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(graphics thumping)
(graphics whooshing)
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(solemn music)
(ball tapping)
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- He shoots.
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He scores.
(ball thumping)
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(audience cheering)
and the crowd goes wild.
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Have you ever seen thousands of people
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packed into a stadium for a big game?
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Think about how the
crowd watches intently,
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cheering and booing in
response to every move
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of the players on the
field or on the court.
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And when something remarkable happens
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like that last minute buzzer beating shot,
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they erupt in elation, chanting your name.
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(ball tapping)
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It's every kid's dream, right?
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Whether you're shooting
imaginary game-winning shots
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in an empty gym, or wishing
you were rich and famous,
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or growing up addicted to social media,
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watching your post rack
up likes and comments
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for validation, it's always
somehow about attention.
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We're wired to crave it.
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Think about this common theme in therapy.
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I want to be seen, I want to be heard.
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I want to be felt,
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but by who, and how?
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What if I told you that you
already have an audience
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that no stadium, no movie screen,
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no social media following
could ever rival.
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Everything is watching you.
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Above you, around you,
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below you, beyond you.
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Your soul commands an audience of millions
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and billions of creatures,
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and your whole world is
actually just a stage.
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(solemn music)
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Perhaps you can't perceive the commentary
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because you can't see
your audience, and that's
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because you're human and
you're still in dunya.
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Our perception as human beings
is actually very limited
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compared to the creation around us.
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Think about an eagle
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that can see eight times better than us,
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meaning they could see a rabbit
from three kilometers away.
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You have bees that can
see an ultraviolet light,
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which means they can
see patterns on flowers
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that we don't even know exist.
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You have cats that can see in
light levels six times lower
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than what humans can even detect.
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And then you have sharks
that can smell a single drop
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of blood in 25 gallons of water.
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What if we could see, smell
and hear like those creatures?
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And think about when the Prophet
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SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
says, "When you listen
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to the crowing of the rooster,
ask Allah for his favor as
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that rooster just saw an angel.
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And when you listen to
the braying of the donkey,
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seek refuge in Allah from the shaytan,
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for that donkey has just seen a shaytan."
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He also said that," All of these creatures
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hear the punishment of
the grave, except for us."
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Allah spares us out of mercy.
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I want you to think about how
hard it is to function now
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when we hear the cries of the
dying through our screams.
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Imagine if we could hear
the cries of the actual dead
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from the cemeteries.
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Think about if we could
hear our own family
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and friends who have passed away,
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maybe shouting from their graves,
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we would be completely paralyzed.
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And that mercy of Allah isn't
even just for the barzakh.
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Would we really be able
to sit in a social setting
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if Allah increased our vision
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to be able to see the
particles floating in the air
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every time someone sneezes,
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or the dust mites all around
us crawling like insects.
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So Allah gives us the perfect
senses to get to know Him
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and at perfect resolutions.
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And that's why the Prophet
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SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam said,
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Ou seeka an tastahee min Allahi ta'ala
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kama tastahee min al-rajuli
al-salihi min qoumika
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Be shy of Allah like you would
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from a righteous person, from your people.
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You can see people.
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And you know how differently you would act
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if a righteous person was
with you 24/7 watching you
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with a camera, or especially
in physical presence.
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But Allah, Who is greater
than any righteous man,
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sees you all the time.
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And so as you think about
the audience of your stage,
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don't forget the greatest
of your unseen audience-
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Allah.
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Everyone else in the
crowd should be connected
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back to Allah in order
for them to matter to you.
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Now, what's on display
in this great spectacle
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is not your body or
your athletic abilities,
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it's your soul and what
it inclines towards.
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In the crowd, there are
angels that are watching you
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and cheering you on, alongside
devils that are heckling you.
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You might even have a
fan among the angels,
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but their tears are not
just shouting and clapping,
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but they chant du'as of
forgiveness for you instead.
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(Omar speaking Arabic)
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But they're also the
creatures of the jinn,
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amongst them, the shayateen.
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Some of them have loud
conversations right next to you
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that you can't hear at all.
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And Allah says:
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Innahu yaraakum huwa wa qabeeluhu
min haytha la tarawnahum
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"Surely he and his troops see you
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from where you cannot see them."
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And those devils aren't just
heckling you from the outside.
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They flow through you
based on how much access
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you allow them.
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It's a relentless battle for you.
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And you have to learn to
tune out the noise every day.
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See, the more you seek
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
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the volume of the shaytan goes down
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and you can hear the angels
prompting you instead.
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SubhanAllah, imagine being muhaddath,
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one who is as if he is
spoken to by the angels,
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like Umar, radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
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whereas most people are mtuwaswas,
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which means they're constantly subjected
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to the whispers of shaytan.
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'Cause just like your
social media algorithm
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changes in accordance with your desires,
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so does your soul algorithm.
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So if you're seeking Allah,
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you'll start seeing and hearing
accordingly and vice versa.
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And then you'll come to realize
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it's not just angels and devils.
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The entire world from the
elephants and ants on land,
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to the fish in the sea are
chanting your forgiveness
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when you're seeking Allah's pleasure.
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But as Allah says:
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La tafqahawna tasbeehahum
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"You don't perceive
how they glorify Allah,
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or perhaps how they seek
forgiveness for you."
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On the other hand, you
also can't really tell
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how everything from the
angels to the insects
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can become naturally averse to you
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because of a sin you've
committed or intend to commit.
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That doesn't mean that every animal
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that doesn't like you hates
you on the basis of your sins.
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All of this just means that
just like how in the barzakh
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everyone can see your
soul beyond your body,
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there are already unseen
elements in this world
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interacting with your soul as
the primary version of you.
