Alhamdullilah rabil alameen, wal-udwaan ilaa ala athaalimeen, wal aaquibatu lil muttaqeen.
Allahumma salli wa sallim wa baarik alaa abdika wa rasoolika Muhammedin salaa Allahu alayhi
wa sallam wa alaa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasleeman katheera. So this is supposedly the
best batch of Bayyinah students that you guys ever had. I see a hajji mashaa Allah! Salaam
alaikum. Alhamdullilah. I'm really honored to be here and meet you guys. He won't admit
it, but he's been bragging about you and the entire Bayyinah staff has been bragging about
this batch, so I ask Allah(swt) to give you guys success and to allow you to complete
the program successfully and to continue to please, inshaa Allah, your teachers, your
instructors, and hopefully take this knowledge to the next level. So I know how this works,
just a quick naseeha (advice). And my advice to you guys, and this is something that I'm
just thinking of in hajj obviously, constantly reminding people, one thing that you always
need to think about is: how many people would love to be in my place right now? And every
time we talk about dunya and we talk about uplifting ourselves and making ourselves feel
better about our circumstances we say, "Well look at the nimah (blessings) that Allah(swt)
had bestowed upon me. You know, someone has less than you. انظر إلى من أسفل منك
as the Prophet(saw) taught us: Always look to those that are less than you in dunya,
and who have less than you in this world and have less than you in terms of money, have
less than you in terms of health, have less than you in terms of whatever it may be. But
what we have in terms of opportunity is even greater than anything this dunya can offer.
And obviously you are a small batch of students, but people all over the world, any time I
go somewhere people are like, "Do you know Bayyinah? Do you teach at Bayyinah? I wish I could go
and study at Bayyinah. I wish I could go and study at Bayyinah." So there are people all
over the world that wish they could be like you. I mean, in this small room, subhan Allah
you are envied by many people. You are envied by many people. And the way that you live
up to that, that's the important question. Imam Ahmed (rahimahu Allah) he used to say
that العلم كالمال و إن المال إذا زادت Knowledge is like money, and
when money increases what also increases with money? The zakah of it. The zakah of money
increases when money increases. So he said that when knowledge increases the zakah of
knowledge also increases. There's actual zakah on this, and the zakah on it is obviously
practicing it, making it a part of your life, practicing it, and at the same time spreading
it. So these are responsibilities that have been bestowed upon you from the very start.
And something that I shared with students last year, as they were leaving, when RasulAllah(saw)
talks about 'ilm he always talks about it in the sense of status. It gives status to
a person. So you'll find many ahadith related to العلم و فضله the knowledge and
its virtues, and the virtues of the people of knowledge. And Allah(swt), when He says
يرفع الله الذين آمنوا منكم و الذين أوتوا العلم درجات
Allah(swt) has raised the believers from amongst you (meaning mankind) and those who have knowledge درجات
degrees and degrees and degrees (58:11). And subhan Allah Imam Ibn Al Qayyim
(ra) he reflected on that. And he gave a very beautiful reflection. And it's kind of, it's
kind of, it's unorthodox, as a reflection. No other scholar has ever really mentioned
it the way that he mentioned it. But it's very beautiful, and he said that Allah(swt)
has created the dog (al-kalb) and the dog does not have a very praise-worthy status
amongst Muslims, right? I mean its saliva is najas (impure), we're not allowed to keep
it in our homes. The dog, as a whole is not one of those animals, it's not like a pig,
it's not overall najas, it's not a completely impure animal, but it's definitely not an
animal that's praise-worthy in Islam. But he said, although its saliva is najas, the
saliva of the dog is impure, Allah(swt) allowed us to have hunting dogs. So, follow Imam
Ibn Al Qayyim's thought process, he said that if Allah(swt) has made the saliva of a dog
najas then how is it that Allah(swt) allows you to hunt with a dog? And the dog, obviously,
when it catches its prey it will have saliva on it. So what happens here? What's the difference?
And this is in the Quran (5:4) obviously Allah(swt) calls it al-mukallib, the hunting dog, right?
He (Ibn Al Qayyim) said, what changed about the dog? He said, only one thing: 'ilm. Knowledge.
Because, al-mukallib has...there are three pre-requisites to becoming a mukallib, to
becoming a hunting dog: whenever your owner tells you to go, you go; whenever your owner
tells you to stop, you stop; and you don't eat from the prey that you catch. So he said
the only thing that changes about the dog is 'ilm, and he said Allah(swt) even raises
a dog in status because of knowledge. So he said, فما بالك بالإنسان So
what of a human being then? If Allah(swt) can take even a dog and elevate it by 'ilm
then what about a human-being? And that's why the Prophet(saw) said إن فضل العالم
على العابد كفضلي على أدناكم The virtue of the scholar even over the worshiper
is like the virtue of the Prophet(s) over the lowest of the ummah. 'Ilm elevates and
I know that you guys aren't necessarily in a shariah program. You're studying Arabic.
but why are you studying Arabic? Hopefully you're not studying Arabic so you can understand
the movies better, of that you can impress people with conversation. you're studying
to learn the Quran more effectively and hopefully to be able to scan literature to learn text,
to comprehend and learn text to get you closer to Allah(swt). If your intention is not for
that then you're not going to get anything of it. It's not 'ilm it's going to be just
like some kind of science that you learned in college, but it's not going to benefit
you in regards to your aakhira. And so, renew your intention, understand how many people
would love to be here that are not here. How many people envy you and the zakah of this
priceless opportunity that you have being here. This is a wonderful opportunity, alhamdullilah.
And Allah(swt) chose you to be here for a reason, so you need to thank Allah(swt) for
being here. You need to say alhamdullilah for the opportunity to be here, and at the
same time you need to think always what you can do with the knowledge that you're attaining
and whether or not it's making you fear Allah(swt) more and bringing you closer to your Creator.
Otherwise it will be a wasted opportunity and Allah(swt) will hold you accountable on
the day of Judgement for this nimah(blessing) as He holds you accountable for all other
blessings. So I ask Allah(swt) to again bless you all, to make this opportunity, you know,
to allow you to live up the full opportunity, inshaa Allah, to do justice to the opportunity
that you've been given and inshaa Allah, I look forward to being with you guys and spending
some time with you inshaa Allah as time goes on and hopefully I will see you guys soon.
Jazaakum Allahu khayran, As salaam alaikum wa rahmatul llahi wa barakatuh.