Will help. you? Dear Brothers and sisters We often talk about how we utilize the stories in the Quran for our benefit that Allah did not give us stories, especially of perseverance or of persecution of poverty or of power. except that we take lessons from them and they are timeless lessons and one of the things that. mentions is that while the sharia changes over time from prophets of prophet the various laws, we know that. Creed stays the same that the oneness of Allah does not change the nature of prophet, who does not change and he says something very interesting, He also says that the dynamics of a and a. of a oppressor and the oppressed do not change the dynamics of how wealth can can corrupt people or people can become arrogance because of what Allah has bestowed upon them or humbled because of what has been withheld from them. None of that changes so the study of human history when you study arrogant nations and oppressed nations arrogant tyrants and righteous people that rise up amongst the oppressed people that see through the kingdom that has been given to them, which are very rare. The. those that are like him or whether you study the people who have been wronged to appoint that they make it appoint to advocate for those that are being wrong like them. All of these are stories that are so timeless that they can relate. To us in every single generation, which is why Allah. keeps them for us in the Quran so that we can do so that we can contemplate over them now when it comes to the stories of the oppressed and the stories of how Allah gives victory to the oppressed as the Muslims have now just settled in Madinah. after 13 years of persecution or after hosting the people that have been persecuted for over a decade they. Yet to go into a battle with the people of mecca who have put their foots on their necks for over a decade in Makkah who have taken their wealth killed their family members, humiliated them spit on them in public all of that without seeing Allah. doing anything to those people in mecca in their lifetimes, just yet and it is in that time period that Allah reveals to them the story of David and Goliath the story of. And pollutes being. being Goliath, it is in that time frame when they have just moved to Madinah, not knowing that the battle of bed is going to come upon them sooner than they think because the battle of bet of course came out of circumstances that we're not planned for and Allah reveals in. verse 246 onwards for a few the story of Ali Salam and a wicked generation of. is that then went through a filtering process, a filtration process because. Nation goes through power and then becomes arrogance and then is is humiliated and then amongst the persecuted you have the righteous that rise up and a righteous generation and Benny is is no exception to that they go between these two Pos and so Allah. gives to the prophets and the believers the story of a righteous generation of Benny is. that arose out of a wicked generation of be is. The filtration process. of power and oppression, and it's very powerful that that's being given to the Muslims because they will witness that transition in their own lifetimes Now, Allah subhanahu WA Ta'ala will remind the believers in Madinah after about. once takes place the lesson that Allah gives them after the lesson that Allah gives them after is not to recall an incident that they have never seen but to recall something that they have seen when Allah. While you are small while you are oppressed, Allah gave you victory, Allah sent you angels because you are righteous your hearts were in the right place. Your minds were in the right place. You are connected in the right way, so Allah gave you victory so Allah would remind them after. multiple times in the Quran and us by extension. but here they haven't yet faced. and before I go to the story of David and Goliath, I want to make one thing very clear. as. Sons. We ascribe ourselves to the righteous on the basis of their righteousness and belief and we distance ourselves from the wicked on the basis of their wickedness, meaning what when we read about the prophets of Israel and the righteous of we ascribe ourselves to them and when we read about the wicked of any group of people any nation, even if that might be your lineage or my lineage, we distance ourselves from them because we are bound by faith and righteousness and so. We take pride in. we take pride in the prophets of Israel and the righteous of Islam and distance ourselves from the wicked and by the way just to note even though you read Goliath is from the philistines, there is no connection to the philistines who are not even Arabs to the modern day. Palestine just as there's no connection to those who ascribe themselves to be Islam from a lineage perspective to those from many is in the Quran, This is faith and wickedness and we ascribe. Ourselves to people of faith and righteousness and distance ourselves from people of wickedness and power Now, what does Allah tell us? Gone through a transition at this point where they had power, they oppressed and now they were oppressed and powerless, and they still have profits amongst them and they still have some righteous amongst them and they say to their profits. Send for us a king Ask Allah to send us a king so that we can take back We can reclaim our place of power and position in this world. They said. We will fight for the sake of Allah but. A clue in this aisle, there's a clue in this verse when Samuel Ahi responds and says. how do I know that you're going to be sincere in that they did not respond with their love of Allah. They respond with what do we have to lose? We've already been driven out of our homes We've already been humiliated and that's the wrong answer right away because the motivations should not be worldly so they just said. will fight in the way of God, but they're saying we've been humiliated. We have nothing to lose anyway. we might as well give this a shot and we might as well go forward. We are not. People who turn to Allah only because we have nothing else to turn to We are a people who turn to Allah when we have everything and when we have nothing because we realize that everything stems from God everything good comes from Allah. and so once Allah. sends a king amongst them. they turned except for a few amongst them. in Allah. the prophet responded to them and said Allah has chosen. a righteous. Man amongst you to be your king, How did they respond? they said. Wait a minute. who is. is not a person of wealth or status. is a person the scholars mentioned from the tribe of Benjamin Ali Salam. He was from the weaker tribes the lesser tribes we you know and they've been so accustomed to having new standards of wealth and power that they they said, Wait a minute We want someone who's royal someone who's noble to lead us so. Why should he lead us when he's poor, they mentioned his poverty Also a wrong answer? What did Allah? respond in all? just Allah chose him