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So for example, your soul
has a smell that it emits
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to other creatures.
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Sufyaan Rahimahullah was
asked, how did the angels know
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if a person has a bad or a good intention?
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And he replied saying that,
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"When a person intends to do good,
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the angels perceive the smell
of musk coming out of him.
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Whereas if he intends to do evil,
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they smell this wretched
odor coming out of him."
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Even the earth itself, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:
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Fa ma bakat 'alaihimu as-samaa' wal-ardh
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that,"There are those who
have no heaven or earth
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to cry for them."
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Ibn Abbas radiallahu anhu said,
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"That for the believer, the
heavens and the earth weep
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because of the good influences
they would leave behind."
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He said: Tabki al-ardu 'ala
al-mu'mini arba'een sabaahan
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"The Earth would weep over
a believer for 40 days."
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On the other hand,
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the Prophet SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
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when describing the foul stench
from the place of the earth
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of the evil person when he
dies, literally took a cloth
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and put it over his nose to describe
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how bad that soul would smell.
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But "The fragrance of the
believer would spark the curiosity
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even of the angels in the heavens."
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They would say, where is that
beautiful smell coming from?
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And yes, they too all witnessed
the oppression on earth.
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Was it not that when
Ibrahim 'Alayhi Salaam
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was thrown in the fire, that
the angels waited desperately
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for the command to put the fire out,
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and that even the frogs tried
to carry water in their mouths
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to extinguish that fire.
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But Allah had a plan,
telling the fire itself
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to be cool and peaceful for Ibrahim.
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Did the messenger of Allah
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam,
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not say that the angels
have their wings spread
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over Al-Sham?
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Which is the area of the world most noted
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for oppression right now.
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And to the angels, we
are not just numbers.
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SubhanAllah, I think of this narration
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of Imam Ahmed Rahimahullah,
when he was being tortured.
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There was a man who said,
"I thought about Imam Ahmed,
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his patience as he was being whipped
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and how he showed all this strength
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in spite of his physical weakness.
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Then I wept.
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And then that night I saw in my sleep
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as if a voice was
calling out to me saying,
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if only you could see
the angels in the skies
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boasting about him while
he was being beaten.
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I said, and did the angels
know of Ahmed's beatings?
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The voice responded.
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There wasn't a single
angel in the heavens except
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that it has witnessed over him
while he was being beaten."
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How many angels witnessed the burning
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of the young Hafidh of
Qur'an named Shaban in Gaza?
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They know what we're going
through, everyone around us does.
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But do you know who also gets our news?
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Our loved ones in the barzakh.
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Sadaq ibn Sulayman Al-Ja'fari said that,
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"I once did something detestable,
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which I came to regret after
the death of my father,
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I committed a sin.
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And then I saw my dead father
in a dream where he said
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to me, my son, I could
not have been happier
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when we considered your deeds
to be those of the righteous.
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However, I was highly ashamed
of you on one occasion,
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so do not disgrace me again in front
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of the other believers who are also dead.
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His neighbor said that
every day after that,
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we would hear Sadaqah
making du'a from his home
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every single night in his qiyam.
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O Rectifier of the righteous,
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O Guide of the misguided, and
O Merciful to the sinners,
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grant me a beautiful return to you
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from which I never returned back
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to what caused me shame."
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And one narration by Anas
radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu,
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the Prophet Sallallahu
alayhi wa salam said,
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"Your deeds are presented
to your close relatives
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who have passed away.
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If your deeds are good, they celebrate.
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And if they're not good, they say:
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Allahumma la tumit-hum hatta
tahdiyahum kama hadaytana
00:10:23
O Allah, do not cause them to die
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until you have guided them
just as you had guided us."
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This is the wish of the
righteous before us,
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and our news reaches them
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without the propaganda of the devils.
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And I wonder, I wonder how
the news of the free Palestine
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and Al-Aqsa will be received
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by all of the shuhadaa
before In sha Allah.
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I wonder how happy Khadija
radiAllahu Anha was
00:10:45
to hear about Fath e Makkah.
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And I also wonder how the Prophet
00:10:49
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
feels about our efforts
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or lack thereof today?
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It's narrated that Abbad
ibn Abbad once visited
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Ibrahim ibn Salih Rahimahullah
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while he was the amir of Falestine.
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And Ibrahim said to him, advise me.
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So Abbad said to him, "Your
deeds are presented to the dead,
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and amongst them, the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam."
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On that alone, Ibrahim wept
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until his beard was soaked with his tears.
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I wonder what it was
like when Ibrahim died,
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and maybe he met the Prophet
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SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam, himself?
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See, entering the barzakh
is like going backstage
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after it's all over, or
meeting the spectators
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and hearing what they were
saying about you all along.
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But you don't wanna wait
till then to figure it out.
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Ask yourself now, who
are you to all of those
00:11:36
who are watching you?
00:11:38
What does the Prophet
SallAllahu 'Alaihi Wasallam
00:11:39
think about you right now?
00:11:41
What does he think about
the state of our ummah?
00:11:43
Is it the angels who boast about you,
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or the devils who boast about
what they've done to you?
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And what do the dead say about you?
00:11:52
What have your loved ones
who have preceeded you
00:11:54
into the barzakh heard about your deeds?
00:11:58
Do they have a different opinion about you
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than all of those around you now?
00:12:02
What's your reputation in a realm
00:12:04
you have yet to enter?
00:12:08
La'ali a'mal salihan
00:12:14
fi ma tarakt
00:12:18
Kalla innaha kalimatun
00:12:23
huwa qa'iluha
00:12:28
wa min wa raa'ihim
00:12:33
barzakhun ila yawmi yub'athun
00:12:42
(graphics thudding)
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Closed captioning provided
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