Juz 23: Facing Your Trials With Honor | Dr. Farah Islam | Season 7

“If only… would my life be better?” We all ask this question at some point in our life.

Dr. Farah Islam reminds us not to waste our years longing for a life we don’t have. What feels like defeat may, in reality, be a hidden victory. Al-Wahhab, the Ultimate Giver, knows exactly what to withhold and what to grant, and every gift carries wisdom.

Names of Allah mentioned: Al-Rahman, Al-Raheem, Al-Azeez, Al-Ghaffar, Al-Wahhab

0:00 - Introduction
3:08 - Emphasis on Allah’s majesty and mercy 
7:35 - The imperfect mercy shown by humans
11:55 - The Qur’an and the Prophet ﷺ as gifts from Allah
14:53 - Is your pain a gift from Allah?
18:15 - “When you are silent, your heart starts to speak”
21:53 - Al-Wahhab taught you how to make du’a 
23:27 - When you think others are undeserving 
27:17 - The midlife crises of Muslim women 

Download our new e-book, “Changed by the Qur'an” by Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy, to unlock a deeper connection with the Qur'an this Ramadan: http://yqn.io/hsdu

#quran30for30 #namesofallah #omarsuleiman #ramadan #ramadanseries

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

And I also love, you know, maybe they're not just they're not really names necessary, but epithets, I guess, of Allah. Like Ya Mujias Tahab, oh mover of the clouds, or oh the one who splits the grain and the date stone, right? There's such poetry in calling upon Allah that way.

SPEAKER_03 0:21

Allah says, Salamun alad mur salin. You think of the Murasaleen, Mur Salin, the ones that've been sent by Allah and the sacrifices they made. Do you think about yourself? What sacrifices really, really, really for Allah have I made?

SPEAKER_04 0:34

You know, Surah Yaseen goes from this man that is warning his people and calling them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And they are rejecting and saying, Ma'a'anza rahnanu, min Shay, no, the most merciful didn't send anything. Asanaam aikum rahmatullah, everyone. Welcome back to Quran 3430. Alhamdulillah Brahmeen, as we are now in Juz 23, as we're in the last 10 nights, we want to remind you all to please keep us in your dua bidn nahi ta'ala. And of course, to support the work of Yaqeen, this may be uh an odd, it is an odd night. It may be Lailatul Qadr, of course. And as you're pursuing, inshaAllah ta'ala, the reward from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We hope that this content has been rewarding to you. And so, whatever is left of these nights, bidn a ta'ala, or if you like to give on the odd nights alone, please do, inshaAllah, click the link below and donate generously, bidn al-i ta'ala. And we are blessed with Alhamdulillah Brahmeen to have Dr. Farah Isnam with us. Um, subhanAllah, the benefit that we get every time you join us is tremendous, with Alhamdulillah. So we're really looking forward to to hearing your remarks. Like I know Shaykh Abdullah MasAllah like was really happy that you were going to be coming back and giving us some some uh some wisdom, some nasiha within and some some reflections. So welcome back. I was asking about your son who you referenced on the first Quran 30 for 30, who I guess was five years old at the time, you know, and now he's 10, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Yes, subhanallah, right? Alhamdulillah.

SPEAKER_04 2:03

We should start telling like our kids' ages by Quran 30 for 30. How old is he? You know, in 2020, he was alhamdulillah. May Allah bless your family, may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Always surround them with mercy and tranquility and righteousness. Allah Amin. Dr. Farah, if you don't mind me asking you, putting you on the spot, um, we're asking every guest, what's your favorite name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the moment? Is there one that immediately comes to mind?

SPEAKER_00 2:30

Oh, I love that question. So Alhamdulillah, this year we got to go for Umrah. It's the first year that we got to take our son, Alhamdulillah. So, you know, we we hoisted him up on our shoulders, let him see the maqam Ibrahim. Like there are all these special moments, Alhamdulillah, right? So the name, I think that kept coming back to me because I think when you're in the sacred lands, I think you can't help but be overwhelmed by the splendor of your Lord. It's like you're in the palace of the majestic king. And so, Yamalik, so Yamalik, I'm in your court awaiting your command at your service. Right? These are the kinds of du'as that felt really powerful at that time. And yeah, so I I hold on to those absolutely. And I also love, you know, maybe they're not just, they're not really names necessary, but epithets, I guess, of Allah. Like Ya Mujias Sahab, oh mover of the clouds, or oh the one who splits the grain and the date stone, right? The there's such poetry and calling upon Allah that way.

