The Way Quran Affects You - Nouman Ali Khan | #YC2016

Salam alaikum wa rahmatullahi ricado hamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa salaam wa s al anbiya wa l-mursalin wa aalihi wa sahbihi wa minna standability he la o me Dean Allah Allah in whom women alladhina amanu aminu Allah had what I was all will Huck what I was all the sub I mean I belong I mean from a bad I was actually my head was spinning as I was sitting here listening to what was going on and some of the presentations that were given before me and I even though I have been giving given a topic I'm not going to respect it at all I'm just going to talk to you about whatever I feel like so because I'm leaving after this so it's okay what I actually really wanted to talk to you about is an imagery that's presented in the Quran which describes the role of the Quran and how it brings about change in the world a lot of the lessons taught in the Quran are taught through imagery so Allah Azza WA JAL makes us think about phenomenon in nature and making us think about this something in nature he gives us or he teaches us wisdom about something spiritual and one of the most common examples given to help Muslims understand the role of the Quran is actually the imagery of rain like Allah will say sadly at salat Odia tongue be pad area or Angela Allah halma seas and water from the sky and the obvious parallel is you know it should be it should be pretty straightforward for everybody to understand or on came from the sky just like water came from the sky the Quran is pure just like water is pure the Quran brings dead hearts back to life just like water brings the dead earth back to life so those that at that level the parallel should be pretty obvious right and it's the water water is the way by which all life is sustained on this earth and Allah revelation is actually a means by which life has meaning on this earth so in a sense life is also sustained by revelation just like it is sustained by water and that's why water and our relationship with Allah are interconnected so every time we go speak with Allah we must purify ourselves with it we make motto right and even the throne of Allah our shoe who ll ma like in Salutin milk when allah azzawajal describes his kingdom in the very first ayah he says tabarak allah dbed he'll milk the how blessed an incredibly empowered with blessing endowed with blessing is the one that has all kingdom in his hand that's referring to Allah and by the end of that surah pull ara item in Isfahan ah Okumura what do you think if your water was to disappear because the one of the great the greatest kingdom the king of all Kings actually the first manifestation of his kingdom in the Quran is actually water it's rain and this is this is a very important bit of imagery for a student of the Quran if you're going to journey through the entire Quran you have to pay attention to water it's one of the most fundamental themes of the book of Allah and I wanted to just say one or two more things about that just about the relationship between water and you know and the Quran when Allah as I was in for example says that you know if your water was to disappear from a yeti can be met in my house going to bring you pure you know cleansed purified water this imagery is actually very complicated and you have to study all a lot of the parables in the Quran to kind of draw a big picture but I want to in this session give you kind of an overview that's to me just completely changed my life it really did it really changed the way I study the Quran and I think about the role of the Quran in the world not just for us for the entire world I want you to think about rain it rains all over the world and of course because of rain vegetation is produced all over the world but vegetation that's produced is not of the same kind there are different regions that have different kinds of trees different kinds of flowers it may be the same fruit it could be apples but the apples from one region taste completely different from the apples of another region isn't that the case so the water is actually exactly the same it's still the same old h2o but when it meets with the earth the goodness that it produces is of such incredible variety and each of them have their own function and their own purpose as a matter of fact the plants that grow in a particular region are best suited for the animals that live in that region and the life that is sustained in that region and those same plants would not be able to nourish animals from another region so the kinds of plants that grow in a dry climate like Arizona or something are not the same as the kinds that grow up in the Northeast and the animals and the plant life are there they interact with each other now why am I telling you all of this because when allah azzawajal sends the rain just like he sends revelation the effect it has on people is not the same the way that or on affects you is not the same way that it affects me and how I am going to sprout how I am going to mature how I am going to now come out of the ground and produce a big e be given life is not going to be the same as you not everyone of you has to become a speaker nor are they meant to not every one of you has to become a scholar of Islam nor are they meant to you're a different kind of plant that it's the same water it's the same Quran that inspires all of us but the good that it produces from us is actually extremely diversified some of you are going to be artists others of you are going to go into politics others of you are going to be historians