40) Quran Study: Surah 359

Speaker 2 (0:03) The Qur'an that deals with the sad faces, and how the sad faces are in the hereafter. (0:09) And he really did fantastic research, and he compiled a beautiful list of all the verses in the Qur'an, covered the subject completely. (0:17) Then when he stood up for the khutbah, for the prayer, and he looked at all the most important people on earth in front of him, he forgot everything. (0:29) So he didn't tell you anything about it. (0:30) The list was sitting right there, and I saw it, but he was in no condition to be reminded of it. (0:44) I just wanted to know that he did very good research on the subject. (0:48) And one of those days we're going to have him deliver it, when he gets enough courage. (0:57) The third item I'd like to apologize for the mess up in the arrangement, because of the big crowd, alhamdulillah. (1:04) The sleeping section now is divided in two. (1:06) John is on this side, and Dan and Francisco are on the other side. (1:10) So, I don't know, this may cause havoc. Speaker 7 (1:14) Because it is contagious. Speaker 2 (1:17) So if I fall asleep, it's because John is on this side. (1:22) Where is Jason? (1:23) Is he here today? (1:24) No? (1:24) I mean, he's missing his mom. (1:27) I know, he belongs in the sleeping section, so I looked, but I didn't see him. (1:37) Our teacher tonight is Catherine, and we are in surah 3, verse 57. (1:56) Take it away, Catherine. Speaker 1 (2:04) In the example of Jesus, as far as God is concerned, it's the same as that of Adam. (2:09) He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was. (2:13) This is the truth from your Lord. (2:15) Do not harbor any doubt about it. (2:17) If anyone argues with you after this, knowledge will come to you. (2:20) Then say, Let us summon our children, and your children, our women, and your women, ourselves, and yourselves. (2:27) Then let us invoke God's curse upon the liar. (2:30) This narration is the absolute truth. (2:35) Absolutely there is no other God besides God. (2:37) Absolutely God is the Almighty, the Most Wise. (2:41) If they dispute these facts, someone commented last week that we didn't plan to be talking about Jesus' birth and the circumstances. (2:57) God planned it that way. (2:59) And I, for one, am real grateful that Christmas is over. (3:03) However, in the process, a lot more people know that I don't celebrate Christmas. (3:08) Because I think all of us have had the opportunity to say to people, when they say, Merry Christmas, it was a good opportunity for all of us who were involved in that kind of a game-of-cheats retreat. (3:24) Not only to the children, as Deshaun talked about, but to the people that are around us. (3:34) I came to Lydia before we started that one of the things I discovered in the process was that I do know a lot, but I don't think about it anymore. (3:44) So much happens on a daily basis in this mosque. (3:48) So much information is given to us. (3:50) I do nothing. (3:51) I just come here, the sky opens up, and there's more information. (3:54) And that's true for all of us. (3:55) It's overwhelming. (3:57) And then we're ready for the next week. (3:58) We don't even have a chance to process that, and there's something else. (4:02) So when someone asks a question who doesn't come here and doesn't know Islam and God alone, I find that my mind goes blank. (4:11) I forget a lot of stuff. (4:13) Because I don't know how to go back to where they are. (4:16) And so this has been a real period of exercise for me to begin to teach people things that I haven't thought about and that I have taken for granted for a very long time. (4:27) The questions that people ask are very basic, and they need to be answered by very basic answers, which I have not thought about. (4:34) I've just taken for granted as I move through this symphony of information that falls on us. (4:46) In verse 61, if anyone argues with you after this knowledge has come to you, let us summon our children and yours, our women and your women, ourselves and ourselves, and invoke God's curse upon the liars. (4:58) These are the most valuable to us, our families. (5:03) And I am amazed at how many people insist on bringing this curse upon themselves and their families. (5:10) They do fight their way to hell. (5:14) They insist that their way is correct, and they will not hear anything. (5:18) Even after they've asked the questions and we've answered them, they still won't hear. (5:23) Their minds are really closed. (5:24) It is more than a veil. (5:26) It is a barrier, and it is solid. (5:32) In verse 62, again, we have absolutely miraculous proof on a daily basis that what we're reading is God's voice, living voice to us. (5:46) All we do is open this book, and God is speaking to us. (5:50) And we have proof of that, absolute proof, so much proof that we don't even think about that anymore. (5:56) We just wait to see how many more numbers there are, and how do they fit together. (6:00) There is absolutely no way in. (6:02) There's no way to assail this miracle. (6:04) There's no way to destroy the code. (6:06) It is now so overwhelming. (6:08) And that's only through Surah 1. (6:10) We're stuck on Surah 1. (6:12) I believe that if all the methods and the research that we've used to date are applied to the rest of the Quran, I think there's going to be another torrent, and it's going to be literally years, even with computers and with everyone working on it, and there are going to be even more. (6:27) How we are going to teach this to other people, I don't know. (6:30) We're talking about textbooks, because we've been brought along on a slow basis, every day, every week, every month, and to begin to even explore this with other people, it's overwhelming. (6:47) 63, if they dispute these facts, then God is fully aware of the