SPEAKER_04 3:30

Allahu Akbar. SubhanAllah. You know, that's and that's we find that precedent in the Sunnah the Prophet to relate to not just the Asma's, but also the Afik and uh the doings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's a way to bring something really specific into your life as well. May Allah bless you, Jazakullah, for that powerful reflection. Unique. I don't think anyone else has said it. Yeah, alhamdulillah. May Allah bless you. Um so this is a juz subhanAllah, juz 23 is a juz truly of majesty, like Allah Azza's majesty. And it starts in the middle of Surah Yaseen, it goes into Azumah, uh, which you know, these are two surahs that have so much uh love in the hearts of the believers. Surah Yaseen, you know, truly subhanAllah is reflected upon and recited probably of the longer surahs more than any other uh surah. Uh it's like Surah Yaseen, Surah Rahman, Surah Titkaf, right? And Surah Zumar, um, the later part of it has the famous verse of forgiveness. But between these two surahs, um there were just a few that I wanted to look at. You know, Surah Yaseen goes from this man that is warning his people and calling them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they are rejecting and saying, Ma'anza al-Rahman Shaykh, no, the most merciful didn't send anything, right? And the scholars have multiple reflections on that idea of them even mocking the caller, right? Mocking the messengers uh with the names that they are introducing the people to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with, like, oh, this this rahman you're telling us about did not reveal anything, right? This forgiving God of yours doesn't really exist. So the way that they were mocking um the messengers to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and this man is killed, and of course he says the famous words, right? Bima Rafar ali Rabbi, right? If they knew, if only my people knew how forgiving my Lord was to me and how how much he honored me, right? If they could see where I'm at right now, this is after they beat a man to death, right? The man is killed by these people, and he immediately enter into Jannah. Right? And he says, if only my people knew better. And there's something subhanAllah beautiful about that because it shows the heart of Di'awa that he wishes that his people would still gain salvation. And there's also a part of like he wishes his people who mocked him and who uh disposed of him could see how Allah Azwajal honored him. But fast forward a little bit since we're we're focusing on how Allah talks about Himself, verse 58. Salamun Kawulan Nun Rab bin Rahim. I love this ayah. Salamun Kaulun Nun Rab bin Rahim. Right, peace, a word from the merciful Lord, right? That this is the greeting of every single person into Jannah, that this is not unique to the entrance of this man into Jannah. And of course, Al-Rahim, as Ibn Abbas radiallahu mentioned, rahmanun fiddunya, rahimun fulakhira, the rahman in this world, waqanabil mu'mininin rahima, rahim is specific to the believers, the customized uh mercy of the Lord uh to the believers. Uh, you also go into a safat, subhan a rabbika, rabbil izzatiama yasifun. To your point about mentioning very particular uh actions of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Uh, glory be to your Lord, the Lord of might, far above what they attribute to him. Right, and peace be upon the messengers of Allah, and all praises belong to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Lord of all the worlds, His Majesty again, He's praising it. Uh, and then one more thing that I noticed subhanAllah is actually a repetition, but with similar context. In Surah Sad, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned Al-Azizul Ghafar, the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. Al-Aziz al-Ghafar, the Almighty, the all-forgiving. Al-Ghafar is intense. And then in Surah Zumar in the beginning, you kawirul layla al-Nahar, wa you kawiru nahar al-layl, wa saqhar Shamsal Kamar, Kulu Yajariri Ajal Musamma, Allah Azizul Ghafar. He wraps the night over the day and the day over the night. He subjected the sun and the moon. Each runs for an appointed term. Is he not Al-Aziz al-Ghafar, the Almighty, the all-forgiving? So it's it's subhanAllah like his precision. He knows his creation. He knows you. He created you in a way that you're going to fall. But he also, you know, just the hadith of the Prophet that if you were not to sin, Allah would replace you with a creation that would sin so that He could forgive them. So they could call upon Him so that He could forgive them. So it's it is truly a juz of majesty, right? But majesty and mercy at the same time, like paired together so beautifully. Shaykh Abdullah, I'd love to hear any thoughts with the Naitara from you first, and uh Dr. Farah, inshallah, then we'll get to a very specific portion of the juz.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