others are going to be academics they're going to be you're going to touch every virtually every field in human existence but all of it is going to produce good if it is inspired by the book of Allah if it is inspired by the book of Allah now I want you to understand a parable if you have contaminated water if you have contaminated water you still might get vegetation but that vegetation will be contaminated and you wouldn't want to eat the food that came from contaminated water because it's got in a sense some level of poison our direct relationship with the Book of Allah will actually purify what we produce and of course when plants come out of the ground they don't just feed themselves they're the ones that are feeding off of the water and the ground but they're the source of nourishment for everybody else people inspired by the Quran are supposed to nourish every else around them you see it's that same imagery that we're building upon open more and more and more now but here's the most important part of all of this Allah Azza WA JAL on multiple occasions even like insulative know about what I was talking about yesterday I didn't get to describe this point multiple times he says water has two different kinds of effect on the one hand husband Juana bata on the other hand jannat which are not in alfalfa what that means basically is water can give vegetation that is either through farming you know grains that are or seeds that are planted into the ground and they're grown crop that is grown or you know gardens and woods and you know endless trees and forests which no gardener had to do when you travel up and down the East Coast and you see the the hilly areas for example up in Pittsburgh or something or you know go towards Massachusetts in these areas people didn't plant those trees those trees naturally occur there's two kinds of vegetation you can call it wildlife wild vegetation and then there's cultivation right there's farming and they're fundamentally different even though both of them depend on what they both depend on water on a side note I want you to keep this mind as I build this image you know the first act of human civilization according to most anthropologists the first thing that human beings did as an organized society was cultivate farming sustained growth of food they couldn't just run around find a tree to pick fruits from and they couldn't just scrap food and be hunters and gatherers now they had to become a civilization and the first act of civilization was farming now there are two very different things aren't they because when you farm you have to do a lot of work on the land you have to prepare the soil you have to make sure it's free from insects when you plant the seed you have to plant it carefully you have to make sure it's getting enough water if there's not going to be enough rain you have to conserve the rain and conserve the water and sprinkle it over time right and you have to you have to gets constant tendering it's like raising a child almost that's what you have to do which is why by the way even in the Quran the Rays Miriam by Zechariah the language used while I'm not a hobbit and husana is the language of raising a growing a plant because taking care of a plant is much like taking care of a child it's delicate and you have to work on it but on the other hand in the Amazon on the other hand in the middle and you know in the in the woods nobody has to take care of anything it just kind of grows and grows and grows and keeps on growing year after year after year doesn't it so the parable has to be understood when the Quran is revealed there are going to be two kinds of effects it's the effect like the jungle nobody did any work on the jungle nobody did any work on the woods and those plants grew on their own there are going to be people in the world that are just going to be exposed to the Quran and nobody actually affected that nobody talked to them nobody gave them that wa they didn't attend any helices they didn't intend any circles they didn't know even what a Masjid is they just got exposed to the Quran and just like vegetation grows by the will of Allah the the seed of Islam grew inside of them and they came to Islam all on their own only because they got exposed that's all that's all that happened is they got exposed because water has that effect on any good soil when when good soil is brought into contact with water life is produced but then on the other hand civilization cannot move forward expecting accidents expecting things people to just stumble upon the water you have to have cultivation the reason I so believe in an organization like I am the reason I believe in a system where people are regularly getting together trying to hold on to the Word of God especially young people is because it is the closest thing to farming because enough in the state of farming you have to constantly tend to people you have to constantly take care of people and nurture them and then you have to let them go and make sure they receive more water again and let them go in to receive more water again you understand the image this requires effort on our part the Quran has already been revealed so all the water has already come down but we get have muslims get happy when they watch a video on youtube or a post on facebook i stumbled upon the quran I read a little bit of it it spoke to my heart and now I'm Muslim we're like yes lom's coming it is coming but that's not farming that's what Allah does that doesn't absolve you and me from what we have to do you understand we have to do our