evil doers. (6:52) To you is yours, and to me is mine. (6:55) I do not worship what you worship. (6:56) You do not worship what I worship. (7:01) I'm not responsible for what you do, and you're not responsible for what I do. (7:06) It takes away the need for the argument, and God tells us not to waste our time with people who do not believe. (7:15) So we need to remember that when we're talking with people. (7:18) Just leave them. (7:19) This is what you believe. (7:20) You've done the best you could. (7:21) You've delivered the message. (7:23) It's up to them. (7:24) God willing, they'll think about it after you leave. (7:27) Are there any comments, suggestions, questions? Speaker 4 (7:47) Thank God. (7:50) Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Speaker 1 (7:55) No one else? (7:57) I can't see behind me. Speaker 3 (8:14) One of the messengers asked to be reassured, and birds or parts of birds were placed on various hills and falls to reassure that messenger's heart. Speaker 1 (8:54) I think the human being requires assurance, including the messengers and the prophets. (9:02) There are examples all through the Koran where God teaches all of the human beings, including his messengers, and they do need reassurance. (9:13) It's very difficult to take the mantle of prophet and messenger on your shoulders and bear it. (9:20) To ask over and over again, why me? (9:23) What's required of me? (9:24) Moses did that. (9:25) Abraham. (9:26) They all did. (9:28) Lot, Noah. (9:30) And God supported them and reassured them. Speaker 4 (9:32) So I think it's a human tendency, and God chooses to support the mess put here. Speaker 1 (10:02) I meant that as a metaphor, not as a reality. (10:09) Did you have something else? Speaker 3 (10:22) It's used to communicate with beings. (10:29) The activation also depends. (10:48) And also they may, as they become partitions of themselves from God, and they are really a particular messenger than other people. Speaker 2 (11:10) If I want to generalize, this is for everybody. (11:13) This verse says, This is the person whose laws have no doubt about it. (11:19) If anyone argues with you, then say, let us call our family. (11:22) So this is for everybody, including the messengers. Speaker 1 (11:40) Verse 64, say, O followers of the Scripture, let us come to a logical agreement between us and you, that we do not worship except God, that we never set up any idols beside him, and never set up each other as gods beside God. (11:55) If they reject such an agreement, then say, They bear witness that we are Muslims. (12:00) O followers of the Scripture, why do you argue about Abraham when the Torah and the Gospel were not revealed until after him? (12:07) Do you not understand? (12:09) You have argued about things you knew, but why do you argue about things you don't know? (12:13) God knows while you do not know. (12:16) I'm going to stop here and go back to 64. (12:20) A major error that we make, and I have to include me in that, is that in casual speech we attribute anything and all kinds of things to other people, even to the driver, if we're driving along, who cuts in front of us too close, and we say, why did he do that? (12:37) Nothing happens. (12:38) It's just God's doing. (12:41) To attribute anything, which I've used frequently the example of anything to our boss. (12:46) If we get a raise, it came from the boss. (12:48) If we get chastised, it came from that person. (12:52) And it has not come from that person. (12:55) It has come from God. (12:56) It's designed for us. (12:58) And it's millions of little ways that we can remember God every day. (13:02) My son has just gotten a car recently and has learned to drive, for example. (13:06) And there are times when people do some really foolish things on the road. (13:10) And he gets very angry very quickly. (13:12) And then after that second, he'll turn around and say, God did this, and I don't need to be angry about it. (13:18) I need to be a better driver. (13:21) And alhamdulilah, that will happen. (13:22) But that's just a minor example. (13:24) But every day in our lives, someone will come into my office, for example, and bring me a book to read. (13:30) And it will turn out to be something that I need or have questions about. (13:35) For example, Yadiv recently gave a chutzpah and was talking about the decimal places in pi. (13:42) And I remember studying that in high school. (13:45) It so happens that at that point, I got the Reader's Digest at home, and there was an incredible article about an Indian man who memorized 38,000 of those decimal places so far. (13:57) And he had a favorite section from the 2,000th to the 3,000th. (14:02) He liked that section particularly well. (14:05) So those kinds of things don't happen by accident. (14:09) Everything that happens to us, we need to remember, does not happen as a result of another person, but as a result of God designing our lives for us to bring us to the truth. (14:19) I can't imagine why anyone would want to know that many decimal places in pi. (14:28) And in verse 65 and 66, the reason for argument is many, but it only boils down to ego. (14:38) People's ego is affected if they need to argue, especially about things they don't know. (14:43) They don't want to appear foolish, or they want to obtain something that they don't think is already there, either control of other people or some status or some power, or to appear different in people's eyes than they really are. (14:57) So ego is almost always involved. (14:59) And the question about why do we argue about things we don't know is because we're bad. (15:05) We're going to argue about things we don't know. (15:07) We're going to find a way to justify what we're doing, even if it's saying something we don't know or implying that we know something we don't