Her Mercy & Good Character is the Foundation of a Muslim's Faith | Shaykh Talal Ahdab

Today is the third JA in this blessed month. And Rabia as most of us know the word Rabia has a special meaning. It means spring. It means to go back to life. Back to life again. This blessed month hopefully will bring us back to life again and we can take this as an opportunity to renew our commitment to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to his messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam [clears throat] and to the truth. In summary, as we all know, Allahh described the prophetatam as a mercy and he described the prophetatam as having an amazing and tremendous moral character. The prophetatam was described in as a mercy This term mercy is special. The prophet wasallam also described himself as I am but a gift of mercy. He is the gift of mercy. He is a gift and he is mercy. And Allah subhana wa ta'ala told us that imagine mercy is like pizza door or or pie and gets divided into 100 pieces. Allahh sent one piece on earth and people deal with each other using that piece that small piece of mercy and he kept 99 99 pieces with himself so that he so that uh it can be used on the day of judgment. But why mercy? When we interact with each other, sometimes we can interact with each other based on like and dislike. I like you, I show favor to you. I dislike you, I don't show favor to you. We can act with each other based on love. If I have feelings for you, if I'm emotionally attached to you, husbands and wives, spouses, then I deal with you based on that. But feelings comes and go. Feelings, they don't remain constant all the time. They come and go. And like and dislike is not fair. If I like you, I show I deal with you fairly. I deal with you with justice. And if I don't like you, am I not going to deal with you fairly and just and and and justly? There is a distinction between mercy and everything else. Mercy is actually it's a designed it's a concept that can can be like the foundational key to religious and human interaction and Allah subhana tala we know in the Quran the whole surah begins with alman So Islam values the concept of love. Concept of love is repeatedly mentioned in the Quran. But mercy has a special meaning. It can be a treatment for dislike. So unlike unlike like or love uh which we naturally feel and sometimes uh we feel toward those whom we favor. Mercy is something that we can extend to someone that we even dislike to someone that we may even hate. You may dislike someone or like someone. You may hate someone or not hate someone, love someone. But yet you show mercy and you show compassion to them. And this can be can ignite love back. If love has disappeared, it can act as a generator of love. Extending mercy acts also as a purifying agent. It purifies your soul. It purifies your heart. It describes who you really are. You are merciful. You're not affected by the behavior of people. You show mercy because this is a reflection of your character. Because when you do that, it gradually washes your heart, purifies your heart, purifies your soul and and it cleanses it from the resentment and the hatred that one may have or may develop which in turn creates the space to reignite love and like again Allah subhana wa ta'ala even in the Quran When Allah spoke about marital relations, he talked about ma and rahma. Ma is based on affection and love and rahma. Should ma decreases, rahma is still there. Should ma disappears even for a brief moment or temporarily or even for a longer period of time mercy is always there. We deal with each other using mercy and know that can come back when people keep showing mercy toward each other. So if love and affection is ever disrupted in marital relations or between members of families or friends, uh the relationship takes a step down to mercy but mercy remains. And this rahma implies that we treat each other with kindness, with mercy, with compassion. The prophet wasallam talked about it said if he loves her, he honors her and if he dislikes her, he does not do unjustice to her. They still keep treating each other with kindness and mercy but never unjustly. So this is the starting point and this is the divine starting point in the Quran in the name of Allah the merciful the entirely merciful the especially merciful rather than any other name like Jabar not jabarismah No, the prophet was also described. Truly you are upon a tremendous character, tremendous. This is in the Quran and Allah is saying that I by standard by divine standards for us when we say I had a great day I had yim this is an amazing day it's according to our own standards maybe you didn't you escaped an accident maybe you got to your meeting on time maybe you signed a good deal you say oh I had a great had an amazing day. Allah say I by by divine standards not by human standards. And by extinguishing you know these fires of um of hatred and dislike with mercy. So when the heart is thoroughly cleaned and purified by mercy, then the tree, the tree of noble character, the tree of of character can flourish and can sprout. So they're connected. There is a connection. There is a relationship. But this verse is there is no qualifier in that verse. It's not restricted. It's not specified. Allah is telling all of us that is declaring that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's character is vast and limitless and his was amazing before he was sent as a prophet and after he was sent as a prophet. His character was amazing