part we have to be the farmers and let me tell you why I keep harping on this imagery of a farmer because at the end of the prophets mission salallahu alayhi wasalam when one of towards the tail end of it when one of the greatest victories of islam was handed to the prophets like salaam certain foot right panavia one of the greatest victories handed to him allah describes that victory at the end of the day what is the great accomplishment of the prophet elisha - Salam it's actually the people that he cultivated the greatest accomplishment of our Messenger is the people that he produced and those people are compared to the growing crop at the end of certain Fateh you know and so la sol says about them mohammed ur rasoolallah well as in Amman who Ishida ll go far raha ma baina ho tera hum rukuh and sujud and IM tahuna fat la min allahi wa ridwana SEMA Humvee would you him in a furry suit now he gives a I won't translate that for you yet this is just a mess muhammad the messenger of allah sallallahu a little metal followers it's an ode to the incredible followers of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam now after that Allah says with a leak Abbas Elohim Fedora actually what's the matter with a lot he says commercially raised in Jamel kuffara Novato who through Maya he drew from Mathura who he actually says it rain comes and the crop has produced Mustapha lava fast Allah Allah tsuki it becomes mature and becomes firm it was a tiny little blade of grass and it grew and grown taller than the farmer and the farmer looks at it ung bazaar are the farm the crop the farmer looks at it and he's so impressed like the Prophet slicer looks at his followers and says I have left something good behind I've left something good behind today in the United States the Muslim community is a minority we are at a lack of resources and everywhere you go whether you're in Ohio or California or you're in the south like you know Louisiana or New Orleans or you're in Texas or wherever you go we are trying to build these communities and all over them all over the country unfortunately sometimes you have people that take the very little resources that we have we don't have a lot of resources to begin with the few resources that we have we are obsessed with mustn´t expansion we're obsessed with it we want to take every penny that we have and build on top of what we've already built homie you don't even have half the Masjid fill for Joomla why are you expanding what is this expansion for while at Eid we have a problem go pray even the baseball field who cares and then the speech the artificial speech given is we believe in the youth and that's why we're expanding what youth what you've do you see you can't even pronounce youth yet you know and all of these funds that are supposed to be invested into people the Prophet sallallaahu Allison did not leave buildings behind he left people behind he left people behind even if you have a small little dinky little Messala next to a 7-eleven in a shopping strip but your every penny you make you're investing it into young people that is far better than a gigantic mustard with high ceilings and three times the air-conditioning cost because of the high ceiling it's far better than that that you spend on the young people don't tell me don't like that we have to get out of the rhetoric we have to get out of the empty rhetoric that we're building the house of Allah yes you have to build the house of Allah but you know when the house of allies built when the one day that when the people that are going to fill it are there when the people are going to fill it and then all we're doing is we're doing fundraiser after fundraiser after fundraiser to pay for the water stations because there we got really expensive ones and the water is being wasted or we have to expend you know redo the parking lot because the contractor was messed up or whatever and that's all we're doing constantly and people stopped coming to the mush it because every time they come to the mush it they hear another fundraising requestion like I don't want to go here you know they see the some of the fatigues who are regularly asked to fundraise the poor guy even goes for hotma up on the mic he goes in the Honda enduro Romina is there time to get to another Masjid you know it's a tragedy but the real investment is our young people that is that is actually a Sunnah of our messenger sallallaahu I've said him much in the number we did not look elaborate when our prophet left Ali's hustle but the people there was a mud structure with leaves covering the top most of it was under the open sky that was al-masjid an-nabawi what what are we thinking what are we thinking but what the Prophet left behind sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when he's at his deathbed and he can just pull the curtain and look what he's left behind are these people these and he's okay I've left something right behind in Brahim alayhis-salam the father of this faith the the only messenger that we call father min Lata abeequm ibraheem' even him at his deathbed along with Jakub the same thing at his deathbed they're not they're not even saying hey make sure you maintain the construction of the Kaaba very important building by the way don't let it deteriorate it's the ultimate Masjid he's just saying mata bounnam embody what are you going to worship after I'm gone that's Yahoo my lady said I'm learning from the legacy of his father grandfather Abraham alehissalaam so we have to understand that this cultivation is direct I'll quickly move along I only