Transcription
I have dedicated myself with a pledge to Allah that I'm going to be fasting. So today I won't speak to anyone. What are you doing here? I can't speak to anyone. I have a pledge with Allah. What's Who's this baby? I can't speak to anyone. I have a pledge with Allah. It's my fast. How could you do this? You're Zakaria's family. You're the family of Imran.
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There are different kinds of fear in the Quran. We saw last time Zakari's fear of not being able to ensure that the legacy of Islam and the true spirit of Allah, the worship of Allah will continue after his passing even though everybody around him was a believer. Now we see a different kind of fear. The fear of Miam and her fear is one of dignity, protecting her dignity. The most one of the most fundamental needs of a human being, other than other animals. Other animals can have food. They can have shelter and they can survive. But human beings, they need the food. They need the shelter. They need the protection from the environment. But they also need dignity. A cat doesn't need dignity. An alligator doesn't need dignity. A worm doesn't need dignity. Human beings cannot live without dignity. It's just as important as food and shelter. It's something Allah embedded inside of us when he said he honored the children of Adam. Also, I would suggest it means the part of the meaning is he endowed us with a need for dignity. He injected us with that. And so even the the idea he sent clothes down to you so they cover your your body, you know, and they they cover your ugliness is because clothes are a means of dignity, right? We want to protect our sins and our mistakes and we want to protect ourselves from the comments of others. Even if somebody's not stabbing you or shooting at you or shooting an arrow at you or pointing a gun at you or hitting you with a rock, they can hit you with words. Right? A word can hit harder than a beating. Mus Alisam was less afraid of being killed when he went back to Egypt. He was more afraid of being called a liar. That's what he the first fear he mentioned was. And in the end he mentions right, being killed is a later problem. Being humiliated is a bigger problem. Being called a liar is a bigger problem because it's fundamental.
Miam Aliha lives a dignified life. She's an honorable woman. Allah says make mention of her in the book when she threw herself, cast herself away from everyone in the far eastern corner of the of the masid, basically a place where she lives in. She doesn't just do she lives in and she had a curtain between her and all other people. People didn't even see her. Basically she was secluded entirely from any social exchange. So we sent our spirit to her and he presented himself to her in the form of a very good-looking man. So she first of all she's away, stays away from it and now a young upright good-looking man has presenting himself to her, showed up in her privacy and this is like right. So she's terrified. This is her first fear. I seek the refuge of Alman from you. If you have any fear of God, she immediately assumes he has bad intentions and she doesn't want to give him benefit of the doubt. Right? And so she just panics and he says, "No, no, no. I'm only here as a messenger of your master. I'm only here to give you good news that you're going to have a child, a good child, a pure child." He said, "She now now she's in shock for the fear is turning into shock. How am I going? Yeah. How am I going to have a child? And no man has ever touched me and and I'm not a frivolous woman. I'm not a loose woman that goes around and has illicit relationships." It's he said that's exactly how it's going to go. And Allah said he says this is very easy for me to do. And not only will he give you a child, that child will be a miraculous sign for people for generations to come for humanity. And he will be a loving manifestation of our love and care from us. And this is a decision that's already been made. This is not a negotiation. He's not saying would you like to have a child? It's a decision that's already been made. You don't have a choice in the matter.