amongst you and increased him in knowledge. and in his physical body and his physical strength. What is this talking about Allah mentions that knowledge? Is what gives a person superiority, especially or only if it manifests in and piety, and so this is praiseworthy knowledge which manifested itself in piety was a righteous man, a knowledgeable man. and Allah gave him. a which literally means by the way he was the tallest man amongst them and the strongest man amongst them Goliath, who was the oppressor on the other side Goliath was a huge man and they said. Being the tallest amongst Benny is he would not come to the shoulder of of Goliath. He's a monstrous human being a huge man powerful oppressor so Allah responds and says he's been chosen for his piety his knowledge as well as his physical strength and you need to follow him. Allah gives his Dominion to whom he wants what did they respond with. Can you send us a sign? Give us an eye? Allah gives them a. Allah subhanahu WA gives them the taboos, which was basically a box that had some of the belongings of Musa Alaihi Salam and Ali Salam that the people used to find blessing from from and it was taken from them by their enemies as many Islam was in a difficult situation at this point, Allah brought it back from the enemies and the Angels placed it right at their doorstep. That is a sign that Allah is the one who's going to give you victory or keep you in. Its Follow your leader Follow the king. and so goes forward. and they follow. first test comes. they get to a river and they are not allowed to drink from that river, though they are very thirsty. Remember we talked last week about the connection between and steadfastness patience and fasting and courage holding yourself back. They're very thirsty and a test comes to them from Allah. Don't drink from the river right now. hold yourself. And what does that do it? expel the real ones from the fake ones and so that 80 thousand dwindles into 4000 graduates 4000 men and then through another period of testing they become. 313. What is that number sound like? the same number of the people of. it's. so the righteous amongst them are always very few. They're always in every generation of the righteous are there are few. But through that few great things happen and so roots out all of the rest of them. Remember what Allah would tell the prophets about the hypocrites and taboo that claimed to be Muslim, but they they just caused immoral. You know they just brought a demoralizing effect to the Muslims. Allah told the prophets. It's better that they don't go out with you. It's better to have a small group of people that are dedicated to Allah that are righteous than to have people that are back and forth and swinging between righteousness. And falsehood and so now goes forward and he has the same number of the people of be amongst him to take on this massive army. amongst his soldiers. was a. and Ali Salam was not a huge person physically he wasn't yet declared to be a prophet. He was just one of the righteous man of many Islam and as calls out and says who's going to fight. Islam says I will do it. What does he have? He has a slingshot? He has a stone. Allah if there's any image that comes to your mind. Think about that iconic image of fats standing in front of a tank with his stone, not fearing that tank in front of him. is not afraid of Goliath. He's not afraid of. what can you do with that stone? What can you do with that slingshot? By the permission of Allah can do a lot with it and he comes forth to fight and this was before the battle started just like every other battle. you have the three that come out from each side or the one or the two the duel that takes place before the battle. Salam comes out and is victorious against from the very beginning. Allah says this righteous group of people. It came forth what did they do they made Dua? they said. Oh Allah pour upon us patience What type of patience are they talking about? Are they talking about the patience? with you know their desires? are they talking about the patients with hardship? Are they talking about courage and steadfastness? so I want you to connect to last week's the courage and steadfastness to continue. pour it upon us plant our feet firmly and grant us victory over a disbelieving. And overcomes. Allah says they just they they overcame that army by the permission of Allah. and the woods killed Goliath. David killed Goliath and Allah gave the Ahi. all sorts of things knowledge wisdom it was. This group of people, Dear Brothers and sisters that they're not actually say was the most righteous generation of is when the Prophet said they had amongst them people that were spoken to by the angels inspired to towards good. It was from that small group of 313. a rose. These were the righteous ones that learned the lesson of a previous generation and what did Allah do for them Allah softened the iron subjected to the mountains for them gave them. Sorts of things. that. someone that Allah loved and someone Allah elevated to and someone Allah gave prophet to after that incident. almost every lesson that can possibly be derived for a people that are subjected to humiliation and oppression can be taken from these few in the Quran, one of the things that is not read into this though. is the righteousness. Salam Outside of any type of physical strength in battle, what did the prophet about? did he praise his slingshot skills that he praised for the kingdom that he would amass or did he say that the best the best fasting is the fasting of David. He would fast 1 day and he would break his fast another day the best the best night prayer is the night prayer of. that last third of the nights that was the habit of. to pray the last third of the night. That our prophets. prayed and prayed so that we also would praise and pray. That's what we take from the prophets. That's what we take from them that righteousness infuses victory in every single way possible that the smallness of means are growing by the great length of Taj and dedication and and and that that is a timeless lesson and then the impact of that. Is more than just Allah getting you out of your oppression but Allah. making you firmly planted in the earth. There's also another thing that we take from this that every generation is either its own worst enemy or it's own ability by the grace of Allah to rise. you cannot discount the hypocrisy the corruption the oppression the things that led to the humiliation of a generation before the elevation of a generation and Time Allah tells us these stories, Allah tells us to look within. look within every single one of us is a part of the equation. What role do I play in my prayer in my going forth for the sake of Allah May Allah grant us that righteousness and that power through righteousness, not one that is sought for the sake of this world, but that is sought for the elevation of the hereafter May Allah grant us the companionship of the prophet and Allah.