have 12 more minutes so I want to move along to a couple of quick concepts that I think are very valuable to at least to myself the first of them is that there are two I mean nowadays especially the younger guys that especially that those of you that are in technology you understand cloud technology right you have in a sense the world the data of the world can be shifted up to clouds and all of us are downloading it on our devices right and so in a sense it's kind of the imagery of rain again data is raining down on people right and we're actually all accessing the same videos the same post the same materials we have equal access to them now we have the opportunity for each of us to be rained on if somebody wants to listen to the recitation of Quran all day and all like they could they could literally just put it on their phone right so you don't have to travel somewhere to receive the water of the rain now the rain is customized down to you you understand that's the world we live in today as a result of that I see my work particularly my work I see it as part of one part of the equation one part of the equation is you have to make the Quran accessible you have to make the Quran easy to understand and you have to make to put unaccessible online so that people can reach it anywhere they are in the world that's one part of the equation but even if that rain is made accessible that doesn't remove the necessity of farming because rain alone is not reduce enough to produce a farm now I can't be in a weekly Hanukkah with everybody I can't I can't be the one tending to one group of youth and another and another and another but institutions like ym can they can actually take people like myself if all not others that are doing much better work they can take the good that we're trying to make available online use that rainwater and create resources materials room for discussion what does that boil down to practically if a young person here that 16 years old 18 years old watched a video and it got them thinking that's not enough even though it got them thinking they're headed in a good direction but that's just the first step now they need to talk to somebody they need to interact with somebody they need emotional support they need to get their questions answered I'm not available for that I have way too many troll comments under each video I can't possibly answer any of them so that's going to have to happen on the ground that's going to have to happen in steady circles that's going to happen I have to happen in youth helices and how it's going to have to happen over restaurants where you're waiting for a shower about to be made and people these social interact or interaction opportunities are vital and without them the youth will not survive don't think that because lots of videos and materials and reading stuff is available online we're okay we're not okay this work is essential I am Telling You if institutions like ym were not there I wouldn't be standing here today I would not I can guarantee you I would not be standing here as a matter of fact I thank Allah Azza WA JAL my you know one of my best friends the person actually who I consider guided me to at least start praying again is a ym guy he's from ym I'm not gonna tell you his name he's gonna kill me if I tell him but the people who know know right so this is not I don't take this matter trivial I really don't and when I invest and when I say I contributed and I asked if I should announce it as like yeah announce it because encourage people to support these efforts why because this is one of the few efforts that I see if they are taken care of if they are allowed to foster and cultivate and grow then not only will you have young people coming but the ones that have graduated from this institution can act like older brothers to the younger people that have already graduated there's a mentorship system here you know that a lot of us are in need of how many parents come and tell me what do I do with my kids in the summer - my son is going slowly away from Islam my daughter's got a lot of questions I don't know what to do with them I could sit and talk to them but I'll that will be one of 3,000 emails I have to answer you know I got I got way too many emails so I won't be able to give that kind of personalized attention but there's a ym camp coming up why don't you send your kids there are you going to be there doesn't matter if I'm their goal they're gonna have an amazing time and it's not just about I am whether it's an MSA thing or a Minar thing I need you take our local youth group like Crescent youth in Houston or other other youth groups it doesn't matter it doesn't matter but this is one of the efforts that I truly truly respect I really really do and I wanted to make that point now then my eight minutes I'll actually give you the subject that I was told so so one of the least understood complexities of the Quran is when the surah was revealed and how that impacts our understanding one of the most remarkable Sulis of the Quran when it comes to suburb when it comes to context of Revelation is the 49th surah of the Quran so little food rot it's really important to understand when it was revealed because it changes your understanding of the surah entirely this surah was revealed after after the treaty of hudaibiya the muslims are now in a situation where the the meccans who are trying to attack them all the time their hands are tied so muslims are in a state of peace they are no longer in a state for they're no longer in a state of emergency things have completely