Allah fast forwards the story and tell takes us to this is a new kind of the first was she cast herself away from social engagement now because she's pregnant she has to cast away herself from any kind of engagement from any human being entirely she gets away from society and she goes somewhere far far away so she doesn't have to deal with human beings she's terrified of being seen by anyone because anyone who sees her is going to accuse her of doing something wrong. Anyone who sees her is going to humiliate her. So just the anxiety of is somebody watching? Can I get and how is she getting to that place? Hiding herself secretly getting away right just so she can just be away from people a terrible anxiety of of social engagement of of meeting any other human being. That's where where she's at now. And when the birth pangs started coming, the delivery started happening. The baby's coming now. The body is shaking. And it's going to happen. She's right now just holding to the bark of a tree, right at the bottom of a tree. And she's wishing, "Oh my god, now I can't even run. If somebody comes, I can't even run." And forget running. I'm screaming in pain. And people can hear. If they if they weren't going to pay attention this way, now they're going to pay attention cuz I'm about to give birth. And somebody sees me from a distance, they're going to come running to try to help me or see and I'm going to be in the most when a woman's giving birth, she's exposed, right? She's so And this is a woman who in her normal circumstances stays behind a curtain and now she's out in the middle of a field under a tree completely exposed in the most humiliating circumstance and she's just she's never imagined being in such an anxiety-inducing fear-inducing situation ever before. Not only in that very moment, now she's thinking, even if I have this baby. Anybody who sees me, Mariam, whose baby is this? We didn't know you got married. Ya Allah, what have you done, Miam? Even if they don't say it to her, she knows. Anybody even looks at her from 100 ft away, 100 meters away, is going to think these this girl, ya Allah, she was raised in the masid. How can this be? I saw something so disturbing. Even if somebody doesn't make a comment, they're going to go home. Some woman's going to see her from a distance and go home and tell her husband, "Do you know what's going on in our We have to talk about this. I don't know what who to talk to. I need to tell someone." And she's thinking in her head, what are the million thoughts? The the one person with a million thoughts about me and most of them wrong, not one of them right. You know, when we see someone in a situation, what's our first impulse? Is our first impulse to say there must be an explanation that says this person is not doing something wrong. No. Are we are easily convinced of something wrong and it's very hard for us to be convinced that there's innocence. Actually in law we say innocent until proven guilty in court. Innocent until proven guilty. In society your first impression of anything is guilty until proven innocent. You're guilty first. Innocent. I don't know. I heard this. I heard that. I saw this. I saw with my own eyes. I saw her holding a baby. You know that. And out in the field, why would she go out in the field and hide from everyone? Ah, come on. Come on. Two and two. If there's smoke, there's fire. And she knows that. She knows how people think. And she's thinking these comments, forget even the comments, the look on people's faces, the thoughts that are going to go through their mind when they judge me before even knowing anything. I won't be able to defend. And even if I say a million things, if I give every interview in the world, the angel came, he told me I'm going to have a child, that's how I I got miraculously pregnant. Who's going to believe that? Who's going to believe me? She is she knows that from here until whenever Allah takes her life, every second of her life, every time someone sees her is going to be humiliation, unbearable humiliation. You know, for a believing woman to be accused of her character, that she has an illegitimate child, right? For a non-believing society, if a girl gets pregnant, like teenage pregnancies happen all the time. Young pregnancies happen out of wedlock. That's normal in modern society. It's it's every day. I mean, I live in America, people go to Canada, Australia, you know, many people are born out of wedlock. It's not even a big deal for them. But in a in a believing family, in a Muslim family, the thought of even suggesting that is worse than death, it's worse than death. Imagine that accusation about your daughter. Imagine that accusation about your sister. Just just imagine it for a moment. What would that do to you? What would that do to them if somebody suggested that? Right? We It's an unthinkable thing for a Muslim family. It's unthinkable. And here you have this woman having to live with the unthinkable continuously. Continuously.
Then on top of that is another burden. She lives at the masid and she's the she's related to Zakaria. Zakaria Alisam is the role model for the community. He's the only one who's in the in his right mind in the in the right position doing the right thing for this community. And they're going to say, "Oh, he his family. He's the example for us. You see, you see his niece, you see his family. This is this is the example. We just follow these people." She's thinking, I haven't even ruined my own life. I have ruined the legacy of Zakaria and this entire family and the I've humiliated prophethood. I have ruined Islam itself for generations to come because of my humiliation. It's overwhelming the burden that she's carrying. Overwhelming. the the terrible fear of just my existence is a danger to Islam itself for this community. And she says she says these words that are hard to read in the Quran, they're hard to read. The first time I read them I was like, "What is she saying?" She says, "If only I could be dead before this happens." I wish I was dead before any of this happened. Like how can a believer wish for death? She's not asking for shahada. She's asking, "I wish I I wasn't alive." And you learn something. When a human being is being humiliated, they can have food in front of them. They can have a roof over their head. They can have money in the bank. They'll still wish for death. They still want to be alive cuz humiliation is too much. It's too much. Even someone like Miam Ali wished that she wasn't alive. And that's not even enough. Even if I died, they might find my body and next to me they might find the baby or they might find I was pregnant or they might find I'm dead and they'll ask questions. Why did she die? What's she doing here? Why is her belly like that? They will ask those questions. And if they do then humiliation will happen even after I'm dead and it will bring come to my family, come to my uncle, come to everybody, come to the masjid. The humiliation, she says, "If only I could be completely forgotten. Nobody even remembers who I was. My profile has been removed from society. Nobody even asks, 'Hey, where's Miam? What happened to her?' People can just forget I existed. I wish I could just not exist. Even in the minds of people, not just exist, I don't breathe anymore. I wish I didn't exist in the minds of people. I was just completely erased from existence and from the minds of people."