know. (15:17) It's one of the reasons that we need to be extraordinarily careful when we are talking to people about the Quran and about God alone. (15:24) We do really need to know what we're talking about. (15:27) And when questions are asked of us that we don't have at our fingertips, we need to research them and go back with the correct answer and not guess. (15:34) And again, I speak from personal experience. (15:36) I frequently have found myself having to say, I don't know, let me look it up because I don't know, or let me ask. (15:44) And to get into arguments with people who are, and I've had this experience too, someone who is extraordinarily well-versed in the Bible, the New Testament or the Old Testament, I'm not. (15:54) And I don't have the Quran committed to memory. (15:57) I need to look things up in the Quran frequently. (15:59) So for me to argue with those people is foolish. (16:02) I mean, there's just no way for me to go. (16:06) So the point is made that we need to know exactly what we're discussing and not to pretend to know something we don't know. (16:14) Does anyone have something to add? (16:16) Or enlarge upon in those few verses? Speaker 2 (16:20) Yes, I don't think we can finish up 64 without emphasizing this. (16:25) But listen, listen from God. (16:27) Say, go forward with Christians, Jews and Christians, it will come to a logical agreement that worship God alone. (16:36) So why shouldn't any Christian or Jew accept this? (16:41) What is wrong with this idea of worshiping the one who created us, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who controls our happiness and joy and provisions? (16:54) Why do you think a Christian will not accept this project? (16:57) Let us worship God alone and forget the human factors, Muhammad and Jesus and Mary and so on. (17:05) The only reason a Christian will reject, or a Jew will reject, a suggestion like this would be ego. (17:11) How would I face my friends? (17:14) I'm going to tell my friends, my relatives, my parents, that I don't care about the humans anymore, I only worship God. (17:21) I don't care if Jesus is blessed with that or if Muhammad is blessed with that. (17:25) Therefore, that person is worshiping his or her ego. (17:31) It's a logical agreement. (17:35) O Christians and Jews, let us come to a logical agreement between us and you that we do not worship except God, that we never set up any idols beside Him. (17:45) We come to the realization that idols have no power to benefit you or harm you. (17:51) The idols have nothing to do with controlling the rotation of the sun or the moon or the earth or the length of day and night or providing for you. (18:02) Surah 29 we read that the idols you idolize possess no provision for you, so keep the provisions from God alone. (18:11) They can do nothing for us, so the agreement is, do not worship except God and we never set up any idols beside Him and never set up each other as gods beside God. (18:24) When God tells me that the ablution is four steps and some other mullah tells me the ablution is nine steps, if I do the nine steps, I'm setting up this mullah or teacher as a god. (18:39) The teachings that you follow come from your god. (18:43) If you follow the teachings given to us by God, you worship Him, God. (18:47) So this is a very logical agreement. (18:51) And the only reason any Jew or Christian or Hindu or Buddhist would reject it would be ego. (19:01) And we learn from Quran that the majority of people in hell are there because they went along with their relatives or friends. (19:11) The Arabic is because of your friendship in this life, you sacrifice your eternal happiness, which begins here. (19:23) So you can see the logic of it. (19:30) We have to be very sensitive to the fact that God adorns the people's beliefs in their eyes. (19:38) And so we have to examine our own beliefs. (19:40) How do we know we are not way off and God is adorning our way in our eyes? (19:45) How do we know? (19:46) We have to examine ourselves critically. (19:48) We have to examine the logic of your beliefs. (19:53) Critically, you have to be critical of yourself. (19:56) Until you prove that you are not an idol worshipper. (19:59) You have to start with the assumption that you are an idol worshipper, that you are not on the right path. (20:05) And try very hard to prove this. (20:06) If you fail, then you are okay. (20:11) So it is all logical. (20:17) 65 is telling us that our laws, our practices go all the way to Abraham. (20:25) So there is no argument between us and the Christians and the Jews. (20:29) We do not follow the Mosaic law. (20:32) We do not follow the Christian law, Jesus, the modification that came through Jesus. (20:38) We go all the way to Abraham. (20:40) This is the religion of Abraham, as stated in the Quran. (20:44) If we are to pinpoint the Prophet through whom God sent the scriptures to teach us, the practical scriptures came through Abraham, and the Quran came through the Prophet Muhammad. (20:56) And this line is, so this book 65 is telling the Jews and the Christians, why are you arguing with us? (21:02) We have nothing to do with your Mosaic laws. (21:08) And this follows the agreement in 64 to worship God alone. (21:15) And as you know, the theme of this book, when you open the front cover, says that the Jews, the Christians, the believers, anyone who believes in God until last day and leads a righteous life will make it to heaven. (21:26) So we have no argument with anybody, as long as we all worship God alone. (21:31) If the Christians and the Jews worship God alone, they worship the same God that I am worshipping. (21:36) And there, immediately, there is a brotherhood, right there and then. (21:39) But once we go down to the human limit, the human factor, then we fight. (21:44) Because my Muhammad will be