I like how you mentioned majesty and mercy. Actually, even the majesty of his mercy, it's majestic. Being that the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is far beyond our implementation of mercy, even if we have it at the right time. Sometimes we're merciful for the wrong, the wrong person, the wrong reasons at the wrong time. And sometimes we're not merciful to the person that needs mercy. It's always, you know, because it's within that element or within that foundation of us being human that we will make mistakes, that we will be negligent, that we will not hit the mark. But Al-Rahman, the merciful, is the one that will supply us and grant his mercy to us in all situations. But it's important, again, the common theme of the Quran, Allah is telling you about Himself to remind you. Again, this goes back to dhikr, the remembrance, which that remembrance can bring forth the mentioning of Allah through your tongue, the remembrance in the mind, the remembrance of Allah in the heart, which brings life to the heart, which can bring further bring life to the actions. But it's that connection of the heart with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala by knowing who he is and knowing who he says that he is not, and then worshiping him based on that. And then also the sacrifice. As we see in Surah Safat, the sacrifice of Ibrahim, alayhi salam, you know, when Allah says, when they both submitted, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala love, and that's one of my it's so refreshing at the very end of Surah Salat. Then it's just, man, every time I hear that I recite it, it's like, man, Alhamdulillah for Islam. I'm so happy to be a Muslim. You know, when you just see Allah says, Salamun alad mur salin. You think of the Murassaleen. Mur salin, the ones that've been sent by Allah and the sacrifices they made. Then you think about yourself, what sacrifices really, really, really for Allah have I made? You know, what sacrifices have I made, and then I attributed it to myself if I'm a father, if I'm a mother. But I don't thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I don't attribute the goodness that I've done for someone in front of that person, attributing it back to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. And then just seeing the graciousness of Allah, the mercy of Allah, the bounty of Allah, the greatness of Allah, the love of Allah, the protection of Allah, all these manifestations of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you just say, Alhamdulillah. When you recite Surah Tulfatiha, the next time we recite it, you say Alhamdulillah, and you just think of everything that Allah has given you, and everything that He's taken away from you, that you know, but imagine that which you don't know, which is much more. Just knowing that there's much more that He's given you and taken away from you, the fact that there's much more of that that you're not aware of is another reason for you to say Alhamdulillah. So when you just say Alhamdulillah, just know that there are many people out there that are suffering, and I'm not really suffering right now compared to those people like France. I mean, you know, obviously it goes without saying, our brothers and sisters in Gaza, brothers and sisters in Sudan, brothers and sisters in Junyang, in different parts of the world that are suffering physically, but subhanAllah, the death of some of those hearts brings life to our hearts, insha'Allah, to where we think about what they're going through, what they face, the strength that they've had, the wherewithal that they've had, and how that has brought them closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we're able to see it real time, we're able to see it days later, months later, and it's going to be in the history books, obviously, which always serves as a means to show us the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, manifested in different ways. But in the end of the day, in the end of the day, when you see this, do you say Alhamdulillah? You know, and that that's really the responsibility for each and every single one of us individually and collectively as communities.

unknown 12:16

Dr.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

Farah, any thoughts about just the overview of the juz before we get to the specific portion of it?

SPEAKER_01 12:21

SubhanAllah, no, that's that's a beautiful reflection. But both of you, mashallah, and mashaykh.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

SubhanAllah. No, there's so much to say about the majesty of our Lord, that his mercy is interlaced with everything that he does and everything that we are given every day. SubhanAllah. I can't comprehend that.

SPEAKER_05 12:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 12:43

So, Dr. Farah, on that note, um there is something great, the greatest that was given to the greatest, that being the Prophet uh, which is the Quran being revealed to the Prophet and when the Musharri Kun asked, you know, how come the mercy of your Lord, the treasures of the mercy of your Lord, right, why would they come to you? Why not us? Allah Azwajal responds with, He is Al-Aziz, Al-Wahhab in the suiz. Uh can you tell us a little bit about the context of this ayah and what are some of the wisdoms of Allah emphasizing his might and his generosity in this ayah?