Then she's told from underneath her a voice comes tells her, "Don't be don't be filled with sadness. You're not hope you're not hopeless yet."
[Music] This is this is the part that gets me. Okay, hold on to the bark of the tree and then the date palms will come. Eat a little bit. You need to have the baby right now. Don't think about everything that's going to happen. Think about right now. You're having a baby. You need the energy. Just eat the eat the pal eat from it and drink a little bit and then then the angel says to just find comfort right now. Just be comfortable. Don't kill yourself in anxiety. The same fear that's killing her. I didn't. She didn't say it yet. I said it. And the angel understands it. So he says, "Look, if at all at all at all you see anyone come and give you look at you and say something or doesn't matter if they look at you or just say to them I have dedicated myself with a pledge to Allah that I'm going to be fasting. So today I won't speak to anyone. What are you doing here? I can't speak to anyone. I have a pledge with Allah. What's Who's this baby? I can't speak to anyone. I have a pledge with Allah. It's my fast. How could you do this? You're Zakaria's family. You're the family of Imran. You're the Oh my god. You're the You know what? How Musa Alisam had Harun? Mus Alam had har and Harunam was supposed to carry the legacy. You were supposed to carry the legacy of Musa Alisam. That's why you're associated with Harun. Like you're supposed to do the same job that Harun was supposed to do to be the support of this religion. We looked up to you. Doesn't matter who comes up to you, you just say I I can't talk. They they can't talk."
And then from there the the fear reaches its climax. She came with him to her people carrying him the baby. "Oh, you have done something so outrageous. You did something so unthinkable Mariam. How could you do this?" And it's not one. She was afraid of seeing one person. You remember if one person comes to you say I'm fasting in the ayah. She's not speaking. There's not one person anymore. The whole crowd gathers. Now she's at the center. There's a whole circle of people and people, Mariam, Mariam, what did you do, Mariam? And everybody's gathering and gathering and gathering. And there's a there's a mass building around her to humiliate her. And they're all, even if she speaks at that time, nobody will hear her because they'll only hear their own mob and their anger.
[Music] sister of Harun. This is a nickname and it suggests that you're supporter of the of Mus Alisam like Harun was. You're a sister to Harun. Meaning you're continuing that work. You're the um of MS and you're so close to that legacy as if you are literally the sister of Musa Alisam playing the role of another the female Harun. Basically your man your father was not an evil man. meaning you're dishonoring your father. You're humiliating your father. Did you learn this from your mother? You know, your mother wasn't a wretched woman either. Your mother wasn't a loose charactered woman either.
Now, she was told, "Don't talk to anybody. Tell them I'm fasting." Right? So, all she does is the whole crowd is yelling and screaming. All she can do is point at the baby. Just just points at the baby she's holding. Right? And they're like, "This is the Quran's gentle way of saying it. How can someone speak who's a baby being held in the cradle in the cradle of the arm? But it can also actually genuinely mean, 'Oh, so you want the baby to speak. The baby's the answer. This is all you have to say for yourself. You just want to point at the baby.' Are you saying, 'Oh, we should go easy on you because you have a baby with you. The baby will speak for you.' That's that's your defense. That's the best you can do."