better than his Jesus, and so on. (21:48) But as long as we are staying with God alone, we are united. (21:52) And the Quran repeats this. (22:01) So we go back to chapter 67, unless there are other additions. (22:13) Yes, there is a prophet, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and Jacob. (22:19) They all received the practical scriptures. (22:23) We read this in 2173. (22:25) God gave Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ishmael, the practical scriptures. (22:35) And this religion continued to be, you know, Abraham, Islam, until Moses came. (22:48) 67. Speaker 1 (22:49) Abraham was neither Jewish nor Christian. (22:52) He was a monotheist Muslim. (22:54) He never was an idol worshipper. (22:56) The people most worthy of Abraham are those who followed him and this prophet and those who believe. (23:01) God is the Lord and Master of the believers. (23:05) Some followers of the scripture wish to lead you astray, but they only lead themselves astray without perceiving. (23:11) O followers of the scripture, why do you reject these revelations of God while you bear witness? (23:17) O followers of the scripture, why do you confound the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth knowingly? (23:24) Some followers of the scripture said, Believe in what was sent down to the believers in the morning and reject it in the evening. (23:30) This may discourage them and may cause them to revert. (23:34) You must believe only those who follow your religion. (23:38) Say, the right guidance is God's guidance. (23:40) If they claim that they have equally good guidance or argue with you about the Lord, then say, all the blessings are in God's hands. (23:47) He bestows them upon whomever he wills. (23:50) God is bounteous and omniscient. (23:52) He showers his mercy upon whomever he wills. (23:56) God possesses unlimited grace. (23:59) 67 and 68. (24:02) Rashad has already spoken about. (24:05) Abraham was God's friend. (24:07) And by bypassing the human factor and going back to Abraham, we can avoid the pitfalls that the majority of people fall into. (24:17) In 69, the followers of some people wish to lead you astray. (24:22) God's guaranteed that for those of us who worship him alone and work to stay on his path, that we will be protected from Satan. (24:34) In order to do that, however, we need to be knowledgeable about what's coming. (24:40) We need to have examined ourselves as critically as Rashad has talked about, constantly. (24:44) When someone does ask us questions, that should cause a critical examination of ourselves and our beliefs and where we got them from. (24:51) If we come out of that worshiping God alone and being able to feel secure in what we know, not just believe, but what we know, we're protected by God. (25:02) And those people that want to lead us astray will find themselves quite alone on the day of judgment. (25:09) And certainly without us near them, we shall be lost. (25:14) In 70, why do you reject these revelations of God while you bear witness? (25:19) We all were a witness before we came to earth. (25:22) And all were given signs through God's mercy on earth. (25:25) God didn't have to do that. (25:27) He didn't have to give every single person signs, but he does, and every single day. (25:32) Not extraordinary mathematical miracles in each of our lives every day, but in many, many other ways. (25:40) The argument with the Jews or the Christians about worshiping God alone, once we're very clear about it, and when they still refuse by saying, but I do worship God alone. (25:52) And then I've learned to ask things like, well, when you pray, do you ever say things like, we ask this in Jesus' name? (25:59) Well, yes, but that's God alone. (26:01) And it's not God alone, and they can't see the difference. (26:04) They don't hear the difference. (26:11) Again, when people are confounding the truth with falsehood or concealing the truth knowingly, their ego is at work. (26:18) There's a human tendency to mold God to fit the human need as they see them in this life. (26:25) And so we ascribe to God what we know as human feelings or human tendencies. (26:31) We don't value God as he should be valued, unless we're very fortunate and God guides us to know him as he really is. (26:39) It's interesting to read a lot of anthropological studies when you listen to music or when you look at art and when you read about primitive peoples and the gods that they worship. (26:52) They wanted the gods to be like them because that's all they understood. (26:57) We still do that, and we know more today. (27:00) We still do that. (27:01) There are still people who think that God is not God, that God does not control everything, that God only can intervene after we have done everything we can do. (27:10) And they forget, they don't even get to calling on God because they think they can do everything themselves. (27:15) The other thing is fear. (27:17) People fear letting go of their own egos. (27:20) They fear letting go and submitting. (27:22) The word submitting is almost adverse to all human beings. (27:27) We don't want to admit that we are submitting to something or someone else. (27:32) We resent it, as a matter of fact. (27:36) The most vivid example is, again, something Lydia and I were talking about when we first came to the mosque. (27:44) Our feelings, we would get through a whole study and have lots to think about, and then all of a sudden everybody got up in line to pray and put their heads down on the floor. (27:56) People don't want to do that. (27:58) They really don't want to do that. (28:01) They look at that and they go the other way and find that a very odd thing. (28:05) They can almost get by the lines, they can get by everybody saying the same words together, and even the bow, when it comes to prostration, 