SPEAKER_00 13:21

It's a phenomenal verse, it's a powerful verse. It's uh it's a question posed back, it's a counter to the quraysh, you know, how delusional can you be to think that the gifts of God would be dictated by you, right? And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he refers to his Khazain al-Rahmah, which I love, this idea of that Allah has a depository, a treasure house of his mercy. And what is that gift that he's telling us he's giving to us every day from that treasure house? He's speaking of the Prophet that he chose the Prophet out of this depository or treasure house of mercy to be the mercy to all the worlds. That's the gift that the infinitely giving chose to give us every day. Number one, the very word of God, and number two, his example as he was the walking Quran, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And so, in this way, our our our Al-Wahhab, the infinitely giving, gives to us every day, and we can't comprehend the boundlessness of his gifts. You know, there's that beautiful quote from Ibn Ata'il Rahimullah who reminds us, he tells us, you know, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose the hereafter to be the abode where he rewarded his believing servants because this dunya is too limited, right? Only in eternity can he give us all that he wants to give. And oftentimes we live in the if only, right? We think, you know, if only I'd married that person, if only I was born into a different family, if only I, you know, if only I'd gotten Bitcoin, right? That's my favorite one right now. Um, then my life would be better, right? But that isn't where al-Wahab, that isn't where the infinitely giving placed you. Don't waste your years longing for a life you didn't have. What looks like defeat can actually be victory from the divine. All those years when you thought that you know you only saw poverty and missed opportunities, he has only been giving to you. You know, my sisters and my brothers, you know, maybe there will come a day when the veil of the unseen will be lifted for us. And maybe one day we'll see that that illness that afflicted you in this life was really the angels coming as heralds of good news to you, telling you that if you took this tribulation with uh with the with the you know, with honor, with uh, you know, with steadfastness, with perseverance, and you held on to Allah through it, this could be your ticket to Jannah. And so maybe, maybe, when that illness afflicted you, that moment when it did, maybe it was actually the angels bathing you in gold from the heavens. And subhanAllah, we can't comprehend what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has been giving to us all this time. That if that veil were lifted, you would be overwhelmed by the gifts of your Lord. And you know, this reflection, this meaning making, this turning back, this reframing. I understand that oftentimes it comes after the fact, right? And it doesn't take away the pain or the loss or the grief, but it can help give you a capital R reason for why you went through what you did. And we need that. That that solace makes all the difference. You know, Allah is teaching us through this that to strip ourselves of the illusion of this dunya, right? That this clinging to this worldly life is exactly what brings us pain. And it's weirdly counterintuitive, I know, but I'm telling you that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is training us not to feel as much pain by putting us through pain. But that's the exact logic that we use when we in strength conditioning, right? When we work out, we create micro tears in our muscle fibers. And when our muscle fibers repair and grow back, they don't grow back to baseline, they grow back stronger. And the same is true of the believer. You know, Allah will keep sending you his gifts until you wake up. You aren't the and I'm sorry, they're not gonna feel like gifts to you, but he will keep sending you his gifts of tribulation until you get the message, right? Because if you don't learn the inherent lessons wrapped in those gifts of tribulation, they will be wasted upon you. They will wash off you like runoff washes off the land. But Allah will keep sending you those gifts because Allah loves you that much. He is telling you, I need you to wake up. And so this is not a removed God, this is not a wrathful God, this is a giving God who loves you. Satan gifts you with poverty. Allah gifts you with his forgiveness and an unending eternal garden. So return, dear soul, to your Lord. Return to an Aziz and Wahhab.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Allahu Allah. Allah. It's hard to masha follow that. May Allah bless us. It's always our truly always hard.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Um subhanAllah, that's I'd love to hear. What what do you think? No, mashallah. I mean, you know, al-Aziz al-Wahhab, you know, these these beautiful names uh that Allah is the mighty and He bestows uh with might, you know, His bestowment of His blessings and his granting of His mercy is always with might and with authority, which shows the authoritative nature, if you will, of the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And I I'm I I love how you just mentioned turning back to Allah. I mean, we're in the month of Ramadan. This is the time to really ponder, to think, to hold yourself accountable, to ask those crucial questions that you haven't asked. And let's be honest, you've probably denied asking those questions alone because you haven't had the time to be alone, because you never wanted to be alone in order to face that. But when you are, it serves as a huge opportunity. I forgot who mentioned it, but it was basically when you are silent, the mind starts to speak, you start to talk, your heart starts to cry out, and that's what Allah wants from you. He wants you, He wants your heart to cry out to Him. He wants you to be vulnerable to Him, He wants you to think about those sins that you've covered up and don't want to think about. But that time that you're alone with Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, serves as a huge opportunity to recall and have that history of what you've done and what you didn't do, and then to face it. To face it. And when you face it, you realize, subhanAllah, okay, I'm here now. I feel horrible. Nobody's watching, nobody's listening to me. You know, subhanAllah, I remember years ago, Shaykh, you you mentioned something. It was it was nice. I think we're in the old value ranch mess, and you were just talking about making dua, and then you you just stopped and you were like, just go. Just go. When you're making that du'a, just go. Don't worry about the Arabic, don't worry about the, just go. And that's what Allah wants for. He just wants you to just go. And remember that He is Al-Aziz. He is all the almighty, he has the might, he has the strength to overpower any obstacle that you're facing by granting you that tranquility that you never thought that you would get, that sikinah, the closure, even. I mean, how many of us have relatives that's passed away and we think about wow, I wasn't I was not good to that person? I didn't make amends with that person. I didn't think this person would die of COVID, for example. I was so surprised. I didn't visit that person when I said I was going to. When they're in the hospital, when they're in the ICU. Now they're out of the ICU and they give me salams and they're happy. But when I see that person, it's like, I didn't even visit them. I told them I was gonna come and visit them. Those that have been locked up, for example, I never sent them a letter. And then they see you, and it's like, yeah, he's he's smiling, but I know inside I didn't do what I wish would have been done for me if I was in that situation. Right? You know, so it's important for us to realize this month of Ramadan is a huge opportunity for you to wake up, for you to ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for forgiveness. For you to think about your life, the good, the bad, the ugly, and each one of these situations that you face in your life to think of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his name, names, and attributes and realize that Allah can overpower any obstacle that you're facing and He can transform it into something that is good beat in the subhanahu wa ta'ala. But it takes that small effort, that small effort, that step to run towards him, to walk towards him. As the Prophet said it. You walk towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you hardwill. And yuhadu is like to make a brisk run, meaning basically he will give you more than you expect, and more than, let's be honest, than we deserve. Right.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