calm down and actually this is a time where instead of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the muslims going to tribe and tribe and tribe and preaching Islam now tribes are coming who food ambassadors and delegations of tribes are coming to Medina and saying we want to become Muslim so people were now coming to Medina to accept Islam and going back and converting their entire tribes this is the time when social quadrat was revealed in other words this is very different from the entire life of the prophet sallallaahu an asylum where accepting islam was a risky venture if you accepted Islam in Makkah it meant your family is gonna you know they're gonna kick you out they're gonna disown you if you accepted Islam in Medina it meant you might be you might get enlisted into the military you didn't just accept a religion you were joining a war as a matter of fact even when the when the first day I was given and actually when the second way I was given when the you know a lock lasagna when the pledge was given that the Medina ins are going to accept Islam so many of them they were told watch out because if you accept this the sandstorms of Arabia will head your way watch out you're not just accepting a religion you're inviting war upon yourself by accepting this religion people will hate this religion and they will become your enemies so don't just think it's some spiritual thing there's a God I like the idea I like revelation I like to spend bahamas awesome i think i can accept him as a messenger i'm ready to convert yay now it's about halal chicken it's not like that with them they're going to risk their life if they accept islam but ever since hood idea accepting islam was actually just expecting accepting a spiritual truth it wasn't a life risking venture it wasn't a political disaster it wasn't a risk to your entire tribe you understand that wasn't the case anymore you know what happens then what happens is when a lot of people accept islam and it's just a religion to them it didn't come at a price they didn't have to think about risking their entire life it was just something to do they didn't realize the value of they were stepping into you know when you make a lot of sacrifices to get something you value it but when something comes to you easily you don't value it you don't really realize what it's worth if a kid here if a young kid here had to work himself 40 hours 50 hours a week minimum wage save up money and then buy a car wallah hell Arlene he will treat that car like his bride he's going to take care of her he's gonna wash it he's gonna talk to her when he's driving you okay there I heard a little extra purr huh you know but if you take that same 18 year old and the father just hands him a car it's going to be wrecked in a day it's going to be ruined he has no value for it because there was no sacrifice involved the people that were now coming into Islam actually didn't realize that this is something very expensive why am i bringing this up because we have an entire generation of Muslims young generation of Muslims who were handed Islam by their parents they didn't sacrifice they didn't risk their life to accept Islam they were just handed it here here's a song and as a matter of fact not only do they not realize that treasure that they've been given they actually think it's kind of annoying I gotta go to mush it again I don't sunday-school I don't want to go to this conference God wanna get the tickets in this conference every time do I have to sit in this lecture yes it's a mnemonic on lecture you will sit there and listen because if you listen you will become good Muslim I hate that guy there's so many young people here that were dragged by their parents because they're thinking something's gonna happen in this hall sorry guys I meet so many of them this is my son he's not that good but he's good please please pray for him in this kids like I hate you right now but you know what at the end of the day this is this is why these ayat are so important they thought they were a group of people that thought that they're doing Islam a favor what died being Muslim like they're above it and it's like they came to the Prophet the some of these delegations came to the problem so I Solomon said you know we accepted Islam we didn't pick the other side we came to your side I mean there should be some kind of appreciation you know for accepting Islam because we didn't even fight you and they're talking like they're they've done the Prophet or what a favor Allah comments on it himself Allah decides to comment on that himself he says yeah manola alayka and Aslam oh they're trying to impose upon you that they've done you a favor that they've accepted Islam don't tell them that uh manoa and they yeah Islamic um don't try to impose upon me the favor of your Islam vanilla who you mundo alaikum instead it is Allah he is now imposing that he's done a favour upon you and had our homeland iman that he has guided you to what will eventually be faith in other words Allah change the word Islam to what Iman in kuntum Saudi teen if in fact you're truthful I have given you the opportunity to accept Islam and Islam is a path that will one day lead you to what Iman what I'm trying to tell you is when when the when Islam is passed down easily without sacrifice then it's not Iman it is only what it's only Islam but it is a favour of Allah that at least you're on the road that leads to Iman Allah is telling you he's done you an amazing favor that he puts you on this road that leads to Iman and that is why in this surah