And Allah gives this baby a powerful relief for the mother. She didn't even know this was going to happen. She she was just maybe told before, "Just point." That's all she points. "He I am Allah's slave. Allah has given me the law. He's made me a prophet and he has made me someone filled with blessings wherever I may be. Right now you're in the middle of humiliation for your mother and Allah he says he made me blessed wherever I may be. Even here I'm bringing baraka to this gathering too. I'll defend my mother right here and And he's commanded me to salah and zak wherever I may be. What is salah and zak doing here? Many things but I'll tell you one thing. It's as if Allah is teaching us the people of salah and zaka don't act like this. People that make salah and zaka, they don't look at a woman and do this to her publicly. Allah has commanded me to do salah and zaka so long as I'm alive. Because if you are people of salah and zaka then you are people of tawa and kash and you don't run your mouth this way. You don't do that. So he it's a very gentle way of him reminding the people your salah and your zaka should be taking you in a very different kind of adab than what you're showing right now. his first in very indirect but then he adds even and Allah has commanded me to be good to my mother none of you were able to be good to her but Allah has commanded me to be good to my mother and by the way in saying that he's also legitimizing that his mother did the right thing and she's given legitimate birth and you're supposed to give honor to your mother Allah has command Allah himself has told me to be good to my mother and he didn't make me a tyrant and he did not make me a tyrant and he did not make me wretched and miserable he didn't do that and by the way if I can tell youan is very effective there are people in that audience that was I don't know who was saying that I wasn't the baby I was in the back I didn't see it I don't believe it and they're going to accuse Isaam anyway. They're going to accuse him and the there are still Jewish communities that have this view of Isaam. He's an illegitimate child. They still have that view, right? And I can guarantee you he didn't hear that view. We don't hear that view now from the rabbis. The Pharisees and others made those accusations against him even then. Even then. And he never allowed those accusations to make him miserable. He didn't allow their comments to get inside him. Allah didn't. and he didn't allow their comments to make them into an enemy. So he's then he says there's peace on me the day I was born, the day I'm going to die, and the day I'm going to be raised again alive. It's as if you people can say whatever you want. The peace Allah has put on me will not be taken away. You cannot touch it. That's that's beyond your reproach. What an amazing way to teach us. When Allah protects dignity, then for a believer, when Allah protects their dignity, then the comments of people and the accusations of people, they become like, you know, the the rain that falls on the windshield and you just wipe it off. It doesn't get inside the car. It's like that. It doesn't it doesn't affect you anymore. It it can't hit you. The day he was born was a violent day. The day he was born was a stressful, anxiety-inducing day. And the day he was taken was also a day where he was being accused and he's saying, "Subhan Allah." What an amazing amazing way to give his mother even comfort, right? She He's speaking. He's defending himself. He's not just defending himself. His mother doesn't have to say a word anymore. All her burden. How am I going to answer people? How am I going to explain this to people? What are people going to? All of that has been silenced in one go by her son by the baby speaking. Subhan Allah. So let's enjoy this recitation of the terrible fear and the terrible overwhelming anxiety of Salam and the relief that her son gave her in this powerful moment.
[Music] for [Music] [Music] Soch. [Music] [Music] for [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] Zech. Fore! Foreign! Foreign! [Music] Fore! [Music] Foreign! Foreign! [Music] for [Music] [Music] Yeah. Yeah. [Music] Yeah. [Music] canal. [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] speech. [Music] What's [Music] Mak for that incredible recitation and this really amazing series. I truly truly enjoyed it. >> I really enjoyed with also your explanations. Um I want to invite all of you that have developed a love of recitation of Quran and wanting to improve your own recitation. Also encouraging especially hu from around the world that want to improve the style with which they recite and impact the people that are praying behind them to learn from this incredible benefit uh that Imam Bak is is providing. It's the only institute in the world that is actually teaching this this art and the science of makamat so people can improve their recitations and have more of an impact when people hear them and themselves even recite the Quran so they can feel the Quran more. Uh you can find more about the institute and sign up for some of its programs at makamat.net m aqa m a t.net. Um again it's the only institution of its kind that's doing that and even if others may try. The problem is from what I found out there's only like a handful of people in the world like less than 10 maybe five or so people in the world that are actually truly experts in this subject and are recognized world authorities >> and we're very fortunate to have one such gem and and I happen to be his friend. Alhamdulillah. Uh, those of you that enjoyed some of these reflections and contemplations on the Quran, uh, I've got a commentary on the entire Quran, a brief commentary on the entire Quran, and I'm continuing to do a detailed commentary on the entire Quran, and all of that is being put on Bayat TV. So, bayatv.com is some a place you can go to find my commentary on the entire Quran. Many of you see things on YouTube that are scattered, but my fatas nas work, the systematic Quranic work, all of that's on vaynetv.com. So I really thank all of you and we're grateful to Islam channel for providing this opportunity. [Music]