I almost feel like not spoiling uh the last 10 minutes with any reflections. It's beautiful. MashaAllah, extremely beneficial. Um just two dimensions that come to mind. Like Allah gifts Al-Wahhab gifts dua. So even like the way to call upon him, the way that our story starts as humanity is tawbah and dua. Fatalakqa adum al-Rabihi, right? Kerimat. Adam a was given the words to call back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Like you made the mistake, and the one that you made the mistake towards is going to give you the words, inspire you with the right words to say so that he can forgive you. That's the story of human beings. So sometimes, like I see in arafa that just go. People come and they're like, um, they got their whole list, you know. I'm like, all right, I gotta make this dua. I'm like, listen, at some point, you just put that list away and just go. Like, subhanAllah, the du'a will come. And people are like, how am I gonna make dua for six hours? And then subhanAllah, the sunset comes in a rafa. And I can't tell you how many times people come up and be like, that went by so quick. Yep, like I don't know. Where did I where did it go? Where did the six hours go, right? Like, I can't believe that happened, you know, when you were in Tawaf, right? Some like that seventh round came so quick. Like, wait, I still have more to give, right? And Allah is giving you to give and asking Him, because at the end of the day, the bounty will be rewarded, provided for, and with His blessing and with His might and with His mercy. So that's one dimension of this. But the other one, which is just from the ayah, subhanAllah, is thinking about because we're talking about the pairing of might and mercy, right? There's an element of Quraysh looking at the Prophet like, he doesn't deserve that. Yeah, he has great character, sure. I mean, he's a Sadak al-Ameen, we love him, wonderful man, but he's not like us, like he doesn't deserve all that. You know, we deserve the revelation. So why didn't the Quran come to us? Why didn't this happen to us, right? Like, why him? You know, and so that is an you know an abuse of the concept of majesty, right? You're trying to limit the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and you're trying to extol yourself at the same time, right? So you're making yourself bigger than you actually are, and you're belittling that person, and you're trying to limit the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as well, all at the same time. So you are violating every single principle that's coming within these verses, and that's quraish with the Prophet. But sometimes we have to also be honest with ourselves. Like, yeah, one of the questions that comes up, and I think it's a particular theological uh problem, is why is Allah letting evil people get away with things? And you know, there's a whole uh, you know, pathway to answer that and to reckon with that from the Quran and the Sunnah. And we've had to do so in the wake of the genocide, right? Um, if not before that. But there's also another one, which is you know, this person doesn't seem to be that great, but great things are happening to them, right? And they're not exerting themselves, but like the mercy of Allah just seems to be descending upon them. And there's so many wisdoms, and the idul that will go down like trajectories, and so they could say, perhaps that person needs, just like the Prophet was taught Mu'alaftul Kulub, right? Like, yeah, he gave a bunch of camels to certain people that did not sacrifice that much for Islam, right? In fact, they were enemies to Islam for 20 years, and the ansar are looking at that, like, wait a minute, why? But they were worried that perhaps that was a sign of the favoring of the Prophet to those people. They weren't worried about the bounties themselves, they were worried about what the bounties represented. Allah could be giving someone more sometimes because they need that softening of the heart. Like they can't handle a greater test. And that's one possibility, but there are a hundred other possibilities you don't know. Focus on yourself with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the mercy that He gives you, that you're taking for granted and the blessings that you're not paying attention to. And don't try to limit and don't try to interfere with the domain of the divine and you know, allotting or uh judging uh, you know, who deserves what. That's all with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala at the end of the day. And I think that's an element of this, of course, on the basis of character, like um uh what do they call like when they do the scholarships, when they do financial aid, stuff like that, they have merit-based. If if it was merit-based, the Prophet is deserving, you know, like on pure merit. I mean, 40 years, spotless, if if there was a way to apply for prophethood, right? Like the Prophet is the most worthy person. But prophethood is not applied for, prophethood is chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That's why Allah mentions Musa innahuqana. Mukhlasan, mu'hlisan is uh to choose a path of sincerity and to earn. Mukhlasan is to be chosen by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Al-Muslafa sallallahu alayhi wa shiwam. He's chosen. But even if it was merit-based, he still would be the most deserving of the people. But Allah chooses and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has wisdoms and do not interfere with his might and with his uh mercy. Uh Dr. Farah, if you have any thoughts on that. If not, I want to ask you another question if I can squeeze one in. So but I'd like to give you the floor first if you have any thoughts on anything else that was said.