since the time he was he was born, since the time he was a child in everything he did. When he was working as a businessman, as a as a as a merchant, as someone who deals with trade, his character was was manifest. am that's why his character encompasses every praise mentioned in the Quran because what the Quran likes he likes what the Quran dislikes he dislikes sallallahu alaihi wasallam now to to see how an example of his character was and how his character was like a magnet attracting people people are attracted to good character strong and good character sallallam the prophet's relationship with started with himat working for her. She was a businesswoman and she needed to do trade. So she employed this young man 25 years old. And the first thing that she noticed in him, had had she not dealt with him in business, she would have noticed other things cuz his character is not just limit limited to to dealing with people justly in business. His character is is vast. From every angle you look at it, you see perfection, human perfection. So his her relationship with him was built primarily on his sublime character in transactions. Say the she was she noticed this and she was attracted to his characteratam and her attraction to him was a direct result of this magnetism that he radiated that captivated everyone. everyone around him. And what was the result of that? She saw how he dealt with business. She saw how he conducted transactions. She saw his demeanor, his calmness. She proposed to him. So she proactively made a decision to propose to him. Imagine if today a girl comes to a boy and proposes to him in our community. How would that be received? Oh, and maybe the boy will look down on her. Why is she proposing to me? Maybe she's not of high value as people. But if she's proposing to him because he's handsome. Yeah. If she's proposing to him because he has money. Yeah. But if she notices that this person has an amazing character and his character is is topnotch everywhere. It means she's valuing in him what should be valued. And a person like that would value that valuation. Say noticed this in himat and she proactively proposed to him. This is a spiritual investment in her without knowing. A man of truly of true character um deeply appreciates and respects a woman who seeks him for his morals, for his character. And rather than thinking poorly of her, he thought highly of her. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam accepted that proposal is the mother of all believers. The prophet this is investment. So when we talk about trade and investment this is investment. is to invest in things that will benefit. The prophet wasallam invested in his ummah and in his community invested his time invested his energy. He was always worried and concerned about his community. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. What was the result of that investment? We have hundred thousands over 100 thousands 100 thousands plus companions that embrace the faith during his life. 124,000 plus. And amongst those quantity, this amazing number, there were around 150 close companions that became experts and leaders in all aspects of life. And within 10 years, they the change that took place within 10 years after his death was beyond description. because he invested in building the character of people and building the leadership in people. And he told us and the person who has the most is and the one who has the more the most sound judgment when he arbitrates between people and in disputes is Ali. So he gave each of his companions medals medals they can wear and we know them by this expertise. The one who knows who the most expert in the science of inheritance is and so on and so on. Abdullah Masoud was one of those the prophetam invested and raised. Abdullah Masoud graduated. He was a graduate. He was not scholar in the making. He was a graduate. After the prophets passed away at the time of Son Omar, the land of Iraq was opened. And if you know Iraq, Iraq is a civilization. It's not like Arabia, Mecca, and Medina was simple life. But Iraq and Persia and elsewhere they had civilization that run for thousands of years and overnight this whole civilization wanted to become Muslim. Imagine civilization overnight deciding okay we want to become Muslims. Everything now has to run Islamically according to the Islamic revelation. So who can do that? You and me would be a mess. So sent Abdullahbas to Iraq and Abdullah alone. It changed Iraq in a very short period of time from a civilization that's not Islamic to a civilization that's Islamic in all aspects of its dealings. How did he do that? He started with a small circle 10 people and the first thing he taught was the Quran and they understood what the Quran meant what what is telling them not just memorization. The the 10 people became 100. The 100 became 4,000. Abdullah Masoud and his 4,000 students changed all of Iraq. All of Iraq. One person. One person. Imagine a European country becoming Muslim and they invite you to change everything in that country. Where would you start? What would you do? Can Can we do that? [clears throat] Such as our prophet wasallam, a mercy to all creation. The best of creation is sent as a mercy to all creation. Tremendous character in everything investing in people. Always concerned about his um um and community. sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the 150 200 people that he produced they're the best people best generation ever produced. There was the fuel.