of Allah and apply that as a cure for the ailments that we have in our hearts.
Brothers and sisters, I sit with people many hours of the day and I see the pain that is in this room. The pain of different struggles, the pain of different things we're struggling with. Turn to the Book of Allah, but turn عَلَى بَصِيرَةٍ, turn with wisdom to the Book of Allah and ask your shaykh.
You have some of the most sought after shuyukh in the country. Pull them to the side and say, "All I need is one verse that talks about we shouldn't be afraid." And then take that verse, stand in qiyam al-layl, or just stand in the sunnahs after Isha and recite that verse over and over again.
فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ - this book is a cure, but it's time for us to level up how we approach the book. And so inshallah ta'ala, I hope this gives us a little insight into how we can turn to the Book of Allah as a cure for the ailments that we are going through inshallah.
The Wisdom in Quranic Stories
One interesting thing I want to add to what Sheikh Mikhail was saying earlier: when you talk about how many prophets were sent - as Rasulullah ﷺ was asked about messengers, there were 310-odd messengers that were sent. When it comes to the anbiya, there were 124,000 anbiya that were sent. But the question is: why didn't Allah mention all of their stories in the Quran? He only mentioned a handful of stories in the Quran because Allah knows our struggles.
And this is what I want us to understand - look at this moment:
Allah says to the Rasul, "Perhaps it is that you are going to almost kill yourself that they're not going to believe." He himself was struggling with something. And this is an amazing part of the Rasul.
I look at so much of the Qur'an as consoling his heart. How many verses do the mufasireen say, هذا تسلية للنبي. This is to console the heart of the Prophet. How many verses in the Qur'an, the sole function was to console, counsel, be there. And so what's so profound about what you're saying is, Allah says to the Prophet, alayhis salaam, we didn't tell you these stories as history lessons. Why did we give them to you? ما نقص عليك من أنباء الرسل ما نثبت به فؤادك. Because through these stories, your heart gets strength. Through these stories, you go, Moses did it, I could do it. Jesus did it, I could do it. Joseph did it, I could do it too.
And that's exactly what I was saying is that, the reason, I mean, Allah knows the challenges that you and I are going to go through. And the Prophet was a human being like us. Of course, he was Prophet, he was Rasulullah. But at the same time, understanding that what challenges you and I will go through, on an emotional level, on a mental level, on a family level, on a communal level, Allah knows about all these challenges. And Allah sent down all these, only a handful of things, but only a handful of Prophets, that's it. Not all the Prophets, just a handful. Because it makes you wonder why? Because it was to console Rasulullah, and additionally, to console us.
Whenever we go through challenges, go through the Qur'an. And wallahi, you will find some story that will resonate with you, that will hit the nail on the head. That's the thing that is what we need to focus on. I ask Allah to grant us the love of the Qur'an. May Allah make the Qur'an a means of strengthening us.
In times like these, so many Muslims, brothers and sisters, they can feel the Islamophobia, they can feel the walls caving in. And they feel like, where are we going to get that help? Allah says:
So inshallah, we keep these things in mind. May Allah grant all of us tawfiq.