for the first time allah azza wa din' in the entire Quran he didn't do this except here in the surah he made a distinction between someone who has Iman and someone who just has Islam this has never happened anywhere else in the Quran except here in Soto for a lot callate la are Abu Amanda column to me no watch'n hulu Aslam na well mi abuelita mono kiku do become Bedouin say we have Iman we have faith Allah says no tell them you don't have faith you've only accepted Islam I'm here to argue with you probably something controversial but what I believe what I believe I have to share it with you and you're free to disagree with me I would argue that the vast majority of the oume today is at best in the state of Islam and we have to facilitate their journey towards what Iman we have to facilitate that journey and that journey will only be facilitated in two ways one the message has to reach them - the company has to be one that facilitates it - things strengthen Iman it's the reminder that is the message and the other is the company is the environment what I've what what my life work is and insha'Allah Allah if Allah gives life and I'm able to complete it and get make maker contributed for contribution in getting people closer to the Quran that's the part of the work that's the message but that's not enough for Iman Iman doesn't just need the message even though the message is critical after that message what do you need support company even the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam receives a crop bismi rabbika lladhi hala he received the quran directly from the angel jibreel and he needed company immediately he comes back to his spouse immediately don't underestimate the value and the power of company this is why if we're not able to provide our youth you know supportive company supportive networks then we have failed this is it doesn't cost millions of dollars that's the beautiful thing if this was a Masjid fundraiser they wouldn't be asking for who's going to give a thousand you've been to one of those right 50 thousand 50 thousand anybody fifty thousand 50 thousand that's how it would have gone it takes very little to produce people it takes a lot to put bricks together but it takes very little to put hearts together it takes very little to put young people to work and to give them vision and wallah and Arlene because Islam is already there because Islam even though youth that are having doubts even the ones that are not practicing Islam has still been given to them they still have Islam as a result of that if they were just given a little bit of water and a little bit of good company a little bit of tender care then these people are going to be stand and they're going to make like I look forward to the day when our young generation rises and people like me are irrelevant like you can look at that these stead of carrying it they're carrying it they're doing so much better a job than I ever could this is actually something I believe in in my own organization and I'm going to leave you with that my time is up I had I had a lot of passions I you know one of my passions is teaching Arabic and it's like the way I constructed my own curriculum for teaching Arabic it's like my baby and I really I'm really possessive over it and I taught it in a certain way and I have a method for getting students from one point to another point etc and I love that so much that it took up so much of my time but teaching Arabic was taking my time away from my studying and teaching of the Quran so I had to sacrifice one of my babies for adoption right the Arabic teaching and so what did I do I trained students of mine I trained them and I'm forced them to teach and I critiqued them and I whip them into shape and I humiliated them when they taught I made a list of this you could have said this better this was off you were you were you know you don't know what you're talking about you're a loser I hate you etc Ireland I'm not a nice guy when I'm training somebody I am NOT I'm a horror I mean we're here I'm at I'm actually a speaker I'm not a teacher as a teacher I am a nightmare I will make you cry and it's not because your iman went up you know because I want you to learn I need you to understand it inside out but you know what so how Allah now the most of the Arabic teaching I don't even touch I don't even know what's happening inside those classes and I know for a fact they're teaching it a lot better than I did I know that for a fact so I know this works when young people are motivated they can do incredible incredible things a transition can happen young people that are here that are not part of such circles you need to be it will be your lifeline through college it will be your lifeline through high school you have to invest your time into this and the parents that are here listening make sure that your children join some kind of youth circle where the adults aren't there and the youth can be themselves they can speak their mind openly may allah azzawajal preserve our youth and not make them the weakness of this Ummah but rather the strength of this Ummah does akumal al Qaeda our local one

Channel: Young Muslims

Views: 116,744

Rating: 4.8926654 out of 5

Keywords: Young, Muslims, Youth, Conference, Muslim, (Adherents), Quran, Islam, (Religion), Religion, (Literary, Genre), Allah, America, USA, ICNA, YC2016, Nouman Ali Khan, Nouman, Ali, Khan, Bayyinah, NAK, youth conference 2016, youth conference, icna convention

Id: v0PQMj-2cKY

Length: 33min 27sec (2007 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 17 2016