99% of them get back out the door as quickly as they can. (28:18) It's only God's mercy that I stayed, that Lydia stayed, that most of us stayed and came and had some more questions. (28:27) Because submission and to submit to someone else or something else is very, very hard for us. (28:32) We're always fighting. (28:35) That's what we're taught from the time we're small. (28:38) And the idea of submitting to God, especially if you don't believe that God is God, that God is the one from whom all provisions come, that God is the one that created this earth and all of us, and that we unwillingly submit whether we want to or not. (28:51) If you don't believe that, then submission is going to be the same as if you were in prison for the rest of your life. (28:57) And people cannot tolerate that thought. (28:59) So our ego acts to give us a false sense of security by refusing to submit to God. (29:06) And it is a false sense of security. (29:09) In 72, a common form of interaction between human beings is deception. (29:18) And I think we've all been party to this at some level and not necessarily discussing the worship of God alone. (29:25) It's easier in some cases to let people believe that you understand and are in agreement with them. (29:30) There are many reasons. (29:31) You might be after something and the only way to get it is to lead people to believe that you are with them in what they think. (29:39) It's deliberate. (29:41) We need to understand that deception is a deliberate choice on the part of a person. (29:47) You don't deceive someone if you're unaware that you're doing that. (29:52) You only deceive if you make a choice to deceive. (29:55) And if we do that, we're off the path by many miles. (30:03) God willing, those of us who are on the path will not be discouraged and will not fall victim to this, but it would be very easy to do. (30:12) I think all of us, too, have had opportunities to wonder as we're talking with people about worshiping God alone and the peace and mercy of that. (30:22) People have listened to us, some of them out of politeness. (30:25) And you can see that they absolutely do not... (30:28) Nothing you're calling in. (30:29) You're just being polite and not hearing. (30:32) I think that's a form of deception. (30:34) I'd much rather have someone say, I don't accept what you're saying. (30:38) So I can say why and we can at least talk about it. (30:41) But to nod and say, well, yes and yes and go away, that person's going to see that scene again on the day of judgment for sure. (30:50) So there are all kinds of levels of deception. (30:52) You don't just have to be a spy in both camps. (30:58) A double agent. Speaker 7 (30:59) You don't always have to be a double agent. Speaker 1 (31:02) You do all kinds of things based on other people's behavior. (31:05) And if we're around people who are nonbelievers, doubts are going to be able to creep in. (31:10) We need to stay steadfast and we need to run as fast as we can when we've delivered the message and there's nothing else to do. (31:16) To be with people that also believe. (31:19) He showers his mercy upon whomever he wills is not a capricious statement. (31:24) God isn't up there spinning some dice wondering who he's going to be merciful to today. (31:30) That's based on our original decision to worship God or not before we ever came here. (31:37) Only God knows who that is. (31:39) So it can appear as though people are better off than we by some random lottery wheel turning. (31:47) But the fact is that God's mercy comes to all people, but most especially to those people who believe. (31:54) It is not random at all. (31:58) And God is always there. (32:01) The more you believe, the more signs you get. (32:04) The more you lead a righteous life, the more rewards there are in this life right now today. (32:10) We don't have to wait for them. (32:12) And God goes beyond that, which is kind of black and white. (32:16) And even those people who don't believe, God is merciful to them. (32:19) God provides for them as he provides for us. (32:22) In some cases it may appear even more so that those people are failing tests right and left and don't even know it. (32:28) God does not withdraw his mercy on the day of judgment. (32:31) No one, believe it or not, will be able to say they didn't have a million chances every day to remember God. (32:41) Questions? (32:42) Comments? (32:43) Please. Speaker 2 (32:46) Well, Catherine brought up a very important point. (32:49) Very important point. (32:50) Something that we take for granted. (32:53) This is the prostration that we do here in the mosque 5 times a day, 17 times a day. (32:59) We prostrate before God. (33:01) And we have this message, I want you to listen carefully. (33:05) We have this message mathematically coded, we know it is from God. (33:08) And God is telling us that the people who prostrate before God in this life are the only ones who will be able to prostrate before God on the day of judgment. (33:20) Surah 68. (33:22) We learn from the Quran that on the day of judgment, all creation, angels and jinns and humans, all creation, will be required to prostrate before God. (33:34) And the people who do not prostrate before God in this life will not be able to full prostrate on the day of judgment. (33:44) And they will go to hell. (33:47) So, you can just imagine the importance of this. (33:50) We take it for granted, we are not full prostrating so easy. (33:54) And Catherine mentioned how she and me in the beginning should understand that it is actually with all of us, not just two of you. (33:59) With all of us, it is a difficult thing to bring the highest places in our body down to the floor. (34:05) But there is a very important reason behind it, you are full prostrate before God. (34:09) I want you to imagine in