SPEAKER_01 28:00

No, he even put the question, inshallah. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 28:03

My question actually builds on what you said and and what we were talking about here. Uh you actually have um, you know, uh one of the rare spots of dealing with the community at a grassroots level, counseling, but also teaching. So it's theory, it's practice. You know, it's sort of like the imam versus the academic, right? There's the pastoral versus the um, you know, the 30,000 uh foot view, which sometimes doesn't give you some of those intricacies. If someone were to ask you, like, hey, I'm sure you get asked this question all the time, by the way, because we get asked as imams, right? We both serve as imams in communities too. Um, hey, what are you seeing right now amongst Muslims and what should we be thinking about? You know, what should we be considering right now? Like, what are you seeing in terms of a rise amongst Muslims that people really need um to pay attention to? What would that be?

SPEAKER_00 28:51

SubhanAllah, it's huge. I think I'm being fascinated over and over again by the fact that it's women, obviously, mostly who come, that they oftentimes at this kind of midpoint of life come to a crossroads. That maybe the life that I've built for myself isn't serving me. All the people pleasing, the precedences basically that I've set up has set me up for failure. And I want to change. And a lot come in thinking that that means I need to change my husband or I need to change, you know what I mean? That that's that's oftentimes. But then through reflection and talking together, it is about, well, wait a minute, what are the patterns that I set up for myself in my life, right? What were the destructive things that I did and that I I kind of built this life for me? I built this road, but you know what? I can build a different road now. I can take a different path. And that's that's gonna be painful. It's gonna have to be, you know, going back and unlearning all these terrible kind of habits that I've learned that I thought would help me get through life and relearning, but then reforging that path. It is a rebirth. And so I'm seeing that over and over again in various confirmations. Um, subhanAllah. And it's yeah, it's painful, and it's painful to hear all those stories as well.

SPEAKER_04 30:17

Shaqadullah is there's something on the tip of your tongue you're thinking of as she's saying that.

SPEAKER_03 30:20

I mean, do do they feel that uh you said painful? What's the percentage of them that just say, you know what, Bismillah, I'm gonna do it? And some of them just kind of stay back and uh dwell in their um, I guess in their current stressful situation.

SPEAKER_00 30:37

They they will continue to dwell for a long time. It's true. It's true, subhanAllah. It's uh changing yourself, you know, defeating your nafs. I mean, what you're seeing, uh, for example, what you what you mentioned, Shaykh, you know, not putting those sins under the rug, lifting that rug, seeing all the closets or all the skeletons I've been carrying in that closet all my life, that requires courage. And I think I think the vast majority of prefer not to do that in our lives, right? We will continue just on the path that we've built. It is easier, it's comfort, and that's what we seek. But we can inshallah push each other to more.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

Inshallah, may Alla bless you. Powerful reflections. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reward you, and may Allah Azza allow us to heed this advice. Uh, dear brothers and sisters, please, inshallah, keep us in your draw in these last ten and push yourselves bid the night to change. May Allah Azwajal guide our hearts to Him. And we'll see you tomorrow, inshaAllah.