Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)
- One of the things that's so beautiful
about Ibrahim (AS) duas here, if you notice,
is that he always starts with himself,
even when he's praying for his children.
He doesn't feel safe from idol worship
even though he (AS) has a lifetime
of fighting against idol worship
and being persecuted because of that.
And, he (AS) also, as he is establishing
the prayer for his children
and emphasizing that he wants
generations that will establish the salah,
establish the prayer,
he (AS) starts off with himself.
Rabbi ijaalnee muqeema assalat [14:40]
"Oh, Allah, let me be amongst those
that establish the prayer." [14:40]
Wamin thurriyyatee [14:40]
"And from my offspring." [14:40]
(soothing music)
Captioning provided by MUHSEN (www.muhsen.org)
And, this is something constant
throughout the Quran
Rabbana liyuqeemoo assalah [14:37]
I did all of this, oh, Allah,
so that my children can establish the prayer.[14:37]
I want them to establish the prayer.
That is something that Ibrahim (AS) looks for
and it's not just establish the prayer in a physical sense,
but to really establish the salah
in the way that Allah (SWT)
has gifted it to us.
Now, you see with Ibrahim (AS)
that he's doing this with Isma'il (AS)
Right? And I want you to think about
especially those parents who try to get
their children to pray, and you start off
and, you know, when they're young
and their prayers are just pretty symbolic
it's just that they come and they pray
they're doing all sorts of stuff
while they're praying.
But hey, at least five times a day
you know, your seven year old,
your eight year old, your nine year old,
your ten year old.
They're starting to stand next to you
and starting to do something that resembles salah.
And you're trying to teach them the meanings of salah.
Now, your biggest worry, obviously,
is that what happens when you can't see them anymore?
What happens when you're not there
to call them to the prayer?
What happens when they get old enough
to where they can say that "We prayed,"
and they can really just be sitting in their room
and they can deceive you?
What happens when they're no longer even under your roof?
And that's something that a lot of parents are pained by.
Is that, you know, "I wonder if my kids even pray anymore."
And you'll see sometimes when you go
to a Masjid that it's something that we have to change.
That you will see the elders who, you know have come back
to prayer or prayer was a part of their lives.
And then you might see really young children,
but there is a missing demographic. Right?
Where people have to learn the value of prayer themselves.
Now most of the Quran moves on to the stories
of the offspring of Ishaq, of Isaac. Right?
To Ishaq (AS) to Yacoub (AS)
To the children of Yacoub (AS), Yusuf (AS)
and so on and so forth.
Not much is said about Isma'il (AS).
And we know that Isma'il (AS),
if you're looking at a chart of the prophets,
you see the line of Issac,
and you see all of these prophets and nations.
Isma'il (AS) you see this line
that goes all the way down and then it is Muhammad (SAW)
right?
And that is greater than any chain
that could be attributed to a prophet. Right?
That's his sanad (chain of connection)
Isma'il (AS) all the way down to Muhammad (SAW).
But what is described of Isma'il (AS)
and what he did as he was in that barren desert in Mecca?
Allah (SWT) praises Isma'il (AS)
by saying, Wakana ya'muru ahlahu bissala [19:55].
He was establishing the prayer with his children.
How sweet is that, right?
That is the description that, sadiqa alwaAAd (19:54)
that he was truthful to the promise that he made
when he said to his father that
"you will find me amongst the patient.
I will not refuse the command of God"
and here you have that he is also maintaining
the promise of salah.
Wakana ya'muru ahlahu bissala (19:55)
And join the prayer amongst his family.
Isma'il did not have a huge family.
He didn't have huge nations around him
the way that Ishaq did.
But those that were around him.
Wakana ya'muru ahlahu bissala (19:55)
He commanded them with prayer.
And one of the beautiful things about Ibrahim (AS)
and his children is you see the emphasis in life
and in death,
"Are you going to stay upon this covenant with God?"
right?
So Ibrahim (AS) as he is dying,
and he is speaking to his son Ishaq
and his grandson Yacoub (AS) and he is affirming once again,
"Are you going to worship that one God
and stay upon the worship of that one God?"
And them affirming to Ibrahim (AS) that they will.
And then Yacoub (AS), Jacob when he is dying
and him, he is saying to his children
mataAAbudoona min baAAdee (2:133)
"What are you going to worship after me?"
and they say naAbudu ilahakawa-ilaha aba-ika Ibrahim (2:133)
wa-ismaAAeelawa-ishaqa (2:133)
"We worship your Lord and the Lord of Ibrahim,
the Lord of Isma'il, the Lord of Ishaq"
and it's like I'm comforted
that my children are upon that Tawhid
they're upon that oneness of God.
That's the most important thing to me
is that they worshiping Allah (SWT).
And there is something here about when you ask Allah
to let your spouses
and your children qurrata aAAyunin lak. Right?
That oh, Allah, make them qurrata aAAyunin (25:74)
let them be the coolness of our eyes.
And what is the coolness of your eyes?
The coolness of your eyes, how beautiful your children are?
is the coolness of your eyes...
I mean that's part of it, certainly.
It's good to have beautiful children.
And your children are all beautiful by the way.
May Allah SWT
bless all of you and your children.
It's good to have beautiful children.
It's good to have sweet children
that they have a rahma
and mercy towards their parents
that we see with the prophets and their children
that Allah describes.
All of that is beautiful.
Their accomplishments are beautiful.
You love to walk your child across the stage,
maybe not so much down the aisle for their wedding
but those are all beautiful worldly accomplishments
and they are things to indeed find joy in.
But what's the greatest qurrata aAAyunin (25:74)?
What's the greatest coolness of your eyes?
It should be when you see your children worshiping Allah.
When you see them as righteous,
when you see them as embracing the faith,
maybe even greater than you did, sincerely.
When you see them read Quran for the first time
and say they want to go to the Masjid.
And it's not just because you forced them
to go to the Masjid,right?
Or you told them let's go to salah.
But they wanted to go to salah.
They wanted to be part of something that was faith oriented.
That's where you really find qurrata aAAyunin (25:74)
like it's the coolness of your eyes.
You see them in righteousness.
And subhanAllah
I think about the prophet Muhammad (SAW).
And he said about us
that, innama ana lakum bemanzilatil walid ooalimukum
"I am to you like a father, and that I teach you." Right?
Sunan Abi Da'ud Book: 1, Hadith: 8
So the Prophet (SAW) is to us like a father figure
and that he teaches us and you look at the Prophet (SAW)
and when the ummah was his qurrata aAAyunin
when it was the coolness of his eyes, right?
And it's that last moment, those last moments of his life
(SAW)
where he draws the curtain from his room
and he's too sick to get up at that point
but he looks out at his ummah praying salah.
And the Prophet (AS), tabasamah dahekan
he smiles and he laughs
and his face was like the page of a mushaf
so bright, so happy, so pleased.
Why? Because he saw his children in salah, in prayer.
And he knew that this message would last beyond him
and will continue beyond him (SAW)
So when we pray
we are maintaining the prayer of the Prophet (SAW).
Who was an answer to the prayer of Ibrahim (AS)
and we send our prayers upon them both
Allahumma salee ala Muhammedin wa ala alee Muhammed
Kamma salata ala Ibrahim wa ala alee Ibrahim
(soothing music)