your mind now, tomorrow, that tomorrow somebody is telling you, full prostrate before God. (34:17) If you are able to do it, go into this fantastic mansion. (34:21) This is yours. (34:22) This fantastic mansion with all the pleasures and the gardens and everything. (34:26) Use the allegorical description. (34:29) If you are able to full prostrate, you go into this mansion. (34:33) If you are unable to, you jump in this fire. (34:35) There is a big, huge, great fire. (34:37) And imagine it, put it in practical terms in your mind. (34:40) Tomorrow, you are required to do this. (34:44) If you can full prostrate before God, you own this great mansion. (34:47) If you are unable, you jump in this fire. (34:50) This is what will happen on the day of judgment. (34:53) And because, I mean, God puts it straight forward. (34:57) If you do not make prostration before God here in this world, you will not be able to do it on the day of judgment. (35:03) You are going to stand out like a sore thumb. (35:07) To use a very mild description. (35:15) So, I have been talking the last few days in the morning Quran studies and so on, that how the five prayers are a gift from God. (35:26) If it is only practiced for that big day, which is inevitable for all of us, it is a gift from God to do the five daily prayers. (35:37) And I guess we need this reminder once in a while, so we do not take it for granted. (35:41) We take it for granted and it is beautiful. (35:43) We do it so naturally and so readily. (35:45) We do not even think about it. (35:47) But it is nice to think about it as a gift from God and thank God for it every chance you get. (35:53) Douglas. Speaker 5 (35:54) The verse is saying things that I think we have already, God has already decided. (36:21) God is saying the end of the truth. (36:29) But a person thinks that no one else knows about this. (36:35) The end God reveals, in other words, I am the truth. Speaker 2 (36:53) This reminds me of confounding the truth with falsehood. (36:58) This is typical of any Christian missionary or preacher or somebody who comes to your house trying to convert you to Christianity. (37:06) We were visiting the great Carmelites in Vancouver. (37:09) This is the Jerusalem platoon. (37:11) Carmelites sitting there in the corner. (37:14) We were in their house and this Jehovah's Witness, very dressed up and everything, he came in to talk us out of going to heaven. Speaker 7 (37:21) Literally. Speaker 2 (37:22) I mean he told us that. (37:24) He said that he had no heavenly hope and he wants us to join him. (37:30) Jehovah's Witnesses, they believe that only certain people are going to heaven. (37:34) And he was not one of them and he wants us to join him. (37:36) But anyway, he came carrying a Bible and he wanted to teach us the Bible. (37:42) So, I had him look up John 20, 17. (37:46) Remember this, John 20, 17. (37:48) You can use it always. (37:50) John 20, 17 says, Jesus says that he's going to my father and your father, my God and your God. (37:56) Which immediately kills the Trinity. (37:59) Because this means he's not God and he's not the only son. (38:02) And going to my father and your father, my God and your God. (38:05) So when I showed this to this fellow, Jehovah's Witness, his name was Mike, he looked like he never saw it before. (38:13) And we ended up telling him at the end, please read the Bible. (38:16) He came in to tell us, please read the Bible. (38:18) And we ended up telling him, please read the Bible. (38:21) Because the truth has been confounded for him. (38:26) And it's confounded, this is a perfect word, because all their interpretations that lead them to say that Jesus is God or son of God are all roundabout ways. (38:41) That's the word that is not, therefore it's not one in the whole Bible. (38:44) It's Jesus God, for example. (38:47) But it's always derived from I am the light and the what, the life. Speaker 1 (38:51) The way, the truth, whatever. Speaker 2 (38:54) He may be all these, but not God. (38:57) But they come out from this saying Jesus is God. (39:41) Just to add a fine perspective to this, the National Conference was in 325 AD. (39:47) 325 years after Jesus. (39:49) This was when the Trinity was born. (39:54) And that the majority of the cave. (40:02) So the Lord of the heavens and the earth. (40:09) And that was the view of the majority of the Christians. (40:13) But the minority, this Trinity business, were the people in power. (40:23) And they forced it. (40:34) They owed money. Speaker 6 (40:40) Can I just add a funny story about Jehovah's Witnesses? Speaker 1 (40:57) There's a fellow that I've been talking to about the code in Koran. (41:05) And we had talked a long time. (41:07) And finally I said, look, I'm just going to give you some stuff to read. (41:10) You read it and come back and talk to me. (41:12) And what I did was I copied the entire appendix back here. (41:15) And gave it to him to read. (41:17) Because he said he had a Koran. (41:19) And it was some days later, maybe a week later. (41:22) He came and he made a joke. (41:24) He said, between you and this other person, I'm going to go next with this religion stuff. (41:28) I said, what's the problem? (41:30) He said, well, she's a Jehovah's Witness. (41:33) And I was trying to tell her about the word God and how it appears in the Koran. (41:38) 2,698 times, which is a multiple of 19, and about the code. (41:43) And she told me that the word God appears in the Bible, whatever they use. (41:48) 3,000 and something. (41:49) And he said, I got my calculator out and it's a multiple of 19. (41:53) And he went back and told her. (41:55) So I know he's reading something. (41:57) But I thought that was fascinating. (41:59) That one, she would even know that. (42:08) I should have listened more closely to the number and where it comes from. Speaker 2 (42:16) 75. Speaker 1 (42:19) Some followers of the scripture can be trusted with a whole lot. (42:22) And they will repay you. (42:23) And some of them, if you trust them with a single denom, they will not repay you unless you keep after them. (42:28) That's because they say we do not have to be honest when dealing with the Gentiles. (42:32) Because they attribute lies to God knowingly. (42:34) The footnote says, prior to the discovery of the Koran's mathematical code, some scholars falsely claimed that Mohammed was an illiterate man who could not write such a great book. (42:46) They distorted the meaning of the word umi, claiming that it meant illiterate. (42:50) This verse proves that umiyin means Gentile. (42:54) And you're going to have to explain that because I don't know how to. (42:58) I interpreted that verse meaning that God cautions us all the way through the Koran to be honest and truthful in all of our dealings. (43:08) And so I interpreted it on a very concrete level with regards to loans and... Speaker 2 (43:21) According to the Hadith and Sunnah of the Jews, which is called Talmud, you can cheat a Gentile, a non-Jew, or steal and even kill. (43:32) And you're not committing a sin by doing that. (43:36) So the Koran is criticizing this, teaching us to be honest with everybody and anybody because of the principle that anybody and everybody is a potential believer. (43:48) So if you think that the cashier at the supermarket is an unbeliever and he or she gave you 20 dollars by mistake, you can take it. (43:57) You're wrong. (43:58) You're going to pay dearly for that dishonesty. (44:00) You have to be honest with all the people. (44:03) But the point of the footnote is that this verse proves that the word umni, which is what the traditional Muslims describe the Prophet as, and use it to mean that he was illiterate, couldn't read or write, does not mean a person who does not read or write. (44:22) It means Gentile. (44:27) So it is one of the proofs that the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Koran with his own hands. (44:31) Muhammad. (44:40) If you look at Surah 62, he sent to the ummiyeen a message from among them. (44:50) So that was all the tribes of Arabia. (44:56) And that was the tribe who called themselves ummiyeen. (44:58) I'm not aware of that. (45:00) Ummiyeen means Gentiles. (45:02) That is people who are not Jews and not Christians. Speaker 3 (45:09) Yes, yes. Speaker 7 (45:27) Right. Speaker 2 (45:30) It means the people who did not receive the Torah or the Gospel. (45:32) Yes, exactly. (45:34) It's throughout the Koran, but this is a very straightforward verse, 75, proving that the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Koran with his own hands. (45:45) For the last 1400 years, they couldn't figure out what is the miracle of the Koran. (45:50) Why is it miraculous? (45:51) Why does God challenge the world to produce anything like it? (45:55) And they couldn't come up with anything, so the best thing they could come up with was that the Prophet Muhammad was an illiterate man, and look at the fantastic literary work that he produced, or came through him. (46:07) That's not good enough. (46:09) Because as a matter of fact, there were illiterate poets at the time of the Prophet who uttered fantastic poetry, and they couldn't read and write. (46:20) So their argument is down the drain. (46:23) Fact is, the Prophet Muhammad was able to read and write, among other reasons or proofs, that he was a merchant. (46:32) He was an agent for a number of people. (46:35) He would take their goods and travel to Syria and send their goods. (46:40) He had to calculate. (46:42) He can't be a merchant without calculating a few things. (46:47) And it just happens that the numbers in his time were the alphabet. (46:51) So he had to know the alphabet in order to know mathematics and calculation. (46:57) The evidence is very powerful that he wrote the Quran with his own hands. (47:01) This is in addition to the statement in surah 25, verse 6, where his contemporaries were saying that these are tales from the past that he wrote down and was dictated to him day and night. (47:18) So you don't dictate to an illiterate person. (47:22) You hire a secretary unless you're in Washington, and your secretary is what's her name? (47:31) So you don't dictate to an illiterate person. (47:38) There was something else, also in surah 29, that proves that the Prophet was not illiterate. (47:49) He was able to read and write. (47:50) He wrote the Quran with his own hands. Speaker 7 (47:54) Beginning of surah? Speaker 2 (47:59) Yes, yes, he sent to the Ummayyad. (48:32) It's just a very stupid argument. (48:36) Their argument is very stupid because even according to their own stories, the Prophet said that if we capture anybody in war, he can be freed if he teaches somebody how to read and write. (48:48) Well, he can be the first student if he wanted to. (48:52) If he's urging the people to learn how to read and write, he should have been setting the example. (48:58) But the fact is he already knew how to read and write. (49:06) So the evidence is just too overwhelming. (49:08) We have an appendix 28, I believe, that gives you all the verses and all the evidence. (49:22) There's one more thing I'm forgetting, but I'll remember it later on. (49:25) We'll go back to Catherine and 76. Speaker 1 (49:35) As for those who trade away God's covenant and their obligations for a cheap price, they get no share in the hereafter. (49:42) God will not speak to them nor look at them on the day of resurrection, nor will He purify them. (49:47) They have incurred a painful retribution. (49:51) Some of them twist their tongues to imitate the scripture that you may think it is from the scripture when it is not from the scripture. (49:57) They then claim that it is from God when it is not from God. (50:01) They utter lies and attribute them to God knowingly. (50:05) Never would a human being whom God has blessed with the scripture and prophethood say to the people, be worshipers of me besides God. (50:13) Instead, you would say, be devoted to your Lord alone in accordance with the scripture you received and learned. (50:20) Nor would He command you to set up the angels and the prophets of the Lord. (50:24) Would He order you to disbelieve after becoming Muslim? (50:27) If one fulfills, verse 76, his obligations and leads a righteous life, then God loves the righteous. (50:37) The cheap price in 77 can be a billion dollar lottery and still be cheap by comparison to the hereafter. (50:46) This life is not even one moment compared to eternity. (50:50) It is an illusion. (50:52) And having that perspective helps us to be ever so much more peaceful as we go through our lives here. (50:58) The things that upset other people don't mean much to us, if anything. (51:04) Because we know what's going on, we know what's happening, we know why, we know what our purpose here is, and we know what theirs is. (51:10) And we're not willing to trade away, inshallah, something temporary, some temporary pleasure for all of eternity. (51:21) In the Quran it says that when God asks, how long have you been here of the man and the people in the caves as well, and they say one moment, one day, one part of the day. (51:31) Nothing. (51:32) We have been here nothing. (51:33) I'm reminded of the picture that Rashad drew with dots and saying, you know, compared to eternity. (51:39) Do you remember that? (51:40) It was a long line for eternity that went on forever and it's the time related to us with one dot on the same page that we could barely see. (51:48) Even if we live to be 150, it's nothing. (51:52) There's nothing worth believing in anything other than God alone in this life. (51:59) Absolutely nothing. (52:00) I don't care what it is. (52:02) Including what your children do, what your parents do, what your so-called best friends do. (52:09) It is not worth getting yourself off the path of God. (52:13) It is just not worth it. (52:15) I would rather live and that I would be going to school and I wouldn't be working. (52:24) And I said, I can do this part-time and work or I can do this full-time and we can find a tiny place to live. (52:30) And he said, take one room, I'll sleep on the floor, you sleep on the couch, but get it done. (52:35) I would rather do that and all of us would rather do that than have the biggest mansions in the world, the most wonderful stable of cars in the world, all the money in the world. (52:46) There's so many examples of people who have all those things and have nothing. (52:49) They're absolutely number 10. (52:52) None of us would trade away what we have, not one of us in this room, would trade away what we have for anything like that. (52:59) Mashallah. (53:03) The cheap price, I don't know how else to make it real to you, it's an illusion. (53:08) This life is an illusion. (53:10) Just as the garments that we wear when we greet each other are an illusion. (53:16) It changes the way we go through our lives. (53:19) It changes how we greet each other as human beings in the world. (53:23) It changes how we approach other people, whether we know them through believers or not. (53:28) It changes everything. (53:30) I don't know how many of you saw that incredible rainbow this morning, but that's what our days are like. (53:36) All day. (53:37) Every day. (53:38) And we don't have mansions. (53:40) We don't have extraordinary wealth or power. (53:44) I wouldn't trade that. (53:45) I can't think of anything that's worth that. (53:53) Anyway, verse 78. (53:58) I think this has been the decade, and we've been watching the news, and if all of you have watched TV, people are trying to sum up the decade of the 80s. (54:06) And it was interesting the other night because I watched, and the pictures that flashed were of the evangelist confessing sin of adultery on TV, another one saying he would die like Oral Roberts, if he didn't get so many money. (54:20) I mean, the flashes were interspersed with many other things, but evangelists, Muslim scholars, Christians, the Pope, all of them, they're very convincing, they're very eloquent, and they're very human and they're very long, and they're asking for savings. Speaker 2 (54:38) Oral Roberts said that, the Lord told me if you don't collect 11 million dollars, He will call me. (54:45) He's got the thing turned around. (54:47) It should be, if you collect that 11 million dollars, I will call you, as a reward. Speaker 1 (54:53) He didn't even get it all. Speaker 2 (54:56) It should be something good to go to God, right? Speaker 4 (55:00) Yeah, evangelism. Speaker 2 (55:03) Once in, if you're going to heaven, you should long for going. (55:07) But they never do. Speaker 6 (55:08) But they never do. (55:17) Wow. Speaker 1 (55:30) Quran says very frequently, who is more evil than one who attributes lies to God knowingly? (55:36) And, I mean, it's in here many, many, many times, and that's all you hear when you listen to these people. (55:43) They really are very clever at using words to distort things. (55:48) There's enough of the truth buried in there to attract a great many people, and it's hard to extract it, especially if people are very passive. (56:00) However, when some of these things are so obvious, that we laugh here in this mosque, but it's not funny to people out there. (56:08) These are people they've listened to every week, every day. (56:11) They're getting into all kinds of trouble, and they have to justify what their leaders and scholars are doing. (56:17) So while we sit in here and we kind of laugh at Oral Roberts, I don't even know him.